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Aaron T. Johnson

Rabbi Moshe Adler

Miracles in the Bible

23 January 2007

The Miracles, The Names, and The People of God

Prior to the Exodus, direct interaction between God and the Hebrew populace was

minimal; the legal and religious regulations had yet to be revealed, and God was known

as “the God of your fathers” (Ex. 3:13). The mass departure from Egypt marked the

beginning of a new life for the Hebrews; a nation was born. And as with any newborn,

the learning curve is greatest early on. For the Israelites, the revelations given to Moses

were the primary means by which the people learned about God. And while these

commandments established an identity for the Hebrews, they did not necessarily establish

a rapport between God and His people. To accomplish this, God enacted miracles to

demonstrate His nature and His commitment to His people. This essay will examine some

of these miracles, and discuss how each one reveals a certain attribute of God’s nature.

Next I will point out how the new revelation affects relationship with the Israelites.

Finally I will show how the attributes of God and represented by the names of God that

are revealed in other parts of Scripture.

The miracles of God begin with Creation. If fact, some consider it to be God’s

greatest miracle because only He can create “ex nihilo”—a Latin term meaning “out of

nothing”. No being on earth has the ability to duplicate such an act, therefore creation is

truly the definitive act that captures the essense of God’s nature.
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Appropriately, the sacred name of God potentially implies a creative nature. Some

sources suggest that the divine name revealed in Exodus 3:16—YHWH—derives from

the hif’il (causative) form of the verb “to be”, yielding “He Who Causes to Be”.1 And

although this derivation is sometimes interpreted as “the Creator”2, the implications go

far beyond creation. A creator’s work is complete after the creation is created, but “He

Who Causes to Be” implies an active role in maintaining the creation. In other words,

nothing ever happens without the One who causes things to happen.

Along with Creation, God’s communication with humans is also utterly

inexplicable by science. God is invisible, yet supersedes our natural laws in order to

convey messages to humans. He did this with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1), Noah (Gen. 9),

Abraham (Gen. 12:1), Moses (Gen. 3:14), and many others. God’s “speech” is a

miraculous event. And even more powerful was the words that He spoke. During the

period of the patriarchs, God’s words were like promissory notes. The term “covenant” is

usually used to describe God’s early conversation, but that term implies two-way

obligations. However, the promises made to Noah and Abram did not contain

stipulations: “Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Behold, I

establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you And with every living

creature that is with you…I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all

flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood; neither shall there ever again be a flood to

destroy the earth. (Gen. 9:8-10)”; “Now the LORD said to Abram, get yourself away

from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will

show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your

name great, and you will be a blessing. (Gen. 12:1)”

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The name of God that represents this communicative attribute is YHWH

Shammah (The LORD is there). Ezekiel used the term in his description of the millennial

city; “the distance around the city shall be 18,000 measures; and the name of the city

from that day and ever after shall be YHWH-SHAMMAH” (Ez. 48:35). This name is

appropriate to describe God’s intimacy with people. When God communicates with

people, it proves to them that He is there.

The next event that reveals God nature and relationship to His people is

miraculous births. The story continues with Abram, to whom God communicated a

promise to bless his offspring. However, his wife Sarai was barren (Gen. 11:30); for

possibly years after receiving the promise, Abram & Sarai attempted to conceive to no

avail. Wavering in faith, the couple decided to allow Abram to have intercourse with

Sarai’s servant Hagar, producing the son Ishmael. Later, “The LORD visited Sarah as He

had said, and the LORD did for her as He had promised. For Sarah became pregnant and

bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time God had told him. Abraham named his

son whom Sarah bore to him Isaac. (Gen. 21:1-3)” Isaac goes on to marry Rebekah, who

was also barren (Gen. 25:21). However, after seeking God’s assistance, she miraculously

gave birth to twins—Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:21-25). And seemingly coincidentally,

Jacob eventually falls in love with a woman who is also barren—Rachel (Gen. 29:31).

