The original Name of G-d

 “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I was not known to them” (Ex 6:2-3, NKJV). “God Almighty” is English for El Shaddai, which is actually a title. 

In a Hebrew Union College Annual article in 1961, Sigmund Mowinchel analyzed the passage: “It is generally recognized that (Exodus) 6:2-3 states that the name (YHWH) was not known till it was revealed to Moses, and that to the patriarchs God had appeared as El Shaddai.”⁶²

A pre-Mosaic Name?

After Eve gave birth to Cain, she referred to G-d as “the LORD.” “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Gen 4:1). As we know, the term “the LORD” has been placed as a substitute in nearly all the verses where the Tetragrammaton (Four-Lettered Name) had originally been written. 

After Adam’s grandson Enos by Seth was born, men began to invoke the Name of “the L-RD.” “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 4:25-26).

Abraham, who lived some 500 years before G-d revealed His Four-Lettered Name to Moses, also called on the Name of “the L-RD.” “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 12:7-8).

We can see that the first men, long before Moses was born, called on the Name of “the L-RD.” What was that Name? Did the patriarchs know a primeval sacred Name that was different from YHWH?

A deeper meaning?

The Encyclopedia Judaica notes the differing opinions: “According to the documentary hypothesis, the literary sources in the Pentateuch known as the Elohist and the Priestly Document never use the name (YHWH) for God until it is revealed to Moses (Ex. 3:13; 6:2-3); but the Yahwist source uses it from Genesis 2:4 on and puts the name in Eve’s declaration, ‘I along with (YHWH) have made a man,’ thus implying that it was known to the first human generation (Gen. 4:1; cf 4:26).”⁶³

Mowinchel believes the Name YHWH was known to the first men. “The earliest Israelite historian J uses the name Yahweh in the patriarchal stories without any reservation, and in his opinion it was known already by the third generation of mankind; at the time of Enosh, the son of Seth, (men) – or as the Vulgate says: he – began to call upon the name of Yahweh… the tribes that under the leadership of Moses – became the people of Israel, already knew and worshiped… Yahweh… What Exod. 3:16 tells us is that the deeper meaning of the name was revealed to Moses by Yahweh himself… When the elders of the people hear that he knows even the mysterious meaning of the name, then they must believe that he is telling the truth.

“In J’s opinion it was not the name of Yahweh, which was revealed to Moses here – that was known already by Enosh centuries before – but the deeper meaning, which according to Yahwistic tradition and the theology of the ‘school’ of J, was hidden in the name.”⁶⁴

The meaning of His Name that the L-RD gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14 is “I AM THAT I AM.” On the other hand, Mowinchel fails to say if J (Jahwistic or Yahwistic source) gives the least bit of a hint as to what the deeper, hidden meaning of G-d’s Sacred Name is supposed to be.

Another, earlier Name.

If G-d revealed the Tetragrammaton for the first time only to Moses, then the Name of G-d that Adam and Eve, Seth, Enos, Abraham, and others knew and called upon was not YHWH. Clearly, it was another, earlier Name. But why does “the L-RD,” which was used to replace YHWH in Scriptures, occur as early as in the book of Genesis?

Could it be that Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, in his great zeal and esteem for the sacred Name revealed to him, began using the Tetragrammaton in the Scriptural text right from the account of the creation of Adam (Gen 2:4)?

Alternative suffixal form

We have seen that in Israelite theoporic names, the suffix -iah or -jah is actually the abbreviated or Two-Lettered Name of G-d, Yah. The Encyclopaedia Judaica, however, informs us that the suffix has yet another form. “This is confirmed, at least for the vowel of the first syllable of the name, by the shorter form Yah, which is sometimes used in poetry (e.g., Ex. 15:2) and the -yahu or -yah that serves as the final syllable in many Hebrew names.”⁶⁵ The alternative form is -yahu.

The Jewish Encyclopedia corroborates this, saying that the two short forms of the Name appear as “Yahu or Yah in the second part of such names.”⁶⁶ Seow gives an example: “In the final position it appears as -yahu (-iah) or -yah (-iah) as in the alternate spellings for ‘Azariah,’ Azaryahu and Azaryah.”⁶⁷ In this vein, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the name of the prophet Elijah, except on four or five occasions, is spelled Eliyahu, with a waw in the end. Is there much difference between the two? They are probably as different as two kingdoms were from one another.

2 kingdoms, 2 suffixes.

After King Solomon died around 975 B.C., the Israelite monarchy broke up into two -- the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel in the north and the two-tribe kingdom of Judah in the south. The separation led to a distinction between the suffix of theoporic names in the north and of that in the south. Biblical Archaelogy Review editor Hershel Shanks said in the magazine’s May-June 1994 issue: “-yahu (was) the common suffix in Judah... (in the northern kingdom of Israel the suffix was yah).”⁶⁸ 

Writer P. Kyle McCarter concurs: “The expected form of the divine name… when it appears as the final part of a Judahite personal name in this period (late 7^th to the early 6^th centuries B.C.), is yhw, pronounced yahu (long a and u)…”⁶⁹  

Archeological evidences.

