The Faithfulness of YHWH

The textual development of the Old Testament is driven by many factors. Modern scholarship (actually beginning in the 1650’s) is certainly on to something in recognizing this. However I believe they carry the process way too far, because of fatal errors in their thinking.

One of these is a misunderstanding of the YHWH and Elohim names. This confusion can be seen during the Jewish Exilic period, and is carried over into the New Testament era where it is formalized into our Trinitarian doctrine at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th Century. The concept of a co-equal and co-eternal Trinity is the bedrock of all church doctrine. However, this error blinds us to the Truth that all the Old Testament prophets could readily see.

On the other side of the ledger, conservatives have fundamental flaws in their thought process as well. The theory of biblical inerrancy has been proven wrong many, many times. It is quite clear that Moses did not write every single word. He certainly did not write about his own death (Dt 34:5-8), and the text readily admits that the author copied from a previous book (Num 21:14-15). The counter-argument to this, though, is that Jesus referred to the Torah as the words of Moses. That is true, but does this really create a conflict with Mosaic authorship? We know Jesus did not lie, but He also didn’t say that every single word was written by Moses. It should be obvious that the answer lies somewhere in-between. But where? That’s the million-dollar question. Perhaps the best place to begin our journey is with the YHWH and Elohim issue.

In Deuteronomy 32, Moses sings a song to the Israelites. Verses 8 and 9 say:

8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. (NET)

There are two names of God in this passage. The first is “Elyon”, which means, “God, Most High.” The second is “YHWH”, which is the covenant name of God. Exodus explains the meaning as, the “I AM that I AM” (Ex 3:14). I would contend that these aren’t the same being - but two different ones. To put it in New Testament words, Elyon is the Father, and YHWH is the Son.

In the passage above, Moses is singing praises to the Israelites that they, above all the people of the earth, had been chosen to be YHWH’s (Jesus) portion. The Moabites belonged to Chemosh as his portion (Num 21:29), the Philistines belonged to Dagon (Judg. 16:23), and so on for all the other nations. But Israel belonged to the heavenly Being Who was the true expression of the Father. How blessed they were!

One of David’s Levitical singers, Ethan the Ezrachite, writes in Psalm 89:

6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, 7 a God who is honored in the great angelic assembly, and more awesome than all who surround him? 8 O Lord, sovereign God! Who is strong like you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you. (NET)

Ethan asks three great rhetorical questions:

Who can compare to YHWH?

Who is honored or more awesome than He?

Who is as strong as He?

These questions are meant to stir a wonder within us at who YHWH is, and to cause us to probe deeper into the reason why. He gives us the answer at the end – “Your faithfulness surrounds you.” Ethan is singing that YHWH’s incomparable honor and strength comes from His faithfulness.

Without going any further, let’s also ask a few related questions:

Can anyone compare in the heavens to Jesus?

Who is like Him among all the beings in heaven?

Who is honored more than Jesus in the assembly, or is more awesome than He?

Since Jesus is sovereign, who is as strong as He?

But the reason for Jesus’ incomparable glory is His faithfulness. “Faithful to us,” you ask? Sure, but this there’s more, and this creates a dilemma within me. You see, I can’t look at a Gabriel or a Michael and say they aren’t faithful – that certainly wouldn’t be true. And I certainly wouldn’t say that any of the other righteous beings in heaven aren’t as well. But this I also know…

There never has been, nor will there ever be, anyone more faithful to the Father… than Jesus!

This is so positively true that Jesus stated emphatically, “The person who has seen me, has seen the Father!” (Jn 14:9).