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The Name of the CreatorBy Dick B.
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The subject of the name of the Creator of the heavens and the
earth is one of the most important and exciting topics in the Bible. Your
investment of time in studying this section carefully will be well worth every
moment.
God, with a capital G, is specifically called God
277 times in the Third Edition of A.A.’s Big Book. That Big Book also contains
107 specific pronounshe, him, his, and himselfwhich are similarly capitalized
and hence unquestionably refer to God. Counting the additional places where
A.A.’s Big Book contains references to our Creatorcalling Him Creator,
Maker, Father, Father of Light, and Spiritthe Creator is thus
specifically mentioned in the Big Book more than 400 times. (See Dick B., The
Good Book and The Big Book, pp. 49-50.) Not surprisingly, but certainly
unfortunately, the Big Book nowhere calls the Creator by His proper name.
Nonetheless, the Big Book distinguishes the Creator from any other god or kind
of god.
Bill Wilson, author of almost every word in the Big Book’s basic
text, can quickly be seen as articulate and careful in his grammatical usages.
Especially when dealing with, and capitalizing, certain words! In the Handbook
of Style section of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth
Edition, the following is stated about capitalized words:
Capitals are used with almost all proper nouns–that is, nouns
that name particular persons, places, or things (including abstract entities),
distinguishing them from others of the same class. . . . The essential
distinction in the use of capitals and lowercase letters at the beginnings of
words lies in this individualizing significance of capitals as against the
generalizing significance of lowercase. . . . (pp. 1541-42)
In the sub-subsection titled Religious Terms, the following is
also stated in the Handbook of Style section of Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition:
28. Words designating the Deity are capitalized.
29. Personal pronouns referring to the Deity are usually
capitalized, even when they closely follow their antecedent (p. 1544).
Note first:
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33)
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are
offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the
world, and that there is none other God but one.
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or
in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are
all things, and we by him (1 Cor. 8:4-6)
There is therefore no doubt, considering the many references by
Bill and Bob to the Bible, that Bill was, in the Big Book and his other early
writings, specifically talking about the Deity of the Bible. His capitalized
references to God, the Creator, Maker, and Father, were not referring and did
not refer to a group, a doorknob, a lightbulb, the Big Dipper, or some
other vague higher power of Bill’s own making. Bill’s intent to designate our
Creator is further evident from the frequent mention by Bill (and Bob) of his
Heavenly Father, just as Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
chapters 5 to 7). In other specific, biblical references to the Creator, Bill
spoke of Him as the living God, as God Almighty, and as God our Father–
all terms in and from the Bible. A Bible which refers to false gods, but never
to the Creator as one of these false gods, or as a group, as a lightbulb, or as
a higher power.
Again, not surprisingly, but certainly regrettably, the Big Book
did not refer to the Creator by his personal name. We will see in a moment that
the Creator Himself made it possible to identify Him with exactness and clarity.
That identification comes with the use of His proper, personal name.
There are many reasons for getting Bill’s biblical references to
God and our Creator straight. They start with the need for identifying our
Creator’s actual name. First, as will be discussed below, in the Bible,
God specifically declares what His name ismany times. He indicates the
importance of that very name to Himself. He states clearly that His name
is my holy name. Second, there is endless confusion today in A.A. talk about
strange new gods, higher powers, and inanimate objects such as chairs and
bulldozers.
Our Creator long ago explicitly distinguished the difference
between Himself and the kind of phoney idols that are proliferating today. Psalm
115 says:
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their
God?
But our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s
hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they
see not:
They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they
smell not:
They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they
walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone
that trusteth in them.
O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and
their shield. (Ps. 115:1-9)
Psalm 115 makes obvious the absurdity of trusting in a lightbulb,
as some AAs declare today that you can do. And a word to the wise is
sufficient.
Reverend Sam Shoemaker spoke to AAs at their international
convention and decried the use of absurd names for God. Such absurdities, of
course, can be eliminated in a moment by referring to the Creator of the heavens
and the earth by His proper name which He Himself sets forth in the Bible. And
He makes clear in the Ten Commandments that there are to be no other gods
before Him–no gods, graven images, or substitutes.
There follow therefore specific references in the Bible to the
Creator’s holy name and explanations of what the Creator has said about His name
in the Good Book.
