In the King James Version of the Old Testament, the exact phrase the “Word of Yahweh” appears 255 times, and it appears 58 times in the book of Ezekiel alone. Most of the time, it is used this way: “The Word of Yahweh came to me….” If we read quickly, we will inevitably interpret this phrase to mean that someone, Ezekiel as a case in point, simply heard words, but that is not always the case. In fact, when this phrase appears many times it refers to the Messiah appearing in Person and speaking to someone. For example, Jeremiah 1: 4 begins this way: “Now the Word of Yahweh came to me….” Then in Jeremiah 1: 9, Yahweh stretched out His hand, touched Jeremiah’s mouth, and said, “I have put My Words into your mouth.” In other words, the “Word of Yahweh” referred to in Jeremiah 1: 4 is a Person—Yahweh. A few verses later Yahweh said, “I am watching over my Word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1: 12) Therefore, the Person called the “Word of Yahweh” is watching over Yahweh’s literal words to make sure all of them come to pass. Understanding this fact is essential if you want to understand who the Messiah is.

“For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” (Thomas Jefferson)

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Scripture Quote of the Day:

Isaiah 7: 10-14—“Then Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask a sign for yourself from Yahweh your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test Yahweh!’ Then he (Isaiah) said, ‘Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

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SnyderTalk® Commentary:

Currently, I am putting up bite sized pieces of His Name is Yahweh in SnyderTalk Commentary.  If you haven’t read it, it will be a treat for you.  If you have read it, you will probably enjoy reading it again.  Don’t hesitate to share it with your friends.  You can download the entire manuscript for free at His Name is Yahweh, or you can buy it in Kindle format from Amazon for just $5.

I have left out several footnotes.  Please go to the website His Name is Yahweh and download the manuscript.  It has all the footnotes, and it’s free.

The Messiah in the Old Testament

Many references to the Messiah in the Old Testament are obscure by Yahweh’s design.  Once you learn to recognize Him, it will be relatively easy to identify verses and passages telling about Him.  Until you do, it may not be that simple.

For instance, identifying Bethlehem as the Messiah’s birthplace requires virtually no effort because it is presented in such a straightforward manner.  The same is true about the fact that He came from the tribe of Judah.  However, other Old Testament verses and passages about Him are vague, and a trained eye, or better yet an eye focused by Yahweh, is required to understand them.  I hope and pray that Yahweh will open your heart and your mind as you read the presentation below and that you will see Him in these verses.

The Messiah is the Word of Yahweh

Genesis 1: 1-26 tells about the creation.  Eight times in these verses, we see the phrase “God said.” (Genesis 1: 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, and 26)  This expression is revealing because Yahweh spoke the universe into existence.  By the “Word of Yahweh,” everything we see, and even things we cannot see, came into being.  Psalm 33: 4, 6, and 9 make this point:  “For the Word of Yahweh is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness…By the Word of Yahweh the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host…For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

The “Word of Yahweh” mentioned in these verses is not a sound we hear or words written on paper.  The “Word of Yahweh” is a Person who has all the power of Yahweh.  In fact, He is the Messiah.  Psalm 103: 20 points to this truth: “Bless Yahweh, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His Word, obeying the Voice of His Word!”

Stated another way, Yahweh’s Word has a Voice, and He can speak.  Sometimes the “Word of Yahweh” is called the “Voice of Yahweh.”  The 70 rabbis who translated the Septuagint Tanach in 285 B.C. suggested this when they rendered Genesis 3: 8 in the following way: Adam and Eve “heard the Voice of the LORD God (i.e., Yahweh Elohim) walking in the garden in the afternoon.”  The King James Version interprets Genesis 3: 8 the same way.

Psalm 29: 3-9 makes this point beautifully: “The Voice of Yahweh is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, Yahweh is over many waters.  The Voice of Yahweh is powerful, the Voice of Yahweh is majestic.  The Voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars; yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.  The Voice of Yahweh hews out flames of fire.  The Voice of Yahweh shakes the wilderness; Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The Voice of Yahweh makes the deer to calve and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everything says, ‘Glory!’” (Psalm 29: 3-9)

Psalm 29: 3-9 uses the Name “Yahweh” and the “Voice of Yahweh” interchangeably and hints at the fact that they are One and the same Person.

In the King James Version of the Old Testament, the exact phrase the “Word of Yahweh” appears 255 times, and it appears 58 times in the book of Ezekiel alone.  Most of the time, it is used this way:  “The Word of Yahweh came to me….”  If we read quickly, we will inevitably interpret this phrase to mean that someone, Ezekiel as a case in point, simply heard words, but that is not always the case.  In fact, when this phrase appears many times it refers to the Messiah appearing in Person and speaking to someone.  For example, Jeremiah 1: 4 begins this way: “Now the Word of Yahweh came to me….”  Then in Jeremiah 1: 9, Yahweh stretched out His hand, touched Jeremiah’s mouth, and said, “I have put My Words into your mouth.”  In other words, the “Word of Yahweh” referred to in Jeremiah 1: 4 is a Person—Yahweh.  A few verses later Yahweh said, “I am watching over my Word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1: 12)  Therefore, the Person called the “Word of Yahweh” is watching over Yahweh’s literal words to make sure all of them come to pass.  Understanding this fact is essential if you want to understand who the Messiah is.

