I pray that I have established the attitude that YHVH has about His personal name. The purpose was to show scripturally the use of that name. We are not talking about titles such as God, Lord (as in Adonay), King, or Messiah, but rather the one and only NAME of the God of Israel. It is a name that separates Him from all other Gods. The question we will tackle is, "So how do you say His name?"

Let's start with some fundamental facts about the Hebrew language. There is a difference between writing His name and saying His name. The actual four letters which make up His name come from a group of semitic languages. The language which we call 'Hebrew' is actually called the language of the Canaanites or the language of Y^ehudah in scripture (Yesha'yahu 19:18, Nechemyah 13:24). The process that this language went through to become 'Hebrew' is found in the people who spoke this language. There were several Canaanite dialects including Phoenician, Ugaritic, and Moabite. The Hebrew script that we commonly see today is not the script that Mosheh would have written or read. The square type script of today came about after the Babylonian captivity. The script before that time is referred to as Paleo-Hebrew, or the ancient script. All of the Hebrew manuscripts that are known today are written in the modern script. This even includes the ones discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts are written in the modern script without vowels. Written vowels came into existence through the Massorites, beginning with the long vowels and concluding with the short vowels and cantillation marks around 620 c.e. However, there is one word that is carefully maintained in it's ancient script all through these scrolls. The four letters of His name. When reading Mizmor 199:82-120 in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the preservation of the Paleo-Hebrew script of His name stands out like a 200 foot Menorah. When you read any of the Hebrew texts today, you are reading what is basically the result of the Massoretic text. In other words, you are reading a modern square script with vowels. In spite of the silly things I have heard from many a pulpit, it is not true that the Hebrew language had no vowels until the Massorites placed them there. All languages have vowel sounds. You cannot pronounce words without vowels. The Hebrew language had no 'written' vowels before then. There was no need for them. It was only because of the continued dispersion of the Jewish people through out the known world that there was a need to actually write them into the text. It would soon be noticed, by those who spoke and maintained the Hebrew text, that the rest of the religious world would not hold the same reverence for Torah as they did. As evidenced by history, most of the rest of the world, including the growing progressive Christian religion, would have just as soon seen the Old Testament quietly go away.

Beginning with the Massoretic text, a grammatical system soon developed for this modern script. In other words, there is now a system of rules governing the language. As it is with most languages, there are rules for parsing and paradigms for conjugating verbs. The big question is, "Were these same rules used in the ancient script as well?" The answer is that no one really knows, and this is crucial to the whole debate of the proper way to say His name. I have visited dozens of web sites and read many articles dealing with the NAME of the God of Israel. If you relied on the teachings of just a handful of these sites, you would be swimming in confusion. Most of the confusion comes from the articulation of the vowels and not the consonants. Most of these organizations claim exclusive revelation to the correct way to pronounce His name. But if you perused them all you would have to conclude that either YHVH has many names, they do not know what they are talking about, or some of them are fibbing. I wish to present another possibility. I believe that the four fundamental consonants are well preserved and the correct articulation of those four with their vowels were not. I have found that most teaching concerning the correct pronunciation, are applying modern rules of Hebrew grammar to an ancient script.

Let me put in one small disclaimer before I go on. Our focus here is names and not everyday words and terms. The Massorites were very faithful in placing a vowel system into the text that properly articulated a language that all Hebrew people already knew and spoke. It was a matter of putting the words down on paper in order for them to be preserved in a world that does not know the language. This is not necessarily true for people's personal names. Many names in scripture are a combination of two or more Hebrew words that paint a picture of an action or activity that represents something peculiar to the child that received his or her name. Personal names are not subject to, or confined to, proper grammar. Personal names have meaning based upon the root of the name, but you do not spell them or pronounce them that way. This would be especially true of names that come out of ancient Hebrew script into the modern script. Let us take for example the name Y^ehudah. This name means to 'lift up the hand' or 'to praise'. The word in Hebrew is yadah. But you do not pronounce the name of the child the same way as it's root meaning. We know in our own culture that there are various ways that parents choose to spell the names of their children, even though the basic 'name' is the same. Cathy, Kathy, Kathleen, Kathaleen, and Cathie is one example.

