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Email “Messages”
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To: Dr. Crane [eaglechristianchurch.com]
Subject: What Is the Special Name of God?
---Original Message---
I have been told that in the Old Testament, Israel knew God by a special name. What is that name?
Reply:
It is true that in the Old Testament, the Israelites knew God by a special name. This name was so special, so holy, that by the time of Jesus (and perhaps for centuries before that), no one said it out loud. The one exception was made when the high priest, once a year, would pronounce the name in the Holy of Holies.
Since Hebrew script originally used only consonants, we can’t even be sure how the name was meant to be pronounced: the consonants are YHWH. The best guess is that it was pronounced “Yahweh.” Orthodox Jews to this day won’t speak this name—they refer only to “the Name” (HaShem).
Like most ancient names, YHWH had a meaning. It meant “existence,” the “I am who I am,” or “I will be who I will be.” The name “God” suggests “the uncreated existent one.”
Because God’s personal name was not to be spoken, the Israelites developed a technique for avoiding doing so when they read Scripture. When they came to the word YHWH, they would say “ADONAI” (which means Lord) instead. To remind themselves to do this, they would write the consonants of YHWH with the vowels of ADONAI. This has brought confusion to later readers who try to say the two words (God and Lord) together. It would look like this. YaHoWaH—a nonsense word, but a reminder not to pronounce the name of God. It also needs to be noted that later generations wrote “Y” as “J,” and “W” as “V.” When we insert these new letters into the name for God (JHVH) with the vowels of the name for Lord (a-o-a), we get the following made-up word: JaHoVaH, or Jehovah.
Almost all English translations of the Old Testament have continued the practice of discouraging people from pronouncing God’s personal name. Instead, where the word YHWH appears, they will insert the word “Lord” usually in small capitals (Lord).
