Is Jehovah the true name of God?

Jehovah. This is a name of relationship with men, especially with Israel, taken by God in time. It is derived from havah, 'to exist,' and may be expanded into 'who is, who was, and is to come.' God thus reveals Himself in time as the ever-existing One: that is, in Himself eternally, He is always the same: cf. Heb. 1:12.

"God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM," Ex. 3:14, where the word is Ehyeh, which is from the same root as Jehovah, the Eternal existing One; He that was, and is, and the coming One.

This is the second name of God found in the Old Testament. Its first occurrence is found in Genesis 2:4. It is translated GOD some 300 times, and LORD about 6,000 times. Its meaning is, He, that always was, that always is, that always will be, the Eternal. It is far more numerously mentioned in Scripture than any other name of God.

The meaning of the word, Jehovah, is furnished by God Himself. It is a name setting forth God's covenant relationship with man. You may remember how the Angel of the LORD, in this case none other than Jehovah Himself, spoke to Moses out of the bush which burned with fire, and yet was not consumed ... "And GOD [Elohim] said unto Moses. I AM THAT I AM: and He said. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you" (Ex. 3:24).

The answer is, that up to the time of the burning bush, though the name of Jehovah occurs frequently on the sacred page, yet in God's oral communications with the early patriarchs the meaning of the word, Jehovah, was not fully revealed, but He presented Himself again and again as the Almighty God. They knew the name, but did not know its significance.

Shaddai, 'the Almighty,' ... was the name by which He was especially known to the Patriarchs, as El Shaddai, God Almighty, Ex. 6:3; which passage does not mean that the Patriarchs had not heard of the name of Jehovah, but that it was not the especial name for them.

The true pronunciation of Jehovah is declared to be lost: the Jews when reading the O.T. never utter it (from a constrained interpretation of Lev. 24:16), but say, 'the name,' 'the great and terrible name,' etc.

It appears the Jews had a special reverence for the name, Jehovah, so much so that they would not allow the name to pass their lips. They substituted for it Elohim or Adonai ... Smith's Concise Dictionary of the Bible affirms that the true pronunciation of the name, Jehovah, by which God was made known to the Hebrews, has been entirely lost through the Jews scrupulously avoiding its use. Would that we, Christians, showed more reverence when we take the sacred name of God upon our lips!

To show how fully the name of Jehovah is linked up with covenant blessing, we now draw attention to the different ways in which this wonderful name is brought before our notice by the addition of a second name added to Jehovah, thus showing how one blessing after another comes to men, and that through our Lord's Manhood, His wondrous life, and atoning death on the cross.

The above 'relationship' may be seen in the change from Elohim, the Creator, in Gen. 1, to Jehovah Elohim in Gen. 2, when man was brought into relationship with God. Again in Gen. 7:16 Elohim ordered Noah to make the ark but Jehovah shut him in.

It is surely fitting that Genesis 1, that great chapter, describing the creation of the mighty universe ... should use the word, Elohim, the name of the Creator God, of Trinity acting in unity. But in Genesis 2 we do not have a second story of the creation, but how everything was ordered when man arrived on the scene. How fitting surely that the name of Jehovah (God's covenant name for man's blessing) should appear.

The witness which God vouchsafed of Himself to Abraham was that He was 'THE ALMIGHTY GOD'; to Moses it was 'I AM THAT I AM'; and to Israel, 'JEHOVAH.' ... To the Christian He is 'GOD AND FATHER.'

He spoke of worshipping Jehovah in the light of the revelation that He was bringing — even as "the Father." This at once lifted it out of that ceremonial order of things which connected it with a holy place on earth.

How wonderful it is that the Mighty God is our Saviour. The full revelation of this is seen in JESUS (a translation from Hebrew words into Greek), meaning, Jehovah-Saviour.