Did the Massorites know how to articulate the name of the God of Israel? This we do not know. Hhowever, there is other information about their work that would add to our understanding. We know that at that time the 'name' was not pronounced because, well, quite honestly, because of superstition at worst and a faulty interpretation of the first three commandments at best. The 'name' was substituted by other terms such as 'HaShem', 'Adonay', the 'Holy One', and even the word 'heaven'. The idea was to avoid mispronouncing the name. So when the Massorites added vowels to the text, they used the basic sounds contained in the word ' ^adonay as vowels for YHVH. In the Received Text, the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia, and the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia texts you have the name written as Y^ehowah. Common sense would tell me that if the purpose was to avoid mispronouncing the name and using the vowels of Adonay instead, then they did not know or use the actual name! This means we have the four consonants preserved but not the vowels. In the Hebrew it is the order and placing of the consonants that determine the foundation of a word. It is the arrangement of the vowels that separate out the cognates. I am speaking in general.

In the oldest texts we have preserved the four letters of the name, and in the case of the Dead Sea Scrolls we have the ancient letters. They are Yod-He-Waw-He. You will notice that I write the name as YHVH. So what happened to the 'v' sound? Well, in the interest of not getting too technical, let me say that the 'vav' is a modern way to write the third letter of His name. It's pronunciation depends on other variables such as the attachment of a 'holem'. The ancient Hebrew letter is actually a 'waw' sound. This is where you get the common pronunciation of 'Yahweh'. It is actually a very soft 'v'. When you place a 'holem', seen as a dot above the letter, above the vav, then the vav becomes quiescent or quiet. This is what you see when you read His name in modern Hebrew. This is according to the rules of modern Hebrew, which of course, the ancient name may or may not be subject to. I write YHVH because most people on the internet are accustomed to that spelling. Are you getting more information than you really need? Well, this only scratches the surface. The bottom line is what I have been saying all along. We have preserved for us the four consonants. I am trying to teach only what the language tells us. Anything else, in my opinion, would be speculation. I choose to pronounce His name as YAHWEH. Some would say that in Hebrew there is always a vowel after every consonant, with exception of the last consonant. But again, this is the rules of modern Hebrew, and again we are dealing with a personal name and not common words or terms.

I would like to take the time to address another issue that can be quite complicated as far as documentation goes. If the King James translators were here today, the first question I would ask is, "Why, if we have His name preserved, does the 'Authorized version' have the word 'LORD'?" When you read any introduction to the King James version, you will see an explanation as to the three uses of the word, 'lord'. They explain that 'lord' with all small case letters refers to human masters and is a common term synonymous with our 'mister'. Next, they will tell you that the word 'Lord' with a capital 'L' and lower case 'ord' refers to the Hebrew word adonay. And finally they explain that the word 'LORD' in alll upper case is the Hebrew word YHVH. This means that the personal name of the creator is neither a transliteration or a translation, but rather a word that has absolutely nothing to do with His name. A word that is the English translation of the general term for all gods and masters, regardless of which religion. The word 'LORD' is a title and not a name. Titles are always translated, because different languages have different words for master, king, ruler, creator, or god. Many times names, when going from one language to another, are transliterated. This means that the letters of a particular name in one language are transferred to the corresponding letters or sounds of another. There are legitimate reasons for transliterating rather than translating. To translate is to find a word in one language that has a similar 'meaning' to a word in another language. Names are usually transliterated and not translated. Did that make sense? All languages, with some exceptions, can articulate virtually every sound. The problem is in the writing of that sound. For example, Greek speaking people can say, 'Shem', but they could not preserve it in writing that way, for Greek does not have a 'sh' sound to write. So they would have to transliterate it as an 's' instead of a 'sh', and Shem becomes Sem. Now if over time, someone reads the word 'Sem' in the Greek, having never heard the word pronounced, he would not know it's proper pronunciation. I believe this is how many words were changed over the centuries. There are some who cannot even pronounce some letters. Let me give you an example in scripture.

Shoftim 12:4-6
"Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with E'phraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites. And it was so that when those Ephraimites who were escaped said, Let me go over, that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay, Then said they unto him, Say now SHIBBOLETH: and he said, SIBBOLETH; for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the fords of the Jordan; and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand."

