The name of the tetragrammaton and the Messiah

A Minor Dissertation on the Importance, or Lack Thereof, of the True Name of The Creator of the Universe; The Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Jeremiah 16:19-21:  O Yahuweh, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Yahuweh.

Exodus 3:14-15:  And Elohim said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.   And Elohim said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Yahuweh Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a factual stance on what the Name of the Creator is and also, why, in the opinion of the author, we would want to use it rather than “traditional” titles, like LORD, Lord, and God, that have been passed down to us from our fathers.  I hope to do this with the understanding that I do not believe that those who use the proper Name are necessarily going to have eternal life, nor do I believe that those who don’t use the true Name are not necessarily going to have eternal life.  I also do not condone ‘sacred name’ fanaticism, though I do support use of the true names.  In order to play on the same field Scripturally, unless noted otherwise, all Scripture passages are 1611 Authorized Version or the “Old King James Version”.  While I am not a KJV Onlyist, nor do I believe the KJV to be “Perfect”, it has withstood the test of time, and it is the only non-commercially copyrighted version that one would not have to get permission from the publisher to use more than 200 words from a Bible due to derivative copyright law.  Rupert Murdock, who owns 20^th Century Fox, Fox Network and Simpson’s also owns(ed) Zondrovan Publishing; legally, under derivative copyright law, you need to be granted permission to use more than 200 words out of a New International Version or any Zondrovan Bible.  All Scripture references will be given in full on the last page.  In light of these facts I continue.

It is common knowledge among serious scholars of Scripture that the Name of The Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is Yahuweh, mistranslated in most Bibles as “LORD”. It originates from the Hebrew letters of Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey.  These four letters are called the Tetragrammaton, which is Greek, meaning ‘four letters.’  These letters would be pronounced Yahuweh, Yahweh, Yahueh, Yahu’ah, Yahooah, Yahwah, Yahuwah, or some derivation thereof and while we don’t know the exact pronunciation, I don’t believe that justifies using generic titles.  In the original Hebrew manuscripts and even in the original Septuagint, where ever an English translation has “LORD”, that is a translation of the Tetragrammaton.  In the Septuagint, which is the Greek ‘Old Testament”, the Tetragrammaton is written in the original Paleo-Hebrew font, “HWHY”, not the modern Babylonian Hebrew “HWHY.” One way it was not pronounced was with the modern ‘J’ sound.  Check any good encyclopedia and you will see the letter ‘J’ did not even exist until sometime around or after 1520 Common Era (A.D.).  As in Spanish where the ‘J’ would have a “heh” or “yeh” sound like “Jesus” which is pronounced in Spanish as “Heysoos” or “Eesoos”, the hard ‘J’ sound would not have been used to translate or transliterate the Name of the Creator or the Messiah.  There is no hard ‘J’ sound in the Hebrew language, which leaves little possibility the Creator’s name was Je’hovah (Hovah means ruin) or anything else that starts with a hard ‘J’ sound.  Anyone with a computer, internet service and a little time or a good library can prove all this to be true.  So why do we use generic titles to refer to the name of our Creator when His name (not the titles) is in the unadulterated Hebrew Scriptures 7242 times in 6079 versus in the TaNaK (Old Testament or Old Covenant) and 728 times in 670 versus in the Brit Chadasha, a.k.a. New Testament or New Covenant (better stated as Renewed Covenant. Now, while a few of these references may refer to a ‘lord’, as in how Sarah referred to Abraham as a term of respect towards a husband or another man (1 Peter 3:6), that is one of a small handful of versus.  Also taking into consideration that the phrase the “name of the LORD” occurs in Scripture 87 times in the TaNaK (which is a Hebrew acronym meaning the Torah, the Prophets and the other writings) and 21 times in the Brit Chadasha it seems to carry some Scriptural importance. When there is repetition in Scripture, it is probably important - something we should pay attention to in forming any belief, doctrine or dogma.  A solid foundation is required or the rest is on shaky ground.  Some verses that are quite profound are Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21 which state that whoever calls on the “the Name of the LORD” or whoever calls on “Yahuweh” shall be delivered (will be saved.)  I do not know if knowing, or not knowing the name of Yahuweh has any bearing on salvation or eternal life nor do I question another man’s salvation or eternal life by use or non-use of the true Name, but I don’t think that takes away from the obvious importance Scripture puts on the True Name of the “LORD”.  I, personally, get criticized nearly daily for using common knowledge in the true Names of the Creator and Messiah.  I am called legalistic, Jewish, even a heretic, and just because I have done my due diligence in loving my Creator with my mind and have learned and know basically what the Names are.  I choose to use those Names, in reverence, when referring to my beloved Creator and His emissary, the Messiah. Those who persecute and criticize me are, for the most, State Incorporated, 501(c)3 tax exempt “church” members who condemn me because they adhere to manmade traditions (which Scripture speaks loudly about) in using titles. Some of those titles have Pagan origins or association.  Scripture says we should not even let the names of Pagan deities come out of our mouths (Exodus 23:13).  I believe we are in the last days and there has been a strong delusion poured out upon man.   Narrow is the way to righteousness and broad is the way to destruction.  I use the name Yahuweh and keep the commandments of Yahuweh for fear of His chastisement, and keeping the commandments is demonstrative of my change in becoming a new man in Messiah (John 14:15, John 15:10, Matt. 19:17, Rev. 12:17, Rev. 14:12).

