Substitutes for God’s name in the New Testament

When reading an English Bible there is a little bit of Jewish history that is needed to understand a few things and this is one of them. When Messiah walked the earth, it had become the habit of the Jewish people to avoid God’s name. This is because they feared the pagans they had lived among  since the deportation to Babylon might start saying God’s name and therefore violate in the commandment.

“You shall not take the name of the LORD/YHWH your God in vain; for the LORD/YHWH will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Ex. 20:7 

The Jews had become very creative in their work arounds for this problem. Most English readers of the Bible have no idea what is going on. The average Christian doesn’t even know that God has a personal name. (His name is YHWH.) This habit of not using substitutes for God’s name was so universal that His personal name is never used is in the New Testament.

The Lord or Master

This one is so prevalent that it is on almost every page of every English Bible. The English Bibles uses this very same Jewish tradition of not speaking the name of the Lord “YHWH” but substitutes Adoni which means lord or master. The English has left a clue that they have done this by capitalizing all the letters in the LORD when the original Hebrew is YHWH. (See Also: God? What’s in a name?)

The Name

Ha Shem is Hebrew for “the Name” and is occasionally substituted for YHWH.

And those who went before and those who followed cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Mark 11:9

And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. John 17:11

Heaven

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, Mark 4:26 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”  Luke 20:4

The question was not whether John was some kind of angelic being but whether he was sent by God. This is why sometimes it is the kingdom of God and others it is the kingdom of heaven.

Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; Matt. 13:24 

In this parable the son admits that he has sinned against God.

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; Luke 15:18 

This use of Heaven as a substitute for God or YHWH has lead many to misunderstand “heaven.” Heaven strictly speaking is not the place where God lives. God is Omnipresent, and as such is everywhere throughout time and space at all times. Calling Him “Heaven” is to say that He is above and beyond what we can perceive. (See Also: What Happens When We Die? and God is Omnipresent)

The Power

And Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:62 

This is a quote from the Psalms, where we can see the right hand belongs to the LORD or in Hebrew YHWH.

The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.” Psa. 110:1 

FYI: They also called the temple in Jerusalem, “The Place” or “The Holy Place.”

For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place. Heb. 9:2

In Christ

In the Harem by Fabio Fabbi (1861 – 1946)

Or in the harem to stay with our little allegory. One needs to understand that the harem is where all the women’s work was done, unlike what our western fantasies are. The cooking, cleaning, and laundry where all done in the harem and by the harem.

But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. Rom. 8:10

This is a term only Paul uses. The inherited churches have made this out to mean salvation. As if it is the same thing; Messiah in you, and you in Messiah.

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. Rom. 15:17

But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; 2Cor. 1:21

Back up the Bible Bus. Being in Messiah has something to do with that hated word, WORKS. After all isn’t a commission a JOB?

To be “in Messiah” is to follow His teachings, to be His student, His servant, to obey His words, to do as He did. Noah and his family had to be in the ark to be saved, the man-slayer had to be in the city of refuge to be safe from the avenger of blood. [Num. 35:6] To me “in Messiah” is not a metaphor or figure of speech, it is a reality. It is a job, a profession, ones life’s work.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col. 3:17

So what are we to do? Well! to start with, there are Ten Commandments, they were never suggestions.

Faith

What is Faith?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Heb. 11:1 

We’ve all heard the charlatan healers claim that the reason they cannot heal is because the sick person’s faith is not strong enough. However healing is not what our faith is primarily for. For it is a faith in things NOT seen.

We tend to think that faith is a feeling. However faith is the assurance of the things we hope for. We are as sure of the things of God, as we are that the chair will hold us up, that gravity will keep out cup on the table, and the sun will rise in the east and set in the west.

We are sure that Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth is the promised Messiah. We are sure of our salvation. We are sure of new and incorruptible bodies. We are sure that we will present ourselves before the judgment Throne of God with Messiah’s righteousness imputed to us, that we come under no condemnation.

The things unseen are of the kingdom of Messiah, it is all around us, the armies of His heavenly host in battle with the forces of evil.

