Yahweh

Did you ever wonder why everyone has a "proper" name except God? I did, when I was younger. Then I learned that God actually has a proper name- Yahweh. We call him Lord, Master, Savior, King, Heavenly Father, etc, but rarely do we use his personal name. In fact, it's been so rare over the years, that most people don't even know the name and it sounds weird to us when we do use it.

Yahweh is used more than 6,800 times in the Old Testamant, appearing in every book, but Esther, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. The name was considered so sacred, that it was only used by the priests in the Jerusalem temple. After the destruction of that temple (A.D. 70), the name was not even spoken and the actual proununciation was lost. Adonay was substituted wherever Yahweh appeared in the biblical text. Wherever you find "the LORD" (all caps) in scripture, it is a translation of Yahweh. The assumed pronunciation today is
yah-WEH.

Yahweh, also known as the Tetragrammaton, was formed by four Hebrew consonants YHWH or translated into German- JHVH, which is where the name Jehovah came from. You see, the original Hebrew language did not use vowls until scholars in the tenth century began adding vowels to help with pronunciation. Since the name Adonay was substituted for Yahweh in the text, they used the Hebrew vowels in Adonay to the name Yahweh and it turned into this: YaHoWaH. So those who teach that Jehovah is God's proper name (Jehovah's Witnesses), are completely mistaken. Jehovah is a made-up name of God's actual name and the one used as its substitute!

12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." 13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD (Yahweh), 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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. - Exodus 3:12-15

Jesus said of himself: "I Am." The people of his day understood what he meant by it- he was saying he was God- Yahweh. In fact, the name Jesus (Joshua) means "Yahweh Saves." Awesome, huh?

Based on my blog way back about how I prefer to be called "Doug," it makes me wonder if God would prefer we use his personal name today. If he's given it to us and asked us to remember him by it, I think we can safely assume he wants us to use it.

The name of the LORD (Yahweh) is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are saved.
- Proverbs 18:10

Yahweh, I'm running!