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Should we use the Name?
For a long time, the Jews often used the name of God. For example the story about Ruth says: "Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, «YHWH be with you!» «YHWH bless you!» they called back." (Ruth 2:4) The Jewish Talmud says: "It was ordained that a man should greet his friends by mentioning the Name." (Berakhot 9:5)
But after some time, the Jews stopped using it. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary it happened because of
a misinterpretation of Lev. 24:16, "anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death".
Maybe they stopped using it to prevent none-Jews to get to know it
and misuse it, or maybe superstition made them think that the name
was too holy to be pronounced by imperfect men.
The
Jews had obviously forgotten what God had said to Moses: "Say to the Israelites: YHWH, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation." (Exodus 3:15)
Micah 4:5 shows
that they who trust in the God of the Bible, will keep his name:
"For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and
we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever."
(American
Standard Version) On the
other side, they who opposes the God of the Bible, are characterized
by avoiding using his name. We clearly see the contrast in Jesus'
conversation with Satan, as it is described in Matthew 4:1-11. Satan
consistently used the title "God", and quoted a scripture
that didn't have the name of God. Jesus answered every time by
citing scriptures that had the name of God. That's
the way it is - we like to use the name of a person who really means
a lot to us, because it is of great value. On the other hand we will
express disdain by only mentioning the name of a person we hate. The
Bible shows us that Satan presumably has a plan of getting people to
forget the name of God, by getting people to worship other gods. He
wanted this to happen with the Israelites, a situation Jeremiah
23:27 describes: "that think to cause my people to forget my name
by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their
fathers forgat my name for Baal." (American
Standard Version)
Being
uncertain of the pronunciation is no reason to avoid using the name.
Most of the people have no problem using the name of Jesus, though
this is not the correct pronunciation. His name was probably
pronounced Yeshua', Yoshua' or Yehoshua'.
The
conclusion must be that is is not wrongful to use God's name - it is
actually a demand for they who claim to worship the God of the
Bible. The Bible says that using his name is necessary to get
approved by God: "And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved"
(Joel 2:32, New International Version. Some translations 3:5)
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