Rabbi Schneider - What Does Yahweh Yireh Mean?
Did you know the Lord said that it's through the foolishness of preaching that men are saved? And so as God's Word goes forth it literally changes people's lives. Even as the Lord spoke the heavens and the earth into existence and he said let there be light and there was light, so too, whenever God's Word is preached in Spirit and in truth, it brings forth a supernatural change and transformation into the lives of those that receive it. And so today may you receive God's Word and be changed and strengthened by it. We're in a very special series right now that I'm calling The Covenant Names of God. This is now the second episode, beloved ones, in this series.
I began last week by going to the Book of Genesis, chapter 1. I went to the first verse there, a verse that most of us are familiar with: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The Hebrew word there in Genesis, 1:1 for God is the word Elohim. So it actually says: In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth. I pointed out that Elohim was the plural of the word El, and El was a term that even pagans used to describe their god. They referred to their gods as El. So why in the Book of Genesis, 1:1, is El changed to its plural form Elohim? Because when you add him on to the end of a word to make it plural, it really marks the word. It makes it stand out. It makes it something bigger than what it is in the singular.
So number one, we see that El is Elohim in Genesis, 1:1, to put emphasis on it that God is just not one of the many gods but he is The God. And also it's in its plural form because God, beloved ones, is multi-dimensional in his nature. God consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There's relationship within the Godhead. The Son has always been in the bosom of the Father. God is love and love must have an object. And the Son, who's in the bosom of the Father, has forever in eternity been the object of Father's affection. And so we read in Genesis, 1:26, that the Lord said: Let us make man in our image. Who was he speaking to when he said, let us make man in our image? He was speaking to his Son that's in his bosom.
So in the beginning Elohim, plural, speaking of again the multi-dimensional nature of God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. But Elohim is not actually God's personal name. It's a descriptive title, the title of God. It's not until Exodus, chapter 3, and Exodus, chapter 6, that we are actually introduced to God's covenant name. The Lord says to Moses in Exodus, chapter 3: I Am That I Am. This is my memorial name forever. And then he continues in Exodus, chapter 6. And he said this, he said to Moses in Exodus, chapter 6, verse 2-3, he said: Moses, I, I revealed myself to your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, as God Almighty. But by my name, Yahweh, they did not know me. And so the Lord reveals his covenant name to us in Exodus, 3, and Exodus, 6, Yahweh. Since that time, beloved, every single writer in the Hebrew Bible, those that knew God personally, that had a relationship with him, called upon him, listen now, by his name Yahweh, from Moses onward; Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and on and on.
You could go through all the books of the Bible. They called him in the Old Testament by his personal, sacred covenant name. In fact, Yahweh's name is used in the Old Testament over 7,000 times. Now the reason that I want to point this out is because in the traditional Jewish world there's a mindset that feels that Father God's sacred name, Yahweh, is so sacred that it shouldn't be spoken. In fact, the ancient Jewish sages, when they wrote down God's personal name composed of the four Hebrew letters, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, (YHWH, יהוה) they actually put some accent markings around those letters so that Gentiles wouldn't even know how to pronounce Father God's sacred name.
Now let me say this. I want to give respect to my Jewish brothers and sisters that feel that we shouldn't speak God the Father's sacred name, Yahweh. I feel differently about this because his name once again is used over 7,000 times in the Old Testament. All those from Moses onward, when they prayed to God, prayed to him by referring to him by calling upon him with love and reverence by his name, Yahweh. But, the Jewish people, once again, developed a mindset that it's so sacred it shouldn't be said, and they tried to protect it from having Gentiles learn what it was, because they felt like if Gentiles learned what Father God's sacred name was they would use it and make fun of it in blasphemy. And so what the ancient scribes did was when they recorded God's sacred name Yahweh, composed of the four Hebrew consonants, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, (YHWH, יהוה) they put accent markings, which I'm going to explain what that means in a second, over the four consonants so that when people that didn't know his name tried to speak it, they would actually speak it wrong. You see, they tried to cover up how it should be spoken.