The March-April 1996 issue of Biblical Archaelogy Review featured a limestone seal from the 7^th century B.C. that reads, “Belonging to Asayahu, servant of the King” (actually a high royal official). The short form “Asaiah” is in 2 Chronicles 34:20 -- “And the king commanded Hilkiah... and Asaiah a servant of the king’s...”⁷⁰   

The same issue of the magazine had a 7th-6th century B.C bulla (seal impression on clay) used by a scribe to seal a document, which reads, “Belonging to Berekyahu, son of Neriyahu, the Scribe.” The names have been abbreviated in the Bible: “Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah...” (Jer 36:4).⁷¹

In its May-June 1994 issue, Biblical Archaelogy Review showed an inscription above a rock-tomb in Silwan, Israel, that says: “This is (the sepulchre of ...) yahu, who is over the house.” The term “over the house” refers to the royal steward, who Bible scholars believe was Shebnayahu (short form, Shebna) in Isaiah 22:15. “Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house...”⁷²

Three-Lettered Name

Scholars have found that Yahu is more than just a suffix, it actually is another proper Name of G-d, spelled with only three letters of the Tetragrammaton! This third form became known to “scholars after the discovery of the independent form YHW in the Egyptian papyri of the 5^th century B.C. from the Elephantine archives…”⁷³ According to The New 20^th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, in the Old World the form YHW was used by the Jews in the Elephantine Island in Egypt.⁷⁴ Last Day Ministries of Texas shares additional information: “There was evidently a Temple built to YHW in Elephantine, Egypt. Many documents from this place show that the sacred name was written YHW...”⁷⁵

Seow suggests that this three-lettered Name is another short form of the Tetragrammaton. “The final H in YHWH is not a real consonant… the real consonants of the divine name are YHW… in several inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Arjud in the Sinai… (a)mong the attestations of the name in the inscriptions from that site is one example of YHW… the final vowel not being indicated by the letter H in this instance.”⁷⁶

Presumed pronunciation.

In the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran, Professor Emeritus George Wesley Buchanan of the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. found a similar three-lettered Name transliterated in Greek. He speculates: “Clement of Alexandria spelled the Tetragrammaton IAOAI (Ya-oo-ai), IAOE (Ya-oo-eh), and IAO (Ya-oh)… Among the caves of Qumran was a Greek text that included a few Greek word of Leviticus (4QLXX Lev), one of which was the Tetragrammaton. It was spelled (Ya-oh). This is apparently a two-syllable word, but the second syllable is only a vowel. There is no way that it could be rendered ‘Yah-weh.’ This was a transliteration of the Hebrew Ya-ho. It is the same spelling given in the fifth century B.C. Aramaic papyri. From the Aramaic alone this word could be pronounced either Ya-hoo or Ya-hoh… When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one syllable it was ‘Yah’ or ‘Yo.’ …If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been ‘Yahoo’…”⁷⁷  

The Century Cyclopedia attests to it. “The early Gnostics, moreover, when they transcribed it in Greek characters, wrote Iao (that is, Yaho).”⁷⁸

Ziony Zevit confirms the “oo” sound at the end of words: “…waw was used to indicate the final vowel ‘u’… By employing waw as a m.l. (matres lectionis or vowel indicator) for ‘o’ in word final positions, some potential ambiguities were eliminated… in this position there was small opportunity for confusion between waw as a m.l. for ‘o’ and as a m.l. for ‘u,’ because the first value would occur exclusively with substantives, while the second, most frequently with verbs.”⁷⁹

Hence, YHW can be explained as follows: The first two letters YH are the two consonants of the first syllable “YaH,” while the third and last letter W is a matres lectionis indicating the vowel “U.” Therefore, YHW = YH (“YaH”) + W (“U”) = “YaHU.”

Pronunciation confirmed.

The Century Cyclopedia proves the pronunciation from ancient artifacts: “…we may gather from the contemporary Assyrian monuments that it was pronounced Yahu. Wherever an Israelitish name is met with in the cuneiform inscriptions which, like Jehu or Hezekiah, is compounded with the divine title, the latter appears as Yahu, Jehu being Yahua, and Hezekiah Khazaki-yahu.”⁸⁰  

Rabbi Heiliczer says it is indeed the pronunciation in the vowel-pointed Hebrew Scriptures. “Moreover the first three letters, yud-hey-vuv (YHW), do appear by themselves in the Tenakh and always with vowels making the pronunciation ‘yahu’.”⁸¹

A curious thing, moreover, has been observed. If we try to vocalize YHW as vowels only, using the three consonants used at the end of words to indicate vowel sounds (yod, ee as in “see”; hey, ah as in “bah”; and waw, oo as in “pool”), the resulting sound is: ee-ah-oo = Yahu. It seems that, whether we read the Three-Lettered Name as Hebrew consonants only or pronounce the characters as vowels only, we get the same result -- “Yahu!”

Both a suffix and a prefix

Unlike the Two-Lettered Name “Yah,” which is used only as a suffix, the Three-Lettered Name “Yahu” is used as both a suffix and a prefix. The Jewish Encyclopedia notes the use of “the forms Jeho or Yeho, and Jo or Yo (wy, contracted from why), which the word assumes in combination in the first part of compound proper names, and Yahu or Yah (why, hy) in the second part of such names.”⁸²

The Encyclopaedia Britannica adds that “the usual form is YH or Yhw, occurring in unvocalized texts of the 5^th and 4^th centuries B.C.E. These forms appear in the Old Testament sporadically as the independent Yah and regularly as Yah or Yahu at the end and Yeho or Yo at the beginning of proper names.”⁸³  

From Yahu to Yeho.

