The Name of God!

What's in a Name? Can you work out what "God's" Real name is? Read the following, and see if you were correct! May "Good Luck", and "Wisdom" Dwell in the house of those who clearly see, and fear not the un-known! YeshaYah (Isaiah) 52:6 " Therefore My people shall know MY NAME: therefore they shall know in that day that I am HE that doth speak: behold, it is I." The Israelites took naming persons and places much more seriously than we do today. To them a name was not just a label provided for convenience in distinguishing one person from another. A name was an essential part of the person so named. Names should be appropriate, for the person's name was regarded as a sort of duplicate of counterpart of it's bearer; there was believed to be a mystical relationship between name and the thing named. The name was conceived as influencing its bearer, and the name revealed something to a person who was told it. This was not a unique approach to naming, but one that prevailed among many ancient Near Eastern peoples. Harper's Encyclopedia of Bible Life Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language The Jews, who had the greater part of their numbers dispersed in foreign lands by force or emigration, had lost their language. Even at the time of the Fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) Hebrew was losing out to Aramaic as the language of ordinary communication. In the next (6th) century, under Persian rule, Aramaic became the common language of the Scripture speaking peoples. The next conquerors of Palestine were the Greeks. Though the Greek culture was strongly pushed as a policy of the Seleucid kings, Aramaic remained the language of the Palestinian people until the Mohammedans conquered the region in the 7th century A.D. and introduced Arabic. Harper's Encyclopedia of Bible Life YAHWEH YAHWEH, the proper Name of the ABBA (FATHER) of Yisrael; it is composed of four consonants (YHWH) in Hebrew and is therefore called the tetragrammaton. The Name was first revealed to Moshe (Ex. 3), but the ABBA of Moshe was the Almighty of the fathers (Ex. 3:6, 15), known to the Israelites as EI Shaddai (Ex. 6:2-3). In the Scriptures the NAME YAHWEH is derived from the verbal root "to be," "to exist," and means "He who is" (Ex. 3:14 ff.). The Name YAHWEH later ceased to be used by the Jews for two somewhat contradictory reasons. As Judaism began to become a universal religion, the proper Name YAHWEH tended to be replaced by the common noun Elohim, meaning "God," which could apply to foreign deities and therefore could be used to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Yisrael's God over all others. At the same time, the divine Name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered, for fear of profanation, and in the synagogue ritual it was replaced by Adonai ("my Lord"), which was translated Kyrios ("Lord") in the Septuagint. The occurrence of the four sacred letters in the text of the Scripture itself could not be thus replaced, but the same fear of profanation caused the Masoretes (6th-8th centuries A.D.) to change the pronunciation by replacing the vowels (which in Hebrew are marked beneath or above the consonants if not omitted altogether) with the vowels of Adonai (or, more rarely, the vowels of Elohim). This accounts for the form Jehovah, an artificial name with the consonants of YAHWEH and the vowels of Adonai (the initial "j" representing the Hebrew consonantal "i" which is also transliterated as "y"; the "e" representing the indeterminate Hebrew vowel which appears as "a" in the initial letter of Adonai; and the "v" being alternative to "w"). After 1518, when the Franciscan Petrus Gelatinous argued in favor of the form Jehovah, it appeared in translations of the Old Covenant, but English versions in most cases preferred to follow the Septuagint in translating the Hebrew YAHWEH by the periphrasis "the LORD" instead of transliterating it as Jehovah. With the new critical scholarship of the 19th and 20th centuries the more correct YAHWEH has gradually gained ground. Parts of above from the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 1968 vol. 23 pg. 867. In the above definition, the word "Elohim" does not mean "God". The true meaning of "Elohim" is " The Almighty One of Oaths and Promises Who is Faithful". Also, the word "Adonai" does not mean "Lord". But the English word that most describes Him is YAHWEH. This above definition shows that they know the Name YAHWEH; and have changed all these words to exonerate the god of this world. The word "divine" should not be used to describe His Name The scripture does not use the word "divine" in describing His Name. His Name is Qodesh (holy), SetApart. It should read "the SetApart Name". YAHWEH (ya' we) A modern transliteration of the Hebrew word translated Jehovah in the Bible; - used by some critics to discriminate the tribal god of the ancient Hebrews from the Christian Jehovah. SEE TETRAGRAMMATON Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1959) While inclined to view the pronunciation YAHWEH as the more correct way, we have retained the form Jehovah because of people's familiarity with it since the 14th Century. The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (The Jehovah Witnesses), The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (page 23) God God In Western culture the word God generally refers to one supreme holy being who is believed to have created the entire universe, to rule over it, and to bring it to its fulfillment. In the Old Covenant, God was called YHWH, pronounced YAHWEH by most scholars; the exact pronunciation of the Name was lost because it was rarely enunciated. In its place was read Adonai ("Lord"). The written combination of the tetragrammaton YHWH with the vowels of Adonai was traditionally rendered as Jehovah in English Scriptures. YHWH is frequently translated as "He who is" and probably designates YHWH as creator. In ISLAM, ALLAH stands for a similar notion. Thus, the word God refers to the object of WORSHIP, PRAYER, and religious MEDITATION. God also has been the object of religious and philosophical reflection, the supreme object of THEOLOGY. Parts of above from: GROLIER ENCYCLOPEDIA ed. 8 pg. 336 under God God 1. A being of more than human attributes and powers; a deity, esp. a male deity; anything worshiped by man as a deity. 2. An idol. