Messiah Unveiled - Genesis

The Name - a Picture of Messiah

“Then Moses said to G-d, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The G-d of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?” And G-d said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. [eh’yeh asher eh’yeh]” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM [Eh’yeh] has sent me to you.’ ” Moreover G-d said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘AD-NAI G-d of your fathers, the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, and the G-d of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”

Exodus 3:13-15

Introduction

• Have learned about the relationship between the Voice of G-d and Messiah. We have seen that the Voice is a manifestation of the Almighty.
• We have seen the Promised Seed, first to come from Woman, and then that G-d would sh’kan in the tents of Shem. Will the Seed come from Shem?

‘The Name’ Appears

• Gen 12:7-8: G-d appeared to Abram, blesses him. Abram builds an altar and calls on the Name of HaShem.
• The word “appeared” is vayera, from the root ra’ah. It is the same word that is used for ‘provide’, or ‘manifest’. It is associated with the reality of seeing.
• The Scriptures do not tell us how He ‘appeared’ to Abram, only that He did.
• Rom 1:19-20: ‘invisible’ clearly ‘seen’?
• Col 1:15-16: He (Yeshua) is the image of the invisible G-d.
• 1Tim 1:17: G-d is King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, and Wise.
• Heb 11:25-27: “…seeing Him Who is invisible”
• Rambam’s Ani ma’amin - #3.

The Holy Name

• Gen 12:8: What Name did Abram call on? HaShem, ‘The Name’.
• Ex 3:15: Where it says, “this is My Name forever” the word “forever” is olam. Usually, it is spelled ayin-vav-lamed-mem. Here, it is spelled, ayin-lamed-mem. Although pronounced the same, the word here also means, “hidden” or concealed. From this, it was derived that the Name should not be spoken openly or casually (3^rd Commandment as well). This Name is the Ineffable Name.
• Deut 12:3-4: Blot out the names of other ‘G-ds’.
• Ps 102:12-16: His Name should not be blotted out, but remembered.
• No books with G-d’s Name in them are ever destroyed because of this. They are hidden in a genizah or buried.

Kere Ketiv and the Holy Name

• The reverence for G-d’s Holy Name was a central tenet to the Masoretes’ scribal tradition. They were the faithful scribes that maintained the Hebrew texts for hundreds of years when the Jews were scattered. It is their text that we derive our modern Bibles.
• The Masoretes had a tradition called kere/ketiv (say/written). They used it for a number of things. Although usually marginal notes, they maintained a perpetual kere/ketiv in vowel points under the Holy Name of G-d to reverence it. They placed the vowels for ‘AD-NAI’ under the Four Letters of G-d’s Name to instruct the reader to read the Name silently, but out loud say the word ‘AD-NAI’ instead.
• Ignorance of this led some to read the nonsensical, ‘Jehovah’ where the Name was.
• Likewise, some have taken pains to pronounce the Name using variations of German/English/Arabic rules. Simple rule in Masoretic Hebrew: Each consonant MUST have a vowel, except the last consonant. The way most people try to pronounce the Name is by using only 2 vowels. They are pronouncing a word that is either three or four syllables with only two. There is absolutely no linguistic support for the idea that G-d’s Name ‘Yah’ is anyway related to ‘the Name’. Nor His other Names such as ‘Ek’, ‘Kana’ [Jealous], ‘Shaddai’ etc. Bottom line: the exact pronunciation is unknown.

‘The Name’ and Salvation

• Joel 2:32: Some, by reading only the first half of this verse think that to be ‘saved’ one must know and pronounce ‘the Name’. Context shows that this is specifically about the Last Days. The focus of this verse is not what one must do to be delivered, but rather on the One Who Calls.
• Exodus 6:3: Surely, Abraham knew ‘the Name’ – we saw that in Gen 12:8. What we see is that the Name is somehow portrays His character, specifically of mercy in the case of the Tetragrammaton.
• When the Hebrew was translated into Greek in 270 BCE (Septuagint or LXX), the scribes always employed the method of circumlocution of using ‘AD-NAI’ instead of the Name. The Greek word for HaShem/Master : Kurios. Even the Talmudic sages recognized the validity of using ‘Kurios’ in place of ‘the Name in the recognition that Scripture could still be considered sacred if written in Greek (b.Megilah 9b).

‘The Name’ is a ‘Dwelling Place’

• Deut 12:5: A ‘place’ for His Name to sh’kan [dwell].
• Ps 132:13-14: Zion is that place.
• Ps 74:7: the connection between the Mish’kan, the Temple in Jerusalem, and ‘the Name’.
• In the same way that the Mish’kan was an earthly place for ‘the Name’ to sh’kan, Messiah Yeshua had a human body where ‘the Name’ sh’kan-ed among us.
• ‘The Name’ is always a picture of Messiah – as it is a statement of His character.

‘The Name’ in the Apostolic Scriptures

• Since all we have is Greek manuscripts of the Apostolic Scriptures, we only know of several circumlocutions for the Name. ‘Heaven’ and ‘G-d’ are two used. As well, the Greek word ‘Kurios’ is used as a reference to HaShem, the Four Letters of the Name. The Apostolic writers quote from the LXX, and they themselves use ‘Kurios’ to refer to ‘the Name’.
• Luke 4:18: Hebrew: Yod-Hay-Vav-Hay – Greek: Kurios.
• John 9:36-38: Yeshua is called ‘Kurios’ and worshipped.
• Acts 2:36: Yeshua: Kurios and Messiah.
• Phil 2:9-11: What Name is above every other name? Only One: ‘The Name’.

The Dance Parable

• How can we apply the truths about ‘the Name’ to our Messiah parable? In what way are these ‘dance steps’ with Messiah?
• Ex 34:5-10: Declaring ‘the Name’ is to know the character and attributes of G-d.
• Ezk 36:23: How can we ‘sanctify the Name’ – setting it apart?
• Literal reverence for the Name itself.
• By living as Messiah lived, rightly declaring His attributes by how we live

Summary

• It is important to understand that Abram, the descendant of Seth is promised a blessing in Gen 12.
• The Almighty appears to him in some way.
• Abram calls on ‘the Name’. He begins to depend upon and trust in the character of the Holy One, Who calls Himself HaShem.
• To call upon ‘the Name’ is not a magic formula any more than any other modern attempts to distill the salvation process into a ‘something you say’ – it is not what we say we believe… it is our total dependence upon the One Who Calls – and proving that dependence by action.

 

Bereans Online ~ On this site, please treat all references to the Holy One of Israel with all due reverence ~