The Name of Our Elohim

One of the most interesting prayers recorded in the Holy Scriptures is that one uttered by Yahshua Messiah in John 17. In verse 6 it reads, “I have manifested thy name to the men you gave me out of the world” and again in verse 12 this name is again mentioned “Whilst in the world with them, I have kept them in thy name.”

I know, when I first read this prayer in its entirety, apart from crying, I did not really take due cognizant of these particular verses. Well I was part of the Church of God at the time and surely the Eternal’s name was God … well isn’t it? He was referred to as God by name and by title and we took that for granted, perhaps we were brainwashed to believe that this was the Creator’s name.

Later when I was translating the New Testament into the Fijian language, that I received the most interesting critical analysis of what I had done, from a friend who told me that it was alright except that I was not directly using the name of the Creator and that I should. This prompted me to research the name, that Yahshua, when reporting to the Eternal in that prayer, said he had exposed to the Apostles.

The best way to do this was to go back to the Old Testament and find out the name of the Eternal, Ever-living Creator of all things.

By elimination, I had to write off several names such as God, Lord, LORD or Theos because these names were translations, God for Elohim, LORD for Yahweh etc. Name translations can be done, that is for sure, but I think they are actually unacceptable. I remember the example of Johannes Strauss whose name can be translated as John Heron or in Fijian Iowane Belo. Herr Strauss though would not accept it if we decided to call him those, without his permission.

So it is with the Creator don’t you think? Could one simply call our great Creator whatever one wishes.

To discuss our Elohim’s Name, let me refer to http://www.yhwh.com/GINGN/gingn.htm and borrow their explanations, which I rather like. Exodus 3:13-15 reads:

13 Then Moses said to Elohim, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, `The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" 14 And Elohim said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 And Elohim, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `The Yahweh, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."
So there you have it. Elohim's personal name, as they translate its meaning in English, is "I am that I am." Here are some other ways it has been translated:
a) He who is
b) The self-existent one
c) He who is ever becoming what He is
d) Is-ness is is-ness

That may not seem like it says very much. That's because it is a statement of infinite truth. Elohim's name, the I Am, reveals the fullness of His nature. All of Elohim's nature and attributes are embodied in His name. To do that we're going to need a brief lesson in linguistics. This may seem confusing, but believe me, this is very important. It goes like this:
a) To translate is to explain the meaning of one language using the words of another.
b) To transliterate is to spell a word using the letters of another language.
c) "I am" is the English translation of the meaning of Elohim's personal name.
d) The English transliteration of Elohim's personal name is YHWH.
e) The four Hebrew letters transliterated YHWH are:

i) Yod, rhymes with "rode", which we transliterate "Y"
ii) He, rhymes with "say", which we transliterate "H"
iii) Vav, like "lava", which we transliterate "W" or "V"

iv) and another He

f) Originally, Hebrew (we're talkin' over 3000 years ago, folks!) didn't have any vowels, and was written right to left.

The Name of Our Elohim is as folows:
Transliterated into English: YHWH
With vowels added: YAHWEH
Translated: I AM WHO I AM

You've heard the saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Well, that's certainly true here. No matter what language you use, whether you translate, transliterate, or what direction you spell, YHWH's name means "I am that I am." And it directly points to His Real name, which is the same in all languages.

Well I will end it here, this time around but I will continue to discuss Elohim’s name in my next article. (By the ways I had personally edited out the use of the words God from the article I have used with appreciation.)

We are told to sing to the name of Yahweh our Elohim. Psalms 9:1-2 reads;
“I will praise thee O Yahweh, with my whole heart, I will show forth all your marvellous works, I will be glad and rejoice in you, I will sing praise to your name, O thou most high”

Thank You

Seeking Yahweh Elohim

I do not know how to put this title into Hebrew, but it might spell Yod Heh Vav Heh – Lamed Gimel Heh so someone can do that for me later. Perhaps it should read Lahag YHWH I stand corrected. I first considered a title like Yahweh–ology as in Theo-ology and YHWH- Darash but having perused the meanings I thought YHWH Lahag was more appropriate because this is what we wanted to achieve, in relations to Yahweh our Elohim “to study, studying, devotion to study with eagerness”.

We are a small study group over here in the Fiji Islands and we were discussing the Holy Name of the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob last Sabbath and I thought that it was a shame that the one true Elohim and Creator of everything has to be studied along with the rest of the deities of this world in what is called theology. There was a need to correct this, and to begin the correction process I am launching this Blog.

We need a separate study of our Elohim to fulfill one of his commands which reads “And you shall seek me and find me. And when you shall search for me with all your heart, and I will be found by you” says Yahweh; and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you says Yahweh; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14 - WOY).

What are we going to study?

Well there are millions plus one item that we need to know about Yahweh and all those who are reading this who can contribute fruitfully in the development of this body of knowledge is cordially invited to do so. We can begin with His Holy Name and then move on to what makes Him happy or angry and of course cover the warnings that he had authorised his prophets to pass down to us. Of course the study of Yahweh will not be complete if we did not cover his creation - physical or spiritual. Then there is the all important understanding of how we should relate to Him. Then there is the compulsory need to understand everything about His Holy Messiah, prophets and the angels. What about his heavenly abode and His plans relating to the future of humanity?

The Holy Scriptures will have to be the basic source of our information. We currently use the Words of Yahweh produced by the Assembly of Yahweh in Eaton Rapids. But we also have access to some translations of the Eastern Text of the Aramaic Peshitta, in particular the Lamsa Bible and translation by Etheridge and Murdock in respect of the Syriac Peshitta.

Our aim is to gather and collate information logically and duly disseminate and made available to one and all to help individuals who are searching for Yahweh our Elohim, to find Him, the Eternal and Ever-living who created us all.

Can I make myself clear that this Blog is about Yahweh our Elohim. Not God – please understand. For far too long we see and hear people pointing fingers at the established “Christian” religions that they were approaching the worship of “God Almighty” wrongly even falsely. We do these at our own expenses (money, time and respect) don’t we? We have to understand that we cannot change anything because Christianity is well established and what they choose to do, is of their choice. The basic point is simple though, we do NOT have any business with Christianity, so leave them at peace, ours is with Yahweh our Elohim.

We need to get on with our own business of getting to know Yahweh for this is His call to us, “And you shall seek me and find me. And when you shall search for me with all your heart …. I will be found by you.