Who Doesn't Have A Name?

by Matthew C. Coover, Editor

On the sixth day of creation week Yahweh created man, and called the name of the man, Adam. (Gen. 1:27)

In Genesis 2:20, Adam gave names to the fowl of the air and the beasts of the field, but as of yet, there was found no help meet for him.

And Yahweh caused a deep sleep to fall on the man he had created, and from his rib, created woman. (Gen. 2:21,22) And Adam called the name of the woman Eve, for she was the mother of all living. (Gen. 3:20)

And Eve conceived and bare a son named Cain, and again bare his brother, Abel. Thus was the beginning of the fulfillment of the command given to mankind in Genesis 1:28, the command to be fruitful and to multiply, to fill the earth, and subdue it.

In the process of time, Cain's jealousy of his brother led to murder. Afterwards, Eve bore another son and called his name Seth, for she said, "Yahweh hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew."

In the generations that have followed, names have remained a part of everyday life, along with the meaning behind them.

In Genesis 17:5  Yahweh changed Abram's name to Abraham, for he said, 'A father of many nations have I made thee.'  Likewise, along with his promise that Sarai should bear a son, he changed her name to Sarah (Gen. 17:15).

In Matthew's account of the gospel, chapter 1:21, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and reveals to him that Mary, the virgin which he is betrothed to, is with child of the holy ghost, and that the child should be named, 'Yahshua' (this name was wrongly substituted with 'Jesus' in the Greek translation of the newer writings). '...and she brought forth her firstborn, and he called his name Yahshua.' (Matthew 1:25)  Another title for this special child was Emmanuel, meaning "Elohim is with us" (M't. 1:23).

On and on, throughout the scriptures, we constantly find mention of and reference to names. One of the greatest names mentioned in scripture is found all throughout. The surprising thing is that this name can be found approximately 6,800 + times in ancient manuscripts of the scriptures.  Today, the only way we run across it is if we dig into the past history of the inspired word.

In Proverbs 30:4 we are ask the question, "Who has Established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name, and what is His Son's name, if you know it?"

The answer is given in Psalm 68:4. "Sing unto Yahweh, sing praises to His name: extol Him that rides upon the heavens by His name YAH and rejoice before Him." In this verse, "JAH" is a mistranslation as there is no "J" in the Hebrew alphabet. We also read, "I am Yahweh; that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images." (Isaiah 42:8).

While at a first glance it may seem .that we do not find the name "Yahweh" or "YHWH" in the scriptures, the reality of the matter is that it is found everywhere. The problem lies in the fact that in the process of translating the scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, translators have replaced the name of Yahweh with the titles 'LORD' and 'God'. Likewise, the name of Yahshua, or Yahweh's son, has been mistranslated as 'Jesus', and "Lord".

While it may seem to be unimportant, when we really get right down to the root of the matter, we need to ask ourselves this question: "Who Doesn't Have A Name?" Now of course we will tell ourselves, "Everyone has a name!   The world would be a place of utter confusion if we were always yelling, "Hey You! No, not you, you over there... the fellow with the brown hair..." "Who, me?" "No!!!!! Him, not you..." It would be pretty hard to get much of anything accomplished.

While this simple fact is pretty easy to see in our little analogy, we seem to overlook it in everyday life. We take up the scriptures each day (sad to say, some of us only on Shabbat) and we read as such... "God said, do not follow their gods, for I am God, and they are not God..." If all the heathens made the same mistake we are making, it would even be more confusing. There would then be no "Baal", etc. We would then have to read, "God said, 'Do not follow God as the heathens do, because God is a false god and ye shall not have other gods before God."

If even pagan religions all have a name for their false gods, shouldn't the Master Creator and Designer of the universe have a name as well? Shouldn't we be praising the name of our Elohim for all that He has done? We are all familiar with the word "HalleluYAH", which means simply, "Praise Yahweh".

"And you shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am Yahweh." Leviticus 19:12.

In all reality, the names of Yahweh and His son were removed from the scriptures due to more than just a mistake on the part of the translators. Christianity wants to separate themselves from Judaism and vis-versa.  The names "Yahweh" and "Yahshua sound too "Jewish" (Hebrew). For the same reason, we now call the four gospels "Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John".

Who doesn't have a name? Not anyone that I know of, especially not the Master Designer of the universe and creator of mankind. Let us give Him the honor and praise he deserves. Allow no room for confusion. Let's take that one simple step and address Yahweh & Yahshua by name.