Tsaphah
03-06-2010, 12:55 AM
God's Name
I visited a site today that deals with “YHWH”. Well, not exactly those letters, just the basic English system of symbols or graphemes. Each graph or mark represents a sound made with the human mouth. So, we English speaking peoples make these sounds by the combining of marks, to make words. The words also represent an object, idea, or expression of feelings. These four letters are a translation of the original Hebrew marks that represented God's name.
God's name. Who exactly are we speaking of when we say God? I believe that would depend on who YOU are. As an English speaking person, it would possibly be associated with the God of the Bible. In order to get a better understanding of this, we must first get the meaning of the word GOD, God, or god. Our English language and alphabet comes from several sources. They are empires that have ruled the Japhetic branch of humankind. These are Middle English, German, Latin, Greek, Phoenician, and Sanskrit. As for English written and spoken today, it is mainly made up of Latin and Greek words.
The word GOD, God, and god, are all the same word, whether all capital, capital and lower case, or all lower case letters. It's root literally means; to be strong. It is something that is or holds power. The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, saying “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Cor 8:5-6 KJV) [Notice Paul makes a distinction between God and Jesus Christ. God is the Father, and Jesus is Lord]
In the Greek language, the word is theos. In Hebrew, the word is elohim. The Hebrew word is translated into Greek as theos, and into English as god. As Paul points out, “there be gods many... But to us there is but one God,...”, which God, god, was he speaking about? Paul was a Jew, Hebrew. He was speaking about the GOD, God, god=person with power, YHWH, of the Hebrew nation. He was speaking of the god of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Ex 3:6)
This God also tells Moses that these descendants are “his people”. (Ex 3:7) At that particular time in the history of mankind, there were “many gods” that were worshiped. These gods had names associated with what they had power over. In Egypt at that time, there were at least 63 different gods. Some of the many gods were, Isis, Osiris, Horus, Ptah, Seker, and Ra, to name a few. All of the gods of the people had names. It is no wonder that Moses says, “Suppose I am now come to the sons of Israel and I do say to them, ‘The God of YOUR forefathers has sent me to YOU,’ and they do say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Ex 3:13)
This is where “The God of YOUR forefathers” gives Moses his distinct name. “At this God said to Moses: “YHWH.” And he added: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘YHWH has sent me to YOU.’” Then God said once more to Moses: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to YOU.’ This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (Ex 3:14-15) [I have placed YHWH in place of the transliteration of “I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.”, the meaning of God's personal name.] (NWT)
This is a very personal conversation between YHWH and Moses. What's in a name? What does a name mean and stand for? This information was never discussed or given before. Neither to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob was God's name discussed. These were true believers who he dealt with personally. Yet, they never asked about his name or asked him to explain it. They only knew him as their heavenly Father, the God Almighty, their progenitor. He told Abraham this, when Abraham was 99 nears old. (Ge 17:1) They knew who he was. He always kept his promises, always did exactly as he said he would do for them. They never doubted his word. [This was “el shadday = God Almighty, in Hebrew]
To me, the most interesting part of the conversation with Moses was, “This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (Ge 3:15) This brings up the question, why would this be a memorial to him for generation to generation? Many people know what a memorial is. We have them for many occasions to remember something, an event or, someone known for something special. A relative, father, son, mother, brother, or hero who has done something special for us. This is especially true for someone who is no longer present with us. So a memorial brings them to mind, to our memory. It also brings to memory, some of the things we enjoyed about them, and we miss them, a lot. We would love to have them with us again.
There is an expression that is common today, “Out of sight, out of mind.” I tend to think about this in reference to God. If you can't see someone everyday, or converse with them, you tend to not think of them. Eventually, people tend to forget about that person, as time passes. Eventually, that person is no longer known, and is completely forgotten. When we look a little deeper into the name of YHWH, we find that it is a combination of not only Hebrew words, but thoughts, ideas, and things. The Hebrew words making up this name are also verbs, not nouns or proper nouns used in English. For those who don't remember, verbs represent action, or something that has action. A noun is a thing, such as, man, woman, animal, house, car, stone, etc.
In the case of the name of God, it is YHWH, translated into English as JeHoVaH. Part of this name, HYH/HVH, in Hebrew it's hayah, meaning: to be, to become, come to pass, exist. What Almighty God was revealing to Moses is, what God was. He did not say his name to Moses. He said, “HYH ASHR HVH”, (I become) (who) (I become), in other words, “I exist”, “I will prove who I am”, “I will do what I say I will do”, "I am who I am". He then proceeded to do exactly what he said he would do. He proved to the Israelites that he did exist and he would save them. He would fulfill the promise he made to Abraham. (Ge 17:1-8) Jehovah also gave the Israelites certain dates to use as memorials to remember his name. Because humans are what we are, forgetful, he had them set aside every seventh day, to be a special day to remember him.
One final thing about God's name as a memorial. Try saying his name without letting your breath out. --------You can't do it can you? Each part, JAH/YAH – HO – VAH/WAH involves breathing out. What did God do to make mankind alive? Every time you breath, it is a memorial to our wonderful maker, Jehovah.
