What is the name of God?

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 had already revealed Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers — and this might have been enough, but nothing can ever satisfy doubts and fears. And what an incidental glimpse is thus given of the condition of Israel, so as to render the supposition possible that they might not know the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob! God bears in grace with his feeble, hesitant servant, and replies, "I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (v. 14.) This is the expression of the essential being of God — His name as the self-existent One; and thereby affirms His eternal being. It was this name the Lord Jesus claimed when He said to the unbelieving Jews, "Before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58.) But this is not all. Having revealed Himself as to His essential existence, He adds, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations." (v. 15.) This is pure grace on the part of God. "I AM, is His own essential name; but as regards His government of, and relationship with, the earth, His name — that by which He is to be remembered to all generations — is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This gave Israel, now visited and taken up of God under His name, a very peculiar place." It points indeed to their election by the sovereign grace of God, and to their being beloved for their fathers' sake; and at the same time reveals the fact that Israel shall be for ever the centre of God's ways, and the key to His purposes upon the earth. Hence, as long as Israel is under judgment, scattered throughout the world, the period Of earthly blessing is still postponed.

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.

And when the Lord called Moses to send him to Pharaoh to lead His people forth, he answered, What am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ? Forty years before in self-confidence he had undertaken the work and had run before he was sent, and now he had learned humility and his weakness. God answered his confessed distrust with the all-sufficient assurance, "I will be with thee." When He sends forth He goes along to accomplish His own purposes. What encouragement for all who wait on the Lord and conscious of their own weakness, go forth in service. In response to another question, God reveals His name. "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM, and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel , I AM hath sent me unto you." God had made Himself known to Abraham as Jehovah (Genesis 15:7). But here He gives the explanation of His name Jehovah. The patriarchs knew the name Jehovah, but the blessed significance of that name was not known to them. He reveals Himself as the Self-Existing One, THE I AM THAT I AM. He is the One, which is, which was, which is to come (Rev. 1:4). And this wonderful Name of the Unchanging, Living One, the Eternal, the Name unsearchable in its depths is the Name of our Lord who has redeemed us. When about to act in the deliverance of His enslaved people to lead them out and to bring them in, He makes Himself known as the I AM. "Before Abraham was I AM" (John 8:58). Our ever-blessed Lord is the I AM, who spoke to Moses. And what is Jehovah, the I am for His people? Well has it been said, "Jehovah, in taking this title, calling Himself 'I AM,' was furnishing His people with a blank check, to be filled up to any amount. He calls Himself I AM, and faith has but to write over against that ineffably precious name whatever we want."

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.

To the patriarchs God made Himself known under another appellation. The first mention of this is found in Genesis 17:1, "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God"; that is, EL SHADDAI — God Almighty. But the meaning of the word El is said to be strength, omnipotence; and Shaddai is thought by some to signify the same thing, while others prefer the rendering of all-sufficient, or self-sufficiency. The combination of the two words will, in either case, import divine attributes, as omnipotence and all-sufficiency can only be found in God. These two words are used, for example, in the passage, "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." (Exodus 6:2-3. See also Gen. 28:3; Gen. 35:11, etc.) When the word "Almighty" stands alone in our translation it generally represents Shaddai. There is a beautiful combination of this name with that of Jehovah in 2 Cor. 6, "I will receive, you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." The God who was known to Abraham as Shaddai, and to Israel as Jehovah, was now declared as Father in that blessed and intimate relationship into which, in His precious grace, He had taken His people in association with Christ.

