How do you say a name too holy to repeat?

If you have any Jewish friends or listen to Hebrew praise music, you might hear the name Adonai quite often.

But what does Adonai mean?

The answer is hidden in history.

Throughout the course of the Bible, the main name used for God is the Hebrew word Yahweh.

But because the Jews wanted to honor and respect God's name, they began to stop speaking the word, Yahweh.

Well if you refuse to say God's name how do you talk about God in conversation and discussion?

That is where the word Adonai comes in. Adonai was the substitute for Yahweh.

Adonai is usually translated as lord or majesty.

So why was there a switch of names? Because God's people, the Jews didn't want to misuse the Lord's name. They created a rule to protect themselves.

Makes you think, instead of creating a new rule, why don't we just obey the original command?

This is not a purely Jewish issue.

People of every group has created new rules to protect themselves from previously established ones.

Adonai is a lesson against needless complexity.

Because the God of scripture is relationship based. He loves to say your name. I bet he also loves to hear you say his.