THE UNIQUENESS OF THE NAME OF GOD

The Tetragrammaton OUOI appears nearly 7000 times in the Old Testament. That by far outnumbers the words "God" and "Lord". In the New Testament the Name appears about 250 times (2)  in the New World Translation (3) . The Tetragrammaton when translated means: "He causes to become", and it consists out of the two parts I = he and OUO, the stem of the verb. All original Hebrew verbs consist out of three characters (stem). That shows that the Hebrew language is a divinely constructed language. It has not been developed out of animal sounds of a primitive human.

The three characters of the verbs and thus the three characters of the stem OUO of the Tetragrammaton recall the tabernacle and its three cubes of the two sections. The tabernacle was "the place of the name of God" and the temple in Jerusalem was "the house for the name of OUOI" (Deuteronomy 16:6; 1 Kings 5:3-5). Therefore shouldn't the tabernacle and the temple show us something about God's name? (Compare Daniel 9:18,19). Three cubes of the tabernacle or of the temple are comparable with the three characters of the stem OUO. But what is the I? It is the pillar of cloud that hovered above all three cubes of the tabernacle. In the night it was a pillar of fire. Therefore we can draw the following picture:

We can now join the stem of the Name on both sides with the I:

A square of God's name thus can be read in both directions:

In this way you can form a chain with God's name and you can close it:

Here you can also read God's name in both directions. This reminds us of the wheels of the creatures in Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly vehicle (Ezekiel 1:19-21).

The principle "1 + 3" is realized at the tabernacle (4) in many ways. All of this points to the name of God:

1) In the courtyard there were 1 + 3 special places, separated in the two squares of the courtyard: The 1-part was the tabernacle itself in the second square of the courtyard. The 3-part was in the first square of the courtyard namely the basin, the altar and the place for the fatty ashes (Leviticus 1:16):

2) The 1 + 3-parts can be seen in the camp around the sanctuary, too: 1-camp of the priests (Moses included) in the east and 3-camps of the Levites namely Kohath, Gershon and Merari in the other three directions of the wind.

3) Likewise the three-tribe-sections around the sanctuary: The 1-part is the outstanding and numerous three-tribe-section of the leading tribe Judah, the 3-part consists of the three other three-tribe-sections of Reuben, Ephraim and Dan.

4) The whole layout of the camping people of Israel reminds us of the 1 + 3-division: The 1-part is the middle namely the sanctuary. The 3-part is the three parts of the camp: Levites (Moses and priests included) forming the first ring around the sanctuary, twelve Israelite tribes forming the second ring and the mixed people forming the third ring.

5) The fixtures of the tabernacle can easily be separated into 1 + 3 groups: The 1-part is in the Most Holy. It is the ark of covenant. The 3-part is in the Holy and there are the table of showbread, the altar of incense and the lampstand.

6) The courtyard, too, can be divided into 1 + 3 sections: The 1-part is the fixtures (basin and altar). The 3-part is found when we march once around the tabernacle: We start in the first square of the courtyard, we continue in the second square by marching around the tabernacle, and then we arrive at the third place namely the first square of the courtyard again. The marching around the tabernacle leads us directly back to our OUO-stem. The O is twice the same first square of the courtyard as the O appears twice in OUOI!

7)  The "doors" in the sanctuary:

1-part = the cover of the ark of covenant (passage only for the hands)

3-part = the curtain to the Most Holy

the curtain to the Holy                  (3 passages for humans)

the door of the courtyard

 

8) The four parts of the camp:

1-part = the holy tribe of Levi (Moses and priests included)

3-part = the twelve tribes of Israel

the mixed people

the camp of the sick ones

9) The four parts of the priestly camp:

1-part = the prophet and leader Moses

3-part = the highpriest Aaron

the faithful priests Eleasar and Ithamar

the unfaithful priests Nadab and Abihu

10) The four courts of the temple rebuilt by Herod:

1-part = court of the priests (the actual courtyard of the temple)

3-part = court of Israel

court of women

court of Gentiles

11) The four main parts of the temple seen by Ezekiel in a vision:

1-part = the Most Holy (only for the Highpriest)

3-part = the Holy

the inner courtyard

the outer courtyard

 

or the following division:

1-part = the temple building itself

3-part = the inner courtyard

the outer courtyard

the surrounding lower pavement

(2) But we should expect that the Name has to be restored at many further places.

(3) New World Bible Translation Committee: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, several issues 1950-1984

(4) I call this principle: "The Tabernacle Pattern"; but not only 1+3 (= 4) leads to a pattern, also a 2-pattern, a 3-pattern, a 5-pattern and so on is possible, but this is going beyond the scope of this book.