From what has been already said, it will be understood that JEHOVAH is the name God specially took in His covenant relationship with Israel. It is not, as the reader may easily ascertain, that the word was not used before God communicated it to Moses, but it was now first employed in connection with the chosen nation. The following remarks may help as to this: "In Genesis 2 and 3 it was of all importance to connect Jehovah, Israel's national God, with the one only Creator, God. So in Exodus 9:30, the God of the Hebrews, whose name was. Jehovah, is declared to be Elohim. … Otherwise Jehovah is a name, Elohim a being; only Jehovah is Elohim, but the former is a personal name" — the name He took in His dealings and relationship with men, but especially with His, people. The word signifies the self-existent One, and, as another has observed, is practically translated, "Who is, and was, and is to come."' Derived from the verb "to exist," it expresses the eternity, and, consequently, the immutability, of His being; and it thus brings before our souls the One who eternally is, who existed before all time, endures through all time, and continues after all time has passed away. He is thus the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last; and the use of these expressions (Rev. 22:13) proves, beyond all contradiction, that the Jesus of the New is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.

"Elohim" — God. "Jehovah" — Lord. "Adonai," also rendered Lord, see Ps. 16:2. Adonai, or Adon, has been taken to mean Ruler, or Sovereign, from the root "Dan," to judge. In some English Bibles, Jehovah is rendered in capital letters, LORD; Adonai, Lord. Thus the distinction is easily seen. "O my soul, thou hast said, Jehovah, Thou art my Adonai" (Ps. 16:2). This is very striking and most beautiful.

These are often expressive of character or of relationship. God was revealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as GOD ALMIGHTY, which indicates the character in which God was pleased to be known by them: He was not known to them as JEHOVAH. Ex. 6:3. This does not mean that they had not heard of the name, but that it did not express the character of His relationship with them. To Moses He said, "I am JEHOVAH," and by this name He was known to Israel: it formed the basis of their relationship with God. When power was committed to the Gentiles under the headship of Nebuchadnezzar it was said, "THE GOD OF HEAVEN hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." Dan. 2:37. In Christianity God is made known under the name of FATHER. John 20:17. Much is involved in the various names by which God has been pleased to make Himself known. So the Lord Jesus has various names: Son of God, Immanuel, Son of man, etc.: they all designate one Person, but each has its own import. Throughout the N.T. HIS NAME is the centre of all blessing. Isa. 9:6; Phil. 2:9-11.

The word perfection is employed with reference to the three great revelations of God. For He made Himself known to Abraham as "the Almighty," to the Jews as "the Lord [Jehovah]," and to Christians as "the Father." God said to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1); which means, that he was to walk before God, always confiding in His almighty power. Abraham did not so, he failed in this respect; for he told a lie (Gen. 20:2), precisely because he did not confide in God's almighty power. Here, again, the passage has no reference to the sin which had descended to Abraham by nature; but it has to do with his acting in full confidence in the almighty power of God. In point of fact, Abraham still had sin, and therefore had a fall. It is said to the Israelites, "Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord [Jehovah] thy God," Deut. 18:13. Now this referred to their not imitating the abominations of the Canaanites in their idolatries; and not at all to the state of purification from all sin of this or that Israelite. The contrary is so true, that in the same book (Deut. 29:4) Moses tells them, "Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." It referred, therefore, solely to their faithfulness towards God in rejecting every species of idolatry.

"Our Father, which art in heaven." This is a distinct advance on anything previously known of God. The patriarchs communed with Him as the Almighty; Israel knew Him as Jehovah; but the coming into the world of the Only Begotten Son has brought out the sweet name of Father. Here then He is declaring the Father's name, as He says in John 17:6-26. It is true that in Ex. 4:22, Jehovah says, "Israel is My son, My firstborn," but that was merely a national relationship; while we have in the Lord's prayer what is personal and individual. But Matt. 6:9 falls far short of John 20:17. There we hear the risen One announcing the fruits of His great victory thus: "go to My brethren, and say to them, I ascend to My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God." In Matt. 6:9, there is no suggestion of identification with the Son; it goes no further than this, that men who had previously known God as Jehovah should now know Him as Father; John 20:17 lifts us up to the Son's own platform of blessing. To His Father and God we are henceforward "many sons" (Heb. 2:10) and to Himself we are many "brethren" (Rom. 8:29).