Have it YHWH!

Today's post is going to be short and sweet. My dad read yesterday's and said it was too long. It might have hurt my feelings if I hadn't also inherited his 3 second attention span. Today is going to be very basic and is pretty much going to explain the reason behind choosing my dorky blog title! 

One of the first things I learned when beginning this search for truth was that the god of the bible has a name... and it isn't GOD. However, I'm sure you've noticed if you've ever been to a church service, or ever met someone who is a believer, they refer to the god of the bible as GOD. They say, "I believe in God" and "I asked God for help" blah blah blah. There is nothing WRONG with that. Most people have never known any different! 

However, in the original Hebrew bible, the text uses God's actual name over 7,000 times! A long time ago, a false doctrine was perpetrated regarding speaking this name. Instead, followers of the god of the bible started called him things like "god," "lord," "Jehovah" or even "Ha Shem" which is Hebrew for "the name." This practice was mankind's idea and originally intended to show reverence, but instead, it just made everyone FORGET what God's name actually is. So, let's rewind and read where God officially introduces himself to Moses in the third chapter of Exodus (or "Shemot" in Hebrew.) 

"...13 Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" 14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'15 And God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `The Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. THIS IS MY NAME forever, and this is My memorial-name to ALL GENERATIONS."

Translated into English, you could say God's name is "I am that I am," or "He who is" Therefore, the transliteration of God's personal name is YHWH! (Note: Hebrew has no vowels and is read left to right so said aloud it sounds like "YAH-WEH")

Let's break it down for those visual learners:

The English transliteration of God's personal name is YHWH.

The four Hebrew letters transliterated YHWH are:

 a Yod, rhymes with "rode", which we transliterate "Y"

 a He, rhymes with "say", which we transliterate "H"

 a Vav, like "lava", which we transliterate "W" or "V"

 another He

Read left to right, it spells out YHWH! 

(Now, take a moment to read the title of this post and make fun of my lame YHWH joke. There's plenty more where that came from!) 

Now, I'm sure most of you have heard the commandment not to "take the Lord's name in vain" found in Exodus 20:7. At least I did my entire childhood when I was repeatedly reprimanded for saying things like "Oh my GOD!" In truth, saying "Oh my God" actually has nothing to do with God's name whatsoever. This came as a great relief to me since I have a POTTY mouth! In fact, what the verse is saying is two things. First, we are obviously not to use the name of YHWH disrespectfully. However, this part of the commandment has become obsolete in modern times because most people don't even know what God's name is! Which brings me to my second point. The Hebrew word for 'vain', pronounced "SHAV" in Hebrew, means "desolating, uselessness or naught." We don't have a problem using the name of God disrespectfully, we have a problem not using or knowing it at ALL. We have brought it to NAUGHT. 

The suppression of God's name was the opposite of what he wanted, no matter how reverential man's intentions were. He made using the name a part of the commandment so that we could have a deeper level of intimacy with him. How weird would it be if your father only addressed you as "boy" or "daughter" and never by your name? 

At work, I called a co-worker 'Rob' for the first two weeks only to find out his name was Gabriel. Was he pissed? No, but it definitely told of how little we knew one another. How well can we know YHWH, who He is and what He is like if we don't even know his NAME?! 

YHWH not only wants us to use his name, he CALLS us to. This way, He can have the intimate relationship with us that he intended. 

"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the FRIEND of God." James 2:23


"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 15:15

What else is the Christian church mistaken or misinformed about? A LOT. If you're interested in studying on your own, I highly recommend purchasing a Jewish Study Bible. The footnotes rock. Also, Todd D. Bennett has a series of books that I'm reading called "Walk in the Light" that are all about revealing the lost truths of scripture. 

Oops. This post might be longer than yesterdays. Not apologizing. :)

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Love, 

Ashley