HaShem - The Name (to be continued)

“Moses said to Ya, ”Look, when I appear before the people of Isra’el and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” Ya said to Moses, “I AM that I AM,” and added “Here is what to say to the people Isra’el: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “ Ya said further to Moses, “Say this to the people of Isra’el: ‘Ya, the 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 forever. This is how I am to be remembered generation after generation.” Exodus 3:13-15 HaShem – literally translated from Hebrew means the Name. My mind is boggled at what mystery, controversy, and ideas surround the very simple four letter word that is the personal name of our creator. I will try and shed some light, based on the reading I have done, on the controversy and why I think it is so important to get it correct. Beware there are many pitfalls in the body of work related to this area, I will by no means explain or attempt to explain all that I read. This four letter Name is so important it has been given a title in and of itself! The Tetragrammaton, which just means the four letter name. My name is Eric John Moser and I answer to many calls of my name; Eric, Eric John, Mr. Moser, etc. I also have some titles that go along with my name that I will answer to; Daddy, Husband, Systems Manager, etc. My name is special in that it is who I associate my identity with, but it also contains an element of where I came from as my last name is passed on from Father and his Father and his Father etc. Our name can also take on a covenantal element because when we are married we have our wives change their last name, or when we take an oath or make a choice we may chose to change our name like Cassius Clay became Mohammed Ali. It is even more so with our Creator. The Name He has chosen for Himself is extremely personal. It is a self-revelation of His identity, of who He is. It is a title in many aspects as it truly is the Name above all Names. It also has a covenant aspect to it that we will see in a moment. I love what one scholar had to say about the Name. “The etymology of the word is opaque.” That is to say it has not etymology. Of course not, it eternally existed before the creation of the world. This is one of the most beautiful things about the Name. There is none like it in this sense. The name is unique among words. It goes on to say that there is no linguistic value in the name it only has meaning within the context of its historical importance. How much more amazing is that? This explains one of the nagging questions that lay deep within my mind for years. Why is our creator constantly referred to as “the God of our Fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who brought you up out of Egypt.” The reason is because the Name must have its historical context to have meaning to humans. Although the name has no etymology and no linguistic equivalent many have tried to trace its roots and meaning. As pointless as this seems to me, the search has gleaned the following helpful and edifying descriptions of who Ya is. “I am here present as I will.” “I cause to be what comes into existence.” “The one who is.” “He who acts passionately.” “He that speaks.” “Sustainer, Maintainer, Establisher” “To come to pass.” “He is who manifests himself as redeemer, whose power humiliates the mighty, and who calls nature into His service for his historical purpose.” As clever and creative as these descriptions are, they do not come close to describe the person who is behind them. Each of them have focus on different aspects and there are the common themes of creation, acting, presence, however none of them satisfy the truth that we know of all that Ya is and represents. Through the use of adjectives in conjunction with his name, Ya continued revealing more and more of Himself to us. It is beautiful to study the Torah and watch as Ya reveals more of Himself in different situations by using more adjectives of his Name. In fact, he does not even reveal his personal Name until the passage I started with in Exodus. Here are just a few of the highlights. Ya-Mekaddesh El Elyon Ya-Nissi El Shaddai Ya-Shalom El Olam Ya-Sabaoth El Berith Ya-Rohi El Rohi Ya-Tsidkenu Elohim Ya-Shammah Ya also chose to use other ways to reveal His name and parts of His character. He uses symbolic or figurative speech, for example Shield, Rock, Refugee, and Fortress. These items found in our world have specific purpose which illuminates a specific attribute of Ya’s character. He also uses roles from everyday life, for example King, Shepherd, Judge. These are specific jobs or titles that illuminate a specific attribute of Ya’s character. Ya also chooses many variations and adjectives along with one of the most personal people in everyone’s life, their Father. This one of the major frustrations I have with scriptural versions we lose so much meaning when they translate everything as God or Lord. There is so much meaning in the names above that is lost. So, with all of the choices above the rich meaning and purpose of all of them why on earth do we choose to use the three letter word God? This has bothered me since college and in fact back then I started using some of the richer more meaningful names in my own prayers and speech. I did not have a full realization of why it bothered me so much until I started this study. Who is man that we think we can rename the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth? Who do we think we are? I am sure I do not fully understand all of the reasons why but there are some that are plausible that I will briefly outline. One reason is for protection of the Israelites, one is out of sheer reverence and fear of the Name, and the last is because of Satan’s influence over the church since its inception. I believe all of these reasons are true and I also believe that this is not an exhaustive list. Let’s look at them each independently. At the time when Moses walked the earth it was common practice by many of the nearby peoples to have many different pagan gods. It was common folklore that if you could ascertain the name of the pagan god, you could utter their name and wield their powers against even those that worshiped the god whose name you stole. To protect the name of their God the Israelites obfuscated the Name. The Name they started using was one that is not listed above and you by now are probably wondering why it was not in the list. That name is Adonai. This name is actually a rewritten form of the Tetragrammaton with specific vowel markings to make it sound like Adonai. This was news to me and quite shocking to find out that it was a fictitious name purposefully created for confusion! The second reason was out of fear and reverence. The Israelites developed a significant amount of awe/fear for Ya during the time they wandered in the wilderness with the Tabernacle and the pillar of fire and clouds. We read of incidents were the rules regarding the Ark of the Covenant were broken and people were struck dead. This rightly instilled a significant amount of fear and respect. In fact, one of the 10 commandments is devoted specifically to respecting the Name. Without any restriction in the scriptures, the Talmud places a restriction on even uttering the Name. The only person in all of Israel with permission to utter the name was the cohen godal, the High Priest. Even then it was only permitted on Yom Kippur as a part of the priestly duties while entering the Holy of Holies to ask forgiveness for the nation of Israel. As a part of that ceremony the High Priest uttered the name 10 times and if you were within hearing distance you were to immediately fall prostrate on the ground and speak the words “Blessed be His Name whose kingdom is forever and ever.” In fact, the Talmud even restricted the destruction of the written word. So, if you write it down on a piece of paper it could not be burned, crumpled, defaced, or anything. Some very small and specific sects of Judaism to this day abide by this to this day. Leviticus 24: 10-16 relates a story of a man who in the midst of a fight uttered the Name in a curse. Ya told Moses to have the community stone him as punishment for his blasphemy. I could go on but I am getting way ahead of myself. Needless to say it is not hard to see how the Name became hidden within the priesthood for a very privileged few. Finally, I believe satan certainly had his hands in the purposeful obfuscation of the Name. When it came time to start publishing the scriptures for the masses, how would the very specific Hebrew words be translated first into Latin and finally into the scriptures we have today in so many languages? This is one of the pitfalls I warned of at the beginning. I will suffice it to say the words chosen (God and Jesus) have very specific etymologies and linguistic origins. I find myself needing to quote Frodo and Gandalf from The Fellowship of the Ring. When Gandalf tries to prove that the ring is the one that rules them all. Frodo says, “Wait … there are markings… its some form of elvish. I can’t read it.” To which Gandalf replies, “There are few who can, the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here” Those words used to translate the Name have nothing to do with the beautiful, rich, meaningful words that Ya himself has given us. If you think about it, proper names are one of the few things that we do not attempt to translate. All you have to do is think of any Chinese friends that you have and you realize this is true. So, once again I bring myself to who do we think we are? What gives mere mortal man the power to change the name of the Almighty?

Blessed be the Name!

(to be continued)