Names of Yehovah: Rapha

Introduction

The practice of appropriating Biblical texts for one’s own use has been a normal part of many branches of ‘Christian’ religions for centuries. Just because something is practiced does not mean that it is right. Unscrupulous teachers of the Bible have likewise appropriated the names/titles of Yehovah. This present name/title is such an example.

Exodus 15:22-26

The text is given literally rendered:

Exodus 15:22 And Moshe journeyed Israel from the Ending Sea. And they went out unto the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness. And they found no water. ²³And they came to Marah. And they were not able to drink the waters from Marah, for they are bitter. Therefore he called her name ‘Marah.’ ²⁴And the people murmured upon Moshe, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵And he shouted unto Yehovah. And Yehovah taught him a tree. And he cast unto the waters. And the waters were made sweet. He put for him there a statute and a justice. And He tested him there. ²⁶And He said, “If, hearkening, thou wilt hearken to the voice of Yehovah thy Gods, and wilt do the straight in His eyes, and thou wilt ‘ear’ to His commandments, and thou wilt guard all His statutes, I will not put upon thee all the sickness that I put into Egypt. For I am Yehovah thy healer.”

The word means thy healer, thy doctor. It describes one who either takes care of wounds or brings one to good health.

Israel is thou in verse 26, and thou is singular. Yehovah commanded Israel as a unit. This was not a command (or a promise) for an individual Israeli (or for anyone else). Other texts may give promises and commands to individuals, but not this text.

Yehovah promised Israel that He will refrain from putting on Israel the diseases that He put on Egypt if Israel will hearken. He never promised that Israeli individuals will enjoy perfect health in this text. This text is a warning—that if Israel refuses to hearken to the voice of Yehovah and won’t do what is straight in His eyes, refusing to ‘ear’ to His commandments, and refusing to guard all His statutes, Yehovah will strike Israel with the same diseases that occurred in Egypt!

Yehovah is both a healer and an afflicter!

Nothing can touch Israel without first going through Him. He is the Guard of Israel, and He brings some enemies against Israel.

The waters were bitter. Yehovah knew that. Yehovah taught how Moshe could make the waters sweet in the simplest way—by the addition of a tree. The Israelis needed these waters to live, but the waters that gave life were too bitter to use. Yehovah taught Moshe to teach Israel about the tree. (The word taught is the right Hebrew word, not showed, as other translations have.)

Yehovah associated the bitter waters and the tree with His ways, His commandments and His statutes. All these elements are found in this short text. The commandments, statutes, what is straight in the eyes of Yehovah—all these things can become very bitter, though they are given for life and not for death. When the tree is thrown into the midst, however, they become sweet. And when Israel will finally turn (as a single people) unto Yehovah to do what is straight in His eyes, and will find the statute and justice of Yehovah a delight, Yehovah will keep the diseases of Egypt permanently away from Israel. Yehovah Rophekha means, “He will be, He is, He was thy Healer.”

July 26, 2010July 7, 2017

And His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful

This article was written by Arthur Glass in 1946. Mr. Glass was born into a poor and very Orthodox Jewish family late in his parents’ life in Poland. His sister took him to Canada before the Holocaust. He was always a student of Jewish Scriptures. He later became a strong advocate for Israel’s Messiah.

Please note: if you are unfamiliar with the strange pagination of this document, it is designed to be printed out on both sides in landscape form (11″ by 8 1/2″), then folded and stapled. This way, the booklet is a half-page in size, and the page numbers will be right. Trying to read this booklet without doing this first will be rather difficult!

Click here for the PDF Booklet.

This article is an exploration of Hebrew words pertaining to the names and titles of Messiah in Isaiah. It also has footnotes added by his grandson. The title Sabba is used, meaning grandfather, since his grandson addresses issues to his article throughout the booklet.

If you have questions about this set of articles or other theological or interest questions, use the links on the main web page to write and send them.

April 29, 2010August 24, 2016

Names of Yehovah: Yireh

Names of Yehovah: Yehovah Yireh

Introduction

A distinction must be drawn between the names and the titles of the God of Israel. A name is a uniquely personal way of addressing anyone, intended to distinguish that person from another. Every Hebrew name has a meaning that tells of an event or gives a description. A title, on the other hand, is not necessarily unique, describing rank, function and/or character.

Yehovah has several names and many titles. He is addressed by these names, titles, and by combinations of names with the titles. A large book would be required to cover all combinations. This document will consider one combination.

