The Name Of God And His Titles

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The Names, Titles and Offices of the Creator The use, pronunciation, and most importantly the meaning of God’s name and His various titles are always controversial and confusing subjects. The gravity and complexity of the matter is not to be taken lightly and cannot be adequately addressed in a short treatise. What follows are some key scriptural points on these issues. The Hebrew Scriptures (HS), commonly called the Old Testament (OT), are written primarily in Hebrew, a Canaanite 1 language, with some portions written in Aramaic. As such, expressions relating to The Creator are rendered in the HS using words and idioms of both Canaanite and Aramaic origin. Abraham was called out of a pagan society to sojourn among the Canaanites who also worshipped pagan gods. These gods are often referred to throughout the HS as Baal (singular) or Baalim (plural). Through interaction, alliances, and commerce with the Canaanites, Abraham naturally adopted their language. Therefore, it is not at all strange that God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their offspring in a Canaanite language that evolved into what we now call Hebrew. God used existing Canaanite expressions to compare and contrast himself to the pagan deities. The root word for “Elohim” is “El,” which among Afro-Asiatic (a.k.a. Hamito-Semitic) speaking peoples means “Strong Authority.” 2 The simple plural of “El” is “Elim” sometimes translated as “mighty ones” or “gods.” God contrasted himself to the pagan deities (Elim) when he told Abraham that he was “El Elyon” i.e. “The Most Elevated Mighty One” and “El Shaddai.”3 Context plays a significant role in the meaning of words. In an English language bible, the title “God” is a relative interpretation of the Hebrew word “Elohim,” which is a plural noun. In Hebrew, the plural form of a noun is sometimes used to amplify the noun indicating greater status, position, or importance. In this form, “Elohim” is a “plural of grandeur” or qualitative vs. quantitative plural. In Exodus 20:3, God said, “You shall have no other “Elohim” before me”. In this context the plural word “Elohim” is correctly translated “gods” i.e. the imagination and works of men’s hands vs. God, The Creator. While God is referred to as Elohim throughout the HS, He is never referred to using the simple plural word Elim (gods or mighty ones). Elsewhere in the scriptures, God describes the Elim and other Elohim as “no gods” (Jeremiah 2:11). In addition to El and Elohim, the HS uses other Hebrew expressions in reference to God, which are derived from the root “El.” These expressions include “Eloah”, “Eli” (my God), and “Elah.” In addition to “El” and its derivatives, other HS references describe God in terms of his intimate relationship with his people i.e. father and husband. God is also referred to by His various titles, 1

Isaiah 19:18. The Canaanites and their Semitic cousins spoke a language classified as being in the Afro-Asiatic or Hamito-Semitic language family. 2 Ancient Hebrew consisted of pictographs similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. The pictographic Hebrew word “EL” is spelled with Aleph, the head of a bull and Lamed, the shepherds crook. The bull of a nomad’s herds was viewed as his strength while the shepherd’s crook depicted authority. Together they form the pictograph that represents strong authority, power, strength or might. Visit http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ 3 “El Shaddai” consist of the Hebrew word El, power, strength, or might and the first person, plural possessive form of the word for breast. This expression describes God as a strong nurturer of his children as a devoted mother nurtures her children with her breasts.