Now, if you get a good dictionary and look up Baal (Bel or Ba’al) it will have somewhere in either the etymology or the definition the reference to meaning ‘Lord’ or master.  Scripture is pretty clear regarding Baal and Baal worship. Judges 2:12-14 show Yahuweh is angered against Baal worship.  1 Kings 16:32, 18:19, 19:18, Jeremiah 7:9, 11:17, Jer. 12:16, 23:27, Hosea 13:1, Zeph. 1:4, Romans 11:4 are just a few examples of how Scripture condemns Baal.  LORD or Lord is a title, not a name.  Even Hosea 2:16-17 says the days will come when Yahuweh will have us call him Husband (Ishi) and no longer Baali (Lord) and He will remove the names of Baalim out of our mouths.  Ishi is more of a term of respectful endearment like father or husband not of domineering ownership as Lord insinuates.  This is not to belittle Yahuweh’s ownership of His Creation nor His right to judge His creation, but rather to suggest that we refer to Him by His true name, as indicated by Scripture.

The word “God” comes from the “Common Teutonic word for a personal object of worship, formerly applicable to super-human being of heathen myth; on conversion of Teutonic races to Christianity, the term was applied to Supreme Being.” Encyclopedia Americana 1945.  It also seems to have etymological relation to the Pagan deity Gott or Gud. [Gott is the German word for God.] Regardless of our ignorance of the roots of the words, the fact remains that these are terms used to refer to Pagan gods.  Now while using those words in ignorance is one thing, using them just because one is unwilling to change due to tradition is another.  What if a man were to come home and start kissing his wife on the neck and call her by the wrong name? Do you think that would go over well? What if the name he called her was his old girl friends name or x-wife, that would even be worse right? The same for calling your Creator by the wrong name...They taught the people to forget his name. Jer. 23:27

Consider also Act 17 verses 2 and 10-11.    In Acts 17:2, Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.  In verses 10-11 it says the Berean’s were more noble than the Thessalonians in that they searched the Scripture daily, receiving what Paul said with all readiness of mind (open minded) to see if what Paul said was true.  What Scriptures were they searching?  What Scriptures did Paul use to reason with the people?  It was not Matthew, Mark, Luke John or any of the other books of the “New Testament” (Renewed Covenant).  Paul was a very educated man and it is doubtful he would argue that Yahushua was the Messiah because he wrote it in Colossians!  That would not have given him much credibility.  Paul argued out of the Torah and the TaNaK, the “Old Testament.”  If Paul, who’s actual name was Shaul, was able to reason from the original Scriptures, it would seem foolish to form any doctrine, dogma, or belief that is in conflict with Torah or the TaNaK.  Modern doctrine needs to be severely scrutinized to ensure all facts are weighed.  One should also always read 10-20 verses ahead of and behind the verse being used as the original Scripture was a letter, not a Bible with chapters and verses.

Continuing on to the name of the Messiah, which, as the article on www.truthradio.com states, “…folks even CLAIM (emphasis added) that ‘Jesus’ is not the correct name for our Saviour.”  “Jesus” is not the name of the Messiah.  The Messiah was a Hebrew man with Hebrew roots and a Hebrew name.  This is also common knowledge among all serious students of Scripture.  The name of the Messiah is Yahushua, Yashua, Yeshua, Yehu’shua or some derivation thereof.  Not knowing if anyone truly knows how to pronounce it doesn’t make “Jesus” the name of the Messiah.  The letter J is about 500 years old and the name comes from the Greek word “Iosus.”  Even if it were transliterated from the Greek, it should be pronounced “Eesus.”  If the name were to be transliterated (which means taking a name/sound in one language and using the letters of another language to make the same sound) from the Hebrew it would be transliterated as Ya’Shua or Yahushua. The same Greek word used for translating Joshua in Acts 7:45, is the same as is used for Jesus in Hebrews 4:8.  The usage in Hebrews 4:8 actually should have been translated as Joshua in the KJV as it is in the NASB95, not as “Jesus” (Yahushua).  Hebrews 4:8 is referring to Joshua, or Oshea son of Nun, not the Messiah. (Refer to Strong’s Concordance number G2424 throughout the Brit Chadasha.  Matthew 1:1 is included on the last page with Strong’s numbers to show the word used to translate “Jesus” was used to translate “Joshua.”  Something of great importance in this is Numbers 13:16.  It shows that “Joshua’s” name wasn’t even “Joshua” originally.  Moses renamed “Joshua” the son of Nun from Oshea to Yehoshua (Jehoshua in English) in the Hebrew language.  So, not only was “Joshua’s” name not Joshua but was Oshea, and was transliterated from the Hebrew language from Jehoshua to “Joshua”; this is short for Ya’Shuah or Ye’Shuah, etc.  It should be noted again that the “J” was not used for the name of the Messiah or “Joshua” in the original 1611 King James Version but the letter “I” was used in the original manuscript, which also included the Apocrypha.  Jehoshua would have been pronounced Yahushua or something similar. A rather large dissertation on the Messiah’s name alone could be done but for the purposes or this the Acts 7:45 verse and the Hebrews 4:8 comparison, Numbers 13:16, not forgetting to mention the fact that the letter “J” and the hard “J” sound weren’t even available in the Hebrew language to name the Messiah is all I believe needed to make the point.  I have found few Christians read much Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and the Numbers 13:16 seems to be unknown by most.  As a final point, in the Hebrew, Yahushua means Yahuweh Saves, while “Jesus” has no direct or indirect meaning in the Greek or Hebrew.  Beyond our vernacular it has no meaning and can be argued very persuasively to mean “Je-Sus”; “Je” in Greek meaning “hail” and “Sus” meaning hail Zeus.  The Greeks used the ending –sus in naming many of their towns to give homage to their main deity Zeus. Thus, by following modern traditions, we may actually be praising a Pagan God (unbeknownst to us or not) rather than Yahweh, the true Creator.

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