1. Yehovah Yireh –

Yehovah () is the most often used name of the God of Israel. Silly debates over this name’s derivation have taken place over centuries. Some ignorant scholars believe it was pronounced ‘Yahweh’ (supposedly indicating breath or air—a concept especially pushed by an anti-Semitic German scholar in the last century), claiming this error on the basis of a truth: that God is a spirit. Such ‘scholars’ were apparently unaware of the Biblical statement showing the derivation and pronunciation of this Name in Exodus 3:13-15:

The literal rendering of this passage is:

Exodus 3:13 And Moshe said unto the Elohim, “Behold I come unto the children of Israel. And I will say to them, ‘The Gods of your fathers sent {singular} me unto you.’ And they shall say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What will I say unto them?” And Elohim said unto Moshe, “I will be Who I will be!” And He said, “So thou shalt say to the children of Israel, ‘I-will-be sent me unto you!’” And Elohim said again unto Moshe, “So thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, ‘Yehovah the Gods of your fathers, the Gods of Abraham, the Gods of Yitzkhak, and the Gods of Yaakov sent me unto you!’ This is my Name to Hider, and this is my remembrance to generation, generation!”

Yehovah therefore must be derived from ‘I-will-be.’ Orthodox Jewish children are taught that it means, “He will be, He is, He was.” Yehovah is a contraction derived in the following way:

Yehiyeh + Hoveh + Hayah,

He will be + He is + He was

Ye + Hov + ah

He will be, is, was.

Yehovah is sometimes contracted again to Yah, and this is also used as His Name.

(Yireh) means He will see. The dotting done by Rabbinic scholars cannot be right (the dotting determines pronunciation and the form of the word) since this does not fit the context of the text of Genesis 22:1-19. The Hebrew and a literal English rendering (rearranged for clarity) of Genesis 22:7-14 follows:

Genesis 22:7 And Yitzkhak said unto Avraham his father, and he said, “My father!” And he said, “Behold I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold the fire and the trees. And where is the lamb for the ascension?” And Avraham said, “Elohim will see for Him the lamb for the ascension, my son.” And both of them went together. And they came unto the place that the Elohim said to him. And Avraham built the altar there. And he ordered the trees. And he bound Yitzhkhak his son. And he put him upon the altar from above to the trees. And Avraham sent his hand. And he took the cleaver to slaughter his son. And Angel Yehovah called unto him from the heavens. And He said, “Avraham! Avraham!” And he said, “Behold I am!” And He said, “Do not send thine hand unto the youth! And do not do to him nothing! For now I have known that thou art a fearer of Elohim! And thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only, from me!” And Avraham lifted his eyes. And he saw. And behold, another ram was caught in the thicket via his horns. And Avraham went. And he took the ram. And he ascended him to an ascension under his son. And Avraham called the name of that place Yehovah-Will-See, which will be said today, “In the mountain of Yehovah he will be seen.”

This is not logical. I will show what the text would say if the dotting were correct:

And Yitzkhak said unto Avraham his father, and he said, “My father!” And he said, “Behold I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold the fire and the trees. And where is the lamb for the ascension?” And Avraham said, “Elohim will be seen for Himself the lamb for the ascension, my son.” And both of them went together. And they came unto the place that the Elohim said to him. And Avraham built the altar there. And he ordered the trees. And he bound Yitzhkhak his son. And he put him upon the altar from above to the trees. And Avraham sent his hand. And he took the cleaver to slaughter his son. And Angel Yehovah called unto him from the heavens. And He said, “Avraham! Avraham!” And he said, “Behold I am!” And He said, “Do not send thine hand unto the youth! And do not do to him nothing! For now I have known that thou art a fearer of Elohim! And thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only, from me!” And Avraham lifted his eyes. And he saw. And behold, another ram was caught in the thicket via his horns. And Avraham went. And he took the ram. And he ascended him to an ascension under his son. And Avraham called the name of that place Yehovah-Will-Be-Seen, which will be said today, “In the mountain of Yehovah He will be seen.”

This makes much more sense, and the undotted text reads exactly the same in both cases. (The bad grammar in the expression, “And do not do to him nothing!” is good grammar in Hebrew.)

If what I have proposed is true, the expression Yehovah Yireh (pronounced ‘Yeer-eh’) means Yehovah will be seen. It is a prophetic Name/Title combination which shows that He will be the lamb sacrifice pictured in this case, and will come to the Mountain of Yehovah in the End Times. Yehovah intentionally had Avraham do a ram sacrifice instead of a lamb to show that another sacrifice pictured by a lamb will occur in the future.

