Is Jehovah the true name of God?

Jehovah is His personal name, "The Name," and this in relationship with man on earth, especially with His people; the Self-existent and Eternal, always the proper name of the true God for those on earth, and in due time that by which He made Himself known as the covenant God of Israel, in Whose presence they were to walk El Shaddai, the Almighty God of their fathers, but the LORD God of their sons, His people. Ehyeh (I AM, Ex. 3:14) and Jah (LORD, Ex. 15:2, Ex. 17:16, etc.) are akin to Jehovah, but each used distinctively where a different author is untenable and sheer delusion. Neither is quite Jehovah God, the Governor of man; but as Jah is the absolutely existing One, so Ehyeh expresses His existence as the Everlasting Now consciously felt and asserted, therefore subjective, as Jah is objective.

God is. His essential name in the Old Testament is Jehovah — the "I am that I am," the living, eternal, self-existing, unchangeable One, acting from Himself and according to Himself in all that He does.

God is. His essential name in the Old Testament is Jehovah — the "I am that I am," the living, eternal, self-existing, unchangeable One, acting from Himself and according to Himself in all that He does.

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. 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. Unfortunately the name Jehovah is seldom employed in the A.V. It is generally represented by LORD (sometimes GOD) printed in small capitals.* There is a contraction of Jehovah into Jah, also translated in the A.V. by LORD, except in Ps. 68:4, where Israel is exhorted to sing unto God, and "extol him by his name JAH." Jah signifies the absolute supremacy of the self-existing One; whereas Jehovah was the name made known to Israel, and on which they could count. "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.

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.

In the N.T. the word Θεός is constantly translated God; and Κύριος is the word commonly rendered Lord. In the O.T. the latter is used by the LXX as the translation of Jehovah, so in the N.T. it often represents Jehovah, and is then mostly, if not always, without the article, as in Matt. 1:20, 22, 24, etc. The Lord is also called 'the Almighty,' Rev. 1:8, etc.; and there are a few compound names as in the O.T.: God Almighty, Rev. 16:14; Rev. 19:15. Lord Almighty, 2 Cor. 6:18. Lord God Almighty, Rev. 4:8; Rev. 11:17; Rev. 15:3; Rev. 16:7; Rev. 21:22. Lord of Sabaoth, Rom. 9:29; James 5:4.

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, according to the vowel points by which it was accompanied. 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!

There is another trace of the Septuagint, which is much more serious. The Jews, from time immemorial, never pronounce the word Jehovah, or write it in any but in the Hebrew characters. Now the translators of the Septuagint were Jews, imbued with the common prejudice of their nation. In consequence the word Jehovah does not once appear in the Septuagint; it is invariably rendered by Kurios, or Lord, which was a common title of respect between man and man. This peculiarity passed into the Vulgate, where Dominos is the equivalent term for Jehovah; and, for some unexplained reason — probably on account of the influence exercised by learned Jews over the reformers — it has been almost always retained in our common English Bibles. From this circumstance, a great deal of the meaning of the Bible is sometimes neglected; and the proper name of the invisible God does not appear where it ought to be. In our printed Bibles, it will be seen that when Lord stands for Jehovah, it consists of four capital letters, thus: — LORD.

But this is far from all. The chain of scriptural testimony is carried out and confirmed with another and even more wondrous citation. "God" may be used in a subordinate sense. Elohim has His representatives, who are, therefore, called gods. Magistrates and kings are so named in scripture. So are they styled, as the Lord told the Jews. The word of God came and commissioned them to govern in earthly things; for it might be no more than in judicial matters. Still, there they were, in their own sphere, representing God's authority, and are called gods, though clearly with a very subordinate force. But there is another name which never is employed in any sense save that which is supreme. The dread and incommunicable name is "Jehovah." Is, then, the Messiah ever called Jehovah? Certainly He is. And under what circumstances? In His deepest shame. I do not speak now of God's forsaking Christ as the point of view in which He is looked at, though at the same general time.

Ex. 6:3 helps us, however, here, "but by my name of Jehovah was I not known to them" (the Patriarchs). To them He appeared as God Almighty (El-Shaddai). I cannot doubt that the display which reveals the glory of the compound name of Jehovah-Elohim differs from that which reveals the glory of the single title Elohim, and from that which reveals Jehovah glory. Let any one examine the three scenes — the character of man's relationship with the Most High and blessing under Him in Eden (Gen. 2:4-15), in the land as redeemed out of Egypt (Exodus), and, as hereafter, when in the land under the second covenant — and he will see how well Jehovah-Elohim, Jehovah, and Jehovah-Elohim-Shaddai respectively suit the three displays.

The term Jehovah is never applied to any other than the Most High; it may be derived so as to imply essential existence — the existing one.

— The dread and sacred Name Jehovah signifies underived existence, the Self-Existing One. To Israel the Name was explained as “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14); to Gentiles as “Him which is, and which was, and which is to come” (Rev. 1:4; 4:8). It is a Name of ineffable grandeur, and one which Israel was made fully acquainted with from the commencement of her history (Ex. 6:3). It is God’s memorial Name, even to generations yet unborn. “Which is” implies independent, unchangeable existence. “Which was” intimates Jehovah’s relation to the past. “Which is to come” shows His connection with the future. God’s relation to the universe in its vastness and greatness, as also in its minuteness, is a grand and invigorating truth.