When you want to get to know someone, one of the first things
you usually want to know is his or her name. And peoples’ names tend to be very
important to them. The Bible indicates in many ways that the name of the Creator
of the heavens and the earth is very important to Him also.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in
vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain (Exod. 20:7, emphasis added)
And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither
shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD (Lev.
19:12, emphasis added)
Because he hath set his love upon me [i.e., the LORD],
therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known
my name. (Ps. 91:14, emphasis added)
Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them
rejoice that seek the LORD (Ps. 105:3, emphasis added).
He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his
covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name (Ps. 111:9, emphasis
added).
And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned
among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the
heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall
be sanctified in you before their eyes (Ezek. 36:23, emphasis added)
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 shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One of Israel (Ezek.
39:7, emphasis).
Somewhere between the fifth and the second centuries bce a
tragic accident befell God: he lost his name. More exactly, Jews gave up using
God's personal name Yahweh, and began to refer to Yahweh by various
periphrases: God, the Lord, the Name, the Holy One, the Presence, even the
Place. Even where Yahweh was written in the biblical text, readers pronounced
the name as Adonai. With the final fall of the temple, even the rare
liturgical occasions when the name was used ceased, and even the knowledge of
the pronunciation of the name was forgotten [David J. A. Clines, Yahweh and
the God of Christian Theology, Theology 83 (1980), pp. 323_30].
In the Bible, the Creator of the heavens and the earth
specifically tells us His name many times. That name in the Hebrew Old Testament
is represented by four Hebrew lettersYud-Heh-Vav-Heh (or YHWH)and
these four letters are sometimes called the tetragrammaton (four-letter
writing). YHWH, Strong’s number 3068, occurs 6,519 times in the Hebrew
Old Testament underlying the KJV [according to the Blue Letter Bible (BLB)
on the Internet ( www.blueletterbible.org/)],
and 6,828 times in the Hebrew Old Testament from which the NIV was translated [The
Hebrew-English Concordance to the Old Testament (HECOT, p. 630)]. In fact,
YHWH is one of the 35 most frequently occurring terms in the Hebrew Old
Testament!
As to the pronunciation of the four Hebrew letters
YHWH, Kenneth L. Barker states:
There is almost universal consensus among scholars today that
the sacred Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is to be vocalized and pronounced Yahweh.
[Barker, YHWH Sabaoth: ‘The Lord Almighty,’ The NIV: The Making of a
Contemporary Translation
http://www.gospelcom.net/ibs/niv/mct/9.php,
emphasis added]
And the Encyclopaedia Britannica adds:
Although Christian scholars after the Renaissance and
Reformation periods used the term Jehovah for YHWH, in the 19th and 20th
centuries biblical scholars again began to use the form Yahweh. Early
Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century, had used
a form like Yahweh, and this pronunciation of the tetragrammaton was never
really lost. Other Greek transcriptions also indicated that YHWH should be
pronounced Yahweh [Encyclopędia Britannica ( http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=79806&tocid=0),
Yahweh, emphasis added]
As to the meaning of the Creator’s name YHWH,
Yahweh, Exodus chapter three provides important information:
[11] And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should
go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt?
[12] And he said, Certainly I will be [ehyeh]
with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee:
When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon
this mountain.
[13] And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto
the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath
sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what
shall I say unto them?
[14] And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM [ehyeh
asher ehyeh]: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, I AM [ehyeh] hath sent me unto you.
[15] And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel, the LORD [YHWH, Yahweh] God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent
me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial
unto all generations.
[16] Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say
unto them, The LORD [YHWH, Yahweh] God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely
visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt (Exod. 3:11-16, KJV,
emphasis added).
The best known modern Bibles [such as the NIV, NASV, and the
Revised Standard Version
(RSV)] all differ from the KJV and agree with each other in
their translation of the Hebrew words underlying I AM THAT I AM in Exodus
3:14:
God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM.f This is what
you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (NIV)
God said to Moses, cI AM WHO cI AM;
and He said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, cI AM has
sent me to you. (NASV)
God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM.e And he said,
Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (RSV)
The NIV and RSV also offer alternative translations in their
footnotes relating to verse 14:
Or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE (NIV, footnote f)
Or I AM WHAT I AM or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE (RSV, footnote
e)
And the NIV and NASV provide information concerning the
relationship between the term I AM which occurs three times in verse 14 and
the term the LORD [YHWH] in verse 15:
The Hebrew for LORD [in verse 15] sounds like and may
be derived from the Hebrew for I AM in verse 14 (NIV, footnote g)
[I AM in verse 14 is] Related to the name of God, YHWH,
rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be (NASV,
footnote c).
