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Conversation #036
The name of God
Dear Truth Seeker,
I did get your mail but have been busy for a while. We are going away for a couple of weeks tomorrow and am not sure that I will be able to answer any mail. So bear with me please and I'll get back to you again. In the meantime, as far as the name of God is concerned I don’t see any hard and fast rule for only one name, but if that’s what you want then I’m sure Yeshua won’t mind. This is what I read:
Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called "Wonderful", "Counsellor", "The mighty God", "The everlasting Father", "The Prince of Peace." Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Zechariah 6:12-13
And speak to him, saying, "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple [tabernacle] of the LORD: even He shall build the temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest [a priest/king] upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between Them both."
As I understand it names in the Bible express actual or desired character. Thus the "name" is how you see the person.
Joshua, Jesus, Jeshua, Yeshua, all equal "Saviour" as far as I know, so I’m happy to know Him under any one of those names. But others prefer more common names and as I want to communicate with them I’ll use whatever they want to use. Jesus is "meek and lowly" He says, so He won’t stand on a high horse and demand only one as being correct.
As you probably know Hebrew writing doesn’t use vowels, so as far as the name "YHWH" is concerned we can supply the ones we prefer, for the Jews do not pronounce that word, it is so holy to them. My understanding of "Adoni" is that when the word "YHWH" came up in a reading the Jewish people substituted "Adoni" (LORD) for it, rather than pronounce the holy name.
When Moses asked the LORD what His name was, He was told this.
Exodus 3:13-15
And Moses said to God [at the burning bush], "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?"
And God said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM:" and He said, "Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, 'I AM' has sent me to you."
And God said moreover to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, The LORD 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 FOR EVER, and this is My memorial to all generations."
So one of His chosen names is "I AM", indicating a living Presence.
It's not surprising that many ideas of the Old Testament are heavily influenced by Babylonian speech (Abraham came from there). Also, the Jews spent generations in that country during the captivity and some of the younger ones worshipped their god. Most of them changed from the "LORD" to the "lord" (the boss god) without incident. The name "Jew" was given them during the exile, because many of the captives came from the tribe of Judah. It was the one which listened most to God and therefore He was able to protect them the most. There were representatives from the other eleven tribes, of course, but they were few in number. Before the exile they were all called Hebrews, or Israelites.
As you say, "El" was a Sumerian name for their top god. But which came first, the truth of God or the counterfeit? Did the Hebrews have it and the Babylonians borrow it? El-ohim can mean either "Father, Son and Spirit", OR a group of Babylonian gods. It is used in Genesis 1 and 2 because the three partners were there at the creation. (I am NOT holding out for a trinity!! I don’t believe in such nonsense.) But there are three spiritual people in our Bible. Jesus tells us to call our God, "Father", and Himself "the Son", while He describes the Spirit as "the Comforter".
They were together in Genesis 1:2 and again at His baptism. Matthew 3:16-17. And they are together in the last book.
Revelation 3:12-13
Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him THE NAME OF MY GOD, and THE NAME OF THE CITY OF MY GOD, which is [at this moment called] new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him MY NEW NAME.
He that has an ear, let him hear what THE SPIRIT SAYS to the churches.
So it looks as though we will know them all by new names in the world to come, so maybe it's not that important now, so long as we have the correct understanding of His character?
Bye for now,
Ron
To the reader,
If there is anything not clear to you as you read my answer, please feel free to mail me and ask about it. I promise not to send you anything but a direct answer to your question. I won't argue about it, just share with you what I have seen.
I won't ask you to join a new church or offshoot either!
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