. . . because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2Cor. 4:18

What we see is old Jerusalem the one of bricks and stone, but out hope, our faith is in New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that is above and for now is unseen.

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! Psa. 137:6

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Gal. 4:26

He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Rev. 3:12

We watch as friends and family die. Their bodies seem dead and cold. But our faith is that we will have the victory over sin and death. It is ours, we just can’t see it. [See Also: What Happens when we Die?]

 

See Also: Hope

Messiah as Firstborn

Our Messiah is the firstborn of all creation, as well as the firstborn of the dead, as well as being the firstborn of Mary and Joseph.

Can an unclean things bring forth a unclean thing? Once there was this tomb outside of Jerusalem that did.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Rom. 8:29

Aside from being the great “predestination” verse we are also informed the Messiah is the firstborn of the brethren. He is the pre-eminent leader of His Congregation. The firstborn were to be dedicated to God, they were the head of the family and as such were responsible for the others welfare. No one can or should try to usurp His firstborn status. He is our leader. We have no king but Messiah.

He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; Col. 1:15 

This is not to mean as some cult teach that Messiah is a creation. The Greek is actually prototokos pases ktiseos which is, born before all the creation. The word, with only the change of the accent, prototokos, signifies actively the first begetter or producer of all things. The firstborn here is used in the sense of His pre-eminence.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. Col. 1:18

He is the head of the Congregation as ancient kings were heads of the kingdoms. He is the head of the government with the right to make and enforce laws. The Greek is arche, prototokos ek o nekros, beginning, ruler, principle, born or the dead.

Ephraim is my Firstborn

There is a lot of odd teachings about Ephraim out there. They all center around this group or that group or Christians in general being Ephraim. Why would anyone of Gentile decent want to be of Israel. They are under God’s judgment. Is it not enough to be adopted into the Family of God? His love is for the individual who will follow Him, not some group that must have the right parentage.

With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born. Jer. 31:9

The tribe of Ephraim had gone astray from God, was no more worthy to be called a son, a first-born son and as such is to be given the double portion.

The same reason that was given for their release out of Egypt is given for their release out of Babylon; they are free-born and therefore must not be enslaved. They are born to God and therefore must not be the servants of men.

However the odd thing here is that Ephraim was not taken by Babylon but rather Assyria. They were relocated with the rest of the Ten Northern Tribes in Persia, now called Iran. (See Also: The Ten Lost Tribes)

In pure birth order Ephraim is the last born of the tribes, as he is Joseph’s second son.

The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Gen. 41:52

At the time of the blessing of the tribes Judah/Israel gives Ephraim the blessing of the firstborn.

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the first-born. Gen. 48:13-14

So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh”; and thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Gen. 48:20

The Curse of rebuilding Jericho

The city of Jericho from the ruins of the old walls

A little known passage about Jericho.

Joshua laid an oath upon them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the LORD be the man that rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.  At the cost of his first-born shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.” Josh. 6:26 

And yes someone over 400 years later did rebuild Jericho.

In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho; he laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun. 1Kings 16:34

Jezreel is The Valley of Decision

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14 

The valley of decision is not a literal place, just as Armageddon is not literal (see the Battle of Armageddon). The valley of Jezreel in Israel represents a state of mind or rather the nations religious beliefs.

At the western end of the valley of Jezreel stands Mount Carmel where Elijah called down fire from heaven [1Kings 18]. This is where Elijah had challenged the priest of Baal to a kind of duel between his God and theirs.

Aerial view of Tel Megiddo by AVRAM GRAICER

The sight was chosen to make Elijah’s point. If you stand on top of mount Carmel and look east toward Mount Tabor you would have seen the city of Megiddo on the north side of the valley and the city of Jezreel on the south.  Megiddo means “the place of cutting”.  The priests of Baal had come from city of Megiddo for that is where their cult center was. Cutting themselves was a central part in the worship of Baal.

 

Jezreel- 24 December 2005, picture by Ori~

Whereas Jezreel mean “God sows”.   This is what Elijah was referring to,

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1Kings 18:21 

Make your choice, which city do you belong to?

