THERE IS A STARTING POINT

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THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM

THERE IS A STARTING POINT

Proverbs 30:4  Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

After I am introduced to people, it is quite common to hear them call me “Danny,” because that is what they heard instead of “Dana.”  Without being corrected, they will continue to call me “Danny,” because they think that is my name.  Not one, however, continues to call me “Danny” once they have been told that my name is “Dana.”  Most believers live their entire lives saying things like, “Praise God!” and “Praise the name of the LORD,” but they don’t even know His name.  They have very probably heard it at some point in their life; but it didn’t register for them in the same way that those who called me “Danny” registered the fact that my name is “Dana.”

It is imperative, before we engage in our study and pursuit of genuine discipleship, that I explain why you will generally never see me use the names and terms: God, Lord, Jesus and Christ.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of IAUE is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of IAUE is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of IAUE is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Everyone is accustomed to seeing, “the fear of the LORD,” instead of “the fear of IAUE,” however, the Hebrew text rendered in most English versions of the Old Testament as “the LORD” is not actually a title, but a name.  In other words, “the LORD” is NOT a legitimate translation, but rather, it is a deliberate mistranslation, a substitution. 

It is not my intention to cast aspersions on the integrity of translators.  I merely want you to understand that the name of our Creator was not a secret.  It was not hidden.  It was revealed more than 6,300 times throughout the Old Testament.  Bible students refer to it as the “tetragrammaton” because it consists of four Hebrew letters:  yod-he-vav-he.  This is frequently represented as YHVH.  These facts are not disputed.  There is, however, question about how the name is pronounced.  The best scholarship renders the name in English as “IAUE.”  It is from this that the popular rendering of “Yahweh” originates.  This is actually a lazy way of pronouncing the more accurate, “ee-ah-ooh-eh.”  The “ee-ah” easily becomes pronounced “yah,” and the “oo-eh” easily becomes “weh” unless an effort is made not to put a “w” in it. (There is no “w” in Hebrew.) I prefer to represent the name as IAUE, and leave the choice of pronunciation to you.

The Christian culture promotes the substitution over the translation.  We are regularly told to “praise the LORD,” to “bless the name of the LORD,” to “sing unto the LORD a new song,” and to “call upon the name of the LORD.”  In reality, these scripturally based comments are all misleading.  We absolutely are not instructed to praise the lord, but rather to praise IAUE.  We are told to bless “the name” of IAUE, to sing unto IAUE a new song, to call upon “the name” of IAUE.  His name is not “the LORD.”  My name is not Danny, and people have the sense not to call me that any more when they learn my name is Dana; and yet so many believers struggle to honor their Creator with equal respect.  This says much about the quality of our repentance and servitude to Him.

His name, also, is not “God.”  In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word rendered “God” in English translations is usually the word “Elohim.”  This is a word that means “mighty one.” It is interesting how we use the word “god” to refer to the idols served by pagan peoples; but “God” when referring to IAUE.  In the Scripture we see the names of many “gods” mentioned, “Molech, Baal, Dagon, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Asherah, Castor, Pollux, Diana/Artemis, Chiun, Jupiter, Zeus, Mercury, Merodach, Nebo, Milcom, Rimmon, Sikkuth, Tammuz, Gad.  I don’t know about you, but it is offensive to me even to list these names for you to read; but the point is, these are “gods” to men.  The concept of “god” is man-made.  It is not divine.  You cannot change the “g” to a “G” and make any difference with this word.  IAUE is not “A god;” neither is He “THE God.”  IAUE is what He is; and beside Him there is none other like Him.  When we say that “He is my God,” we are authenticating the validity of others to be like Him.  When we say, “He is the one true God,” we put Him in competition with others who say the same thing about their god.  IAUE is, and that is enough for me.  IAUE is the Creator, and all proceeds forth from Him.  I have no need to coin His attributes with a man-made concept and belittle Him by making him one of thousands that men worship on this earth.  (The English word, “god” is derived from the name of a pagan deity; just as the word “lord” is derived from the name of a pagan deity.  Frankly, it is insulting to use names derived from idols to refer to the one who is no idol; but is the Creator of all.)

