Against paganizing God’s name

In Judges 9, as soon as Gideon was dead, Israel turned to whore after ba’als.

To appreciate what follows, we must remember that “ba’als” means “masters.” Ba’al is not a name, but actually the Hebrew word for a master; and there wasn’t just one Ba’al, there were many. Even when Ba’al does refer to a particular god, as with Ba’al Berith in Judges 9, this is not the name of the god, but merely a title: Master of the Covenant, or Bond-Master.

Even gods like Zeus and Jupiter, who you would think would be obvious counterexamples to this, are actually proof of the principle. We think of these as their names, but in fact both are both derived from an earlier root meaning “sky father”—a title. In the same way, the Canaanites did not have personal names for their gods. Ba’al is simply “master.” El is simply “god.” Yam is simply “sea.” Molekh is just the Hebrew word “king,” melekh, with the vowels for the word “shame” inserted.

This is a very important principle. Personal names give you a personal relationship. They not only reveal something of the essence of the person to you, but they give you a way to exercise power over that person. If you say “Bnonn” in a crowed room where everyone is talking at once, I am likely to hear it—out of all the other jumble of words being said that I don’t hear. If you call someone’s name when you see them walking along the street, preoccupied with something else, you arrest their attention; they will stop and turn around.

To be able to do this with a god was unprecedented in the religions of the pagans. No one had that kind of power over a god.

This is yet another reason that the translation of Yahweh as “the LORD” in most Bibles is so shameful: it is a reversion to a pagan relationship with the divine, where you are not on a first-name basis; where the deity has not revealed a name by which you can arrest his attention and call him and he will hear you, and you can interact with him as a person.

To know the true name of God, the name he has revealed, is to know the essence of God; to be in true relationship; to be on the inside; to treat God as your personal Father and not merely as a divine power.