The Two Yahwehs

The Briefest Introduction to this Subject

Where there are the three elohim, let them be divine.
Where there are the two or the one, I am with the One.
- Yahshua's Egyptian Sayings

Gen 1:1.  Elohim (2) created the sky and the earth. 

The title Elohim in this example is a grammatical plurality; though plural, it is understood also as a unity – the Almighty One.  (The singular is Ěl [Ayl] or, coming in later, Ěloah (Ay-lō-ah.)

Deuteronomy 6:4: 'Listen, Israel: Yahweh our Elohim Yahweh is one.” or “Elohim (plural) is united ('echad, singular).”

{It is worthy of note that, in the Biblical Hebrew (as well as in many other languages) the customary grammatical "plurality" of a word is often simply that: a grammatical plural. The use of "plural" forms for singular nouns is common in the Hebrew Bible, and often connotes quintessence, uniqueness, or might rather than plurality (though it may connote both). Thus, the phrase "מלך מלכי המלכים" ("melekh maləkêi ha-məlâkhim") does not refer to "a king, kings of kings", but to "a king of unsurpassed kingship"; שיר השירים, ("shir ha-shirim") does not refer to "a song of songs", but to "a song that is the quintessential song"; ימים רבים ("yamim rabim") refers to "a great sea" as easily as to "great [or 'many'] seas". A clue to this is the Hebrew grammatical term for "plural": lâshon rabbim, meaning a term of grandiosities.}

Gen 2:7.  Yahweh Elohim (2) formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 

   Elohim, the title, and Yahweh, the personal name are teamed up for the very first time here.  El and Yah are one, but Yahweh is still Elohim (the grammatic plural, or, as some would say, "of the [spiritual family of] Elohim).

Torah: Genesis 19:24. Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.

   It is evident from this passage that there are two Yahwehs – one in the upper dimension and one in the lower, consisting of a plurality of beings in unity of purpose and action.

Neviïm: Zechariah 3:2  Yahweh said to Satan, "Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?"

   Here is another example (The Peshitta has "may the malak of Yahweh rebuke you.")

Brit Chadasha: John 5:43.  I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 

   Yahshua, meaning “Yahweh saves,” came in his father’s name, Yahweh, which means “I exist” or “I AM.”  The name Yahweh is in the name Yahshua.  “Yahweh” is not found in the names “Yeshua” or “Jesus.”

John 17:25, 26.  “Ava ha Tzadik, the world has not known you, but I have known you; and these know that you have sent me.  I made known to them your name, and I will [continue to] make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be within them, even as I am within in them."

   In his intercessory prayer, Yahshua defines his mission: to make his heavenly Father’s name known to his followers.  His father's name Yahweh had been hidden away by the 'religious,' and maybe for good reason; but he came in part to restore it.  

Matthew 5: 19, 20.  "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel.

   The Father and Son are in one accord in everything they do.  However, it is obvious that father and son are are not the same being or of the same substance.  Clearly, we are dealing with two: a father and his son 'working on a building' of unity and oneness.

   Kata Mattyah 16:17 Yahshua in answering said to him, You are rab, Shimeon ben Yonah, for body and blood did not reveal this to you, but Avi in the shamayim. 18 I also tell you, You are a stone (masc.)! So upon this, the stone (fem.), I will build-a-home (oikodomhsw = “house-build.”) for my called-out, and the gates of Sheol will not succeed against it.

What is to be constructed is “built” right into the verb – an “oikoV” = “house,” the verb being oikodomhsw. "Kefa” (in Aramaic) and “petra” (in Greek) mean “rock,” “stone” or “cliff.”  Petra is also a city on the east bank of the Jordan where early believers gathered for refuge and worship.  Yahshua may be saying that Petros (masc.) is the house-builder and Petra (fem.) is the place where it would be built.

Exodus 23:20,21.  "Behold, I send an angel (malak) before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.  Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him.

   The mission of the angel (messenger, malak) to the Israelites was to guard and lead.  Yahweh says that the Israelites dare not rebel, for his malak has power to forgive sins because the name Yahweh was in him.  We have shown that Yahweh’s name was in Yahshua, and that, by his own admittance, he came in his Father’s name.

Mark 2:6,7.  Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,   "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but Eloha alone?"

   And here Yahshua is accused of forgiving sins, which he did freely. In doing so, he fulfilled the words of the scribes, for he had been capable of forgiving sins at least back to the time of the Exodus.

Exodus 33:18. He then said, "Please show me your {Shekinah}." 19. Yahweh said, "I shall make all my goodness pass before you, and before you I shall pronounce the name Yahweh; and I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity. 20. But my face," he said, "you cannot see, for no human being can see me and survive." 21. Then Yahweh said, "Here is a place near me. You will stand on the rock, 22. and when my {Shekinah} passes by, I shall put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with my hand until I have gone past. 23. Then I shall take my hand away and you will see my back; but my face will not be seen."

John 1:18.  No one has ever seen Yahweh; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

John 5:37.  And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen. 

John 6: 46.  Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from Elohim; he has seen the Father

   We understand that nobody has seen the Yahweh who is ineffable.  He is incapable of being seen, since he is spirit, although the result of his movement may be seen with terror. The Beloved Disciple knew this because this is what he wrote.  But he also knew that many had seen Yahweh or, at least the (malak, messenger) Angel of Yahweh (mentioned at least 60 times in the Scriptures).

