יהוה is the Hebrew form of the Name of the Creator. According to most scholars, the most probable pronunciation of this Name is Yahweh.
The name of the Messiah is Yeshua, short for Yehoshua (יהושע), which means ‘Yah is salvation’
1ST PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: THE FATHERHOOD OF YAHWEH
2ND PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: SANCTIFICATION OF YAHWEH’S NAME
3RD PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: LET YOUR KINGDOM COME
4TH PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: YAHWEH’S WILL ON EARTH
5TH PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: BREAD FOR THIS DAY
6TH PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
7TH PRINCIPLE IN YESHUA’S PRAYER: TEMPTATION AND YOUR ENEMY
HALLOWED BE THY NAME…
It is revealed that the Father has a Name in the Yeshua’s Prayer, <Let your Name be Set-Apart (sanctified)>.
What is that Name? What Name did the Nazarene believe to be uniquely the Eternal’s? How is it to be Set-Apart? The answer lies in the second concept of the Nazarene’s prayer.
As a Hebrew/Jew, Yeshua the Messiah knew quite well what the Eternal’s Name was. A ‘name ‘ in Hebrew thought refers not only to the spoken or literal aspect but also refers to character, honour and authority. Even as a child Yeshua must have been familiar with the story of Mosheh (Moses) and the burning bush. This is an account he later quotes against the Sadducees.
IN HEBREW THOUGHT A NAME REFERS TO: ● SPOKEN OR LITERAL ASPECT ● CHARACTER ● HONOUR ● AUTHORITY
Exodus 3:13-15 records Mosheh’s question about the Eternal’s self-designation:
Exodus 3:13-15 [The Scriptures - 2009]
13 And Mosheh said to Elohim, “See, when I come to the children of Yisra’el and say to them, ‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And Elohim said to Mosheh, “I am that which I am.”*And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Yisra’el, ‘I am has sent me to you.’
15 And Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisra’el, יהוה Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Yitshaq, and the Elohim of Yaʽaqob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.’
*(The Hebrew text reads: eyeh asher eyeh, the word eyeh being derived from hayah which means to be, to exist, but the Aramaic text here in v. 14 reads: ayah ashar ayah – The Scriptures note)
The Elohim of Mosheh was The Absolute Being. The Eternal was not going to change His Name to another.
No one would have to tell Yeshua that in Hebrew the four letters which stand for the Name of Yahweh Elohim, the Eternal are יהוה.
According to the historian Josephus (1st century historian), the Jews never pronounced יהוה. In everyday life they substituted it for Lord or «Adonai». The original Hebrew was a language which only used consonants and the vowel sounds were memorised just as they are today in Israel. This is something like “bldg”[building] in English. About the year 1,000 after Yeshua the Jewish scribes began to add vowel points to indicate pronunciation. These differ a bit when it comes to Yehwah (Genesis 2:4), Yehowah (Genesis 3:14), Yahweh, or, even Yehowih. (Ezekiel 2:4) (Some scholars believe that this was done by the Jews to further confuse the pronunciation of the Name).
There are some scholars and experts who maintain that the Name of the Eternal was never lost because it was pronounced at least once a year during the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) by the High Priest when he entered in the Holy of Holies.
Who is responsible for this supposed loss of the pronunciation of the Divine Name, if it has indeed been lost? The Jewish scribes never removed the Name as the King James translators did. The Jewish Masoretic scribes tried to preserve the pronunciation in 1,000 AD with the introduction of vowel points.
Scripture shows us that Yeshua pronounced the Sacred Name:
<I have revealed Your Name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world> – John 17:6
< And I have made Your Name known to them, and shall make it known> – John 17:26 [see Psalms 22:22]
For more information see DID YESHUA PRONOUNCE THE SACRED NAME?
The Nazarene’s example, without contest, would be premier in this matter of the use of the Divine Name, Yah-weh ( יהוה).
All the great men of the Hebrew Scriptures used יהוה in their prayers. Men such as Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Jonah. (Numbers 14; Deuteronomy 32, 33; Joshua 7:7-8; Judges 5:31; 2 Samuel 22:29; 1 Kings 18:36-37; 2 Chronicles 6:41; Nehemiah 9:5; Daniel 9:9; Jonah 1:14).
The Divine Name is of out-most importance . This Tetragram (Four Letters) occurs over 6,000 times in the Tanach (Old Testament). In the Fourth Century before Yeshua when the Greek-speaking Jews under the rule of Alexander the Great began to translate the Hebrew text in what was becoming the international language of common Greek, they came upon some difficulty. There is no way to transliterate the Hebrew יהוה into Greek as it lacks the correct letters to make the translation complete. So, the seventy scribes who produced what is now called the Septuagint (LXX), left the four letters יהוה untranslated. The Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh [Old Covenant] does something similar at:
Exodus 6:3 [JPS]
3 “And I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as el Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by my name יהוה.
Thus, when reading such Septuagint editions, the Divine Name יהוה would have stuck out clearly when reading.
Abraham knew the Name as did the other Patriarchs. It is during the life of Moses when Elohim first revealed the meaning of his personal Name. Exodus 3:13-15 records this in the account about the Burning Bush when Moses is on Mount Sinai. In this account, Elohim explains what יהוה means. In Hebrew, this is Eh-yeh’ Asher’ Eh-yeh. It is understood to mean: ‘I am the One who is’ (Or I Am the One Who Exists; I am the Being) Other versions render this:
Rotherham: I Will Become Whatsoever I Please
Moffatt and Leeser: I Will Be That I Will Be
KJV: I Am What I Am.
The Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has a footnote on this point:
The name YHWH (traditionally read Adonai “the LORD”) is here associated with the root hayah “to be.”
