My mother and I were waiting for the body of my stepfather to arrive from Ecuador. He died in a car accident a week before that September afternoon in 1997. To escape the heaviness of the moment, I went outside and strolled in the misty evening. It was eerily quiet; no birds were chirping and no cars passing. I was broken; a major milestone had arrived, the passing of one of those who had helped me find God in 1971.
I was getting wet, so I ducked into an old VW Rabbit that my stepfather had been fixing up. I looked up and saw a piece of paper under the visor. I took it down. It was a tract entitled “The Word HalleluYah–It’s Origin, Meaning, and Significance.”
I read it–devoured it, really, for my soul was hungry and ready for the next major revelation in my search for truth: the sacred name of God. I see now that it was at that particular moment in time, when my heart was broken and humbled, that God could reveal this precious knowledge to me. The irony? My stepfather had evidently been reading this tract and had inadvertently left it for me to find that grey misty day.
And so, I want to share it with you.
The Tract
“The word hallelujah, pronounced halleluYah, is the most ancient of all words of praise. It is used both on earth and in heaven to worship the Almighty (Rev. 19: 1-6). What is the origin, meaning, and significance of this word?
It is a pure Hebrew word and yet is found in almost every language under the sun. The first part of the word, “hallelu-” means “praise” or “praise ye-“. And the last part is YaH, which is the name of the one being praised.
YaH is the personal name of the Creator. It is found in the Bible in its original language, over 6,800 times. We also find it in the names of many men of the Bible such as Elijah (ELiYAH) which means “my Mighy One is YaH,” Jeremiah, Obadiah, Isaiah, Zechariah, etc.
YaH is the basic or short form of the divine name. The full form of the Heavenly Father’s name is YaHWeH. This name may be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, large Bible concordances, encyclopaedias and dictionaries, in many current writings of history and archaeology, etc.
Until recent years it was thought that this name was to be pronounced as “Jehovah.” But, as the Encyclopaedia Brittanica explains, “Jehovah” is an erroneous form of the divine name, of which the true form is “Yahweh”…All up to date dictionaries show the same. And we should not profane the divine name by using an erroneous or corrupted form. This wrong form came about when certain Bible translators mistakenly used the vowel sounds of the Hebrew word for master (adonai) and mixed them with the Hebrew letters that form the divine name.
The interesting part is how or why this happened. Originally the name YaHWeH was known and used in the whole earth when all men knew YaHWeH and there were no names of false deities. But after most of the world went into idolatry, YaHWeH made himself known again by name to certain men such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 12: 8; 26: 25; 28: 13) and later unto Moses (Ex. 3: 15; 34: 5).
Thus His name was revealed unto the Hebrew people who were instructed to use it. And for centuries it was freely used. But much later the religious leaders began to say it was too sacred to be spoken. They told the people to just say or read Adonai (LORD) when they came across the divine name in the reading of the Scriptures…As a result, in later years, when translators sought to translate the Scriptures into other languages, they became confused, and mixed the vowel sounds for adonai with the letters of the divine name, and came up with “Jehovah.”
The Importance of the Sacred Names
Now, some may ask what the importance of all this is. To me it seems strange that anyone should question the importance of their Creator’s name, especially if they know Him as their Heavenly Father. And the Bible itself does not leave us in doubt as to whether or not the Name of YaH, or YaHWeH, is important for us to know and use. When the true name is put back in the places where the translators have substituted the word “LORD,” the reading of the Bible makes it very clear that we should know and have the name of YaHWeH. Here are just a few examples:
Micah 6: 9 “Yahweh’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name.” Ezk. 39: 7 “So will I make my Holy Name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my Holy Name any more; and the heathen (Gentiles) shall know that I am Yahweh the Holy One in Israel.” Zech. 14: 9–“And Yahweh shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Yahweh, and His name one.” Joel 2: 32–“And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered” (saved). Ex. 20: 7–“Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy Almighty One in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” (To say it is unimportant or a vain thing is certainly one form of taking it in vain.) Mal. 3: 16–“Then they that feared Yahweh hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared Yahweh, and that thought upon His name.”
The one verse in the King James translation which does bring this name over into English is the word “JAH” (pronounced YAH as in “halleluJah”). It is by itself enough for the obedient soul to see his responsibility to use this name. That verse is Psalms 68: 4 which in the King James reads, “Sing unto God, sing praises to His name; extol Him…by His name JAH, and rejoice before him.” So it is very clear that the name of YaHWeH is meant to be known and used by His people.
There is also a direct connection between the names of the Almighty and the name of His Son, our Savior…”
{Thus ends Part One of this tract, Part Two to be continued next time. Note: The contents of this tract is by an Unknown Author and was printed by Kingdom Identity Ministries, of which I am not, nor ever have been associated. I am just grateful that it was waiting for me over that visor that day almost twenty years ago. Kenneth Wayne Hancock}
Immortality Road 