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1959) Only fear YAHWEH, and serve HIM in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things HE has done for you. JEHOVAH JEHOVAH, an erroneous rendering of the name of the God of Israel. The error arose among Christians in the middle ages through combining the consonants Yhwh (Jhwh) with the vowels of Adonai, "Lord" which the Jews in reading the Scriptures substituted for the sacred name, commonly called the tetragrammaton, as containing four consonants. See YAHWEH. From reference: ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA vol. 12 pg. 991 under Jehovah, JEHOVAH, [Hebrew usually Yehowah; prob. properly Yahweh] a Christian form given to the Tetragrammaton. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1959) The name Jehovah is, of course, an English word which is based on the Masorete's choice of writing. They so revered this holy name that they wrote the vowels of the word signifying Lord (adonai) with the consonants of the name which God gave to Himself, JHWH, resulting in Jehovah or as some prefer to render it, Yahweh, the consonants being in the Hebrew properly transliterated YHWH. In the history of the English language, however, the letter J has a written counterpart in the German J, although the letter J in German is pronounced like an English Y. The bulk of theological studies having come from German sources, there has been an intermixed usage in English of the J and the Y. Our English translations of the Bible reflect this, so we have chosen to use J, thus Jehovah, rather than Yahweh, because this is established English usage for Biblical names beginning with this Hebrew letter. No one suggests that we ought to change Jacob, Joseph, Jehoshaphat, Joshua, etc. to begin with a Y, and neither should we at this late date change Jehovah to Yahweh. The Interlinear Bible, Jay P. Green, Sr. "The pronunciation Jehovah was unknown until 1520, when it was introduced by Galatinus; but was contested by Le Mercier, J. Drusius, and L. Capellus, as against grammatical and historical propriety." (Oxford Gensenius, P. 218.) Next, as to formation. "Erroneously written and pronounced Jehovah which is merely a combination of the sacred Tetragrammaton and the vowels in the Hebrew for Lord, substituted by the Jews (Yahdaim) for JHVH (YHWH), because they shrank from pronouncing The Name, owing to an old misconception of the two passages (Exodus xx. 7 and Leviticus xxiv. 16) ...To give the name JHVH the vowels of the word for Lord (Heb. Adonai) and pronounce it Jehovah is about as hybrid a combination as it would be to spell the name Germany with the vowels in the name Portugal-viz., Gormuna...Jehovah is not older than about 1520 c.e." The Book Of YAHWEH Yisrayl Hawkins LORD LORD is an English title of honor or dignity that is used in different senses. From THE ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA vol. 17 pg. 739 LORD: LORD [AS. halford, for halfweard, i.e., bread keeper, fr. half bread, loaf + weard keeper, guard.] 1. One who has power and authority, as headship or leadership; a master; ruler. 2.[cap.] a. The Supreme Being; Jehovah. b. The Saviour; Jesus Christ. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1959) The Elohim For the ancient Hebrews "divinities (elohim) dwelt in nature and in the sky. Different tribes each had particular deities who were especially concerned with their affairs." - Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind "...The geologist Christian O'Brien argued that these [ancient Hebrew and Sumerian] texts describe a race of beings called Shining Ones - his translation of the Hebrew word Elohim. These beings created modern humans from earlier human forms by genetic manipulation. Some of these beings, called Watchers, mated with humans, and this was considered a crime by the Shining Ones. One of the Watchers was named Shemjaza, and Yahweh was one of the Shining Ones. O'Brien argued that the Shining Ones were superior but mortal beings of unknown origin." - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities - Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena "When the gods created Mankind Death for Mankind they allotted, Life they retained in their own keeping." - The Epic of Gilgamesh "The Elohim originally included not only foreign superstitious forms, but also all that host of Heaven which was revealed in poetry to the shepherds of the desert, now as an encampment of warriors, nor as careering in chariots of fire, and now as winged messengers, ascending and descending the vault of Heaven, to communicate the will of God to mankind." - General Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...." - Genesis 1:26 "In the clay god and Man shall be bound, to a unity brought together; So that to the end of days the Flesh and the Soul which in a god have ripened - that Soul in a blood-kinship be bound." - Sumerian creation story, Encyclopedia Britannica The creators (Elohim) outline in the second hour 'the shape of a more corporeal form of man. They separate it into two and prepare the sexes to become distinct from each other. Such is the way the Elohim proceeded in reference to every created thing." - Eliphas Levi, The Nuctameron of the Hebrews "...The androgynous constitution of the Elohim is disclosed in the next verse, where he (referring to God) is said to have created man in his own image, male and female; or, more properly, as the division of the sexes had not yet taken place, male-female....This definitive reference to a humanity existing prior to the 'creation of man' described in Genesis must be evident to the most casual reader of Scripture." - Manly P. Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy "...The sons of gods (bene ha-elohim) saw the daughters of men that they were fair..." - Genesis 6:2a "Other Elohim are occasionally mentioned throughout the older parts of the Old Testament. The most important of them is Baal, usually translated as the Owner. In the Canaan of the times, there were many Owners, one to each village, in the same way that many Catholic cities today have their own Virgin Marys, and yet they are all the same one." - Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind Not all scholars accept the plural nature of the Elohim. "Biblical Hebrew occasionally employs something scholars call the 'majestic plural'. In effect it is a plural ending added to a deity's name to confer status or majesty. In the Old Testament the best example is Elohim which does not mean 'the gods' but is rather the god El with the majestic plural im appended." - David M. Rohl, A Test of Time: The Bible from Myth to History (1993), p. 228