The Century Cyclopedia informs us that the Three-Lettered Name YHW, when used as a prefix, “Even according to the Masoretes it must be read Yeho when it forms part of a proper name.”⁸⁴  

Seow explains the change of Yahu to Yeho when used as a prefix in theoporic names as a linguistic peculiarity: “…the first vowel was further changed from a to e, in accordance with rules of Hebrew Grammar.“⁸⁵ Rabbi Heiliczer thinks it was introduced on purpose. ”When a Hebrew name in the Masoretic Tenakh begins with a part of the divine name, the vowels are given as E-O (shortened form of Eh-O-ah from Eloah). Some examples are: Yehoshaphat (Jehoshaphat) YEHO-Shaphat; Yehoshua (Joshua) YEHO-Shua.”⁸⁶

From Yeho- to Yo-, Jo-.

Yeho-, though, through syncope or word contraction was further abbreviated to Y’ho-, before eventually becoming Yo-, then Jo-. Author Garrison tells us that the form Yehoshua, “in its original Hebrew form it was Y’hoshua… frequently abbreviated to Joshua.”⁸⁷ Seow gives another example: “In personal names, what scholars call the ‘Yahwistic theoporic element’ appears in the initial position as Yeho- (Jeho-) or Yo- (Jo-), as in the two forms for ‘Jonathan,’ Yehonatan and Yonatan.”⁸⁸

Yo- was written as Io- in Scriptures before the letter “J” became a consonant. As an Oil Derrick tract explains: “This short form of ‘Io’ as the sacred name can also be seen in the original 1611 King James Version where it is attached to such Biblical names as Ioshua, Iohn, Ioel, Ionathan, Ioshaphat, Iosedech, Iochebed, Ioram, Ioseph, Ionadab etc. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance shows the fuller form of these names as Yehoshua, Yehochanan, Yehonathan, Yehoshaphat, Yehosedech, Yehoseph, Yehoram, Yehonadab.”⁸⁹

Names prefixed with YHW.

Emeritus professor Buchanan cites more instances: “The Hebrew for the name ‘Jonathan’ is Yah-ho-na-than, ‘Yaho… has given.’ John was spelled ‘Yaho-cha-nan’, ‘Yaho… has been gracious.’ Elijah’s name was Eli-yahoo, ‘My God is Yahoo…’ Ancients often gave their children names that included the name of their deity.”⁹⁰

One prominent theoporic name today is the surname of the Israeli prime minister: Netanyahu, which means “given by (netan) Yahu” (Nethaniah -- 2 Chron 17:8, Jer 36:14, etc.). It was adopted by his grandfather in Lithuania in 1920, following the Hebrew language revival that began among the Jews in 17^th century Europe. When the sacred suffix is transposed to form the prefix, the name becomes Yahu-netan (“Yahu has given [netan]”), but is spelled Yeho-natan. In the course of time Yehonatan has been contracted to Yonatan. When the new letter “J” became part of the English alphabet, the name became “Jonathan.”

Incidentally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s elder brother was redundantly named Jonathan (Yonatan) Netanyahu. A major in the Israel Defense Forces, he led IDF commandos in rescuing over 100 hostages held by terrorists in a jetliner at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976. He died a hero’s death as the only IDF casualty in the daring raid.

Below is an illustration of how some Biblical names developed.

How “Yahu” Became “Jo” in Theoporic Names

Names w/ Yahu last*	Nethaniah/ Netanyahu	Isaiah/ Yeshayahu	Hananiah/ Chananyahu	Elijah/ Eliyahu	Abijah/ Abiyahu
Meaning	Given (by) Yahu	Salvation (is) Yahu	Gracious (has been) Yahu	My God (is) Yahu	My father (is) Yahu
Same names w/ Yahu first	Yahunatan	Yahushua	Yahuchanan	Yahuel	Yahuab
Meaning	Yahu (has) given	Yahu (is) salvation	Yahu (has been) gracious	Yahu (is) God	Yahu (is) father
First ‘a’ to ‘e,’ ‘u’ to ‘o’	Yehonatan	Yehoshua	Yehochanan	Yehoel	Yehoab
‘e’ lost thru syncope	Y’honatan	Y’hoshua	Y’hochanan	Y’hoel	Y’hoab
‘h’ dropped over time	Yonatan	Yoshua	Yohanan	Yoel	Yoab
I used for Y, MiddleAges	Ionathan	Iosua	Iohann, Iohn	Ioel	Ioab
New letter J replaced I	Jonathan	Joshua	Johan, John	Joel	Joab

*Modern English Biblical forms over Anglicized traditional Hebrew pronunciations

Old Testament proof

Proof exists in the Old Testament that Yahu was truly G-d's first and original Name that the ancients knew from the time of Adam – the name of Moses's mother. “And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister (Num 26:59).

Moses’s mother was Jochebed, a granddaughter of Jacob (Israel) by his son Levi. She married her brother Kohath’s son Amram, who became Moses’s father (Ex 6:16-18,20). Jochebed lived around 3,600 years ago in Egypt during the period of Israelite bondage.

Jochebed means “YHWH is glory”⁹¹ – chebed coming from the Hebrew root-word kabed, meaning “splendor, glory, honor.” The initial letter “J” in her name was anciently a “Y,” so Jochebed used to be Yochebed. Even earlier, it was Y’hochebed, from Yehochebed. And, long before that, its original form was Yahuchebed.