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functions and offices including but not limited to Savior, Redeemer, Shepherd, Creator, and Lord. The Hebrew root for Lord is “Adon.” It’s likely that the Greeks derived their “Adonis” from this Canaanite root as they also derived their alphabet from the Canaanites 4. Abraham uses the expression “Adonai” 5 exclusively to address God throughout their discourse in Genesis, chapter 18. The root “Baal” is correctly translated as lord, master, and husband and God even uses the root in Jeremiah 31:32 in describing himself as Israel’s husband. While there is no scriptural prohibition against addressing The Creator as God, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Healer, etc., none of these titles are the proper name by which God identifies himself. God’s proper name  (Yud Heh Wau Heh) appears in the HS some 6,519 times. Most of the time, in the KJV, God’s name is rendered “The Lord.” However, “The Lord” is not the meaning of God’s name. In the 3rd chapter of Exodus, God introduces himself to Moses giving him the charter to deliver the Children of Israel out of Egypt. In verse 14, Moses astutely asks God about his name and God responds (as rendered in the KJV), “I AM THAT I AM.” As many other translations point out (though often in a footnote), the answer God gives to Moses is more accurately translated, “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE” or “I WILL BECOME WHAT I WILL BECOME.” This proclamation was, in fact, not so much a name as it was a cryptic prophecy to Moses. This prophecy was fulfilled in one sense at the so called Red Sea as jointly proclaimed by Moses and the Children of Israel in song. 6 This prophecy regarding what God was to become was ultimately fulfilled for all mankind when He put on flesh, laid down his life for our sins, and took it up again7. In verse 15, God makes his proper name  manifest to Moses who, being raised in the palace of Pharaoh, may not have been acquainted with it or after 40 years in the wilderness tending his father-in law’s flock may have forgotten it. The name was the name that was known to Adam, Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his progeny. The ability to refer to Israel’s God by name was the type of evidence Moses recognized would be required if the Children of Israel were to believe him. The meaning of God’s name is wrapped up in the peculiar Hebrew verb pertaining to the state of existence. This is not to be confused with the English verb “to be,” which does not exist as such in Biblical Hebrew. The difference between “I WILL BECOME WHAT I WILL BECOME” and  is the former reflects the future tense of the verb “to be” and the latter reflects the Hebrew participle verb form. God’s name conveys His eternal nature i.e. He is self existent. He exists in the past, present, and future. The first recorded use of God’s proper name in the HS is by Eve at Genesis 4:1. The Hebrew text reads  (Yud Heh Wau Heh) vs. “The Lord.” Also, according to the KJV translation

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Credit is traditionally given to the so-called Phoenicians Literally “My Lords” a qualitative vs. quantitative plural

Exodus 15:2 YAH () is my strength and song, and he has become to me for salvation: See also Psalm 118:4, Isaiah 12:2, and Revelations 15:3 7 John 10:18 6

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of Genesis 4:26 8, after the birth of Seth, mankind in general began to call upon the name . Abraham addressed God as   (Lord YHWH) in Genesis 15:1 before God declared that he was “El Shadai” (God Almighty in most translations, but see footnote 3 on page 1) which didn’t occur until Genesis 17:1. God introduced himself by his name  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Hence the translation in most Bibles at Exodus 6:3 is patently inaccurate. This verse employs use of the Hebrew particle (Wau), which can be rendered as “now” or the conjunctions “and” or “but.” One key to accurately determining how the particle is used in this verse is the context of the verse itself. This verse also uses a less common form of parallelism; specifically, it makes an affirmative statement in the first line, which is rephrased as a rhetorical question in the second line. Within the immediate context of the verse and the larger context of HS beginning at Genesis 4:1, the verse at Exodus 6:3 is more accurately translated: “Now I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob as the Powerful Nurturer. And by my name wasn’t I known to them?” Some challenge such a translation on the basis that the second line is not preceded by the interrogative “Heh.” However, there are several verses in the HS also absent the interrogative “Heh” that are rendered as questions in virtually all English translations. 9 Again, there is considerable controversy as to the proper pronunciation of God’s name. Various expressions have been substituted for God’s proper name in the many translations of the Bible. Rabbinical Judaism imposes a prohibition against pronouncing the name of God, because they feel God’s name is too holy for common man to pronounce and to preclude one from unwittingly blaspheming or taking God’s name in vain. Subsequently, Jews typically substitute “Adonai” when encountering God’s name in the HS. Where most English translations of the HS substitute “The Lord” for God’s proper name, the Jews read “Adonai.” Judaism has invented other substitutes for the name of God including “Ha Shem,” literally “The Name” or “Adoshem” a coined compound word derived from “Adonai” and “Ha Shem.” Likewise, via Catholicism, the expression “The Lord” became the common substitution for the name of God in most non-Jewish, English translations. I believe this was a deliberate attempt to disguise the identity of . A combination of disuse of Biblical Hebrew and systematic concealment by Judaism and Catholicism are the biggest contributors to the controversy surrounding the pronunciation of God’s proper name. Many books, web sites, essays, exegeses, etc. that claim to reveal the proper pronunciation of God’s support such claims with seemingly plausible scriptural, linguistic, and archeological evidence. However, these same sources of evidence can also be used to challenge and refute such conclusions. Nevertheless, the

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While this is the generally accepted translation, the Hebrew in this verse is very difficult to translate and may not

mean that at this time the name  came into general usage. 9

H. G. Mitchell, ' The omission of the interrogative particle,' in Old Test. and Sem. Studies in memory of W. R. Harper, Chicago, 1907, i, 113 ff.