Yet, “God remembered Rachel and answered her pleading and made it possible for her to

have children. And she conceived, and bare a son…And she called his name Joseph”

(Gen. 29:30:22-24).

Clearly, a significant message is being conveyed by the fact that the first three

generations of the covenantal family existed only by God’s miraculous intervention. This
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message was important because birth appears to be a natural phenomenon. Yet, God

shows His people for the first time that He is the giver of life.

In the well-known fight that pit David versus Goliath, David makes a reference to

“YHWH-SABAOTH”. “Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword,

a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of [YHWH Tzevaot/Sabaoth], the

God of the armies of Israel” (1 Sam. 17:45). Typically, “tzevaot/sabaoth” is translated as

“hosts”; the entire appellation is known as “Lord of Hosts”. The word comes from tsaba,

which means “a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially organized for war”.3

Thus, some have postulated that the “hosts” consist of the angelic army. However,

according to the 1 Samuel passage, it seems that the designation refers to the nation of

Israel; Israel is God’s army in the earth, and He determines who is enlisted into the army.

He is ultimately in control of every life that comes into existence.

The next miracle has traditionally been viewed as a manipulation of nature,

although some scholars have postulated entirely scientific explanations.4 Near the end of

the children of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, God enacted ten plagues on the Egyptians to

precipitate the freeing of the Israelites. Yet, after “all these wonders [were done] before

Pharaoh…the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of

Israel go out of his land (Ex. 11:10).” This is a very interesting passage because it shows

that the purpose of the plagues was not really to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites, as is

sometimes thought. The plagues were done simply to demonstrate more of God’s identity

to His people; He is further developing the relationship at this point. This time, He is

teaching them that He is sovereign over the earth and everything therein. Scripture
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actually confirms this point; “Then the LORD said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to

you, that My wonders and miracles may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. (Ex. 11:9)”

The name of God that best represents this attribute was given in Exodus 17:15.

While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, the descendants of Esau came to fight

against them. So they selected men to fight, and “when Moses held up his hand, Israel

prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. (Ex. 17:12)” So Aaron and

Hur held up his hands so that Joshua and the soldiers defeated Amalek (Ex. 17:13). “And

Moses built an altar, and called the name of it YHWH-NISSI (The Lord is my Banner).

(Ex. 17:15)” Nissi comes from the word nec, which is a “sign carried to give a group a

rallying point.”5 It is implied that this banner is utilized during a time of war. In Egypt,

God showed the Israelites that He alone should be their rallying point, because He has

everything at His disposal. He showed them that he could use the objects of nature to

carry out His purposes.

Once they were free from Egypt, “the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king

of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel” (Ex. 14:8). This is another striking

passage, because it shows the reader that God is even in control of Israel’s enemies.

Unfortunately, the children of Israel have yet to learn this lesson. But God soon makes

this secret known to Moses; “Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and

divide it, and the Israelites shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I,

behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go after them; and I will

gain honor over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and horsemen. (Ex. 14:16-17)” At

first glance, it appears that God is going to part the sea in order to show the Egyptians

that He is God. However, read in this context, it is clear that this statement affirms the
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relationship-building purpose. God is staging this most dramatic scene solely for the

purpose of showing His people that they have nothing to fear; their God is all-powerful

and even controls Pharaoh and his army.

The name of God that best represents this attribute is found in the Psalms of

David. Psalm 23 opens with the phrase “YHWH-ROHI”, which means “The LORD is my

Shepherd”. A shepherd must lead his flock, and this is exactly what God was doing to the

children of Israel. He led them out of Egypt, across the Sea of Reeds, into the wilderness,

and into the promised land. The crossing of the Sea proved that God was a leading them,

yet they were fearful that the Egyptians would catch them. In the end, God demonstrated

not only His power, but also His faithfulness.