But consider this:

Exodus 24: 9-11.  Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the El of Israel; And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld Elohim, and ate and drank.  12.  Yahweh said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there ... "

   Here Yahweh is seen and heard and eats and drinks.  Moses, Sarah and a host of prophets also see Yahweh.  (See Genesis 18:1-15, for instance).  Since there are two Yahwehs, then heavenly and the earthly, these seen / not seen dual persons demonstrate a perfect description of the two Yahwehs, the father and the son, bearing the same name - YAHU.  Again, we refer to Matthew 5:19ff et al.  The person these people are seeing as Yahweh is the son, preexisting before the birth of the Bethlemite, doing the work of his father.

Proverbs 30:4,5. (In the words of Agur son of Jakeh of Massa ) (1) Who has ascended to heaven and descended? ... (2) Who has established all the ends of the earth? (3) What is his name, and (4) what is his son's name? Surely you know!  

   Yahshua replies to the first question (1),

John 3:13.  No one has ascended into the shamayim but he who descended from the shamayim, the Ben-Adam.  (Yahshua is referring to himself as the Ben-Adam / Son of Man / Son.)

   And The Beloved to the second (2),

John 1:2,3.  He was in the beginning with the Elohim; all things came to be through him, and without him nothing could have come into existence.

As to the third and fourth,

John 5:39-47 You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.  I know that you have not the love of Yahweh within you, for I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope.  If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" 

    Again, we find the Scripture that he was talking about replete with references to the Malak of Yahweh (Yahshua), who has ability to forgive sins and who has the name of Yahweh in him. 

*

*       *

In summary, the Almighty Elohim (plural) is Yahweh Elohim and his son and namesake, Yahshua ben Yahweh Elohim.  The cherubim, seraphim and malakim are also of the Elohim family (Genesis 6:2, Job 1:6, Hebrew), as are any of those born of spirit (John 3:2-7). 

Psalms 8:3-5.  When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars that thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the ben-adam that thou dost care for him?  Yet thou hast made him little less than the elohim, and dost crown him with kavod and honor.

   The writer of Hebrews interprets this passage identifying Yahshua as this man:

Hebrews 2:6-8.  It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the ben-adam, that thou carest for him?  Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet."

Paul, speaking of his position with the Father makes it clear that Yahshua is subordinate:

Romans 8:29.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (Those being brothers in the family of Elohim.)

And the latter Paul seeing Yahshua as the first-born of all creation.  What this means exactly is up for debate, but the words themselves are quite clear.

Colossians 1:13-17.  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible Elohim, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all (other) things created ... And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Finally, Yahshua and Yahweh, son and father, are identified together as the two Yahwehs by comparing myriads of Hebrew with Greek Scriptures with the same subject, Yahweh’s return.  Here are just two, the Old Testament:

(Hebrew) Zechariah 14;3.  Then shall YAHWEH go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

If this is to be taken literally, then it can only be Yah the Ben-Adam standing on mountains.

And the New Testament:

(Greek) Revelation 19:11-16  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of Yahweh. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Elohim El Shaddai. And he hath on his vesture and on his banner a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND SOVEREIGN OF SOVEREIGNS.  (Two more grammatical pluralities that can be translated "the Greatest King and The Most Powerful Sovereign.)

We have but scratched the surface of the iceberg with this important teaching, but you may go from here.  I’m sure many passages have popped into your mind to show the truth of this message.

   And that truth is that Yahweh and Yahshua are different persons, as I am different from my own father; and that Yahweh and Yahshua bore the same name, as my father and I did.  Yet Yahweh and Yahshua were and always have been in echad together – unity of purpose, mission and character.  And as the Father is working, Yahshua is also working in the mission of intercession on our behalf.

   It also shows us that Yahshua not only existed before Bethlehem, but he was very active in the affairs of humankind.  Do a concordance search of “angel of the Lord” in your Bible and see how extensive has been Yahshua’s benevolent care for his people on Yahweh’s behalf.

*

*       *

   Two popular doctrinal trends are proliferating today that this study addresses: the Trinity and the pre-existence of Yahshua. 

   As for the first, it is easy to unglue the Athanasian Creed (373), which states:

5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. 6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. 7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. 8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.

The Bible clearly teaches that the Son was the first-born of creation.

   As for the second, it grieves me to learn that so many of my cohorts in internetworking ministries have abandoned the belief that Yahshua existed before Bethlehem.  It is very, very obvious through the above passages alone, that Yahshua was the messenger of Yahweh, and his son.

Psalms 2:7,8 7.  I will declare the decree: Yahweh hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee.  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

These words are reiterated in Luke, "You are my son, the beloved. This day I have begotten you" (alternate and perhaps older version, reiterated in Hebrews 1:5).

  And finally, we have averted the subject of the Holy Spirit in this essay.  However, we’ll make mention of his (its) identity with just one more startling text in regard to the malak of Yahweh.  Read it in light of our present learnings:

Isaiah 11:1-5.  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (natzar) shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear (reverence) of Yahweh; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of Yahweh: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Is it any wonder that, since Michael is the "malak of Israel," that many serious scripture students understand Michael to be a type or an older testament alter-ego to Yahshua, the "malak of Yahweh"?

“May Yahweh open your mind to this truth so that your lips may be in echad with his purposes.”  Amein.