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abbreviated form of God’s name  (YAH) is generally without credible debate regarding its proper pronunciation. The first use of God’s abbreviated name in the HS is by Moses in Exodus 15:2. Here, the Hebrew text reads vs. “The Lord.” Also Psalm 64:8 exhorts us to” “Sing to God, render hymns to His name, extol Him who rides in the deserts10 by His name and exalt before Him.” It is the abbreviated form of God’s name, “"that provides significant insight into the pronunciation of the expanded form of God’s name “”. The letters Heh Wau Heh) are the root of the verb pertaining to existence. The participle form of the verb is also called the inclusive verb form, as it can refer to past present and future. The vowel pattern for the participle form of most Hebrew verbs is O-EH. The participle verb form standing alone is pronounced HO-WEH. When carefully enunciating each syllable of the name “” it is pronounced YAH HO WEH, which literally means “HE WHO EXISTS”, i.e. HE WAS, HE IS, and HE WILL BE 11. In English it is necessary to include the vowel letters A, O, and E to approximate the correct Hebrew pronunciation. However, Hebrew like all Afro-Asiatic or Hamito-Semitic languages is primarily a consonantal language. Certain letters such as , , ,  and  function as both consonants and vowels or indicate the presence of a vowel. For this reason they are called semi-vowels. In the name , the vowel sounds rendered in the separate words  and  remain intact permitting accurate pronunciation and understanding as to the meaning of God’s true name. Some render God’s true name as YAHWEH not understanding that the letter  in the name functions as both the vowel sound “ou” as in bought and as a consonant similar to the English W. Various perspectives regarding God’s personal name are not grounded in an understanding of Classical/Biblical Hebrew contributing to the controversy surrounding its pronunciation and more importantly its meaning. The scriptures consistently demonstrate the acceptability of using the abbreviated form of God’s name. It is used in the exhortation  (Hal’lu-Yah) 12. The names of prophets and other Biblical figures (Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zedekiah, and Obadiah) describe the attributes and characteristics of . It is therefore inconceivable that God exclusively prohibits the use of his proper name and yet it is spoken and recorded in one form or another from Genesis to Malachi.

The Hebrew word  (i.e. deserts/plains is the plural of the feminine word) vs.  (heavens) is used in this verse. The word heavens is neither used nor implied here. This is worse than a mistranslation. The translator inserted a word that seemed appropriate without any regard to what is actually written in the Hebrew. See Isaiah 40:3, Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4 10

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This is expressed in the hymn Adon Olam in the verse ‫אָרה‬ ָ ‫וְ הוּא יִ ְהיֶ ה ְבּ ִת ְפ‬ Literally a command to “Praise YAH” vs. “The Highest Praise.”

‫וְ הוּא ָהיָ ה וְ הוּא הֹוֶ ה‬

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God places special emphasis on His name 13. In Jeremiah 23:26 God expressed great displeasure with the prophets that taught the people to forget His name for Baal. Concerning the peoples that God will bring into the commonwealth of Israel he requires of them the following 14: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Keep judgment Do justice Keep from doing any evil thing Keep the Sabbath from polluting it Choose the things that please God Embrace the covenant 15 of God Serve God Love the name 

God is jealous for His name and does not want it to be misused, misrepresented or disgraced. While use of God’s proper name is not prohibited, use of the name by itself does not show love for God nor does it necessarily bring Him honor. Our actions and thoughts reveal the extent to which we actually love the name . In summary, there is neither prohibition nor condemnation associated with reference to God by his various titles, offices, positions or relationships with us. Elohim is not a “Holy name.” In fact it is not a name at all; it’s a title. Use of Elohim is not more acceptable than use of the word God. I reiterate that Elohim is of Canaanite origin and is related to the observation of their environment. It is also a title applied to pagan deities. Use of “The Lord” is perfectly acceptable as Abraham addressed God as both  (Adonai) and (YHWH). In fact, those who emphasize use of the “Holy Names” often erroneously substitute  where  actually appears in the HS. Likewise, they assume Elohim is proper where El, Eloah, or Elah may actually be written in the HS. Notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the correct pronunciation of God’s proper name,  and are acceptable as long as our motives, actions, and thoughts will bring honor to both. The name of our Savior: Many English speaking churches refer to the Savior as Jesus without any understanding or thought as to what that name means. It is more a matter of what was first taught and learned and what one has become accustomed to. I refrain from using the term Jesus not because I believe it is the name of a pagan deity, specifically Zeus, as some do. I haven’t been able to come to a definitive conclusion on that subject. However, I do know what  

