The Meaning of Adonai: Understanding God as Master

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now, here's your host, Les Feldick. Good evening once again, and I trust you're ready to pick up where we left off last week, Genesis, now chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15, and again, to you who are watching on television, if you ever have a question or a comment, we'd certainly appreciate hearing from you. Now, in Genesis 15, we're going to move on. And now in verse 1, after these things, the word of the Lord—now there, watch the capitalization now. I'm going to teach you to watch these various names of deity, because they are all important. After these things, the word of the Lord, or the word of Jehovah, all capitalized, came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward. Verse 2, And Abram said, Lord God—now we've got to stop. What's different? The casual reader won't ever notice it. The word Lord is not capitalized. Typographical error? No. In Hebrew, again, it's another name of deity. Now in this case, it's going to be in the Hebrew, it is Adon, or in some places it's Adonai or Adon-o in the Hebrew, but Adon. And as we were talking during break, in England and various other European countries, the headmaster of a school is called the don, right? Okay, you're all nodding your heads. Well, the very term Adon in Hebrew is master. Now if it's in small letters, then it would be small-lettered in the master. But it's capitalized, capitalized, so master now, then, is equal to, again, a title of a person of the Godhead. Now look at it carefully, And Abram said, Lord God, or Master God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? Now in order to follow up on this master concept, we've got to again compare Scripture with Scripture. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 4, Exodus chapter 4, and we drop down to the account of God appearing to Moses and telling him that he is to go back to Egypt and approach Pharaoh. You know the story. All right, in Exodus chapter 4, come down to verse 10. Now watch how it is put, And Moses said unto the LORD, capitalized, so he says to whom? Jehovah. So Moses says to Jehovah, Oh my, now what? Small-lettered Lord. Do you see the difference? The capitalized is the Scripture reference that Moses is speaking to Jehovah, but Moses doesn't address him as Jehovah, he addresses him as Adon, Master. Now what is the relationship of a master? What do we call those under him? Servants. And that's exactly what we've got here. Read on. I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy, what's the word? Servant. See? And so the whole concept here, that whenever you see the word now, Lord, in small letters, I guess I better put it down here, in the small letters, this is in reference to Adonai as Master, and the master, of course, is going to be over his servant. You can watch for that as you go all the way up through the Old Testament. Now there's another good example in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah chapter 6, where of all places you would least expect to find this. In Isaiah chapter 6, and you all know the chapter, at least I can always remember it from the very first verse, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Now have you all got it? Isaiah chapter 6, I saw the Lord, capitalized, no, the L is, but how about the other letters? They're small letter. So Isaiah says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord, Adon, or my master, sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and there's no doubt that it's God in all His fullness, but why does Isaiah use the word master? Because what's going to follow several verses down? Come down to verse 5, Then said I, Isaiah speaking, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, capitalized God in all His glory, the Lord, the Jehovah, capitalized of hosts. So why then did he approach God up there in verse 1 as master? Well, come down to verse 8, Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And then said I, Here am I. What is Isaiah becoming? The servant, see? And this is what you want to watch for as you study Scripture, that whenever there is that master and servant relationship, it won't be capitalized Lord, it'll be the small letter Lord. Now, I've been pointing this out for the last several programs, just again to emphasize my absurd illustration of a few weeks ago, because it's so absurd when educated men, theologians—that's what they claim to be—can take the Bible and say it's nothing more than a bunch of Jewish legends and myths that came together as they sat around their campfires, or as others have said, well, you know, there may be some of the Word of God in it, but not all of it is. Well, just as soon as you take out part of it, you would lose this fabric. You would lose this beautiful threadwork that goes all the way through Scripture. And so this is the main reason I'm doing what I'm doing now, these last few programs, is to show that this book is so supernaturally woven together that we never have to doubt that it is the Word of God. Now, I'll admit, all that we've got today are translations. The King James—I still like it—is a translation. But when I say the Word of God is letter-perfect, is word-perfect, we are, of course, referring the original manuscripts before anybody ever touched them. But we know now from the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in which portions of every book of the Old Testament were found, but the book of Isaiah was almost totally intact. And those, of course, are the oldest copies of the Word of God that man has so far come up with. But, and this is when I guess I was assured that I'm going to stay with the King James. When they translated the book of Isaiah out of the Dead Sea Scrolls, they had to admit the King James version was almost letter -perfect. Even after all the translations and after all the copyings, yet we've got a Bible that is so nearly error-free. And there can be. Once in a while I'll even say, well, I think, you know, the