YHWH LAHAG

YHWH IS ONE

2011-10-05T15:07:00.000+12:00

Some people are equating YHWH to the gods they worship as followers of Islam and Christians do and people are buying that lie. In this light I now doubt that YHWH is the same L_RD G_d that Judaism worship, given that they addressed the one they worship as Adonai etc and not YHWH.

So yeah, Iam sorry but nothing can be further from the TRUTH; YHWH is not Allah and Allahis not YHWH. Furthermore, Jesus Christ is not YHWH and YHWH is not Jesus Christas many Christians are claiming.

Toworship YHWH you need to live by the 613 Mitzvot, and one of the mitzvotforbids us to follow human beings (men or women). Both Islam and Christianityfollow men namely Mohammed and Jesus Christ respectively. Both Islam andChristianity are human religions.

Infact you cannot worship YHWH if you are already a Muslim or a Christian,because one’s practice as such, will violate the 613 Mitzvot.

Neverforget what Kohelet 12:13-14 instructs: “Letus hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear YHWH and live by his mitzvot;this is what being human is all about. 14 For YHWH shall bring every work intojudgment, concerning everything which is hidden and known, whether it be goodor whether it be evil.”

In fact Allah is a god, and Jesus Christ is a son of God,but also a God in the trinity configuration. However, YHWH in the 613 mitzvotforbids god-worshipping. Notice what Sh’mot 20:2-3 says, “I am YHWH your MightyOne, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3You shall have no elohim (gods) before me.”

Heedthis command from on high. Get out of god worshipping and turn to YHWH.

YHWHis our heavenly Father and he is the Mighty one of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov,and to worship YHWH we do not need and cannot follow human beings.

Relationship with YHWH

2011-07-18T11:26:00.011+12:00

Introduction

Ihave been looking for a religion where in the worship of YHWH is total andexclusive and I have not found one. But then I realized that I am wrong inlooking for a religion, because religions worship gods and idols and everythingthat is found above, on or below the earth. This is not the way.

Relationshipwith YHWH is one on one first and foremost, and this is why YHWH has said tous, “When you shall seek me with all your heart, you shallfind me says YHWH” (Yirmeyahu 29:13). Whywould one want to do this? YHWH is the “real” source of life, and also fulfillthe purpose of a human beingwhich is namely “To Fear Yahweh and live by his mitzvot; this is what being humanis all about ”Kohelet 12:13 .

TheFollower And Potential Member of YHWH’s Flock

I MY VISION:

1 Tofear, love, and live daily under the Authority and in the Presence andLeadership of YHWH

a) Kohelet12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Yahwehand live by his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.”

b) Yirmeyahu5:20-22 “Declare this in the house of Ya’akov and publish it in Y’hudah,saying, 21 Hear this now, O foolish people who have no understanding, who haveeyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: 22 Don’t you revere me?Says Yahweh, and will you not tremble at my presence? I have placed the sandfor the bound of the sea by a perpetual ordinance that it cannot overflow;though the waves roar, yet they cannot prevail; though they toss, yet theycannot pass over it.

II MY MISSION:

1. Clear out from my life all gods and religions that are clogging my pathto exclusively access YHWH the Mighty One of Avraham, Yitz’chak, Ya’akov, Mosheand King Dawid. Remembering that YHWH is zealous and he will not toleratesyncretism:

a) D’varim12:29-31 “When Yahweh your Mighty One shall destroy the nations againstwhom you are going and cut them off from before you; you shall possess them anddwell in their land; 30 Watch out to yourselves that you do not go astray byfollowing them, after Yahweh has destroyed them from before you; that you donot inquire after their elohim, saying, How did these nations serve theirelohim? Even so that I may do likewise.31 You shall not do so to Yahweh yourMighty One; for everything abominable to Yahweh, which he hates, they have doneto their elohim; even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in thefire to their elohim.

2. Seek YHWH to gain wisdom andunderstanding.

a. Iyov 28:28 To man he said, Look, the reverence of Yahweh, that is wisdom;and to depart from evil is understanding"
b. Yirmeyahu29:13 “When you shall seek me with all your heart, you shall find me says YHWH"
c. Yeshayahu 55:6-7 “Seek YHWH and when you find him, call upon himwhile he is near; 7 Let the sinner forsake his way and the wicked man histhoughts; let him return to YHWH for he will have mercy upon him, and to ourMighty One, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 My thoughts are not like yourthoughts, neither are my ways like your ways, says YHWH.

3. Love and call on the name of YHWHexclusively; do not hide and/or substitute his name with another.

a. Yo’yl 2:32 “It shall occur thatwhosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered (saved); for inmount Tziyon and in Yerushalayim shall be deliverance as Yahweh has said to theremnant whom Yahweh has called.”

b. Hoshea2:16-17 “It shall be on that day, says Yahweh, that you shall call me,my husband (Ishi), and shall call me no more Ba’ali (My Lord). 17 For I willtake away the name of Ba’alim out of her mouth, and they shall not rememberthat name ever again.

c. Yesha’yahu 52:6“Therefore my people shall know myname in that day; for it is I who spoke; see, it is I”

d. Mal’akhi2:1-2 “Now therefore, O kohanim, this commandment is for you. 2 If you willnot obey and if you will not lay it to heart to give honor to my name, saysYahweh Tzva’ot, I will send curses upon you and I will curse your blessingsbecause you have not laid it to your heart

4. Accept and believe that YHWH alone isthe creator of all things, is the giver and remover or taker of life and thatthere is no one else beside him.

a. B’resheet 1:1 “In the very beginning Yahwehcreated the heavens and the earth.

b. Iyov 1: 20-22 “Then Iyov stood up and tore up hismantle, shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped, 21 Hesaid, Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, naked shall I return; Yahweh gaveand Yahweh has taken away; blessed be the name of Yahweh. 22 In all thesedisasters, Iyov did not sin, nor did he blaspheme against Yahweh.

c. Tehellim 104:24 “O YHWH, how manifold are your works!In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your riches

d. Yeshayahu 43:1011 “You are my witnesses, says YHWH, and myservants whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me and understandthat I am he; before me there was no elohim created, neither shall there beafter me. 1 I, even I, am YHWH; and besides me there is no saviour. 12 I havedeclared that I have saved, and I have proclaimed that there is no alien elohim among you; therefore you are mywitnesses, says YHWH, that I am the Mighty One.

5. Accept, love, embrace, internalize and obey all the laws, mitzvot,commands and judgments of YHWH.

a. Sh’mot 19:5-6: “Now therefore, if you will obey myvoice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be my beloved ones above allpeoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 You shall be a kingdom of kohanim to meand a people set-apart. These are the words which you shall speak to thechildren of Isra’yl.

b. D’varim28:9-10) “Yahweh shallestablish you a kodesh people to himself, as he swore to you, if you shall keepall the mitzvot of Yahweh your Mighty One and walk in his ways. 10 All thepeople of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yahweh, theyshall be afraid of you.

c. Tehellim 119: 33-40 “Teach me, O YHWH, the way of yourcommandments; I shall keep them to the end. 34 Give me understanding and Ishall keep your Torah; yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

35 ¶ Make me to go in the path of yourmitzvot; for therein do I delight. 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies andnot to fables.

37 ¶ Turn away myeyes that they may not see falsehood; and you quicken me in your way.

38 ¶ Strengthen yourword to your servant, who is devoted to you.

39 ¶ Turn away myreproach: because your judgments are good.

40 ¶ Look, I have delighted in your precepts: quicken me in yourrighteousness.

6. Accept embrace and expect that all life,blessings, help and protection are available to us only when we are obedient toYHWH

a. Tehellim 115: 9-18 “The house of Isra’yl trusts in YHWH;he is their help and their shield. 10 The house of Aharon trusts in YHWH; he istheir help and their shield. 11 You who reverence YHWH, trust in YHWH; he istheir help and their shield. 12 YHWH hasbeen mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Isra’yl; hewill bless the house of Aharon. 13 YHWH will bless them that worship him, bothsmall and great. 14 YHWH will increaseyou more and more, you and your children. 15 You are blessed of YHWH who made heaven and earth. 16 The heavens,even the heavens, are Yahweh’s; but the earth has he given to the children ofmen. 17 The dead do not praise YHWH, neither any that go down into darkness. 18But we will bless YHWH from this time forth and for evermore. Praise YHWH.

7. Disbelieve and discard all forms ofgods, god/man and deities that are idolized and worshiped in this world.

a. Sh’mot 20:3 “You shall haveno elohim except (in place of or before) me”.

b. M’lakhimAlef 18:21, 37-39 “Then Yliyahu came near to all the people, and said, How longwill you halt between two opinions? If Yahweh is the Mighty One follow him, butif Ba’al is the Mighty One then follow him. The people did not answer him aword…… 37. Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me, that all this people may know thatyou are Yahweh Mighty One and that you have turned their perverse heart backagain. 38 Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt offering and thewood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in thetrench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said,Yahweh, he is the Mighty One; Yahweh, he is the Mighty One.”

c. Tehellim115:4-8 “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work ofmen’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but donot see; 6 They have ears, but they donot hear; they have noses, but they do not smell; 7 They have hands, but theydo not feel; they have feet, but they do not walk; neither do they speakthrough their throats. 8 Let them that make them become like them; and everyone that trusts in them.

d. DivreiHaYamim 33:15-16 “He took away the strange elohim and the ba’alim out of the house of Yahwehand all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Yahweh and inYerushalayim and cast them out of the city.16 He built an altar to Yahweh andsacrificed upon it burnt offerings and peace offerings and thank offerings andcommanded Y’hudah to keep the feast to Yahweh Mighty One of Isra’yl;”

8. Discard all religions, allreligious leaders and religious creeds, beliefs and practices that wouldmislead or derail our quest to live under YHWH and YHWH alone according tomy/our Vision. It is a violation of the command to worship any god or elohim,in place of or before Yahweh.

a. D’varim6:4-6 “Hear, O Isra’yl: Yahweh is our Mighty One, Yahweh is one; 5You shall love Yahweh your Mighty One with all your heart and with all yoursoul and with all your might. 6 These words which I command you this day shallbe in your heart:

b. Sh’mot20: 4-6 “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or anylikeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath orthat is in the water under the earth; 5 You shall not worship them nor servethem; for I Yahweh your Mighty One am a zealous Mighty One, visiting theoffenses of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generationsof those who hate me; 6 Showing mercy to thousands of generations of those wholove me and keep my commandments.”

9. Publish the names of Yahweh sothat it will be known widely and revered through my own living examples andfaith.

a. D’varim32:3 “For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh; andascribe majesty to the greatness of our Mighty One.”

b. Tehellim22:22 "I will declare YOUR name to my brethren;in the midst of the congregation will I praise YOU."

III MY PERSONAL VALUES

I PERSONALLY VALUE .....

1 YHWH the Great Creator who is one:And I will worship him alone

2 YHWH’s laws, commands, mitzvot and judgments:And I will maintainYHWH’s principles of living in my life and obey YHWH’s voice and laws

3 YHWH's name: And I will revere, call, sing and pray to and in YHWH’s mighty Names

4 YHWH’s words as enshrined in the Tanakh: And I will read internalize, embrace and treasure thewords of YHWH.

IV KEY SUCCESS AREAS (KSA)

1. ISHALL readand learn about YHWH and live with YHWH, only from the Tanakh in its originallanguage or any loyal translations of the Hebrew Tanakh. If necessary, forpersonal convenience, learn Hebrew.

2. ISHALLdiscard the New Testament of the Holy Bible from Matthew to Revelation becauseits source is doubtful, it plagiarizes selected passages in the Tanakh topretend credence and it misleads people away from Yahweh. The Old Testament (astranslated) must be used with suspicion and only when it is checked forauthenticity against the truth in the Books of the Tanakh (from B’resheet toDivrei HaYamim including the Torah, the Nevim, the Nevim Acharonim and theK’tuvim.

3. ISHALLalways boldly pray to YHWH calling his Kodesh names and completely refrain fromusing the name of Amen-Ra as usual and fashionable in all false religions.

4. ISHALL revertto the use of the original dating which was prevailing before Christianitychanged it to the so-called Gregorian system of dating, to justify its religiousfables about Jesus Christ.

5. ISHALLturn to YHWH exclusively; and turn my back to forget Jesus Christ and Luciferthe Devil and all other deities who are ba’alim, gods or elohim, rememberingthat ba’alim, gods and elohim are fables, who are made of wood, brass or plaster etc and they are inanimate thingsor objects that have no life inherent in them.

6. I SHALL publish the name of Yahweh to the world at large

Expectations

Iexpect that there would be a lot of of controversy, in respect of Jesus Christ,Christianity and their religious book called the New Testament especially and Ibelieve I can answer or clearly explain those issues with a lot of ease,because I have been studying this in the last ten years with several otherpeople and we feel we are now well versed in differentiating what is false andwhat is true.

In any case this is not about convertinganyone from whatever they believed. Let Christians go on believing what theythink is true.

Thisis about the Tanakh and the teaching in the Tanakh about connecting with andseeking to find the Creator of the universe named YHWH. Knowing accepting andrejecting YHWH and their consequences to life, are clearly described in theTanakh.

Wehave to move in closer to Yahweh and experience what life is all about, when weworship YHWH and YHWH alone and feel the goodness in life that he alone can offersand bring to pass.

Our identifiedneed at this stage are:

· to produce/find a good English translation of the Tanakh that acknowledgesYHWH’s name in full; and

· to produce a good congregational hymnalwhich acknowledges YHWH’s name.

Best wishesas you seek YHWH and find him. Remember to call out his name, YHWH.

Yahweh’s Loves The Children of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov.

2011-06-20T14:10:00.000+12:00

The Children of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov by understanding that he is the Mighty one of Is’rayl, and that there is no one else beside him. My view is that those who worship Jesus Christ reject Yahweh and break his commands that we worship him only. As we do, we must reciprocate his love appropriately by loving him, and him only, with all our hearts and all our minds.

In the Tanakh, the wonderful characteristics of the Mighty One’s love were in a very clear way revealed to Isra’yl. This nation owes its entire existence to the love of Yahweh the Mighty One. However, it was always meant to be a reciprocating love in which the obligation rested on Isra’yl to respond to the Mighty One’s love by living in the right relationship with Him. Moshe said to his people:

“It was not because you were more in number than any other peoples that Yahweh was delighted in you and chose you for you were the fewest of all peoples; 8 But it was because Yahweh loved you, and because he would keep the oaths which he had sworn to your fathers, that Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and delivered you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, 9 That you may know therefore that Yahweh your Mighty One, he is the Mighty One, the faithful Mighty One, who keeps covenant and mercy with those that love him and keep his mitzvot to a thousand generations, 10 Repays those that hate him during their lifetime; he requites them that he may destroy them; he shall not be slack to those that hate him, but he repays them during their lifetime.” (D’varim. 7:7-10).

Every member of the Nation who did not love Yahweh and turn his back upon Him, would pierce himself through with many sorrows. He would be the sufferer. On the other hand, those who love Yahweh will be richly blessed:

“Now, Isra'yl, what does Yahweh your Mighty One require of you, but to revere Yahweh your Mighty One, to walk in his ways, to love him and to serve Yahweh your Mighty One with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 To keep the mitzvot of Yahweh your Mighty One and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good. 14 Look, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belongs to Yahweh your Mighty One, the earth also, with all that therein is.” (D’varim 7:12-14).

To qualify for these blessings, there is only the demand of true love which must also manifest in works of charity:

“And now, Isra’yl, what does Yahweh your Mighty One require of you, but to fear Yahweh your Mighty One, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve Yahweh your Mighty One with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (D’varim 10:12-13).

Many good things would come over Isra’yl if they truly loved and served Yahweh. He would also protect them against the plots and attacks of their enemies, of which there were many. Balak, the king of Mo’av, hired Bil’am to curse Isra’yl:

“Nevertheless Yahweh your Mighty One would not listen to Bil’am, but Yahweh your Mighty One turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your Mighty One loves you” (D’varim. 23:5).

Bil’am advised Balak not to curse Isra’yl or to fight against them because Yahweh fights for them. He counselled Balak to befriend himself with Isra’yl and invite them to the feasts of Mo’av’s elohim. Should Isra’yl agree to social and religious compromise with Mo’av they would become untrue to the Mighty One, despise His love and worship hinder elohim.

