Hallowed be Thy Name -- Iron Maiden

I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past life and it doesnt have much time
Cos at 5 oclock they take me to the gallows pole
The sands of time for me are running low

When the priest comes to read me the last rites
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me

Can it be theres some sort of error
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end not some crazy dream

Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming
Its not so easy to stop from screaming
But words escape me when I try to speak
Tears they flow but why am I crying
After all I am not afraid of dying
Dont believe that there is never an end

As the guards march me out to the courtyard
Someone calls from a cell God be with you
If theres a God then why has he let me die?

As I walk all my life drifts before me
And though the end is near Im not sorry
Catch my soul cos its willing to fly away

Mark my words please believe my soul lives on
Please dont worry now that I have gone
Ive gone beyond to see the truth

When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then youll begin to understand
Life down there is just a strange illusion.
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"Hallowed be thy name" is one of those phrases that's most strange to us, isn't it? But I want to see it against the background of the Hebrew Scripture's idea that the name of Yahweh is something in itself immensely beautiful and powerful. The name of Yahweh is His word; Yahweh's presence.

And to ask that Yahweh's name be hallowed, that Yah's name be looked upon as seperate, is to ask that in the world people will understand the presence of Yahweh among them with awe and reverence, and will not use the name or the idea of Elohim as a kind of weapon to put other people down, or as a sort of magic to make themselves feel safe. But rather approach the idea of Almighty Elohim, the name of Yahweh, the word of Yahweh, with the veneration and humility that's demanded.

One of the prime misconceptions of this song is that it promotes an "immortal soul" teaching. While this may seem right in the Constantinian understanding of Greek philosophy, the truth of Hebrew Scripture refutes such non-sense as pagan to the core. We as modern day disciples should be constantly aware of such invasions into our faith.

In the Jewish texts of Yahshua's own day, the commandment about not taking Yahweh's name in vain, from the Ten Words / Commandments, is often understood as uniting the name of Elohim with a curse - using the name of the Tetragrammaton as a kind of magic word - and that's to trivialise the revealed Name, it's to bring it down to our level, to try and make Yahweh a tool for our purposes.

Therefore, "Hallowed be thy name" means: understand what you're talking about when you're talking about Yahweh, this is serious, this is the most wonderful and frightening reality that we could imagine, more wonderful and frightening than we can imagine.

All the more extraordinary is that we should be able to approach Him as Father. This is something unheard of before Yahshua's sermons. Gentiles and Jews alike called out by faith and by personal response to be children of ELohim! How outstanding! How unheard of!

Yet, how true within the province of Yahshua our Messiah!