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Hebrew Names of
God

Esoteric Hebrew Names of
God

In addition to the many Names
of the God of Israel revealed in the Torah,
Nevi’im, and Ketuvim (i.e., the Tanakh), the Jewish
mystical tradition coined some other Names for God, primarily
for use in the study of Kabbalah and Kabbalistic meditation.
Many of these mystical Names were derived from the Scriptures
using methodologies developed in ancient Babylonia.

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WARNING: The
Name of the LORD represents His power, actions, and reputation in
the universe.  Almighty God cannot be “conjured” or treated as
an object, since He is the Master of the Universe and subject to no
one. It is chilul HaShem to attempt to invoke the Name of God
for selfish or manipulative purposes (Exodus 20:7).

The material provided here
is for educational purposes only and is NOT an endorsement of any
form of occultism or Kabbalah. The mystical approach to interpreting
Scripture often leads to dubious interpretations and serious
errors.

Methods of
Derivation

The Jewish mystical tradition had two
primary groups that were interested in esoteric meanings of the
Hebrew Names of God:

Theoretical
Kabbalists meditated on the Names of God for spiritual
insight. Often this took the form of studying “permutations” of
the divine Names to gain esoteric knowledge about God. This is a
form of Gnosticism or “theosophy.”

Practical Kabbalists
attempted to use the Names of God to “magically” affect the
physical and supernatural worlds. Often this took the form of
inscribing the Names on protective amulets and other artifacts.
This is a form of occultism that is plainly condemned in the Torah
(Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; 20:27).

Many alternate Names of God were
derived through various methodical formulas applied to Biblical
verses and already existing Names of God. These methods include:

Notarikon - The initial or
final letters of the words of a verse or verses are used to make
an acronym. For example, the name Tzamarkhad is derived
from the final letter of the first five verses of
Genesis:

Temura - Letters are
substituted with other letters. Using At
Bash, each letter (of a word or phrase) is
exchanged with its “opposite” letter and then the result is
calculated. “Opposite” letters are determined by substituting the
first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph) with the last letter
(Tav), the second letter (Bet) with the next to last (Shin), and
so on.

Thus (by At Bash): Yod Hey Vav Hey -> Mem
Tsade Pey Tsade:

Gematria
- A type of numerological study that may be defined as one of more
systems for calculating the numerical equivalence of letters,
words, and phrases in a particular Hebrew text. These systems are
used for the purpose of gaining insight into interrelating
concepts and for finding correspondences between words and
concepts. Using this method, the supposed angel Metatron was
thought to be particularly powerful because numerically this name
is equivalent to Shaddai.

Kabbalah - The kabbalah of
Names usually involves some permutation of the Sacred Name (YHVH)
or the association of the Ten Sefirot of the “Tree of Life” with
certain attributes of God.

Mystical Hebrew Names of
God

Monogrammata

The letter Hey
( ) commonly appears on Western
European amulets (i.e., charms or talisman), either alone or
repeated five times to represent the Name of God.

According to the Jewish mystics, Hey
represents the divine breath or revelation. On the fifth day, the
LORD created Light, and this corresponds to the letter Hey. Since
the numerical value of Hey is five, this corresponds on a physical
level to the five fingers, the five senses, and the five dimensions.
On a spiritual level it corresponds to the five levels of
soul:

Nefesh - instincts

Ruach - emotions

Neshamah - mind

Chayah - bridge to
transcendence

Yechidah - oneness

“By the word of the LORD were the
heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth”
(Psalm 33:6). In the Talmud (Menachot 29b) it is said that
the “breath of His mouth” refers to the sound of the letter Hey -
the outbreathing of Spirit.

The letter Aleph
is the “father” of the Aleph-Bet, whose original pictograph
represents an ox, strength, and leader. It’s numerical value is one
(and also 1,000) and it is a silent letter. Aleph therefore is
preeminent in its order and alludes to the ineffable mysteries of
the oneness of God. Indeed, the word aluph (derived from the
very name of this letter) means “Master” or “Lord.”

