Our Yeshua (Immanuel)
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Author:
Jeannette W.A. Koster
Used Bible translations:
New King James Version
The Complete TaNaKH (Tanach)
Home >> Torah >> The Name of our God. Are we allowed to pronounce His Name?
The Name of our God
Are we allowed to pronounce His Name?
8 Tishrei 5780 | October 7th, 2019
It is well known among Christians and within Judaism that it isn’t allowed to pronounce the name of our God, the God of our fathers Avraham, Yitschak and Ya’akov. We’ve been told:
“Only the cohen hagadol [high priest] was allowed to pronounce the name of our God one time a year, on Yom HaKippurim [the Day of Atonement] and only in the Kodesh HaKodashim [the Holy of Holies]. On any other day, he wasn’t allowed to pronounce the name of Eloneinu [our God], just like everyone else.”
They teach us that God’s Name is too holy for us to pronounce it. We’ve also been told that it is written in the Bible/TaNaKH that only the high priest was allowed to pronounce God’s Name one time a year.
This gave me the reason to dig in the Bible/TaNaKH, looking for the place where it is written. Even more, because in the Hebrew language the Name of our God is written and in some Hebrew translations with full vowels.
In this article, I have arranged my findings as follows:
Index:
God’s Name in Hebrew
In Hebrew the Name of our God is formed by the letters Yud י – Hey ה – Vav ו – Hey ה (in Hebrew we read from right to left), and in the Hebrew Bible (the TaNaKH: the Old Testament in Christian Bibles) there is a Sh’va under the Yud, and under the Vav there is a Qameets.
יְהוָה
The Sh’va looks like a / : / under the letter. It is a silent vowel and takes the stem of the letter under were it is placed. When we pronounce the letter Yud, we hear / ye /.
The Qameets looks like a small table under the letter. The vowel is a lengthen / a /. When it is placed in a closed syllable, the vowel isn’t a Qameets, but a Qameets Khatuf and it is an / o /.
We would believe that the table under the Vav is placed in a closed syllable, because the letter Hey is at the end of the Name. However, the Hey is a silent letter – a guttural letter – and unless a / . / is placed in the letter, at the end of a word the Hey isn’t pronounced. This table is a Qameets, and in combination with the letter Hey at the end, it is called Qameets Hey. This means that the vowel is a lengthen / a /.
If we try to pronounce this combination, we will have a Hebrew word/name that grammatical isn’t possible: yehva. A vowel is missing.
A scholar in Biblical studies at the university in Jerusalem has searched with his team to scriptures, wherein God’s Name is printed with the full vowels. They went looking for the missing vowel. By now they have found over 6000 scriptures wherein God’s Name is written with the full vowels, and also, they have found 10 rabbis who has said what the Name of our God is. The missing vowel is the vowel that should be above the first letter Hey, and it is called the Kholem, which is a lengthen / o /.
יְְהֹוָה
When in Hebrew a vowel is mentioned “lengthen” or “short”, it is meant that the vowel is to be pronounced a bit longer or less longer. Let’s take, for example, in English: Bach. The “a” is pronounced shorter than in “car”, where the “a” is pronounced a bit longer. This is just like Music. A Hebrew vowel, pronounced shorter, is, as it were, like a quarter note while a vowel, pronounced longer is, as it were, like a half note.
In Hebrew, the stress is most of the time at the last syllable.
/ yehovah /
About Yom HaKippurim [Day of Atonement] in the Bible
It is written in the TaNaKH/OT that the high priest one time a year entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement over himself and the people. We can read this in Leviticus/Vayikra 23:27-32 and in Numbers/B’midbar 29:7-11, but most of this subject we can read in Leviticus/Vayikra 16.
In Leviticus/Vayikra 16 it is written in details what the high priest was supposed to do on Yom HaKippurim, and when. He made atonement for himself and the people, who weren’t just descendants of the 12 ancestors. Also, for the natives and strangers who dwelled among them he made atonement (verse 29, 30).
