Hallowed be Your name!

But what is this name?

1. Introduction

Jesus, our Lord and Savior, teaches us in His word how to pray our Father. And the very first thing to ask is, " Hallowed be Your name." or in other words, "May your name be recognized as holy." (Matthew 6: 9)

It was during the Passover season that our Savior made the most magisterial demonstration of His ardent desire to see the name of His Father hallowed. It is indeed on the tenth day of the first month that he comes to offer himself to his Father in the holy city as a flawless lamb and here is the dialogue he has with his Father while entering the city, according to John 12: 23-28:

" ²³ But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much [d]grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

Jesus Predicts His Death on the Cross

²⁷ “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

Then a few days later, just before his sacrifice, let us read how Jesus still talks to his Father in John 17: 6
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word."

2. But what is His name?

Throughout the Bible, we read that writers speak of their Creator in many ways: the names primarily used to refer to our Creator are in the Hebrew text and if I write them well: Yehoa or Jehovah or Yahweh (יהוה) and Elohim (אלהים). These names are often translated respectively by Lord and God.

We will try to understand a little better when and how these different names are used.

First of all, here is the explanation I offer to explain my choice to call my Creator and Father Yehoah: I noticed that based on the biblical writings, the names ending in "u" were those where the vav was the last letter of the name as in II Kings 18:18, Hilqiyahu חלקיהו or again in II Kings 7:22, the name Hezekiah pronounced otherwise in Hebrew חזקיהו Hezkiahu or Eli, Elijahu in Hebrew and written אליהו.

On the other hand, when the vav is not the last letter, it is pronounced o as in the following examples:

1. In I Kings 22: 41, Jehoshaphat is written יהושפט.

2. Josedech in Haggai 2: 2 יהוצדק.

3. In the same verse, Joshua (Yehoshua) יהושע.

4. In II Kings 11: 9, Jehoiada writes יהוידע.

According to this, one could understand that the tetragrammaton יהוה should not be pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah nor Yahou but simply Yehoah. I have noticed that other apparently believers also pronounce it like that!

The name of Yehoah that I will use in the following of the text has been used by men since the creation of Adam.

Eve, and no doubt many people from the period before the flood, pronounced the name of Yehoa. Regarding Eve, it can be read in Genesis 4: 1

" Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from Yehoah.”

It also seems that during the pre-flood period, after the birth of Seth's son, men began to usurp the name of Yehoah by calling themselves by that name, thus posing as deities.

Indeed, Genesis 4:26 generally translated from Hebrew as follows " And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of Yehoah.” could as well be translated as - " And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call themselves by the name of Yehoah. "

This last translation could also better explain the following text where it is written that the sons of these people are called sons of Elohim (we will write later about the use of Elohim). These sons of Elohim will make believe that they have divine powers giving them authority to take women according to their own will, guided solely by their physical beauty and their only carnal desires. The choice of these women would no longer be done by consulting the Creator. This is what we read in Genesis 6: 2 " that the sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose."

These individuals will succeed in seducing the humanity at that time by posing as gods and they would make sure, as it is the case unfortunately also today, that most people started to have only evil thoughts. This is why Elohim decided to withdraw his Spirit from men and destroy them by the flood 120 years later. Noah and thanks to him his immediate family were an exception. This is what is written in Genesis 6: 3 to 8

" ³ And Yehoah said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of Elohim came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. “⁵ Then Yehoah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And Yehoah was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So Yehoah said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of Yehoah."

After the flood, Noah, Abraham, and many others will continue to call the Creator by his name of Yehoah as we can read for instance in Genesis 9:26 - " And he said: “Blessed be Yehoah, Elohim of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant."

And to finish with this topic about His name, let the prophet Amos confirm without any shadow of a doubt that the name to sanctify is that of Yehoah " He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth; Yehoah is His name. (Amos 5: 8)

3. Yehoah (יהוה) and "I will be" (אהיה) are his names!

A dialogue between our Father and Moses confirms that Elohim, translated by the word God is not his name. This dialogue takes place when Moses is entrusted with the mission of going to deliver the Hebrew people. It is then the moment when the Lord makes himself known by a new name, "Ehyeh acher Ehyeh" (אהיה אשר אהיה).