In the
classical Hebrew script (ketav Ashurit) used for writing
Torah scrolls, Aleph is constructed with two Yods (one to the upper
right and the other to the lower left) that are joined by a diagonal
Vav. Ketav Ashurit was the script that Jesus would have read
(ketav Ivri was an older script, similar to ancient
Phoenician, but was not the script used when Moses received the
Torah from the LORD on Sinai. Ketav Ivri is also sometimes called
the Temple Script because samples of it are extant dated to the time
of Solomon’s Temple).

The basic gematria for the letter Aleph
is one, indicating the One and only God who is the Master of the
universe. Note, however, that the gematria for the parts of the
letter Aleph add up to 26 (Yod+Yod+Vav). This is the same number as
the sacred Name YHVH, also indicating a link between the Aleph and
God Himself. This is also demonstrated in Exodus 3:14-15, where the
LORD reveals His Name (I AM THAT I AM) to Moses.

Digrammata

“Digrammaton” means “two letters” and
refers to a two-letter Name of God. In the Scriptures, there are two
main digrammata:

The Name (Aleph-Lamed) comes from a root word
meaning “might, strength, power” and probably derives from the
Ugaritic term for god. In Scripture, the primary meanings of this
root are “god” (pagan or false gods), “God” (the true God of
Israel), and sometimes “the mighty” (referring to men or angels).
When used of the true God of Israel, El is almost always
qualified by additional words that further define the meaning that
distinguish Him from false gods. These other Names or Titles for God
are sometimes called “construct forms.”

Another digrammaton
is the Name (yah). It is generally
thought that Yah is a shortened form of YHVH. This Name of God
occurs about 50 times in the Tanakh. In Psalm 68:4 [5, H] this Name
is particularly stressed. The Name YAH is also found in the
construct word “hallelu-YAH,” which means “you [pl.] praise the
LORD,” as well as in many Biblical proper names (e.g.,
Eliyahu).

The Talmud states that God used the letter Hey to
create the present world (olam hazeh) and Yod to create the
world to come (olam habah). The sages derive this idea from
the Name (yah) found in Isaiah
26:4:

How did they come up with
this?  Well, they consider b’yah in the text as meaning
“with Yod-Hey” instead of referring to the Name
Yah.

In most Siddurim (prayerbooks) and other Jewish
religious literature, you will often see the
Sacred Name written in an abbreviated manner as Yod-Yod:

This is done to avoid casually
reading, writing or saying the sacred Name of God. Some mystics
claim that this convention is also a Name of God, though that is
unlikely.

The
Tetragrammaton

In the Tanakh, YHVH
is the personal name of God and his most frequent designation,
occurring over 5,200 times. This is the Ineffable Name or
Unutterable Name of the God of Israel. Because it is composed from
the four Hebrew letters Yod, Hey, Vav, and Hey, it
is also referred to as the “Tetragrammaton,” which simply means “the
four letters.” Kabbalists use the Name (and permutations of it) in
their meditations.

Though we do not know how to
pronounce the sacred Name, we can be confident that the letters derive from the Hebrew verb “to be”
(hayah) and indicate God’s utter transcendence as the Source
and Ground of all being. For more information about the Sacred name,
click
here.

The Octagrammaton

“Octagrammaton” means “eight letters”
and refers to an eight-letter Name of God created by interspersing
the letters for Adonai with the letters for the Tetragrammaton:

The Decagrammaton

The so-called “Ten Letter Name of
God” is derived from running together the names of the first
three Sefirot
(divine emanations or attributes of God which are said
comprise the mystical "Tree of Life"): Keter (Crown),
Chokhmah (Wisdom), and Binah (Understanding):

The Twelve Letter Name of
God

There are two forms of this Name. The
first form of the twelve letter Name is simply YHVH three times:
YHVH YHVH YHVH:

This comes from the prayer liturgy:
Adonai Melech, Adonai Malchah, Adonai Yimlokh L’Olam Va’ed –
“YHVH is King, YHVH was King, YHVH will be King forever and
ever.”