King James translators could have used this word or that word. But for the most part, it is so accurate that we can just rest upon it. We don't have to worry and wonder, well, now, is everything right? Is it all okay as it stands? You bet it is. All right, now, the other aspect then of that same word, master, comes down into the, not only the human level as such, but into the very social fabric of even the husband and wife, because the same word in small letters can also apply as a husband with regard to the wife, not that she's a slave like under the master back here, but just to show you how this thread goes all the way through. Now, if you'll come back to Genesis, in Genesis chapter 22, well, this is still a master and his servant, 24, I'm sorry, in Genesis 24, drop down to verse 9. Now, this is when Abraham is sending a servant, you remember, back up to Syria to get a wife for Isaac. And in verse 9, the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his what? His master. There's that master and servant relationship down in the human realm. Now, I said it also refers to husband and wife. Now, if you'll come back to Genesis chapter 18, the same word, Adon, is now used with regard to Abraham's Sarah as husband and wife, and it's in verse 12, when the Lord has told Sarah that she's going to have a child, do you remember? Verse 12, Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure? My Lord, small l, small o-r-d, well, it comes from that same root word, Adon, only now it's my husband, see, and she speaks of the wife. Now let's go into the New Testament for one more quick reference check, and you'll find that even Paul, writing to us Gentiles, makes reference to Christ as master and we as His servants. Ephesians chapter 6, this all comes down from that same root meaning that has come all the way up through Scripture. Ephesians chapter 6, drop into verse 8, Ephesians 6, verse 8, Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And you masters, in other words, employers, and you masters do the same things unto them, that is, unto your servants, forbearing, threatening, knowing that your Master, capitalized, is in heaven. Now, of course, Christ referred to Himself in John's Gospel as, You call me Master, He says, and you do well. All right, and so we are responsible to our Master who is in heaven. Now if you'll turn over just a few pages to Colossians chapter 4, and we have that same allusion that Christ is our Master, and we are His servant. Colossians 4, verse 1, Masters, now this isn't referring because it's capitalized to God, it's capitalized because it's the first word of the sentence, Masters give unto your what? Servants. You see that relationship? Now I said there was one more in the human realm, and that again is the husband and wife, so let's look at it now from Paul's viewpoint, and come back again a few pages to Ephesians, now chapter 5. I hope I'm not confusing you, but all I'm trying to show is that this theme of Abraham calling God his Master by virtue of his being his servant, it also drops down then into the human element, into man's relationship with the Lord and husband, and relationship with the wife, and so also then again up into the spiritual, Christ as the spiritual husband, we in the body of Christ as the spiritual wife or the bride. All right, in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23, where Paul writes, the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and He's the Savior of the body. Drop down to verse 25, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself, see that analogy? And then you come up to verse 31, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, the two shall be one flesh, but Paul says, what I'm trying to teach is something higher than even that. I speak, he says, concerning Christ and the church. He is the husband, quote, and we are the bride. Now to pick up that we are the bride, come back a few more pages to Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, beginning of verse 1. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1, where Paul writes to the Gentiles, would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for Paul says, I have espoused you to one husband. Who is he talking about? The Lord Jesus, see? I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you, the body of Christ, as a chaste virgin to Christ. See, that's our role as a believer. We are in the body of Christ, which is pictured as the bride of Christ, and He's the husband. And it comes all the way back to Genesis chapter 15, when Abraham brings in that new term of deity. Now come back to Genesis once again, and Abraham brings in the term of deity as master and his relationship with his servant. All right, now back to Genesis 15, then verse 2 again. So now Abraham says, Master, or Adonai God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? And the steward, or the manager, of my estate is Eleazar of Damascus. Verse 3, Abraham continues, and he says, And behold, to me thou hast given no seed. Now you remember a few weeks ago I spent a lot of time, I think four or five programs on the Abrahamic covenant. And after I got through, I reflected and I hoped I didn't overdo it, but I don't think I did. But this Abrahamic covenant now comes back into Abram's thinking, and he said, Now Lord, you've promised me a nation of people, you've promised me a land, you've promised a kingdom, and I haven't even got a child. Boy, he said, Now wait a minute, I have got an heir born in my house. Read on, Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is my heir. Who is he referring to? Lot, see? That's the only flesh and blood relative he's got. Oh, God forbid that Lot would have been the one. You know what he was. So what does God say? And behold, the word of the Lord, capitalized now, Jehovah, came unto him saying, This, Lot, shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth unto thine own, now I use the word innermost being, we don't like the word in our present time as it's used in the King James, and he that shall come out