In the chapter titled YHWH Sabaoth quoted earlier, Barker
points out the importance of Exodus chapter 3 relative to the meaning of
Yahweh:
[T]his verse [i.e., Exod. 3:14] is a divine commentary onor
exposition ofthe meaning of the name Yahweh (v.15).
Scott Grant, in his article Being Involved which is posted on
the Internet [ http://www.pbc.org/dp/grant/exodus/exo003.html],
states:
God seems to indicate that his name is I AM (or I WILL
BE), for he tells Moses to tell the people that I AM has sent him [verse
14]. This is the first_person singular form of the verb to be. God has used
it elsewhere already in this passage in conveying his nature. In Exodus 3:12,
he says, I will be with you. Although in the New American Standard
translation, the name I AM and the verb I will be appear to be different
tenses, they appear in the same Hebrew tense, and they are one and the same
word. . . .
. . . God twice identifies his name with a word translated
the Lord (3:15, 16) [i.e., YHWH, Yahweh]. This word is likely the
third_person singular form of the verb to be and means . . . HE IS
or HE WILL BE. The transliteration from Hebrew into English, near as
we can tell, is Yahweh (emphasis added).
And the New English Translation’s discussion of Exod. 3:14 in
note 47 states:
The verb form used here [for I am in verse 14] is . . . ('ehyeh),
the Qal imperfect, 1csg, of the verb to be, hyh (haya). It forms an
excellent paronomasia with the name [Yahweh]. So when God used the verb to
express his name, he used this form saying, I AM. When his people refer to
him as Yahweh, which is the 3msg form of the same verb, it actually means he
is. Some commentators argue for a future tense translation, I will be who I
will be, because the verb has an active quality about it, and the Israelites
lived in the light of the promises for the future. The Greek translation [of
the Hebrew Old Testament known as the Septuagint or LXX (for the supposed 70
translators)] used a participle to capture the idea [i.e., ego eimi ho on,
I am he who is]; . . . The simplest meaning is the English present tense,
which embraces the future promises. The point is that Yahweh is sovereignly
independent of all creation and that his presence guarantees the fulfillment
of the covenant. Others argue for a causative Hiphil translation of I will
cause to be, but nowhere in the Bible does this verb appear in Hiphil or Piel
( http://www.bible.org/).
The meaning of God’s holy name Yahweh has been frequently
discussed in scholarly literature through the years. If the reader would like to
pursue this matter further, here are several additional sources for
consideration: (1) Yahweh, Encyclopędia Britannica Article ( http://www.britannica.com);
(2) Jehovah (Yahweh), Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/);
and (3) our Appendix 1, The Creator’s Name is Yahweh!
Here are some key verses in which the Creator’s name Yahweh
occurs:
Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beersheba and there he invoked
Yahweh, the everlasting God. [Gen. 21:33 Jerusalem Bible (JB)]
The KJV translates there he invoked as called there on the
name of in verse 33 because the Hebrew Old Testament contains the word shem,
name.
And God also said to Moses, You are to say to the sons of
Israel: ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’. This is my name for all
time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come (Exod. 3:15
JB)
(Note Bill Wilson’s usage of the phrase God of our fathers in
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, AAWS, 1987, p. 29.)
God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am Yahweh. To Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob I appeared as El Shaddai; I did not make myself known to
them by my name Yahweh. (Exod. 6:2, 3 JB)
And let them know this: you alone bear the name Yahweh, Most
High over the whole world (Ps. 83:18 JB).
My name is Yahweh, I will not yield my glory to another, nor
my honour to idols. (Isa. 42:8 JB)
Now listen, I am going to make them acknowledge, this time I am
going to make them acknowledge my hand and my might; and then they will know
that Yahweh is my name.
(Jer. 16:21 JB)
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