Hallelu-YaH - all honor to YaHUaHNL versie
  

The Significant Name of God (10)

The mysery when no one calls on God’s Glorious Name

André H. Roosma
20 May 2020 (NL original: 8 Jan. 2015)

The book Basic Elements of the Christian Life, by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, contains a chapter ‘Calling on the Name of the Lord.’ In it, the writers refer to Isaiah (properly Yesha‘-yahu) 64: 7 (Part 1; Ch.4, p.35). That is a very significant text, especially when we read it in context and in view of the Jewish people and the rabbinic Judaist religion that forbids calling on the glorious Name of God. So I give the passage here in that context, in as accurate a translation as possible.1 The prophet speaks to God:

63: 16 For You are our Father, for ’Abraham does not know us, and Isra’el does not recognize us; You YaHUaH – our Father, our Redeemer – from eternity is Your Name [LXX: Your Name is upon us from the beginning]. 17 Why do You make us wander, YaHUaH, from Your ways, and harden our hearts, so that we do not fear You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes that belong to You. 18 For unto contempt they have taken possession of Your holy people; our adversaries have trampled Your sanctuary. 19 We have become like them over whom You never ruled; and which are not called after Your Name [or: and we did not call Your Name; or: and Your Name was not proclaimed over us]. 64: 1 Oh that You would tear the heavens, that You would come down – the mountains would tremble before Your face 2 like fire kindling dry branches makes the water to boil – to make Your Name known to Your adversaries! So let the nations tremble before You. 3 When You did awesome things that we did not expect; You came down, the mountains shook before You. 4 Yes, of old people have not heard, nor listened. And no eye has seen a God besides You, Who is acting on behalf of those who wait for Him. 5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who keeps remembering You in Your ways. See, You were angry because we sinned in what we were saved from in the old days. 6 We are all as unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a menstruation cloth; and we all fall like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your Name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You; as if You hide Your face from us and melt us in the hand of our iniquities. [the Dutch NBV translation paraphrases this well: You have made us despondent and turned us over to our own misconduct.] 8 But now, YaHUaH! You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Potter, and we are all the work of Your hands. 9 YaHUaH don’t be so angry, and don’t remember iniquity forever; look, behold, we are all Your people. 10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Tsion has become a wilderness, Yerushalaïm a wasteland. 11 Our holy and glorious house, where our fathers praised You, is burned with fire; and everything that was dear to us has become a ruiin. 12 YaHUaH! would You hold back on these things, would You be silent, and oppress us too much?

What is immediately noticeable is the difference between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint in verse 16 of chapter 63. I do not exclude that the Septuagint goes back to an older text variant. “Your Name is upon us from the beginning” is a notion that is very much in line with what God says elsewhere, including in the ’Aharonic blessing in Numbers 6: 22-27. Since the foundation of the people and the state of Isra’el, the priests had the task of putting God’s Name on the people by blessing them with God’s joyful and proud face.
As we have seen1, God’s Name stands, among other things, for His presence. So that God’s glorious Name was upon them meant that they could live in God’s presence.

However, because the priests had failed to obey this command, people were no longer aware of God’s presence and their lives had also slipped away from Him. At one point, God could not help but let them experience the consequences. The following verses describe that. Their lives looked as if they were not children of God, so they did not bear His Name, and as if God’s Name had not been called upon them, because indeed God’s Name was no longer called upon them (verse 19).

This also resulted in God’s glorious Name being blasphemed instead of exalted among the other nations. Consider how during the days of Moses and Joshua, and later also under David and Solomon, the whole world had come under the impression of, and had stood in awe of the God of Israel; the glorious Name YaHUaH was honored everywhere!
But now the other nations scoffed, because it seemed as if the God of Isra’el could not compete with the idols of the Babylonians ... The whole people of Yehudah (the Jews) had been heavily humiliated and stripped, and thus exiled to Babylon !

What is striking is the use of words in verse 6 of chapter 64: “our iniquities carry us away like the wind” The wind blows away that which is very light in weight. Hebrew thinking equates honor and dishonor with weight: light weight is dishonorable, weighty is honorable. Regarding God’s glorious Name, the command is: not to make Him light but to honor Him. This was not done and so God actually paid them back with equal currency ...

So then the verse I would like to put the spotlight on here: verse 7. “And there is no one who calls on Your Name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You; as if You hide Your face from us, and make us melt in the hand of our iniquities.” Instead of as if, we can also translate: so that.2
Yes, I often see the two together: not invoking God’s glorious Name and people thinking that God is hiding. Or that God is hiding because people show no interest or appreciation and respect for Him (cf. Rom.1).

This clearly shows the great importance of honoring God by invoking Him by His glorious Name YaHUaH!

The prophet cannot but confess this and speak to God about His Fatherhood – that is, His faithfulness to His people. Not the faithfulness of the people to Him, but the faithfulness of YaHUaH to His people is the basis of his prayer! Note that in that prayer the prophet mentions the glorious Name YaHUaH three times!

Hallelu YaHUaH !


Literature reference

Witness Lee en Watchman Nee, Basic Elements of the Christian Life, Vol. 1; Living Stream Ministry, 2003.

Notes

1 The names in the Bible have meaning. That is why I transliterate them carefully so that they remain recognizable. Especially the glorious Name of God I represent here as accurately as possible from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more background information see:
André H. Roosma, ‘Life, security and belonging in joyful adoration, from the hand of God.pdf document, brief Hallelu-YaH article about the Biblical Name of God in the earliest Hebrew (old Semitic) script, January 2011.
André H. Roosma, ‘The Shema‘ – the First Testament declaration of faith (1)’, Hallelu-YaH! web article, February 2012.
André H. Roosma, ‘The wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who will be there.pdf document, extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009.
2 The Hebrew ki that I translate here by as if, indicates a logical connection between the two parts of the phrase. Many translations translate it here as for or because, but that turns around cause and effect. Here is as if a better translation. Possibly also and therefore or such that: “And there is no one who calls on Your Name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You; with the consequence that You hide Your face from us, and make us melt in the hand of our iniquities.”.

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