Your Own Great Name

Joshua 7:2-9 - Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

Hosea 4:15 - Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”

Deuteronomy 28:58-59 - “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

Numbers 14:13-14 - But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

Application:

• ·         Beth Aven means house of wickedness, a derogatory designation of either Bethel itself or a pagan shrine nearby.
• ·         Joshua pleads, as Moses had, that God’s honor in the eyes of all the world was at stake in the fortunes of His people.
• ·         One of the oddities of history and revelation is the loss of the proper pronunciation of the Hebrew word YHWH, the most intimate and personal name of God in the Old Testament. Jehovah is a spelling that developed from combining the consonants of the name with the vowels of a word for Lord. The name eventually ceased to be pronounced because later Jews thought it too holy to be uttered and feared violating the law.
• ·         Moses desires to protect the Lord’s reputation.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV