Ps 91:14:  “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.”

 

So God will rescue or deliver us if we are bonded with Him.  This verse goes on to say that He will set us on high because we know his name. The word name or shem in Hebrew has been the subject of much debate the past few years.  I have been accosted by Christians who try to shame me as a Hebrew teacher for not using the Hebrew name of God and Jesus. Apparently I am setting a bad example by not saying Yeshua and YHWH.  They quote Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  They really stress the none other name and then go on to describe the long history of how we arrived at the name Jesus which is not His real name and if I use the name Jesus I could not be saved because I was saved under a false name. In fact they actually point to this verse in Psalms 91:14 saying that very few people really know His name which is why we do not see the fulfillment of this verse.

 

I would have to agree that they are right if you look at this word name in English and take our modern 21st Century Western understanding of the word name.  But this Psalm was written in Hebrew some 3,000 years ago and the verse in Acts was written 2,000 years ago in a language other than English. In fact I believe this was spoken in Aramaic and the word used in Aramaic in Acts 4:12 is shema which is the Aramaic form of shem which is used in this Psalm.

 

Let me ask you a question, is your name written in the Book of Life according to Revelation 20:15?  If it is what name is in there?  Is it the name that you mother and father gave you?  Is it the name that the IRS knows you under?   To my readers I am Chaim Bentorah, which is not my real name.  So which one will be in the book of life.  If your name is Tom Smith you are in in luck, there must be a million Tom Smith’s in the Book of Life.  You just point out to St. Peter: “See that Tom Smith on Page 1,348,091?  Well, that’s me, Tom Smith.”

 

I have two theories about this.  One is that if God can create no two human beings alike, perhaps He has given each one a name that no other human shares. You will learn the name He has given you when you stand before Him and then He will check to see if it is found in the Book of Life.

 

My other theory, which I believe is more plausible, is based on the Hebrew and Aramaic word for name, shem.  The word shem really means a reputation, memorial or even a monument. It comes from a Semitic origin to express the idea of a token of ownership. There was a shoe covenant which is mentioned in the Book of Ruth where a sandal was exchanged with Boaz and the near kinsman to indicate the new owner of certain property.  That sandal was a shem, a token of ownership.  The Semitic idea of a name is not a particular word, but an expression of what one owns such as a reputation.  I remember singing an old hymn as a child, There’s a new name written down in glory and its mine. Before you were saved your name might have been lustful, selfish, greedy, etc.   You will not find that name in the Book of Life. Especially if the Book of Life is just another name for Jesus.  But when you are saved Jesus may just give you a new name, righteous, loving, helping, caring etc.  All these names can be found in the Book of Life.

 

Jesus Himself has many names, Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace and Mighty God to name a few.  The prophet Isaiah said His name would be Immanuel.  So if I have to speak a name to be saved, which one do I use? Yeshua sounds like the best as it means salvation.  Funny thing, Yeshua was a very popular name in the first century, every one in six males were named Yeshua.

 

The point is this, those who know His name are not those who know the Hebrew word for His name and those who don’t are out of luck.   The word to know is yada’ which is the same word used for Abraham knowing Sarah and Isaac was born.  Children do not get born just by having some knowledge of someone.  Yada’ is an intimate knowing.  He will place on high those who are intimate with His reputation, with what He is.  I don’t think being able to pronounce a Hebrew name is going to cut it. This placing on high stuff comes only to those who share an intimate relationship with Him again those who have bonded with Him. When a husband and wife bond together, they rarely use their real names or birth names when speaking to each other.  They will use a name that no one else in the world can use for them.  The husband may call his wife dearest and she will respond to him.  No one else in the world can call that woman dearest.  Try it and you will get a black eye from the only one allowed to speak that name to this woman. The husband is calling his wife not by a birth name but by what she means to him.  He is expressing a name that comes from his heart.

 

Thus being intimate with his name is having a special name for God that expresses what He means to you what comes from your heart.  You may call Him Lord, Father, Father God, and one of many other names that expresses your heart for Him and it is that name that He will respond to.  It is that name that will cause Him to set you up on a high place.  That word high  place in Hebrew is sagab, which means to be inaccessible.  Its origins come from the idea of “head for the hills.”  The higher you go when a flood comes or even an enemy, the less chance you have of being captured.  The higher you go the more inaccessible you become. Germany learned that about Switzerland during World War II.  The Swiss Alps were just too high up for Germany to try and conqueror which is one of the key reasons they left them alone.

 

When a man loves his wife he will call her a special name, a pet name and when he uses that name with her, she responds in love such that she is accessible to him. No other man but the man that uses that special name has access to her heart.  A lot of men can use that name with her, but only the one who she has permitted to use it can have access to her heart.   So too with God, many can call God any number of names, they can use a Hebrew name YHWH or Yeshua, but only those that He permits to use the name can have access to His heart.   That woman lets her husband enter her heart, because he has given her his heart.  You enter God’s heart not by using some Hebrew name but by using the name that flows from your heart as you give Him your heart.  For me the name that flows from my heart to His is the most common name, but it is a name that flows from my heart and He lets it enter His heart for that reason, that name if Jesus.   Big deal you say?  Well when it comes from your heart, it is a big deal to God.

 

 

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