The doctrine of Bil’am is the doctrine of compromise with an apostate world, against the instruction of the Tanakh. This self-destructing compromise caused a big disaster in Isra’yl. They accepted an invitation to a Baal feast, participated in the sacrifices, and many men of Isra’yl also took heathen wives in Mo’av. In doing so, Isra’yl didn’t honor their relationship of love towards the Mighty One but instead committed treason against Him. As a result, the wrath of the Mighty One was kindled against Isra’yl and He sent a plague over them in which 24 000 people died (B’midbar. 25:1-3, 9).

In spite of incidents of this nature, in which Isra’yl often in their history invited the anger of the Mighty One, the love of the Mighty One for Isra’yl never changed. Many individuals died as a result of their sins and rebellion, but that did not destroy the Mighty One’s covenant with Isra’yl. His love for them is comprehensive and all-embracing. It doesn’t only include promises about their revival and l restoration in their land, but also the promise of His daily care to save them from all dangers and anxieties:

“1 But now this is what Yahweh says, Who created you, O Ya'akov, and he who formed you, O Isra'yl: Do not fear; for I have saved you, I have called you by your name because you are mine. 2 When you shall pass through the sea, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. 3 For I am Yahweh your Mighty One, the Kodesh One of Isra'yl, your Saviour; I gave Egypt for your sake and Ethiopia and S’va for you. 4 Because you are precious in my sight, you have been honorable and I have loved you; therefore I have given men for your sake and nations for your life. 5 Do not fear; for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7 Even everyone who is called by my name; for I have created him for my splendour, I have formed him and I have made him” (Yesha’yahu 43:1-7).

The question may be asked: Why does Yahweh have to gather this people from the four corners of the earth and bring the dispersed ones back to their land? Why did they become unfaithful to Yahweh and forfeited His blessings? It is because of the hardening of their hearts. Instead of worshipping the Mighty One of Isra’yl they were deceived by HaSatan (their own evil proclivities) to live a life of licentiousness in which they also worshipped the Ba’alim:

“But you have not called me, O Ya'akov; for I have called you, O Isra'yl. 23 You have not brought me lambs of your burnt offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with request offerings, nor wearied you with demands for incense. 24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.” (Yesha’yahu 43:22-24).

To this licentiousness and lack of love Isra’yl often committed themselves. They were warned that it would ultimately lead to great calamities and disaster, including the international dispersion of the nation:

“If you will not observe and do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear the honorable and wonderful name of Yahweh your Mighty One; 59 Then Yahweh will send your plagues and the plagues of your descendants, even great plagues of long duration and sore sicknesses of long duration. 60 Moreover he will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid; they shall cleave to you. 61 Also all kinds of sickness and all plagues which are not written in this book of the law, then will Yahweh bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62 You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the heaven for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of Yahweh your Mighty One. 63 As Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you; so Yahweh will rejoice over you to destroy you and exterminate you; you shall be carried away from the land which you are entering to possess. 64 Yahweh shall scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; there you shall serve other elohim of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 Among these nations you shall find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest; but Yahweh shall give you there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of the soul; 66 Your life shall be uncertain before you; you shall fear day and night and shall have no assurance of your life;” (D’varim. 28:58-66).

Eventually Isra’yl also rejected and turned their backs upon Yahweh and were taken captive by the King of Ashur followed later by the captivity of Y’hudah by the King of Bavel.

The captivity of Isra’yl and Y’hudah was never due to their rightful rejection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the modern manifestation of Mithraism, and therefore people are badly deceived when they believe and worship Jesus Christ. It amounts to the violation of the first three commands of Yahweh as clearly highlighted the Tanakh:

The Mighty One spoke all these words, saying, 2 I am Yahweh your Mighty One, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 You shall have no elohim except me.

4 ¶ You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; 5 You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I Yahweh your Mighty One am a zealous Mighty One, visiting the offenses of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me; 6 Showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Sh’mot 20:1-6)

This is the danger of Christianity per se; it makes people believe in gods (elohim) which have been made to appear to have a link to Yahweh; but in reality it violates the commands of Yahweh

Although the diaspora of Isra’yl (740-722 BCE) and Y’hudah (597-582 BCE) constitutes divine judgments, it was never meant to be an absolute rejection of the Children of Ya’akov otherwise called Isra’yl and the abrogation of Mighty One’s covenant with them. (See: http://jewsandjoes.com/history-and-timeline-of-israel-and-judah.html)

The Mighty One of Isra’yl says:

“Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not abhor them, neither will I cast them away to destroy them utterly, nor have I nullified my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their Mighty One. 45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations and I became their Mighty One; I am Yahweh.” (Wayikra 26:44-45).

What we see is that Isra’yl and Y’hudah are still very much living away from Yahweh, but modern and deceived Jews think erroneously that they should return to the Mighty One of their fathers through Jesus Christ. This is the danger. Jesus Christ is nothing but a manifestation of the Roman man-god Mithra. This will only keep modern Isra’yl and Y’hudah forever slaves of Ashtoret and Ba’alim worship, which was the very reason they were removed from Yahweh’s presence at the outset.

Yahweh’s love for Isra’yl is eternal and unchangeable. Isra’yl and Y’hudah must see it and turn back to Yahweh. Listen to what Yahweh says through the prophet Hoshea about this forsaken woman, Isra’yl and later Y’hudah committed the same mistake, who wandered away from Him:

“I will punish her for the evils of the days of Ba'alim, in which she burned incense to him and decked herself with her earrings and her pearls and went after her lovers and forgot me, says Yahweh.

14 ¶ Therefore, see, I will comfort her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak lovingly to her. 15 I will give her vineyards from then, and the valley of Akhor that it may open her understanding; and she shall be humbled there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 It shall be on that day, says Yahweh, that you shall call me, my husband (Ishi), and shall call me no more Ba'ali (My Lord). 17 For I will take away the name of Ba'alim out of her mouth, and they shall not remember that name ever again.” (Hos. 2:13-17).

The prophets Yesha’yahu also confirms the restored relationship of love between Isra’yl and Mighty One:

“Do not fear, for you shall not be ashamed; neither shall you be rebuked, for you shall not be put to shame; you shall forget the shame of your youth and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. 5 For Yahweh shall do thus to you; Yahweh Tzva'ot is his name, and your Saviour the Kodesh One of Isra'yl; the Mighty One of the whole earth shall he be called.

6 ¶ For Yahweh has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, as a wife forsaken from her youth, says your Mighty One. 7 For in a little anger I have forsaken you; but with my great mercies I will gather you. 8 In a raging wrath I hid my face from you; but with my everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says Yahweh, your Saviour.” (Yesha’yahu. 54:4-8).

To Hosea this wonderful prospect was also revealed, and he concludes his writings with a prophecy on the restored relationship between Isra’yl and their Mighty One:

“I will heal their backsliding, I will love their vows; and my anger shall turn away from them. 5 I will be as the dew to Isra'yl; he shall spring up as the lily and cast forth his roots as cedars of L'vanon. 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like that of L'vanon. 7 They shall return and dwell under his shadow; they shall flourish like grain, and grow as the vine; their scent shall be like the wine of L'vanon.” (Hoshea. 14:4-7)

The prophet Yirmeyahu emphases the eternal love that the Mighty One has for Isra’yl:

“Yahweh has appeared to me from afar, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you. 4 Again I will build you and you shall be built, O virgin of Isra'yl; you shall again be adorned with your ornaments and shall go forth in the assembly of those who make merry. 5 You shall again plant vineyards on the mountain of Shomron. Yes, you will plant vines and sing. 6 For the day is coming when the watchmen on mount Efrayim shall cry, saying, Arise, and let us go up to Tziyon to Yahweh our Mighty One. 7 For this is what Yahweh says: Sing with gladness, O house of Ya'akov, rejoice among the chief of the nations; publish, give praise and say, O Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Isra'yl. 8 Watch, I will bring them from the north land and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth and also the lame and the blind who are among them, the woman with child and her that is in travail together; a great company shall they return here. 9 They shall go with weeping but they shall return with fervent prayer; I will lead them by the paths that have water, in straight ways in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Isra'yl and Efrayim is my first-born.

10 ¶ Hear the word of Yahweh, O you his people and declare it in the isles afar off and say, He who scattered Isra'yl will gather him and shall keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. 11 Yahweh has saved his servant Ya'akov, and delivered him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12 Therefore they shall come and sing on the height of Tziyon, they shall be happy because of the goodness of Yahweh, for the wheat, for the wine, and for the oil, for the young of the flock and of the herd; their soul shall be like a watered garden; they shall not lack anymore. 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice and be glad, both young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14 I will satisfy the soul of the kohanim with fatness and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Yahweh. 15 This is what Yahweh says: A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel is weeping for her children, and she refuses to be comforted because they are no more. 16 This is what Yahweh says: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; for there is a reward for your tears, says Yahweh; and the people shall return from the land of the enemy. 17 There is hope in your future, says Yahweh, the children shall come back to their own land.

18 ¶ I have surely heard Efrayim bemoaning and saying, O Yahweh, you have chastised me and I was chastened; I had become like a bullock which cannot be subdued; bring me back and I will repent; for you are Yahweh my Mighty One. 19 Surely after I had repented, I have been comforted; after I was instructed, I have found rest; I was ashamed, yes even reproved, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 Efrayim is my dear son, a beloved child; for when I speak of him, I do earnestly still remember him; therefore I have my mercy upon him, I will surely have compassion on him, says Yahweh.“ (Yirmeyahu. 31:3-20).

It is evident from the Mighty One’s dealing with Isra’yl that His love has a clear element of chastening. This love is so pure that it can’t allow people who have accepted it to compromise with a sinful world, or to be licentious and permissive as is the case in the humanistic love of fallen man. A wayward child who persists with his uncharitable conduct must be reprimanded, disciplined, and chastised. However, these disciplinary actions are instituted with the best interests of the person(s) involved. The chastising of Isra’yl is an act of love as it is aimed at their conversion and return to Yahweh. Those who have sorrow over their sins and truly repent from it will be met by a forgiving Father. He will also completely restore a repentant Isra’yl:

“I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries and bring you into your own land.

25 ¶ Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you and I shall purify you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart, I will put a new breath within you; I will remove the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my breath within you and cause you to walk in my commandments, you shall keep my judgments to do them. 28 You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; you shall be my people and I will be your Mighty One.” (Yechezkiyl. 36:24-28).

The day of Isra’yl’s national conversion will be when Yahweh, sets feet on the Mount of Olives, when Isra’yl and Y’hudah will be under siege from the Nations and as I write this piece, the conflict in the lands of Isra’yl, is escalating, but the people of the Nations in the United Nations in their ignorance cannot see that the land dispute war prophesied clearly, that it will happen as Z’kharyah clearly articulated in Chapter 14: 1-2

“Watch the day of Yahweh is coming and your spoil shall be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all nations against Yerushalayim to battle; the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women ravished; half of the city shall go into captivity, but half of the people shall not perish from the city. 3 Then Yahweh shall go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 His feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives, which is opposite Yerushalayim on the east and the mount of Olives shall split in two, half toward the east and the other half toward the west and there shall be in it a great valley; half of the mountain shall be left toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 You shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach the place of disaster and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of 'Uziyah king of Y'hudah; Yahweh my Mighty One shall come in and all his saints with him:

The bond of love that was broken by Isra’yl (Y’hudah) because of their sins, will be fully restored:

“O ISRA’YL, return to Yahweh your Mighty One; for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2 Pledge loyalty, and turn to Yahweh your Mighty One; pray to him that he may forgive your iniquity and receive blessings; then he will recompense you for the prayer of your lips. 3 Say, Ashur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we call any more the work of our hands, our Mighty Ones; for you will have mercy upon the fatherless.

4 ¶ I will heal their backsliding, I will love their vows; and my anger shall turn away from them..” (Hoshea 14:1-4).

Isaiah says:

“In that day shall Yahweh Tzva'ot be for a crown of splendour and for a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people,” (Yesha’yahu. 28:5).

All the nations will know about the spiritual revival of Isra’yl and gladly associate with them to share in the blessings:

“Yes, many people and strong nations shall come to seek Yahweh Tzva'ot in Yerushalayim and to pray before Yahweh. 23 Thus says Yahweh Tzva'ot: In those days ten men from the nations of every language shall take hold of the skirt of a Y’hudi, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that Yahweh is with you.” (Z’kharyah. 8:23).

The saved remnant of Isra’yl will be united in their love for Mighty One and serve Him with their whole heart. Mighty One says:

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Isra'yl, after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in the their midst, I will write it upon their hearts; I will be their Mighty One, they shall be my people. 34 They shall no longer teach every man his brother and every man his neighbor, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the youngest of them to the eldest of them, says Yahweh; for I will forgive their iniquity, I will not remember their sins anymore.” (Yirmeyahu 31:33-34).

The dedication of Isra’yl as a people will then be like that small group of exemplary men of the Mighty One as told in the Tanakh. Yahweh will take pleasure in them like He took pleasure in Dawid, who was a man after Yahweh’s heart. Dawid declared his love for Mighty One by saying:

“I WILL love you, O Yahweh, my strength and my trust; 2 My refuge and my deliverer is the Mighty One in whom I trust; he is my helper and the horn of my salvation and my high refuge. 3 I will call upon Yahweh; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” (Tehellim 18:1).

Another psalmist expressed his love for the Word of Mighty One:

“Therefore I love your mitzvots above gold, yes, above precious stones”. (Psalms 119:127

“Your word is very pure; therefore your servant loves it.” (Psalms 119:140)

“Yahweh, I have hoped for your salvation and I obey your mitzvot.

167 ¶ My soul has kept your testimonies, and I love them exceedingly. 168 I have kept your commandments and your testimonies; for all my ways are before you. (Psalms 119:167)

Is your delight also in the word of the Mighty One and do you meditate on it day and night? Are your footsteps anchored in the word of the Mighty One, and have you hidden His words in your heart that you might not sin against Him? Then the blessings of Yahweh the Holy One of Isra’yl will surround you and will protect you. The Mighty One’s love for Isra’yl will also be poured out in your heart. You will pray for them and earnestly desire their salvation. Yahweh Mighty One says:

“For Tziyon’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest until her righteousness shall go forth as light and her salvation as a lamp that burns. 2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your honor; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of Yahweh shall bestow upon you. 3 You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh and a royal diadem in the hand of your Mighty One. 4 You shall no longer be called Forsaken; neither shall your land no longer be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight, and your land shall be cultivated; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall have husbandmen. 5 For as a young man husbands a virgin, so shall your sons husband you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your Mighty One rejoice over you.

6 ¶ I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Yerushalayim, every day, who shall not hold their peace day or night continually; so that those who make mention of Yahweh may not keep silence nor be still, 7 And give you no rest, until I, Yahweh, establish you and until I make Yerushalayim a praise in the earth.” (Yesha’yahu. 62:1, 6-7).

Before this can happen, a passionate love must be awakened in the hearts of the Children of Isra’yl for the land of their fathers and the city of Jerusalem. These convictions and feelings must induce them to return to Isra’yl, rebuild the land, and prepare Jerusalem and its inhabitants for the soon coming of Yahweh the great Creator of the Universe. But for this to happen the Children must reject Christinity and Jesus Christ as a fake and deceit, that is designed to keep them enslaved to their worship of Ashterot and Ba’alism, which is evident in Christian worships.

Reject Jesus Christ immediately and return to Yahweh, this should be your calling if you love Yahweh the Mighty one of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov.

I do, what about you?

Nitzevet, Mother of Dawid

2011-06-07T09:00:00.000+12:00

The Bold Voice of Silence

By Chana Weisberg

Save me, O Yahweh, for the waters threaten to engulf me . . .

I am wearied by my calling out and my throat is dry. I’ve lost hope in waiting . . .

More numerous than the hairs on my head are those who hate me without reason . . .

Must I then repay what I have not stolen?

Mighty are those who would cut me down, who are my enemies without cause . . .

O Yahweh, You know my folly, and my unintended wrongs are not hidden from You . . .

It is for Your sake that I have borne disgrace, that humiliation covers my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.

Out of envy for Your House, they ravaged me; the disgraces of those who revile You have fallen upon me . . .

