Dec 18 O Adonai
O Adonai Daily Reading for December 18 O Adonai and Leader of the house of Israel, you appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm. (Listen) ‘Adonai’ is the Hebrew word for ‘Lord.’ God has a person name in the Bible but it was considered too holy for normal use, so when the reader at public worship in the synagogue found the holy name in the text, he read the word ‘Adonai’, ‘Lord’, instead. The original text of the Hebrew Bible was written in consonants only and the name of God occurs as YHWH so that its pronunciation can only be guessed. The name of God which is rendered ‘Lord’ is associated with the description of Moses as ‘I am who I am’ in the account of God’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush. The designations ‘Lord’ and ‘I am’ indicate that God is both known to us and beyond our knowledge. He gives us his name, yet this name directs our attention to God as he is in himself, rather than any idea...