Text: Exodus 3:11-15
God is the Author of His name. It was considered by the Jews to be a name so holy that they would discard a quill after once writing it, and the pronunciation of it was forbidden. For this reason, it appears in the Old Testament by the consonants "YHWH", and without vowels. The early Christians in order to be able to pronounce it interpolated the vowels used in the word "Adonai," or "Lord."
"What’s in a name?" asked Shakespeare. From time immemorial, names have been used to express attributes or descriptions. Plato, therefore, speaking out of his unenlightened soul, profoundly declared, "Nothing can express His nature, therefore no name can be attributed to Him." Consequently the Scriptures reveal particular names for God when describing particular attributes, when He wars against the wicked, God is known as the "Lord of Sabaoth" --"The Lord of the armies of Heaven." But when He shows mercy, the Jewish Rabbins affirm He is peculiarly known by the name "Jehovah" --"I, I am" --"I am He who was, who is, who ever shall be;" "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End." This is He whose goings forth have been of old, from Everlasting." There never was a time when He was not; there will never be a time when He is not. Therefore, when Hoses asked God His name, he was actually questioning Him as to His nature.
It is certain the name "Jehovah" is derived from the verb "to be", but the manner of translating it has assumed three similar interpretations. The Masoretes, a Jewish sect living circa 700 A.D., translated the name as the Causative form of the verb. They thus rendered the meaning, "He causes to be." The nature of God here portrayed was His ability to create: "I cause to be what I cause to be," or "I create what I create." To the children of Israel languishing under the tyranny of Egyptian bondage, Moses was sent with the message that the promises made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob were not empty words --that He who "causes to be what He causes to be" had sent him. To God alone Who absorbs all perfections belongs all power and government. It meant all things in Heaven and earth derive their existence according to His will, and that lie further sustains and governs all according to His will. "He can create; He can destroy," because all natural phenomena as earthquakes or stormy winds --all fulfill His will. All historical events whether battles or the reigns of kings --all have their origin in the will of God Who is both Creator and Lord. It meant, "He doeth according to His will in the armies of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth." He is therefore the Giver of Life to all --to men as well as to nations. This concept was well known among the ancient Greeks who in their paganism called their supreme cod "Zeus" the root word of which means "Life."
The translators of the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, working circa 400 B.C., rendered the name "Jehovah" in the simple form of the verb: "I, I am," or "I am He who is." Jerome in his Latin version, known as the Vulgate, translated it "I am Who I am."
The nature of God here described is His Eternal Being: He will be what He will be. It graphically teaches both His Eternality and His Self-Existence. As He was "In the beginning," He must Himself be Uncaused, while being, the Cause of everything else. He therefore has the exclusive claim to Sovereignty, to worship, and to obedience. Since "He is", and dwells in the eternal present, it is clear He manifests His will by a succession of events which He directs towards His own goal.
A third translation renders the name "Jehovah" as the simple form of the verb "to be" while translating it as the future tense --"I will be." This translation teaches His Perpetual Duration, and refers to the future accomplishments of promises already made. To the Jews suffering under the bitter cruelties of Pharaoh, the name of God meant that He Who once gave His Word to Abraham to make of him a great nation was Present and His attention was now toward his descendants to Deliver them, to Guide them, and to Judge them. He would even be easily accessible to them by Worship. However, it meant as well that He retains His freedom to be present as He will be present and to "show mercy upon whom He will show mercy." They were thus assured of overcoming all things under His guidance.
The mystery of Jehovah’s name lies in the fact "He is." As He is Eternal, He is Changeless; as He is Faithful, He is worthy of our Trust.
On November 30, 1861 in the nation’s capital, Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase requested the Philadelphia Hint Director to submit a design for a coin the superscription of which would express in fewest and tersest words the "trust of our people in God." "No nation can be strong," he declared, "except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defence." The result was a new coin --the two-cent piece; and the national motto became "In God We Trust." A Law passed by the Eighty-Fourth Congress on July 11, 1955 provided that all coins and currency of the United States should bear the motto. To adapt it to the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, Congress, on June 14, 1954, had altered it to read, "One nation under God."
When Congress received letters announcing the surrender on October 19, 1781 of British General Charles Cornwallis and his army, it did not feel their march in procession to the Dutch Lutheran Church to express their thanksgiving to Almighty God was a violation of the principle of Separation of Church and State. And when on June 20, 1782 it approved the American Seal containing the "Eye of God" directly above the pyramid and the words "Annuit Coeptis" --"He hath favored our undertaking" --it did not consider this act to be a violation of the doctrine. Their action was simply a declaration of their trust in God.
On December 15, 179l Congress passed the First Amendment to the newly written Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It would take no great scholarship to understand Congress did not make it an offence to exhibit One’s religious convictions.
It was not until June 25, 1962 in the legal case involving Engle vs. Vitale that the Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 that it is a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution to offer prayer in a public school. The next year, on June 17, 1963, in the court cases involving
Abingdon vs. Schenipp, and Murray; vs. the Baltimore School Board, the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that it was "Unconstitutional" to read the Bible or recite the Lord’s Prayer in a public school.
Is simple ignorance the problem here? Or is it not rather the determined efforts of a minority toward the gradual removal of the ancient landmarks that have made this country great?
April 7, 1901 --New Guinea. James Chalmers anchors in the Gulf of Papua off Goaribari Island. He has labored among cannibals since 1877 under the London Missionary Society. When armed natives invite him to a feast tomorrow, they will suddenly fall upon him, and after clubbing him to death, they will decapitate him, and then hack his body to pieces for cooking the same day.
___________________________
"If all our friends only knew what we have said about them behind their backs, we would not have four friends in all the world." --Pascal