One of the most interesting prayers recorded in the Holy Scriptures is that one uttered by Yahshua Messiah in John 17. In verse 6 it reads, “I have manifested thy name to the men you gave me out of the world” and again in verse 12 this name is again mentioned “Whilst in the world with them, I have kept them in thy name.”
I know, when I first read this prayer in its entirety, apart from crying, I did not really take due cognizant of these particular verses. Well I was part of the Church of God at the time and surely the Eternal’s name was God … well isn’t it? He was referred to as God by name and by title and we took that for granted, perhaps we were brainwashed to believe that this was the Creator’s name.
Later when I was translating the New Testament into the Fijian language, that I received the most interesting critical analysis of what I had done, from a friend who told me that it was alright except that I was not directly using the name of the Creator and that I should. This prompted me to research the name, that Yahshua, when reporting to the Eternal in that prayer, said he had exposed to the Apostles.
The best way to do this was to go back to the Old Testament and find out the name of the Eternal, Ever-living Creator of all things.
By elimination, I had to write off several names such as God, Lord, LORD or Theos because these names were translations, God for Elohim, LORD for Yahweh etc. Name translations can be done, that is for sure, but I think they are actually unacceptable. I remember the example of Johannes Strauss whose name can be translated as John Heron or in Fijian Iowane Belo. Herr Strauss though would not accept it if we decided to call him those, without his permission.
So it is with the Creator don’t you think? Could one simply call our great Creator whatever one wishes.
To discuss our Elohim’s Name, let me refer to http://www.yhwh.com/GINGN/gingn.htm and borrow their explanations, which I rather like. Exodus 3:13-15 reads:
13 Then Moses said to Elohim, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, `The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" 14 And Elohim said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 And Elohim, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `The Yahweh, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."
So there you have it. Elohim's personal name, as they translate its meaning in English, is "I am that I am." Here are some other ways it has been translated:
a) He who is
b) The self-existent one
c) He who is ever becoming what He is
d) Is-ness is is-ness
That may not seem like it says very much. That's because it is a statement of infinite truth. Elohim's name, the I Am, reveals the fullness of His nature. All of Elohim's nature and attributes are embodied in His name. To do that we're going to need a brief lesson in linguistics. This may seem confusing, but believe me, this is very important. It goes like this:
a) To translate is to explain the meaning of one language using the words of another.
b) To transliterate is to spell a word using the letters of another language.
c) "I am" is the English translation of the meaning of Elohim's personal name.
d) The English transliteration of Elohim's personal name is YHWH.
e) The four Hebrew letters transliterated YHWH are:
i) Yod, rhymes with "rode", which we transliterate "Y"
ii) He, rhymes with "say", which we transliterate "H"
iii) Vav, like "lava", which we transliterate "W" or "V"
I know, when I first read this prayer in its entirety, apart from crying, I did not really take due cognizant of these particular verses. Well I was part of the Church of God at the time and surely the Eternal’s name was God … well isn’t it? He was referred to as God by name and by title and we took that for granted, perhaps we were brainwashed to believe that this was the Creator’s name.
Later when I was translating the New Testament into the Fijian language, that I received the most interesting critical analysis of what I had done, from a friend who told me that it was alright except that I was not directly using the name of the Creator and that I should. This prompted me to research the name, that Yahshua, when reporting to the Eternal in that prayer, said he had exposed to the Apostles.
The best way to do this was to go back to the Old Testament and find out the name of the Eternal, Ever-living Creator of all things.
By elimination, I had to write off several names such as God, Lord, LORD or Theos because these names were translations, God for Elohim, LORD for Yahweh etc. Name translations can be done, that is for sure, but I think they are actually unacceptable. I remember the example of Johannes Strauss whose name can be translated as John Heron or in Fijian Iowane Belo. Herr Strauss though would not accept it if we decided to call him those, without his permission.
So it is with the Creator don’t you think? Could one simply call our great Creator whatever one wishes.
To discuss our Elohim’s Name, let me refer to http://www.yhwh.com/GINGN/gingn.htm and borrow their explanations, which I rather like. Exodus 3:13-15 reads:
13 Then Moses said to Elohim, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, `The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" 14 And Elohim said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 And Elohim, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `The Yahweh, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."
So there you have it. Elohim's personal name, as they translate its meaning in English, is "I am that I am." Here are some other ways it has been translated:
a) He who is
b) The self-existent one
c) He who is ever becoming what He is
d) Is-ness is is-ness
That may not seem like it says very much. That's because it is a statement of infinite truth. Elohim's name, the I Am, reveals the fullness of His nature. All of Elohim's nature and attributes are embodied in His name. To do that we're going to need a brief lesson in linguistics. This may seem confusing, but believe me, this is very important. It goes like this:
a) To translate is to explain the meaning of one language using the words of another.
b) To transliterate is to spell a word using the letters of another language.
c) "I am" is the English translation of the meaning of Elohim's personal name.
d) The English transliteration of Elohim's personal name is YHWH.
e) The four Hebrew letters transliterated YHWH are:
i) Yod, rhymes with "rode", which we transliterate "Y"
ii) He, rhymes with "say", which we transliterate "H"
iii) Vav, like "lava", which we transliterate "W" or "V"
iv) and another He
f) Originally, Hebrew (we're talkin' over 3000 years ago, folks!) didn't have any vowels, and was written right to left.
The Name of Our Elohim is as folows:
Transliterated into English: YHWH
With vowels added: YAHWEH
Translated: I AM WHO I AM
You've heard the saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Well, that's certainly true here. No matter what language you use, whether you translate, transliterate, or what direction you spell, YHWH's name means "I am that I am." And it directly points to His Real name, which is the same in all languages.
Well I will end it here, this time around but I will continue to discuss Elohim’s name in my next article. (By the ways I had personally edited out the use of the words God from the article I have used with appreciation.)
We are told to sing to the name of Yahweh our Elohim. Psalms 9:1-2 reads;
“I will praise thee O Yahweh, with my whole heart, I will show forth all your marvellous works, I will be glad and rejoice in you, I will sing praise to your name, O thou most high”
Thank You
“I will praise thee O Yahweh, with my whole heart, I will show forth all your marvellous works, I will be glad and rejoice in you, I will sing praise to your name, O thou most high”
Thank You
