Did God's People in the Old Testament Times Utter the Holy Name Aloud?

By Ronald R. Day, Sr.

One claims that we cannot produce one manuscript where Moses wrote the name completely in Hebrew.

Actually, we don't know of any Hebrew manuscript of the Old Testament that does not at all produce the Holy Name completely with all four of the Hebrew letters that represent the Holy Name; those letters are usually referred to as YOD HE WAW HE or JOD HE VAV HE. Therefore, we assume that by writing the name completely is meant with the vowels. The original Hebrew had no written vowels, but the vowels were spoken when the words were uttered. The commonly used Masoretic text produced after Christ not only has the four letters but also the added vowel points, which have been added, not just to the Holy Name but to each and every word in the Hebrew Old Testament, since the original Hebrew had no written vowels at all for any word.

In a comparatively few instances, God's Holy Name is presented in its shortened form with two letters YOD HE HE, usually rendered into English as YAH or JAH. However, in most instances, the fully Holy Name has all four letters.

Nevertheless, one has argued that the four letters of God's Hebrew name are shortened from the full name expressed in Exodus 3:14 as "I AM WHO I AM". The reality is that "I AM WHO I AM" is the first first-person expression of the Hebrew active verb meaning "to be". Jehovah gives his name in the first person as "I AM WHO I AM", signifying that He cannot deny himself -- He cannot deny who He is -- and he cannot deny His promises. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was indeed proclaiming His name to be EHJEH ‘ASHER EHJEH (transliterated from the Masoretic text), or, to use the short form, EHJEH (transliterated). In Exodus 3:15, we find the third person singular form of the verb JEHOVAH (transliterated), which the World English renders as Yahweh, which has the basic meaning of "HE IS", which, in turn, is short for HE IS WHO HE IS. Thus, Jehovah (Yahweh) is short for HE IS WHO HE IS, or HE WILL BE WHO HE IS. He cannot deny Himself; what He says will be — His promises are certain. This is similar to what is said of Jesus in 2 Timothy 2:13,“he remains faithful — he can’t deny himself.”

We have been told to look to the Hebrew scriptures and the Tanakh for no Jew ever would utter the name of God out loud for fear of taking his name in vain and thereby breaking the commandment.

"Tanakh" usually refers to the Masoretic Hebrew text. We find no evidence at all in the Tanakh that no Jew would utter the name of God out loud, rather we find the very opposite. Let's examine a few verses from the Jay Green's Literal Translation of the Tanakh.

Exodus 3:13 - And Moses said to God, Behold, I shall come to the sons of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they will say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them?

God responded:

Exodus 3:14 - And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and He said, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
Exodus 3:15 - And God said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, Jehovah, 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, and this is My memorial from generation to generation.

Exodus 3:16 - Go, and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, visiting I have visited you and have seen what is done to you in Egypt.

Is it true that Moses could not possibly obey the command of God, since he could not utter the name?

God spoke to Moses:

Exodus 4:22 - And you shall speak to Pharaoh, So says Jehovah, My son, My first-born is Israel.

Did God give Moses a command that he could keep, because he could not utter the Holy Name aloud?

It is recorded that Moses and Aaron stated to Pharaoh:

Exodus 5:1 - And afterward Moses and Aaron came in and said to Pharaoh, So says Jehovah the God of Israel, Send away My people, and they shall feast to Me in the wilderness.

Did they actually state the Holy Name to Pharaoh? That they actually did utter the Holy Name can be seen in Pharaoh's response:

Exodus 5:2 - And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah that I should listen to His voice to send away Israel? I do not know Jehovah, and I also will not send Israel away.

Here it records a non-Hebrew as speaking the Holy Name.

Further, we read that David said to Goliath:

1 Samuel 17:45 - And David said to the Philistine, You are coming to me with sword, and with spear, and with javelin. But I am coming to you in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have reproached.

Did David simply pass over the Holy Name, so as to say, "I come to you in the name of of Hosts"? It should be obvious that David did indeed utter aloud the Holy Name to Goliath.

We also read:

1 Kings 10:1 - And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon as to the name of Jehovah, and she came to test him with hard questions.

How did the queen of Sheba know of the name of Jehovah, if the Jews did not utter that name out loud?

Elijah stated to the Baal worshipers:

1 Kings 18:24 - Call you on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Jehovah; and the God who answers by fire, let him be God. All the people answered, It is well spoken.

Did Elijah not utter the name, in effect, actually saying: "I will call on the name of --"? That would make no sense. If he did not utter the name, that would mean that he did not actually identify whose name he would call upon.

When David spoke to the princes of Israel, did he not utter the Holy Name out loud?

1 Chronicles 22:18-19 - Is not Jehovah your God with you? Yea, He has given you rest all around, for He has given into my hand the inhabitants of the land, and has subdued the land before Jehovah and before His people. Now give your heart and your soul to seek to Jehovah your God, and rise up and build the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, to the house that is to be built in the name of Jehovah.

If David did not utter the Holy Name out loud, then he would have said:

1 Chronicles 22:18-19 - Is not your God with you? Yea, He has given you rest all around, for He has given into my hand the inhabitants of the land, and has subdued the land before and before His people. Now give your heart and your soul to seek to your God, and rise up and build the sanctuary of God, to bring in the ark of the covenant of, and the holy vessels of God, to the house that is to be built in the name of ---.

He would not have completed the sentence with any word to show in whose name the house was to be built.

We could go on with many more quotes similar to this, but this proves the point. Yes, the Tanakh does indeed give us every reason to believe that God's people of Old Testaments times did indeed utter God's Holy Name Aloud. The idea that God's Holy Name is not utterable comes from man, not from God. God never gave anyone any command to not utter his Holy Name or to change and thus pronounce his name with other words that do not even mean the same, such as ADONAY, ELOHIM, etc.