Since Jochebed was born and given her particular theoporic name by her parents before the Creator revealed a new Name to her future son, Moses, that leaves us with but one conclusion: The sacred Name of G-d that the Israelites knew before the time of Moses was YAHU.

“According to Albright (Assyrian Cuneiform scholar) and others the most ancient form of the sacred name (outside of Scripture) is ‘Yahu’. YHW or YHU are indicated by the same letter in Hebrew.”⁹² Researcher James Montgomery, in the Journal of Biblical Literature (1944), put the matter to rest: “The earliest form of the Name was doubtless Yahu.”⁹³  

The meaning of Yahu. If the Four-Lettered Name YHWH means “I AM THAT I AM” and the Two-Lettered Name YH stands for “I AM,” what does the Three-Lettered Name YHW signify?

There are several Biblical names that similarly end in -hu, other than those ending in –yahu. Let us examine three of them.

1) Abihu, a son of Aaron, Moses’s brother (Ex 6:23, etc.). Abihu in Hebrew means “My father (Abi) is he (huw).”⁹⁴

2) Elihu, David’s eldest brother, et al. (1 Chron 27:18, etc.). Elihu signifies “My G-d (Eli) is He (huw).”⁹⁵

3) Jehu, a prophet of Israel, et al. (1 Kings 16:12, etc.). Jehu stands for “The L-RD (YHWH) is He (huw).”⁹⁶ (Note that in all three instances the last letter “w” is lost in personal names. Huw is written hu in modern Hebrew.)

Based on the foregoing examples, it follows YAHU means “I AM (Yah) HE (huw).” (The original Hebrew wording Yah huw is never used in ordinary speech. In common usage, “I am he” is Ani hu.)

Obviously, Yahu is the abbreviation of Yah huw. Gesenius Hebrew Grammar explains how it happened: “Assimilation usually takes place when one consonant which closes a syllable passes over into another beginning the next syllable and forms with it a strengthened letter.”⁹⁷ In other words, if the last consonant of a syllable is the same as the first consonant of the succeeding syllable, the two identical consonants are written as only one letter.

Accordingly, the two words Yah and huw together form Yahhuw, which becomes Yahuw in conformity with Hebrew grammar rules, and is further simplified to Yahu, as illustrated below: 

Yah	+	huw	=	Yahhuw	=	Yahuw	=	Yahu
(“I AM”)	+	(“HE”)	=					(“I AM HE”)

Allusion by the LORD.

The L-RD alluded to His Three-Lettered Name on many occasions: “See now that I, even I, am he…” (Deut 32:39).

“Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he” (Isa 41:4).

“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last” (Isa 48:12; also 43:10,13,25; 46:4; 51:12).

New Testament Proof

YHW appears to have been spoken by Christ Himself, “Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Then -- when He said to them, "I am He,"-- they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:3-6, NKJV).

Why did Judas and the band of men fall to the ground? What power did the Three-Lettered Name of God have? We see why in Temple worship practices: “The High Priest spoke the name of God on the Day of Atonement in his recitation of Lev. xvi. 30 during the confessions of sins; and when the priests and the people in the great hall heard him utter the ‘Shem ha-Meforash (the Distinguished Name),’ they prostrated themselves and glorified God.”⁹⁸

Translator H. Danby corroborates this in the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish legal traditions. “And when the priests and the people which stood in the Temple Court heard the Expressed Name come forth from the mouth of the High Priest, they used to kneel and bow themselves and fall down on their faces and say, ‘Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom for ever and ever!’ (Yoma 6:2).”⁹⁹  

Many people get the impression that the men arresting Christ fell backwards. On the contrary, they fell forward on their faces in an act of worship! They were from the Temple, and, as our references relate, they customarily fell to the ground on their faces whenever they heard the Name of God. Apparently, when Christ said “I am He,” He used the sacred phrase Yah huw – i.e., the Three-Lettered Name YHW (Yahu).

Disappearance.

Why is the form Yahu not found in the Bible? Allen says, “When the Jews were carried into Babylon in 606 B.C.E. many of the personal names had the element ‘yahu’…”¹⁰⁰ Yet, Zevit found that when the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity 70 years later, the suffix had changed from -yahu to -yah. “An examination of the chronological distribution of the suffix in Judean inscriptions indicates that -yhw is characteristically pre-Exilic, and -yh post-Exilic… Japhet points out that in Ezra-Nehemiah all names with this element are written -yh with one exception…”¹⁰¹

After Babylon fell, the Jews began returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the Temple under a decree King Cyrus of Persia issued in 536 B.C. By the time of the Jewish leaders Ezra and Nehemiah, the use of -yahu as a suffix in Hebrew theoporic names had ceased.

