Studies Page

  Shalom
  to you,

Wellsprings of Torah,  www.TorahWellsprings.org
Rick Wills - Messianic Elder,  Mishareth@TorahWellsprings.org

Name
by Rick Wills

    What is a name? In the Hebrew it is a “shem”, which means it is a “there”. To vocalize a name is to point your attention to somewhere... to an over-there. If I say your name, you are there. But if I say the Name of the Lord... what is it that will be there? Can we see what is there?

    In Exo. 3:13, when the Lord is sending Moshe (Moses) to Egypt in order to free the Israelites, Moshe asks the Lord, “...they (the Israelites) will ask me, What is his name? What shall I say to them?” Here, the word "what"... is the key, the Name is a “what,” and the Lord’s Name is what will be there when you pronounce it.

    Repeatedly we hear the words... as in Deu. 16:2, Present your offerings...

“in the place that the Lord chooses as a dwelling for His Name.”

    That "place," where the Lord allowed his Name to dwell, was near the Altar, and upon the Ark of the Covenant... the Mercy Seat for God’s Name. As it is attested to in 2 Sam. 6:2,

"the Ark of God, which is called Name... the Name of the Lord of Hosts,
that is sitting with the Cheruvim upon it."

    The Name is sitting on the Ark, and it is "dwelling" near the Altar... this is the “there” the Name refers to. And the Name was carried by means of the Ark, but sometimes the Name did more -- it needed to walk and fight, so it entered another dwelling, a malakh (an angel). This is demonstrated in Exo. 23:20...21,

 “Behold me, as I send my angel in front of you,
my Name is within him.”

    This malakh (angel) lead the Israelites, and fought their enemies, assuring them their promised Land. Yet it was not the malakh... the malakh was a host, a carrier. It was the Name that was wihin the malakh. Exo 15:3, “the Lord is a Man-of-War, the Lord is his Name.” He is a fighter, and he "is" his Name. Shouldn’t we be careful when invoking the Lord’s attention... by pronouncing such a Name?

    But when you did want and need his attention, how did you pronounce this Name that was told to Moshe (Moses)?

    The Name Moshe was told was YHWH, which is usually pronounced as Adonoi. Later, that name was referred to with another name, Meforash... which was derived from the word Parash. Parash means to be separated or uniquely distinguishable. In this case it means to be removed from common things... as a secret is safe, and to be known to only the most reverent and careful.

    Around the mystique of Meforashcame the sect of Par’shim ...Pharisees. They were the Keepers of the Name. All of their beliefs were centered on knowing the Holy Name. But the Name had begun with Moshe. Moshe conveyed the Name to Ah'ron the Cohen Gadol. Ah'ron gave it to El'azar, and El'azar gave it to Pinchas, and each High Priest after him also transmitted the Name to the next in their family line.

    This Name was called upon within the Holy of Holies each Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). By means of this Name the Lord covered the sins of Yisrael, year by year... unto the Messiah. But where the Name had started as the four letter name, YHWH, by the time of Solomon it had changed to a twelve letter construction. This is because the Tabernacle was no longer a movable Tent of Skins. Now it had become a Stone Temple that resided in only one place, Jerusalem. The Name reflected that change and elevation in Israel’s status upon the earth. Yet from the time of Solomon to the Babylonian Exile, idolatry had become common. It was as though everyone was drunk with the convenience of idolatry, and many were betraying the disciplines that Moshe (Moses) had provided for the support and honor of the Name... being the Law.

    Therefore the pronouncements of the Name became a secret of the Priesthood. They would only pray with the Name when they were within the Temple proper. Moreover, they would only pronounce his Name when a company of Priests were chanting choruses and praise. Thereby, no one could overhear the Name, and afterward abuse it with their idolatries. For the Name had been given to Yisrael in order to empower them as a Holy People. They wrote the Name upon the walls of the Holy Temple, and they understood the Prophet saying... “the Lord is seeking a people who would allow the Name to dwell within the walls of their own hearts.”

