How would you feel about someone not only calling God by his name directly, but even shortening it to a single-syllable nickname? Something like ‘Jo’ instead of ‘Jehovah’? Yikes!
It feels disrespectfully over-familiar to me. After all, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Deuteronomy 5:11).
Out of respect for God, and to avoid misusing his name, there is a long tradition of English Bibles rendering God’s name YHWH as a title, the LORD, instead of as a name, Yahweh. Even the King James Bible only translates it as a name, Jehovah, four times (or seven times if we include the compound names Jehovahjireh, Jehovahnissi, and Jehovahshalom). The remaining 6824 times God’s name occurs, the KJV translates it as the LORD or GOD. This pattern of substituting a title for his name has a long history: even before the time of Christ, Jews substituted the title ‘Lord’ (adonai) for his name YHWH when reading the Bible. This practice was carried over into the Greek translation that the New Testament repeatedly uses when quoting the Old Testament. For example, in Matthew 22:44, when Jesus says “The Lord said to my Lord,” Matthew’s quotation in Greek uses the title Lord (kurios), even though Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1, which has God’s name YHWH.
So my first reaction is that it is an obvious application of Deuteronomy 5:11 to say that calling God by a nickname would be disrespectfully overfamiliar. But is my first reaction Biblical?
While preparing for class last week, I made a connection that led me to reconsider my gut reaction.
Hebrew classes at Bethlehem begin with singing in Hebrew, but at the beginning of the school year, first-year Hebrew students do not know many Hebrew words. So we start with familiar English songs that contain Hebrew words. Perhaps the best-known Hebrew word (after ‘amen’) is alleluia (or hallelujah). It is actually two words in Hebrew: hallelu, which is the command ‘praise!’ and yah (YH), which is an abbreviation of God’s name YHWH.
While preparing to teach this to students as a segue to singing Agnus Dei by Michael W. Smith, it hit home to me for the first time what we were doing – praising God with a nickname. And this is not an over-reach by us, because the Bible repeatedly models for us praising YHWH with that abbreviated name, in every hallelujah in the Bible, and more. Exodus 15:2 “Yah is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Psalm 115:18 “We will bless Yah from this time forth and forevermore. Praise Yah!”
In the Bible, using a short form of God’s name is not disrespectful overfamiliarity. So instead, we should think of it as something intimate, like a family name. My own parents and siblings call me Johnny; for everyone else, I am John (or Dr. Beckman). Amazingly, undeservedly, God has adopted us as his children: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1). And he invites us to call him by name, and even by nickname – a family name. So let us worship flat on our faces in awe. And let us call all creation to join us: “Let everything that has breath praise Yah. Praise Yah!” (Psalm 150:6).
John Beckman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that we would worship and live as children of God.
- Pray for our students as they settle into the rhythms of the school year.
- Pray for the speakers preparing messages and for those attending Godward Life, that God would use the messages and camaraderie for his glory.
- Pray for the full funding of the Alex Steddom International Student Fund.