Now let me back up a second because I know this can sound a bit confusing. Here we go. In the English language we have what we know as consonants and vowels. Most of us know that, right? We have our consonants, the r, n, j, etc. And then we have our, our, our vowel sounds, a, e, i, o, and u. So we have consonants and we have vowels. And the way that we know how to pronounce consonants in terms of if you have an r and an n, the way to know how to pronounce the r and the n is by the vowel that's in between the r and the n. So for example, if all we had were the two consonants r, n next to each other, we wouldn't know how that was pronounced. It could be rin. It could be run. It could be ran. It could be ren. It could be run, right. The vowel in between the two consonants tells us how to pronounce it. So if we want to say ran, we put the vowel a in between the r and the n. But in Hebrew there are no vowels, and so what we do to show us how to pronounce the consonants in the Hebrew language is we put accent markings over the Hebrew consonants. And the accent markings show us what vowel sounds are to be used.
So what the ancient Jewish scribes did is when they wrote down God's sacred name, they put the accent markings, get it now, church, in the wrong places so that the Gentiles wouldn't know how to say Father God's sacred name. That's why, for example, when we hear of the Gentile church wanting to call upon God or sing to God by his name, they say Jehovah, rather than what his real name is, Yahweh. You see, we've all heard songs like Jehovah Jireh. We're actually gonna get to that covenant name of God next. Jehovah Jireh, you know "Jehovah Jireh, my Provider, Your grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me".
Some of you remember that song. But Jehovah isn't really Father God's name. There really is no God by the name of Jehovah. The way that the Gentiles began to pronounce it Jehovah rather than Yahweh comes from two sources. Number one, because the ancient Jewish scribes put the accent markings in the wrong places over the Hebrew consonants so that the Gentiles would mispronounce it. The other reason is because as time goes on, language changes and language evolves. And so in the ancient Hebrew language, there was no j sound. We said Jehovah, right? There was no j sound. It was a ya sound often times. So for example, if we look at the Hebrew for Israel, it's Yisrael. There was a ya sound. Or if we look at the capitol city of Yisrael, it is what? We call it Jerusalem. But in the original Hebrew, get it now, church, hear me, it is Yerushalayim. So the J sound was added later. It was just kind of the, what takes place over the years as language sometimes changes forms.
So in the original it was Yahweh, but because of the confusion that came about as a result of the wrong accent markings so Gentiles would mispronounce, and compounded with the fact that over time the ya sound became a j sound as I indicated is the case with Yerushalayim, which is the correct way to say Jerusalem, versus Jerusalem. As a result of that the Gentile church began to refer to God as Jehovah rather than the original Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey (YHWH, יהוה) pronounced a breathy Yahweh. Now let me say this as well. We are not totally certain, we're not 100% sure that God's sacred personal name is pronounced a breathy Yahweh, once again, because we don't have the accent markings and because for hundreds and hundreds of years no one would say his name. But most sematic scholars today, most scholars of the ancient Hebrew language believe that the way that God's personal sacred name should be pronounced, once again, is a breathy Yahweh.
Now let me continue on today. I want to go to God's what I'm calling first covenant name that is attached to something that he does in relationship to the saving of his people. We learned that his covenant name is Yahweh. And we're gonna look at eight instances in the Old Testament where Yahweh combines his name with a function that he performs in the salvation of his people. So this is gonna become clear, church, as I go on today. Let's go to the first covenant name of God, the covenant conjunctive name of God, and we're going to now the name of God, the covenant name of God, Yahweh Yireh. We're going to the Book of Genesis, chapter number 22, verse 14, where we see God use his personal name, Yahweh, in conjunction with a saving activity that he does in the lives of his covenant people.
Now what's the point of all this? Are we just educating today? No, the goal is that when you see how God combines his covenant name with what he does for those that are his, you'll be able to believe in him and trust him to do this for you. You see, there's certain things that we can hope God will do. We may hope that God will, you know, give us a certain job. We may hope that God would give us a certain spouse. We may hope that God would give us, you know, a certain whatever that might be. We don't know sometimes what God will do. We pray. We trust. We know God loves us. But there are certain things that we can absolutely know for certain that he'll do. And those are the things that are related to his covenant name. So the first, the first covenant name, the first time Father God uses his name in conjunction with what he surely does for all those that are his comes from the Book of Genesis, chapter 22, verse 14, where the Lord says, I am, get it now, Yahweh Yireh. Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide, or Yahweh Yireh.