About 2,000 years later, in Europe, even the rare names which had the suffix -yahu in the Hebrew text, such as Eliyahu, were transliterated by Bible translators with the more familiar -iah and -jah suffixes

The 3 Personal Names of God

Below is a summary of the LORD’s three Personal Names:

Spelling	Pronunciation	Meaning	Passages	Notes
Y-H	“YaH”	“I AM”	Ex 3:14; John 8:58	As in Isaiah or Hallelujah
Y-H-W	“YaHU”	“I AM HE”	Isa 41:4, etc. John 18:5-6	As in Eliyahu or Netanyahu
Y-H-W-H	God’s most sacred Name, known only to a few.*	“I AM THAT I AM”	Ex 3:14; 6:3	The “Ineffable Name,” never spoken aloud

_________________________________

62.	Sigmund Mowinchel, “The Name of the Heavenly Father of Moses,” The Hebrew Union College Annual, 1961, p. 14
63.	God, Names of, op. cit., col. 679
64.	Mowinchel, loc. cit.
65.	God, Names of, op. cit., cols.. 679-680
66.	YHWH, Names of God, Jewish Encyclopedia, Internet
67.	Seow, loc. cit.
68.	Herschel Shanks, “The Tombs of Silwan,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, p. 48
69.	P. Kyle McCarter, “In Private Hands,” Queries & Comments, Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1996, p. 26
70.	Shanks, “Fingerprint of Jeremiah’s Scribe,” Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April 1996, p.38
71.	Shanks, op. cit., pp. 36-38
72.	Shanks, “Isaiah’s Ire,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, pp. 48-49
73.	The New 20th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 2nd edition, p. 886
74.	Ibid.
75.	“Comments,” Last Day Ministries, tract, undated
76.	Seow, op. cit., p. 49
77.	George Wesley Buchanan, “The Tetragrammaton,” Comments & Queries, Biblical Archaelogy Review, March-April 1995, pp. 30,31,100
78.	Sayce, Ancient Monuments, The Century Cyclopedia [1900], p. 75; excerpted by Allen in “How Long Halt Ye Between Two Opinions,” tract, undated
79.	Ziony Zevit, Matres Lectionis in Ancient Hebrew Epigraphs, American Schools of Oriental Research, 1980, p. 25
80.	Sayce, loc. cit.
81.	Heiliczer, op. cit., p. 20
82.	YHWH, Names of God, op. cit.
83.	Yahweh, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. 12
84.	Sayce, loc. cit.
85.	Seow, op. cit., p. 50).
86.	Heiliczer, loc. cit.
87.	Garrison, Strange Facts About The Bible, p. 81
88.	Seow, op. cit., p. 49
89.	“Ioua/Iona,” The Oil Derrick, tract, undated, p. 1
90.	Buchanan, loc. cit.
91.	Jochebed, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
92.	“The Mystic Symbol,” Indian Sabbath Trail, tract, undated
93.	James Montgomery, “The Hebrew Divine Name and the Personal Pronoun Hu, Critical Notes, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. lxiii, 1944, p. 162
94.	Abihu, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
95.	Elihu, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988
96.	Jehu, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary,1986
97.	Gesenius Hebrew Grammar, p. 68
98.	God, Names of, op. cit., col. 263
99.	The Mishnah, translated by H. Danby, 1954, p. xiv
100.	Allen, op. cit.,  p. 7
101.	Zevit, op. cit., pp. 12-13
102.	Jehucal, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988

Need we know the Name of G-d?

Many people say it is not necessary to find out and call on the true Name of G-d, because, whatever name we use, G-d will know it is He we are addressing our prayers to. How about you – would you rather be called by your own name or something else?

Let us take a mundane example. Say you put up a business and hired some people. At first they called you “boss,” but, being a friendly person, you told them to just call you “Robert,” your actual name. Most cheerfully complied, but some persisted in calling you “boss.” As the business grew, you appointed managers, who were also called “boss” by their subordinates. Sometimes, you and a manager would be talking about something and somebody would come along and say, “Hey, Boss!” and both of you would turn to look. The employee would say, “Oh, not you, I mean him.” Another employee would call you “Albert,” instead of “Robert.” How would you feel?

Names have meanings. In Biblical times the name given to a newborn child was typically about the circumstances surrounding its birth or a prophecy that foretold the character, mission, destiny, or events that would mark the person’s life. Needless to say, if the names of those Biblical characters were important, the importance of the Creator’s Name is inestimably far greater.

One highly important reason G-d revealed His personal Name to men is for us not to confuse Him with false gods. “I am the L-RD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isa 42:8).

Sound waves and frequencies.

Jewish sages taught that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet each have their own distinctive values and qualities. Letters are sounded through vibrations made with the vocal chords, lips, tongue, teeth, throat, nasal cavity, lungs. Sound travels in waves, with varying wavelengths and frequencies. Thus, every letter and every word made up of a certain combination of letters have their own unique vibrations. So, too, names, which are words.

Every name therefore is one of a kind. The personal Name of G-d, with its own unique set of wavelengths and frequencies, is the one that resonates in perfect harmony with His Being. By revealing His sacred Name to men, the L-RD has given us, as it were, His direct line, much like the numbers of a telephone. He has taught us how to precisely tune in to His personal frequency. When we use a common word or a different name to call on G-d, we are tuning in to a different frequency and, thus, could be communicating with an entity entirely different entity from the one true G-d.

The “Book of Life.”

If you do not value the Name of G-d, He may not value yours, either. G-d has special books wherein your very own name may be written. “Then they that feared the L-RD spake often one to another: and the L-RD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the L-RD, and that thought upon his name” (Mal 3:16). That “book of remembrance” is called the “Book of Life” in the New Testament. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before G-d; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev 20:12). If your name has been written in the Book of Life, a place is reserved for you for an infinite holiday in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The bookings, though, are not confirmed; they can be canceled by the Proprietor. “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Rev 3:5).  “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Rev 21:27). If your name is removed from the Book of Life, you can look forward to a sure future of nothing but fries and toast. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

See how important names can be?

Christ taught the Name

Christ taught His disciples to honor the Father’s holy Name. “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name..." (Matt 6:9).