This is an example of how words can be pronounced differently over time. It is for this reason that I believe YHVH made it a point to preserve His name to this day. There is a difference, however, between a name being slightly different because of an inability to pronounce a certain letter, or because a certain sound is not available to write, and the deliberate changing of a name to conform to the cultural deities of the surrounding nations. Even though the Greek does not have a 'y' or 'sh' in their alphabet, the word 'Iesous, or 'Jesus' is a far cry from three consonants that form the Messiah's name. How this word went from Yod, Shin, and Ayin to the modern day 'Jesus' is very spurious. Since the name of the Messiah is a proper personal name, that means that it is not subject to the rules of modern grammar. His name could have been pronounced a number of ways but all having the three basic consonants in them. I prefer to use the name 'Yahshua', because it contains the root of the name he inherited from His father, 'YAH'. This is part of the meaning behind the Messiah coming in His father's name. That is my personal preference. If the Messiah was named commonly, then His name was more than likely, 'Yehoshua' as in the 6th book of scripture. But again, this would be in step with applying modern rules of grammar. If you are interested in some research done on the possible background of the changes in many scriptural names and terms, I would recommend two disturbing books. One is called the 'The Two Babylons' by Alexander Hislop, and the other is 'Fossilized Customs' by Lew White. I would warn you that after reading these books you may have an almost uncontrollable desire to abandon everything you hold dear and go live in a cave. I have long debated with myself as to whether or not I will write a whole series on how pagan observances and terms crept into the church. I decided to stay with the Hebrew language for now.

The Messiah's name is Yahshua, so why not call him Yahshua? If you look up the word 'Jesus' or 'Iesous' you will find that these words mean nothing. Yahshua, on the other hand, comes from the Hebrew word yesha'. This word means salvation. Should this mean something to those who follow him? Why is it that His name is such a trivial matter to some? I find it fascinating that in the last 6 months we have been stumbling all over ourselves to respectfully pronounce the 'Muslim' names of our enemies, with absolutely no desire to transliterate them to more common 'English' sounds. Osama bin Ladin's name is Osama bin Ladin, and so that is what we call him. We have made no attempts to change his name to Sam Layton or some such thing. The same is true of all historical characters. When discussing this issue with 'Christians' I am told that I am making a big deal out of His name. They say that God knows who we are talking about, and Jesus knows our heart. But let me pose this scenario. What do you think would happen if I prayed with those same people, and when the prayer ended I thanked God in the name of 'Pokeman'? I'll tell you what would happen, they would all throw a fit and accuse me of blasphemy. To which I would say,'What difference does it make? Jesus knows who I am praying to!" My point here is that the name 'Jesus' has become the incantation of the modern church. There is little or no concern about polluting the name of YHVH, but a host of fits would be displayed over profaning the name of Jesus.

I suppose it is time to deal with some obvious questions that would arise. Many would ask if millions of people are going to hell because they did not know the 'correct' name. Well my answer to that is that I do not know. That is not my responsibility. This same question could be asked of those who hold that 'Jesus' is the only name under heaven in which man can be saved. What about those who never heard that name? I believe it is the mission of all of us who hold the scriptures as truth, to speak that truth. It is not my responsibility to pontificate on the destination of those who never heard that truth. The question I would ask is why would anyone reject the truth because they cannot understand what happens to some hypothetical person who never heard that same truth. Is this the same attitude we would have about other areas of life? I think not! For example, if you were on a cruise, the ship sank and there were no life jackets. All different kinds of people were treading water just like you. Along comes a boat and throws you a life jacket and sails away. Are you logically going to refuse the life jacket because you cannot understand why they didn't throw the others a life jacket? I think not! You know what I would do? I would put the life jacket on and go save as many of the others as I could.

I would like to close this series with the same attitude I took when I started. I do not hold the teaching that there is a 'correct' pronunciation of the name of the God of Israel, and those who call upon that name and only that name are saved. I also find it more than distasteful to see His name trivialized and relegated to a 'what difference does it make' attitude either. I hope and pray that I have given a little relevance to this subject. There is a lot more to be discussed and learned. All there is to say on this matter is not to be found here.

In the next series I will be addressing some of the 'hard to be understood' verses in the Brit Chadashah. These will be scriptures that are commonly used to prove that Torah was for the Jews and not for the 'church'. We will address scriptures such as Galatians 4:21-31, Romans 14, Romans 6, 2 Corinthians 5:6-18, Galatians 3:24-25, and more. Be blessed as I close this series with Divre-HaYamim Bet (2 Chronicles) 7:14-16

"If my people, who are called by my NAME, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my NAME may be there forever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually."

Shalom Alecheim!