How many times is yahweh mentioned in the bible

He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. And he is the only one in existence who can be described this way. The rest of us need quite a lot to go right in order to keep existing! The most powerful human on earth is still at the mercy of his health and fortune.

A great example of this is Psalm The author talks in the first 6 verses about Elohim another name for God and his relationship with the material world. Then, in verse 7, he shifts and starts to write about Yahweh and his relationship with those who know him and who are in covenant with him. This is a God who was so love-motivated to know us and to be in relationship with us that he came to earth as a human and took the punishment we deserved. It is probably a core part of your belief system.

But those of us who have the least qualms with a God who exists can start to forget the beauty and significance of the fact that God is here. Yahweh is here, interacting with our world, among us. And he does that out of love. God is under no obligation to remain close to us, working in our lives and writing a love story between himself and the world. And yet, he chooses to do so. In fact, he chooses to build his very kingdom among believers:.

But our God does not conform to any of this. He remains constant through it all. I think I know why we do it at least, I think I know why I did it.

Firstly, it helps highlight that God is the covenant God of Israel who has revealed his name and who wants to be called by his name. So why stop doing it? It never has been. Many contemporary scholars are not convinced that he was correct. Absolutely not. We can have a very close relationship with the Father, and indeed with Father, Son, and Spirit, without using a personal name.

Yes, it is a tradition, but a respectful and godly one firmly rooted in the Scriptures. He sees our hearts and knows us well. What should we call Him? He wants a personal relationship with us, so does it make more sense to research or ask just ask Him? He wants us to love and respect him. He made us in his image. So does it make sense to ask ourselves what we want to be called by loved ones?

Do you want people to call you by your title or your name? If one or the other, call Him that. If both, mix it up when you pray. Some people have developed nicknames with other people their close to.

Whether I call Michael Jordan by his full name, Mr. Jordan, etc. I think God cares more that you wish to talk to him, that you think of him, and acknowledge him throughout your day than he does what you call him.

However I do think what you call him is an indicator of what your relationship is with him. My relationship with Him is not the same as yours, and neither of ours is the same as those who lived on Earth centuries ago.

Relationships are almost as unique as fingerprints in some ways. Does that make sense? It seems to me that since the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the old Testament to use the true name of our God, we have no right to go with tradition and use something the Masoretes changed from the original.

Hi Mike, thanks for the comment! I do want to point out that the Masoretes in the medieval times did not invent this tradition. The New Testament writers themselves used Lord instead of Yahweh. Jesus used Lord instead of Yahweh.

To each his own! I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content. The article has truly peaked my interest. When Almighty God has given His Name, who are we, mere mortals to substitute it with any other? Contents show. And who had authority over him? Only God can understand his being enough to name himself, and he alone has the authority to do it. It was Moses who finally had the courage to ask God to give himself a name. God answered Moses by revealing his name to him.

The name God gave himself has caused much confusion and discussion. Both its meaning and its pronunciation are not entirely clear. The Hebrew letters for the name are YHWH vowels were pronounced but not written in ancient Hebrew , and they appear more than 6, times in the Hebrew Bible alone. Most scholars believe YHWH is related to a root word meaning "to be present" or "to exist" and probably meant either "He creates or causes" or simply "I am that I am ," meaning that God did not depend on anyone or anything for his existence.

Note Moses' first question to God and his response in Ex. This passage would support the idea that God's name identified his independence of any outside being. That makes God the ultimate source of everything that was, is, and will be. This identification of God meant that His name could be used only of him and for him, because nothing else could possibly measure up to such a description. The Israelites were afraid to use God's name because they might use it in ways that he had not revealed.

After they returned from the Babylonian Captivity ca. The people simply said Adonai whenever the sacred name was intended. By the Middle Ages, few Jewish people could read Hebrew because it was no longer their native language. The dispersion after the destruction of the second temple in AD 70 and the Bar-Kochba Revolt in AD scattered the Israelites around the known world.

Soon they spoke only the language of the lands of their dispersion, and Hebrew was relegated to religious matters. To help the people read Hebrew, the scribes of the period called Masoretes introduced a system of vowel marks to identify the sounds that had always been spoken but never written. These marks were placed below occasionally above or between the consonants of the text.

Now even those not fluent in Hebrew could pronounce the words. When the scribes came to the sacred name of God YHWH , they did not want their readers to pronounce it because it was so holy. Instead of using the original vowel sounds which were never written , they placed the vowel points from Adonai "Lord" to indicate that the reader should say Adonai instead of YHWH.