Those who sit by the gate talk about me. I am the taunt of drunkards . . .

Disgrace breaks my heart and I am left deathly sick.

I hope for solace but there is none, and for someone to comfort me but I find no one.

They put gall into my meal and give me vinegar to quench my thirst . . . (Psalm 69)1

This psalm describes the life of a poor, despised and lowly individual, who lacks even a single friend to comfort him. It is the voice of a tormented soul who has experienced untold humiliation and disgrace. Through no apparent cause of his own, he is surrounded by enemies who wish to cut him down; even his own brothers are strangers to him, ravaging and reviling him.

Amazingly, this is the voice of the mighty King Dawid, righteous and beloved servant of the Mighty One, feared and awed by all.

King Dawid had many challenges throughout his life. But at what point did this great individual feel so alone, so disgraced, and so undeserving of love and friendship?

What caused King Dawid to face such an intense ignominy, to be shunned by his own brothers in his home (“I have become a stranger to my brothers”), by the Torah sages who sat in judgment at the gates (“those who sit by the gate talk about me”), and by the drunkards on the street corners (“I am the taunt of drunkards”)? What had King Dawid done to arouse such ire and contempt? And was there no one, at this time in his life, who would provide him with love, comfort and friendship?

This Psalm (Tehellim), in which King Dawid passionately gives voice to the heaviest burdens of his soul, refers to a period of twenty-eight years, from his earliest childhood until he was coronated as king of the people of Israel by the prophet Sh’mu’yl.

Dawid was born into the illustrious family of Yishai (Jesse), who served as the head of the Sanhedrin (supreme court of Torah law), and was one of the most distinguished leaders of his generation. Yishai was a man of such greatness that the Talmud (Shabbat 55b) observes that “Yishai was one of only four righteous individuals who died solely due to the instigation of the serpent”—i.e., only because death was decreed upon the human race when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge at the serpent’s instigation, not due to any sin or flaw of his own. Dawid was the youngest in his family, which included seven other illustrious and charismatic brothers.

Yet, when Dawid was born, this prominent family greeted his birth with utter derision and contempt. As Dawid describes quite literally in the Psalm, “I was a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother’s sons . . . they put gall in my meal and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.”

Dawid was not permitted to eat with the rest of his family, but was assigned to a separate table in the corner. He was given the task of shepherd because “they hoped that a wild beast would come and kill him while he was performing his duties”2 and for this reason was sent to pasture in dangerous areas full of lions and bears.3

Only one individual throughout Dawid’s youth was pained by his unjustified plight, and felt a deep, unconditional bond of love for the child whom she alone knew was undoubtedly pure.

This was King Dawid’s mother, Nitzevet bat Adael, who felt the intensity of her youngest child’s pain and rejection as her own.

Torn and anguished by Dawid’s unwarranted degradation, yet powerless to stop it, Nitzevet stood by the sidelines, in solidarity with him, shunned herself, as she too cried rivers of tears, awaiting the time when justice would be served.

It would take twenty-eight long years of assault and rejection, suffering and degradation until that justice would finally begin to materialize.

Dawid’s Birth

Why was the young Dawid so reviled by his brothers and people?

To understand the hatred directed toward Dawid, we need to investigate the inner workings behind the events, the secret episodes that aren’t recorded in the prophetic books but are alluded to in Midrashim.4

Dawid’s father, Yishai, was the grandson of Boaz and Ruth. After several years of marriage to his wife, Nitzevet, and after having raised several virtuous children, Yishai began to entertain personal doubts about his ancestry. True, he was the leading Torah authority in his day, but his grandmother Ruth was a convert from the nation of Moab, as related in the Book of Ruth.

During Ruth’s lifetime, many individuals were doubtful about the legitimacy of her marriage to Boaz. The Torah specifically forbids an Israelite to marry a Mo’avi convert, since this is the nation that cruelly refused the Jewish people passage through their land, or food and drink to purchase, when they wandered in the desert after being freed from Egypt.

Boaz and the sages understood this law—as per the classic interpretation transmitted in the “Oral Torah”—as forbidding the conversion of male Mo’avis (who were the ones responsible for the cruel conduct), while exempting female Mo’avi converts. With his marriage to Ruth, Boaz hoped to clarify and publicize this Torah law, which was still unknown to the masses.

Boaz died the night after his marriage with Ruth. Ruth had conceived and subsequently gave birth to their son Oved, the father of Yishai. Some rabble-rousers at the time claimed that Boaz’s death verified that his marriage to Ruth the Mo’avi had indeed been forbidden.

Time would prove differently. Once Oved (so called because he was a true oved, servant of Mighty One), and later Yishai and his offspring, were born, their righteous conduct and prestigious positions proved the legitimacy of their ancestry. It was unquestionable that men of such caliber could have descended from a forbidden union.

However, later in his life, doubt gripped at Yishai’s heart, gnawing away at the very foundation of his existence. Being the sincere individual that he was, his integrity compelled him to action.

If Yishai’s status was questionable, he was not permitted to remain married to his wife, a veritable Israyl woman. Disregarding the personal sacrifice, Yishai decided the only solution would be to separate from her, no longer engaging in marital relations. Yishai’s children were aware of this separation.

After a number of years had passed, Yishai longed for a child whose ancestry would be unquestionable. His plan was to engage in relations with his Kena’ani maidservant.

He said to her: “I will be freeing you conditionally. If my status as a Jew is legitimate, then you are freed as a proper Jewish convert to marry me. If, however, my status is blemished and I have the legal status of a Mo’avi convert forbidden to marry an Israel woman, I am not giving you your freedom; but as a shifchah k’naanit, a Kena’ani maidservant, you may marry a Mo’avi convert.”

The maidservant was aware of the anguish of her mistress, Nitzevet. She understood her pain in being separated from her husband for so many years. She knew, as well, of Nitzevet’s longing for more children.

The empathetic maidservant secretly approached Nitzevet and informed her of Yishai’s plan, suggesting a bold counterplan.

“Let us learn from your ancestresses and replicate their actions. Switch places with me tonight, just as Leah did with Rachel,” she advised.

With a prayer on her lips that her plan succeed, Nitzevet took the place of her maidservant. That night Nitzevet conceived. Yishai remained unaware of the switch.

After three months, Nitzevet’s pregnancy became obvious. Incensed, her sons wished to kill their apparently adulterous mother and the “illegitimate” fetus that she carried. Nitzevet, for her part, would not embarrass her husband by revealing the truth of what had occurred. Like her ancestress Tamar, who was prepared to be burned alive rather than embarrass Y’hudah,5 Nitzevet chose a vow of silence. And like Tamar, Nitzevet would be rewarded for her silence with a child of greatness who would be the forebear of the Moshiach.

Unaware of the truth behind his wife’s pregnancy, but having compassion on her, Yishai ordered his sons not to touch her. “Do not kill her! Instead, let the child that will be born be treated as a lowly and despised servant. In this way everyone will realize that his status is questionable and, as an illegitimate child, he will not marry an Israel woman.”

From the time of his birth onwards, then, Nitzevet’s son was treated by his brothers as an abominable outcast.6 Noting the conduct of his brothers, the rest of the community assumed that this youth was a treacherous sinner full of unspeakable guilt.

On the infrequent occasions that Nitzevet’s son would return from the pastures to his home in Beit Lechem (Bethlehem), he was shunned by the townspeople. If something was lost or stolen, he was accused as the natural culprit, and ordered, in the words of the psalm, to “repay what I have not stolen.”

Eventually, the entire lineage of Yishai was questioned, as well as the basis of the original law of the Mo’avi convert. People claimed that all the positive qualities of Boaz became manifest in Yishai and his illustrious seven sons, while all the negative character traits from Ruth the Mo’avi clung to this despicable youngest son.

Anointing King Dawid

We are first introduced to Dawid when the prophet Sh’mu’yl is commanded to go to Beit Lechem to anoint a new king, to replace the rejected King Saul.

Sh’mu’yl arrives in Beit Lechem, and the elders of the city come out to greet him, nervous at this unusual and unexpected visit, since the elderly prophet had stopped circulating throughout the land. The elders feared that Sh’mu’yl had heard about a grievous sin that was taking place in their city.7 Perhaps he had come to rebuke them over the behavior of Yishai’s despised shepherd boy, living in their midst.

Sh’mu’yl declared, however, that he had come in peace, and asked the elders, and Yishai and his sons, to join him for a sacrificial feast. As an elder, it was natural for Yishai to be invited; but when his sons were inexplicably also invited, they worried that perhaps the prophet had come to publicly reveal the embarrassing and illegitimate origins of their brother. Unbeknownst to them, Sh’mu’yl would anoint the new king of Isra’yl at this feast. All that had been revealed to the prophet at this point was that the new king would be a son of Yishai.

When they came, Sh’mu’yl saw Eliav (Yishai’s oldest son), and he thought, “Surely the Mighty One’s anointed stands before Him!”

But Mighty One said to Sh’mu’yl, “Don’t look at his appearance or his great height, for I have rejected him. The Mighty One does not see with mere eyes, like a man does. The Mighty One sees the heart!”

Then Yishai called Avinadav (his second son) and made him pass before Sh’mu’yl. He said: “The Mighty One did not choose this one either.”

Yishai made Shammah pass, and Sh’mu’yl said, “The Mighty One has not chosen this one either.”

Yishai had his seven sons pass before Sh’mu’yl. Sh’mu’yl said to Yishai, “The Mighty One has not chosen any of them.”

At last Sh’mu’yl said to Yishai, “Are there no lads remaining?”

He answered, “A small one is left; he is taking care of the sheep.”

So Sh’mu’yl said to him, “Send for him and have him brought; we will not stir until he comes here.”

So he sent for him and had him brought. He was of ruddy complexion with red hair, beautiful eyes, and handsome to look at.

The Mighty One said: “Rise up, anoint him, for this is the one!” (Sh’mu’yl Alef 16:6–12)

The Small One, Left Behind

As Sh’mu’yl laid his eyes on Yishai’s eldest son, Eliav, he was certain that this was the future king of Israel. Tall, handsome and distinguished, Sh’mu’yl was ready to anoint him, until Mighty One reprimanded him to look not at the outside but at the inside.8

No longer did Sh’mu’yl make any assumptions of his own, but he waited to be told who was to become the next king. All the seven sons of Yishai had passed before Sh’mu’yl, and none of them had been chosen.

“Are these all the lads?” Sh’mu’yl asked. Sh’mu’yl prophetically chose his words carefully. Had he asked if these were all Yishai’s sons, Yishai would have answered affirmatively, that there were no more of his sons, since Dawid was not given the status of a son.

Instead, Yishai answered, “A small one is left; he is taking care of the sheep.” Dawid’s status was small in Yishai’s eyes. He was hoping that Sh’mu’yl would allow Dawid to remain where he was, outside of trouble, tending to the sheep in the faraway pastures.

But Sh’mu’yl ordered that Dawid immediately be summoned to the feast. A messenger was dispatched to Dawid who, out of respect for the prophet, first went home to wash himself and change his clothes. Unaccustomed to seeing Dawid home at such a time, Nitzevet inquired, “Why did you come home in the middle of the day?”

Dawid explained the reason, and Nitzevet answered, “If so, I too am accompanying you.”

As Dawid arrived, Sh’mu’yl saw a man “of ruddy complexion, with red hair, beautiful eyes, and handsome to look at.” Dawid’s physical appearance alludes to the differing aspects of his personality. His ruddiness suggests a warlike nature, while his eyes and general appearance indicate kindness and gentility.9

At first Sh’mu’yl doubted whether Dawid could be the one worthy of the kingship, a forerunner of the dynasty that would lead the Jewish people to the end of time. He thought to himself, “This one will shed blood as did the red-headed Esau.”10

The Mighty One saw, however, that Dawid’s greatness was that he would direct his aggressiveness toward positive aims. The Mighty One commanded Sh’mu’yl, “My anointed one is standing before you, and you remain seated? Arise and anoint Dawid without delay! For he is the one I have chosen!”11

As Sh’mu’yl held the horn of oil, it bubbled, as if it could not wait to drop onto Dawid’s forehead. When Sh’mu’yl anointed him, the oil hardened and glistened like pearls and precious stones, and the horn remained full.

As Sh’mu’yl anointed Dawid, the sound of weeping could be heard from outside the great hall. It was the voice of Nitzevet, Dawid’s lone supporter and solitary source of comfort.

Her twenty-eight long years of silence in the face of humiliation were finally coming to a close. At last, all would see that the lineage of her youngest son was pure, undefiled by any blemish. Finally, the anguish and humiliation that she and her son had borne would come to an end.

Facing her other sons, Nitzevet exclaimed, “The stone that was reviled by the builders 12 has now become the cornerstone!” (Psalms 118:22)

Humbled, they responded, “This has come from the Mighty One; it was hidden from our eyes” (ibid., verse 23).

Those in the hall cried out in unison, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” Within moments, the once reviled shepherd boy became the anointed future king of Israel.

Nitzevet’s Legacy

King Dawid would have many more trials to face until he was acknowledged by the entire nation as the new monarch to replace King Saul. During his kingship, and throughout his life, up until his old age, King Dawid faced many ordeals.

King Dawid possessed many great talents and qualities which would assist him in attaining the tremendous achievements of his lifetime. Many of these positive qualities were inherited from his illustrious father, Yishai, after whom he is fondly and respectfully called ben Yishai, the son of Yishai.

But it was undoubtedly from his mother that the young Dawid absorbed the fortitude and courage to face his adversaries. From the moment he was born, and during his most tender years, it was Nitzevet who, by example, taught him the essential lesson of valuing every individual’s dignity and refraining from embarrassing another, regardless of the personal consequences. It was she who displayed a silent but stoic bravery and dignity in the face of the gravest hardship.

It is from Nitzevet that King Dawid absorbed the strength, born from an inner confidence, to disregard the callous treatment of the world and find solace in the comfort of one’s Maker. It was this strength that would fortify King Dawid to defeat his staunchest antagonists and his most treacherous enemies, as he valiantly fought against the mightiest warriors on behalf of his people.

Nitzevet taught her young child to find strength in following the path of one’s inner convictions, irrespective of the cruelty that might be hurled at him. Her display of patient confidence in the Creator that justice would be served gave Dawid the inner peace and solace that he would need, over and over again, in confronting the formidable challenges in his life. Rather than succumb to his afflictions, rather than become the individual who was shunned by his tormentors, Dawid learned from his mother to stand proud and dignified, feeling consolation in communicating with his Maker in the open pastures.

She demonstrated to him, as well, the necessity of boldness while pursuing the right path. When the situation would call for it, personal risks must be taken. Without her bold action in taking the place of her maidservant that fateful night, the great soul of her youngest child, Dawid, the forebear of Moshiach, would never have descended to this world.

The soul-stirring psalms composed by King Dawid in his greatest hours of need eloquently describe his suffering and heartache, as well as his faith and conviction. The Book of Tehellim gives a voice to each of us, and has become the balm to soothe all of our wounds, as we too encounter the many personal and communal hardships of life in galut (exile).

As we say these verses, our voices mesh with Nitzevet’s, with King Dawid’s, and with all the voices of those past and present who have experienced unjustified pain, in beseeching our Maker for that time when the “son (descendant) of Dawid” will usher in the era of redemption, and true justice will suffuse creation.

The Relationship When Based On Proper Names Will Make A Difference

2011-05-01T12:38:00.000+12:00

One thing I have learnt in life is the need for human relationship to be based on real names. It is quite frustrating for me at least to have known a friend by a certain name, but only to find out later that the person had a completely different name altogether, which I never knew.

Yesterday, this thought occurred to me as I watched the royal wedding of Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton, as conducted at the Westminister Abby, purportedly in the presence of the LORD God Almighty.

For many years now I have learnt that the Creator of the Universe, known in the Tanakh as YHWH (i.e Yahuweh or Yahweh) is wrongly named LORD God Almighty in practically all the English translations of those same Tanakh, called the Old Testament; and I wondered what kind of a relationship can be built on a supposed deity (elohim or god) who does not exist, except in the minds of deceived people.

