YHWH’s eighth name occurs at the end of the Book of Ezekiel, a prophecy about the Spirit of God moving to bring order to YHWH’s sacred dwelling place. YHWH had left Solomon’s temple, and Babylonian captors took His chosen people into exile for idolatry and desecrating the Sabbath, leaving the land a desolate wasteland (tohu wa bohu). As in the beginning, YHWH had purposed His image-bearers to dwell with Him “there” where heaven and earth meet, and to bring the knowledge of YHWH to the nations. This last blog discusses how YHWH’s purpose for Israel becomes a reality.

“The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on will be: YHWH IS THERE” [YHWH-shammah] (Eze. 48:35). NIV

One of three books in the Bible where the heavens open to reveal God’s will, Ezekiel details the restoration of Israel’s sight (light, Psalm 13:3, 19:8). Meaning “strength of God” or “whom God will strengthen,” Ezekiel is a visionary book about God’s glory and His sovereign Spirit in action. It shows Israel’s twelve tribes how God will restore His people to the temple’s law of holiness, with a focus on the return of His glory to a holy temple¹. The restored temple ultimately symbolizes Israel’s glorification (Heb. 12:22–24, Hag. 2:7–9) and becomes the “center of nations” or the “navel of the earth” (Eze. 5:5, 38:11–12; 43:12). Meaning “teaching of peace,” Jerusalem, the beloved city, is God’s “vision of peace,” the Sabbath’s exaltation, and the joy of a restored relationship. Out of the city will flow God’s law—His love—to all nations (BDB, H3389; Strong’s H3384, H7999; TWOT 8003; Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2). The new temple’s mountaintop city is named “YHWH is There,” because God will never again withdraw His Presence from His people. Both the good vision and the strength associated with the meaning of “Tiberias” become real for Israel in Ezekiel’s book (see Blog 153).

Ezekiel portrays a dynamic, all-seeing, all-powerful God who rules with purpose and vitality. Through His Holy Spirit, He restores Israel through both judgment and blessing (Ezekiel uses ruah, Strong’s H7307, 52 times, 2·26, the number of letters in John 1:1 and Genesis 1:2). Judgment also falls on the surrounding nations along with God’s covenant blessings. The imagery in Ezekiel closely resembles the Genesis account of chaos and re-creation, where an impassioned God restores life through the “spirit of God” (ruah Elohim, 300) “hovering over” (828, 4 × 207) the water surface (letter sum 1369, 37²), highlighting His work, the eternal Sabbath of the Garden of Eden. Ezekiel’s imagery also aligns with John 1:1’s “new beginning,” showing how God, through the Word (the breath and thought of God), creates a new garden temple and a bride-nation living in Him, healing deaf-blindness and replacing unbelief with belief. Out of the chaos of life without God, Ezekiel demonstrates the Spirit’s power as a force, initially as a mighty windstorm with flashing lightning, then guiding God’s throne and moving Ezekiel around, followed by a “new spirit,” the breath of life, entering Israel’s dry bones (Eze. 37:11). YHWH’s judgment strikes the violent, wicked nations resisting His plan to restore Israel (Gog, archetype of human rebellion). Finally, the Spirit brings Ezekiel to stand in the court of the new temple, filled with YHWH’s glory. The book of Ezekiel reveals God’s passionate vision moving, creating, and accomplishing through ruah Elohim to fulfill His love for humanity—restoring the temple and Israel through acts of righteous judgment and blessing².

Israel’s scattering and captivity in ancient times served to purify them, offering hope for restoration. Ezekiel’s message of a new creation focuses on God speaking His Word and breathing His life-giving Spirit—similar to the Genesis account of Adam’s creation. There will be a new King, new shepherds, new life infused into Israel, a new heart of flesh obedient to a new Torah, a fruitful new land, and a new garden temple and city in a new heaven and new earth. Starting with YHWH’s temple presence actively restoring and expanding, it flows outward like a cleansing, healing river to all humanity. Ezekiel wrote seventy-four times (37 + 37) that YHWH’s acts of judgment and mercy toward Israel were meant “that they know that I am YHWH” and so that the nations may realize “He alone is God.” The Hebrew word for “know” is ידע, yada. It includes the ideas of both the Greek words eido and ginosko, meaning “to perceive and see, to find out and discern good and evil, to discriminate, to distinguish, to know by experience, to recognize, and to confess or declare” (BDB, H3045). Reminiscent of Israel’s Egyptian exodus, their experiencing (yada) YHWH’s judgment and His redemption led to their dwelling with Him at Sinai for 371 days (7 × 53). Similarly, Yeshua’s exodos, ἐξόδου (value of 259, 7 × 37), leads to life everlasting in His Presence. YHWH-shammah’s letter sum (7·53) is the sure (3) product of John’s eight signs, semeion (1113, 3 × 7 × 53).

