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The Name of God 1
Down through the ages
of time the name of God has repeatedly been
lost, hidden or distorted from the
understanding of God’s chosen people.
By 1000 B.C. Solomon wrote the question from
the mouth of Acur: Who has gone up to
heaven and come down? Who has gathered up
the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has
wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has
established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know! (Proverbs 30:4)
A century before the
birth of Christ this was the challenge put
forth to the wise, “what is his name, and
what is his son’s name?” From the
context of the question it was not an easy
or obvious answer – “Tell me if you
know!”
God the Father
The proper, personal name of the most high
God was further suppressed during the 70
year Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE.
The Babylonians knew their captives were
called “Yahudim” bearing the name of God,
their elohiym. To ridicule them, these
Babylonian pagans called them Yahoo’s.
In hearing this, it became so offensive to
the Jews that they totally ceased using
God’s proper name.
Writings of the Hebrew sages’ tell us that
the name was not used because it was so
sacred that they dared not use it for fear
of breaking God’s law against using the
Lord’s name in vain. However, it was
repeatedly used and copied in the scriptures
because by Torah (Deuteronomy 4:2) neither
the name of God nor the Words of Moses could
be added to or diminished. That is
why we have received old scrolls (i.e. Dead
Sea scrolls) intact. When they were
worn, they were buried and not destroyed, so
that
the name contained within them would not
be defamed. But through non-use, the
enemy had these keepers of God’s Word almost
destroy or lose the name of their God.
Today, Jews still do not call God by His
name, but rather use “HaShem” (“the name”)
as the name of God. Thus, the
protective concealment continues even
today.
Yet, we are repeatedly
encouraged to praise His name.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise--the fruit of lips that confess
his name. (Hebrews 13:15)
Let them praise his name in the
dance: let them sing praises unto him with
the timbrel and harp. (Psalm 149:3)
One of Jesus’ ministries was to
declare the actual name of His
Father: And I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it:
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me
may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26)
In both the Old and
New Testaments we are instructed to praise
his name and yet most in Christendom
only know Him as “God,” “Lord,” “God the
Father” or “Jehovah.” None of these
are truly the pronunciation of
His name. For us in the
English speaking countries the translation
of His name to Jehovah or even Jah was less
than 500 years ago, because the letter “J”
didn’t even exist until about 1520CE. (There
is no “J” or “V” in Hebrew.) The
Tetragrammaton (or four letters) of God’s
name of YHVH is the four letters of Hebrew
as it was written after the Babylonian
captivity.
However, the first
translation into Greek by the Sanhedrin (2nd
Century BCE) is called the Septuagint. In
its original form they preserved the writing
in its original palaeo-Hebrew (paleo = old
i.e. before Babylonian captivity.) as
 which
in modern Hebrew is
 or
in English is YHVH.
In The War of Jews book 5, chapter 7,
the historian Josephus gives us the insight
to determine that God’s name should be
pronounced as Yehuweh (Yahuweh, Yahveh
or the generally preferred, Yahweh).
The Son
We in English speaking countries sing,
“Jesus, name above all names…” Jesus
is the precious name upon which we call for
our salvation, healing, deliverance and very
life. It is the name that evokes our
love, tears and joy. It is the name
that has the power to move mountains, raise
the dead, and cast out devils.
Yet, Jesus is not the name to answer the
question in Proverbs 30:4 - What is
his name, and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know!
Today many are preparing for that time when
we will reign with Him in His millennial
kingdom and when He will once again be
called by His Hebrew name. This is the
name given to Mary by the angel Gabriel from
the mouth of Yehweh more than 2000 years
ago. His name is Yeshua or Y’shua
(pronounced yeh-ho-shoo-ah), or as Strong’s
Concordance lists it in Hebrew as yehowshuwa'
(H3091). In any language His name
means salvation.
His name is written
 in
modern Hebrew and
 in
paleo-Hebrew. [Author’s note:
Remembering that Hebrew reads right to left,
notice the similarity of the father and
son’s names in paleo-Hebrew (
vs.
) and its dissimilarity in modern Hebrew (
vs.
)
The Holy Spirit
To complete our understanding of the Hebrew
names for the Godhead, let us look at the
Hebrew name for the Holy Spirit:
the (an article) = ha
Holy = qodesh, kodesh
or kadosh
Spirit = ruwach or
ruach
Thus we would call the Holy Spirit, Ruach
HaKodesh.
Because of His love
for us, God is again revealing His Hebrew
name to His people today. In this hour
before Yeshua’s soon coming return many are
feeling the urgency for a greater
relationship, knowledge and intimacy with
Him. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, and 3:6, 13,
22)
1
A digest
version from Randy Schroeder’s forthcoming
book, “Awakened to Righteousness”
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