Musings;07/31/08, "Jehovah" Revisited, by John.

Musings;07/31/08, "Jehovah" Revisited.

Jesus in John 16:7,13 said, “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.... When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” The term translated “Counselor” is “paraclete.” It means literally, “One called to stand alongside of.” Jesus in John 14:6 said that He is the way, the truth and the life. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and God the Father of all. That shows that He is also God. If you believe in the Holy Trinity, people label you Trinitarian. I am a Trinitarian, I suppose, but labels generally are not accurate where spiritual issues are concerned, and I don't care for them.

We cannot conceive of God in three persons because we are in the physical realm. In our minds we can illustrate the trinity with our own families, but we carry that too far when we see God as being a separate Father, Son and Spirit. By faith, we can leap across that chasm to believe they are One God.
The word, “Jehovah,” has been used to designate the name of God for many, many years, but it is not a Biblical word at all. It is a combination of two, sometimes three, Biblical words joined together by the Jews themselves. The ancient Hebrew language did not have written vowels. Their alphabet letters are called radicals instead of consonants. Here's an English sentence written without vowels. Try to decipher it: bght n nn t th str. It is, “I bought an onion at the store.” Did you manage to work it out? If you did, you are better at language than most of us are.

Hebrew became very hard for native Israelites to pronounce as the Aramaic language began to be widely used in the Promised Land. We believe Jesus and His disciples spoke Aramaic. We know most of Israel did after the captivity and during the occupation by Rome, and there are Aramaic words in the New Testament.

The Masoretes, a group of extremely religious scholars, became concerned because Hebrew was not being used enough for the populace to remember how to pronounce the words. The Masoretes were so named from the Hebrew word “masorah.” It means “tradition.” These scribes intended to preserve their tradition. They developed a way to write vowel sounds, and carefully added them to the Scripture texts including the marginal notes made by other scribes of the past. They began their work about the second century.

Jews believed a person who added to or subtracted from God’s word would immediately fall under the wrath of God. If they made a mistake in copying the text, they destroyed that copy and started anew. Their reason for that is stated clearly in Revelation 22:18,19. It says, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

Because of that belief, the Masoretes used the area above and below the line of print to provide guides to pronunciation. That technique satisfied their fears. The Hebrew text we use today contains those markings. They were also used by all of the translators of the middle ages. Without them today, we would have an even more formidable task in determining a correct translation.

That prepares us to see that the Masoretes are responsible for readers today using the word, “Jehovah.” It is a combination of YAHVEH and the vowel sounds of ADONAI, or ELOHIM. Using our English alphabet, I am printing the first two words below to illustrate what the Masoretes used:
YHWH, ADONAI.

When Jews encountered YHWH in the Scripture, they read it either as ADONAI or ELOHEM.

The Masoretes were aware the readers never spoke the word YHWH. They thought a person with unforgiven sin pronouncing God's holy name would die instantly. The Masoretes placed the vowel markings below the radicals of YHWH, so the people would say adonai (Lord) or elohim (Divine Being). When the Jews saw YHVH with ADONAI vowels, they said ADONAI! If they saw it with the vowels of Elohim, they pronounced it as Elohim. The earliest European translators, other than Jerome, did not have any document that dated back beyond about 1000 A.D. That meant they were looking at the Masoretes’ vowel markings, and they are the ones who translated YHVH as “Jehovah.” At that time they knew nothing of what the Israelites said when they saw it.

Many people acknowledge that God is our Heavenly Father. Christians believe the New Testament, and we stand in opposition to any who disregard it. To disregard the New Testament also means ignoring, or failing to understand, the thousands of prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. It is plain that Jesus was and is the Messiah. If you have any doubt about it, study of the Old Testament prophecies. Below are several that should whet your appetite to look for more.

In Genesis 3:14,15, God spoke to the serpent and in the latter part of verse 15 said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This is the first reference to the coming Messiah sent by God the Father to save the world. It also tells us that He would be virgin born and that He would conquer Satan.

In Isaiah 53:1-12, the prophecy of the Messiah (Jesus) was not a winsome looking man. At best, He was ordinary in appearance. He was despised and rejected by human beings. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. People considered Him condemned and afflicted by God, but the prophet knew those afflictions were placed on Him for our salvation. Jesus went to the cross just as a lamb is led to slaughter without any sound of complaint. He died for our transgressions. He was given a grave with wicked people. He was buried in a rich man’s grave although He Himself was never rich in a worldly sense. He was innocent, but He took our sins on Himself. Even the prophets did not have a full knowledge of eternal life, but there is an intimation of Christ becoming the first-fruit of eternal life in the latter part of the chapter. In verse 10 these words appear, “He will see his offspring and prolong his days.” Jesus arose from the dead, and He is now in the presence of His Father making intercession for us according to I John 2: 1, “We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”

In conclusion, we believe in the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe they are One God! This belief seems mathematically impossible to many people, but it isn’t. For instance, I have one telephone number. It is made up of a triple digit area code, a triple digit prefix and a final four digits. Altogether, it is one number. Why is it so hard to believe that we have one God Who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

In John 10:27-30 Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” It is impossible to separate the Father and the Son in this passage. They are, as stated in verse 30, One!

Jesus in John 16:7,13 said, “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.... When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” The term translated “Counselor” is “Paraclete.” It literally means, “One called to stand alongside of.” Jesus in John 14:6 said, that He is the way, the truth and the life. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and of God. That reinforces the truth that He is also God.

We cannot conceive of God in three persons in our minds without equating it with our own families, but we carry that too far when we see God as being a separate Father, Son and Spirit. By faith, we can leap across that chasm to believe they are One God. The Bible's statement of earliest time states that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Then God spoke. In those words, we can see the Spirit, the Father, and the Word. That Word according to John 1:1 was God and was with God at creation. Verse 14 tells us that the Word became flesh, and we human beings beheld His glory, the glory of God's only born Son. That satisfies me, and I believe it should satisfy everyone.