Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; “For YAH,
the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:2
Twice the title YAH appears in the New King James Bible (besides the verse above, also Isaiah 26:4). Other versions employ the name “Jehovah,” “Yahweh,” or “the LORD.” In all these cases, the translators looked for an English rendering of the Hebrew “tetragrammaton” – YHWH (sometimes also written JHVH). That’s not easy. Four consonants without vowels make the word unpronounceable in any language.
Used 6,300 times**, YHWH is one of the three major titles for God in the Old Testament.*** Most of the time, the NKJV utilizes the term “the LORD.” This is in keeping with Jewish tradition begun three centuries before Christ. God’s name was regarded to be so sacred by the pious keepers of the Law that it was forbidden to be spoken in public. When the Hebrew Scriptures were read out loud, the title “LORD” was substituted in its place. Soon the original pronunciation was totally lost, and God appeared to be more distant and unknowable than ever before.
People could forget how to call out to God by name, but He knew every man, woman, and child on this planet by their names, and He reached out to them. YHWH, the Creator God (Isaiah 43:1) came in human form (Colossians 1:16). The self-existent One, who had life in Himself (John 5:26) became close and approachable, the visible manifestation of the Great I AM (John 8:58).
God became flesh and then came up-close and personal to Adam’s race. He was given the name that is above every name (Philippians2:9), but YHWH was always hard to pronounce, so in the New Testament, He was called “Yeshua,” which means “Salvation” in Hebrew. In English, we say “Jesus.”
*Christ’s personal name in the Old Testament.
**see also Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 6:1 plus thousands of other references
***It is regarded by many to be the actual name of God and in essence conveys the message “I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
January 8