    When Babylon destroyed the Temple, and Yisrael was carried into slavery, they hung their harps upon the willow branches near the Chabar River. The Priests no longer had the Temple to pray within, and there was no need for the sounds of their harps as they prayed with the Holy Name. And throughout the Exile, the Name was never spoken. After 70 years, another generation had grown up without their Elders, the Name had become obscure. The twelve letter Name was lost forever -- and only the Parishim (Pharisees) knew the secrets of the four letter Name.

    After Babylon, there was no idolatry, and everyone openly called to the Lord with YHWH. The Priests would call with his servants, and Elders with the young ...and the Name was openly celebrated ...until the invasions by the Greeks. For, with the Greeks, idolatry had come again. Then, for two hundred years before the Messiah ...the Name became a secret of the Priests again. That is when it was referred to as Shem Ha-Meforash, and as Adonoi. This piety of guarding the Name, and the consequence of a faction having something that others did not, also produced many private sects that rivaled the Priesthood in their authority. The Qumran, Essene, Sadducee and Pharisee were only a few. And Israel gradually became a hot-bed of spiritual competition ... with the Name being the coveted prize and the power of their spiritual identities.

    By the time of the Messiah, the Name was transmitted from Priest to Disciple only once every seven years. Moreover, it was only spoken by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. When the Priest spoke the Name on that day, he did so in a very low tone, with the accompaniment of harps and horns, and the choruses of priests chanting psalms. No one but the most faithful knew the pronouncements of the Name. Yet when God heard the Name on that day, his Glory filled the Temple again, and it poured out upon everyone within Jerusalem. The Glory was heavy, and it pressed everyone to the ground. They laid prostrate with the Spirit upon them. Then, as the Priest left the Temple chambers, so the Spirit lifted from streets of Jerusalem.

    Yet when Rome besieged Jerusalem, 40 years after the Messiah, the Priests were murdered, the Temple walls dismantled, and the grounds were burned ... and the Name on its walls was gone. In reference to this, a Rabbi of the Talmud tells us that as a child he crowded close to the High Priest in order to hear the Holy Name, but the minstrels were too loud, and the High Priest was praying too low. Soon after that, Jerusalem was besieged ...the Priest was dead, and he had never heard the Name.

    Today Israel waits for the Messiah. They believe he will know the Glorious Names. With him, peace will come to Jerusalem, and the Temple will be reconstructed. With him, everyone will know the Name of the Lord ...the child and the mother, the men and their maidens ...and all of Yisrael will call upon the Lord with one Name. This concept of what the Messiah can accomplish with the Name is very important in order to fully comprehend something that the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) said to his Disciples...

    From this it is evident that the privacy of the Name was respected by the Messiah. He said, "Pray in this way, 'Our Father, who is in the heavens, may your Name be Sanctified, may your Kingdom be constructed, and your desires fulfilled on the earth as it is in the heavens.'"

    When a child, who loves his father, wants to dignify him with his respect -- he does not call him "Frank" or "Sebastian." Rather he says, "My Dad" or "My Father." Therefore, Yeshua did not say the Name ...he said, "Our Father," and here he is including us all by saying "our," and he affirms his respect by saying, "may your Name be Holy." For by that Name a Holy Nation can be gathered, and they can accomplish his will on earth.

    This is Yeshua's (Jesus) heart and devotion ... Psalm 63:4, "Yes, I will bless you with my life ...with your Name, I will raise my hands. My soul is satisfied with fatness and fullness ...My mouth sings praise, my lips shine praise." The Name is part of the Nefesh (the soul) of your body. As your body breathes, the Name is in your breath. The letters of "Yah" are sounded as you draw breath, and the letters of "Uah" are heard as you release breath. The Name is the action that sustains your Nefesh (soul) upon the earth. And if the Lord withdraws his Name from you, your soul will wither with the wind that passes beside you.

    Baruch Hashem.