Through Moshe [Moses] Yehovah, our God, explains to Aharon [Aron] he can’t enter the Holy of Holies anytime he wants, before the Kapporet [the cover upon the Ark], because our God appears there in a cloud upon the Kapporet.
In detail it is written in Leviticus 16 what the high priest should do, and in which order, and it is specifically told that every one of the sons of the high priest who follows his father to become a high priest, should obey the same commandment given by our God through Moshe.
What isn’t mentioned, is that on this day and in this place – and only on this day and place – the high priest was allowed to pronounce the Name of our God. What it does say, is that nobody was allowed to be present in the Tent of Meeting/Temple when the high priest made atonement before our God, not even the Cohanim [priests]. Also, in the other chapters of Leviticus, nor in Numbers, we can find that it is forbidden to pronounce the Name of our God.
To forget the Name of our God
What is written in the Bible, is that one will make sure the Name of our God will be forgotten. That it will not be pronounced anymore.
In Jeremiah/Yirmeyahu 23 it is written in detail that it hurts our God that priests and prophets (that means also the teachers of His Word) claiming to be send by our God to preach a word, but that it isn’t the truth at all! In fact, they prophecy and teach the people their own thoughts, ideas and wishes, but not the words and instructions of our God. And doing so, they lead His people away from our God and causes to forget God’s Name … and don’t pronounce it anymore.
Verse 27 from Jeremiah/Yirmeyahu 23
Who think to cause My people to forget My name with their dreams that they tell, one to another, as their forefathers forgot My name through Baal.
הַחֹֽשְׁבִ֗ים לְהַשְׁכִּ֚יחַ אֶת־עַמִּי֙ שְׁמִ֔י בַּֽחֲל֣וֹמֹתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְסַפְּר֖וּ אִ֣ישׁ לְרֵעֵ֑הוּ כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֨ר שָֽׁכְח֧וּ אֲבוֹתָ֛ם אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י בַּבָּֽעַל:
Unfortunately, this isn’t just for those days … centuries ago. Today we don’t know God’s Name and we teach each other that it is absolutely forbidden to pronounce His Name. [Ecclesiastes/Kohellet 1:9]
It means a lot to our God that we know, honor and mention his Name
His Name is being blasphemed and our God is serious about purifying His Name.
Through the prophet Isaiah/Yeshayahu our God said that His Name is being blasphemed, because His people is being captured by surrounding peoples and they rule over His people and they brag about it. Isaiah/Yeshayahu 52:6
Therefore, My people shall know My name; therefore, on that day, for I am He Who speaks, here I am.
לָכֵ֛ן יֵדַ֥ע עַמִּ֖י שְׁמִ֑י לָכֵן֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא כִּֽי־אֲנִי־ה֥וּא הַֽמְדַבֵּ֖ר הִנֵּֽנִי:
Also in the days of Daniel/Dani’el, when the Judeans/Yehudim were in Babylon for 70 years, Daniel recognize what his people had done to make them living in a strange land, instead of their own. Dani’el prayed as follows:
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do, do not delay; for Your sake, my God, for Your Name is called upon Your city and upon Your people.
אֲדֹנָ֚י | שְׁמָ֙עָה֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י | סְלָ֔חָה אֲדֹנָ֛י הַקְשִׁ֥יבָה וַֽעֲשֵׂ֖ה אַל־תְּאַחַ֑ר לְמַֽעַנְךָ֣ אֱלֹהַ֔י כִּֽי־שִׁמְךָ֣ נִקְרָ֔א עַל־עִֽירְךָ֖ וְעַל־עַמֶּֽךָ:ֽ
In Isaiah/Yeshayahu 48 we read that our God delays His anger because of His Name. [Isaiah/Yeshayahu 48:1-9]
In Jeremiah/Yirmeyahu 7:30 and in 32:34 we see that our God is angry about what is going on in His House, that is named after His Name. Idols and other cruelties are being worshipped and practiced in the Temple. We can read this also in Ezekiel/Yechezkel 43:8.
