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THIS IS a place for us to break bread and fish in fellowship. This is a place for us to eat the bread and drink the wine of communion with Jesus our Lord. Here we share the love of Christ through sharing our hearts, our loves, our hopes and dreams, our struggles and trials, and troubles and cares. Our purpose here is to share conversationally, so we will remain open topic. We will remember that Jesus came to break bread with us, and serve us that bread, and was raised up to draw all to himself. A bruised reed would He not break nor a smoking flax would He quench. What He made us for, is a relationship, an intimacy with Him. One place to carry that out is in fellowship in the Spirit with brothers and sisters of that same one Spirit. We can even share favorite music and vids. Make yourself a cup of coffee, make yourself at home and say "Hi".







Saturday, January 18, 2014

...and YHWH Breathed

YHWH or JHWH also known as the Tetragrammaton, is, in a sense, the Hebrew name for God translated into Latin letters.  The Hebrew is not intended to be pronounced, and is not spoken; instead, they commonly  Substitute "Adonai" or "Lord".  Where the name is pronounced Jewish Scholars use Yahweh.
The Wikipedia  entry gives an extensive treatment to the difficulty of assigning vowel sounds to Hebrew words.  This could be particularly problematic for a word that was traditionally not spoken in the language anyhow.  I have heard in years gone by (although, I have no reference for this) that the pronunciation should be vowel-less like exhaling air through the mouth while pronouncing it, without engaging the vocal chords.  This is the use I prefer.

The Wikipedia entry found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton,  provides this etymology:

"Scholars widely propose that the name YHWH is a verb form derived from the Biblical Hebrew triconsonantal root היה (h-y-h) 'to be', ... It is connected to the passage in Exodus 3:14 in which God gives his name as אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh), where the verb, translated most basically as 'I Am That I Am' or 'I shall be what I shall be', 'I shall be what I am'. יהוה with the vocalization 'Yahweh' could theoretically be a hif'il (causitive) verb inflection of root HWH, with a meaning something like 'he who causes to exist' or 'who gives life' (the root idea of the word being 'to breathe', and hence, 'to live'). As a qal (basic stem) verb inflection, it could mean 'he who is, who exists'."

Moving to the creation story, In the book of Genesis, God more or less spoke all of the animals into existence.  Obviously, if you don't believe in life coming up by itself from the forces of physics, you would understand that God would have to be intimately involved, to create chemical combinations, proteins, put everything in order, build a body etcetera, but Scripture simply says, "God said...and it was so..." and "God made...".
But regarding man, in chapter 1, it is written, "And God said, 'Let Us make man in our image, after our likeness...'"  but the story is re-counted in Genesis Chapter 2:
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

All this to re-tell the story according to an idea I have:  it is not spelled out in Scripture, so it is not doctrine, much less dogma, but just a notion I have.  It may not be original with me, but I don't remember anyone ever telling me this before. 

The 2nd Chapter of Genesis introduces the name "The LORD God" with "LORD" all in capital letters.  This was the King James Bible translators' decision to represent "YHWH" plus the Hebrew word for "God", in the texts. So in the original Hebrew the "YHWH God" formed man from the dust of the ground, The King James Bible says "The Lord God". One more aside: We know full well, that God in His self-existent nature is not a physical being, does not have a body, but is Spirit.  That said, God could take on physical form for His own purposes because He Is God, He Can. 
Reading this passage again,
"And the Lord (YHWH) God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

This is what strikes me:  The Self-Existent Creator, who gives life, thought so much of His idea of Man, that He Himself took form, albeit temporarily, to form Man intimately, physically using his own hands, handcrafting him, from earth, after His own Image.  This yet lifeless creature, whom He loved, bore His image, and what's more one day would be the form He Himself would take forever in the person of His beloved Son.   God loved this lifeless creation, and to animate him, leaned over him, His own lips a scant centimeter from the nostrils of the man, audibly breathed "YHWH" into the Man's nostrils, giving him life, and in that same moment introducing Himself:  "YHWH" "Self-Existent One Who Gives Life and Loves You Enough To Personally Form You After My Own Image, and To Personally Animate You, and You Are My Own."

To me, this just speaks an intimacy and love so very early in the Scriptures, that should never be forgot in all of the rest of the sin and blood, and betrayal, treachery and judgment of Scripture.  That love is revealed again, toward the end, in another garden.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples the night in which He was betrayed, the Temple band came out to arrest Him.  He asked "'Who do you seek?'
They answered 'Jesus of Nazareth'
Jesus said, 'I Am He'.
As soon as He said 'I Am He' they [inexplicably] went backward and fell to the ground."

In the first Garden- Eden,  YHWH, the Self Existent One or  "I Am That I Am" as he introduced Himself to Moses eons later, breathed life into Man's nostrils.
In this second garden He Is "I AM He" the very same Creator, come as a Man to take man for His own, to take Him and unite Him forever, on the Cross and through His Own death and resurrection: Uniting God and Man forever.   When He introduced Himself, "I Am He", that guard, in the dark, fell backward involuntarily to the ground in worship (of sorts) because they recognized Him in their spirits, as the Eternal Creator God.

After His death on the Cross, Jesus came to His disciples in His resurrected body,
"Then Jesus Said to them, again, 'Peace to you:  As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you.'
and He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive ye the Holy Spirit..."'

This is the God I know.  I know Him as the "Lord Jesus", or "Lord".