You have seen in my previous articles that I use the Name Yahweh instead of the titles of God and Lord when speaking of our Heavenly Father. This month’s article is to explain why. I must tell you that the subject of His Name is one that I am very passionate about and I take very seriously. The Name of our Heavenly Father and His Son are of the utmost importance in our lives. Therefore my article this month is extra long. Hopefully I can convey my thoughts and some of my research in this article.
The Name of the Father has been eliminated from our Scriptures some 6,823 times and replaced with Lord". The short form, Yah, has also been substituted 48 times with "Lord", and only retained in one verse in the KJV Psalms 68:4. Further, wherever we read "GOD" in capital letters, that too is a substitute for Yahweh."
Some Bibles will even explain this in the very front of the book using what’s called the tetragamation YHWH or YHVH. The V was used after the Babylonian captivity and W before. His Name can be pronounced Yahweh or Yahuweh, or with a few other variations. There are some who use the name Jehovah or Jehowah but these do not hold well as first, there was no letter “J” until about 500 years ago and secondly the first part of His Name is Yah, as seen in Scripture, His Name can not be pronounced with a Je or Ye sound. Unfortunately the true pronunciation of His Name is uncertain as the Jews hid His Name and ceased from using it. Only a few truly know the exact pronunciation but we do know that we are close to it. I tend to use Yahweh but at times will interchange with Yahuweh.
Elohim means “Mighty One”. The word Elohim was replaced with God although in another article someday I will show that this is not a correct translation either. The title, "lord," is applied to all heathen deities, if the word "god" is not used for them. In most cases "lord" and "god" are used interchangeably for pagan idols. For instance, Hare Krishna is popularly known as "Lord." British landowners where known as lords. These words were never used as a name of our Father, only as a generic replacement title.
Exo 3:15 And Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisra’el “ YHWH Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Yaaqob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.’
Here Yahuweh tells Moses His Name. He says His Name is Yahuweh! Cecil B. DeMile in the movie The Ten Commandments picks up on the "I Am" in verse 14 of this same chapter and uses this as Yahuweh's name. If Mr. DeMile and others would have read just a little further they would have seen His True Name, His Personal Name. But let's also look a little closer at this verse. Yahuweh also states that "This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations." We are to remember His Name, forever! So why have we as His children forgotten His Name and no longer use His Name?
For the sake of irony I will quote some of my reference points in both “The Institute for Scripture Research version (ISR) and the NIV. Let’s look at the Exodus 3:15 reference in the NIV:
“God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your Fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”
Reading this verse in the NIV one has to ask themselves, “Did I miss something?” Nowhere in this verse in the NIV does He state His name so how can Moses tell it to the Israelites and how can it be remembered? Remember, at the very least the words “God” and “Lord” are titles, not names.
Now let’s look at the 10 Commandments.
Exo 20:7 “You do not bring the Name of YHWH your Elohim to naught, for YHWH does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught. (ISR)
Exo 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (NIV)
Now do you see the irony in this? NIV says not to misuse His Name and that He will find you guilty if you do. Yet they have eliminated His Name! Wouldn’t that be considered a “misuse” of His Name? The third commandment, of the 10, states that we are not to bring His Name to naught, or to take it in vain. This does not simply mean not to take His Name and use it as a curse word. The word "naught" according to Webster’s Dictionary means: nothing, nothingness, nonexistence, of no importance, insignificant, or zero. The word "vain" means: having no real value, idle, worthless, marked by futility or ineffectualness, useless, empty, hollow, devoid of worth or significance. By removing His True Name from our scriptures haven't we done just that? The NIV translation stating “You shall not misuse the name” is a poor translation of this verse. The Hebrew text does not state that we are not to “misuse” it. It states bringing it to nothingness. The Jews not speaking His True Name and hiding it from the world have done the same with His Name. The Torah, Prophets, and the Writings have His name YHVH/YHWH in the Hebrew text so it is not a mystery as to whether He has a personal name. It is only the pronunciation of His Name that there is some question.
Psa 68:4 Sing to Elohim, sing praises to His Name. Raise up a highway for Him Who rides through the deserts, By His Name Yah, And exult before Him.
Here in Psalms 68:4 the poetic short form of His Name was kept. We use the poetic short form of His Name in the word HalleuYah! The word HalleuYah is a Hebrew word which means Praise Yah! We also see this poetic short form in many of the prophet's names; YeshaYahu (Isaiah), YermeYahu (Jeremiah), ObadYah (Obadiah), TsephanYah (Zephaniah), ZekarYah (Zechariah), EliYahu (Elijah).