Detailing His judgments against Israel’s idolatry and Sabbath-breaking, YHWH held each person personally responsible for neglecting their privileges and their unfaithfulness to the covenant, which is the spirit of harlotry. Because Israel lacked trust in Him and a clear understanding of His Sabbaths, YHWH’s judgments aimed to restore Israel to the blessings of the covenant, giving them life through Yeshua.

The heart of the new covenant is YHWH’s Spirit living within and alongside us (Eze. 37:27, 43:7, 9; Exo. 29:45–46). The Sovereign’s dynamics began with Yeshua’s mysterious first sign: He is the Temple, the Garden of Eden where His beloved live, move, and find their being (Jhn. 2:19–22; Act. 17:28). After He removed our sins and purified us, we too become mini temples of the Father and Son, directed by His Holy Spirit (2Co. 6:16; Jhn. 14:23). YHWH’s house is “the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti. 3:15–16). The tabernacle symbolized how Israel’s purity was maintained for a holy God dwelling within Israel’s camp (Heb. 13:11–13). Through cleansing and healing (judgments and blessings), the human tabernacle of His “new creation” is YHWH’s dwelling place (2Co. 5:17), “You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us” (Jhn. 17:21). As members of His body manifesting His Spirit for the profit of all, we are His body, Church of the Firstborn, Yeshua’s new temple of a holy garden city whose Maker and Builder is God—a city Abraham longed to see (Isa. 65:17). “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God'” (Rev. 21:2-3). “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:2-4). Yeshua’s glory fills His church with the full measure of YHWH, making everything complete with Himself (1Co. 15:28).

Takeaway:
YHWH-shammah is the Sabbath climax of Yeshua’s work of judging and redeeming us—transforming from “in the flesh” to “in the Spirit,” from unclean to holy, from lawless to righteous, from separation to oneness, and from unrest to rest. The Father, who has life in Himself, granted the Son of Man to have life in Himself and gave Him authority to execute judgment. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life (Jhn. 5:26; 1Jo. 5:12). The light of life is found in His Presence, His glory filling all things everywhere, YHWH dwelling “there.”

Fun Factors:
Blog 156 YHWH-shammah is the last blog for “the feasts of YHWH” (letter value 156, Lev 23:2) that take place at the “tent of meeting” (ohel mo’ed, sum 156) on Mount “Zion” (156), where YHWH reveals His heart and puts His name upon us as we dwell in the light of His face.

YHWH (26) through Moses (345) led Israel to the mountain of God (26 + 345 = 371). The new Moses (345), Yeshua (386), equals 731, leading the new exodus. Delving into the eighth-day numerical patterns, YHWH-shammah equals 371, a product of 7 and 53 (the 4^th and 16^th prime numbers), and YHWH-M’Kaddesh equals 530, a product of 10 and 53. YHWH’s names linked to eighth-day events, Pentecost and the Eighth Day, total 901, 17 × 53, the victory garden; 26² × 15²; 17 + 53 = 70. The Hebrew word for garden is gan, sum 53, and seven and ten symbolize victory (17) for the completed (7) total amount (10). Israel spent 371 days at the Mount Sinai Garden in YHWH’s sanctifying Presence. Exploring the link between the 371 days Israel camped at Mount Sinai and YHWH-shammah’s 371 letter sum, it appears as a number play on purifying YHWH’s dwelling place (all the earth) and sons of men on the Day of Atonements, numbers 137 and its reverse 731 (see Blog 110), which first occurred at Mount Sinai (Lev. 16), YHWH’s central command in Leviticus, the center of the Pentateuch.

Considering that 181,440 Hebrew calendar parts equal one week, then the 53 weeks of 371 days (181440 × 53) is equivalent to 9,616,320 Hebrew calendar parts. Spanning 371 days, this lunar number of 9,616,320, when factored yields the 2160-mile diameter of the moon (2160 is also one month of the Earth’s Great Year in the Precession of the Equinox) multiplied by the number of Israel’s tribes and the number of days spent at Mount Sinai (9,616,320 = 12 × 371 × 2160).

Ezekiel’s city’s circumference, 18000 cubits, divided by four equals 4500 cubits, can be expressed as 2² × 3² × 5³, 36 × 125, and 5³ expresses the length, width, and height of God’s holiness in light of His Ezekiel-temple judgment and jubilee, 50 × 90. Each side of 4500 can be written as the sum of two squares two ways: 12² + 66², 144 + 4356, and 30² + 60², 900 + 3600. The prime factors of 4500 are 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, and 5. When added, they equal 25, and 4500 divided by the product of its nonzero digits (4500 ÷ 20) is 225, which equals 15², Israel’s restoration number squared.

John 6:29, Yeshua answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (12 words, sum 6307 = 17 × 371, YHWH-shammah’s (371) victory (17).