Rock of Israel Ministries

www.rockofisrael.org

GOD'S PEOPLE WILL KNOW HIS NAME!

by Ruth Specter - Rock of Israel Ministries

God said: "My people shall know my Name" (Isaiah 52:6).

Everyone has a personal name, which identifies that person. God
also has a personal name that identifies Him. Here, we will only
study briefly God's personal Covenant Name that declares His
redeeming love

... At the burning bush when Moses asked for God's name, we
notice that God immediately gave an answer. He did not hesitate,
neither did He refuse to give His personal Name to Moses. Not
only did God give His Name to Moses alone, but also He told
Moses to share it with His people Israel. "You shall
SAY to the children of Israel that my name is I AM [LORD,
"Yahweh"]. This is MY NAME for ever, and this is my memorial
unto all generations" (Exodus 3:14-15)...

Each time Moses wrote the personal Name of the Lord, he wrote it
out completely with its four Hebrew consonantal letters (YHWH,
also used as vowels). When he wrote the Torah (Bereshith,
Shemot, Vayikra, B'midbar) he did not ignore nor hide God's
Personal Name, neither did he substitute another name, or leave
out one letter from the word. Furthermore, the writers of the O.T.
also gave the complete personal name of the LORD which is
written therein 6,823 times!

According to the commandment not to take the name of the Lord

in vain, some unbelieving Jews and some Jewish and Gentile
believers in Yeshua (Jesus), when writing the name of God or
Lord, leave out one letter and substitute a hyphen instead. Do they
feel that by doing this they are not writing the complete sacred
name so as to use it in a frivolous manner? Or are they being
obedient to the Talmud, which subscribes to this way of writing the
name of God? There is an indication that they are doing this
according to the tradition of the Jewish sages who spell the name
of God or Lord with hyphens, leaving out one letter, i.e., G-d, L-rd

... Let us examine the third commandment in order to come to a

better conclusion about the word "VAIN."

According to the Dictionary and the Hebrew language, "vain"

means "of no value," "useless," "frivolous," "trivial," "hollow,"
"something inappropriate," or "an incorrect substitute." I would
think that leaving out a letter in the spelling of God's Name and
inserting a hyphen instead would be the vain, inappropriate and
incorrect substitute! Where, in God's Word, do we find a
prohibition to the use of the sacred Name "Yahweh"? I have
searched the Bible thoroughly, the Greek and Hebrew editions as
well as several English translations, and could not find this! I did
discover the "commandment," only in the Talmud, that designates
the "curses" to those breaking it. Are we believers to follow the
Talmud rather than God's Word?

(Though there is much to learn from the Talmud, we do not

compromise with it above the pure Word of God!) ...I discovered
in the Scriptures that God allowed His prophets of the Old
Testament (T'nach) and the Jewish writers of the New Covenant
Scriptures (Brit Hadasha) to say and write His singular personal
Name and what is more, they were permitted to use ALL His
Names in full! ... We read in Psalm 68:4 that the "short" personal
Name of God is "Yah" from "Yahweh." If there is a prohibition to
pronouncing this shortened name for God, then those persons who
added that name to theirs would not be permitted to say their own
names! How about JeremiYAH, IsaiYAH, ObadiYAH,
NehemiYAH, ZechariYAH, HoseYAH, ZephaniYAH, etc.?
And when we praise God we use a certain word known and said all
over the world, the same in every language, the word HalleluYAH"
meaning "Praise the LORD." ...How wonderful that believers of
every generation know the personal Name of the Lord according to
God's promise (Isaiah 52:6). And from this sacred Name proceeds
all His many Names recorded in the Holy Bible. As the children of
Israel heard and pronounced the Name of the Lord, so all who
believe in that Name, not only hear it by the Spirit but read it in
God's Word, write it, and say it as did Moses, the prophets, the
Psalmist David, the writers of both Testaments, the apostles and
Messiah Jesus Himself!