Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
NAME OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB: PART 2
God reveals Himself in His Name.
This is one of a four part series on the Name of God.
Part 1 is a brief, broad brush introduction to the Jewish response to the Name of God (HaShem). It shows that the Name is not just an identifier. It speaks of His Capabilities and Intentions in the unspoken words heard by a Biblically sensitive Jew when the Name is spoken/read. It also shows the error of assimilating Allah with Elohim.
Part 2 briefly discusses some differences between Hebrew and English Grammar, plus more on the word unspoken and its importance concerning prayer.
Part 3, the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) is briefly discussed. It is included only for those who wish to know. It has no impact on your Salvation so skip it if you are not interested.
Part 4, briefly discusses the Name with which God introduces Himself to Creation, Elohim. It brushes the topic of the Trinity but not much.
Part 5, shows two examples of the Name of God in plain sight but unnoticed.
NAME OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB: PART 5
The volume of the Book is written of Me
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This part will discuss some of the differences between English and Hebrew Grammar. Such knowledge doesn’t mean that you will be more Righteous or Loved than other Saints. Those who don’t know this will not reach the Pearly Gates only to have St Peter say, “Sorry. You almost made it but you thought it was a noun when it was an adjective.” It is only to give you an idea of the depth of the riches of the knowledge and the wisdom of God in the Scriptures. My intention is not to impress you with my wonderfulness but to show you that you, too, can be a self-feeder. For what it’s worth, I have no theological qualifications. I once confessed to the Lord that I didn’t love Him and asked Him to show me how. About a year after it became obvious that I had developed a love for the Written Word of the Living Word.
Part 3, briefly discusses the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה). It is included only for those who wish to know. It has no impact on your Salvation so skip it if you are not interested.
Part 4, briefly discusses the Name with which God introduces Himself to Creation, Elohim. It brushes the topic of the Trinity but not much.
Brace yourself! This is more of a teaching blog than an entertaining one. It may not be an easy read because there is more here than a normal, well adjusted person would normally want to know but it will be worth it. It is the detail which makes me a boring person that brings the Bible alive for me. But if you happen to like what you read, there’s more to be found here
[NOTE: Important words analysed below are identified with Hebrew/Greek transliterations into English and Strong’s Numbers so that whoever wants to can check them out — it is strongly recommended that you do. I use the Blue Letter Bible (https://www.blueletterbible.org/ BLB)]
The next bit will be a bit technical.
People call me an Epistemophiliac (having an excessive love or reverence or preoccupation for knowledge). If you are an Epistemophobiac you might want to skip it. I won’t think any less of you. It is not necessary for Salvation. It is just that I spent many years coming up with plausible answers (and winning arguments) before it became apparent that plausible is not true.
All joking aside, just remember 1 Corinthians 8:1–3 when teachers get too far up themselves, “… We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. BUT IF ANYONE LOVES GOD, THIS ONE IS KNOWN BY HIM.”
Parts of speech.
This is not instruction on Hebrew or Greek. The only two languages in which I’m fluent are English (with it’s own twist) and obscene (which seems to be universal. Must have something to do with it’s source.)
This is just a short sample extracted from the BLB to give you a glimpse of the different approach taken by Hebrew and English. Such knowledge can prevent confusion when delving deeper. As far as I was concerned these were all names but many of them are descriptions, or Titles, like Bob-the-Builder. They becomes important in Prayer, as mentioned below and in several of the other articles in this series.
El Shaddai (proper name)
El Gibbor (singular adjective)
Elohim (plural noun)
Yehovah, Jehovah, Yahweh, יהוה (proper Name, singular)
(I have no idea how this works. I’ll just use, “name,” or it makes my brain hurt.)
Two important Names.
Of course every mention of HaShem is important but there are two that stand out for me. Yehovah and Elohim. Judaism has a different view on יהוה to ours. [If you have happened to read any of the stuff under this banner you would have encountered the concept of, “Hearing the words unspoken.”] The first time I heard a Complete Jew speak about God it stunned me. It was so gentle and personal. It literally changed my life.
The pronunciation will be covered later, sometime. Now I’ll stick to Yehovah.
[I explained in Part 1 that my appeal to authority is the collection of things that my Hebrew friends have told me. You can argue with them, if necessary.] When a Torah sensitive Jew hears/reads Yehovah the words unspoken are, “Covenant keeping One Who delights in coming down and making and keeping promises.” When the noun Elohim (associated with a singular verb) is read/spoken, the unspoken word is, “Creator.” So when the words are combined to Lord God (English), Yehovah Elohim, the unspoken words are, “The Covenant keeping One Who delights in coming down to make and keep promises about creating.” It flashes through the mind, uncontrollably. For Yehovah Rapha, The Lord Who Heals (English) is heard, “The Covenant keeping One Who delights in coming down to make and keep promises, promises to heal.” You get the picture.
Importance of The Name in prayer.
Prayer is also covered in
Going through the Tanakh you have noticed a multitude of times, Yehovah-this, Yehovah-that. That is often termed the Compound Name of God. And that is true but, as briefly mentioned above, many times Yehovah is linked to an adjective or a verb, or other parts of speech. This is a Bob-the-Builder type of construction. It shows what He is eager and capable to do for His People — if only they would pay attention. The same applies to His Church. [The (small ‘c’)church would become a (big ‘C’)Church.]{I’m as much, more, to blame as anyone.}
All through the OT, God is saying, “Remember, Remember, Remember. . . ” It says in the NT that He knows what you want before you ask.
So why insult His Intelligence?
He has revealed Himself in His Name. He has given us the list. Why do we think we have to inform him?! It is our job to remind ourselves of those promises and abilities by remembering and calling on His Name which is appropriate for the situation. This is the Power of Prayer, as I see it. Perseverance in Prayer, at least to this yobbo, is not to annoy Him. It is a memory aid given to me to remember that I have put the matter in His hands and it is being taken care of. “I remember that I told you about this yesterday, and I am certain You heard and are responding according to Your Wisdom and Your Mercy. I’ll be back tomorrow because my short-term memory is not the best so I may begin to worry.”
Next instalment.
Hebrew is not an easy accent to develop for those without the Mother Tongue.
The pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) constantly causes friction in the Pews. This will be discussed in Part 3.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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