The Place that God Put His Name
King Solomon had just completed the Temple and commenced his matchless celebration as Israel dedicated this “Magnificent Temple” to the One True God. He has prayed for his nation from atop a brass scaffold, and they have offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep in sacrifices during this celebration of the weeklong Feast of Tabernacles. Two times, the glory of God has filled the temple to such an extent that the priests had to stop ministering as the people basked in the presence of the Lord. Yet, that night, as Solomon returns to his palace for some much-deserved rest God wakes him up with this message, “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now, have I chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.”
The Shin
The 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called the Shin (“sheen”), which looks a bit like our English alphabet “W”. Chassidic thought suggests that the Shin looks like a man in the proper position of praying. The middle prong represents man’s head while the two outer prongs represent his hands raised heavenward. The Shin stands high among the Hebrew letters because it represents two Old Testament names of God, Shaddai (God Almighty, the All-Sufficient, Unlimited One) and Shalom (Peace).
We find evidence of the shin in certain scriptures contained in the word of God. Psalm 119 is divided into 22 sections, each containing eight verses, and beginning with one of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. You can find the letter Shin over the section beginning with Psalm 119:161. In Exodus 17:11, as long as Moses held his hands heavenward, Israel prevailed. Why? Because Moses lifted up the name of the Lord, even in silhouette! Exodus 17:11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
The Shin is also seen in the valleys which surround the ancient city of Jerusalem. There are three “mounts” (Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, Mount of Olives) marked by three valleys – Hinnom Valley on the left, Tyropean (Cheesemakers) Valley in the middle, Kidron Valley on the right.
According to Deuteronomy 16:11, God chose Jerusalem as the place to put His name. Rabbinic sources tell us that this is why the letter shin is seen in the topography of Israel’s ancient capital city. Amazingly, then, even the geography of the city of Jerusalem declares the name above all names! Deuteronomy 16:11 And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
Jerusalem had no other claim to fame but the fact that she was God’s holy city. She had no river frontage like Babylon, no harbor like Alexandria, no power like Rome. She was not even on the main roads. However, she was located high on a mountain called Moriah, a place God chose to put His name. Long before Solomon ever built a temple there, God’s attention was on this hill.
Abraham and Isaac
In Genesis chapter 22, we read the story of Abraham and Isaac, as God commanded Abraham to take his son and offer him upon the altar.
Genesis 22:1-2 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. This is the first time the word PROVE (“tempt”) is in the Bible,and it is the first time the word LOVE (“lovest”) is in the Bible as well.
Genesis 22:4-5 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. This is the first time the word WORSHIP is in the Bible.
Further reading teaches us in verse 6, that Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, giving us a picture of Jesus carrying his cross. When Isaac poses the question Abraham answers, “God will provide himself a lamb,” and when the ram is caught in the thicket, we get a picture of Jesus, crowned with thorns. In verse 14 we get our definition of “Jehovah Jireh,” the Lord our Provider.
Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
Let’s look at a few scriptures contained in the word of God to give us a little more insight into this biblical concept.
Galatians 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Abraham saw a vision of Calvary, and God said to him, “Abraham! Rejoice! This is just a dress rehearsal for the real sacrificial Lamb!” MOUNT MORI-YAH means “The Manifestation of Yah(weh),” and the definition of JEHOVAH JIREH is “The Lord God of Physical Manifestation.”
2000 years later, on the very same day, Jesus carried His cross to the very same spot and became our substitutionary sacrificial Lamb! God delights in and works through our OBEDIENCE (when we put Him FIRST). He had now found a man, a covenant-partner, through whom He could fulfill His promises and release His blessings.
David’s Encounter with God.
When David sinned by numbering the people, He was given three choices of punishment, and it was a sacrifice, purchased at a great cost, which appeases God. Later, in David’s life, as he attempted to purchase the threshing floor from Araunah, David said, “I will surely buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. This was just a few hundred yards away from where Abraham offered Isaac, on the top of the very same mountain.
In 2nd chronicles 3-1 we read, Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 1000 years later, God would robe Himself in a temple of flesh and give His life on the very same mountain!
LAMENTATIONS
Jewish tradition says that Jeremiah wept over Jerusalem’s destruction on this very hill (in a cave called “Jeremiah’s Grotto”) about 600 years before Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
Everything that happened on that mountain, good or bad, was in God’s plan from the beginning of the world, because it was marked by the name of God.
GOD’S NAME IS PLACED ON MY LIFE – I AM HIS POSSESSION!
Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The SHIN can be seen in the “valleys” that divide the left and right ventricles in the human heart. His name is on my heart. Everything that happens in my life and my ministry, good or bad, was in God’s plan from the beginning of the world, because I am marked by the name of God. When God seems the most absent is when he is the most present.
Like Abraham, I lay my Isaac down, in faith that God will raise Him up! Like David, I choose to fall into the hand of God rather than man’s hand! Like David, I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing! Like Solomon, God will hear my prayer and heal my land! Like Solomon, the glory of God will fill my Temple! Like Jeremiah, I see God’s faithfulness when I can’t see His blessings! I am the place that God put his name.
