YHWH and Jesus at the Cross.

Recently I was watching a TV preacher named Joesph Prince and I heard him refer to the following thoughts and it really really intrigued me.  Enough so that I looked into it and studied it for myself and was amazed!  Please look at this wonderful study of the name etched in the sign that hung above our Saviors head on the Cross at Golgotha.

John 19:17-30   ¹⁹ "Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. ²¹ The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

As we have just read the title was written in 3 languages.  George MacLeod has a wonderful statement about why 3 languages and where the murder happened.  He states, "I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died, and that is what He died for, and that is what He died about that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about." (This topic could be a whole separate blog...)


Since I am speaking of the Hebrew name for God, YHVH, I want to show you the Hebrew translation for what would have been written above Jesus' head.

ישו מנצרת, מלך היהודים 

(“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”)

              

It is interesting to see what the Hebrew letter abbreviated read…

Yeshua Ha’Netzeret V‘mlech Ha’Yehudim

                       H        V      H       Y       

YHVH in Hebrew.  You my also know Hebrew is read from right to left thus Y-H-V-H and not H-V-H-Y.

Seems to me that the Jewish leaders were bit freaked out (John 19:21) when they heard that the title that Pilate was gonna put over His head when abbreviated reads YHVH!  They din't want it to read, "King of the Jews".  They only wanted it to say something to effect that this is what He claimed.  

As you may know the 4 letter abbreviation of God is called theTetragrammaton (YHVH).  You might say, "well Isn't it spelled YHWH with a W not a V?"Yes you are right BUT there is no "W" in the Hebrew alphabet.  So the "V" is the proper character.  


Hebrew Alphabet (as you see no W)

YHWH is where we would get the name for God "Yahweh" (Rob Bell has a great thought on the name as well.  When we inhale it sounds like "Yah" and when we exhale it sounds like "Weh"... interesting huh?  The very thing that gives us life, breath actually pronounces the name of out Creator).  There is a good link in Wiki about the Tetragrammaton here.

Hope this helps,

Ezra