Yesterday we talked about how over time the Jews slowly but surely adopted traditions that led to a complete prohibition of verbalizing God’s formal name out loud in any situation.
However, the early gentile Church fathers didn’t side with the Jews on this point and they also wanted to separate themselves from Judaism.
This decision partly fueled by anti-Semitism led to the gentile church resurrecting the use of the Lord’s real name: YHVH.
You’re probably familiar with the English version of the word which is JEHOVAH.
JEHOVAH ended up becoming so widespread that usage of all the other older titles and names of God pretty much faded away.
Honestly, at this stage of my understanding, I’m still kind of on the fence about whether it’s okay or not to say God’s name out loud.
Here are some undisputed facts we need to account for when making a decision about this.
FIRST, practically every time we encounter one of the titles of God in our English Bibles such as Adonai, the Lord, or God etcetera, the original Hebrew is YHVH.
When I say “practically every time”, I mean like 95% of the time our English Bibles say Lord or God, what’s actually written there is יהוה.
To bring it down to scale, this means every time you come across the words “Lord” or “God” in the Scriptures, more than 9 times out of 10, the original Hebrew word there is YHVH.
Got it?
God’s real name in the original Hebrew appears more than 6000 times in the Scriptures but appears less than a third of that number in our modern English Bible translations.
SECOND, the Scripture itself commands us to call on the “Name” of the Lord and not some other nickname of the Lord.
And no, the “name” of the Lord is not referring to Jesus or Yeshua even in the New Testament.
The name of the Lord is ONLY יהוה.
THIRD, there was a time when the Jews actually did say YHVH out loud in both their private and public prayers.
Having said all that, the reason to not say God’s name out loud because it is disrespectful to our Father in heaven, also seems to make sense.
Even the Messiah commanded us to pray…
…”Our Father (“Abba” in Hebrew) who art in heaven…”.
So who’s right?
Well, obviously when it comes to matters like this, I have to side with the Jews because as the Apostle Paul said…
“…the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God”
-Romans 3:2.
I mean which decision do you think is more trustworthy?
A decision fueled by anti-Semitism and a desire to separate from God’s Chosen people or…
…a decision made by God’s chosen people themselves?
Let’s give proper respect and credit where it is due.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
He answered,
“I was sent only to
the lost sheep of Israel.”
-Matthew 15:24
Leave a Reply