In Leviticus/Vayikra 20:1-3 we read that our God gives through Moses a warning to everyone, from Israelite to the native and stranger dwelling among the Israelites:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
And to the children of Israel, you shall say: Any man of the children of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall pelt him with stones.
And I will set My attention upon that man, and I will cut him off from amidst his people, because he gave of his offspring to Molech in order to defile my holy ones and to profane My holy Name.
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָֹ֖ה אֶל־משֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר:
וְאֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֘ תֹּאמַר֒ אִ֣ישׁ אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל וּמִן־הַגֵּ֣ר | הַגָּ֣ר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִתֵּ֧ן מִזַּרְע֛וֹ לַמֹּ֖לֶךְ מ֣וֹת יוּמָ֑ת עַ֥ם הָאָ֖רֶץ יִרְגְּמֻ֥הוּ בָאָֽבֶן:
וַֽאֲנִ֞י אֶתֵּ֤ן אֶת־פָּנַי֙ בָּאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא וְהִכְרַתִּ֥י אֹת֖וֹ מִקֶּ֣רֶב עַמּ֑וֹ כִּ֤י מִזַּרְעוֹ֙ נָתַ֣ן לַמֹּ֔לֶךְ לְמַ֗עַן טַמֵּא֙ אֶת־מִקְדָּשִׁ֔י וּלְחַלֵּ֖ל אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם קָדְשִֽׁי:ֽ
Prayers of the people in relation to the Name of our God
David sang that his soul would be recovered by our God, and that he would be led by our God on the paths of righteousness. This would be all because of the Name of our God. [Psalms/Tehillim 23:3; 31:1-4]
David also prayed to God for his sins to be forgiven. However, he didn’t ask this in order to save his soul, but he pleaded to God: "For Your Name’s sake". [Psalms/Tehillim 25:11; 143:11]
The writer of Psalms/Tehillim 44 writes what the people – outcasted by our God – has been through. They acknowledge the power of His Name, with which they knew how to keep their enemies away and, therefore, are thanking forever His Name [verse 9]. They witnessed that it was due to their own shame the're in their mess. Jet, they said they will never forget God’s commandments and that they will always follow His commandments. And … they were witnessing they will never forget His Name:
Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps turned away from Your path – even when You crushed us in a place of serpents, and You covered us with darkness.
If we forgot the Name of our God and spread out our palms to a strange god, will God not search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
לֹֽא־נָס֣וֹג אָח֣וֹר לִבֵּ֑נוּ וַתֵּ֥ט אֲשֻׁרֵ֗ינוּ מִנִּ֥י אָרְחֶֽךָ:
כִּ֣י דִ֖כִּיתָנוּ בִּמְק֣וֹם תַּנִּ֑ים וַתְּכַ֖ס עָלֵ֣ינוּ בְצַלְמָֽוֶת:
אִם־שָׁ֖כַחְנוּ שֵׁ֣ם אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ וַנִּפְרֹ֥שׂ כַּ֜פֵּ֗ינוּ לְאֵ֣ל זָֽר:
הֲלֹא־אֱלֹהִ֥ים יַֽחֲקָר־זֹ֑את כִּי־ה֥וּא יֹ֜דֵ֗עַ תַּֽעֲלֻמ֥וֹת לֵֽב:
[Psalms/Tehillim 44:19-22]
This also tells me that if we forget the Name of our God, He is able to search in our hearts if it is because we are worshipping other gods, or our own ideas, desires, whishes, etc., instead of Him.
Attempts by the enemy to make God’s Name disappear
About 587 B.C.E. the Judeans were taken to Babylon by the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar II was king of Babylon. They destroyed the Temple Salomon/Sh’lomo build. For seventy years the Judeans lived in Babylon. When they finally came back to their place of birth, they build a second Temple.