He said, “I am come in my Father's name” (John 5:43), because on top of being the Father’s representative on earth, He literally has the Father’s Name as part of His own personal Name (to be discussed later).

Christ taught the Name to His disciples. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word… And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:6,26).

Blessings of the Name

G-d made promises for those who will know and call on His holy Name. “Our help is in the name of the L-RD, who made heaven and earth” (Ps 124:8). He will not abandon believers who come to Him for help. “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, L-RD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee” (Ps 9:10). Calling on His true Name is comparable to being enclosed by the thick walls of an impregnable fortress. “The name of the L-RD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov 18:10).

Honors, long life, salvation.

G-d promises to answer and grant protection, honors, long life, and salvation to those who will call on His Name. “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (Ps 91:14-16).

His Name can save the faithful, even from the brink of death. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the L-RD; O L-RD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the L-RD, and righteous; yea, our G-d is merciful. The L-RD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the L-RD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the L-RD in the land of the living” (Ps 116:3-9).

End-time survival. Come the wars and disasters prophesied in the Bible, G-d’s Name will save the faithful from destruction. “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the L-RD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the L-RD hath said, and in the remnant whom the L-RD shall call” (Joel 2:32). Even if mankind is decimated, those who invoke His true Name will survive.      “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the L-rd, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 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, The L-RD is my G-d” (Zech 13:8-9).

Sadly, G-d’s promises exclude the wretched multitudes who do not know or neglect to call on His Name. “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate” (Jer 10:25).

(Excerpted from Chapter 10, The Personal Names of God, of THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)

How the Name of G-d Was Lost

The Name of G-d used to be part of daily greetings. “And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD (YHWH) be with you. And they answered him, The LORD (YHWH) bless thee” (Ruth 2:4). (Boaz, who lived in the 11^th century B.C., was the great grandfather of David.)

Five centuries later, however, G-d said through the prophet Jeremiah, that the people had forgotten His Name. “How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal” (Jer 23:26-27).

The Jewish Encyclopedia informs us that in "former times the Name was taught to all; but when immorality increased it was reserved for the pious"¹ The Encyclopedia Judaica  notes the last time G-d’s Names was spoken freely: "At least until the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E., this name was regularly pronounced with its proper vowels, as is clear from the *Lachish Letters, written shortly before that date.”²

Utterance forbidden.

The priests and scribes invoked a number of seemingly legal reasons in forbidding the utterance of the Tetragrammaton (Four-Lettered Name) by the people.

Third commandment. The prohibition against carelessly pronouncing the Name of G-d is embodied in the third commandment: “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” (Exodus 20:7).

The Jewish Encyclopaedia notes: “According to Dalman… the Rabbis forbade the utterance of the Tetragrammaton to guard against desecration of the Sacred Name.”³ To keep the people from desecrating the sacred Name, wittingly or unwittingly, the rabbis instructed them never to pronounce G-d’s Name at all!

Too sacred. In the Second Temple period (5^th century B.C.), the Tetragrammaton came to be regarded as too sacred to be spoken. The practice of substituting other terms to refer to G-d thus became common.⁴

The Jewish Encyclopedia says: “Awe of the sacredness of the names of G-d and eagerness to manifest respect and reverence for them… in the Targumim the name of Yhwh was replaced by two ‘yods’ with a ‘waw’ over them… which letters are equal in value to Yhwh (=26).”⁵

G-d of all peoples. The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us that “As Judaism began to become a universal religion, the proper name (YHWH) tended to be replaced  by the common noun Elohim, meaning ‘God,’ which could apply to foreign deities and therefore could be used to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others.”⁶

Solomon Zeitlin wrote in the Jewish Quarterly Review of April 1969: “In the biblical period (YHWH) was a proper name for the G-d of Israel, an ethnic G-d. After the Restoration (of the Temple) those who adhered to the view of the universality of G-d maintained that (YHWH) is not an ethnic G-d but is the G-d of all the universe, the G-d of all peoples. To propagate this view they declared that the word (YHWH) in the Pentateuch should be pronounced Adonai to signify that He is the L-rd, Master, of the universe.”⁷

Clerical caveats.

Some passages in Scripture had been reinterpreted to ensure that the people would avoid uttering the sacred Name of G-d.

To be concealed. Exodus 3:15a reads: “And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever...”

According to Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, “The word forever is represented in the original by l’olam; but the Rabbis... by the change of a single letter, made l’olam, forever, read as if it had been written l’alam, which means to be concealed, and hence the passage was translated ‘this is my name to be concealed,’ instead of ‘this is my name forever’.”⁸

Death for uttering. Leviticus 24:16 declares: “And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death” (NKJV).

In the original Hebrew text, “the word nokeb, here translated to blaspheme, also means to pronounce distinctly, to call by name.” It could be and was thus retranslated as "'whosoever shall pronounce the name (YHWH) shall suffer death.”⁹

G-d’s Name taken back.

The rabbis and scribes gave reasons for concealing the Name. Little did they know that it was actually the L-RD who took back His Name from them! G-d retracted His Name from the Jews in three distinct steps. The retractions occurred roughly over 600 years.

First time taken back.

In 586 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah for the second time, destroyed the Temple, and took most of the Jews captive. He appointed one of the remaining Jews, Gedaliah, as governor of the land. But some defiant Jews, egged on by the king of the Ammonites, murdered Gedaliah. The other Jews prepared to escape to Egypt for fear of reprisal from the Babylonians (Jer ch. 39-41). Before fleeing, they requested Jeremiah to ask G-d on what to do (Jer 42:2-3).

