Lord's Prayer 2 Note on "Hallowed" and "Name"

God is Holy

Holy! Holy! Holy! The Lord of Hosts (Isaiah 6:3)

Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come (Apocalypse 4:8

The word "Holy" (verb qadash 203x; adjective qadowsh 169x; noun qodesh 519x) is very frequently used in the Jewish Bible. 

The verb appears first, when God make the Sabbath holy (Gen 2:3; Ex 20:8, 11). The idea of consecrating or making holy occurs numerous times in Exodus: consecrate the first born (13:2), the congregation (19:10, 14), the priests (19:22) and the boundaries of Mount Sinai (19:23). It includes the priest's garments  (28:3), the sacrificial gifts (28:38) and the sacrificial implements. Leviticus is also full of numerous references to making things holy.

As an adjective, Isaiah frequently references God as The Holy One. Of particular importance for the Lord's prayer is Isaiah 5:16 [Jewish Bible "And the Lord of Hosts is exalted by judgment, the Holy God proved holy by retribution//RSV But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness"], Understood as covenant fidelity--God judges rightly and makes justice by saving the faithful an condemning the oppressors, worldly and unfaithful--God the Judge is true to His word because He is holy. Holiness and justice (as understood as God being faithful to the ones He loves and with whom He makes covenant) are linked in the biblical understanding.

Along these lines Isaiah 43:3 [I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior] and 47:4 ["Our redeemer--the Lord of Hosts is His Name--is the Holy One of Israel"] reinforce this connection of holiness (and even the Name of God) with salvation.

Ezekiel 39 is an extended  prophecy on God's salvation (against Gog and Magog). 39:7 "I will make my holy name known among my people Israel, and never again will I let my holy name be profaned.  And the nations shall know that I the Lord am holy in Israel." Making His name holy is connected to this divine intervention (or judgement) to save.

Pagans profane God's name, and Israel is forbidden to do the same. Nine times in Leviticus God demands that they not profane His Name. Priests "shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God"

The Name of God is also a manifestation of His presence. It is one of many ways that the Eternal spiritual God is present in time and space (see also word, angels, glory, through prophets, or through sacramental signs like fire, or wind) In Deuteronomy, God's name dwells in the land (eight times total in Dtn 12, 14, 16). This idea of God's name dwelling among the people is picked up in 2 Samuel 7:13. God tells David "you cannot build a Temple," instead "your offspring...shall build a house for My name." 1 Kings 3:2 says that the people offered sacrifices at shrines "because up to that time no house had been built for the name of the Lord." 5:19 Solomon proposes to build a house for the name of the Lord. After the House of the Lord is complete the peoples are gathered. Some fourteen times the "house for the name of the Lord" is repeated. God's Name abides in the Temple, it mediates His invisible presence and power among the people of God. (It is to be noted, that the name can also refer to one's reputation, and the renown of the name is the glory one receives.)

Jesus makes reference to His body being "the temple." Paul makes a similar claim about disciples. "Do you not know that you are God's Temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 4:1) He repeats the question in 6:19, exhorting the readers, "therefore, glorify God in your body!" Drawing together the desire that God's name be glorified by all, that we must glorify God, that God does works of salvation in and through us to make His Name holy in the world and that we, each and all of us, are the dwelling place of His Name adds increased awareness of the depth of meaning of this little phrase. We ask so much when we say, Abba, Father--make your name Holy!

John 17 is the final of five chapters making up the last discourse of Jesus. It is during the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed. Jesus begins with the prayer that Father would glorify the Son, so that the Son can glorify the Father. Jesus says, "I have made your name known to those whom you have gave me from the world." (17:6) He continues a bit later with the theme of God's name; "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given Me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given Me." The Name has protective power, a function of Holiness. When pray that His name be holy, we must also embrace it and enter into it. The Name participates in the Reality which is God, it mediates His presence among us. At some level, the Name of God is an aspect of incarnation--that we can even know Him in His name is a result of His Self-emptying (kenosis- Philippians 2:7) to enter time and space.