Our Names for God

Introduction

Why do we want to have a name for God? What does having God’s name mean for us? These are important questions, and we’ll spend a bit of time with them today.

To call someone by his or her name is a personal thing. And the name we use can matter a lot. There’s a huge difference between addressing someone as Jane, Miss Jane, Mrs. Smith, Dr. Smith, and (at perhaps an extreme) Frau Professor Doktor Smith. My son’s given name is Benjamin, he usually goes by Ben, but I often call him Bear (lots of reasons, which I won’t go into here).

• How do you feel when a friend calls you by name? What about a stranger? Why do names have power for us?

I went out with a group to a restaurant this past week. I usually try to catch the server’s name and remember it, when offered, and I’ll often ask if I didn’t catch the name. This particular time, the lady’s name was Allie. And I made a point a time or two to say “Thank you, Allie”, for example when she brought a refill for my drink. I’d like to think that was received as genuine appreciation and a bit of a thank you. What do you think?

One of the Internet voices I listen to is Mark Horstman (and Mike Auzenne and Wendii Lord) over at Manager Tools for their advice on both careers and being a manager. Mark has often said that the sweetest sound to a person is their own name, particularly properly pronounced and collegially used. My wife very much prefers to be addressed by her full name, not any short version or nickname, and when someone presumes differently and tries a short version as an presumed level of familiarity (particularly when it’s a store clerk or something like that) it’s pretty off-putting. I have worked with people from many different ethnic backgrounds, and I’ve observed that people usually very much appreciate when someone else makes the effort to learn how to pronounce their name correctly.

• How do you like to be addressed? This is something where there are profound generational and cultural differences? How should we, as Christians, deal with those things?

To me, this is the true Golden Rule – treat others as they want to be treated, rather than what some might assume of treat others as I would want to be treated.

Talking with God

Particularly in Semetic cultures of the time, the name of a thing was partly capturing the essence of that thing. We can talk about our Heavenly Father. Is that a name, or is that a description, or is it both? I sometimes call my wife Beloved. That is both a name and capturing part of the essence of what she is to me. In thinking about the waitress at the restaurant this week, Allie seemed most appropriate, which partly gets into the question of whether the name describes us or we grow into the name. Or maybe shoe chose a name that suits her and the name she tells customers is not her real name. Any of those are possible and reasonable.

But, there was an aspect of asking for her name which was more about me than about her. It made me more comfortable to be able to refer to her by name, rather than by a more generic description of what she was doing. It is something of an imposition, made somewhat reasonable by the business nature of the moment, for me to ask for her name. And it was asymmetric, in that I didn’t offer her my name, which would have perhaps seemed strange in that particular situation. But it does make me think.

Getting back to God, He has offered names, and we have given him names. In the Semetic tradition, these are descriptive. And there was a big difference in the nature of this relationship. Other gods had names. But Yahweh, to use the name from the account of Moses in Genesis, was different. The Hebrew people could talk to Yahweh, could pray directly to him, in ways that were unlike the ceremonies and intercessors of other religions of that time and since.

El Shaddai
Michael Card and John W. Thompson

El Shaddai, el shaddai
El-elyon na adonia
Age to age you’re still the same
By the power of the name
El shaddai, el shaddai
Erkamka na adonai
I will praise and lift you high
El shaddai

Through your love and through the ram
You saved the son of Abraham
Through the power of your hand
You turned the sea into dry land
To the outcast on her knees
You were the God who really sees
And by your might
You set your children free

El shaddai, el shaddai
El-elyon na adonia
Age to age you’re still the same
By the power of the name
El shaddai, el shaddai
Erkamka na adonai
I will praise and lift you high
El shaddai

El shaddai, el shaddai
El-elyon na adonai
Age to age you’re still the same
By the power of the name
El shaddai, el shaddai
Erkamka na adonai
I will praise and lift you high
El shaddai

Through the years you’ve made it clear
That the time of Christ was near
Though the people couldn’t see
What Messiah ought to be
Your most awesome work was done
Through the frailty of your son

I will praise and lift you high
El shaddai

• Translations (from Wikipedia El Shaddai article)

  • El Shaddai is most often translated as “God Almighty (אל שׁדי).”

  • El-Elyon na Adonai is a combination of two names for God, meaning “God Most High (אל עליון), O Lord (אדני)” (na (נא) is a particle of entreaty, sometimes translated “please” but often left untranslated).

  • Erkamka na Adonai is taken from Psalm 18:1 (except for the “na,” which is added) and is normally translated “I love you (ארחמך), O Lord.” Psalm 18:1 is the only place that the Hebrew Bible uses this verb for love in the Qal stem; this is normally an Aramaic usage. Hebrew uses this verb in the Piel stem.

For other names of God, see the Wikipedia Names of God in Judaism article.

• What other names do we use for God today? What do those names mean to us?

Our Personal Relationship

This is perhaps the biggest sticking point I have with at least my understanding of Catholicism. We do not need intercessory saints between us and God. And while confessing sins to a (trained) Minister of Word and Sacrament is useful, the priest is not the one giving absolution. We can (and should) confess directly to God. And it is God who grants that forgiveness to us. A priest can be a catalyst for that interaction.

That gets to what can be an important role for the names of God. They describe many different aspects of Him. And we can have a very personal relationship with him. He has offered us His names, and asks us to have that personal relationship.