Out of Zion

Dr. Susan Michael: Are you asking God for some need in your life? Maybe it's financial or a relationship or healing or a miracle you need? Well, I have good news for you.

Welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional when I seek to share just a little inspiration, bring a little peace to the close of your very busy week. Many of the titles or descriptive names of God we have been talking about are derivatives of the conjunction with the name El for God: Elohim, El Shaddai, El Elyon, El Olam.

But there is another set of titles of God that are based on his name, the name, that tetragrammaton that we don't really know how to pronounce. In some translations, the name has been translated into English as Jehovah. I want to explain how that happened.

Because the pronunciation of the four letters in the tetragrammaton was lost, it was replaced by the name of Adonai for Lord. At some point, the scribes took the consonants of the tetragrammaton and they put on top of it the vowels of the name Adonai. Out of that came the word in English as we pronounce it: Jehovah.

In Hebrew, the J would be a Y, but in Greek and in English, it's a J, so we pronounce it as Jehovah. Today, I'm going to use that pronunciation of Jehovah in these conjunctive names of God. The first one is Jehovah Jireh. Most of you have probably heard that name. In Hebrew, Jireh is pronounced Yireh. This name for God is only used once in the Bible, yet many of us have heard it, maybe because of a song that made it popular.

It means to know that God is our provider. The one time it's used is in Genesis 22, the story where Abraham took Isaac up onto the mountain in order to obey God in offering Isaac as a sacrifice. God stopped him and he said God will provide. God did provide a ram in the thicket, and so he dedicated the altar to the name "the Lord will provide."

I want to point out that the Hebrew word Yireh is actually based on the same Hebrew root as Ro'i. The God who sees, El Ro'i, is the God who provides, Yireh. It's the same root word. The connotation is that God is so close he sees you. He doesn't just see you and ignore you; he sees you and he will provide what you need.

Another name is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. We read this in Exodus 15:26. Throughout the Old Testament, the concept of healing is used both for physical healing of disease and spiritual healing from the effects of sin because there's an overlap. Sin leads to sickness in the soul, which can lead to sickness in the body.

In Isaiah 53, it talks about that by his stripes we are healed. Healing there has been interpreted in the New Testament in both ways: one verse about healing for the body and the other verse that it is healing from sin. The God who heals. Then there is Jehovah Mekaddesh, or you might pronounce it Mekaddish. In Hebrew, it's Mekaddesh: the Lord who sanctifies, he makes holy.

God makes it clear that he alone, not the law, not our obedience, can cleanse his people and make them holy. Then there's Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. Judges 6:24 uses this. Once again, the connotation of peace is twofold. We think of peace as a beautiful state of calm and relaxation, which it is.

But for God's people in the Old Testament, peace meant peace from war with your enemies. He is the God who provides all that you need. He's the God who has provided for your forgiveness from sin and your sanctification. He provides for your spiritual and physical healing. Our God is the God of peace.

Whatever you need, just take a little break this weekend and come before him. Watch as he heals and transforms your life one step at a time. Great peace awaits you. With that, I wish you Shabbat Shalom.

Guest (Male): We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael. Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, pray.com, Salem One Place, Salem Life Audio. Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA. All rights reserved.