Hallowed Be Thy Name – The Sacred Name

There is a sub-movement in Hebrew Roots arenas referred to as the “Sacred Name Movement.” This movement teaches that all believers in the God of Abraham should be using the sacred name of God, represented by the tetragrammaton in the Hebrew Scriptures – Tanakh (the Old Testament). Most of Messianic Judaism is united alongside the rest of mainstream Judaism that this is a false teaching. We do not teach the attempted pronunciation of the sacred name of God. Here are some reasons why we believe this, compiled by Rabbi Shmuel Wolkenfeld:

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1. Yeshua never used the Sacred Name of G-d, nor any writer of the whole Apostolic Scriptures/New Testament. If anyone had authority to do so, you would think He would, but He didn’t. When He quoted Scriptures with the Name, He used circumlocution, as it’s called – substituting attributes.

Here’s an example: In Matthew 26:64 it says, “As you have said,” replied Yeshua. “Besides that, I tell you, soon after you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

The actual quote from Psalm 110 is, “A psalm of David: ADONAI says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand…” But Yeshua quotes the psalm as saying “the right hand of ADONAI/YHVH,” but Yeshua doesn’t say the Sacred Name.  He uses the rabbinic device of circumlocution, says an attribute in place of the Name.

This is the definitive paradigm in this discussion.  He didn’t use the Name.  So, we don’t.  

2. The Scriptures talk about “glorifying the Name of G-d.” That doesn’t mean by a certain pronunciation. The Hebraic understanding of Name = character, person. So behaving in ways that bring honor to Him is how we glorify His Name.

3. No one knows the right pronunciation of the YHVH, Hebrew יהוה. Some think Jehovah. Some Yahveh. Some Huway. Or some such. Yeshua certainly knew the correct way, but chose never to say it.

4. We want to function in consistency with greater Judaism whenever possible. Jews who are used to synagogue prayer would be very bothered by the pronunciation of the sacred name and not feel at home in our synagogues if we attempted to pronounce it.

Exodus 3:15 – “God also said to Moses: “You are to say to Bnei-Yisrael, Adonai, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and the Name by which I should be remembered from generation to generation.”

טו וַיֹּאמֶר עוֹד אֱלֹהִים אֶל-מֹשֶׁה כֹּה-תֹאמַר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם זֶה-שְּׁמִי לְעֹלָם וְזֶה זִכְרִי לְדֹר דֹּר

The phrase  שְּׁמִי לְעֹלָם (shmi l’olam) seen here as “the Name by which I should be remembered” can also be translated and is translated by traditional Jewish groups as my name (is) to be hidden forever. 

5. Rev 19:12 – “His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on his head were many royal crowns. And he had a name written which no one knew but himself.”

6. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, where the Name appears, they resort to the Phoenician script, instead of the Babylonian Hebrew characters that we are used to. This implies something – likely that the Name was not to be accessible to the readers, but a bit mysterious, and NOT pronounced.

7. In the prototype prayer in Mt 6, Yeshua explains the meaning of “May your Name be kept holy.” He uses the common Hebrew poetic device of parallelism, and says the same thing in different words. “May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.” By doing this, He was showing that sanctifying the Name has nothing to do with pronunciation, but rather He wants us to pray for transformation of people or of life circumstances.

8.  The B’sorah [Gospel] of Matityahu, Matthew uses the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” as opposed to “Kingdom of G-d.”  Yeshua was following the common practice of reverence for the Name. Particularly in Matityahu/Matthew’s account, many scholars feel was written for Jewish readers, who had the practice of NOT saying the name, but using circumlocutions.

9.  When addressing our earthly fathers, we would never call them by their name if we are being respectful.  Rather the title “Dad,” “Papa”, “Father”, etc. would be appropriate. It is a similar idea with how we address G-d the Father.

10.  From Rabbi Joe Bell: The Tetragrammaton is not used in any of the over 500 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.  I checked this out with two professors specializing in N.T. Greek at two Christian colleges. The words used for YHVH are Abba, Pater and Kurios (used for Adonai, meaning Lord). Surely G-d could have inspired those Greek New Testament writers to attempt a Greek form of YHVH, but It isn’t there.   

11. Also from Rabbi Bell: Nowhere in Jewish writings over 5000 years are we instructed to pronounce the name; not even once!