Yahuweh revealed His Name to the children of Israel:
Gen 28:13 And see, YHWH stood above it and said, “I am YHWH Elohim of Abraham your father and the Elohim of Yitsḥaq. The land on which you are lying, I give it to you and your seed.
Isa 42:8 “I am YHWH, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols. (ISR)
Isa 42:8 “I am the Lord; that is My Name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (NIV)
Looking at the NIV or any other version are we really to believe that He would say, “I am the Lord; that is My Name!” Would He really call Himself by a generic title and say it’s His Name?
All religions generally are known by the one they worship or give homage to. Anciently the god of the Addadians was Marduk; the god of the Romans was Moloch; the god of the Greeks was Zeus; the god of the Romans was also Jupiter; the god of the Moabites was Baal-Peor; the god of the Hebrews was...God? Using an all-inclusive, indefinite, impersonal title simply does not identify the One you worship! Capitalizing that title doesn't help either, no more than the title "mr." suddenly becomes a name if we make it "Mr." Yahweh would not have said, “My Name is Lord!” Simply because it was not His Name and further because it is not a name at all. Strange, isn't it, that all the pagan "deities" have their own special names, yet we are expected to believe that the True Mighty One of the Scriptures goes by general terms that can apply to any "deity"?
Micah 4:5 For all the peoples walk, each one in the name of his mighty one, but we walk in the Name of YHWH our Elohim forever and ever. (ISR)
Psalm 83:18 And let them know that You, Whose Name is YHWH, You alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Yahushua also revealed Yahuweh's name to the disciples:
John 17:6 “I have revealed Your Name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have guarded Your Word. (ISR)
John 17:26 “And I have made Your Name known to them, and shall make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me might be in them, and I in them.” (ISR)
We are to know His Name. Isaiah 52:6 is a prophetic verse that states what will happen in the end times. We see this today as more and more are learning His Name and calling upon His Personal Name. Isa 52:6 “Therefore My people shall know My Name, in that day, for I am the One who is speaking. See, it is I.”
We are told throughout Scripture to Call upon His Name, Love His Name, Fear His Name, Honor His Name, we can take refuge in His Name, His Name reveals His character, There is Salvation in His Name, and on and on.
Yahuweh commands that we do not use the names of other deities. He tells us to destroy their names and wipe them out. He also states that He will remove the Ba’als from our lips. But we are to keep His Name and not destroy or remove it!
Deu 12:3 - 4 “And you shall break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their mighty ones and shall destroy their name out of that place. “Do not do so to YHWH your Elohim,
Exo 23:13 “And in all that I have said to you take heed. And make no mention of the name of other mighty ones, let it not be heard from your mouth.
Hos 2:16 - 17 “And it shall be, in that day,” declares YHWH , “that you call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Ba’al.’ “And I shall remove the names of the Ba’als from her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
Jer 23:26 - 27 “Till when shall it be in the heart of the prophets? – the prophets of falsehood and prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My Name by their dreams which everyone relates to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My Name for Ba’al.
Zep 3:9 “For then I shall turn unto the peoples a clean lip, so that they all call on the Name of YHWH, to serve Him with one shoulder.
Now here’s the interesting part, the word Ba’al or Baal, is Hebrew for the word Lord. Now re-read the above verses with this new insight.
Names have always been important to Yahuweh. He changed the names of several people in the Scriptures, Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, and Jacob to Israel to name a few. Even Yahshua changed Peter’s name. The Hebrews named their children with special meanings to their names. When I named my boys it was not done haphazardly. Each one was named with a purpose. Gabriel, Caleb and Levi were named after the characters in the Scriptures and what they represented. How much more important is it to know His Name and to call Him by His Personal Name.
I have gone through some of the books in the Scriptures and looked for how many times He uses the phrase “I am Yahweh” or “I, Yahweh”. I didn’t even count the times that state “thus says Yahweh”. Only where He states His Name Himself, the table has a few samples.
With the name YHWH taken out 6,823 times, the short form Yah taken out 48 times, and looking at the chart of only a few of the books in the Scriptures where He Himself states His Name, would you think that He feels that His own Name is important?We should be honored to be able to call upon the Mighty One of Israel, our Father, the Elohim of Heaven and Earth by His Personal Name!