In my Daily Scripture Reading Blog I have dropped the name Jiova (i.e. Jehovah) and replaced it with the world Yahuwe as a newly coined Fijian word, which should be pronounced Yahweh. I have briefly explained the reason, but here is a full explanation which I borrowed with appreciation from “The Way To Yahuweh” (http://www.thewaytoyahuweh.com/research/ha_shem)

Everything has a name. Absolutely everything. From humans to plants, from animals to machines, from microscopic organisms to planets – everything is named, and each name describes what that thing, person or animal is all about. I’m currently typing on what’s called a “Computer Keyboard” whilst staring at a “Monitor” which is attached to a “Graphics Card” inside my “Computer Case.” But the problem with these is that technically, they’re not “names”. These are merely generic titles that describe an entire range of computer products. The actual name of my keyboard is the “KeySonic 2.4Ghz Wireless Compact Keyboard.” The actual name of my Monitor is the “Philips 170S.” The actual name of my Graphics card is the “Nvidia 7900GT,” and the actual name of my computer case is the “Antec P180.” Using the actual names of my computer parts, rather than just generic titles, I have narrowed down just exactly what I’m talking about. Humans aren’t so different. We each have a specific name so that we know just which person we’re talking about. When I mention “Brad Pitt,” nearly everyone will know that I’m talking about the well known actor of The Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 Trilogy, and of many other films.

This is the same principle with the Mighty One, often called God. “God” in itself is merely a generic title that in English means “The Mighty One.” It’s the English equivalent of the Hebrew ‘el (), the Greek theos (Θεος), the Spanish dios, and the Arabic ilah (). These are all merely titles and not names.

So, obviously, in order to distinguish between the different “gods,” each has a specific name. Allah is the specific name of the Muslim god, which is actually the name of a polytheistic moon-god from the Arabic city of Mecca, no matter how many Islamic apologists try to assert that that isn’t the case. There are literally thousands upon thousands of “god’s” – now, don’t get me wrong. I’m definitely not saying that these other “gods” like Zeus, Ishtar, Allah, Adonis, Amen-Ra, Lord Baal, Bel or any other false god you want to name exists. They only exist in the sense that they are false idols – gods made up by the strange thoughts of mankind, who many thousands of years ago decided they weren’t going to worship the Creator that actually existed but instead would counterfeit His title and make up idols for themselves to worship. There is but one Mighty One, and He too has a specific name which I have mentioned several times already. Yahuweh told us His name around 7000 times in what’s commonly known as the “Old Testament,” but I prefer to call it the Tanakh which is a Jewish Acronym for the Torah (Ta), Prophets, from the Hebrew Nevi’im, (na) and Writings, from the Hebrew Ketuvim (Kh).

Of course, Yahuweh’s name is written in Hebrew in the Tanakh, and it is made up of three letters. First comes the Yod (), next the Hey (), then the Vav or Waw (), and following the vav/waw is the Hey again. Therefore, Yahuweh, spelt in Hebrew, reading right to left, is . One of the things about Hebrew is that it doesn’t really contain any vowels. It actually contains two types of letters – consonants, and what’s known as vowel consonants. A vowel consonant is a consonant that in many cases functions as a vowel. There are several vowel consonants in Hebrew. These are the Aleph (), the Yod, (), the Hey, (), the Waw/Vav, (), and the Ayin, (). As you’ve probably noticed, the three letters that make up Yahuweh’s name in Hebrew, the Yod, (), the Hey, (), and the Waw/Vav, () are all vowel consonants. The fact that the 4 letters of Yahuweh’s name are vowel consonants is proved by a Jewish Historian of the 1st Century CE. Writing near the end of the 1st Century CE, the Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus wrote in his book, The Wars Of The Jews, Book Five (a book about the destruction of the Temple in “Jerusalem” (I’ll explain why “Jerusalem” is in quotation marks a bit later on) in 70 CE), concerning the special garments that the High Priest usually wore, … a mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraved the sacred name [of God]: it consists of four vowels.

It is quite clear – the name of Mighty one – Yahuweh – consists of four vowel consonants.

Now several people, especially Biblical scholars, will know that Yahuweh is commonly spelt as Yahweh – without the “u” before the “w”. The reason why I spell Yahuweh with a “u” as well as a “w” is because in Paleo-Hebrew, the waw or vav functioned as a vowel and was vocalised with an “oo” sound. For this reason, what you’re actually saying when saying Yahuweh or Yahweh is Yah-oo-eh, but because we don’t stop when stringing syllables together but instead vocalise them all together we get the usual Ya – way sound of Yahuweh/Yahweh. So I spell it with a uw in order to represent the “oo” sound of Yah-oo-eh. From now on I will spell Mighty One’s name as either Yahuweh or Yahweh so that everyone can see that they might be transliterated from Hebrew slightly differently, yet they are both said exactly the same way. It’s pretty much the same thing as my name – Stephen – which can also be spelt as Steven, yet both Stephen and Steven are said the exact same way – just like Yahweh and Yahuweh are also said the exact same way.

Perhaps a fuller explanation of the Hebrew Language is in order. Hebrew is probably one of the oldest Alphabet’s known to mankind, with Hebrew pictographs being discovered dating to at least 3,500 years ago (that’s 1,500 BCE). Of course, these Hebrew pictographs are very similar to the Ugarit pictographs and very similar to the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, where pictures of things represented different letters. These pictographs later developed into the 22 letter Paleo-Hebrew Script, which we have evidence of from old coins, stone tablets and from many manuscripts that were discovered in the caves surrounding the Dead Sea, with even full books of the Tanakh being written in the Paleo-Hebrew Script, such as the manuscript known as 4QpaleoGen-Exod, which, I think you can gather from the name, contains the Books of Genesis (Hebrew B’resheet) and Exodus (Hebrew Sh’mot) in Paleo-Hebrew. The other books of the Tanakh found at the Dead Sea that are written in Paleo-Hebrew include the books of Leviticus (Hebrew Vayiqra), Deuteronomy (Hebrew B’midbar) and Job (Hebrew Iyov). Paleo-Hebrew was the Hebrew Script for at least 500 years until the Jews were driven out of their land and forced to go to the Kingdom of Bavel as slaves, where, after spending 70 years in captivity, they started to adopt the Square Phoenician, or Babylonian, Script of writing the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet which has been in use now for 2,500 years. This Script is actually quite different in the way it is written compared to the Paleo-Hebrew Script. I actually find the Paleo-Hebrew Script far easier to read than the Square Babylonian Script, because in the Paleo-Hebrew Script, every letter looks different, from the Aleph () to the Shin () and to the Tet (). It’s very easy to distinguish from ancient manuscripts written in Paleo-Hebrew which letters are which, but due to several letters of the Square Babylonian Script looking very much alike, such as the Yod () and the Vav/Waw (), and the Hey () and the Tav (), which obviously, especially in ancient manuscripts, can be quite hard to distinguish if the scribe is a bit of a messy hand-writer.

Another difficulty arises with Hebrew. Apart from the vowel consonants, just how do we know which vowels go in between the other consonants? Such as with the word B’midbar, the Hebrew name of the book of Numbers, that when written in Hebrew looks like this: which, reading right to left is spelt in the Hebrew letters Bet, Mem, Dalet, Bet and Resh. Not a single one of these is a vowel consonant, so how do we know what vowels are supposed to be between the consonants (you can’t have a word without a single vowel – it’s impossible to vocalise) ? During a time when Hebrew was starting to go out of the Jews normal everyday speech, throughout the 7th to 11th Centuries CE, a group of Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes developed a series of pronunciation diacritical notes, or vowel points, that were to be placed either above, in the middle or below each Hebrew letter in order to tell the reader of the Hebrew text what vowels were to be said between each of the Hebrew consonants in order to vocalise the word. The Masoretes also produced two of the biggest manuscripts of the entire Tanakh, known as the Ben-Asher Codex and the Aleppo Codex, both of which contain the Masoretes vowel pointing system.

But just how did the Masoretes vocalise Yahuweh’s name in their Manuscripts? Well, they didn’t vocalise it as either Yahuweh or Yahweh, but they vocalised it a very different way, which when transliterated into English becomes Yehovah.

People will immediately notice the connection between Yehovah and Jehovah. The reason it’s spelt “Jehovah” in seven passages in today’s editions of the King James Version (KJV) of the Tanakh is because in the 1629 edition of the KJV, nearly everything that had originally begun with an I was then changed to begin with a J, when actually, everything that begins with an I or a J in today’s Bibles should all actually begin with a Y. Hebrew does not contain the letter J in its Alphabet, so how or why the KJV editors of the 1629 version decided to use a J at the beginning of names when they should have constantly used a Y instead is still a bit of a mystery, but I’m sure we will discover the reason for their decision in the near future. So, yes, “Jehovah” is very much a made up name and it most certainly isn’t the name of the Mighty One at all. What the Masoretes actually did was to remove Yahuweh’s name from His own Scripture, and instead of putting the vowels a, e and u above and/or below the four Hebrew letters of Yahuweh’s name, , they instead put the vowels of ‘adonai over it instead. This is because of a strange belief that developed after the Jews had been slaves in the Kingdom of Babylon, a belief that people are not allowed to utter Yahweh’s name (despite Scriptures assertion of the contrary), and so, instead of saying Yahuweh when they came to Yahweh’s name in the Tanakh, they instead would say ‘adonai in order to never say the name of the Mighty One. The Masoretes, following this exact same belief, continued it on in their manuscripts and in their vowel points, making sure that the reader knew that when he or she came to the name of Yahweh, they would say ‘adonai instead. Another problem arose from this: what happens when the word ‘adonai and Yahweh’s name appear in juxtaposition? Do people say and read ‘adonai, ‘adonai, or do they say something different? The Masoretes went with the latter, and this time, instead of putting the vowel points of ‘adonai over Yahuweh’s name, they instead put the vowel points of ‘elohim, the Hebrew for god, over it instead, so the reader would then say ‘adonai ‘elohim whenever they would come to ‘adonai Yahuweh in the Tanakh. This same sort of thing happens with English Bibles today. A great example is what the translators of the New Living Translation (NLT for short) say in their introduction under the heading, The Rendering of Divine Names. They say this (the words in the brackets are my commentary): We have rendered the Tetragrammaton [a Greek word meaning, "the four letters"] (YHWH) consistently as “the LORD,” utilizing a form with small capitals that is common among English translations. This will distinguish it from the name [actually, it's a title, not a name]‘adonai, which we render “Lord.” When ‘adonai and YHWH appear in conjunction, we have rendered it “Sovereign LORD.” This also distinguishes ‘adonai YHWH from cases where YHWH appears with ‘elohim, which is rendered “LORD God.” Basically – instead of just rendering ‘adonai as “Lord” and actually putting Yahweh’s name back in His own Scripture, English translations, for at least 400 years, have been constantly confusing everyone and instead have to do some fancy translating in order to get the difference of ‘adonai,Yahuweh and ‘elohim across, when all they needed to have done was to put Yahweh’s name back into Scripture and then the differences between ‘adonai, Yahuweh and ‘elohim would be clear.

Fortunately for us, the Masoretes didn’t completely remove Yahuweh’s name from Scripture. In 50 places in Scripture, what’s usually known as the “shorter form” of Yahuweh’s name appears as which is transliterated as Yah. This name, Yah, is composed of the first two letters of Yahuweh’s name, the Yod () and the Hey (). The Yod and the Hey together are also vocalised as Yah when appearing at the end of other names in Scripture. Isaiah’s actual name in Hebrew is Yasha’Yah and means “Yahuweh is Salvation”.Yasha’Yah is a contraction of the Hebrew yasha which means “to save” and of the shorter version of Yahuweh’s name, Yah. There are many names that end in Yah such as Jeremiah, “YirmeYah” which means “Yahuweh has appointed,” Zechariah, “ZakarYah” which means “Yahuweh remembers,” Elijah, “EliYah” which means “Yahuweh is the Mighty One,” and many other such names. These four names that I’ve mentioned are actually written two different way’s in Hebrew. In several places in Scripture, the end of each of these names is completed with the addition of a vav/waw, which would then bring the ending of their names to be the exact same letters that compose the first three letters of Yahuweh’s name. This is great, because the vocalisation that the Masoretes gave these three Hebrew letters ends up being Yahuw – – All that is missing is the Hey of Yahuweh and we’ve pretty much got the vocalisation of Yahuweh’s name.

All of this is key to the relationship that we have with our Maker. What’s the first thing you usually ask when you meet someone in a social setting, or if you’re introducing someone to your friends? Do we not ask “What’s your name?” or say “This is … ” in order to start the relationship that we all have with each other?

Then the same is true when it comes to Yahweh. He introduces Himself by name 7000 times in the Tanakh. He wants us to use His name, call Him by His name, and to have a relationship with every one of us whilst using our names. In the Tanakh, whenever He calls someone to do some sort of service, He always calls them by their own name. Yet, why don’t we do the same? Why do English translators remove the Mighty One’s own name from His own Scripture and instead replace it with a meaningless title, “the LORD”?

In Isaiah (more accurately, Yasha’Yah) chapter 42:8, He definitely answers what His name is:

“I am (‘aniy – I, me) Yahuweh (YHWH) - That is (hiy’ – this is, this exists as) My name (shem – name, reputation, authority, memorial, fame, glory, renown, honour, character and report) . . . ”

Yahuweh’s shem is His “splendor.” It is His “Honour.” It is His “Authority.” His name is what His reputation is based on.

It is the key to the relationship between the Mighty One and mankind.

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT ON YAHWEH'S NAME

2011-04-17T15:59:00.000+12:00

Some startling facts

I believe that the Creator’s name ought to be restored and that everyone should repent from calling the Creator, God/G-d or Lord/L-ord. But at the same time I see this as impossible and it will take Yahweh himself to do the correction. None of us can do it. Here reproduce a views on this matter by Eliyah to whom I express my appreciation, This one is based on the Third of the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are certainly under attack in recent years. The world wants the Ten Commandments out of their court rooms, out of all public places, and out of their lives.

Some modern churches don’t even believe we need to keep the Ten Commandments. But even of those who do not, most all agree that we should not take the name of our Heavenly Father in vain. But what does it really mean to take His name in vain?

Many take the third commandment to mean that we should not use the Heavenly Father's name alongside a swear word or profanity. It certainly can mean this. Others say that taking His name on our lips while living a life of sin is another way of taking His name in vain. This would certainly make sense as well.

However, there is another way of violating the third commandment that most people miss and even the so-called “church fathers” did not understand. Let's look at the third commandment as written in the King James Bible:

Deuteronomy 5:11 "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold [him] guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

Most of us know that this verse, taken from the King James Version, is simply a translation of the scriptures from Hebrew into English.

Notice that it says we should not take the name of “The LORD” in vain.

If you were to look at this commandment in the original Hebrew, you would not find "The LORD" or any word that carries such a meaning.

Did you know that the Heavenly Father actually has a personal name? “The LORD” is not a name at all, it’s just a title.

All of us hold titles which might describe us (e.g. friend, mother, brother), but we also have a personal name that we primarily use. Well, the Heavenly Father has a personal name also and it is what He primarily uses in the scriptures.

What is actually in the third commandment, but is missing from the King James and most all modern bibles, is the Heavenly Father's true name:

YAHWEH
(Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh..in vain)

But why would the translators remove the name “Yahweh” from our bibles? Well, it’s not because “the LORD” is Yahweh’s name in English.

It all started a very long time ago with a Jewish tradition which stated that Yahweh’s name is too holy to be pronounced:

“Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, his name being revealed to Moses as four Hebrew consonants (YHWH) called the tetragrammaton, after the exile (6th Century BC), and especially from the 3rd century BC on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh for two reasons. As Judaism became a universal religion through its proselytizing in the Greco-Roman world, the more common noun elohim, meaning "god," tended to replace Yahweh to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel's God over all others. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered; it was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai ("My Lord"), which was translated as Kyrios ("Lord") in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament.” Encyclopedia Britannica, under the heading “Yahweh”.

This tradition was picked up by the early church fathers, continues to this day, and few have thought to question it since.

But Yahweh never told us to change His inspired word. In fact, His name is actually in scripture nearly 7,000 times. And each one of those 7,000 times it is replaced with the title “LORD” or “GOD” in all capital letters. Most modern translations freely admit doing this in the preface. Read the preface of the NIV and they’ll tell you they are following tradition by using “the LORD.” Consider this excerpt from the Revised Standard Version where they try to defend this practice:

“...the use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom He had to be distinguished, was discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.” RSV

Question: Who are they to decide what is appropriate for one's faith? Their job is to translate, not decide what we are to believe.

