yahweh divine name

Is Yahweh “Divine Name” For God?

When Muslims confront the Christian missionaries with the etymological evidence that the word Allah is indeed related to the word Elohim, the missionaries are very quick to point out that YHWH (YHWH) is the “Divine Name” for The Deity that they worship and that since Muslims are not taught about this “Divine Name” of God, it therefore follows that Muslims are calling upon God wrongly.

This is not a new argument from the missionary.

When the Prophet Muhammad(P) was in Madinah, the Jews of Madinah offered a similar objection, claiming that Muslims should not refer to The Deity by merely calling Him Allah.

Thus, the following Qur’anic verse was revealed to reply to the objection:

“Say: Call upon “Allah or call upon “Rahman”; By whatever name ye call upon Him (it is well): for to Him belong the most beautiful names.” (Qur’an, 17:110)

We should also note the following observations regarding the claim:

1. First of all, the very first word in Genesis 1:1 is “Elohim”, not ‘Yahweh’. The word YHWH only started appearing in Genesis 2:4, and even then, it was almost always accompanied with the word “Elohim”, as in “Yahweh Elohim”.

2. According to The New Strong’s Exhausive Concordance of the Bible, the word Yahweh is “…the Jewish national name of God”[1]. In short, this is the name that only the Jews themselves use. Compare this with the entry for Elohim, in the same reference: “…specially used of the supreme God”[2]

3. The final point is that according to the Christian belief itself, the name Yahweh is only used for the old covenant context, and not valid for Christians, who believe that they are in a new covenant. This is evident when nowhere in the New Testament does the word Yahweh appear.

As John Gilchrist says:

… While the name Yahweh appears throughout the Old Testament in the original Hebrew text, it appears nowhere in the books of the New Testament, not even in the original Greek texts. In 0ld Testament times Yahweh was the name of the covenant God of Israel (Exodus 3.15), but the Lord has never used this name in a new covenant context. The coming of Jesus Christ brought about a major change in God’s relationship with his people. Now he is projected solely as the Father of all true believers, Jew and Gentile alike, without any distinction being made between them (Romans 10.12). The name Yahweh was used solely in an old covenant context and the New Testament plainly states that the old covenant has become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8.13) and that it has been entirely “abolished” (Hebrews 10.9). For this reason one never finds the name Yahweh in the New Testament – it was relevant only to the people of Israel in old covenant times….The New Testament deliberately avoids the use of the name Yahweh and the only possible translation of theos into Arabic is Allah

On a side note, we refer to Mark 15:34 where Jesus(P) is reported to have cried out in Aramaic:

    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?

Which is translated into English as:

My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

According to The New Strong’s Exhausive Concordance of the Bible, the defination of eloi is as follows:

eloi [ELWI] of Aramaic origin, 0426 with pronominal stuff.; n m AV – Eloi 2; 2; Eloi = “my-God”; 1) Aramaic for the phrase “my-God”[4]

If the claim is that Yahweh is the so-called “true” name of God, then why instead of calling out:

    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?

Jesus(P) could have instead just cried out:

    YAHWEH, YAHWEH, LAMA SABACHTHANI?

This shows that the claim that Yahweh is the “only true name” for God certainly does not hold water. Jesus(P) did refer to God as “Eloi”, or “Eli” (according to Matthew 27:46).

So are we expected to believe that Jesus(P) was ignorant of this “true name” of God when he called upon Him as “Eli” (of which its trilateral root-word is related to the root of the Arabic word Allah) instead of Yahweh, and Christians who only exist 2000 years later are “aware” of the “true name” of God?

We think not!

It seems that the missionaries have created more problems than they think they had solved. And certainly, only God knows best! Is Yahweh "Divine Name" For God? 1

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3 responses to “Is Yahweh “Divine Name” For God?”

  1. The Pope Avatar
    The Pope

    YHWH is the name of a storm/war deity worshipped by the Midianites in Seir. This YHWH became Elohim later on when nomads known as the Shasu arrived and brought this deity to Israel. YHWH was a lesser deity that was later equated with Elohim, the supreme deity.

    There is also evidence that this YHWH is a title the pagan Egyptian god Ra used (see the destruction of mankind text) and that may describe it’s origin.

    Reply
  2. Ali Avatar
    Ali

    Actually, Yahweh is not exactly the true rendering of the YHWH in Exodus. It’s a total guess. The chief Rabbi’s stopped using it 1000’s of years ago, and killed you if it was uttered. How could Christian missionaries figure it out now?

    The earliest Arabic Bible by a Jew(HaLevi of Jerusalem) translated it as YaHuwa. Nevertheless, the meaning is exactly the same of the Jewish Encyclopedia as the name Hayu-Qayum is in the Qur’an; the living/self-sufficient!

    It’s also interesting that David only referred to God as Yah, not Yahweh. This is found in Israelite prophets in the Qur’an(YAcub, ZakariYA,etc.).

    What’s even more interesting is that John the Baptist is called YAhya(Yah lives) only in the Qur’an, as a pose to Yuhanna(Yu? is grace).

    Reply
  3. Putingbeliung Avatar
    Putingbeliung

    I think we also ought to realise that the Jews regarded “YHWH” as sacred. The mere pronouncement of God’s divine name was considered taboo. The Jews treated ‘God’s Name’ with utter respect, hence God was not addressed in that manner.

    Reply

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