The Judeans took lots of the habits of the Babylonians with them. One of the prohibitions the Babylonians laid upon the Judeans, was that they weren't allowed to pronounce the Name of our God.
About 167 B.C.E., during the time of the Maccabees, it was the Greek who were putting their gods, religion and habits upon humanity. The Judeans, however, fought back and so the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob kept worshipping and serving. And also, His Name kept being mentioned. The feast of Hanukkah reminds us to this happening.
About 23 C.E. a Jewish rabbi taught his people, and everyone who wanted to listen, what the Instruction [Torah] of our God is, and he has declared His Name. For centuries, lots of noise and false religion entered Yahadut [= religion of the Judeans]. The name of this rabbi was (and still is) Yehoshua/Yeshua [Jesus].
His name is from the verb יְשוּעָה / y’shu-a / which means salvation. The name Yehoshua means: Yehovah brings salvation. [Matthew 1:21]
Yehoshua said that he will not show himself again, unless he’s being welcomed in God’s Name יהוה:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
-- Matthew/Mattityahu 23:37-39
Blessed be he who has come in the name of the Lord; we have blessed from the house of the Lord.
בָּר֣וּךְ הַ֖בָּא בְּשֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָֽה בֵּֽ֜רַכְנוּכֶ֗ם מִבֵּ֥ית יְהֹוָֽה:__ Psalmen/Tehillim 118:26
When Yehoshua entered through the gates of Jerusalem on a donkey, the people shouted the words of Psalms 118:26. And doing so, they pronounced the Name of our God. The priests, pharisees and scribes didn’t shout the words of Psalms 118:26 when Yehoshua entered the gates, and they were the ones sitting in the house of יְהֹוָה
In the year 70 C.E. the second Temple was destroyed by the Romans.
In the year 135 C.E., after the Bar-Kokhba revolt, the Judeans were driven out of Jerusalem and they were forbidden to pronounce the Name of our God and to practice Yahadut. The penalty by violating this commandment, was death.
The rabbinate then decided not to read out loud the Name יְהֹוָה, but instead thereof to read out loud אְֲדוֹנְָי / adonai /.
Today, while the Roman occupation is long gone, the Name of our God is still not pronounced.
In the most Hebrew translations, the vowel Kholem is removed from the first letter Hey, and in the English translations the Hebrew Adonai is used and translated into “the LORD”.
And so, the Name of our God is definitely taken away from the Bibles.
Definition of God’s Name
God’s Name derives from the Hebrew verb לִהְיוֹת / lihyot / which means “to be”.
| לִהְיוֹת | ||
|---|---|---|
| Past tense, masculine | הָיָה / hayah / | Was |
| Present tense, masculine | הוֹוֶה / hoveh / | Is |
| Future tense, masculine | יִהְיֶה / yihyeh / | Will be |
The Name of our God is formed by:
- The first two letters of the future tense of the verb “to be”: יה / ye /
- The first letter of the past tense of the verb “to be”: ה / ho /
- The last two letters of the present tense of the verb “to be”: וה / va /
Our God – The God of Abraham [Avraham], Isaac [Yitschak] and Jacob [Ya’akov]:
- … is the Present One!
- … Was, Is and will always Be!
- … Was with us what He was according to our behavior towards Him; Is with us according to our behavior towards Him; will always Be with us according to our behavior towards Him:
- Judge
- Loving Father
- God
- Beloved …
God said to Moses, “I will be what I will be”, and He said, “So shall you say to the children of Israel, ‘I will be has sent me to you.’”
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־משֶׁ֔ה אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם:
__ Exodus/Shemot 3:14
Instead of / yehovah / and instead of Adonai/LORD or HASHEM [The Name], there’s also been mentioned: “The Present One”. Although this is more to His actual name, because it says more about our God, it doesn’t cover up all of our God to what He is.
Moreover; why should you keep on hiding His Name? Who of the kings/peoples still forbids you to pronounce the Name of our God by the penalty of death? It sure isn’t our God Himself!