From time to time I am asked why we do not use the sacred Name for God. My short answer is- 1. All we have are the consonants "YHWH" but no vowels. There is no complete Name or method to pronounce it without the vowels, and God has not seen fit to preserve those vowels in His Word. 2. The vowels for "adonai" (meaning "Lord") were placed under the Name to remind readers to say "Lord" instead of attempting to pronounce the Name itself. This was done by the authority given to Ezra and the Great Assembly when they translated and canonized the Old Testament. This was the fifth and final translation and canonization of the O.T. and it is believed that the previous four had no written vowel pointers at all. This means that the vowels necessary were passed down and preserved orally. According to oral tradition as later recorded in the Mishna, the Aaronic Priesthood was entrusted to preserve and to speak the sacred Name. 3. Jesus and His Apostles were never recorded as using the sacred Name, instead telling their followers to call God "Abba" meaning Father. 4. And perhaps most important, our ministry does not have the authority to insert into Scripture what the sages of the OT and the Apostles of the NT left out. For us that would be quite presumptuous.

Having said these things, I want to make it clear that we respect those who have a different opinion, and are not offended when we hear "Yahweh" or "Yahovah" or an equivalent. We believe that most people who attempt to use the sacred Name are zealous for the truth and do have a heart to please the Lord. It’s very tempting at first glance to believe that it is a nefarious thing to place the vowel pointers for adonai under YHWH in order that the Name would not be read aloud. But we always must consider the issue of authority and ask, "What can I do about it? Have I been given the authority to "correct" this perceived "evil?" And "Could I be wrong?"

For us, when we take into account the 120 great scholars of the Great Assembly led by Ezra who made the decision to not include the vowels for the Name, we have to believe that it was God’s will to do so -especially since Jesus nor His Apostles made a "correction."

In Jewish thought, a name is not merely an arbitrary designation, a random combination of sounds. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the person named. Because a name represents the reputation of the thing named, a name should be treated with the same respect as the thing's reputation. For this reason, God's Names, in all of their forms, are treated with enormous respect and reverence in Judaism. The first Name used for God in Scripture is Elohim which is a uniplural word. God is also known as El Shaddai. This Name is usually translated as "God Almighty." There are also many other names.

The most important of God's Names is the four-letter Name represented by the Hebrew letters Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei (YHVH). It is often referred to as the "Ineffable Name", the "Unutterable Name" or the "Distinctive Name’ among the Jews. Linguistically, it is related to the Hebrew root Hei-Yod-Hei meaning "I AM" or "TO BE", and reflects the fact that God's existence is eternal. We have an in part version in "YAH", especially when used in combination with names or phrases, as in "HalleluYAH" meaning "praise the Lord." Using "Yah" certainly would not be presumptuous or wrong because this part of the name has been preserved.

The reason no one knows for sure how to pronounce YHWH is because Ezra and the Great Assembly did not add the vowels for the name, but instead placed the vowel pointers for "adonai" in their place. At least since that time "Lord" has been spoken whenever the Scriptures were read. We do not know if the vowel pointers for YHWH were in any of the previous translations. We don’t even know if YHWH, as being spoken distinctly, was ever used in the everyday life of an Israelite. It is readily clear that the tradition to say "adonai" in it’s place goes all the way back to the period of the second Temple which Ezra and his team built. The Jews have believed for millennia that to attempt to pronounce YHWH fully was blasphemy.

This apparently goes back at least to the time of Ezra which would give him reason to insert the adonai vowels under the YHWH consonants. The Scripture cited is Leviticus 24:16, -"The one who blasphemes the Name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death." In the Hebrew text this can be translated "he who speaks the Name distinctly has blasphemed." Most scholars believe that this passage is forbidding using God’s Name in speaking a curse and not in using the Name itself -but we really do not know. Whether a misunderstanding of the passage or not, it was a capital offence in Israel to attempt to pronounce the sacred Name distinctly. Since "Yah" was used perhaps speaking distinctly meant saying plainly the full Name.

In addition to the Bible the Jews had traditions which had been passed down orally and eventually recorded in written form called the Mishna. The Mishna is widely accepted by the academic world and by the Jewish community as a historically accurate source. Not being a scholar on the subject, I cannot personally vouch that everything in the book is God’s will, especially knowing that Jesus spoke ill of many of the traditions of the elders. But I do believe that the writings reveal the traditional practices from hundreds of years before Christ and after. The Mishna says that God’s name was pronounced in the Temple by the Priests when they said the Aaronic blessing, (Sotah 7:6) and by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, Yoma 6:2 says,-"they pronounced the name as it was written." Since the vowels for the Name were not there, the Priest must have committed the pronunciation to memory. The Jewish Philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria who lived during the time of Jesus also confirms that when the Temple stood the name of God was only spoken on special occasions by the Priests in the Temple.

The Mishna says that the name of God was only spoken by the Priests in the Temple for special occasions. In addition, Sanhedrin 7:5 says that pronouncing the Name in other contexts was considered blasphemy, which was a capital offence punishable by death. This compares favorably with the Jews interpretation of Leviticus 24:16. Again Philo confirms that this tradition was practiced during the time of Jesus, saying, -"But if anyone were to dare to utter His name unseasonably, he must endure the punishment of death."

As for me, I have surely concluded that when Jesus walked the earth the custom of the Jews was to say "adonai" instead of saying God’s Name. I also conclude that when Jesus Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." (Verses 17-19) Obviously, Jesus did more than merely read, He must have surely preached since all were "wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips." (Verse 22) In this Scriptural passage "YHWH" appears twice with the vowel pointers for "adonai." Since it was a capital offence to pronounce the Name, if Jesus had spoken the Name He would not have been well received, but would have been declared a blasphemer.

I am well aware of the many places in Scripture declaring the name of God. Many are very zealous to point out those places as proof texts. But in the Bible a name is more than a sound you make with your vocal chords, it is who you are, what you do, your reputation -it is your character. During our prison ministry I was discussing the sacred Name issue with an inmate who quoted the Lord’s Passover prayer in John 17:6,"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world." I asked "Why do you supposed Jesus declared the Father’s name to His Apostles? Do you suppose it was for the purpose of revealing it to others as they went forth with the Gospel?" The man answered "yes" to my questions. Then I asked, "Then show me a place from Acts through Revelation where they did that, mentioning the Father’s name as in a set of spoken syllables?" The inmate had never thought to ask that question of himself and had no answer. The Name YHWH is not used in the New Testament.

Those of us in the Sabbath/Holy Day observing crowd often testify to others that we do the things we do because we follow the example of Jesus, the Apostles and the apostolic Church. Jesus did tell His disciples that He was the Way and to follow Him. Paul wrote, "follow me as I follow Christ."