At the time of Elijah these two cities no longer stood in contrast to each other. Ahab and Jezebel lived in and had corrupted Jezreel. For which they and their children paid a terrible price. Not one survived.

” He said,  “Take them alive.” And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them. 2 Kings 10:1-14 

The lesson or principle here is that we are to have nothing further to do with the false church. The false preachers, priests, and teachers who have compromised with paganism from the beginning.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. Rev. 18:4   

This is what happens to those who conspire against God and His purposes, and those who associate themselves with them. Like the kinsmen of Ahaziah the neighboring kingdom, you should have nothing to do with the apostates. [2 Kings 10]

But God is able to restore us to a right relationship with Him. But we must stop the Baal and Ashtaroth worship.  We must stop mixing the pagan with the divine. Stop standing in the middle of the valley, get yourself into Jezreel.

 “And in that day, says the LORD, I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth;  and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel;  and I will sow him for myself in the land. And I will have pity on Not pitied, and I will say to Not my people,  ‘You are my people’; and he shall say ‘Thou art my God.’” Hos. 2:21-23

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; Eph. 6:14

For a complete understanding of what is Babylon see: The Two Babylons, or The Papal Worship Proved to be The Worship of Nimrod and His Wife by Alexander Hislop.

Shame/Boshet

More word play in the Hebrew or things lost in translation

There are several names that have the ending boshet at the end their name. The most famous of which is Maphibosheth/

David and Maphibosheth

Mefivshet Johnathan’s son. [2Sam. 4; 2Sam. 9; 2Sam. 16; 2Sam. 19;  2Sam. 21] Boshet is Hebrew for shame. So Maphibosheth means from the mouth of shame. Seems a strange thing to name a child even for Hebrew speakers.

The other famous one is Maphibosheth’s uncle Ish-bosheth’s (man of shame) whose name was changed from Ashba’al or Eshba’al (man of Ba’al ).

These names where altered presumably by a later scribe or scribes who were tired of all the pagan references to the pagan gods and altered the names substituting boshet for the pagan god’s name, so Maphibosheth was actually named Merib-baal meaning from the mouth of Ba’al. We know this because they missed two references each in the geneologies.

. . . and the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal was the father of Micah. 1Chr. 8:34

 . . . and the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal was the father of Micah. 1Chr. 9:40

Ner was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal; 1Chr. 8:33

Ner was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal; 1Chr. 9:39

It all makes one wonder about the house of Saul. What was a son and grandson named for the pagan god Ba’al?

Jeremiah uses the words as synonyms in Hebrew parallelism poetry.

For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to burn incense to Baal. Jer. 11:13

The other famous name is Molech. Now Hebrew has no vowels, however in the middle ages people were forgetting how words were pronounced so the Rabbis came up with a method of making little marks (nicadote) around the letters to indicate the vowel sounds. The words for king, messenger/angel, and the pagan god Molech are all spelled the same, the only difference are these vowel pointings. The vowel pointings for Molech may not be the way it was pronounced because they use the vowels from boshet, the scribe/scribes have hidden their cryptogram by making Melech into Molech, the king of shame.

 

 

See Also: Paronomasia/Word Play in the Bible

Ezek. 16:53-63 A Foundling’s Tail

53   “I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in the midst of them,  54 that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them.  55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.  56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride,  57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become like her an object of reproach for the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors, and for the daughters of the Philistines, those round about who despise you.  58 You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD. 

59   “Yea, thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant,  60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.  61 Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you.  62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD,  63 that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.” “Ezek. 16:53-63

Abruptly and unexpectedly, the rebuke takes a turn. The tone of condemnation is subjugated to one of forgiveness and restoration. As a Historicist I do not like to speculate on an unfulfilled passage. Historicist’s prefer to wait until the event is in the history books before commenting. So we shall look at some ideas that have been proposed.

The covenant theologians have a simple solution. All the prophecies concerning Israel and Judah are transferred to the church. Because they teach that Israel and Judah are cut off forever. So this is just about the church repenting as they are saved.

