“Read the Preface"

        It’s been a lifelong habit of mine to read prefaces. I learned in my teen years that there is often key information to be found there, such as why the book was really written, or who some of the disguised characters might have been in real life. My prime example today is the New American Standard Bible. If you skip the preface, you will find the word “LORD” written thousands of times in the Old Testament, and won’t realize its significance. You might think it’s all capitals for emphasis, the way we might compose an email. But the caps are not for SHOUTING—there is much deeper significance.

        Whenever the word “LORD” occurs, it indicates that the original Hebrew word was the so-called “tetragrammaton”—the four letter name for God indicated by the English letters JHVH or YHWH. In old Hebrew there were no vowel indications so the King James translators followed tradition and inserted the vowels e, o, and a, to give Jehovah in only four places: Ex.6:3, Psa.83:18, Isa.12:2, and Isa.26.4 All other occurrences are translated “the LORD”. Modern scholarship leans toward the name YAHWEH. Neither the NASB nor the NIV use either “Jehovah” or “Yahweh”.

        This means that God’s personal name is Jehovah or Yahweh— but it has been replaced in many passages by the indefinite term “the LORD.” This seems, at least in my view, to be a possible deprecation of His Name. It would be like referring to your wife as “the wife” or even as “the woman”, rather than her very own personal name. How mortifying for her!

        It doesn’t look like there’s any going back now, and to us God’s name is now “the LORD”, but we should at least be aware that it’s a euphemism. Long ago the Jews stopped saying the name YAHWEH, and replaced it with Adonai. Some Jews even today, will only write His Name as “G-d”.

        So, after all this, have a look at your Bible’s preface. It may be a very enjoyable read, indeed.