After all, who was the One that invented the idea of having a name of our Creator? Is it not Yahweh Himself? Is Yahweh also “entirely inappropriate” for placing His name in the scriptures nearly 7,000 times? Who are we to correct Him?

If we are truly looking for something universal, it would be far more “universal” for all men of all languages to call upon one personal name.

This is what Yahweh wanted to begin with. He tells us that He wants to make His name great among the Gentiles:

“For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles..”(Mala 1:11a)

Many times Yahweh tells us to exalt His name, give thanks to His name, and call upon His name:

“O magnify Yahweh with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3)

“O give thanks unto Yahweh; call upon his name..” (Psalm 105:1)

“...whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved:” (Joel 2:32)

So now that it is clearly demonstrated that the name of the Heavenly Father is not "The LORD," please notice that most translations are full of false statements. For instance, the King James Version:

Isaiah 42:8 - “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. “

This is not true. His name is not "the LORD". His name is Yahweh. The translators did not translate, they purposely substituted the true name of the Heavenly Father with a title so that they could follow their tradition. It should instead read:

Isaiah 42:8 - I am Yahweh: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

So what does all of this have to do with the third commandment? It is important to consider whether or not we should agree with and participate in this Jewish, and now Christian, tradition.

Yahweh says to not take His name in vain. Let's take a moment and look at the Webster's dictionary definition of the word "vain":

vain 1. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. ``Thy vain excuse.'' ... 2. Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt....

Considering the meaning of the word “vain,” what greater way to bring Yahweh's name to “emptiness...worthlessness...having no real substance, value or importance” than to remove His name altogether from the scriptures?

This practice is so widespread and so complete that until modern times few people even knew the Heavenly Father had a personal name.

So if we want to keep the Ten Commandments, we should never join them in replacing Yahweh's name with a false name or title of our own choosing. Doing so would be breaking the third commandment. This is not the only way to break the third commandment, but we can see that it is certainly one way of doing so.

In fact, in most translations the third commandment (as translated) is a transgression of itself!

Why? Because the third commandment forbids bringing His name to nothing, yet most translations do just that when translating that verse.

His name is very important. Yahweh says that it is His name forever and His memorial to all generations, including the one we are living in. Let’s not desecrate or remove His memorial. (Ex. 3:15)

If it wasn’t important, He would not have warned those who break the third commandment: “Yahweh will not hold him guiltless.”

Therefore, in spite of what others may think, let's keep His commandments by restoring what Yahweh placed there originally as we read and quote the scriptures. Continuing in error is never superior to walking in the truth.

We are not supposed to add or take away from His word. But if we practice this tradition, we are both adding to and taking away from His word.

Therefore, the “replace His name with a title” tradition is clearly unscriptural. We should not be surprised when unscriptural traditions of men find their way into modern denominational religions. Therefore, just as He did, let’s set aside vain traditions and fearlessly proclaim the genuine truth found in His word... just as He inspired it.

Who is Satan

2011-01-31T15:04:00.003+13:00

In learning about Yahweh, it is important that we also learn about Satan, the mal’akh who seems to dominate discussions in the Kodesh Scriptures when compared to other mal’akhim. Personally I had to see some answers because I am well versed with Christian teaching of this being, which I needed to review if my developing knowledge of the Creator is to be meaningful.

I was searching for information and this is one a saw. (see http://www.outreachjudaism.org/satan.html). I accept that people may say that this is Jewish stuff. I am aware of this of course but I am also aware that the scriptures were Jewish anyway. This one come in a form of question and answer.

Without more a do let's go to the website now.

Dear Rabbi Singer:

When you were in Buffalo, NY in November of ..... , during the extended question and answer time, you were asked your view on angels and specifically about Satan. I was astounded at your answer and was more astounded that the other rabbis present did not step into the discussion.

In your explanation of Satan and other fallen angels you attributed the creation of evil to YHWH thus making Him responsible for evil. There are at least 87 references to YHWH's holiness in Leviticus alone! In 11:44 YHWH says, "I AM HOLY." Is not holiness the absence of sin? There are many scriptures to prove that YHWH hates sin (evil), that He cannot tolerate evil in His presence. How, then, can you attribute evil to YHWH? I am interested in the Biblical support for your statement.

I have a fair understanding of Judaism and have found nothing in all of my reading to support your view as traditional.

Awaiting your reply.

A seeker after truth

Answer:

The rabbis to whom you made reference have spent their entire lives immersed in the study of the Jewish scriptures as well as other sacred Jewish literature and were, therefore, not "astounded" by the Judaism that was taught in Buffalo that evening, as you were.

Why weren't the rabbis stunned by these Jewish teachings on Satan? Because the Hebrew scriptures explicitly declare that the Almighty Himself places both the good and the evil that He created before mankind in order to provide His prime creation with free will. D’varim (Deuteronomy) 30:15 states,

See, I [YHWH] have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil.

In Yesha’yahu 45:7, the prophet describes YHWH's creation plan when he reports that,

I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Mighty One do all these things.

I did not invent these verses, nor did I tamper with them. In fact, the Bible I used in the above quotations is the King James Version, which is a translation that could hardly be construed as friendly to the Jewish faith. (please note I changed the names though, because this blog is about YHWH not God or G-d: ATN)

These edifying verses underscore the fundamental biblical teaching that it is the perfect spiritual balance of good and evil in the world that confronts every searching soul. This is the Almighty's divine sovereign plan for creation: It is through man's personal decision to turn away from evil and choose good that virtue can be attained.

Yesha’yahu 45:7 and D’varim (Deuteronomy) 30:15, however, pose a serious theological problem for Christians who maintain that YHWH did not create Satan, the angel of evil. According to Christian doctrine, Satan was the highest-ranking angel who, through his own act of spiritual defiance and outright disobedience, became the chief adversary and slanderer of YHWH and the embodiment of evil in this world. In Christian theology YHWH never created evil; He is only the author of righteousness and perfection, as you maintained in your question. Therefore, YHWH could never create something as sinister as the devil himself. Rather, Satan's unyielding wickedness is the result of his own spiritual rebellion.

Although this well-known Christian doctrine has much in common with the pagan Zoroastrian Persian dualism out of which it was born, it is completely alien to the teachings of the Jewish faith and the words of the Jewish scriptures. In fact, the Christian teaching that Satan was originally intended by YHWH to be a good angel but, in an act of outright defiance, ceased to function as YHWH had intended him to, suggests that YHWH created something imperfect or defective.

For the Jewish faith, Satan's purpose in seducing man away from YHWH poses no problem because Satan is only an agent of YHWH. As a servant of the Almighty, Satan faithfully carries out the divine will of his Creator as he does in all his tasks.

Satan is one of the many angels mentioned in the Bible. It is worth noting that the Hebrew word for angel is mal’akh, meaning "messenger." The same is true for the English word angel, derived from the Greek word angelos, which also means "messenger." Throughout the Bible, an angel is a messenger of YHWH who carries out the divine will of the Almighty. There is not one example in the Jewish scriptures where any angel, Satan included, opposes YWHW’s will.

In no part of the Bible is this more evident than in the Book of Iyov. In the first chapter of Iyov, Satan appears with other mal’akim before YHWH and suggests that Iyov's steadfast faithfulness would not withstand personal pain and utter destitution. Satan then requests from YHWH the chance to test Iyov's virtue. The Almighty grants this request, but He meticulously outlines for Satan what he may and may not do when putting Iyov to the test. Satan obediently follows his Creator's instructions. Iyov is immediately put to the test and, by the third chapter, begins to struggle. He questions his Maker as to why he was created and, in a moment of despair, wishes aloud that he had perished in his mother's womb. Still, by the end of this unparalleled biblical narrative, Iyov's virtue prevails over Satan's unyielding torment.

While in Christian terms Iyov's personal spiritual triumph is a theological impossibility, in Jewish terms it stands out as the embodiment of YHWH's salvation program for mankind. In D’varim (Deuteronomy) 30:15, the Torah attests to this principle and in Yesha’yahu 45:7, the prophet echoes this message when he declares that the Almighty Himself creates evil.

This biblical principle, however, was apparently too problematic for the Christian translators of the NIV Bible (New International Version). They clearly recognized that a Bible which asserts that YHWH creates evil calls into question one of Christendom's most cherished teachings on salvation. How can the church insist that man is totally depraved when his Creator (YHWH) placed him in a world where he is free to choose good over evil? How can the church hold to a doctrine of election or predestination when free will is man's to express? How can Christians maintain that YHWH did not create evil when the Jewish scriptures clearly state otherwise?

Understandably, the NIV translators saw fit to alter the prophet's words by rendering the offensive Hebrew word rah as "disaster" instead of correctly translating it as "bad" or "evil." The NIV Bible therefore mis-translates Yesha’yahu 45:7 to read,

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

The word "disaster" inserted by the NIV is so ambiguous that the uninformed reader would easily come to the conclusion that it refers to such things as earthquakes and hurricanes which are refered to as disasters. This skewed understanding created by the NIV mistranslation effectively conceals Yesha’yahu's original message. As mentioned above, the KJV (King James Version) does correctly translate this verse and render the Hebrew word rah as "evil."

One final point is in order here. Christians often point to Yesha’yahu 14:12 as a biblical reference to support their teachings of the final and complete downfall of Satan which brings to an end the long and otherwise successful career of this fallen angel. They argue that Yesha’yahu's mention of the fallen "morning star" refers to Satan's ultimate demise at the end of time when Satan will finally be cast into a lake of fire as articulated in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Revelation.

There are, however, two serious problems with this assertion.

First, if Christians maintain that the "morning star" is a reference to Satan, how do they explain Revelation 22:16 where Jesus is called the "morning star" as well?

Secondly, a cursory reading of the fourteenth chapter of Yesha’yahu reveals that the "morning star" spoken of in Yesha’yahu 14:12 is referring to Nevuchadnetzar, the wicked King of Babylon, and not to Satan. In 14:4 the prophet explicitly names the king of Babylon as the subject of the prophecy.

That thou shall take up this proverb against the king of Bavel, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased!

Throughout this chapter and the preceding chapter of Yesha’yahu, the prophet foretells the rise and fall of this arrogant king who would use his unbridled power to plunder Jerusalem and destroy its Temple but, at the end, would suffer a cataclysmic downfall. In 14:12 Nevuchadnetzer is compared to the planet Venus whose light is still visible in the morning yet vanishes with the rise of the sun. Like the light of Venus, Nevuchadnetzer's reign shone brilliantly for a short time, yet, as the prophets foretold, was eventually overshadowed by the nation of Isra’yl whose light endured and outlived this arrogant nation who tormented and exiled her.

So who is Satan?

Satan (Hebrew: הַשָׂטָן ha-Satan), "the accuser",is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible otherwise called the Tanakh.

For you, consider the Christian perspective with that of the Jews on this subject and think about it seriously. Where would stand so that you can be on the side of truth.

Year 5771 is a Pregnant Year No 14 out of 19

2011-01-26T16:48:00.002+13:00

The are 12 months each year except years 3, 6, 11, 14, 17, and 19) in each cycle of 19 years, which are called pregnant years (Shana me'uberet) because it comprises 13 months. Year 5771 is the 14^th in a cycle of 19 years and the next will fall on the Year 5774 which is the 17^th in the 19 year cycle. Why?

The Hebrew or Jewish calendar is lunisolar: a day is based on the rotation of the Earth about its axis; a month is based on the revolution of the moon about the Earth; and a year is based on the revolution of the Earth about the sun. On average, the moon revolves around the Earth approximately 29.5 days and the Earth revolves around the sun approximately 365.25 days. That’s leaves us with a 12-month lunar year that is 11 days shorter than the solar year.

Why is the solar year so important to the Jewish calendar? The Jewish holidays are strongly related to seasons. Passover (פֶּסַח, pesax) must occur in the spring as it is referred to in the Torah as the Festival of Spring (חַג הָאָבִיב, xag ha’aviv). If the calendar is based solely on the moon, the holidays will not correlate with the right seasons.

Therefore, an additional 13th month is added to the Jewish calendar every few years. The added month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added just before the month of Adar (called Adar Bet – second Adar in a leap year). Adar Bet is added seven times every nineteen years (in years 3, 6, 11, 14, 17, and 19). The leap year is fuller or longer than a regular 12-month year, therefore it is called שָׁנָה מְעֻבֶּרֶת (shana me’uberet) meaning literally a “pregnant year” – like a pregnant woman carrying inside her - a baby.

And why was the extra month chosen to be Adar? Originally, the Hebrew calendar began in Nissan, the month of the Passover holiday. The last month of the year was Adar. Therefore, it was decided to add a month to the final month of the year.

Adar Alef of the year תשע"א (5771) is about to begin on Saturday February 5th 2011 delaying the Adar holidays (Purim) to Adar Bet. Let us hope that this “pregnant” year is fertile, happy and peaceful.

For Further Reading I submit the following:

http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-four-out-of-five-years-5771-5775.html

Why four out of five years (5771 - 5775) start on Thursday - Friday

The Jewish year has three possibilities for the number of days in a regular or leap year. The reason is that the lunar month is approximately 29.5 (twenty nine and a half) days long. If this was exact, then just alternating 29 and 30 day months would be correct. However, the exact average cycle is 29 days 12 hours 793 "parts" in length. A "part" is one in 1080 of an hour. The 793 "parts" converts to 44 minutes and 1 "part" as can be seen by looking at a chart of the molad announcements for the year. As a result, there are almost 15 minutes more than 29.5 days. This is handled by having the months of Cheshvan and Kislev be either 29 or 30 days and having the three possibilities of 29 and 29, 29 and 30, or 30 and 30. This calculation actually differs from the astronomical new moon as the year progresses. It is calculated by the total number of days in a lunar year and dividing by twelve. As a result, the actual molad can vary from the calculated value by as much as 10 hours.

Rosh Hashannah (first day) can never occur on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday so that Yom Kippur cannot occur on Friday or Sunday and Hoshannah Rabbah can never occur on Shabbos.

Judaism 101 gives an interesting mnemonic for determining the leap years in the cycle using a piano keyboard

As can be seen the leap years are years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 (0).

This means that the pattern for these 5 years are L R R L R

A more detailed explanation is here

This makes the regular year have 353, 354, and 355 days ("adding 3, 4, or 5 days to the day of the week of Rosh Hashannah), while leap years have 383, 384, and 385 days ("adding" 5, 6, and 0). The Jewish year uses a 19 year cycle and the leap years can be shown by taking the year number as modulus 19. This year (5771) is year 14 of the cycle (year 19 of the cycle has modulus 0). The five years involved are thus 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Year "17" is the next leap year. This year (a leap year) both Cheshvan and Kislev are 30 days so that next Rosh Hashannah (5772) will be also be on Thursday and Friday. The following year will have Cheshvan 29 days and Kislev 30 days (30 Kislev 5772 is 26 December 2011). This brings the following Rosh Hashannah (5773) to Monday and Tuesday. .

5773 will have 29 days in Cheshvan and Kislev which brings Rosh Hashannah back to Thursday again (from the modulus calculation above.) for 5774.

5774 is year 17 of the 19 year cycle and is again a leap year and again will have both Cheshvan and Kislev set to 30 days. This means that the following (regular) year of 5775 will again start on Thursday.

Since 5775 is not a leap year, Rosh Hashannah of 5776 will occur on Monday and since it is again a leap year (modulus number 0) with both Cheshvan and Kislev 30 days, the following year (5777) is again on Monday.

Larry Nussbaum pointed out by email the following five years starting with 5776 are L R R L R as well with the leap year again being "full" (both Cheshvan and Kislev having 30 days) This means that four out of those five years start on Monday, with the "off year" being Thursday. The last year of this pattern (5780) is year number 4 of the cycle, so 5781 (year 5), which starts on Shabbos, is also regular and 5782 starts on Tuesday.

This double pattern is quite rare. This appears to be to only such pattern (2 sets of 4 out of 5 back to back) in the past 247 years. In 5760 - 5764 we had 4 of 5 years with RH on Shabbos. There is no short cycle (like 19 or 28 years) when it comes to days of the week for yom tovim. The only cycle is a 247 year cycle (and that's not 100% guaranteed). Mr. Nussbaum also pointed out that the Tur has a 247 year calendar.