For the dispensationalist, there is a real problem here, for those who are incline to believe and teach that Judah’s fortunes began being restored in 1948.  Where is Samaria i.e. the Northern Kingdom of Israel? Sodom was gone before Ezekiel wrote this prophecy. Because dispensationalist take everything woodenly literal they need Sodom to be restored. However Sodom was so utterly eliminated, that the archeologist still don’t agree where it was. There simply are no people to restore. Also the present country of Israel is unrepentant, and still refusing to accept that a first century Rabbi from the backwaters of Nazareth is their Messiah. Some  of them teach that Sodom stands for the Moabites and Ammonites, the descendants of Lot who were the only survivors of the judgment [Gen 19].  However, today there are no Moabite or Ammonites left. Neither is there a Philistia or Edom.

Yes! we see the little hopeful Messianic in the back of the room, chirping, “but nothing in impossible with God”. Yes! but a lot of things are improbable. Scripture interprets Scripture, not our hopes and ideas.

It is also possible that Ezekiel means something else when he says Sodom. In the Book of the Revelation, Sodom and Egypt are an allegory for “the great city” which we know to be Papal Rome. [Rev 11:8]

And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, Heb. 9:27 There are no second chances. We don’t see how all these people can literally come back and be restored. But then it doesn’t have anything that would make one think that it is symbolic either.

Time will tell. Somehow the Northern Tribes and Sodom must be repentant and restored back from their captivity, at the same time as Judah, and since Judah is due to be exiled once more, maybe this is farther in the future then we think. (See Also: Zech. 14:1-5]

Ezekiel 16:43b-52 A Foundlings Tail (part 7)

 

The Lack of Charity

“Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?  44 Behold, every one who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’  45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.  46 And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.  47 Yet you were not content to walk in their ways, or do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.  48 As I live, says the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.  49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  50 They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them, when I saw it.  51 Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations which you have committed.  52 Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have made judgment favorable to your sisters; because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous. Ezek. 16:43b-52

God starts out with the insult of insults, instead of being His beloved, pure and clean, she is rather the daughter of a Hittite and Amorite  and a sister to Samaria. But to top it off, He compares them to Sodom, nothing in the Bible is a greater insult than being compared to Sodom. Even in our culture Sodom is a byword for all that is evil and destined to be destroyed. A city so wicked that God erased them from the face of the earth. Archeologist  are still not definitive as to where it was. One of the mistaken interpretations of Gen 19, that the great sin of the city was homosexuality. We see here that the greater sin was being uncharitable to the poor and needy.

A careful reading of Gen 19 reveals that it is not their homosexuality that was condemned, but the fact that their homosexuality caused them to behave in an inhospitable manner. Throughout the ancient world hospitality was a cardinal responsibility of everyone. There were no inns or hostile for travelers to stay in. So it was a universal rule that travelers be taken in and cared for and protected. Most pagan culture have a similar story where the god or king goes traveling to see if his people are kind and charitable or not. If they treat him well they are rewarded, if not they are punished or cursed. In Gen 19, where the three visitors come to Sodom, only Lot offers them hospitality. Because of the wholesale homosexuality the citizens of the city, they only want to prey on the visitor rather than protect them, and this is why they were cursed. This is not the instructions of God. The law states that the traveler is to be shown hospitality.

Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. Deut. 10:19

Because Judah had the temple, she is more guilty than the Northern tribes.  After Solomon’s reign the Northern ten tribes had split politically with Judah. This left Samaria or the northern tribes with no access to the temple, and it’s distribution system. The reason that this is important is that God’s welfare system was to be run by the priests and Levites through the temple.  See Also: Tithing.

Where Samaria’s inhospitality was there because they had lost the distribution network. Judah was without excuse as they had the temple and the Priests and Levites to instruct them. Clearly from this text we see that they had not kept these laws of charity and hospitality. They now stand condemned by God for not caring for the poor and needy, their neighbor or the traveler.

God clearly intended for his spiritual leaders to care for the poor and needy, not the government. It was to the temple and Levites that the widow and orphans were to turn, not the king. When the early church was uninvited to the temple they picked deacons to fulfill this need. [Acts 6] They did not complain to the temple authorities. They did not turn to the Roman government.