SOLOMON BEGAN his reign with a prayer for wisdom, a prayer that was answered by God in a dream. 

We discuss some of the interesting differences in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Hebrew text, which is the basis for our English language Old Testament translations. It appears the Masoretes made minor changes to make David and Solomon appear even more powerful and wise than in the older Hebrew text that was translated into the Greek Septuagint. 

We talk about a concept we’ve discussed before, “the Name.” This is a term used often in the Old Testament, but it’s not well understood. Jews today use the phrase ha-shem (“the name”) to avoid saying Yahweh, but since YHWH appears some 7,000 times in the Old Testament, that clearly wasn’t a problem for the Hebrew prophets. 

Nor is the Name of Yahweh His reputation; it’s another aspect of the personhood of God, often described as dwelling with the Angel of Yahweh, who is Yahweh in human form. A more accurate translation of 2 Samuel 6:1–2, acknowledging the lack of a preposition (the word “by”) in the original Hebrew, the Ark of the Covenant is “is called the Name of Yahweh of hosts.” In short, “the Name” isn’t a phrase, it’s a Being. 

PLEASE NOTE that our audio sounds different this week because we took in a new rescue puppy Friday night! We recorded this week’s study in our dining room with wireless mics because we don't trust little Glory around all the expensive lights just yet.

Also, you’ll hear the sound of dog wrestling towards the end of this week’s study. Our apologies for the distractions!