Ten days later, Jeremiah met with them. “And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand” (Jer 42:9-11). Their worst fears would follow them in Egypt if they persisted. “If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die” (Jer 42:15b-16).

Abandoned the land. Yet, instead of obeying, the Jews accused Jeremiah of lying and conniving with the followers of the Babylonians (Jer 43:2-3). They pushed through with their plan to escape to Egypt and abandoned the land the L-RD had given their fathers (Jer 43:7).

The Jews forgot a prohibition the L-RD told Moses some 900 years earlier: “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way'” (Deut 17:16, NASU). G-d had warned the Israelites never to return to Egypt.

G-d’s Name profaned. The Jews put G-d’s Name to shame by leaving the land He had given them. “And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went” (Ezek 36:20-21).

G-d had given the Jews a “land of milk and honey.” Abandoning the land for another country was an embarrassment and a shame to G-d. It made the L-RD look like a deceiver and a liar, or a weak G-d who could not keep His promises. His Name or reputation as an all-powerful G-d was tarnished, even ruined.

Name lost in Egypt. G-d said: “Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth” (Jer 44:26).

Moreover, as G-d had said, many of the Jews died just the same when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt. “And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword” (Jer 43:11).

Lost also in Babylon. The Hebrew tongue fell in disuse in Babylon among the captive Jews, who spoke the language of the land, Aramaic or Syriac, sometimes called Chaldee. ¹⁰ They also stopped saying the Name of God. The Jewish Encyclopedia avers: “The avoidance of the original name of God both in speech and, to a certain extent, in the Bible was due according to Geiger… to a reverence which shrank from the utterance of the Sublime Name; and it may well be that such a reluctance first arose in a foreign, and hence in an ‘unclean’ land, very possibly, therefore, in Babylonia.”¹¹ In Judea, the poorest Jews who had been left behind adopted the language of their conquerors, too.¹²

Only 3 times a year. Rabbi Yeshayahu Heiliczer wrote in Messianic Home (Summer 1999): “After the return from Babylon we find that ‘The Name’ was totally suppressed by the P’rushim (Pharisees), who had removed the sons of Aharon from Moshe’s seat. They forbade the use of ‘The Name’ and limited its use to temple services held on the ‘Shalosh Regalim,’ the three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. The rest of greater Isra’el had no permission to use ‘The Name’.”¹³

Thus, the sacred Name of the L-RD could be uttered only three times a year -- during Temple services on Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread; Pentecost (Shavuot, Feast of Weeks or Harvest); and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot, Booths or Ingathering).

Second time taken back.

The next retraction of G-d’s Name took place during the inter-Testamental period -- the so-called “400 silent years” in the Bible, between Malachi, the Old Testament’s last book, and Matthew, the New Testament’s first book.

Alexander arrived. The prophet Daniel, as a Jewish captive in Babylon, had visions of a powerful two-horned ram that was later destroyed by a one-horned he-goat (Dan 8:3-8). The angel Gabriel explained: “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king” (Dan 8:21). As history recorded, the unified kingdom of Media-Persia conquered Babylon, while Greece, under Alexander the Great (“the first king”), defeated Media-Persia.

In 332 B.C. Alexander entered Judea, where the Jews led by the high priest ceremoniously welcomed him. “Josephus (Ant. 11:8, section 5) says that Alexander meeting the high priest Jaddua (Neh 12:11,22) said that at Dium in Macedonia he had a divine vision so habited, inviting him to Asia and promising him success. Jaddua met him at Gapha (Mizpeh) at the head of a procession of priests and citizens in white. Alexander at the sight of the linen arrayed priests, and the high priest in blue and gold with the miter and gold plate on his head bearing (YHWH’s) name, adored it, and embraced him; and having been shown Daniel's prophecies concerning him, he sacrificed to God in the court of the temple, and granted the Jews liberty to live according to their own laws, and freedom from tribute in the sabbatical years.”¹⁴

Jews Hellenized. As the Greeks conquered southwestern Asia, the Greek language and Hellenistic thought spread throughout the occupied lands. “Greek became the language of literature and commerce from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Tigris.”¹⁵

The Jews were greatly impressed by the sophistication of the Greek culture. The Greek way of life became established in Judea. Many Jews abandoned the Mosaic laws for Greek customs. At a gymnasium in Jerusalem, some Jews tried to hide their circumcision when competing naked in games. Greek names became fashionable. Two high priests of the Second Temple, Jesus (Jeshua) and Onias (son of High Priest Jaddua and father of High Priest Simon the Just) adopted the Greek names “Jason” and “Menelaus,” respectively.¹⁶

A foreign king. The Jews ignored an express commandment of the L-RD by welcoming and acknowledging a foreign king over them! G-d had said: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite” (Deut 17:14-16, NIV).

