Call Upon the Name of YHWH

Yahweh. God. Yehovah. Adonai. The LORD. Yahuah. G-d. Elohim. Jehovah. Does what you call YHWH matter? Maybe you have heard that the name of YHWH should not be uttered or that he knows your heart so it doesn't make any difference what you call him. But Elijah believed otherwise.

"And you call on the name of your elohim, 
and I will call on the Name of YHWH." - 1 Kings 18:24

This is from the story where Elijah faced down 450 prophets of Baal; his premise for this challenge was very simple: let's both offer a sacrifice. We'll see which name responds.

The phrasing Elijah chose is extremely interesting and clamors for our attention. He didn't say, "We'll see which God answers," or, "I will call to my God," he made it a point to mention the name of YHWH. Significant? I think so.

Something I never paid much attention to in this story was Baal. Just a strange name for a false god, right? The truth is a little more interesting: Baal is the Hebrew word for Lord. Now glance at the story again - it reads differently! Verse 18: You have forsaken the commandments of YHWH to follow the Lord.

I have a hunch you know the rest of the story; the group of prophets couldn't get the attention of Baal no matter what they tried. But when Elijah called upon YHWH fire immediately consumed the sacrifice. Those who called upon the Lord didn't see a response, but the one who called upon YHWH did.

This story made me see that YHWH distinguishes himself from "the Lord." I want to mention here that there was definitely a time in my life where I called YHWH 'God.' I know many with sincere faith who call upon 'the Lord.' I am not saying someone is a bad person or not saved or whatever else if they use generic words for YHWH. But I do think if you want to get to know someone better you start with learning their name.

In Exodus 34:6 he introduces himself. "I am YHWH." In fact, he says his name twice in a row. My brother's name is a little unusual so when he meets someone he almost always has to repeat it to get their pronunciation even remotely close. And it seems like that is what YHWH is dealing with here. He knew his name would be misunderstood.

Obviously, the Bible was not originally written in English so "YHWH" is actually the transliteration of the Hebrew letters yod-he-waw-he. These letters transliterate into the approximate English equivalents of YHWH. I use this to be as correct as possible to refer to the Living God. (The Hebrew letters are confusing to those unfamiliar and don't translate well onto all devices.) Sounding out the Hebrew letters gets us yah-a-wah or yah-hu-uh. Sounding out the English letters gets us yah-way. Yehovah would be a cousin of this. With the variety of worldwide accents some of us may need to adjust our enunciation as we learn more, and that's okay. Personally I think trying to pronounce someone's name correctly (even if you don't quite get there) is a lot more respectful than not using it, or worse yet, calling them by their enemy's name.

Okay sure, you may say, but my Bible uses LORD all the time. How important can the name be if it's not in there? Hear me out on this because the following is probably the most ridiculous thing Bible translators have ever done. In the original texts of Scripture the name YHWH was in there all over the place, Genesis through Revelation. This is crazy to hear but nonetheless translators have removed the name of YHWH from Scripture over 7,000 times! Many versions (like the ESV) even mention this in the preface, that LORD is used a stand in to 'represent' the name. LORD is not a transliteration of yod-he-waw-he. These letters are not only incorrect, but also the name of the false deity from 1 Kings 18. Exodus 23:13 tells us we aren't to speak the names of false deities at all, let alone substitute for YHWH.

"Do not add to the word which I command you, and do not take away from it." - Deuteronomy 4:2

Replacing the name of YHWH is taking away from Scripture. YHWH distinguishes his name from that of other deities for a reason.

One reason is that there are a lot of things in this world that get worshiped as "God" or "the Lord." When I am in my conservative Christian hometown people talk about "God" and I know they are talking about the one of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But if I am on a college campus, talking with someone from a different religious background, or in a more multicultural city, "God" is used to refer a wide variety of things. I have personally heard the term used to talk about Islam's Allah, the deity behind the Hindu celebration of Diwali, reiki spirit guides, and a new age higher power. Followers of these 'gods' need to know that YHWH is different from their so called god.

YHWH's name is so important to him that reverence for it is included as one of the ten most important commandments. Usually this gets translated as not to take it in vain. Read: don't use it like a swear word. Many rabbis have forbidden use of the name of YHWH so that the name could never be used incorrectly or inappropriately. Unfortunately, not using the name - thus causing people to forget it - is pretty much the opposite of what the command intends. A better translation of Exodus 20:7 would be not to empty his name. Don't bring it to nothing. Don't forget about it. We can see that Elijah clearly had no problem speaking aloud the name of YHWH. The Messiah had no problem using it either, and it got him a lot of push back from the Pharisees. He even says that he has restored the name of YHWH to the earth.

What else does Scripture say about the name of YHWH?

-The Messiah came in the name of YHWH. -John 5:43
-It will be upon his people. -Numbers 6:27
-Righteous people run to the name of YHWH and are safe. -Proverbs 18:10
-We are to esteem his name. -Psalm 29:2
-We are to love YHWH's name. -Isaiah 56:6
-Every generation should know and remember his name. -Psalm 45:17
-Salvation is found in the name of YHWH and Yahusha. -Joel 2:32, Acts 4:12
-We are to praise the name of YHWH. -Psalm 9:2
-We won't see the Messiah until we can say, "Blessed is he that comes in the   name of YHWH." -Matthew 23:39, Luke 13:35
-Disciples should be baptized in the name of YHWH, as well as the Messiah and   Holy Spirit. -Matthew 28:19
-Everyone who calls on the name of YHWH shall be delivered. -Romans 10:13
-The name of YHWH endures forever. -Psalm 135:13

It's amazing to see how important the name of YHWH is and by learning it we can better know our Creator. Like himself, his name is different from any other 'gods' of this world. May we never forget his name or bring it to ruin again.

