JEHOVAH AND THE WORD

"Come therefore, and I will send you unto Pharaoh, that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.  And Moses asked God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?  And He said, Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be a token unto you, that I have sent you:  When you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name?  What shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Therefore you shall say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you" (Exodus 3:10-14 SLV).

The 'Sacred Name of God' was revealed to Moses in passage above.  God told Moses His name, which is written with only four Hebrew letters:  Yud,  hey, vav, hey (YHVH).  This format is  known as the Tetragrammaton.  According to Jewish tradition it is regarded as 'not to be uttered' in order never to profane it in any way.  In Judaism, it is therefore pronounced as 'Adonai,' meaning 'Lord.'  Because of their fear, English translations of the Hebrew scrolls have replaced the Tetragrammaton with 'LORD' (in all capital letters) and the pronunciation of the  'Sacred Name,' in so doing, has become 'lost.'

So, whenever you see the word "LORD" in all caps in your Bible, it has been translated from the Hebrew יְהֹוָה (YHVH or YĕHoVaH).  יְהֹוָה occurs 6518 times in 5521 verses in the Hebrew concordance of the KJV.  It is translated "LORD" 6510 times, "GOD" 4 times (Gen. 6:5; Ex. 23:17; 34:23; Deut. 9:26), and "Jehovah" 4 times (Ex. 6:3; Ps. 85:18; Isa. 12:2; 26:14).

It has always amazed me that the Jewish people have such a fear of mispronouncing God's name, that they basically made one up!  That may be the greatest example of irony that has ever existed!  They have even gone so far that when writing the word "God," they write "G-d!"  Weird, huh?!  What is even weirder, is the fact that God wants us to consider His written Word, the Bible, to be more highly regarded than His name; the Psalmist wrote:  "I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth:  for You have magnified Your Word above Your name" (Psalm 138:2 SLV)!

 

That being the case, shouldn't Jews and Christians regard God's Word with the utmost respect?  In fact, shouldn't Jews and Christians hide His Word in our hearts so that we won't sin against Him?  Shouldn't Jews and Christians have "Obey God" as their number one item on their "to do list?"  I would suggest that God will not be pleased with us until obedience is our number one priority.
 

WE OBEY, NOT TO BE SAVED, BUT TO HONOR THE GOD WHO SAVED US!