Only once a year. The Jewish Encyclopedia informs us: “At the beginning of the Hellenistic era… the use of the Name was reserved for the Temple… it appears that the priests were allowed to pronounce the Name at the benediction only in the Temple.” Later, “from the time Simeon the Just (310-291 or 300-270 B.C.) died (this is the traditional expression for the beginning of the Hellenistic period), the priests refrained from blessing the people with the Name…”¹⁷

After the death of Simeon the Just, the utterance of the Sacred Name even by the priests was further restricted. We learn from the Encyclopedia Judaica that the Tetragrammaton was “pronounced by the high priest only once a year on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies… and in the Temple by the priests when they recited the Priestly Blessing.”¹⁸

The Name mumbled. The priests also “pronounced it indistinctly, or they mouthed or mumbled it. Thus says Tosef… Formerly they used to greet each other with the Ineffable Name; when the time of the decline of the study of the Law came, the elders mumbled the Name. Subsequently also the solemn utterance of the Name by the high priest on the Day of Atonement, that ought to have been heard by the priests and people… became inaudible or indistinct.” “R. Tarfon (or Tryphon) relates…: ‘I was standing in the row of young priests, and I heard the high priest mumbling the Name, while the rest of the priests were chanting’.”¹⁹

Adonai and Kyrios substituted. When the Jews stopped uttering the Tetragrammaton, they started using the Hebrew term Adonai to refer to the L-RD. (Adonai is plural ["my Lords"], but is regarded as a plural of respect or magnitude. Jews only use the singular form Adoni ["my lord"] to refer to a distinguished person. It is the source of the Greek name “Adonis.”)

From the 3^rd century B.C. onward, when a Jewish reader came across the sacred Name YHWH in the Biblical text, he pronounced it as Adonai. The Babylonian Talmud teaches: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘I am not pronounced as I am written; I am written with (the letters) yod he, but I am pronounced by alef daleth’ (Kiddushin 71a). That is to say, although the name was written as YH(WH), it was pronounced as ‘d(wny) (Adonay), ‘Lord’.”²⁰

In addition to using the Hebrew term Adonay, it became a custom among the Jews from the Second Temple period onward to say the Greek word Kyrios, which also means “Lord,” whenever they encountered G-d’s personal name YHWH in the Scriptures.²¹

Third time taken back

The third and last retraction came after a little over 300 years. “When Simeon the Righteous died, with many indications that such glory was no more enjoyed, his brethren no more dared utter the Ineffable Name.”²²

When did Simeon the Righteous die? The historical marker for his death was the loss of the Temple. “After the death of the high priest Simeon the Righteous forty years prior to the destruction of the Temple, the priests ceased to pronounce the Name (Yoma 49b). From that time, the pronunciation of the Name was prohibited”²³ Next question: When was the Temple destroyed?

The Temple, also called the Second Temple or Herod’s Temple, was razed to the ground by Roman legions commanded by Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, in 70 A.D. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: “The prediction (of Luke 21:5) was fulfilled to the letter in the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD.”²⁴ So, forty years before the destruction of the Temple was in 30 A.D. This was the year the priests in the Temple stopped uttering the Tetragrammaton altogether! Why did the use of the Name cease in that particular year?

The Crucifixion. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary narrates: “During the week before Passover in A.D. 30, Jesus taught each day in the Temple area, debating with other teachers of differing beliefs… To block the possibility of an uprising among the people, the priestly party decided to arrest Jesus as soon as possible… Arrested on Passover Eve, Jesus was brought first before a Jewish court of inquiry, over which the high priest Caiaphas presided.”²⁵ The rest of the story is in the Bible. Christ was crucified the following day in 30 A.D.

Never uttered again. G-d took back His Name completely, including all the promises that come with it, after the Jews killed His Only Begotten Son. It was the proverbial last straw! The Jewish Encyclopedia states: “After the destruction of the Second Temple there remained no trace of knowledge as to the pronunciation of the Name.”²⁶ 

The number “40” has long been known as the Biblical number of trial and testing (the Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land (Num 14:34); the people of Nineveh were given 40 days to repent or their city would be destroyed (Jonah 3:4); Christ was tempted 40 days and nights by the devil (Matt 4:1-2); etc.

It looks like G-d tested the Jews for 40 years after the Crucifixion – to see if they would still accept Christ as their long-awaited Messiah. When they did not, He allowed the full force of His judgment to fall upon them. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. Over one million Jews died during the war, which started in 66 A.D., while 97,000 were captured and sold into slavery throughout the Roman Empire.

(Excerpted from: Personal Names of God, Chapter 10, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth, by M.M. Tauson.)

1.	God, Names of, The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, p. 263
2.	Name of God, Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 7, col. 680
3.	The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 12, p. 119
4.	Choon-Leong Seow, “The Ineffable Name of Israel’s God,” Glossary, Bible Review, December 1991, p. 49
5.	Names of God, The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, pp. 162-163
6.	Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 23, p. 867
7.	Solomon Zeitlin, Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 59, No. 4, April 1969
8.	Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. 1, p. 501
9.	Ibid.
10.	Languages of the Old Testament, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
11.	The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 12, p. 119
12.	Languages of the Old Testament, op. cit.
13.	Rabbi Yeshayahu Heiliczer, “The Divine Name,” Messianic Home, Summer 1999, p. 18 Heiliczer, loc. cit.
14.	Alexander, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, 1998
15.	Alexander, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
16.	High Priest, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, 1998
17.	God, Names of, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 201-202
18.	God, Names of, Encyclopaedia Judaica, col. 682
19.	God, Names of, The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 1, pp. 201-202
20.	Quoted by Seow, op. cit., pp. 49-50
21.	Seow, loc. cit.
22.	The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma, p. 39b
23.	Names of God, loc. cit.
24.	Temple, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
25.	Jesus Christ, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary,1986
26.	Names of God, loc. cit.