Commandment2.. The Name
Exodus 3 gives us the Name of God.
The relationship God has had with us until this point in scripture had been as 'elohiym. An impersonal yet exalted reference.
  • 1) (plural)
    • a) rulers, judges
    • b) divine ones
    • c) angels
    • d) gods
  • 2) (plural intensive - singular meaning)
    • a) god, goddess
    • b) godlike one
    • c) works or special possessions of God
    • d) the (true) God
    • e) God
Now the relationship with God takes another step to a more personal nature. The Lord now reaches out to Moses in a 1 on 1 encounter. Note that Moses responds like Abraham.
Exodus 3:4
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

Yet there is still the a wall of separation.
Exodus 3:5-6
"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
Consider that it is God who makes the ground holy. There is no holiness in the ground. Extend that concept to us. It is The righteousness of God that is given to us. Not a righteousness in and of ourselves.

Exodus 20:7
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
  • The Name (shem) Note that Abraham was a "shemite".
    • a) name
    • b) reputation, fame, glory
    • c) the Name (as designation of God)
    • d) memorial, monument
  • Lord yeh-ho-vaw
    • the proper name of the one true God , unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of 0136
  • in vain or Misuse shav
    • emptiness, vanity, falsehood
    • nothingness
    • emptiness of speech, lying
    • worthlessness (of conduct)
    • from the same as 07722 show in the sense of desolating
      • ravage
      • a) devastation, ruin
      • b) ruin, waste (of land)
God chooses to personally identify himself and his name with the people of Israel.
Exodus 3:14-15
14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am . [2] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD , [3] 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 forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

hayah [01961]
  • 1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out
    • a) (Qal)
      • 1) -----
        • a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about,come to pass
        • b) to come about, come to pass
      • 2) to come into being, become
        • a) to arise, appear, come
        • b) to become
          • 1) to become
          • 2) to become like
          • 3) to be instituted, be established
      • 3) to be
        • a) to exist, be in existence
        • b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)
        • c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)
        • d) to accompany, be with
    • b) (Niphal)
      • 1) to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about
      • 2) to be done, be finished, be gone
With the definition of hayah in view, it seems to be more of a condition than a name. Absent is title or grandeur. This word hayah is used 75 times in the King James. A general word of relationship.

Consider that, with the name of the Lord invested in Israel, we should not misuse the people of Israel.
Numbers 6:27
"So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."
This is then a commitment of relationship by God to the people. Later especially in Hosea, God refers to himself as their husband. In light of Genesis 2:24 (The two become one), and John 1:14 (And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us) The fulfillment of the relationship is Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 11:36
I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.
2 Kings 21:4
He built altars in the temple of the LORD , of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name."
2 Kings 21:7
He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
2 Chronicles 33:7
He took the carved image he had made and put it in God's temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
God takes another step toward us as Father.
John 17:1-5
1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 2"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
And it is by that Name.
John 17:6-19
6"I have revealed you[1] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify[2] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Acts 4:8-12
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is " 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.[1] '[2] 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Philippians 2:9-11
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

More on the Name of God and Names of God
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