Let's read that in Exodus 3: 13-15:

" ¹³ Then Moses said to Elohim, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ And Elohim said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you. ” ¹⁵ Moreover Elohim said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Yehoah Elohim of your fathers, Elohim of Abraham, Elohim of Isaac, and Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations."

The same word אהיה is also used but as a verb this time and is translated by I will be like for example in Genesis 26: 3:

“³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. "

By the way, please note that in the 3rd person, the form "it will be" is also used in the Bible with the word "יהיה" which is different from "יהוה".

4. Elohim is not his name but the title of Yehoah.

If you read all the biblical passages where the name Elohim is used, you should understand Elohim is a title or a surname. But belonging to this more than prestigious family is conditioned by a mutual acceptance, on the one hand by the Hof the family and on the other hand sometimes by a man, a tribe or even a nation.

Yehoah agrees to be called Elohim by people or selected nations during the history of humanity. In Psalm 100, the whole earth is invited to make a joyous shout for Yehoah and in verse 3 we read, " Know that Yehoah, He is Elohim; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture."

As we read earlier, Noah stated that Yehoah is the Elohim of Shem.

Some 500 years later, Yehoah made a covenant with Abram who became Abraham and henceforth proclaimed himself the Elohim of Abraham and his descendants as it is written in Genesis 17: 7:

" And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim to you and your descendants after you."

No one can appropriate this belonging to Elohim unless it is offered by Yehoah. So Abraham's oldest servant, when he is commissioned to find a wife for Isaac, does not address Yehoah as his Elohim but as Abraham's Elohim :

" Then he said, “O Yehoah Elohim of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.” (Genesis 24:12)

Elohim will accept years later to be also the Elohim of Isaac and then of Jacob as it can be read in the following passages:

· " And behold, Yehoah stood above it (i.e. the ladder) and said: “I am Yehoah Elohim of Abraham your father and Elohim of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. (Genesis 28:13)

· " Moreover He said, “I am Elohim of your father—Elohim of Abraham, Elohim of Isaac, and Elohim of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon Elohim. (Exodus 3: 6)

It is still so in the time of Jesus as Jesus Himself confirms when He repeats the words that Yehoah uttered to Moses in Matthew 22:32:

" I am Elohim of Abraham, Elohim of Isaac, and Elohim of Jacob’? Elohim is not Elohim of the dead, but of the living."

But after the exit out of Egypt, a great change has taken place because Yehoah agrees to become Elohim of a many, the Children of Israel:

" I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their Elohim.”
(Exodus 29:45)

5. The signs by which Yehoah accepts to be the Elohim of men

Yehoah is open to everyone and He offers to everyone to be his Elohim. The only requirement we have to fulfil: simply show Him our love. John tells us how to love Yehoah

" For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.... "(I John 5: 3).

What John is writing is not new since Yehoah Himself gives the same message in the book of the Prophet Ezekiel:

" ¹⁹ I am Yehoah your Elohim: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; ²⁰ hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Yehoah your Elohim."  (Ezekiel 20: 19-20)

David was one of those men who sanctified the name of his Elohim, as we read in many of his psalms:

· " ³¹ This also shall please Yehah better than an ox or bull, which has horns and hooves. ³² The humble shall see this and be glad; and you who seek Elohim, your hearts shall live.
³³ For the Yehoah hears the poor, and does not despise His prisoners.
³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵ For Elohim will save Zion and build the cities of Judah,that they may dwell there and possess it.
³⁶ Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it. (Psalm 69: 31-36)

· Now in Psalm 119:
" ¹²⁷ Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold!
¹²⁸ Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right;
I hate every false way.
פ PE ¹²⁹ Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them.
¹³⁰ The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
¹³¹ I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.
¹³² Look upon me and be merciful to me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name. (Psalm 119: 127-132)

Yehoah promises in Isaiah 56 to be approached by all the foreigners who will love His name and thereby He agrees to become their Elohim:

" ³ Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to Yehoah speak, saying, “Yehoah has utterly separated me from His people”; Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.”
⁴ For thus says Yehoah: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant,
⁵ Even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
⁶ “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to Yehoah, to serve Him, and to love the name of Yehoah, to be His servants. — Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—
⁷ Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

6. Elohim, a title that is not addressed only to Yehoah!

If the name of Yehoah is unique and that of our Father and of Him alone, the title of Elohim is attributed to several.

The meaning of this name seems to be the family of the Mighty or those who are in the front line.