And, so, The New Brown- Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon states on page 218:
“But most take it as… the one who is: i.e. the absolute and unchangeable one… the existing, ever-living.”
However, when, over one thousand years later, the Greek-speaking Jews began to translate the Scriptures from Hebrew in what is known today as the Septuagint, they left the Tetragram (יהוה) in its original form as יהוה in Hebrew. This can be seen in the LXXP of the First Century B C fragment and The Aleppo Codex of the Tenth Century AD in Hebrew. These Jewish translators of Alexander the Great’s period did translate the meaning of the Name. For the Hebrew, they used «ego eimi» ho on which is usually translated: “the One who is.” Also, they rendered יהוה as «ho On» or “the One who is.” This same designation is used by the apostle John in Revelation 1:4, 8; 11:17; 16:5, when he uses the formula for Elohim Almighty: “the One who is and the One who was and the One who is coming.” So, in his own way, John renders the meaning of the Divine Name (יהוה) in Greek even as the Septuagint (LXX) did at Exodus 3:14.
The Nazarene never used this designation «ho On» as a term for Elohim according to the Greek Gospels. He preferred the title, or name, “The Elohim” and “Father”. Overall there is a preference for “The Elohim” («ho theos») with the exception of the Gospel of John where Father is the name of choice, 120 times to “Elohim” 90 times. The Gospel of Luke is weighted in the other direction. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark favour “Elohim” over “Father.” But, all things considered, Father is Yeshua’s preferred designation for the Supreme Being, The Absolute Elohim.
NAME SANCTIFIED
The Divine Name was to be held holy, sanctified or treated with special respect. This is shown by the use of the word-group “sanctify” over 130 times in the Scriptures. This holiness is first stressed in the Ten Commandments, <You shall not misuse the name of יהוה>. It is this commandment which caused the Jews to refrain from uttering the Sacred Name. They did not use the Name at all, except on the Day of Atonement and only by the High Priest.
One may wonder why the Name of the Eternal, יהוה needs to be “sanctified”? There are two reasons for this. First, the Adversary, the Arch Enemy of the Eternal raised an issue in the Garden of Eden (later highlighted in the book of Job) which called into question the Eternal’s honest dealings with humans. According to Job 1:9-11 and Job 2:4, 5, the Adversary inferred that humans only worshipped the Eternal, יהוה for what they could get out of it. This is still a contemporary charge against Believers: that heaven is their only motivation. This was, and still is, an accusation which reproached the Eternal, יהוה and besmirched His name. Scripture is an account how the Eternal purposes to correct this deviation and thus ‘sanctify His great Name.’ (Isaiah 29:23; Ezekiel 36:23)
Secondly, the Jews had brought great reproach upon the Name of their Elohim יהוה, much the same as historical “Christians” have reproached the name of Messiah during the last 19 centuries. About the Jews’ deviation, Shaul (Paul) writes when he quotes Isaiah,
Romans 2:24
24 For “The Name of Elohim is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you,” as it has been written.
Isaiah 52:5
5 ...My Name is despised all day continually.
It was as true in Isaiah’s day as it was in Shaul’s, 700 years later and still is today. There was a monumental record of reproach which needed to be punished and corrected. It is very similar to the unholiness heaped on the Eternal’s Name and the name of Messiah throughout the Dark Ages into the Twentieth Century. One cannot find an inquisition, a crusade, a slave trade, a false prophecy, or a war, which did not involve so called ‘Christians’ or so-called worshippers of the Eternal. This very record is what turns most persons away from Messiah and his Elohim (יהוה).
The subject of the sanctification of the Name of the Eternal was not original with the Nazarene. It is a reoccurring theme throughout the Scriptures. Some are:
Ezekiel 36:23, Numbers 20:12, Leviticus 10:3, Leviticus 22:31-33, Deuteronomy 28, Isaiah 29:23, Ezekiel 36:20-23, Psalms 29:2; 103:1; 148:13,
From these verses, it can be observed that lack of faith and questionable religious sacrifices are ways of failing to sanctify the Eternal’s Name.
SUMMARY SO FAR
In review then, Yeshua the Nazarene taught about the Eternal, who as the Father, is the same as יהוה of the Hebrew Scriptures. Shaul and the other disciples who wrote after Yeshua do the same thing. There are well over one hundred quotations in the Scriptures where the Name of the Eternal appears in original Hebrew sources. Thus, Elohim the Father has a Name and Yeshua the Messiah stresses the need for all of the Eternal children to pray for its sanctification. Nothing in word or deed must be done to make this Name to appear worthless or in any way abused so that others would spit on the Eternal. What we do and how we act reflects on the Name of יהוה. Particularly, a major way to sanctify the Name of the Father is by faith.
In the Second Nazarene Principle regarding the Name of Elohim we have seen how the Nazarene prays for The Name of the Father to be sanctified. This “Name” is not only the self-designation of Elohim, Yahweh, but also the character, reputation and attributes of the Father himself. Faith sanctifies the Name of Elohim.
Source: Mark Heber Miller [Used by permission]; Avdiel ben Oved
Edited by Nazarene Notes
1ST NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: THE FATHERHOOD OF YAHWEH
2ND NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: SANCTIFICATION OF YAHWEH’S NAME
3RD NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: LET YOUR KINGDOM COME
4TH NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: YAHWEH’S WILL ON EARTH
5TH NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: BREAD FOR THIS DAY
6TH NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
7TH NAZARENE PRINCIPLE: TEMPTATION AND YOUR ENEMY
Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are from The Scriptures,
Copyright by Institute for Scripture Research.
Used by permission