Thursday, February 25, 2010

TRADITION - E - His name

Israel has been returning to their homeland for almost a century now. It was 1917 when General Allenby walked into Jerusalem with the British Army and declared it to be the homeland of the Jews. Wars continue, but the Jews will never be removed again.

These days, we don't think often about God taking Israel out of Egypt and bringing them into the land He promised them, but hardly a day, scratch that, never a day goes by that the Jews returning to Israel isn't in the news. If your local station isn't carrying such news... well, what can I say? Indeed, we live in the days spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah.

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more
be said, The LORD lives, that brought up the children of Israel out of
the land of Egypt; But, The LORD lives, that brought up the children
of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he
had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I
gave unto their fathers." (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

This is a time stamp on what God said to Jeremiah in the verses of chapter sixteen that come next. Speaking of what will happen in the gentile world at this same time, Jeremiah writes:

""O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say,
"Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and
unprofitable things." Will a man make gods for himself, Which are
not gods? "Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know My hand and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the LORD.""
(Jeremiah 16:19-21 nkjv)

"And they shall know that My name is the LORD."??? We are starting to learn; maybe we'll soon know Him by name. Many are dragging their feet. Tradition. His name is NOT; 'the LORD'. The correct reading of what GOD WROTE HERE is:

"And they shall know that My name is יהוה."

Some will be quick to respond; 'But we don't speak Hebrew". Correct; so speak English, but don't change the meaning. Transliterate the name of God here. Don't continue to say something that isn't there. God wrote the book, and God put his name right there. The Gentiles, that's us, are supposed to finally learn his name, not some arbitrary title given to every English land owner.

This is a blog, so I don't know your name. Suppose I'm speaking to someone named Larry. Larry and I are having a discussion. As we speak, I just call him 'the man'.

I say things like; 'Man, do you work for the title company?
He gives me a strange look, and answers yes.
I respond; "And do you, man, know someone there who drives a BMW?
Already Larry is not sure he wants to talk to me; why am I not using his name?
So, he says; Why aren't you using my name as we speak together?
My response is that I think his name is too special to utter it vocally.
He softens and says; 'I told you my name so you could use it'.

And thus it is with God and his name. His name is sacred. His name is holy. He put his name in the open text of scripture almost 7,000 times so that we would know him by name. We don't abuse his name. We don't use it as a cuss word. We don't throw his name around in sloppy conversation or jokes. But we should read his name, aloud if we want to, and speak his name in worship, and especially, we should call upon him BY NAME.

It is only tradition that keeps us from doing it. It was Jewish tradition first. That got things underway. Soon, they had forgotten his name. They referred to him as "the name"; HaShem. Then they gave him a title; Adonay; The Lord. Adonay is a perfectly acceptable title, but it's a title, not a name.

His name is יהוה. Consider Exodus 5:22.

"And Moses 4872 returned 7725 unto the LORD 3068, and said 559 ,
Lord 136, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated 7489 this people 5971?
why is it that thou hast sent 7971 me?"

Here you will see the numbers that James Strong attached to the Hebrew words. Notice that the words the LORD 3068 and Lord 136 have different numbers assigned. They are different Hebrew words. #136 is the Hebrew word for 'lord', and it means master. Jewish tradition attached greater meaning to it when it started to be used as a way to address God. Word #3068 is the tetragrammaton; יהוה. It is the very name of God.

His name is often transliterated as Jehovah. At least Jehovah is a name, not a title. I prefer to just pronounce the letters that the Jews won't say aloud. It comes out as; Yahweh, and is pronounced yaw-weigh.

"And they (the gentiles, us) shall know that My name is Yahweh."




1 comment:

  1. Amos 9:5-6

    "The Lord GOD of hosts, The One who touches the land so that it melts, And all those who dwell in it mourn, And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;

    "The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The LORD is His name."

    How's that again?
    What is his name? 'The LORD'?
    That's not a name.
    Did God give Amos His name to write there?
    He certainly did.
    God wanted His name there.
    Why isn't God's name there?
    Because men removed His name from there.
    No?
    Yes!
    How could they?
    Easy. They just did it.
    How horrible.
    Oh?

    Which is worse; those men removing it or...
    us leaving it that way?

    It should read as follows:

    "Yahweh, GOD of hosts, The One who touches the land so that it melts, And all those who dwell in it mourn, And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;

    "The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, Yahweh is His name."

    Yahweh is His name, and HE intended for us to see it in this passage and read it in this passage and quote it from this passage. HE wanted us to do that.

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