"And Elijah came to all the people and said, 'How long will you keep hopping between to opinions? If YHWH is Elohim follow him, but if the Lord is God then follow him.'" -1 Kings 18:21

Was Everyone in the Bible Jewish?

Did you know that most of the people in the Bible weren't Jewish? A lot of people don't realize this fact, and discussing any sort of Biblical commandment beyond, 'Thou shall not kill,' I hear this phrase a lot: Biblical law was only for the Jews.

I've started asking a simple question - who are the Jews? - in response to this statement. The responses mention rabbis, those living in the modern country of Israel, people with Jewish ancestry, and, you know, all the people who are in the Bible!

Somehow most of us have been lead to believe that unless you've had a bar mitzvah and find yourself as a member of the modern Jewish religion, then God doesn't really expect you to actually do what he says.

I could not disagree more with this idea because of one simple detail. Most of the people in Scripture were not Jewish.

That's an unusual thought for most of us, but that doesn't mean it's not true. I mean no disrespect to the Jewish people. Indeed there are many people in the Bible, including the Messiah, who were from the tribe of Judah. I'm not arguing that. But we should be aware that Biblical law was given to many more people besides just one tribe of Israel.

In fact, did you know the word 'Jewish' isn't in Scripture all that much? If you do a word search, jewel or jewelry will come up far more often than the word 'Jew.' The words Jew, Jewish, or Judaism actually don't appear even once in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah), and only pop up a few times in the entire Old Testament, mostly in the book of Esther. Jeremiah uses Jew once, as does Zechariah, and it appears twice in Daniel. That's it. (Depending on the translation you're using.)

But, you may be saying, the people of Judah became the Jews. But please note, that does not mean everyone in Scripture.

We've talked briefly before about the fact that Abraham wasn't a Jew. Jacob's son Judah could arguably be referred to as the first Jew, though that's a stretch. I don't call my sister a Jordanite, just Jordan. Anyway, let's take a look at some other famous non-Jews in the Bible.

In addition to Abraham and Sarah, everyone before Judah was not Jewish. Including Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, as well as Noah and his family. And realistically the people of Judah weren't referred to as Jews for centuries after Judah, the son of Jacob, lived.

Who else in the Bible wasn't Jewish.

-Moses. Yes, the very giver of the law supposedly only for Jews wasn't one himself. Moses, his brother Aaron, and their sister Miriam were from the tribe of Levi. (Exodus 2:1)

-Joshua. The man who lead Israel into the promised land was from the tribe of Ephraim. (Numbers 13:8)

-Caleb. He and Joshua were the spies that came back with the good report and were the only people from the generation that left Egypt to see the promised land. Caleb wasn't a natural born Israelite at all, but a Kenezite who chose to follow YHWH. (Joshua 14:14)

-Rahab. She assisted the Israelite spies in Jericho, but was not an Israelite herself. She is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. (Joshua 2:1, Matthew 1:5)

-Gideon. He was the judge who fought in battle to liberate Israel from the Midianites, from the tribe of Manasseh. (Judges 6:15)

-Samson. Israel's most famous judge was from the tribe of Dan. (Judges 13:2)

-Samuel. Israel's last judge and a prophet came from the territory of Ephraim and was raised in the Tabernacle by a Levite. (1 Samuel 1:1)

-Saul. The first king of Israel came from the tribe of Benjamin. (1 Samuel 9:1)

-Ruth. King David's great-grandmother was from Moab. (Ruth 1:4)

-Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Both prophets were from families of Levitical priests. Jeremiah's family resided in the land of Benjamin, and Ezekiel lived in Babylonian exile. (Jeremiah 1:1, Ezekiel 1:3)

-Obadiah. In addition to writing the book of his name, Obadiah hid a hundred prophets from Jezebel and Ahab. Scripture doesn't say for sure but since he worked in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, we have no reason to believe he was from Judah. (1 Kings 18)

-Micah. Being from Moresheth he was not a biological part of Israel, but he was still counted a member of the people of YHWH. God spoke through him to the people as well. (Micah 1:1)

-Elijah. Described as Tishbite from Gilead, Elijah was from one of the ten northern tribes, and not Judah. (1 Kings 17:1)

-Elisha. He was from a city called Abel-meholah in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and was from one of the northern tribes. (1 Kings 19:16)

This list is by no means exhausting. The tribal ancestry of most of the characters in the Bible is not listed. This is also not to say that those grated in or from a different tribe are better or worse than those from Judah. There are exploits of faith and sins attributed to those from Judah and Ephraim. There is no racial superiority in the Kingdom of Heaven, and God does not give different commandments depending on your family tree.

As one of from the tribe of Benjamin wrote in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile...for you all are one in the Messiah Yahusha." In other words, it is irrelevant if you were born Jewish or from another tribe or if you're a foreigner altogether. The Messiah makes his people one. Regardless of your genealogy, all believers are grafted in YHWH's people Israel.

Related posts:
Why Biblical Law is for All Believers
The Two Houses: Israel and Judah in Scripture
Why Paul Withstood Peter in Galatians 2