I saw this on the Mail Jewish mailing list, from Richard Fiedler

Mail.Jewish Mailing List
Volume 59 Number 26
Produced: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:15:16 EDT
From: Richard Fiedler
Date: Mon, Sep 13,2010 at 10:01 PM
Subject: Dates of Rosh HaShanah

Rosh HaShanah 2013 has another extremely unusual aspect. The Old Moon will be visible on Wednesday Morning Sept 4, 2013 and we will welcome in Rosh HaShanah Wednesday Night.

The Molad of Tishrei 2013 will be Yom Chamishi (Thursday), 16 hours 830 parts. This is under the window of the Molad Zaqen rule (18 hours causes a deferral of Rosh HaShanah) that normally prevents as Old Moon from being seen Erev Rosh HaShanah.

If you will join me in Jerusalem that week I will be on Mount Scopus at 5:10 AM when the Moon will rise. The Sun will rise at 6:16 AM. We will be seeing the cause of the Gemora of Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua (120 CE).

The reason for this is rooted in a very exceptional lunar orbit which is taking a path below the African Continent. Here is a link to the R H van Gent chart of Lunar Visibility for that date.https://files.me.com/richardfiedler/tfsa4d

The above comment shows the "old moon" being visible the day before Rosh Hashanah by the fixed calendar. I realized as a result of a comment that I received that the Sanhedrin is based on eidus, which means that the eidim had to have seen the new moon. IIRC this is a minimum of six hours after the actual astronomic molad, which oscillates around the average announced molad. Actually, a member of the Israel New Moon Society has told me that the new moon would not be visible to the naked eye until it is at least 18 -20 hours old. The question would be when the actual astronomic "new moon" would be. I looked up on the internet and went to a planetary body calendar website to get these values. Note that the current rule is that Daylight time in Israel ends the Sunday morning before Yom Kippur. As a result, DST ends September 8. The times shown below are therefore in Daylight Savings Time.

Moonrise and moonset in Jerusalem (DST)


Date	Moonrise	Moonset
Date	Moonrise	Moonset

Sep 4, 2013

5:10 AM

6:09 PM


Sep 5, 2013	6:06 AM	6:43 PM

Meridian Passing

                     Sep 4 Sep 5
Time:   11:42 A.M.    12:27 P.M.
Altitude:       65.6°                    61.4°
Distance:     396,157 km          392,621 km.
Illuminated: 1.5%                    0.1%

Phase: New at 2:37 P.M. Sep 5

I also checked and sunrise is 6:16 and 6:17 A.M. and sunset is 6:59 P.M. and 6:58 PM on those days. This seems to imply that IF the six hour time is correct, then the new moon would probably not be visible until 8:43 P.M. which is well after moonset. Note that the .1% illumination is at the meridian (which is "drowned out" by the noon sun) If the two hours before the new moon are linear to the 4 hours after the new moon, then the illumination would be no more than .2% and the six hours would be about .3% The previous days meridian shows 4.8% illumination which would make the moonrise illumination about 2.5%, with the sun still below the horizon. This may indeed allow it to be seen. In the case of the new moon, since the moon sets 15 minutes earlier than the sun, it would seem to be very difficult to see it. The illumination at the meridian for the day after the new moon (approximately 22 hours) is 1.0%. If the 18 hour estimate mentioned earlier is correct, this implies that the old moon would indeed have been visible.

When the Sanhedrin is reestablished, there will be a set of 30 day months until Rosh Chodesh gets co-ordinated with the eidus and astronomical molad rather than the fixed average molad that we announce now. As a result the Sanhedrin would have had to be established a number of months before this so that Rosh Hashannah could be on Shabbos (September 7) while Elul remained 29 days.

The Name Of The Creator, Our Heavenly Father.

2010-07-08T21:04:00.001+12:00

If someone has to ask me why I keep calling the Creator of the Universe as Yahweh; I will certainly look surprised, and answer “Well because that is his Name!” There is no longer any doubt that the Creator’s name is Yahweh, period.

I think the question that needed to be asked runs something like this, “Why is it that the majority of the English Bibles do not call the creator Yahweh, and instead call him LORD God or L_RD G_d where the Jews are concerned.

Well I present the answer to that question as prepared by EliYah (with appreciation) in this article called Commentary on the Bible Preface which must be self-explanatory. I have done small adjustments to satisfy my own perceptions.

However before I do, I’ll add a thought for what it is worth.

Different religions worship different deities which they call God. In fact there are thousands of gods that are worshiped by different people in the world. And gods they worship go by different names and they also appear in different forms and shapes.

Because of this I have had a change of heart about the use of Yahweh’s name.

For instance, I have always advocated that Christians are using the wrong name; saying that they should call the Christian God, Yahweh, and never the LORD God and Jehovah. I thought this was smart.

I even had the audacity to say that the Jews should change the name of their God to Yahweh from their use of L-RD G-d, Ha Shem, Adoni etc.

Now I realise that I was wrong all along.

The name of the God that people worship must commensurate with the way they worship him or her. The Catholics or Protestants or Jews worship the deity called LORD God, and that is for sure appropriate because the deity they worship, want to be worshiped in the manner they worship him and on the day on which he demands to be worshipped.

We cannot therefore all of a sudden demand that they call the deity they worship, Yahweh, because Yahweh would not like to be worshiped the way the Catholics or Protestants or Jews worship their respective gods.

It is certain that Yahweh would actually demand a lot of changes (in fact a complete overhaul) of the way we relate to him if we want to worship him. In fact Yahweh is one and infinite and he is the creator of the Universe and he is our Father.

Christians worship a deity who is completely different don’t they? They worship a composite god comprising three different beings, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. One cannot call such a god Yahweh can one? It is just not appropriate.

So I have stopped demanding that Christians or Jews should call the deity they worship Yahweh. Yahweh and the Christian or Jewish gods are distinctively different.

In terms of the Jews, it is not a mystery that they call the deity they worship L_rd G_d, because they did not really know Yahweh anyway. Yahweh was painfully unhappy with them and ordered them to be taken captive at the hands of the Babylonians. When they later repatriated to their home lands, their worship of Yahweh was already adulterated by the Babylonians ways of worshiping their own deity, in many areas. Typically the Sabbath was worshiped from evening to evening (a Babylonian tradition) instead of dawn to dusk or sunrise to sunset according to the Scriptures. (Compare how Yom Kippur is to be kept vis-à-vis the rest of the Feast Days are observed.) A day is not 24 hours long, only 12 hours on average followed by the night.

Anyway Yahweh is the Creator’s name, who is our Heavenly Father. We should not in our petty minds take it upon ourselves that people who are alien to Yahweh should call their God Yahweh.

That is how I view the use of the names of Yahweh now.

Anyway let’s review why the English Bible use Lord God in lieu of Yahweh. The answer presented here by EliYah is interesting. But if anyone reading this is interested in learning more, they need to know that this knowledge is available only from Yahweh. He challenges us to seek him with all our hearts, and if we do he assures us that we will find him. And when we do, we will receive wisdom and understanding as defined in Job 28:28 which reads, “And to man he said, Look, the reverence of Yahweh, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Let me leave you to read and study the following article which explains why the name of Yahweh has been substituted in most popular English Bibles.

Commentary on Bible Prefaces

Before we begin it must be understood that our English bibles are not the original language in which scriptures were written. I sometimes talk to people who don't understand this very basic principle, but it is totally true. The King James Version was the first major translation into English and was created approximately 1600 years.

Most all translations in various languages have chosen to replace the name "Yahweh" with another title or name of their choice, usually "the LORD" or "GOD" in all capital letters. The following is a commentary on the various prefaces and introductions which explain their reasoning for removing the Heavenly Father's name from English bibles. Let's start with the ever popular NIV...

10.1 New International Version - Preface

"In regard to the divine name YHWH, commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton, the translators adopted the device used in most English versions...

This statement runs true in the majority of modern English translations. The primary reasoning for replacing the name of Yahweh with something else is 'tradition'. In other words, "As long as everyone else does it, it must be okay".

..of rendering that name as "LORD" in capital letters to distinguish it from adonai, another Hebrew word rendered "Lord" for which small letters are used.

We can see already that replacing the name "Yahweh" with "The LORD" presents a major problem. What do they do when there is a legitimate use of the title "Lord/Master" in the original text? It might be confusing to the reader as to whether it is speaking of a human lord/master or Yahweh.

So what to do? Their solution is to make the "Adonai" source in small letters and where the name of Yahweh exists, they'll put capital letters! In other words, if it reads "Adonai (lord/master)" In the original they will translate it as "lord" or "Lord". But if it says "Yahweh" in the original, they will render it as "LORD" in all capital letters. I doubt that half the people who read the scriptures even realizes they are doing this.

Wherever the two names stand together in the Old Testament as a compound name for God, they are rendered "Sovereign LORD.""

Now we see that a more complicated problem arises. There are instances in scripture that the Hebrew reads "Adonai Yahweh" or "Lord/Master Yahweh". If they were to put "Lord" where Yahweh exists in the original, they would have to translate the passage as "Lord the LORD"! So they translated it as "Sovereign LORD" to avoid confusion. Amazing what people will do to serve tradition and reject what Yahweh has placed in scripture!

10.2 Today's English Version - Preface

Following an ancient tradition,

Again, tradition is the reason.

begun by the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Septuagint) and followed by the vast majority of English translations, the distinctive Hebrew name for God (usually transliterated Jehovah or Yahweh), is in this translation represented by "LORD."

When Adonai, normally translated "Lord," occurs preposed to Yahweh, the combination is rendered by the phrase "Sovereign LORD."

So the "Today's English Version" uses the same renderings as the NIV. All on the basis of following the others.

10.3 Revised English Bible - Introduction to the Old Testament

The divine name (YHWH in Hebrew characters) was probably pronounced 'Yahweh',

One excuse some use for not keeping Yahweh's name in the text is that they aren't sure His name is really pronounced "Yahweh". But if a translator ever admitted that His name was definitely pronounced 'Yahweh' I'm sure they would have to answer for why they don't translate it as such. Not much motivation for seeking the truth? Maybe they really don't want to know that His name really is pronounced "Yahweh"?

but the name was regarded as ineffable, too sacred to be pronounced.

Yes, this was the doctrine that got this whole idea started. But Yahweh says:

Jeremiah 10:25a Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name..

and...

Joel 2:32a And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the YAHWEH shall be delivered..

How can anyone call on His name if it is hidden away by superstitious doctrines?

The Massoretes, therefore, wrote in the vowel signs of the alternative words adonai ('Lord') or Mighty One ('God') to warn readers to use one of these in its place.

The Massoretes were those who copied and preserved the Hebrew scriptures from scroll to scroll down through the ages. They added 'vowel signs/pointings' to the Hebrew text (which was primarily all consonants) so the language would be preserved. But when they came to the name of Yahweh, they inserted alternative vowel pointings so that the reader would not speak the name of Yahweh but say "adonai" (lord) instead. So we can see that through the ages, there has been a conspiracy to hide the name of Yahweh Almighty despite what Yahweh says in His word about how we should praise, exalt, bless, love, teach, preach, anoint, assemble, believe, give thanks, honor and call on His name.

Where the divine name occurs in the Hebrew text, this has been signalled in The Revised English Bible by using capital letters for 'LORD' or 'GOD', a widely accepted practice.

Since it is 'widely accepted', it must be truth and acceptable to do?

10.4 American Standard Version - Preface

"I. The change first proposed in the Appendix --- that which substitutes "Jehovah" for "LORD" and "GOD" (printed in small capitals) --- is one which will be unwelcome by many, because of the frequency and familiarity of the terms displaced. But the American Revisers, after a careful consideration, were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament, as it fortunately does not in the numerous versions made by modern missionaries.

Now with some reservation I would almost have to admire those who translated the American Standard 1901 version. They at least tried to restore some truth (even though they knew it would be unwelcome) and reject the ridiculous tradition of hiding and substituting the name of Yahweh from the common reader. But then as we read on...

This Memorial Name, explained in Ex. iii. 14,15 and emphasized as such over and over in the original text of the Old Testament, designates God as the Personal God, as the covenant God, the God of Revelation, the Deliverer, the Friend of his people; --- not merely the abstractly "Eternal One" of many French translations, but the ever living Helper of those who are in trouble. This personal name, with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim."

Sounds great so far! They can see that the scriptures do place importance on His name...over and over and over... But if you read the translation you will see that they insert the false "Jehovah" rendering that was used a total of 4 times in the King James Version! But most every scholar knows that "Jehovah" is a falsification of Yahweh's name! Click here for more information on this!

1.5 Revised Standard Version - Preface

Now here is the preface that really bothers me the most.

"A major departure from the practice of the American Standard Version is the rendering of the Divine Name, the "Tetragrammaton."

The Revised Standard Version translators have chosen not only to depart from the practice of the ASV translators but to berate them as well. It is in one way justified in that the ASV chose the name "Jehovah" instead of "Yahweh".

The American Standard Version used the term "Jehovah"; the King James Version had employed this in four places, but everywhere else, except in three cases where it was employed as part of a proper name, used the English word LORD (or in certain cases GOD) printed in capitals. The present revision returns to the procedure of the King James Version, which follows the precedent of the ancient Greek and Latin translators and the long established practice in the reading of the Hebrew scriptures in the synagogue.

So here we go with this 'long standing tradition' routine again.

Again, they wouldn't dare admit that they are totally certain. However it is totally certain that His name is not pronounced "The Lord".

(While it is almost if not quite certain that the Name was originally pronounced "Yahweh",)..this pronunciation was not indicated when the Masoretes added vowel signs to the consonantal Hebrew text.

Of course not, they favored tradition over commandments!

To the four consonants YHWH of the Name, which had come to be regarded as too sacred to be pronounced, they attached vowel signs indicating that in its place should be read the Hebrew word Adonai meaning "Lord" (or Mighty One meaning "God"). The ancient Greek translators substituted the word Kyrios (Lord) for the Name. The Vulgate likewise used the Latin word Dominus. The form "Jehovah" is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. The sound of Y is represented by J and the sound of W by V, as in Latin.

They even share how this idea of substituting His name got started. It amazes me that some will follow the Jewish tradition that breaks the commandment of Yahweh but they'll ignore the Jew's examples of where they actually do keep the Torah/Law of Yahweh!

For two reasons the Committee has returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version: (1) the word "Jehovah" does not accurately present any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew; and

Ahh! Notice how they conveniently forget to mention why they reject the name "Yahweh" in their 'reasons'!

(2) the use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom He had to be distinguished, was discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church."

Who are they to decide what is appropriate for one's faith?? Their job is to translate, not decide what we are to believe! This statement is a sad commentary of how far some have gone from the scriptures. Not only do they say why they have chosen to replace Yahweh's name with a title of their choosing but they also state that 'use of any proper name...is entirely inappropriate!' Amazing! Who invented the idea of having a name of our Creator? Is it not Yahweh Himself?? Is Yahweh also 'entirely inappropriate' for placing His name there in scripture over 6000 times?? Are they saying indeed that the one whom they claim to worship is 'entirely inappropriate' for placing His name there? Oh my! They say it is 'entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.' Why have a different substitution for the name "Yahweh" in each language? Would it not be more 'universal' to use ONE NAME? Yahweh has said:

Malachi 1:11a (NKJV) For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles.

Why have they falsified our Creator's name and condemned Yahweh for putting it there originally? It is just sad.

10.6 New King James Version - Word study on Exodus 3:15 (New Open Bible)

Now I do like this word study. Even though the NKJV translators followed the traditions of the elders and forsook the idea of keeping Yahweh's name in the text, whoever wrote this word study is very frank about what actually is taking place.

Exodus 3 records one of the greatest revelations in the Old Testament: the personal name of God. (The words translated God in our Bible [El, Mighty One, Eloah] are not names, but the standard vocabulary for the Deity and even for false gods.

God told Moses His plan to use him in delivering the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, and Moses had asked whom He should tell the people had sent him. God answered Moses: "I AM WHO I AM." He told Moses to tell them the "I AM" had sent him, "the LORD God." "I AM" and "LORD" are both probably derived from the Hebrew verb to be (hayah) because God is the ever-present One, "the Eternal" (Moffatt translation).

