8 thoughts on “The Biblical Names of Elohim—Truth Not Legalism

  1. I enjoyed rethinking the Hebrew names of Elohim I wonder how you came to use “yah” but reject Yahweh just curious because I know you don’t do anything in a random, casual way. Bless you, Brother

    • Good question.

      According to Jewish Biblical Hebrew scholar, Dr. Nehemia Gordon, Yah is a contraction of Yehovah. In his writings, he explains this grammatically and by demonstrating in the names of many biblical characters.I don’t have the technical capabilities to explain this, since I’m not a Hebrew linguistic expert, but I do have a linguistic background and his explanations make sense to me. Yah has no linguistic connection to the Christian made up name of Yahweh. You can do an online search of Nehemia Gordon and review is videos and teachings on this subject to confirm what I’m saying here.

      Here’s a link to NG answering your question:

    • https://www.nehemiaswall.com/yehovah-halleluyah
    • Blessings.

      • Thx, Natan for a long while, I have wanted to start using the Hebrew names for “God” but heard so many variations , with no scholarship to support good choices of change. Though I know Yeshua responds to his children when they cry out to “Jesus”, I figure if I wants be as close to Biblical pattern as possible and I knew I could count on you to search it out Thanx again, Brother.

  2. Nathan, are you saying that hovah and havah are basically the same meaning? Just a difference in vowel usage? These words seem to have two distinct meanings based on what I see.

    • Havah is a totally different word altogether. I was speaking of hovah not havah. Here’s my explanation:

      Is the Hebrew verb hovah meaning “destruction, calamity and ruin” somehow related to hovah in Yehovah? Let’s look at these two words and compare them
      The word hovah/ הׇוׂה by itself means “calamity and destruction”, but the hovah in Yehovah and the hovah/ הׇוׂה in calamity and destruction are two different Hebrew words that are etymologically or lexically unrelated. This is where a little knowledge of the Hebrew language comes in handy.
      Hovah/ הׇוׂה in Yehovah is a conjugation of the Hebrew root verb hayah meaning “to be”. Hovah/ הׇוׂה as in calamity, on the other hand, is a completely different word with a completely different verbal root. These two words are homonyms (two different words that sound the same) and but are unrelated lexically. I will now prove this to you with the hard, cold fact.
      In Isaiah 47:11, we find the Hebrew word hovah/ הׇוׂה (this is one of only two places this word occurs in the Tanakh, the other place is Ezek 7:26):
      Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief [hovah/ הׇוׂה shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
      The word hovah/ הׇוׂה is listed in The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament as 483 and in Strong’s Concordance as H1942.
      On the other hand, hovah/ הׇוׂה as in Yehôvâh and as found in Exodus 3:14 and nearly 7,000 other places in the Tanakh is TWOT 484 and Strong’s H3068 and is from the verb hâyâh, which is a primitive root meaning “to exist, that is, be or become, come to pass.”
      As you can see, and I don’t know how to make this any plainer, calamity comes from the Hebrew root verb meaning “to fall”, while hovah as in Yehovah comes from the Hebrew root verb meaning “to be”. These are two separate words that may sound the same, but are different. As already noted, they are homonyms. Perhaps in the ancient Hebrew there were some slight differences in their pronunciations that the more modern vowel points do not pick up on. I don’t know. This is just my speculation.
      Now for the sake of theological discussion, the two hovah’s, though homonyms (i.e., words that sound the same; that is, they may even be spelled the same or differently, but have different meanings), there is a theological but not etymological connection between these two words. Is YHVH not the one who brings ultimate calamity or destruction [or judgment] upon all those who rebel against him? The Bible refers to this final destruction and calamity upon the unsaved as “the lake of fire” (Rev 20:10, 14–15).

  3. 1st a name can not be translated, no one can see a name, but we can see a tree.We can call anybody by what ever name we want to chose.Should we? Maybe this is about respect and honor.Who is the one being honored when we use the name we want to use? One honors The Father, and Son by using the name that YHWH used.

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