Zulu Sing His Hallowed Name in Hebrew!

As Nehemia and I traveled around South Africa speaking and preaching on the message of our book, we had some amazing experiences. Early in our trip, Nehemia fell ill to a bout of the African equivalent of Montezuma’s revenge. He later called it “Shaka Zulu's revenge”. He really was quite sick and yet his sense of humor was still intact. As he lay in bed for the day, I took advantage of the opportunity to venture out to a beautiful place called the valley of a thousand hills where I encountered a Zulu tribe that changed my entire message for the remainder of our tour.

In a land filled with diversity of language and race, I must admit that it was a challenge to find ways to bring people together in unity. There are eleven official languages in South Africa and many different ethnic groups of people that are living in the same land as neighbors. Nehemia and I were intent upon demonstrating through our relationship and message that there can be unity in the midst of diversity. My Zulu brothers and sisters truly helped our cause!

After watching this tribe in their traditional dress, dancing and singing, there was a moment of silence when all the sudden something happened that seemed completely out of context. One of the Zulu men shouted out praise to the name of God… in Hebrew! After recovering from minor shock, I walked into the midst of the men and women and repeated what he said, and to my amazement, the entire group began singing three Hebrew words over and over that praised the name of our heavenly Father! The three Hebrew words that my Zulu brothers and sisters sang were "Amen" (truth), "Hallelu' (praise) and "Yah". That last one is the poetic form of His name, which Moses taught the Israelites in the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:2). At this point, I joined in and we had a good old fashioned singing and dancing celebration.

After my encounter, I then took what I learned from my Zulu brothers and sisters and closed every session on our tour in South Africa with their beautiful song that calls every language and people to unity in the Hebrew Name of our heavenly Father! No matter what language people spoke all over South Africa, they all sang this song using the same pronunciation. Even though we had people in our audiences who spoke a wide variety of dialects, they all praised the Name the same! No matter what tribal language I encountered, they agreed with the Zulu pronunciation of these three Hebrew words that translate the same across every tongue. I felt like I had struck spiritual gold worth more to me than all the ore in the East Rand Mines! It was really quite a site to see white Afrikaners sing and dance with black Africans in a Dutch Reform church. When you add a Jewish scholar and an African-American preacher to the mix, it really was quite a sight to see!

If you would like to learn more about the Hebrew name of our heavenly Father you might be interested in a study I completed just before our tour in South Africa. This study is a follow-up to our book "A Prayer to Our Father". The study focuses on the second clause of the Lord’s Prayer which is “hallowed be your name” or as it was originally taught by Yeshua to the Jewish multitudes on that windswept Galilean mountainside: “may your name be sanctified”. The title of the 180-page study is "His Hallowed Name Revealed Again" and it includes a CD that teaches 80 different Hebrew descriptions that you can learn to pray and even sing! If you are interested in taking an in-depth look at the topic of His name then you can go to my ministry's website to obtain the study by clicking on the cover below:

His Hallowed Name Revealed Again by Keith Johnson

In just a short time, we are over half way to our goal of getting this study to a limited number of dedicated people around the world willing to read and respond to it by giving suggestions, comments etc. As we receive responses from our study partners, the goal is to put the information in book form and make it available to all who are interested in learning about His holy Name! In the meantime, I will continue to teach and preach to every tribe and nation and invite them to sing and dance (if they are willing) to His holy powerful and precious name that is a strong tower that the righteous run into and are safe (Proverbs 18:10).

Hallelu Yah Amen!

Keith Johnson
Charlotte, NC

5 thoughts on “Zulu Sing His Hallowed Name in Hebrew!

  1. I am very interested in saving to order some of Nehemiah's work, including his book,
    "The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the greek Jesus".. thank you for this site and these great articles.  Hope to stay informed… Becky

  2. Did you speak any Zulu? I lived and worked in Kwazulu in the early ’80s and learnt to speak a bit of Zulu. I was told that Bantu languages are related to Hebrew but as i speak no Hebrew I couldn’t verify.

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