Agapé,
Tsaphah
I visited a site today that deals with “YHWH”. Well, not exactly those letters, just the basic English system of symbols or graphemes. Each graph or mark represents a sound made with the human mouth. So, we English speaking peoples make these sounds by the combining of marks, to make words. The words also represent an object, idea, or expression of feelings. These four letters are a translation of the original Hebrew marks that represented God's name.
God's name. Who exactly are we speaking of when we say God? I believe that would depend on who YOU are. As an English speaking person, it would possibly be associated with the God of the Bible. In order to get a better understanding of this, we must first get the meaning of the word GOD, God, or god. Our English language and alphabet comes from several sources. They are empires that have ruled the Japhetic branch of humankind. These are Middle English, German, Latin, Greek, Phoenician, and Sanskrit. As for English written and spoken today, it is mainly made up of Latin and Greek words.
The word GOD, God, and god, are all the same word, whether all capital, capital and lower case, or all lower case letters. It's root literally means; to be strong. It is something that is or holds power. The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, saying “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1 Cor 8:5-6 KJV) [Notice Paul makes a distinction between God and Jesus Christ. God is the Father, and Jesus is Lord]
In the Greek language, the word is theos. In Hebrew, the word is elohim. The Hebrew word is translated into Greek as theos, and into English as god. As Paul points out, “there be gods many... But to us there is but one God,...”, which God, god, was he speaking about? Paul was a Jew, Hebrew. He was speaking about the GOD, God, god=person with power, YHWH, of the Hebrew nation. He was speaking of the god of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Ex 3:6)
This God also tells Moses that these descendants are “his people”. (Ex 3:7) At that particular time in the history of mankind, there were “many gods” that were worshiped. These gods had names associated with what they had power over. In Egypt at that time, there were at least 63 different gods. Some of the many gods were, Isis, Osiris, Horus, Ptah, Seker, and Ra, to name a few. All of the gods of the people had names. It is no wonder that Moses says, “Suppose I am now come to the sons of Israel and I do say to them, ‘The God of YOUR forefathers has sent me to YOU,’ and they do say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Ex 3:13)
This is where “The God of YOUR forefathers” gives Moses his distinct name. “At this God said to Moses: “YHWH.” And he added: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘YHWH has sent me to YOU.’” Then God said once more to Moses: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to YOU.’ This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (Ex 3:14-15) [I have placed YHWH in place of the transliteration of “I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.”, the meaning of God's personal name.] (NWT)
This is a very personal conversation between YHWH and Moses. What's in a name? What does a name mean and stand for? This information was never discussed or given before. Neither to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob was God's name discussed. These were true believers who he dealt with personally. Yet, they never asked about his name or asked him to explain it. They only knew him as their heavenly Father, the God Almighty, their progenitor. He told Abraham this, when Abraham was 99 nears old. (Ge 17:1) They knew who he was. He always kept his promises, always did exactly as he said he would do for them. They never doubted his word. [This was “el shadday = God Almighty, in Hebrew]
To me, the most interesting part of the conversation with Moses was, “This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (Ge 3:15) This brings up the question, why would this be a memorial to him for generation to generation? Many people know what a memorial is. We have them for many occasions to remember something, an event or, someone known for something special. A relative, father, son, mother, brother, or hero who has done something special for us. This is especially true for someone who is no longer present with us. So a memorial brings them to mind, to our memory. It also brings to memory, some of the things we enjoyed about them, and we miss them, a lot. We would love to have them with us again.
There is an expression that is common today, “Out of sight, out of mind.” I tend to think about this in reference to God. If you can't see someone everyday, or converse with them, you tend to not think of them. Eventually, people tend to forget about that person, as time passes. Eventually, that person is no longer known, and is completely forgotten. When we look a little deeper into the name of YHWH, we find that it is a combination of not only Hebrew words, but thoughts, ideas, and things. The Hebrew words making up this name are also verbs, not nouns or proper nouns used in English. For those who don't remember, verbs represent action, or something that has action. A noun is a thing, such as, man, woman, animal, house, car, stone, etc.
In the case of the name of God, it is YHWH, translated into English as JeHoVaH. Part of this name, HYH/HVH, in Hebrew it's hayah, meaning: to be, to become, come to pass, exist. What Almighty God was revealing to Moses is, what God was. He did not say his name to Moses. He said, “HYH ASHR HVH”, (I become) (who) (I become), in other words, “I exist”, “I will prove who I am”, “I will do what I say I will do”, "I am who I am". He then proceeded to do exactly what he said he would do. He proved to the Israelites that he did exist and he would save them. He would fulfill the promise he made to Abraham. (Ge 17:1-8) Jehovah also gave the Israelites certain dates to use as memorials to remember his name. Because humans are what we are, forgetful, he had them set aside every seventh day, to be a special day to remember him.
One final thing about God's name as a memorial. Try saying his name without letting your breath out. --------You can't do it can you? Each part, JAH/YAH – HO – VAH/WAH involves breathing out. What did God do to make mankind alive? Every time you breath, it is a memorial to our wonderful maker, Jehovah.
Agapé,
Tsaphah