The term “Christ” is derived from the Greek word, “Christos,” which literally means “anointed.”  “Christos” is a translation of the Hebrew, “Mashiyac,” the word we know as “Messiah.”  The concept of the promise of Messiah has thousands of years of heritage and belief. The word “Christ” has no heritage at all.  It is meaningless to the Hebrew. Yes, “mashiyac” literally means “anointed” as does “christos,” but this is a word that should not be translated.  It should be transliterated.  Mashiyach is a person, not simply an “anointed one.” There is no connection of “Christ” with thousands of years of Hebrew culture and expectation, of promise and hope of redemption, of salvation and restoration.  This word has become a wedge between gentiles and Hebrews.  The Jews are looking for THE Messiah, not A Christ. 

“…what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?”

What is His Son’s name?  Is it “Jesus?”  No.  Not even close.

Where did the name, “Jesus” originate?  Did you know that NO ONE called Him “Jesus” until around 1500 AD?  That’s right.  The name unto which the Christian church has devoted such intense loyalty was never uttered for nearly 1,500 years after the birth of the church in Acts 2.  Why is this?  In the Hebrew alphabet, there is no “J.” 

John 17:6  I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

The name of the Son of IAUE is a compound word.  It joins the manifestation of the name of IAUE with the Son’s mission, which is to save.

Matthew 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Yahushua (IAUSHUE): for he shall save his people from their sins.

So, how did we arrive at “Jesus” as His name?  When the Hebrew name, Yahushua, was transliterated in the Greek New Testament texts, the Greek alphabet was incapable of an accurate rendering.  The Greek had no “y” or “sh” dipthong; So Yahushua became “Iesous.”  (There is some scholarship that suggests that this was not merely a best-effort at transliterating the name.  Some suggest it combines “Ieso,” a pagan healing deity, with “Zeus” the Greek god of gods.  Whether or not this is accurate has no bearing on the fact that “Iesous” is not the name of the Son of IAUE.).

From the Greek text, the Latin translation of the Scriptures did not draw from the original Hebrew; but transliterated the flawed Greek transliteration, and “Iesous” became “Iesus.”  Around 1500 AD, the letter “J” was introduced into alphabets.  When English translations were made from the Latin Vulgate, again, the translators did not go to the original Hebrew.  They simply took the already corrupted Latin “Iesus,” and simply began the name with a “J.”  It was also vogue to change many biblical names that begin with a “Y” sound, such that Yerushalyim became Jerusalem.  Yehoshaphat become Jehoshaphat.  Yehoshua became Joshua. Yirmeyahu became Jeremiah, etc.  Remember, there is no “J” in Hebrew; not 2,000 years ago; and not today. (Note, if you will, how similar these modified names are to the original; then contrast that with the difference between Yahushua and Jesus. Why was this not made Jahushua, instead of Jesus?)

So, what, you might ask, is the big issue with the names?  I have heard many believers say to me, “He knows who I am talking to, so what difference does it make what I call Him?”  Even total strangers, however, will stop calling me “Danny” when they find out my name is “Dana.”  What kind of disrespect must we show IAUE when we persist on calling Him by the wrong name; or insisting on calling His Son by a name that is evolved from several corruptions of His birth name? 

There are many almost immediately realized benefits from using the correct names and terms, putting an end to using terms derived from the names of pagan deities. One of the first things that you will discover when you make the transition is:

Psalm 111:10 The fear of IAUE is the beginning of wisdom…
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of IAUE is the beginning of knowledge...

Until you begin to read the Scriptures with the correct names, you will read these as “the fear of the LORD,” and the fear of the LORD is NOT the beginning of wisdom or the beginning of knowledge.  An intimate and very personal sense of accountability before your Creator is born the moment you commit to His name, and stop referring to Him as ”the LORD.”   With that comes the fear of IAUE.  This is no reverential awe; but a terror of the Creator and an awareness that our every act of disobedience is subject to His swift discipline. The lack of this fear in our experience prevents us from seeing the “big picture” in our spiritual lives.  The fear of IAUE is the starting point of true wisdom and true knowledge.  All of the knowledge we have accrued up until now is awaiting a revelation of this big picture to enable us to begin growing in wisdom and knowledge.  Be prepared to experience a paradigm shift in your walk with Elohim.