Monthly Archives: January 2010

Yahweh is God’s personal Name, or His Divine Name. Yahweh is called the Tetragrammaton, or four-letter word, because it has four letters in Hebrew. Orthodox Jews won’t say Yahweh. Instead, they say HASHEM—a Hebrew word that means “The Name.” Yahweh is also called the Ineffable Name, or the unspeakable Name, but Yahweh’s Name is not unspeakable. In fact, Yahweh commanded us to tell the world who He is by Name. Make no mistake. Not declaring Yahweh’s Name is an act of insubordination, and it is wrong.

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“For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” (Thomas Jefferson)

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Scripture:

Today I’ll show where Yahweh’s Name belongs in Acts chapter 20:

Acts 20

  1. After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.
  2. When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece.
  3. And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.
  4. And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.
  5. But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.
  6. We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.
  7. On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
  8. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.
  9. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.
  10. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.”
  11. When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.
  12. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.
  13. But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land.
  14. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.
  15. Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus.
  16. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
  17. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.
  18. And when they had come to him, he said to them,
    “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,
  19. serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;
  20. how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
  21. solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
  22. “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
  23. except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
  24. “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
  25. “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.
  26. “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
  27. “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
  28. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of Yahweh which He purchased with His own blood.
  29. “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
  30. and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
  31. “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
  32. “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
  33. “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.
  34. “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
  35. “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
  36. When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
  37. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,
  38. grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.

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SnyderTalk® Commentary:

Currently, I am putting up bite sized pieces of His Name is Yahweh in SnyderTalk Commentary.  If you haven’t read it, it will be a treat for you.  If you have read it, you will probably enjoy reading it again.  Don’t hesitate to share it with your friends.  You can download the entire manuscript for free at His Name is Yahweh, or you can buy it in Kindle format from Amazon for just $5.

His Name is Yahweh

Yahweh is God’s personal Name, or His Divine Name.  Yahweh is called the Tetragrammaton, or four-letter word, because it has four letters in Hebrew.  Orthodox Jews won’t say Yahweh.  Instead, they say HASHEM—a Hebrew word that means “The Name.”  Yahweh is also called the Ineffable Name, or the unspeakable Name, but Yahweh’s Name is not unspeakable.  In fact, Yahweh commanded us to tell the world who He is by Name.  Make no mistake.  Not declaring Yahweh’s Name is an act of insubordination, and it is wrong.

Yahweh means I was, I am, and I will be, and “I AM” is one of His Names.  “I AM” is also the definition of His Name.  Yahweh’s Name sets Him apart by distinguishing between Him and anything or anyone else.  When Moses asked Yahweh to tell him His Name so he could let the Children of Israel know who sent him to lead them out of Egypt, Yahweh said, “I AM WHO I AM; thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3: 14)  Then immediately He added this command:

“Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’  This (Yahweh) is My Name forever, the Name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15 from the New International Version.  The parentheses are mine.)

Since “forever” means without end, it’s obvious that Yahweh didn’t intend for us to substitute titles for His Name.  Also, Yahweh instructed Moses to tell the Children of Israel to remember Him by the Name Yahweh “from generation to generation.”  That means Yahweh wants us

  1. to know His Name,
  2. to call on Him by Name, and
  3. to tell the world about Him by Name.

The Correct Pronunciation of Yahweh’s Name

Some people argue vehemently that the correct pronunciation of Yahweh’s Name was lost, that no one knows how it was articulated in Moses’ day.  According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, that’s not true. (Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem, vol. 7, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel, the Macmillian Company, Jerusalem, 1972, p. 680.)  However, people who know Yahweh’s Name seldom use it, so the correct way to pronounce it remains a source of considerable debate.

The Christian community, for the most part, isn’t even involved in the discussion because they don’t know God has a Name—other than Jesus, of course, which is wrong.  By the time you finish reading this book, you’ll wonder why preachers don’t get it.  It’s right there—disguised of course—but it’s still right there in the Bibles they “study.”  A modicum of curiosity should inspire them to seek out the answer.

A friend gave me a tape of a sermon that his preacher delivered titled “The Importance of God’s Name”.  Excitedly, I started to listen.  It was a long sermon so I kept waiting and waiting and waiting.  It turned out to be a real disappointment.  Not once in his entire presentation did my friend’s preacher even hint at Yahweh’s Name.  He keep saying “the Name of the LORD” this and “the Name of the LORD” that, but he never mentioned Yahweh’s Name.  I wondered, “How can this be?”  Did the Holy Spirit lead him down the right path and then shut the door on him at the last second, or did the preacher simply fail to complete the journey?  I’m sure Yahweh’s Spirit did His work correctly.

The Correct Pronunciation

Many people believe that all the letters in Yahweh’s Name are consonants, but that’s not correct.  Each letter in Yahweh’s Name is a vowel-consonant or semivowel.  The Hebrew spelling of Yahweh, yod-hey-vav-hey, appears below.  Since Hebrew reads right to left, “yod” is the letter on the far right:

Most Bible scholars and Hebrew linguists believe that “Yahweh” is the correct pronunciation of God’s Name.  The Y-a-h in His Name sounds like “Yah,” and the w-e-h in His Name sounds like “way.”  Still, considerable debate persists about whether to enunciate the second syllable in Yahweh’s Name with a “v” sound or with a “w” sound.  Compelling evidence proves that the “w” sound is correct. (For supporting documentation, see the manuscript for His Name is Yahweh.  You can download it for free at His Name is Yahweh.)

John 14: 13-15—“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.  If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Question:  What name is the Messiah talking about?

Hint: If you think it’s not Yahweh, you’re wrong.

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News Items of Interest:

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His Name is Yahweh:

There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is Yahweh.  His Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5.  If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should.  The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org