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Because of His Name by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf "Listen, My daughter, open your eyes and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house, for the king is taken with your beauty; He is your Lord [אדני, Adonaï], prostrate yourself before Him!" (Psalm 45:10-11 Interlinear). When we turn to God, our life changes radically, for He asks us to forget our past and to turn to Him alone. This implies "ceasing to take care" of those who were in close proximity to us (meaning of the Hebrew verb "to forget" in this context), and to consecrate ourselves to the One who has just entered our life, to know God, Adonaï. This does not mean that we have to neglect our family and those who are around us, but that from now onwards it is Adonaï who will have the priority in our life. The Lord – Adonaï "But You, God the Lord [אדני,Adonaï]! Act on my behalf because of your name, for Your goodness is great; deliver me!" (Psalm 109:21). The word "Lord" implies that the relationship is reciprocal: the Lord has obligations towards His subjects because of His name, and the subject also has some towards his Lord. According to the dictionary, the lord is someone who owns a domain (or a kingdom) and subjects; everything that lives there belongs to him; he therefore has all authority over the people as well as the goods; he must take care of his subjects and assure them his protection. With God, we freely become His subject (we belong to Him) by accepting His redemption. This free choice has numerous repercussions for us: we must serve Him with respect and honour, and He will demonstrate His favour (His grace) towards us. The fact of accepting that He redeems us implies that we are entering into an eternal Covenant that he will never break, and that because of His name. The Eternal Lord – Jehovah “Because of Your name, Eternal Lord [יהוה, Jehovah], restore my life! Because of Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!” (Psalm 143:11). In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1), but it is Jehovah who formed man from the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; man then became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). Since the fall, the enemy has oppressed man’s soul to the point where it has become like a dried land (Psalm 143:6); being in this situation, king David turned towards Jehovah so that He would restore (hayah, heal, revive, repair, bring out of sickness, out of discouragement and weakness) his soul. Because of His name, Jehovah shows His grace towards His subjects (ebed, servant, slave, subject) by reducing their enemies to silence (Psalm 143:12). He then restores prosperity to our soul by showing his goodness. God my King – Melek Elohim "O God! You are my God [מלך אלהימ, Melek Elohim]: command the deliverance of Jacob! With You we put down our enemies, with Your name we crush our adversaries" (Psalm 44:4-5). Righteousness and justice are the foundation of the throne of Melek Elohim, and grace and truth are before Him (Psalm 89:14). God is a great king, just and powerful; that is why He manifests His power to deliver His people from the hand of Pharaoh (Psalm 106:8). It is in this way that He manifests His love for His people enslaved in Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:8). God is a great king over all the earth and He rules over the nations; He raises up amongst the nations an army of men with a heart well disposed to be earthly shields for His people Israel (Psalm 47:7-9). So we do not trust in our weapons (our own strength) but in Melek Elohim who crushes our adversaries, so that we can be glorified in Him each day and celebrate His name forever (Psalm 44:6-8). The God of our salvation – Elohim Yesha "Help us, God of our salvation [אלהימ ישע, Elohim Yesha], for the glory of your name! Deliver us, and forgive us our sins, because of your name!" (Psalm 79:9). The name yesha (salvation) comes from the verb yasha (to save); and so the name Joshua, Yehoshua, is a contraction of Jehovah and yasha, and means "the Lord saves". Salvation is deliverance from our former way of live (as a slave of sin); it is symbolised by the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 14:30). Elohim Yesha saves us in forgiving all our sins and by delivering us from our enemy – since the fall, Satan oppresses and drags us into sin – (Psalm 25:5,11). Because He is Elohim Yesha, God delivers us from those who rob us (Judges 2:16), from those who invade us (Psalm 79:1), and from those who mock us and His name (Psalm 79:4), and from all our captivities (Psalm 79:11). Elohim Yesha leads us in His ways to instruct us and give us hope as He lead His people into the Promised Land (Psalm 25:4-5). The Lord is my Shepherd – Jehovah Roï "The Lord is my Shepherd [יהוה רעי, Jehovah Roï]: I will lack nothing… He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness, because of His name" (Psalm 23:1,3). Jehovah Roï is the Good Shepherd who takes care of His sheep; He provides for all their needs so that they lack nothing. This is why He leads them into the greenest pastures (His Word) and to the quietest waters (the Holy Spirit). So the Good Shepherd leads His sheep in His ways (the paths of righteousness) and walks with them to assure their protection. And so each morning, He renews His grace and His goodness so that they are happy – on condition that they are willing to remain beneath His rod and staff. The God of Truth – El Emeth "For You are my rock, my fortress: and because of Your name, You will lead me, You will direct me… I will put my spirit into Your hands; You will deliver me, Lord, God of Truth [אל אמת, El Emeth]" (Psalm 31:3,5). El Emeth is the God of Truth; the foundation of His Word is Truth (Psalm 119:160) and all his commandments (mitzvot) are Truth (Psalm 119:151). Our enemy wants to confuse us by His lies which are like snares spread out, but in entrusting ourselves to El Emeth we shall not be confused (Psalm 31:1). When we put our spirit into the hands of El Emeth – when we offer our lives to Him – He delivers us from the snares of our enemy, the source of lies. He desires to make us familiar with Wisdom so that the truth may be deep in our hearts (Psalm 51:6). It is then that He will be able to lead us into this Truth to instruct us (Psalm 25:5) and give us the victory – by proclaiming the Truth out loud as Jesus did (Matthew 4:4). The God of my help – Elohim Azar
"O God! Save me through Your name, and give me
justice by Your power!... Elohim Azar is the One who comes as help to whoever asks him for it, for He assures our protection. We do not therefore lean on our own strength and strategies, but on the powerful God who gives us justice. Thus Ezra was ashamed to ask king Darius for an escort to protect him on the journey to Jerusalem, for he knew Elohim Azar (Ezra 8:22). When we trust ourselves to Elohim Azar, He reduces our adversaries to silence because of His faithfulness (Psalm 54:5). And so, we have nothing to fear, for the one who has chosen us and has formed us from our birth, is our support (Azar) and we are not ashamed (Isaiah 44:2 and Isaiah 50:7). The name of Jesus – Yeshoua "Jesus [ישוע, Yeshoua] is the stone rejected by you who build, and who has become the chief cornerstone. There is salvation through no other; for there is no other name which has been given under heaven, by which we may be saved" (Acts 4:11-12). Like the name of Joshua (Yehoshoua), the name of Jesus is a contraction of Jehovah and yasha, and means "the Lord saves". Because of his name [אלהימ ישע, Elohim Yesha], God loved men so much that He sent His only Son, Yeshoua, so that those who believe in Him may have eternal life (John 3:16):
As He used Moses to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt and to cause them to enter the Promised Land, God delivers us from the slavery of sin and causes us to enter His Kingdom through Jesus Christ. |