of your innermost being shall be thine heir. He hasn't even been born yet. And remember, how old is Abraham? Oh, he's 80-some, Sarah's up there not too far behind him. Verse 5, And so Jehovah brings him forth abroad, must have been at night, and he said, Look now toward heaven, and tell, or count the stars. If thou be able to count them, so shall thy seed be. Unbelievable? Of course. My land, they're way up in years and haven't even had a child, and you're telling me that I'm going to have that many offspring? But verse 6, Abraham's faith comes through, and what did he do? He believed. And this is why God had such high esteem for Abraham. As we already saw a few weeks ago, he wasn't perfect. Oh, he pulled some shenanigans. But oh, he was a man of faith. And even though this seems so impossible that he and a wife who have never had children could now be the beginning of a multitude of people, but what does it say? And he believed God. He believed in the Lord, or in Jehovah, and he, Jehovah, counted it to him for what? Righteousness. Now, I know we're always pressed for time, but I can't let that deter or detour me. Come back with me to Romans chapter 4. Now, in a couple of our other classes, we spent a lot of time in Romans the last few months, and so for some of you, you're going to be hearing it again, but I guess some of these things just can't be overdone. Romans chapter 4. Romans 4. And drop in at verse 1, where Paul is now using the faith of Abraham as an example of what God is expecting of us today. And remember, Paul writes primarily to the Gentile, but he dips back into the Old Testament economy to show this whole concept of what it is to take God at His Word, plus nothing added. And so verse 1, he says, What shall we then say that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified, or made right with God by works, or doing something, he hath whereof to glory. He could brag about it, but never before God. Verse 3. But what saith the Scripture? Now you see why I left Genesis up to this one? This is the verse it's referring to, Genesis 15. For what saith the Scripture, Abraham believed God? And it, his believing, was counted, and that's a bookkeeping term, it was put to the account of Abraham. For what? Righteousness. Not because he did anything, he didn't earn it, but he believed God. And what have I always called that? Faith plus nothing. Faith plus nothing. As soon as we add something to that, Galatians 5 tells us, we cancel the work of the cross. And I'm afraid, beloved, millions upon millions upon millions of church-going people over the centuries are going to miss heaven's glory, because that's exactly what they've done. They have added something to the faith plus nothing with regard to the gospel. All right, then verse 5, and then we'll go back to Genesis. But to him that worketh not, that does nothing for salvation, but believeth on him who justifies what kind of people. Ungodly. How many times haven't you heard someone say, well, if I could just straighten up my life, if I could just clean up my act, then I'll get right with God. Hey, those aren't the kind of people God can get right with. God has to take that sinner right where he is, and God has to perform the miracle of salvation, and then, of course, there's going to be a dramatic turnaround, there's going to be a change in lifestyle. And this person is going to be a new creation. But listen, he can't do it first, because if he does, then he is not in the area of faith plus nothing. He has now done something on his own. And we have to be so careful that salvation is totally the work of God, and all he looks for us is faith, to believe. Now come back to Genesis chapter 15 again, if you will. We'll move on, and we're not going to have time to get into what I call Israel's deed. I want to save that for when we have the full 30 minutes. But let's move on down to verse 5 again, or repeating verse 5, I'm sorry. And he brought him forth, and he said, Now look at the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said, Now, in another instance, and I'm thinking it's back a couple chapters, when he first called Abraham, he referred to in chapter 13, flip back to it a minute, in chapter 13, verse 16, Genesis 13, verse 16, when God has just begun to deal with this man Abram, made him the Abrahamic covenant, and now he says in verse 16, And I will make thy seed, or your offspring, as the, what, the dust of the earth. Now remember, I've made an analogy ever since we started back in Genesis, that all the way since Genesis 1-1, we have the concept of God dealing with earth and heaven. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Now as we come in then to the role of Israel, always remember, and I'm going to put the God's heavenly people. And so we've got to keep those two concepts totally separated. Israel is God's earthly people. The church is God's heavenly people. Now then, when Abraham is promised that his offspring would be as the dust of the earth, what people is he referring to? Well, the earthly. Dust is earthly. Now flip back to verse 5 of chapter 15, and now what have we got? Not the dust, but another analogy, stars. What's that referring to? The heavenly. Now so many people have got it all confused that when we become a Christian, we become a child of Abraham, and we become a Jew. Well, bless their hearts, they're way out in left field. Now we become a child of Abraham by virtue of the spiritual connection that as Abraham was saved by faith plus nothing, we're saved by faith plus nothing. But never confuse the issue. When we become a child of God, we do not become, per se, a Jew. A Jew is a Jew. A Gentile is a Gentile. But this whole idea of faith plus nothing began with Abraham, and that's our connection. And that's why God could tell Abraham that he would have a multitude of spiritual seed as numerous as the stars in the universe. But the nation of Israel is likened to the dust of the earth. Enough for one time? Okay, we'll have to wind it up for now, and we'll pick it up in our next program. Thank you.