Knowing God OVERVIEW.EXTRAS

Week 1 Leftovers :

Possible Intro:

Because of this…round 5th century B.C. around the time of Ezra

The Jew’s stoped saying the word YHWY for fear of breaking the 3rd commandment, “Do not take the Lords name in Vein” and adopted the word Adoni in its place which is translated in english to the word Lord.

This does not change the original word Yahweh which we translate in english as Jehovah. Study Content

Because of this…round 5th century B.C. around the time of Ezra

The Jew’s stoped saying the word YHWY for fear of breaking the 3rd commandment, “Do not take the Lords name in Vein” and adopted the word Adoni in its place which is translated in english to the word Lord.

This does not change the original word Yahweh which we translate in english as Jehovah.

God is saying I am the God of Forever… I have no beginning and no end

Then he places himself in human history by saying..

I’m the same Covenant God of your fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)

Moses knows immediatly… that God was personally involved with the daily lives of these great men and their families…

he is saying… I AM… the FOREVER LORD and I am a PERSONAL GOD.

Personally involved in your daily life.

God is NOT a cosmic mob boss, or cosmic CEO - he walks the grown of the earth

NAME YHWH 2:

Week 2 — Explain why we say “Jehovah Jireh.”

Now you're preaching Genesis 22 and they encounter:

YHWH Yireh.

This gives you the perfect opportunity for the next layer.

Something like:

“Last week I showed you those four Hebrew letters, YHWH. Here's something interesting. You probably know today's name as Jehovah Jireh. But if we're being technically accurate, Abraham would not have said ‘Jehovah Jireh.’ The Hebrew text says YHWH Yireh.”

Then give them 60–90 seconds, not five minutes, of history.

Explain that Jewish people increasingly treated God's personal name with such reverence that they avoided pronouncing it and substituted Adonai — Lord. Eventually the original pronunciation was no longer preserved with certainty. The dominant scholarly reconstruction today is Yahweh. The older familiar Christian form Jehovah arose much later through combining YHWH with vowel markings associated with Adonai. Jewish Encyclopedia

Then immediately get back to Genesis 22:

YHWH Yireh → The LORD will provide.

Now the history serves the text rather than hijacking the sermon.

1. Linguistic Meaning (the real linguistic function)

In biblical Hebrew, letters themselves do not contain word-level meanings.

They function like English letters A, B, C — building blocks.

But each letter does have:

              •           A name

              •           A pronunciation

              •           A traditional symbolic association(pictograph meaning from ancient Hebrew)

NAME YHWH 3:

Week 3 — Explain the reverence behind the substitution.

This is where I would introduce why Jewish tradition became so cautious.

You could say:

“We've talked about how God's people eventually stopped speaking YHWH aloud. Understand, God never commanded Israel, ‘Never speak My name.’ In fact, His name appears thousands of times in the Hebrew Scriptures. What God commanded was that His name never be taken in vain. Over time, Jewish tradition built a fence around the commandment: If His name is this holy, we don't even want to risk dishonoring it.”

That's both respectful and understandable.

There is historical evidence that pronunciation became increasingly restricted to sacred contexts, including Temple worship. Rabbinic sources also preserve the tradition that knowledge of the pronunciation was passed carefully to select disciples. Jewish Encyclopedia

And this gives you a fantastic application without getting bogged down in history:

They were so concerned about dishonoring God's name that they wouldn't speak it. We can become so casual with God's name that we barely think about how we represent it.

That can move from pronunciation to representation:

What does it mean for us to bear His name well?

That's far more transformational than merely teaching Hebrew history.

Below are the accurate meanings.

NAME YHWH 4:

Week 4 or later — Talk about modern Jewish sensitivity.

I wouldn't introduce the T-shirts, hats, tattoos, etc. until people already understand the story.

Then you can say something like:

“This also helps explain something you may not realize. Today you'll see Christians wearing YHWH on shirts, hats and jewelry as an expression of worship. Our intention is usually honor. But many observant Jewish people approach those four letters with such reverence that seeing the divine name placed casually on clothing or merchandise can feel deeply disrespectful.”

I'd say “many observant Jews”, rather than “the average Jew.” Jewish practice varies considerably, and we don't need to overstate it.

That becomes an interesting lesson:

Same intention, different tradition.

Christians aren't violating a biblical command simply by putting YHWH on a shirt. But understanding Jewish reverence for the name can help us appreciate just how weighty God's name was considered.

The larger series strategy

I think the key is: don't teach the history of the NAME all at once. Let the congregation discover the NAME as Scripture reveals God's CHARACTER.

So each week, give them another puzzle piece:

Week 1: “Those four letters are YHWH. It's God's personal covenant name.”

Week 2: “YHWH is probably pronounced Yahweh. Jehovah is the familiar later Christian form. So Jehovah Jireh comes from YHWH Yireh.”

Week 3: “Why did we lose certainty about the pronunciation? God's people became increasingly reluctant to speak His holy name.”

Week 4: “That's why your Bible prints YHWH as LORD, following the ancient practice of substituting ‘Lord.’”

Week 5+: “Now every time you see LORD in all caps, I want you to recognize what you're looking at: YHWH. The covenant God who has revealed Himself and wants His people to KNOW Him.”

That last sentence connects beautifully to Knowing God.

And I think there's a recurring line you could use throughout the series that would slowly gain meaning every week:

God didn't reveal His name so we could merely know what to CALL Him. He revealed His name so we could know WHO He is.

By Week 5 or 6, when you say “YHWH”, your people won't just hear four strange Hebrew letters. They'll have accumulated several weeks of revelation about the God behind the name.

NAME YHWH 5:

2. The Four Letters of YHWH (יהוה)

Y - Yod (Yud)

Sound: “Y”

Literal meaning: a hand

Pictograph meaning (ancient Hebrew):

              •           Hand

              •           Work

              •           Action

              •           Power

Symbolic sense: “Hand of God,” “the One who acts.”

H - He (Hey)

Sound: “H”

Literal meaning: to reveal / behold

Pictograph meaning (ancient Hebrew):

              •           A man with arms raised

              •           Behold!

              •           Revelation

              •           Breath

Symbolic sense: “Behold,” “reveal,” “breath of God.

W - Vav (Waw)

Sound: anciently “W,” later Hebrew “V”

Literal meaning: a hook or nail

Pictograph meaning (ancient Hebrew):

Nail

Peg

Connection

Secure

Add/attach

Symbolic sense: “One who connects,” “the one who binds together.”

H - He (Hey)

Same as H from above

3. Putting It Together (symbolically)

This is not the linguistic/grammatical meaning (which is tied to “I AM,” the verb to be).

But symbolically, based on the ancient pictographs, many teachers note:

YHWH (יהוה) pictograph sense:

Hand — Behold — Nail — Behold

or

Action — Reveal — Connect — Reveal

Christians often connect this pictographic symbolism to the crucifixion:

“Behold the hand, behold the nail.”

(This is beautiful as a devotional illustration, but not the root meaning of the word

Transition: As I close today….

Csr4fully think thr0ugh thenaltqr response… How hard it may be for people especially when people in

The hu[ouwe kmownwhqt they may b going through (friendship message- WAS AN EXAMPLE… SOMRTIMES GET PEOPLE TO THE FRONT WITH A SOFTER INVITE… THEN PRAY FOR THEH AS THEY AREE ALL UP AT THE FROMT 0

Unused Name:

+ El Elyon