DAY 26: THE WORKINGS OF GOD III (YAHWEH)

 30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM

THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022.

TOPIC: THE WORKINGS OF GOD III (YAHWEH)

BIBLE READING: EXODUS 3:1-15

VERSE FOR MEDITATION: EXODUS 6:3 NLT

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Sahddai- ‘God Almighty’- but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the El-Shaddai (Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3). But to the Hebrews, He is the Yahweh (Ex. 3:15; 6:3), and this is the name eternally known to them.

At the time God was revealing this name to Moses, God was introducing another dimension of Himself which were not known to his ancestors- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Hebrews have been in slavery for 390 years at the time Moses encountered God, so El-Shaddai had been sustaining them throughout their journey, but their cry showed that they needed a deliverer, and so Yahweh had to be revealed (Ex. 14:14; 15:3).

In verse 13 of our Bible reading, Moses asked God that if he would say to the children of Israel, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they then asked him what His name was, what should be his reply. Now notice he introduced God as the God of their fathers- that’s El-Shaddai, but the people might ask what His name was. This was not a mistake as this is not a question of “who” but a question of “what”. That is, “what can this God do?” and not “who is this God?” When Pharaoh asked, “Who is the Lord that I should obey?” (Ex. 5:2). Was not a question of identifying a person, but a question of identifying a personality- the nature of this God. And what was Moses’ response? “The God of the Hebrews has met with us.” (Ex. 5:3). Meaning the encounter with God is the encounter with power, and Moses gave Pharaoh a practical answer in chapter 7 (Ex. 7:9, 10).

Now, this new name that God had introduced, what exactly does it mean? My study on this cannot contain the scope of our devotional, but I will just briefly share the overview of the name.

The tetragrammatons, which is the technical term for the four letters YHWH, is based on the Hebrew word for “being,” which could be translated as “I am who I am,” which speaks of the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God. He is dependent upon no one, yet all others are dependent upon Him.

The ancient Hebrews considered God’s name too sacred to write or pronounce. This practice does not come from the commandment not to take the Lord’s name in vain, as many suppose. In Jewish thought, that commandment refers solely to oath-taking, and is a prohibition against swearing by God’s name falsely. Judaism does not prohibit writing the name of God per se; it prohibits only erasing or defacing a name of God. And this commandment not to erase or deface the name of God comes from Deuteronomy 12:3.

So the Hebrews prefer using “El” (which is a general name for god) or “Adonai” (which is a substitute for Yahweh, which means “lord” or “master”. The difference in our Bible is that Yahweh is spelt out LORD). Or simply say, “Hashem” (which literally means “The Name”).

In conclusion, the Hebrews eternally know God as “Yahweh” which means, “I am who I am.” That is, God will be what you want Him to be. And from my research on the name, creation is established on this name, but time has failed me to share this with you. How powerful is that name?

PRAYER:

MY LORD AND MY GOD, HOW SOVEREIGN AND HOW POWERFUL YOU ARE. I THANK YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT JUST MY SUFFICIENCY (EL-SHADDAI), BUT YOU ARE ALSO MY DEPENDENCY (YAWEH). PLEASE HELP ME TO FEAR YOU AND ALWAYS DEPEND ON YOU. AMEN!

DECLARATION:

YAHWEH WILL FIGHT FOR ME, AND I SHALL HOLD MY PEACE. 

JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHRONOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST:

MATTHEW 26; MARK 14; LUKE 22