AMF
International Mailbag
Q: I have a friend who is
in this study in regard of the name of God "Yahweh". That this is
His name and we need to use it and acknowledge it and reverence it.
She seems to feel her group is one of the few who know His true name. There
is a whole study on it.
I recently saw a teaching by Michael Rood who speaks similar. They claim
that the Bible missed putting God's real name in it, or something like it.
My lack of understanding is, that if we need to use God's name, why didn't Yeshua
teach on it or pray using the name Yahweh? Do you know if YHWH was used in the
NT?
I really would love to hear your thought on this. It really has me curious
and I sure don't want to miss using the name Yahweh if that's what God wants
us to do
A: First a little background:
ancient Hebrew was written without vowels. This was enough as long as you
knew the words, just as you might easily recognize "Grg Wshngtn"
as probably meaning "George Washington," but if you had never heard
of George Washington, you might as easily guess Greg Washington, and if you
didn't know English at all, you could guess any number of things. When God
gave his name to Moses, it was written down in Hebrew with the letters equivalent
to Y-H-W-H. At the time, people would have known how it was pronounced. In
time however, the name came to be considered too holy to pronounce, so the
word "Lord" was substituted. Eventually there was no one left who
even remembered how the actual name was ever pronounced, since they had never
heard it!
Now, I think you're on the right track when you ask if the name YHWH was
used in the New Testament. Surely Jesus would have at least mentioned at some
point how the name was actually pronounced, if it was really important for
us to use it. In fact, however, neither he nor anyone else in the New Testament
ever uses it. Even when quoting Hebrew Scriptures containing the Name, the
authors substitutes the Greek word for "Lord," in accordance with
Jewish custom.
As an example, a religiously observant Jew today starts every day with the
prayer called the "Shema," based on Deuteronomy 6:4-8, where it
says "Hear, Oh Israel, the LORD thy God is One", As it appears in
Jewish Torah scroll (the first five books of the Bible), the word "LORD"
is the Hebrew YHWH, but in prayer and public reading the word "Adonai"
is pronounced its place, out of reverence for the holy name. When Jesus quoted
this verse in Mark 12:29, he also used the word "Lord" here rather
than pronounce the actual name.
When Jesus addressed God the Father directly, he called him "Father,"
(e.g., John 11:41, John 17:2) and taught his disciples to do likewise. (Luke
11:2, Matthew 6:9) Why should we call him by his "first name" when
it is our privilege to call him "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15)?
*Here are some examples of New Testament quotations from
the Hebrew Bible, where the Hebrew used YHWH but New Testament says "Lord"
Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, John 1:23 from Hosea 11:1
Mark 12:29 from Deut 6:4
Mark 12:30 from Deut 6:5
Romans 10:13 from Joel 2:32
Romans 10:16 from Isaiah 53:1
Romans 11:34 from Isaiah 40"13
1 Corinthians 10:26 from Psalm 24:1
2 Tim 2:19 from Numbers 16:5
Hebrews 10:30 from Deut 32:36