Why is there so much confusion about the name of God? What is the true name of God anyway and does it matter to address God by that name? I choose to stick with what the scriptures say and use terms like God, Creator, Most High, Heavenly Father. confusion arises when people teach doctrines outside of what the scriptures speak or a lack of understanding. The True name of the Most High as rendered in english alphabetical characters is YHWH (He is or I Am ALL Self Existent or Eternal) . This name was replaced by the word LORD in our english translations. (see Strong's #3068) The four hebrew characters that make up the name is known as the Tetragrammaton which is Greek meaning "four letters". The four Hebrew characters (YHWH in english) that make up the name of the Most High cannot be disputed. The dispute comes with the pronunciation of the name. With this, many spell the name as they pronounce it. From YHWH various pronunciations have developed like YaHaWaH (Yaw-ha-wa), Yahweh (ya-way), Yahuwah (Ya-hoo-wa) and this is where the conflict arises. Lets go to the scriptures to get an understanding of how the scholars that put the Bible together understood how the name was to be rendered into English. Ex. 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. We must understand that the letter J did not come to exist in the alphabet until after the King James bible was completed. If you examine a true 1611 KJV you will not find the letter J within words. Instead the letter I is used seeing there was no J used at the time of the translation. Knowing this is important because the names Jehovah, Jesus, Joshua etc .. would not be found spelled in such a fashion that uses the letter J. Therefore Jehovah could not be a name of the Most High used among the Israelites. But we do know the letter "J" was used to replace the hebrew "Y" character and the letter "V" replaced the hebrew "W". Now we can get a better understanding of how the name Jehovah was misrendered in english. In the hebrew alphabet there is no letter or character J, E, O, V, U, F therefore to correctly render "Jehovah" in english, it would be Yahawah or Yahuwah. (Some believe the "HA" character in the middle of the name gives a softer sound as Hu (hoo) than the sharp sounding "HA' therefore they spell it Ya-Hu-Wah but the hebrew name of the Most High is YHWH the four hebrew characters nontheless. Lets examine the Israelite historian Flavious Josephus' account of the name. Works of Josephus- Wars of he Jews, Book 5, Par 7 "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 engraven the sacred name [of God]: it consists of four vowels. The four vowels mentioned are the four hebrew characters (hebrew vowels) that make up the name of YHWH that was engraved within the Levite Priest's mitre or turban. Ex 39:30-31 The name YHWH appears all throughout scripture but translated as LORD in the english translations (as supposed to keep the true name YHWH from being polluted or blasphemed) and was revealed to Moses after the Israelites left Egypt. Lets read again Ex. 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH (YHWH) was I not known to them. The Most High clearly states that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob only knew him by "God Almighty" (al shadday) and not by his name YHWH, but they still feared and worshipped the Most High. This shows that if the Most High demands we address him by his name YHWH only would he not have revealed this to Abraham the Father of the covenant? Lets also examine. Ex. 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Why is there so much confusion about the name of God? What is the true name of God anyway and does it matter to address God by that name? I choose to stick with what the scriptures say and use terms like God, Creator, Most High, Heavenly Father. confusion arises when people teach doctrines outside of what the scriptures speak or a lack of understanding. The True name of the Most High as rendered in english alphabetical characters is YHWH (He is or I Am ALL Self Existent or Eternal) . This name was replaced by the word LORD in our english translations. (see Strong's #3068) The four hebrew characters that make up the name is known as the Tetragrammaton which is Greek meaning "four letters". The four Hebrew characters (YHWH in english) that make up the name of the Most High cannot be disputed. The dispute comes with the pronunciation of the name. With this, many spell the name as they pronounce it. From YHWH various pronunciations have developed like YaHaWaH (Yaw-ha-wa), Yahweh (ya-way), Yahuwah (Ya-hoo-wa) and this is where the conflict arises. Lets go to the scriptures to get an understanding of how the scholars that put the Bible together understood how the name was to be rendered into English. Ex. 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. We must understand that the letter J did not come to exist in the alphabet until after the King James bible was completed. If you examine a true 1611 KJV you will not find the letter J within words. Instead the letter I is used seeing there was no J used at the time of the translation. Knowing this is important because the names Jehovah, Jesus, Joshua etc .. would not be found spelled in such a fashion that uses the letter J. Therefore Jehovah could not be a name of the Most High used among the Israelites. But we do know the letter "J" was used to replace the hebrew "Y" character and the letter "V" replaced the hebrew "W". Now we can get a better understanding of how the name Jehovah was misrendered in english. In the hebrew alphabet there is no letter or character J, E, O, V, U, F therefore to correctly render "Jehovah" in english, it would be Yahawah or Yahuwah. (Some believe the "HA" character in the middle of the name gives a softer sound as Hu (hoo) than the sharp sounding "HA' therefore they spell it Ya-Hu-Wah but the hebrew name of the Most High is YHWH the four hebrew characters nontheless. Lets examine the Israelite historian Flavious Josephus' account of the name. Works of Josephus- Wars of he Jews, Book 5, Par 7 "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 engraven the sacred name [of God]: it consists of four vowels. The four vowels mentioned are the four hebrew characters (hebrew vowels) that make up the name of YHWH that was engraved within the Levite Priest's mitre or turban. Ex 39:30-31 The name YHWH appears all throughout scripture but translated as LORD in the english translations (as supposed to keep the true name YHWH from being polluted or blasphemed) and was revealed to Moses after the Israelites left Egypt. Lets read again Ex. 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH (YHWH) was I not known to them. The Most High clearly states that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob only knew him by "God Almighty" (al shadday) and not by his name YHWH, but they still feared and worshipped the Most High. This shows that if the Most High demands we address him by his name YHWH only would he not have revealed this to Abraham the Father of the covenant? Lets also examine. Ex. 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
