Reading Yahweh
October 9th, 2008 · Posted in God Stuff · 6 CommentsWhen you read most (English) Bibles, you will find an odd convention: the word ‘Lord’ in smallcaps.
This is the word most often used when translating the tetragrammaton, — that is, the name God used to introduce himself to Moses: YHWH (or Yahweh, when you add the vowels that aren’t written in Hebrew) — into English.
It looks like using ‘Lord’ originated out of a false sense of not wanting to take Yahweh’s name in vain, which is a fair enough ideal, but comes at the expense of using the name Yahweh himself gave to identify him over other gods.
I occasionally call my wife ‘wife’, or ‘hey you’, or ‘that gorgeous woman that I married’, but those aren’t her names – they describe her, and she knows I mean her when I use them, but her name is Jen(nifer), and that is the name I should use when talking about her, an individual with an identity, not just a nameless human, or a generic wife.
If people refused to ever use my name when they spoke of me, I’d feel a bit let down. I don’t presume to suggest that’s what Yahweh God feels, but he told us his name, so I think we should use it.
Your homework for today (and every day): when you come across the words ‘the Lord‘, replace it in your mind with ‘Yahweh’. This does two things:
1) It makes you remember who we are talking about, not just some nameless god, but the God who created the universe.
2) It makes the Bible a whole bunch clearer. It is God’s name, and when it is replaced with a wimpy ‘Lord‘, it hides things that would otherwise be clear.
The minister at our old church used to do this and it drove me mad at the time, but now I’m convinced that it is the right way to go.
Further reading:
- Yahweh/Lord
- Undisciplined rant about “Yahweh/Lord“
- Help for Bible students – (the colours on this site are horrid, but the content is not)
“This is what the
LordYahweh says, he who made the earth, theLordYahweh who formed it and established it—theLordYahweh is his name”- Jeremiah 33:2
RodeoClown: hey you!
October 9th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Yay, you wrote something!
Yes, I started doing that and it does make a difference.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’ve had it sitting around 80% written for the last two or three months. I thought I’d finish it up
October 10th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I’m not so sure about this one, but please feel free to worship in whatever way you choose.
Firstly, ‘name in vain’ – this part of the Ten Commandments seems to me to be dealing with drawing upon God in oath-making. (It’s often taken to be against using “God” in swearing; I can see why this would be offensive, but I don’t think this is what the third commandment is meant to exclude).
Secondly, I don’t believe we get to have a one-on-one conversation with God – isn’t the whole point of Jesus and the Holy Spirit: to bridge the gap? So I’m not so sure that substituting Yahweh is appropriate. The use of “Lord” expresses the awe and majesty of God. The use of Yahweh makes it seems like he’s one of our mates who comes down the pub with us on Friday night. (I have no problem with us having a relationship with Jesus in this way, but with God?)
Not to mention, Yahweh is a Hebrew name, and I don’t believe anything in the New Testament uses this name. I’m inclined to leave this name for our Jewish brothers and sisters (who generally speaking don’t utter it out of respect).
The meaning of the name Yahweh, often translated as “I am” has a subtly different meaning to that which is usually assumed. Yes, it can mean “I am” but it means this in the ultimate existential sense “I am the One who Is” thus it also means “Eternal One”. Eternal One, I feel, is a lovely name for God!
Anyway, I don’t mean to dictate how you should act, believe or worship, solely to give you another perspective on this issue.
And speaking of the Ten Commandments, I have a piece on this planned for Tuesday next week. I don’t think you’ll agree with what I’ve written, so I trust you will share your objections with me!
With love,
Chris.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Recently Catholic bishops in the US were ordered to remove ‘Yahweh’ from all their songs and prayers so as to not offend both Jews and God himself! Some protestant theologians are calling for the same response in all Christian churches. See here.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Hi Chris (sorry about the delay in replying – had a relatively PC-free weekend, which is a good thing
)
I couldn’t agree more, and that’s what I (tried) to get at – that using Lord was attempting to solve the wrong problem. Or to solve the problem in the wrong way – stop people from using God’s name in vain by stopping them using the name altogether – it deals with the symptom, but not the underlying heart problem.
Jesus bridges the gap – allowing us to have a conversation with God (Yahweh) directly. I agree, we shouldn’t treat him as though he is one of our mates, but in several places Christians are described as “sons of God”, and “co-heirs with Christ”, and we are told that we can call God “Abba”, which roughly translates as “Dad”. It is more of a father/son relationship we have, so we can’t treat him like a mate, but we can speak directly to him in a familiar manner as a result of this ‘adoption’
You’re right – it’s not used in the New Testament at all, but it is in the Old Testament a bit over 6800 times, so it’s not a once-off usage when Yahweh introduced himself to Moses via burning-bush.
I am aware of that meaning – very much an “I am” always, giving the implication of an eternal presence ([insert freewill/predestination/point-of-view discussion here]).
I’m sure I’ll disagree – I look forward to reading it
Thanks for your comments Chris, although we disagree on some fundamental issues – I really respect your patience and friendly tone
October 13th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Hi Mark,
I read that the other day – it seems a really odd thing to do (in my view), but I disagree with plenty the Catholic church does, so I’m not really surprised.