Psalm 18: 30 hints at this truth as well: “As for God, His way is blameless; the Word of Yahweh is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.”

Does the phrase the “Word of Yahweh” in Psalm 18: 30 make reference to Yahweh or His literal words?  Since this verse is about Yahweh, it is reasonable to conclude that the “Word of Yahweh” refers to the Person Yahweh.

Earlier, I said the “Word of Yahweh” referred to in Genesis chapter 15 is actually the Messiah.  Take a look at Genesis 15: 1 and you will see what I mean: “After these things the Word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.’”

The “Word of Yahweh” came to Abraham and told him that He is a shield to him.  That is exactly what Psalm 18: 30 says, and in Genesis 15: 4 we learn that the “Word of Yahweh” told Abraham he would have a son.  Then in Genesis 15: 5 the Bible says, “And He (Yahweh or the “Word of Yahweh”?) took him (Abraham) outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And then He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”

Obviously, literal words did not take Abraham outside.  Someone took Abraham outside and that Someone was the Person called the “Word of Yahweh,” and He is the Messiah.  Then in Genesis 15: 6, Yahweh declares Abraham righteous because he had faith in Him, and later in the chapter He ratified the covenant.  This fact is essential because it means the Messiah ratified the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Psalm 107: 19-20 tells us that the “Word of Yahweh” performs the Messiah’s work: “Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses.  He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

According to these verses, Yahweh sent His Word and healed them.  We know from Genesis 1: 1-26 that He easily could have spoken His Word and healed them.  Psalm 107: 19-20 makes perfect sense when you understand that the “Word of Yahweh” is the Messiah and that He came to heal us, among other things.  Isaiah 53: 5 explains it this way: “by His (the Messiah’s) scourging we are healed.”  Literally, He took the penalty for our sins on Himself, redeemed us, reconciled us to God, and healed us completely.

Now take a look at Psalm 40: 6-7: “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.  Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me.’”

Psalm 40: 6-7 spells out the Messiah’s mission, although not in great detail.  It begins by explaining that Yahweh does not desire sacrifice and meal offerings or burnt offerings and sin offerings.  What, then, does He require?  The continuation of Psalm 40: 7 provides the answer: “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me.”  Yahweh requires an unblemished sacrifice, and He is the only One in all of creation capable of being the perfect sacrifice He demands.  Therefore, He came to redeem us and to atone for our sins.  The book mentioned in Psalm 40: 7 is the Torah and the Messiah—the “Word of Yahweh”—is the focal point of the Torah, Yahweh’s written Word.

Psalm 138: 2 illustrates how much Yahweh honors His Word: “I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your Name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your Word according to all Your Name.”

A literal translation of this verse from the Hebrew reads as follows: “…for You have exalted Your Word above Your Name.”  Yahweh is the Name that is above every name, and Yahweh has exalted “His Word”—the Messiah—above His Name.  Be sure of this fact.  Yahweh does not honor words written on paper above His Name.  The only Person or thing exalted above Yahweh’s Name is Yahweh Himself.

A Jewish sage named Jonathon ben Uziel wrote the Jerusalem Targum before the Messiah’s birth.  In it, he refers to Yahweh as the “Word of the Lord” in keeping with the Jewish tradition that prohibits saying or writing God’s Name except on special occasions.  Below are two examples that prove my point.  First you will read a verse from the Torah and then the Jerusalem Targum’s explanation of that verse:

  • Genesis 19: 24—“Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.”
  • The Jerusalem Targum—“And the Word of the Lord caused to descend upon the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord from heaven.”
  • Exodus 3: 14—“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.”
  • The Jerusalem Targum—“And the Word of the Lord said unto Moses: I am He who said unto the world, Be! and it was: and who in the future shall say to it Be! and it shall be.  And He said Thus thou shalt say to the Children of Israel: I am hath sent me unto you.”

It’s obvious that before the Messiah’s birth, at least one prominent Jewish thinker understood that the “Word of Yahweh” and Yahweh are One.  The writers of the New Testament corroborate this perspective.  For example, in his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul said, “The Word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgment on secret emotions and thoughts.  No created thing is hidden from Him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the One to whom we must give account of ourselves.” (Hebrews 4: 12-13)

Paul refers to the “Word of God” as “Him”—meaning a Person.  He is the One to whom we must give account for everything we have done and said and thought.  Additionally, the apostle John opens his Gospel with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1: 1)

It is a simple fact that New Testament manuscripts, both ancient and contemporary, routinely substitute the titles “God” and “Lord” for the Name “Yahweh.”  Thus, it is logical to conclude that Paul is referring to Yeshua as the “Word of Yahweh” in his letter to the Hebrews, and we know for certain that John is writing about Yeshua.

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His Name is Yahweh:

There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is YahwehHis Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5.  If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should.  The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org