Hashem: What's in the Name?

Our church songs are full of references to the Name of the LORD, for example, "In your Name there is strength to remain...", or "The Name of the LORD is a strong tower...". We sing songs based on the Psalms proclaiming his Name; we are exhorted to trust in his Name, to take refuge in his Name, to believe in/on the Name. Has it ever occurred to you that this is not the way we express ourselves in daily language? Why don't we just "trust the Lord" instead of trusting in "the Name of the LORD"?


The answer lies in the fact that this is a Hebraic (Hebrew) expression; it's their way of speaking. And the Jews, out of great reverence for God and fear of breaking the Commandment not to take the Name of the Lord in vain, often avoid using his Name explicitly - both in writing and in speech. Jesus himself honoured God's name; when teaching his disciples how to pray, he started with: "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed by your Name..."

Our Bible translators have made a dubious call in keeping with the tradition started by William Tyndale: instead of presenting God's Name as it appears in the original Hebrew scriptures, they follow a tradition of replacing God's Name with "the LORD". (Note the capital letters, as opposed to "Lord" where the Hebrew word for lord/master is actually used.) Is it right to alter the Bible in order to prevent people from breaking the Commandment, or is it better to publish and to use the Holy Name, maintaining the sanctity of the Word? And what is the Name anyway?

Some older English translations of the Bible tried faithfully to preserve the Name of God, a four-letter Hebrew word known as the Tetragrammaton, best rendered in our alphabet as YHWH. It appears first in Exodus 3 when God appeared to Moses as a burning bush. Through an accidental mis-allocation of the vowels of the word Adonai to the Tetragrammaton, however, they came up with the word Jehovah - something quite meaningless to many Jews! Now that we know the Name, YHWH, some Bible verses make more sense: "YHWH is our God" explicitly names our God, rather than saying "the LORD is our God", leaving one to wonder just who the LORD actually is.

Knowing the Name is great, but how is it pronounced?! The truth is that nobody is 100% certain since vowels do not appear in the original Hebrew scriptures and because of a long period during which the Name was not used in daily language.

This leaves us with the question of whether or not we need to "restore" the Name of God to the scriptures and to our regular use. We see that, at some stage in Israel's history, the Name was used in common daily language. The book of Ruth, for example, is full of it. But some centuries before Christ, the Jewish tradition of avoiding its use emerged. Instead, euphemisms are used, like "Heaven" (hence "the Kingdom of Heaven" is really the same as "the Kingdom of God" in the Gospels), from which we get the expression "Thank Heavens!". But in Judaism the most common term used to substitute the Tetragrammaton is hashem, literally meaning "the name". (ha: the + shem: name). "So what?", you may ask. "How does this affect me?"

This takes us back to the beginning. There is salvation in the Name, there is safety in the Name, there is healing in the Name. Indeed, without the Name, we are in trouble. Yet many, if not most, Christians are completely ignorant of the Name. Jesus said: "You will see me no longer until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Did he actually use the substitution, or did he say "YHWH"? Will he not come again until the denizens of Jerusalem say "Blessed is he who comes in the Name of YHWH"?

Of particular interest is the idea of bearing God's Name as a label or banner over one. After instructing Moses on how to carry out the priestly blessing on the people of Israel, God said: "So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them." (Numbers 6:22-27) That is, the priests were to proclaim the blessing, thereby "putting the Name" onto the people, and then God apply the blessing.

When Paul wrote to the Philippians, in Chapter 2 he quoted a hymn or creed of the early believers in which it says "Therefore God has exalted him [Jesus] to the highest place and given him the Name that is above every other name...". Many Christians assume from the words that follow ("... that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...") that the Name to which Paul is referring is Jesus (or Yeshua in Hebrew). But Jesus/Yeshua would not have been regarded by any of his early disciples as the Holy Name, above every other name! No, indeed, the Name that is above every other name is YHWH, and God the Father has given it to his Son so that all will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD: "Jesus Christ is YHWH"! This claim is absolutely shocking - that God himself would apply his own Name to his Son - not to mention completely blasphemous for a Jew who has not come to faith in Jesus. It's a bold statement concerning the divinity of Jesus, not only "sharing the divine nature" (immortal and entirely beyond temptation to sin) as all believers will do (2 Peter 1:4), but actually being God.

I conclude that every believer in, and follower of, Jesus Christ ought to know the Name and secretly be able to call on the Name in times of trouble. It is, after all, the Name of God forever, by which he is to be known from generation to generation (Exodus 3:15). And if Jesus himself said that the Name is to be hallowed, we'd better believe it! Yet God is very gracious; those who call on the name of Jesus will be saved. I go further to say that those who have never even heard of any of his many names, can simply cry out to "God" wholeheartedly in their own language, and he will be faithful to rescue them. But that is the topic of another discussion...