February 27, 2010July 5, 2017

Names of Yehovah: Shammah

Introduction

The chapters of Ezekiel 40 through 48 are very curious. Measurements, practices and characters are discussed often with little or no identification beyond the pronouns (in the case of the characters), the numbers (in the case of the measurements) and the details of what must be done (in the case of the practices). This section ends with a city being identified by the name of our present topic, Yehovah Shammah.

The Text: Ezekiel 48:35

Ezekiel 48:35 [It was] round about eighteen thousand [measures]. And the name of the city from [that] day [shall be], Yehovah [is] there.

The Hebrew is:

Ezekiel 48

which is more literally rendered, “Around are eighteen thousand. And the name of the city from the day is Yehovah-is-There.” The word with no dotting appears as , and can be dotted to mean, he placed her. When the Rabbis dotted the text, they determined between similar words, and considered what they agreed the text would mean. In some cases, they were wrong. If this text were rendered with the alternate dotting, it would read,

Around are eighteen thousand. And the name of the city from the day is Yehovah-Placed-Her.

I propose that Yehovah will both place the city and will be in the city.

An obvious question is, “Which city is in mind?” The city isn’t named. I searched to see if Jerusalem was named in Ezekiel 40 through 48, and I did not find a single mention. The structures and events told me that Jerusalem was in mind. This is the city in which Messiah will reside. There is, however, a mystery regarding the timing of the events of chapters 40 through 48. I assumed that it was a description of the Millennial Jerusalem—that is, Jerusalem when the Messiah of Israel will reign for ten centuries. Yet, certain descriptions disallowed this answer. For example, the prince will need to do sin sacrifices for his own sin. If the prince referred to Messiah, there would be a real problem! If the prince refers to resurrected King David who, according to Ezekiel, will reign over Israel, there is also a real problem. A resurrected Saint does not sin. The following texts show King David’s reign during the Millennium:

Ezekiel 34:22 “Therefore I will save my flock. And they shall no more be a prey. And I will judge between cattle and cattle. ²³And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—my slave David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. ²⁴And I, Yehovah will be their God. And my slave, David is a prince among them. I, Yehovah have spoken! ²⁵And I will make a covenant of peace with them. And I will cause the bad animals to cease out of the land. And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing. And I will cause the shower to come down in his season. There shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit. And the land shall yield her increase. And they shall be safe in their land. And they shall know that I am Yehovah when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves via them. ²⁸And they shall no more be a prey to the races. And the animal of the land won’t devour them. And they shall dwell safely. And none shall make afraid. ²⁹And I will raise up a plant of renown for them. And they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land. And they won’t bear the shame of the races any more. ³⁰Thus shall they know that I, Yehovah their Gods am with them. And they, the House of Israel, are my people,” says the Lord Yehovah.

Ezekiel 37:21 And say unto them, “Thus says the Lord Yehovah, ‘Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the races to where they are gone. And I will gather them on every side. And I will bring them into their own land. ²²And I will make them one race in the land upon the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king to them all. And they shall no more be two races. And they won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. ²³And they won’t defile themselves any more with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. And I will save them from all their dwellingplaces in which they have sinned. And I will cleanse them. So shall they be my people. And I will be their God. ²⁴And David my slave is king over them. And they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my justices and observe my statutes, and do them. ²⁵And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my slave in which your fathers have dwelt. And they shall dwell therein–they and their children and their children’s children to Hider. And my slave, David is their prince for ever. ²⁶And I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be a Covenant of Hider with them. And I will place them and multiply them. And will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. ²⁷My Tent shall also be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸And the races shall know that I, Yehovah do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.’”

The hope of the Saint is in the resurrection. The resurrection cannot occur unless and until Messiah comes. While Saints will be taken up in the Rapture, their return to this earth is the resurrection; this is the Hope of the Saints! The Hope of the Saints is therefore invested in Israel, since Messiah’s coming will be due to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying one statement as explained in Matthew and taken from Psalm 118:

Matthew 23:37 Jerusalem! Jerusalem that kills the prophets and stones them who are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathers her chickens under wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, “Blessed is He Who comes with the Name Yehovah!”

After that time, in that Day, Yehovah will be there. He will place the city where it will be as long as the earth lasts.

August 29, 2009July 5, 2017