Page 73 - SABBATH

complete certainty attaches to this pronunciation.
(NASB © 1985 Holman Bible Publishers)

As I look at this explanation I find some very distinct problems. The publishers admit
that “the name of God is most significant and understandably so,” yet they go on to state
that they have removed His “special or proper name” in every occurrence throughout the
Old Testament, without exception. Furthermore, they state that “the most common name
for deity is God,” yet God is not a name at all, it is a title denoting a divine being and it can
be equally ascribed to false divinity as well as that which is true. They have even stated that
God is a translation of Elohim.
Elohim is never given as the proper name of Yahweh in scripture. Elohim is a title that
refers to a divine being and in the following passage we can see that it was not exclusively
used as a reference to Yahweh.

Exodus 12:12
'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the
first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the elohim of
Egypt I will execute judgments-- I am Yahweh.’

The translators are clearly wrong in stating that “the most common name for deity is
God.” They would have been closer to the truth in saying “the most common title for deity
is God.” Anytime the writers of scripture wanted to declare who their Elohim was they gave
His “special or proper name” Yahweh. They did this with amazing consistency so that
Yahweh occurs 6,828 times in the Old Testament with Yah occurring an additional 49
times. Yet for all this, the translators have chosen to totally remove the names Yahweh and
Yah from scripture and they have based it solely upon the following argument: “This name
has not been pronounced by the Jews because of reverence for the great sacredness of the
divine name. Therefore, it has been consistently translated Lord.”
Did the translators give some divine commandment as their authority for removing
Yahweh’s name from scripture? No! They based this very profound decision totally upon
the tradition of the Jews. It was these same Jews to whom Yahshua spoke the following:

Mark 7:6-9
And He [Yahshua] said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as
it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from
me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." He was also
saying to them, "You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your
tradition.”

What is the commandment of Yahweh concerning the usage of His name? We are not
left without understanding.

Exodus 3:15
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel,
Yahweh God of your fathers ... hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and
this is my memorial unto all generations.