Scribes and the greatest commandment

Mark 12:28-34

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Analysis

In this passage recorded in the gospel according to Mark, one of the scribes approached Y’hoshua. A scribe is what we nowadays call a ‘bible scholar’ or a ‘theologian.’ So one of the theologians approached Y’hoshua and asked him what the greatest commandment of all was, and Y’hoshua answered him:

Shema Yisra’el YHWH elohenoe, YHWH echad

Hear, Yisra’el, YHWH (is) your-elohiym, (there is) one YHWH.

And the theologian accepted the answer, and confirmed:

Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that he is one and that there is no other besides him… (CJB @1279)

In response to Y’hoshua’s answer that YHWH is Israel’s elohiym, the scribe said that he agreed with that answer. So he agreed that Israel’s elohiym is called YHWH. And because of this, he in turn received the assurance that he was not far from the Kingdom of Elohiym.

Now read the opening paragraphs of this article again. Do you notice anything?

In the above passage, Mark 12:28-34, in the King James translations of 1611 and 1769, translators have removed the name of YHWH. And if you open another version of the bible, for example the New International Version or the American Standard Version or the Twentieth Century New Testament or the Bible in Basic English or the Darby Translation, or whatever version or translation, you will notice the exact same thing: all! English translations have removed the name of YHWH.

And if you’re Dutch, or German, or Italian, or whatever, and you read another language version of the bible, that still doesn’t make any difference. All! bible translations have removed YHWH’s name.

Mark 12:29 - various versions

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

— King James Version

“The first,” answered Jesus, “is—‘Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is the one Lord;

— Twentieth Century New Testament, Revised Edition. 1900-1904

En Jezus antwoordde hem: Het eerste van al de geboden is: Hoor, Israel! de Heere, onze God, is een enig Heere.

— Statenvertaling 1750 edition

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

— New International Version

Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one:

— American Standard Version

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.

— New Living Translation

Jesus said in answer, The first is, Give ear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord;

— Bible in Basic English

And Jesus answered him, The first commandment of all is, Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord;

— 1890 Darby Translation

Teaching

About 2000 years ago there was a theologian who spoke with Y’hoshua and that theologian agreed with Y’hoshua’s words that the elohiym of Yisra’el is called YHWH.

Since about 1700 there have walked upon the earth hundreds of thousands of theologians and thousands of bible translators and almost none of them confess with their mouth that YHWH is elohiym. On the contrary, countless men and women have translated the bible into many languages, and countless others are occupied with teaching the bible and commenting on the bible and explaining the bible, and almost all of those scholars are complicit in the worldwide project to remove YHWH’s name from the face of the earth, beginning with the printed pages of the bible.

complicit - (OED)

involved with others in an activity that is unlawful or morally wrong.

Because the scribe confessed to the name of YHWH as the elohiym of Yisra’el, Y’hoshua said to him that he was not far from Elohiym’s kingdom. This clearly demonstrates that Y’hoshua directly links these two things: to confess the name of YHWH means being near to the Kingdom. The contrary, therefore, is that all those theologians who do not confess the name of YHWH are far from the kingdom.

contrary - (OED)

:adjective

opposite in nature, direction, or meaning.

(of two or more statements, beliefs, etc.) opposed to one another.

So the plain, simple, straighforward definition of the word ‘contrary’ by the Oxford English Dictionary underscores this teaching. Those who confess that the name of the elohiym of Yisra’el is YHWH are being near to the coming Kingdom of Elohiym, and those who do not confess are moving in the opposite direction, i.e. they are far from the said kingdom.

Now I also believe that removing YHWH’s name from his own book is much worse than merely not confessing it. All translators who removes YHWH’s name and all theologians who deny that YHWH’s name is YHWH are involved in an activity that is contrary to the teaching of Y’hoshua. So here is a second remark of Y’hoshua’s:

For I say to you, If your righteousness is not greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never go into the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:20 - Bible in Basic English

The righteousness which the bible refers to is the same righteousness which Y’hoshua mentions here. This righteousness is attributed to people when they confess their sins and acknowledge YHWH as the highest elohiym and accept Y’hoshua (whose name means: YHWH saves) as the lamb that was sacrified to atone for the sins of all those who believe in him.

People can only be ‘saved’ when they believe in the name of Y’hoshua. Which is the same as saying that people can only be saved if they believe that YHWH saves. Think a moment about denying the name of YHWH and how that could impact your ‘salvation.’ Theologians not only deny the name of YHWH, they spend their lives erasing that name. No righteousness will be attributed to theologians who erase the name of YHWH, and thus those theologians shall “never go into the kingdom of heaven.”

The Kingdom of Heaven is place where theologians cannot not enter. Neither shall politicians, almost all of whom practice lies and falsehoods, enter that realm. This makes the Kingdom of Heaven a very desirable destination. So you, who read this, make sure you’re eligible to enter yourself by believing in the sacrificial death, and the subsequent resurrection, of the annointed one whose name is Y’hoshua (YHWH saves).

The lie of the forbidden name.

When Y’hoshua quoted the so-called Shema, he mentioned YHWH by name. Twice. And the bible scholar who had queried him, replied: well said.

And one of the bible scholars came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

And Y’hoshua answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Shema Yisra’el YHWH elohenoe, YHWH echad - [Hear, Yisra’el, YHWH (is) your-elohiym, (there is) one YHWH.]

And the bible scholar [accepted the answer] and said to him: “Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that YHWH is one and that there is no other besides him…

— Complete Jewish Bible (names & titles corrected). p. 1279

So in actual fact, the greatest commandment even according to Y’hoshua’s own teaching in the New Testament, is to acknowledge the name of YHWH. But the theologians of today want christians to believe that during the times of Jesus, nobody spoke the name of YHWH, only the high priest once a year at Yom Kippoer.

Already by Yeshua’s time, no one ever spoke God’s name except the cohen hagadol (high priest) when he entered the Especially Holy Place in the temple to make atonement for the sins of Isra’el on Yom Kippur.

— David Stern. Complete Jewish Bible. p. xxxiii

Why is the Name not spoken in Jewish and Christian circles? Because the Rabbis have forbidden it. In so doing they violate the Torah and disregard the will of the One who wants his Name mentioned in every generation.

— Michael McHugh. My Name Forever.

Many teachers in Israyl came to believe that the Name Yahweh was too Holy to be pronounced, so they began teaching the nation that only the High Priest should utter this Name, once a year on the Day of Atonement.

— The Century Bible. Adeney and Bennett. Volume 1, pages 90-91. Quoted in Yisrayl Hawkins. “The Name of the Creator.” p. 7

So in effect we have Mark telling us that the theologians of today are lying when they proclaim that no one spoke YHWH’s name except the high priest once a year. For Y’hoshua spoke his name! Y’hoshua was not the cohen hagadol, and nevertheless he spoke the name of YHWH, out loud. And a theologian of his time even said, well done!

May YHWH Elohiym have mercy on my soul for exposing the lies of theologians and bilble translators.

❧