Many people are puzzled that in this and many other (over six thousand!) passages some Bibles read LORD in all capitals (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NIV), some read "Jehovah" (ASV, DARBY), and some read "Yahweh" (Yerusalayim Bible). Why such a radical difference? Do the manuscripts vary that much? No, not at all.

Because the name of God is so important---Jews devoutly refer to Him as "the Name" (ha Shem)---it is well worth exploring this revelation in sOne detail. It is merely a question of a Jewish tradition and how various Christian Scholars handle that tradition.

In the Ten Commandments, God forbids taking His name "in vain". That is, we should not bear false witness in oaths and probably should avoid using profanity, as well. In their great fear of violating this command, devout Hebrews went beyond the law, and when they read the Hebrew Scriptures aloud they would read the word Lord (Adonai) whenever they saw the four letters (YHWH, or traditionally JHVH in Latin pronunciation) that spelled out God's revealed covenant name. This was the sacred name by which He had committed Himself to Israel as a nation.

The most ancient copies of the Hebrew text were written in consonants only.

Actually there are some semi-vowels..as any good book on Hebrew grammar will tell you.

As the language became less and less used, scholars (call Masoretes) added little dots and dashes called "vowel points" to indicate how the text was to be pronounced. Oddly enough, they put the vowels that go with the word Adonai together with the sacred four letter name (called "tetragrammaton") to guide the readers to say Adonai aloud in synagogue services.

11 The Name Jehovah

This is the origin of the name "Jehovah." It is actually a hybrid name, combining the vowels of Adonai with the consonants of YHWH into JeHoVaH or YeHoWaH (the "a" of Adonai is changed for reasons of Hebrew pronunciation). The people who produced this name were medieval Christian Hebrew Scholars; the Jews never acknowledged such a name. The defense of this Christian hybrid is the same as the defense of the Jewish avoidance of pronouncing the name---tradition!

No surprise there. (I didn't add the "!")

There are many lovely hymns and paraphrases of the Psalms that use this name, so it would be a loss to eliminate it from our Christian vocabulary.

Choose 'what seems right to a man' over the truth? (See the study on the name "Jehovah")

The poetical form of Jehovah is Jah

12 The Name Yahweh

It is very likely that the name was pronounced very much like "Yahweh." Comparisons with transliterations of the name into other alphabets from very ancient times confirm this. The best argument for the spelling is that it is probably the historically accurate.

Thank you.

However, the RSV's 1952 introduction explained its reason for rejecting "Yahweh" in the translation. It said that it lacks devotional qualities for English-speaking Christians. It is true that many names beginning with "Y" seem odd to our culture (all the names in English --- including Jesus---were pronounced with a Y sound, in the original, as in "hallelu-Yah").

Just totally amazing...

13 LORD

Most recent major English Bibles, dissatisfied with both Jehovah and Yahweh, have retained the KJV's LORD (the 1901 text read Jehovah.)

Oh but Yahweh is certainly dissatisfied with THEM. They have failed to take in account something very important to HIM.

The following is a summary of the excuses that they have used for their refusing to insert the true name Yahweh.

It's used in most English versions
We're following an ancient tradition
The word "Jehovah" does not accurately present any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew (What about "Yahweh"??)
Use of any proper name...is entirely inappropriate
It lacks devotional qualities

Amongst all these reasons, is there not something missing here?

YES, it is something that they have gone over painstakingly word for word! Something called THE WORD OF YAHWEH. Not once did they quote a scripture to back up their excuses!

We have heard the excuses, now let's see what Yahweh's word has to say about His name:

1Kings 18:24 (KJV) And call ye on the name of your Mighty One, and I will call on the name of Yahweh: and the Mighty One that answereth by fire, let him be Mighty One. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

Now I would like to touch on something ironic here. If you haven't read this story of Mt. Carmel, go to your scriptures and read it now or click here to read it. This is the prophet Yilyah (Elijah) speaking these words. He said "call ye on the name of your elohim, and I will call on the name of Yahweh". What was the name of their elohim? It is BAAL. What is amazing here is that Baal means "Lord" in Hebrew! Here is Brown's Driver/Briggs Lexicon on this Hebrew name of "Baal".

01168 Ba`al {bah'-al}

the same as 01167; TWOT - 262a

AV - Baal 62, Baalim 18; 80

Baal = "lord"
n pr m
1) supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites
2) a Reubenite
3) the son of Jehiel and grandfather of Saul
n pr loc
4) a town of Simeon, probably identical to Baalath-beer

There is your proof. What is sad is that the translators RETAINED the name of the idol Baal but REJECTED the name of the true Mighty One of the Scriptures! Continuing with our scriptures...Yahweh said:

Isaiah 42:8 I am YAHWEH, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

Malachi 2:2 If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name," Says YAHWEH of hosts, "I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.

Psalm 105:1 Oh, give thanks to YAHWEH! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Psalms 116:17- I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of YAHWEH.

Isaiah 12:4 And in that day you will say: "Praise YAHWEH, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.

Zechariahariah 13:9- And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It [is] my people: and they shall say, Yahweh is my Mighty One.

This is only a small sampling of the hundreds of scriptures that tell us of the importance of His name. I invite you to consider these others by clicking here.

In conclusion it is very evident that Yahweh's name is important to Him but it apparently was not important to those who have translated His word into the English language. Therefore we must make every effort when we see His name substituted in our scriptures to restore them back as we read them. We cannot change what has already been done but we can zealously return to the faith which was once delivered to the saints.

The Nature of Yahweh Elohim

2010-02-16T21:52:00.003+13:00

Back in 2000 I was a member of one of the Churches of God.

At the time, all I knew about the Creator, is that he was named LORD God. But if you looked up some of what I have posted on this site, you will actually see that I have changed completely, I have turned 360 degress as far as my knowledge of the Creator is concerned. I am now a believer and follower of Yahweh Mighty One. In our Bible Study last Sabbath we studied the nature of Yahweh based on the article I have reproduced below by Tracey Rich in his Judaism 101 series, which we agree with substantially, except that the article referred to the Creator as G-d.

The article itself referred to Moshe asking the one who introduced himself by saying, I am the Mighty One of your fathers, the Mighty One of Avraham, the Mighty One of Yitz'chak, and the Mighty One of Ya'akov, for an ID and he said “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh". Who is Ehyer Asher Ehyer? He is definitely not God; He is the Elohim that spoke to the patriarchs, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov. If the three patriarch were to be resurrected this day and see people asserting that God spoke to them, they will deny it 100%. Ya'akov especially will react strongly because his favorite wife Rachel, died, because she was carrying the little statuettes of Gad (i.e. Gawd), the deities of good luck, thus was inadvertently cursed by her husband

When the English used the word God, to translate Yahweh Elohim, it must be remembered that the English people were already worshipping a deity called the LORD God, and therefore inappropriate to use to refer to Elohim who is called Yahweh.

This was not evident to me at first, in fact I had rejected even its suggestion. It was actually due to the fact that I was engrossed with a church that is named after God. One year, at my old school, I was responsible for the upkeep of the school fish pond, which has nothing but tilapia. So my knowledge was limited to tilapia fish because it was a tilapia pool. Similarly, my knowledge was limited to GOD as a member of the Church of God.

In 2000 I decided to pull out, and this time I kept myself free of any church affiliation. Guess what, my mind was now widened to see all the religions of the world, from after the closure of the Garden of Eden to this day. That is when I began to see who God truly was, and how he has fitted into the religions of this world, and most of all, how the world has attributed to him all the things that should rightly be attributed to Yahweh Elohim.

Ask anyone in the world, who created the world and the universe and there is a very large chance that he or she will say, “God” and would thus be absolutely wrong. And if you asked further who Yahweh is, and the reply would either be, “I do not know” or for the better informed, “Yahweh is the god of the Jews” and I would again say wrong.

The creator of the universe is not god or called God. No.

So If anyone is praying to God, (however it is spelled); it must be made clear that one is contacting a pagan deity and not the one Elohim who created the Universe . We are missing the mark in the true sense, when we call Yahweh Elohim, another name that is not his name.

Having said that, I must make it clear that I had to correct the names that Tracey Rich used in the article below, with sincere apologies, so that I can correctly refer to Yahweh, the Elohim whose nature is being discussed. It is needful for people to understand the flaw in using the term God to refer to Yahweh Elohim, because it leads to deceit and people must be able to connect with Yahweh, not with any other deity, by calling his rightful name if we all are to find life.

I am Apenisa Naigulevu; if you call me another name I will definitely NOT respond even though I did not name myself originally. But here we are dealing with the Mighty Creator who created the entire Universe and who said, “....... to Moshe, This is what you shall say to the children of Isra'el: Yahweh Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Avraham, the Elohim of Yitz'chak, and the Elohim of Ya'akov, has sent me to you; this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:15). He appropriated a name for himself, yet we decide to use another.

Pretty straight forward to me; but I give you the nature of Yahweh originally prepared by Tracey Rich, and I have amended it to show that name of Yahweh Elohim with apologies.

The Nature of Yahweh

• Most areas of Jewish belief are open to significant dispute, but not the nature of the Creator
• There are several well-accepted beliefs about the nature of the Creator

The nature of Yahweh is one of the few areas of abstract Jewish belief where there are a number of clear-cut ideas about which there is little dispute or disagreement.

Yahweh Exists

The fact of Yahweh's existence is accepted almost without question. Proof is not needed, and is rarely offered. The Torah begins by stating "In the beginning, Elohim created..." It does not tell who Elohim is or how He was created.

In general, Judaism views the existence of Yahweh as a necessary prerequisite for the existence of the universe. The existence of the universe is sufficient proof of the existence of Yahweh.

Yahweh is One

One of the primary expressions of Jewish faith, recited twice daily in prayer, is the Shema, (Deut 6:4-5) which is as follows:

“Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our Elohim, Yahweh is one; 5 And you shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

This simple statement encompasses several different ideas:

a) There is only one Yahweh. No other being participated in the work of creation.

b) Yahweh is a unity. He is a single, whole, complete indivisible entity. He cannot be divided into parts or described by attributes. Any attempt to ascribe attributes to Yahweh is merely man's imperfect attempt to understand the infinite.

c) Yahweh is the only being to whom we should offer praise. The Shema can also be translated as "Yahweh is our Elohim, Yahweh is alone," meaning that no other is our Elohim, and we should not pray to any other.

Yahweh is the Creator of Everything

Everything in the universe was created by Yahweh and only by Yahweh. Judaism completely rejects the dualistic notion that evil was created by Satan or some other deity. All comes from Yahweh. As Isaiah said,

That they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me; I am Yahweh and there is none else. 7 I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create hardship; I Yahweh do these things” Isaiah 45:6-7

Yahweh is Incorporeal

Although many places in scripture and Talmud speak of various parts of Yahweh's body (the Hand of Yahweh, Yahweh's wings, etc.) or speak of Yahweh in anthropomorphic terms (Yahweh walking in the garden of Eden, Yahweh laying tefillin, etc.), Judaism firmly maintains that Yahweh has no body. Any reference to Yahweh's body is simply a figure of speech, a means of making Yahweh's actions more comprehensible to beings living in a material world. Much of Rambam's Guide for the Perplexed is devoted to explaining each of these anthropomorphic references and proving that they should be understood figuratively.

We are forbidden to represent Yahweh in a physical form. That is considered idolatry. The sin of the Golden Calf incident was not that the people chose another deity, but that they tried to represent Yahweh in a physical form.

Yahweh is Neither Male nor Female

This followed directly from the fact that Yahweh has no physical form. As one rabbi explained it to me, Yahweh has no body, no genitalia, therefore the very idea that Yahweh is male or female is patently absurd. We refer to Yahweh using masculine terms simply for convenience's sake, because Hebrew has no neutral gender; Yahweh is no more male than a table is.

Although we usually speak of Yahweh in masculine terms, there are times when we refer to Yahweh using feminine terms. The Shechinah, the manifestation of Yahweh's presence that fills the universe, is conceived of in feminine terms, and the word Shechinah is a feminine word.

Yahweh is Omnipresent

Yahweh is in all places at all times. He fills the universe and exceeds its scope. He is always near for us to call upon in need, and He sees all that we do. Closely tied in with this idea is the fact that Yahweh is universal. He is not just the Yahweh of the Jews; He is the Yahweh of all nations.

Yahweh is Omnipotent

Yahweh can do anything. It is said that the only thing that is beyond His power is the fear of Him; that is, we have free will, and He cannot compel us to do His will. This belief in Yahweh's omnipotence has been sorely tested during the many persecutions of Jews, but we have always maintained that Yahweh has a reason for allowing these things, even if we in our limited perception and understanding cannot see the reason.

Yahweh is Omniscient

Yahweh knows all things, past, present and future. He knows our thoughts.

Yahweh is Eternal

Yahweh transcends time. He has no beginning and no end. He will always be there to fulfill his promises. When Moshe asked for Yahweh's name, He replied, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh." That phrase is generally translated as, "I am that I am," but the word "ehyeh" can be present or future tense, meaning "I am what I will be" or "I will be what I will be." The ambiguity of the phrase is often interpreted as a reference to Yahweh's eternal nature.

Yahweh is Both Just and Merciful

I have often heard Christians speak of Judaism as the religion of the strict Law, which no human being is good enough to fulfill (hence the need for the sacrifice of Jesus). This is a gross mischaracterization of Jewish belief. Judaism has always maintained that Yahweh's justice is tempered by mercy, the two qualities perfectly balanced. Of the two Names of Yahweh most commonly used in scripture, one refers to his quality of justice and the other to his quality of mercy. The two names were used together in the story of Creation, showing that the world was created with both justice and mercy.

Yahweh is Holy and Perfect

One of the most common names applied to Yahweh in the post-Biblical period is "Ha-Kadosh, Barukh Hu," The Holy One, Blessed be He.

Avinu Malkeinu: Yahweh is our Abba and our King

Judaism maintains that we are all Yahweh's children. A well-known piece of Jewish liturgy repeatedly describes Yahweh as "Avinu Malkeinu," our Father, our King. The Talmud teaches that there are three participants in the formation of every human being: the mother and father, who provide the physical form, and Yahweh, who provides the soul, the personality, and the intelligence. It is said that one of Yahweh's greatest gifts to humanity is the knowledge that we are His children and created in his image.

Removing Corn Husk!

2010-02-03T21:04:00.003+13:00

Some years ago I was discussing Bible studies with a well known Fiji journalist and church minister, the late Dr Samuel Berwick, and he told me something that has helped me take my Bible studies forward. Of course I was skeptic at the time, but today I have found his idea and insight very valid and workable.

He told me that Bible study was like eating corn. To enjoy the corn kernel, one has to peel off and completely remove the multiple layers of the corn husk. “Look” he said, “You have to peel off the husk in front of you, and throw it away before you can get to the second layer of husk, to peel it off, than get to the next layer of husk and so on until you get to the corn kernel which we eat.” Makes sense, even though practically, we often try to peel off everything in one go.

But the point he made to me almost thirty, thirty-five years ago was valid then and valid today, especially if one has decided to search for the Creator, Yahweh Elohim, as I have been doing since 2000. We must first get rid of our prevailing thoughts or thinking which are obviously wrong, and replace it with the correct concepts. I had a battle, a virtual civil war, when I was moving away from Sunday worship to get to Sabbath worship. But it was not until I utterly rejected Sunday worship, that I was able to embrace the Sabbath in total as required by the ten commandments. Similarly the Names of Yahweh.

Finding Yahweh is the key, in the same way that Moshe found Yahweh at the burning bush, to begin an interesting relationship. If Moshe turned away, nothing would have happened.

One of the necessary things for us to do is to first find his holy Name. That is what Moshe did, didn’t he? Moses asked for his ID as it were! This ID is important to us too.

If you are looking for someone, you will need to call out his name, so that he can respond to your call and yell back “Here I am!”

It is not that Elohim is mysterious, like someone who has not declared the name by which he is to be remembered! No! The problem is that we have been taught to believe that Elohim is actually called God; and trying to unlearn that lie is quite difficult; a corn husk that needs to be resolved first before we can move any further. But eventually we got there. And the first thing I did after that was to look for a Bible that uses the holy name of Yahweh, and the one I found and bought for our group was the Words of Yahweh.