Once in the wilderness, the children of Israel had yet another breakdown in their

faith. “And the whole congregation of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the

wilderness, and said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land

of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us

out into this wilderness to kill this while assembly with hunger. (Ex. 16:2-3)” But then

“the LORD said to Moses, I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites; speak to them,

saying, At twilight you shall eat meat, and between the two evenings you shall be filled

with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. (Ex. 16:12)”

In this passage, the reader again gets insight into the intent for the event. Since the

Exodus passage showed us that God is in control of the hearts of even Israel’s enemies,

He must also be in control of His people. Therefore, He probably caused the murmuring

of the Israelites to demonstrate a new side of Himself, to further the relationship between

Himself and His people (then and for generations to come). God showed that He can
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miraculously provide for His people when no other mean of provision is possible. “In the

evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round

about the camp. And when the dew had gone, behold, upon the face of the wilderness

there lay a fine, round and flakelike thing, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When the

Israelites saw it, they said one to another, Manna [What is it?]. For they did not know

what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to

eat. (Ex. 16:13-15)”

This new attribute of God is best identified as “YHWH JIREH”—the Lord will

provide. This term was coined when God told Abraham to offer his only son Isaac as a

sacrifice on mount Moriah. Just as he was ready to follow through with it, an angel

interrupted him “and he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for

now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not withheld your only son”

(Gen. 22:12). A ram miraculously appeared, and was offered in the place of Isaac. “And

Abraham called the name of that place YHWH-JIREH” (Gen. 22:14).

It is not a coincidence that all of these miracles occurred early in Israel’s history.

This was the time that the people of God learned the most about their God. Another

miraculous incident occurred during the wilderness period. A Levite named Korah led a

rebellion against Aaron and Moses, only to have it cost him his life. “And Moses said, By

this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I do no tact of my

own accord: If these men die the common death of all men then the Lord has not sent me.

(Num. 16:28-29)” However, “as soon as he stopped speaking, the ground under the

offenders split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their

households. (Num. 16:31-32)” On the next day, the Israelites continued to gripe to Moses
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and Aaron, which further led to a demonstration of God’s wrath. A plague killed 14,700

people before Aaron “[burned] incense and made atonement for the people” (Num.

16:47).

What’s very interesting about this story is that it was not a cessation of

complaining that caused the termination of the plague; it was the incense offered to the

LORD. God Himself created the religious system by which His people good be in good

standing with Him despite human errors. And in this case, He showed that His way is the

only way. This is why He is also known as YHWH TSIDKENU (The LORD is our

righteousness). This name appears only in the oracles of Jeremiah; “In those days Judah

shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which it will be

called, YHWH-TSIDKENU” (Jer. 33:16).

After Korah’s rebellion, God wanted to demonstrate another attribute to the

Israelites. “Speak to the Israelites and get from them rods, one for each father’s house,

from all their leaders according to their father’s houses, twelve rods. Write every man’s

name on his rod. (Num. 17:2)” The next day, the budding of Aaron’s rod showed that

God had selected Aaron’s descendents to maintain the religious system that He

established.

The name that best represents this attribute is YHWH MEQADESH (The LORD

sanctifies). God had selected Aaron not because he was the best man for the job; Aaron

was selected simply because that is what God wanted. It was the LORD that made Aaron

holy. God informed Moses of this fact on Mount Sinai. “And the LORD said to Moses,

Say to the Israelites, Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and
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you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you (Ex.

31:12-13)”

It is not a coincidence that all of these miracles occurred in the beginning books

of the Bible. The Torah comprises the foundation of Israelite civilization, while the

Tanakh as a whole tells the story of Israel, the God of Israel, and their relationship.

Miracles played a critical role in the development of that relationship, as God sometimes

suspended the natural laws so that the Israelites would know certainly that God was

intervening on their behalf. The greatest miracle is that several millennia later, the same

God exists, still performing miracles, still developing a relationship with His people.
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Notes
1
“Names of God”, Jewish Encyclopedia, online ed.
2
“Names of God”, Jewish Encyclopedia, online ed.
3
“Hosts”, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, p. 235.
4
The Exodus Decoded, documentary, 2006
5
“Banner” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 2003 ed.