Jehovah-Adonai by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 21, 1883

Jehovah—Adonai.

By Editor

A WRITER in the Herald of Life endeavors to prove that Christ is called Jehovah in the Scriptures. The following is part of his argument:—

“In Isa. 6:1-5 we read, ‘In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also Jehovah, sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim; and one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.’ ‘And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed but understand not; and see ye indeed, and perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes,’ etc. Verses 9, 10. John the evangelist quotes this latter passage, speaking of the Jews rejecting the testimony of Jesus Christ, and adds, ‘These things said Esaias when he saw his glory, and spoke of him.’ John 12:40, 41. Here Isaiah informs us he saw Jehovah, and the evangelist says he saw the glory of Christ, and spoke of him. The question then recurs, has the evangelist made a mistake? If Isaiah was inspired, he must have written the truth; and if John has justly applied this vision, this Jehovah, whose glory Isaiah saw, was Christ himself. If John has misapplied the vision, his authority falls to the ground. Either Isaiah or John made a mistake, or Christ is Jehovah; and to maintain that he is not is to deny the inspiration and authority of one of these writers.”

We could recommend a compound which would greatly benefit this writer, made of equal parts of reverence, modesty, and knowledge. By this he might be saved the humiliation of accusing Isaiah or John of making a mistake, when the mistake is all with himself. The name Jehovah is not found in Isaiah 6:1, 8-11. Adonai is the name used in these verses. It is true that in the Greek there is no distinction, as there is none in the English, but the translators of the Old Testament have placed it within the power of the common English reader to distinguish these names by placing LORD in small capitals when it is from Jehovah. Any one venturing to write for a religious paper ought to know this much at least.

This distinction is most clearly shown in Ps. 110:1, “The LORD said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand,” &c. Jehovah said unto Adonai. Jehovah is the proper name of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” Adonai is the Hebrew proper name of the Messiah.

Of course Isa. 6:1 is misrepresented in the above extract. Isaiah said: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also Adonai, sitting on a throne,” &c. Adonai is also used in verse 8, and therefore John, in quoting verses 9, 10, applies them to Christ under that name, and not the name Jehovah.