Thus the search begun! Personally I started out with an assurance which reads “If with all your heart you really want to find me, you shall surely find me, thus says our Yah or El.” Remember that Air from Mendlesohn’s Elijah of the same title?

Of course the English Bible actually reads “Thus says our God.” But the English Bible was formulated in 1601 or thereabout in London I think, and they for some mysterious reasons supplanted the names of Yahweh Elohim, the name by which the Elohim of Isra’el is supposed to be remembered; with the names LORD God, who is the pagan deity of the Canaanites and the Babylonians.

Earlier while I was still in the Church of God, I received some papers from a Church group, who were proclaiming the name of Yahweh, and at the time I rejected those papers outright as dubious. After all I was a member of a Church of God, and spiritual adultery is a strict no-no isn’t it?

Looking back I now realised that my search was somewhat stalled then and there, because I was not able to peel off this particular corn husk, about the true name of Elohim (Mighty One) or if you please the one who is wrongly named LORD God.

So my search was stalled, for until I can resolve this one, I cannot move forward to find Yahweh.

The process began when I was flushed out of the church of god I used to follow, in 2000. I cannot say I left it, because I guess if I found just a little niche where I can fit in, I probably would stay; but there was nothing left for me there. I did not believe in the Trinity, so if I stayed I would always be the odd man out, hence my opinion that I was flushed out, you know like something useless being removed. Often, these kind of things happen to us, for our own good.

But that experience made it easy for me to part with the terms LORD God, when our small group studied the various deities of the ancient world, since the Garden of Eden episode. There are hundreds probably thousand of pagan deities in the pages of the Holy Scriptures. Among them were Gad (gawd or god otherwise called Troops) and Meni his wife, the deities of good luck or fortune and destiny respectively.

One husk was on the way out. As the scriptures (John 4) says “22 You worship what you do not know; but we worship what we do know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming, and it is here, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father also desires worshippers such as these. 24 For Elohim is Spirit; and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”

In spirit and in truth? Exactly! The truth is between God and Yahweh isn’t it? But which of the two is genuine is for us to decide. Spirit? The interrelationship is between two spirits, our human spirit and the spirit of the Elohim (Mighty One) called Yahweh. Any other spirit apart from Yahweh will not work.

Finding Yahweh is interesting in a very special way, because it demands that we overhaul all our perception about the Creator and the way we relate to him. If we heed the gospels where it says that we should not be deceived by man (Matthew 24:4-5) ; especially those who preach the name of Jesus Christ, it follows that we will have to understand the role of churches and religions, and evangelists and apostles, who assert that they are the way to the heavenly throne. Are they? These are the corn husks we have to remove on the way to the next husk.

We need to understand that religion begun well after Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden and the tree of life confiscated from human reach (Genesis 3:23-24), and this touches the very heart of our search for Yahweh.

Some people will assert that to find Yahweh, we need to have wisdom and understanding, which one can find in churches and God-breathed human beings. Unfortunately this is impossible because the truth is that we have to find Yahweh first, before we can find wisdom and understanding never the other way around. Knowing Yahweh is wisdom. To maintain our relationship with Yahweh we need understanding, and understanding is being able to act righteously; when confronted with right and wrong, good and evil etc.

But once one reaches that stage, and look back, one will suddenly be conscious that human religious activities, is exactly like that fig tree which Yahshua saw; a lot of leaves but no fruit (or taqsh) indicating that it was an absolutely hopeless, fruitless fig tree, so he cursed it (See Matt 21:18-22 & Mark 11:12-14, 19-25 ).

And this is why it is needful that we free ourselves of denominational ties, before we can find Yahweh; we need to keep removing husk after husks, to get to the kernel – and in my search, to find Yahweh, the Elohim of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov.

- Apenisa Naigulevu

Do Not Be Misled, By The Word God!

2010-01-16T17:45:00.000+13:00

The world today worship God almost in entirety, but I am not sure if people really know where the word came from so I decided to reprint this interesting article, which explains who God really is. To me the use the word God has become the “alarm” which alerts me to be careful about the subject that is being preached or written, because it clearly related to the deity God, and not related to the Creator of the universe called Yahweh Elohim. Having said that I agree with Gary that some may be worshipping God through doctrines, teachings, practices and beliefs though they use the name Yahweh Elohim, something we should be careful not to do.

Anyway I give you an article by Gary C. Miller (http://www.search-the-scriptures.org/artic-34.htm) which reflects my understanding exactly; it is important to understand this so that we can find Elohim who challenges us that if we look for him, we will surely find him. Why? because wisdom is knowing Yahweh Elohim and understanding is rejecting evil and embracing good. Lately I have come to realize the implication of what happened at the Garden of Eden, when the Adam and Eve acquired the knowledge of good and evil and were chased away, to prevent their taking of the tree of life. They even made aprons of fig leaf to hide their nakedness; which pictures the reality of religions in the world today. A study of the fig leaf is interesting if used as aprons. But that is another story.

All religions of the world came up after the tree of life was confiscated, and all of them worship God, did you notice?

Just Who is God?
By Gary C. Miller

The word "God" is one of the most commonly used words among those professing the Bible as the basis of their beliefs.

Those most responsible for the widespread use of this word were doubtless the translators of the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Ever since the 1611 A.D. edition inserted it into the translated text, this word has been increasingly on the lips of the growing number of Christian converts the world over.

It is substituted for the Hebrew Elohim in the Old Testament, and for the Greek Theos in the New Testament. This simple replacement allows one, alias God, to get credit for everything from creating heaven and earth to granting eternal life to repentant sinners!
Doesn't it make sense that if someone is going to get that much credit, that someone had better be the right person? If we give that much honor and esteem to the wrong being, then the ONE who really deserves the credit just might not take it lightly!
Would you relish being on the "wrong side" of the REAL CREATOR, the one with infinite power over all the forces of nature?

How would you feel if you invented a new machine or created a new process with worldwide appeal and someone else got all the credit? Would it matter? Of course it would.

Searching for "God"
If we can show just who God is, then we can know whether he deserves all that credit or not.

Just because someone says, "God is the creator of the universe!" doesn't prove that's really who "God" is. Another could say, "Jupiter is the creator of the universe," but that wouldn't necessarily be who Jupiter is or was, either.

In fact, most Bible students would oppose this second assertion, beginning a kind of litany reciting historical passages to show just who Jupiter really was. They might tell us that Jupiter was a pagan deity, the chief Roman deity identified with the Greek "Zeus." And they would be right. But to the Romans he really was the supreme deity as Zeus was to the Greeks!

Those same Bible students might come back with Acts 14:12-15: "And they (people of Lystra) called Barnabas, JUPITER; and Paul, MERCURIUS......then the priests of Jupiter....brought oxen....and would have done sacrifice....which when the apostles heard....they rent their clothes, and ran among the people,...saying..why do you these things? We preach to you that you should turn from THESE VANITIES (these empty idols, NJB) TO THE LIVING (GOD), which made heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein."

Here the apostles clearly did not acknowledge the deity of Jupiter or Mercurius as the creator of all things, the students would rightfully argue. But why not? Was it not because they felt they knew exactly WHO this creator was? Was it not that they felt they KNEW he was not Jupiter or Mercurius?

If His name was unimportant, why did the Apostles not accept the name Jupiter, and just say that they were really worshipping the same deity but just under a different name? Why did they admonish the people to TURN FROM the vanity of such beliefs which included worshipping men (v 13), because those people thought by doing so they would be worshipping Jupiter and Mercurius?

What was wrong with claiming to worship the creator of all things who they just happened to call Jupiter? For some reason the apostles objected in no uncertain terms.

We notice, very conspicuously, the word "God" translated in verse 15; "...the living God..." Who is this God deity? Did God really create heaven and earth?

Where did the translators get this word to use in the place of the Greek "Theos" of the New Testament? The apostles rejected Jupiter and Mercurius, but the translators interjected God. Would they (Paul and Barnabas) have rejected this deity too? It's not a moot question! Remember they felt they KNEW just WHO the Creator was. They obviously exercised discretion in their selection of names or titles relating to the Creator of all things celestial and terrestrial.

When a church title is given as, say, "The Church of God," and we were to ask what this means of those advocating this title, we are very likely to get something like, "This is the church of the Creator of heaven and earth..." Obviously, this assumes that God is the Creator of all these things. But is he? Jupiter wasn't, but we are asked to believe that "God" is! Would the apostles object?

"God is found in the Bible"
The word "God" is pronounced "gawd." This fact follows from Webster's Dictionary where we find the pronunciation as "god."
The symbol above the letter "o" gives essentially the vowel in "fork," and has also been used to represent the sound midway between the unlauted letter "a" (the diacritical mark [a] placed over the vowel), and (o) heard in an Eastern variant of "fob" (Webster's New World Dictionary, 1962). [I was not able to all the symbol, grater than, pointing up, over the letters.]

To illustrate this rather abstract explanation of (o) notice Webster's pronunciation of several words beginning with the letters "aw:"

awe, (o); [here the 'e' is silent];
awe.some, (o'sem);
awk.ward, (okwerd);
awl, (ol)
[as above, I'm not able to add the symbol, greater than, pointing up, over the letter "o".]

Here we see the pronunciation of "aw" clearly given as "o." So when we find God, the form "gawd" very appropriately gives the correct pronunciation.

Now, why this emphasis on pronunciation of the word God (gawd)? This: If God is a pagan deity of some sort, and is so recognized by the Biblical writers, then we must certainly know what the name is by its sound.

Names are primarily transmitted by the way they are pronounced. The real purpose of the spelling of names is to preserve their actual sound. The Biblical writers would, without doubt, transmit such a pagan name by giving the letters conveying its sound. What better identification than the actual name given according to its proper phonetic resonance?

Turn to Isaiah 65:11. Here is a very interesting verse. Notice what is recorded:
"But ye are they that forsake the LORD (Yahweh), that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop (KJV margin: or Gad), and that furnish the drink offering unto that number (KJV margin: Meni).'

As noted, the margin reads in the place of troop, Gad. And who is Gad? The word troop (Strong's #1409) of this verse means fortune. Notice carefully how Strong says it is pronounced: "gawd." We would ordinarily spell it "god."

The marginal reference translates troop as Gad. Gad (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance #1408; see also Gesenius, p. 157) is, according to Strong's, "...a variation of #1409; Fortune, a Babylonian deity - that troop."
In other words, Gad is a variation of "gawd" or "god!" He was a Babylonian deity!

As a variation of GOD it is quite certain GAD was pronounced "GOD" in Isaiah's time. Gad is God! He was the Babylonian deity of good luck.

We see today a near universal usage of the term God in religion which refers to a being given all reverence, and every attribute by which he is supposed to insure his worshipers good fortune now and in the hereafter. This is doubtless the origin of the salutation, "Good (god) luck."

Is this a mere coincidence? Or does the fact that we live in a time of religious confusion stemming from the practices of ANCIENT BABYLON have something to do with it? Detailed studies reveal the amazing fact that many, many of the false doctrines of today go back to ancient Babylon!

Who is God? Is he not the Babylonian deity of good fortune or good luck? "Gad" is "fortune" or "God" with the article "that" attached as found in Isaiah 65:11, "...that troop..."
Notice what Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament says about Gad (SEC 1408): "'Fortune'; with art., specially the divinity of Fortune, worshipped by the Babylonians AND the Jews exiled among them; elsewhere called Baal...i.e. the planet Jupiter, regarded in all the East as the giver of good fortune (...the greater good fortune). Isa. 65:11." [Emphasis mine] Jamieson, Fausset and Brown concur with Gesenius on these points, as does Unger's Bible Dictionary.

In The Two Babylons, Hislop says in a footnote on page 94: "The name Gad evidently refers, in the first instance, to the war-god, for it signifies to assault, but it also signifies the assembler; and under both ideas it is applicable to Nimrod..."

Other translations have this part of Isaiah 65:11:

· "...who are setting for Gad a table and who are filling for Meni a mixture..." (Young's Literal Translation.)

· "...and worship Gad and Meni, the gods of luck and fate..." (Good News Bible)

· "...setting in order a table for the god of Good Luck and those filling mixed up wine for the god of Destiny..." (New World Translation)

· "...who lay the table for Gad, who fill cups of mixed wine for Meni..." (Jerusalem Bible)

Notice that Isaiah 65:11 is essentially saying that "You who forsake Yahweh worship God!" How many people worship God today? How many sing praises to that name or title? Millions; tens of millions, billions?
Does it matter? It does to Yahweh! Here's what He says: "I am Yahweh; that is My Name: AND MY GLORY WILL I NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER, NEITHER MY PRAISE TO GRAVEN IMAGES," (Isa. 42:8).

Other facts about "God"
Look at these additional facts regarding "God." In an article entitled "Facts about God," the Scripture Research Association has the following:

· "The Twentieth Century Dictionary confirms the pagan origin of the name GOD. It says, 'It was applied to heathen deities; and, later, when the Teutonic peoples were converted to Christianity, the word was elevated to the Christian sense. There is no connection between 'god' and 'good' in form.'

· The Teutonic tribes were Christianized in the seventh century. Thereafter, the pagan tribes continued to call their deities GOD, and the Christian tribes called their deity GOD. The English borrowed it from the pagans. THE HEATHEN TEUTONIC TRIBES WORSHIPPED THEIR DEITY GOD; THE CHRISTIAN GERMANS WORSHIPPED THEIR DEITY AND CALLED HIM GOD. Thus God came into the English language. This was in the seventh century." (Emphasis mine)

· They further note that the World's Popular Encyclopedia under the topic "God" says:
"GOD (O.E. god. Dutch God. Ger. Gott) in heathen times an idol, or object of worship. Since the Teutonic acceptance of Christianity it is the name reserved to the Creator of the Universe."

Conclusion
Is "God" really an appropriate name or even title as the Creator of the Universe? Should he be praised as the CREATOR when another has declared that He is the Creator and even gives His Name as Yahweh? Hardly.

The many who claim "...it doesn't matter all that much what He is called..." would not dare sing hymns to Zeus or Jupiter or offer prayers to these admittedly pagan deities.

Yet these same sincere many will gladly sing hymns and offer prayers to GOD, the Babylonian deity of good luck! What's the difference? God is a pagan deity, too!

The Bible clearly exposes Jupiter (Zeus), Mercurius (Hermes), AND God as pagan deities and condemns any worship of them.

All who worship in those names are clearly and defiantly breaking the First Commandment which says we are not to place any other Elohim or Mighty One before Yahweh.

A "Church of God" is just that - a church of or dedicated to the Babylonian deity of good fortune. It is HIS church, not Yahweh's.

Absurd, you say? No, it's not absurd at all. When you examine that church's doctrines you will certainly find that many of its fundamental tenets come directly from ancient Babylon, even though they CLAIM to get them from the Bible.

Examine them in the light of the Bible, and you find they are not there! Shocking, but true! Just because a church says they use the Bible as a basis for their doctrines, doesn't mean a thing.

You can start the examination by seeing just WHOSE church they claim to be. Does the REAL Creator just look the other way in matters regarding worship of the other deities? Of course He doesn't! He clearly has direct prohibitions against such practices! See Exodus 20:3.

Make no mistake about it. If a pagan deity is "named on you," i.e., you worship in that name, that is really who you serve. That is who you really believe in.

You can test that statement by closely scrutinizing the fundamental doctrines you believe.

Find out if they really come from the Bible, or from ancient Babylon! Baal-gad or more currently pronounced Baal-god, is still worshipped today on a grand scale. Satan is the master deceiver behind it all.

Another precautionary note: Conversely so, all who claim to worship Elohim Yahweh are not necessarily who they say they are, either. Many of those literally take or use Yahweh's name in vain also. You see, you have to examine their doctrines, what they teach and practice.

Remember the words of Yahshua: "Many will come in My Name saying, I am Messiah, and shall deceive many." (Matthew 24:5)

It really does make a difference WHO you worship, and HOW you worship Him! You can worship Yahshua, but do it all in vain. Yahshua said so! Notice: "But in vain they do worship ME (Yahshua), teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matt. 15:9)

Quit worshipping God, and start worshipping Yahweh - the True Creator - in spirit and in truth. ~ Gary C. Miller