A second form of the 12-letter Name consists of the
initials of the twelve tribes of Israel. These are recited in
reverse order according to the breastplate of the Urim and Thumim:
Reuven, Shimeon, Levi, Yehudah, Issachar, Zevulon, Dan, Naftali,
Gad, Asher, Yosef, and Benyamin:

The Fourteen Letter Name of
God

The Fourteen Letter Name was derived
from the phrase Adonai Eloheinu Adonai from the Shema, and
was sometime written on the backs of mezuzot. The Name is formed by
the simple method of substitution known as At
Bash:

The 22 Letter Name of God

The 22 Letter Name is sometimes
considered part of the 72 Letter Name (see below) that includes
reference to the 12 tribes of Israel (considered as
Jeshurun):

Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov, the
tribes of Yeshurun
(i.e., the upright).

The 33 Letter Name of God

This Name is derived from the Torah and
is comprised of nine Names of God run together: Adonai, El, Eloah,
Elohim, Shaddai, Tzeva’ot, Ehyeh, Yah, and YHVH:

The 42 Letter Name of God

The 42-Letter Name (like many of the
others) has no known pronunciation, and perhaps was derived from the
2nd-century prayer “Ana Bekoach.”  It is mentioned in the
Talmud and many of the Jewish Sages have speculated about its
significance:

The 72 Names of God - (or the 216
Letter Name of God)

The 216-Letter Name of God is really a
72-part Name, since it is a sequence of 72 triads of letters all of
which are derived from permutations on Exodus 14:19-21 (which itself is composed of three
verses of 72 letters each).

To create the first triad, you
put together the first letter of verse 14:19, the last letter of
verse 14:20, and then the first letter of 14:21. To create the next
triad, you put together the second letter of 14:19, the second to
last of 14:20, and the second letter of 14:21. This continues until
all the letters are used up. Like so:

Using the algorithm, you will find the
following 72 triads of letters embedded in Exodus 14:19-21:

Theoretical Kabbalists will look at
each of the 72 triads and consider them as one of the 72 Names of
God. They will perform various forms of gematria and other
analysis of these names in order to elicit spiritual insight and
transformation (this is sort of thing that Yehuda Berg does in his
book, The 72 Names of God, Technology for the
Soul).

Practical Kabbalists create amulets using the 216
Letter Name. The Name is divided into two groups of thirty-six which
the scribe writes on two amulets. One amulet is worn on one arm and
the other on the other arm.

The 304,805 Letter Name of
God

What is the “best” Hebrew Name of God?
Some of the Jewish sages have said that it is revealed by reciting
all 304,805 letters of the Torah in a series. That is, string
together all 304,805 letters of the Torah - from the first letter of
Bereshit (Bet) through the last letter of Devarim
(Lamed) - and “read” this as a single “Word.” There you have
it!

Obviously this “Name” of
God is intended to humble us and to remind us that God Himself is
Ein Sof - without End or limitation of any kind. God is
always greater than our greatest thoughts about Him, even if we
attempt to express His transcendence by means of the sacred letters
of the Torah.

Abba

Taking a different
approach, we learn from the teachings of Yeshua the Mashiach that
the Name of God is best understood as “Father.” In fact, Yeshua used
the common Aramaic word for “daddy” (abba) to refer to His
relationship with God, and He wanted his talmidim (disciples)
to do likewise.

We do not need gnostic awareness or
ethereal speculations to help us understand the Name of God our
Father.  He relates to us intimately as a good earthly father
relates to his children. We do not need incantations or abracadabra
to conjure up feelings to help us overcome the existential void that
haunts us - we can trust that the love of our Father in heaven as
exemplified in the gracious sacrifice of His Son for us. We do not
trust in emanations of spiritual forces hidden in Hebrew letters,
since we can know the “Word that is behind the word” as experienced
in the life and love of Yeshua our Savior.

It is well and
good to understand the meaning of the hundreds of Names and Titles
of God as revealed in the Scriptures, of course, but in the end we
need to trust in Him as a small child trusts in the love of His
daddy.

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