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Exodus 3:15, Isaiah 42:8, Isaiah 48:9-11. Isaiah 56:1-8 15 Deuteronomy 4:13, Deuteronomy 5:1, Deuteronomy 9:8, Jeremiah 7:21-23, Jeremiah 31:31-34 14

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The spelling  appears in Deuteronomy 3:21 and Judges 2:7 a rare spelling compared to the more common

spelling , which omits the second instance of the letter . The second letter  functions as a semi-vowel indicating the vowel sound in the 3rd syllable is “oo” as in moon vs. “ou” as in bought. The letter  when acting as a semi-vowel is pronounced either as “oo” or “ou”, depending upon the word. For this reason, some pronounce the

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(pronounced Yah-Hu-Shu-Ah) means (YAH) Saves/is Salvation. This name conveys the salient theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations i.e.  alone is God. He is the first and the last and besides Him there is no savior. 17 Miriam and Yoseph (Mary and Joseph) certainly didn’t name their son Jesus, a Late Latin transliteration of . Even  18 (Yeshua), the Aramaic transliteration of the Hebrew is problematic and would not have been preferred by Yoseph and Miriam to the Hebrew . The names and  appear most often in English translations of the HS as Joshua and Jeshua, respectively. The familiar Joshua the Son of Nun, Moses’ disciple, first appears in Exodus and then throughout the HS. The Aramaic transliteration of Joshua, which is Jeshua, appears in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. The Aramaic transliteration of Joshua also appears in Nehemiah in an explicit reference to Joshua the Son of Nun. It also appears in the post exilic books of Ezra and Nehemiah in reference to a High Priest among the remnant of Judah returning from the captivity in Aramaic speaking Babylon. It is interesting that the post exilic prophets Haggai and Zechariah list names from among that same remnant returning from Babylon, but in their original Hebrew vs. Aramaic forms. In Zechariah’s account, this same Joshua the Son of Josedech 19 is the High Priest standing in the presence of while being opposed by Satan. Both Joshua the Son of Nun and Joshua the Son of Josedech are types of Christ, the former in the role of a good shepherd conveying Israel into the Promise Land and the latter in the role of her High Priest. 20 Unlike the Aramaic in Nehemiah, the Hebrew  conveys the letter and spirit of the angel Gabriel’s message to Miriam that  himself, through His Son , would save His people by becoming their only acceptable sin offering. 21 Again the word of God places special emphasis on this name, as it is written, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.22 The name of the Father is in the Son. This is why the apostles baptized in the

Messiah’s given name as Yah-ho-shu-ah. A third pronunciation i.e. “Yah-shu-ah” fails to include the letter  from the 2nd syllable of the Messiah’s name and is therefore inaccurate.  17 Deuteronomy 6:4, (Isaiah 41:4, 43:3, 43:11, 44:6, 45:15, 45:21, 48:12, 49:26, 60:16, and 63:8. NOTE: Each time the expression “The Lord” appears in the English translation of Isaiah, it is actually the proper name in the Hebrew manuscript.), Mark 12:29, (Revelations 1:8, 1:11, 21:6, 22:13).

is the Aramaic/Chaldee transliteration of  (Rendered Joshua in English). As a proper name, omits  as the source of all salvation (perhaps deliberately so, as the Chaldeans worshipped Bel, Nebo et al vs. ). The Aramaic  is not to be confused with the Hebrew word for salvation, which is , whose final letter is (See Numbers 13:16, Deuteronomy 3:21, and the book of Joshua). 18

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That is YAH saves/is salvation, the son of YAH is righteous. Haggai 1:1 and 1:12.

See Hebrews on the High Priesthood of  Isaiah 53:1 - 12 22 Joel 2:32, Acts 4:12. Also see the Isaiah references in Footnote 10 above and Psalms 8:1 and 148:13. 20 21

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name23 of YAHUSHUAH HA MASHIACH. This is the only name that embodies the character and renown of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 24

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The Hebrew word “Shem” translated into English as “name” is not just a label or tag attached to someone. Its deeper meanings include character and reputation,

 Proverbs 30:4, (Matthew 21:9, 23:39, 28:19), Mark 11:9 – 10, (Luke 13:35, 19:38), (John 10:38, 14:9) NOTE: Here again, each time the expression “The Lord” appears in these New Testament texts it actually refers to 

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