We had mentioned at the beginning that the name of Elohim may have been usurped by men before the flood, but it is interesting to know that the name of Elohim is nevertheless granted by our Father to personalities whom He selects.

The first personality to whom this title is given by our Father is the one who has become our Savior, the one to whom some give the name of Yahshua but we will use here the name of Jesus, the Greek Iησοῦς used in the New Testament in Greek. It is the one whom John presents to us at the beginning of his gospel:

"¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. ² He was in the beginning with Elohim. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ⁶ There was a man sent from Elohim, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of Elohim, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of Elohim.
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. ”
¹⁶ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen Elohim at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

This Jesus, alias Yahshua, is the one to whom Yehoah gives the title of Elohim in Psalm 45, verses 7 and 8:

" ⁷ Therefore Elohim, Your Elohim, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions. ⁸ All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad."

This Jesus, as we have already read at the beginning of the Gospel of John, created with Elohim, his Elohim, among others Adam according to their image:

"²⁶ Then Elohim said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

Moses also reveals to us the existence of several Elohim in Deuteronomy 10: 16 and 17:

"¹⁶ Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. ¹⁷ For Yehoah your Elohim is Elohim of Elohim and Yehoah of Yehoahs, the great Elohim, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. "

This is confirmed in several other places of the Old Covenant where the name of Elohim is used with the plural.

Except for Jesus, Psalm 82 in verses 6 and 7 reveals that many other mortals are also called Elohim by Yehoah:

"I said: You are Elohim, you are all sons of the Most High. However you will all die like humans. You will fall like any prince. "

The explanation of the reasons for the death of these Elohim will be given later.

7. The Passover sacrifice shows us the path to freedom

On the night following Passover, we first remember the freedom given by Yehoah to the Hebrew and the end of the cruel domination of Pharao. But we also remember the path to freedom that Jesus shows us, the one who is called Elohim by Yehoah his Elohim. This path begins with this humiliation that Jesus accepted by abandoning his title of Elohim to become a simple human being as each of us. Jesus and his Father also accepted to have Jesus being a Passover holocaust as the prophet Isaiah tells us, in chapter 53, verses 4 to 12. As you read this passage, please note that this prophecy speaks specifically of a man and that this man has suffered what Jesus suffered:

"⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; And Yehoah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
⁹ And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
¹⁰ Yet it pleased Yehoah to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of Yehoah shall prosper in His hand.
¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

So just like the Hebrew, after being humiliated for so many years by the cruel power of Pharaoh, Jesus also accepted to be humbled and suffered death under the cruel power of Satan the prince of this world. But after the Passover sacrifice He suffered, He experienced His resurrection as a liberation from the power of Satan. He then went back to His Father to recover His title of Elohim.

The Messiah Jesus thus showed us all the way to freedom and life.

8. The Jewish people and a large crowd of people following the same path

Now, it is time to show by the prophecy that the Jewish people, of whom Jesus is a part, have followed unconsciously the same path as that of Jesus, the path of humiliation and cruelty of the people against them while the Jewish people were innocent. Let's read that in Psalm 44, verses 10 to 27 and note that here it is no longer a single man but many Jewish people who are sent as sheep for the slaughter:

"¹⁰ You make us turn back from the enemy, and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. ¹¹ You have given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations. ¹² You sell Your people for next to nothing, and are not enriched by selling them. ¹³ You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those all around us. ¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. ¹⁵ My dishonor is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me, ¹⁶ Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, because of the enemy and the avenger.¹⁷ All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. ¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way; ¹⁹ But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. ²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our Elohim, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, ²¹ Would not Elohim search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. ²² Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ²³ Awake! Why do You sleep, O Yehoah? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. ²⁴ Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? ²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground. ²⁶ Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake."

It is also important to note that, like Jesus, the vast majority of the Jewish people have never shown hatred towards their executioners; on the contrary, the Jewish people have always tried to do good around them in all the places where they were immigrants!

The example of the Jewish people will be followed by many people of all nations on earth, people who will also want as the Messiah to walk the path that leads to the liberation of the destructive power of Satan. This is what we can read in the book of Revelation, chapter 7, verses 9 to 17:

“⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our Elohim who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped Elohim, ¹² saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our Elohim forever and ever. Amen.”
¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore they are before the throne of Elohim, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. ¹⁶ They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And Elohim will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

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