By Michael E. Brooks

"Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is his name?" what shall I say to them?' And God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And he said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I am has sent me to you"'" (Exodus 3:13,14).

The name of God has always been a subject of curiosity and sometimes controversy. Different languages use different words for divinity, such as "El" or "Elohim" in Hebrew, "Theos" in Greek, "Deos" in Latin, etc. Various gods are given personal names. Baal, Moloch, and Rimmon were gods worshipped by the nations surrounding Israel in Old Testament times. Krishna, Shiva, and Ganesh are deities of modern Hinduism. In a polytheistic society one cannot identify his god only by the generic term for deity; he must specify the exact one he wishes to address.

The third commandment is "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). God attaches great significance to his name. He gave it to Moses in order that he might be correctly identified and known, and he protected it with a strict and ominous warning. The Jews took this commandment so seriously that they refused to even pronounce God's name, substituting "Adoni" ("The Lord") for "Yahweh" even when reading the Old Testament text aloud (a practice continued in most modern English translations –- for instance in Psalm 23 the original text says "Yahweh is my shepherd," but we read "The Lord is my Shepherd."

It is significant that the name of God is very like the Hebrew verb "to be" and that it is unmistakably connected with God's eternal existence in Exodus 3:14. God's name reflects at least a part of his unalterable nature. He is, he is the ultimate Being and the ground and cause of all other being. Without God there is no life, no existence. These truths are reflected and acknowledged whenever we speak or read his name.

I was made to reflect on these things recently by a rather trivial incident in Nepal. A group of Christians came to one of our workshops from the village of Badhurjahula. The name of the village means, "hanging monkey." Does that perhaps suggest a certain type of location for the village? Would you expect that name to be given to a neighborhood in a modern city? Badhurjahula lies within Chitwan National Park, the oldest of the parks in Nepal and home to many wild animals, including tigers, leopards, Asian rhinoceros, and, yes, lots and lots of monkeys. The name well describes and fits the village's location.

So our perception of God's identity and nature is enhanced by our knowing his name. He is eternal, all-powerful, ever-present. He Is! And He always will be! "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" (Psalm 113:2).

by Kevin Cauley

Perhaps one of the most popular Bible tools that is readily available is Strong's Concordance. As a concordance, Strong's is one of the best (if not the best) available to the Bible student today. Many a gospel preacher wrote his first sermon using nothing but the Bible and a Strong's concordance. As many are familiar, Strong's also numbers each word indexed so that the reader may look up the original Greek or Hebrew word that is used in the passage under consideration. This can be useful in comparing two different Bible passages to aid the reader in understanding whether the same word was used in both passages. However, a student should be careful not to extend Strong's beyond its intended purpose; it is a concordance, not a comprehensive lexicon of ancient words. What can Strong's Greek and Hebrew aids do to help the non-Greek/Hebrew reading student? What are the limitations of Strong's Concordance? Let's look at these questions this week in our basic Greek study.

As I mentioned, Strong's language helps can aid the reader to understand which word is used in what passage. For example, if I were comparing two passages that had the English word "love" in them, I could note what the Greek word for love is in those passages. However, in order for that to be helpful to me, I need to know what those different Greek words indicate. Without knowing the definition of a word, I may be able to eliminate a scripture that doesn't go along with my sermon topic, but that doesn't help me put what I do have into the right context. "Mr. Strong" recognized this and so he put a "dictionary" into the back of the concordance. The dictionary is designed to aid by giving a rudimentary definition of a word so that one may know the difference between two different Greek words with the same English translation. So it is very helpful in this regard.

On the other hand, the Greek and Hebrew dictionaries in Strong's Concordance ought not to be looked at as "the" definition of a word for all occurrences of that word in scripture. Just as most English words have more than one definition, so also Greek and Hebrew words have more than one definition. Strong's often gives the words as they have been translated in the KJV. Strong's dictionary doesn't really look at the fundamental definitions of a word and the nuances involved in the uses of those words and how they might be translated into English in the year 2004. This job should be left to more advanced lexical tools, such as Thayer's or BADG.

Another limitation of Strong's is that it doesn't necessarily indicate how the word is used in the context. It merely gives the word as most often translated. For example, Strong's translates the Greek word OINOS as "wine." That is the correct translation; but in the times of the New Testament the word "wine" could indicate either an alcoholic or a non-alcoholic beverage. One cannot determine simply by looking at Strong's dictionary what the Greek word OINOS means in its context. One must examine the context and understand how a word is being used.

Finally, while Strong's can tell us when two different words are being used, it cannot tell us how synonymous those two words are in meaning. There are many synonyms in the New Testament. Sometimes those words are used to reiterate the same concepts and sometimes not. Strong's cannot help a person understand when that is happening and when it is not, though, Strong's may be able to provide some hints through its etymological references. But one must remember that similar etymology doesn't necessarily mean that two words are synonymous, either.

Overall, Strong's Concordance is an excellent tool for the Bible student. I highly recommend that every person have a copy in their personal library. However, when it comes to Greek and Hebrew aids, one ought to purposefully limit Strong's to what it does best in that department. Strong's aids the reader in understanding where similar original language words are used and where different original language words are used in reference to a single English word. One should limit one's use of Strong's dictionary to that purpose. Greater depth of understanding of original language words ought to be sought from a Greek or Hebrew Lexicon.

by Don Ruhl

Read Isaiah 7 and 8 Syria and Israel joined forces to defeat Jerusalem. While they could not prevail against Jerusalem, the people were nevertheless very fearful. Therefore, the Lord sends Isaiah to comfort the king of Judah, but at the end of his prophecy, the Lord has Isaiah say,

9b "If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established." (Isa. 7:9b, NKJV).

If you do not believe God and His promises, building your life and hopes on Him, how can you establish your life? Do not expect inward stability, if you exclude the Creator of the inward nature of man from your life. Therefore, I should ask myself if I truly believe, even when I must go against the odds.

by Don Ruhl

Read Ephesians Chapter 2

People like to refer to the place where the disciples of Christ meet as the church. This is not a scriptural way to refer to the church, although the church is a building! In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul explains that Jesus, through His work on the cross, brings all people, including Jew and Gentile, together. Paul says,

20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:20--22, NKJV).

In the flesh, the church uses a building, but the building is not the church. In the spirit, the church is a building to be used by Another who wishes to meet there. Why is the church a building? Buildings are put up to be inhabited. If the people are the building, who is inhabiting the building? Paul gave the answer. God inhabits the building. Yes, God inhabits heaven and earth, but there is a special place that He inhabits in the spirit, and that place is the church.

Does God inhabit a building erected by men or a building that He has erected?