Now again, due to the reasons that I previously mentioned, the church calls this covenant name of God Yahweh Yireh, they mispronounce it and call him Jehovah Jireh. When the church calls God Jehovah Jireh, that is the mispronunciation of Yahweh Yireh from Genesis, 22:14. Now listen, I don't want to build up pride in anybody today 'cause what I've sometimes seen is that, you know, Gentiles will, will learn some of this Hebrew stuff and then they'll kind of use it as a sword against people that don't know maybe how to say Father God's name correctly. Or you know, sometimes Gentiles will get a little bit of Hebrew knowledge and it will puff them up. You know, the Bible says, knowledge puffeth up. So let's not use, church, the information that Father God is giving us today to use it as a sword against those that may not have knowledge of these things. Let's just use it as an opportunity to love, to bless, to educate, but not to make ourselves, you know, feel superior to other people or, or put other people down because they may not be pronouncing his name correctly.
But again, Jehovah Jireh is a mispronunciation of Genesis, 22:14. It should be Yahweh Yireh, the Lord will provide. Now when Father God says, I am Yahweh your provider, I am the Lord that will provide, I want you to know, this is true for every single child of his. He will always be your Father God that will provide. You know, the New Testament tells us this. My God, Paul says, shall supply all your needs. Isn't that what we're talking about here? Yahweh Yireh, the Lord will provide. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. Isn't this what Jesus was talking about when he was telling his people, don't worry about what you're gonna eat, or what you're gonna drink. Your Father has, he knows all these things. If he provides for the lilies of the field, will he not provide for you if he clothes the lilies of the field? If he provides for the sparrows, will he not take care of his own children? He said, people that don't know God should worry about those things. But not you, because why? Your God is Yahweh Yireh.
And I know sometimes it's hard to believe in God to provide when we find ourselves in difficult places in life. And so I want to encourage us today, beloved church, to challenge ourself. When we're facing fear, when we're facing doubt, when we're facing unbelief and we have a real need, let's remind ourselves that God is the same yesterday, today and forever; that your Father is the same yesterday, today and forever. And he will always be for you, listen now, Yahweh Yireh. He will always be your Lord, your Father that will provide. You see, I want you to sink your teeth into this revelation. Again, this is not simply for education. This is for revelation. When we find ourself in fear, and doubt, and unbelief, we need to declare over our lives, "Father, thank you that you are Yahweh Yireh to me. You will provide".
Now we can all agree, I think, that Father God does not supply our every desire, but he will provide for us everything that we truly need. David said, I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. You can be certain that Father God will supply all our true needs according to riches in glory. You'll always have food in your stomach. You'll always have a roof over your head. God is gonna take care of you and I. He is gonna take care, beloved, of his children. And he wants us to believe him for that. He does this, listen now, for every single one of his children, get it now, ,church, that is in a covenant relationship with him because this is one of his activities as our Savior. He will always be for you your provider, your Yahweh Yireh. I want to continue on today, I won't be able to finish but I want to continue on with the second covenant name of God.
I'm going now to the Book of Exodus, chapter 15, verse 26. I'm looking now at Yahweh Ropheka or Yahweh Rophe. Let's read together Exodus, 15:26. Moses and the children of Israel are at the waters of Marah, the waters that are making them sick. And Moses speaks with the Lord and the Lord says back with him: If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right at his sight, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, the Lord says, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer. And what the actual Hebrew says is: I am Yahweh Rophe or I am Yahweh Ropheka. I am the Lord your healer. I am the Lord that healeth thee. So I want to challenge you and invite you to tune in next week as I get into the revelation of how God will provide, beloved, for the need of our body to be kept in health.
Now listen, I understand that there is a lot of questions concerning divine healing; that there is a lot of questions regarding the physical healing of the body by the, by the supernatural activity of God. We're gonna talk about some of those issues next week. Join me as we get into a very important edition of Discovering the Jewish Jesus. If you know people that are sick, I encourage you to have them tune in next week as we look at the Lord's covenant activity in the lives of his people by claiming, listen now, that he is the Lord our healer. In Jesus's name, until next week I want to say there is a banner over you. The banner over you, beloved, is the name of your Father himself. He has covered your life by his name. And in his name, beloved, he has provided everything that you will ever need. And as we get deeper into this series, you're gonna understand why the New Testament tells us that we are complete in Christ. Yahweh's grace is sufficient for you. And when you know his names and trust in them, beloved, you're gonna have greater freedom and greater peace in your life.