The Divine Name and an Unknown Tradition
The first five books of the Scriptures (Bible) are generally referred to as the Torah. When you add the Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim), you get the Tanakh (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament). In the Torah, there is the famous burning bush story, where Moshe (Moses) is selected by Elohim (God) to bring the Hebrew people out of slavery in Mitzrayim (Egypt or literally Narrow Straits). In Exodus we find a very interesting exchange between Moshe and the burning bush:
Then Moshe (Moses) said to Elohim(God), “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The Elohim (God) of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” Elohim (God) said to Moshe (Moses), “I AM WHO I AM (Literally 'I WILL BECOME WHAT I WILL BECOME')”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM (I WILL BECOME) has sent me to you.’” Elohim (God), furthermore, said to Moshe (Moses), “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'YHVH, the Elohim (God) of your fathers, the Elohim (God) of Avraham (Abraham), the Elohim (God) of Yitskhak (Isaac), and the Elohim (God) of Yakov (Jacob), has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. Shemot (Exodus) 3:13-15.
In this scene, we see the Messenger reveal the name of Elohim (God). That name is YHVH. Furthermore, YHVH states that this is His name Forever, and is a memorial name to all Generations. This four letter name, referred to by the greeks as the Tetragrammaton, is the eternal name of the Almighty. Now, if you go look in your english bible you will not find YHVH anywhere in your bible. Instead, you will find 'the LORD'. In fact this Name, the Name that is to be a memorial to all generations is in fact obscured 6,807 times in the Tanakh (old testament). Interestingly enough, I found that YHVH did not even reveal his memorial name to Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. In Exodus we find the following passage:
Elohim spoke further to Moshe and said to him, “I am YHVH and I appeared to Avraham (Abraham), Yitskhak (Isaac), and Yakov (Jacob), as El Shaddi (God Almighty), but by My name, YHVH, I did not make Myself known to them. Shemot (Exodus) 6:2-3.
When I discovered that the God that I believed that I served, the God of the Scriptures, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had a name, and that it had been replaced 6,807 times with 'the LORD', I couldnt help but ask WHY?
Tradition. The Pharisees of the second Temple period began to forbid Jews from saying the Sacred name. They instructed everyone to say 'Adonai' which is Hebrew for 'Lord' or 'Master". When the translators of the bible began to translate the scriptures into the various languages, they adopted the tradition of the Pharisees. It is interesting to note that the Rabbis of Rabbinic Judaism claim to be the modern day descendants of the pharisees, and that they still follow this tradition. Now, once I realized that the name of the God of the Scriptures is not LORD, I began to become more fascinated by the scriptures.
(NOTE: The pronunciation of the Name has been lost. As the Jews handed down the manuscripts of the Tanakh, they removed the vowel markers from the Divine Name and replaced it with the vowel markers for ADONAI or ELOHIM to remind the reader to say LORD or GOD instead of the Divine Name. There are many different schools of thought on the pronunciation name, but generally the belief is that the name could be pronounced YAHWEH, YAHUWEH, YAHVEH, or YEHOVAH.)
In my studies I came across a very interesting fact. The scriptures reference Baal many times. In fact the children of Israel were enticed many times away from YHVH by Baal and its worshippers. I discovered that Baal is in fact a title used for many semitic gods in the land of canaan, and the title just happens to translate as 'Lord' or 'Master'. When I discovered this, It caused me to look at the following statement by Eliyahu (Elijah) in a different light:
Eliyahu (Elijah) came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If YHVH (The LORD) is Elohim (God), follow Him; but if Baal (Lord), follow him." But the people did not answer him a word. 1 Melechim (Kings) 18:21.
