The Lord's Prayer # 2 - Our Father, Hallowed Be Thy Name
Passage for Reflection - Matt 6:9 NASU
“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”
This passage answers an important question for us as believers. “By what name should we call God?”
Relating to the Creator as Father
This concept of God as our Father was not really well understood in the Old Testament. Consider the following.
The name “Father” is hardly ever used in the Old Testament.
a. “Father” was used only one time by Moses (in the Book of Deuteronomy) who is considered the author of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
b. “Father” was used only our times by the prophet Isaiah .
c. “Father” was used only two times by Jeremiah.
Therefore by my count only seven times the term “Father” is used in the Old Testament. Four of those times it is the Father Himself speaking prophetically through a prophet. For example see the last time “Father is used in the Book of Jeremiah.
Jer 3:19 NASU
…And I said, 'You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from
following Me.'
Here the Father was predicting that one day in the future, His people would call Him Father.
What was He called by His people and others in the Old Testament?
In Genesis alone the term “LORD” (spelled with all capitals) is used (by my count) 163 times in the English translation (NASU). “LORD” is used by God’s people as well as foreigners too many times for me to count in the rest of the Old Testament (several thousand times).
The name “LORD” in all caps was never actually used for God. If we look for the word that is translated L-O-R-D in the Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, (Copyright 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers), we find only the letters “YHWH”, which in no way actually translates to the word “LORD”. “YHWH” is the Hebrew spelling without vowels of the actual name that God gave for His people to call Him.
According to Vine's “the Tetragrammaton YHWH appears without its own vowels, and its exact pronunciation is debated (Jehovah, Yehovah, Jahweh, Yahweh)”.
So, why doesn’t our Bible just pick one of the possible pronunciations (Jehovah, Yehovah, Jahweh or Yahweh) and use that word where today we see the all caps “LORD”? There are Christians who were very adamant that one or the other of these words must be used. Interestingly the Spanish translation of the Bible from Hebrew uses “Jehova” everywhere that YHWH appears.
Too Sacred to Pronounce
To understand why the English Bibles don’t choose to use a name closer to the original, we have to understand something about the “modern day” Jews. Jews somewhere in history decided that the actual name of God (however you would pronounce “YHWH”) was too sacred for human lips to utter. At some point in time the name “YHWH” was surely pronounced in normal speech. Israelite kings as well as pagan kings are quoted as saying that name. It is ironic to us as believers in Christ, that the Jews would be so careful to not pronounce the revealed name of their own God, but would be so misguided as to crucify His only begotten Son.
The Vine’s Expository Dictionary says the following substitution is made by the Jewish people when reading aloud the Hebrew word “YHWH”. “Jewish students and scholars read 'adonay’ whenever they see… “YHWH””. “Adonay” is a different word that our English Bible translates “Lord” (without all capitals). “Adonay” is first found in the Hebrew in Genesis 15:2. “Adonay” means something like sovereign, master or controller. It appears that this word is more of a description of God rather than His name which is what “YHWH” is clearly meant to be.
So when the Jewish person reads out loud in the Hebrew Bible and comes to the written word “YHWH”, they just say the much less personal “Adonay” instead of pronouncing the actual name “YHWH”. According to a Jewish Rabbi who I met in an airport, it is still true today that the Jews consider the actual name of God too sacred to pronounce. Ask one yourself sometime.
According to Vine’s, “Apparently Adam knew Him (God) by this personal or covenantal name (YHWH) from the beginning, since Seth …began (along with all other pious persons) to call upon (formally worship) the name of YHWH. (Gen 4:26)”. .
Unlike the translators of the Bible into Spanish, apparently the translators of the Hebrew into English held on to some of the later Jewish tradition. They chose not to even print one of the likely forms of the real name that God revealed for Himself (Jehovah, Yehovah, Jahweh, or Yahweh). They choose instead to use “LORD”, which (if the normal spelling us used without capitals) is exactly the word the English use today as title of respect for certain people (eg. House of Lords), and somewhat like the Americans use “Mister” or the Spanish use “Senor”. The English translators fully capitalize it in some effort to distinguish it as “special”.
The New Relationship - Jesus Makes it Easy for Us
Isn’t it nice that Jesus made this so clear for us in the model prayer? We are instructed simply to call Him “Father”.
Jesus, the only begotten Son, changed everything. Consider John 1:11-12 NASU
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Like no people before in all of history, we have been given the “right” to be called “children of God”. He really is now our “Father”. What the prophet Jeremiah foresaw in the Old Testament has come to pass. Jer 3:19 NASU
…And I said, 'You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.'
What a privilege to have such an intimate relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth.
Privilege Comes with Responsibility
The privilege of calling God our “Father” comes with the responsibility to hallow that name as pointed out by the apostle Peter. 1 Peter 1:17-19 NASU
17 If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your stay on earth;
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Conclusion
So, we can let the historians and the Bible scholars debate how to or whether to pronounce “YHWH”. We will respectfully address God as Jesus instructed us, “Our Father”, which is just what He is.