What is YHWH? What is the tetragrammaton?
YHWH is the personal name of God in the Hebrew Old Testament — four consonants that most English Bibles do not print at all, replacing them with "the LORD" in capital letters. The word "tetragrammaton" simply means "the four letters," and behind it lie two large questions: what the name means, and why the people who received it stopped saying it out loud.
Four letters, hidden in translation
The Hebrew text spells the name with four consonants, and commentators are careful to say that even the vowels are a matter of judgement rather than certainty.
Arend RemmersIn Genesis, and in the whole Old Testament, two names of God mainly occur: God (Hebrew: Elohim) and Jehovah (Hebrew JHWH: The Eternal One, probably to be pronounced Yahweh).
The reason English readers rarely meet the name is a chain of translation habits that began with the Greek Old Testament.
The Bible TreasuryThe Jews, from time out of mind, never pronounce the word Jehovah, or write it in anything but Hebrew characters. Now the translators of the Septuagint were Jews, filled with the common prejudice of their nation. As a result the word Jehovah does not appear once in the Septuagint; it is always rendered by Kurios, or Lord... From this, a great deal of the meaning of the Bible is sometimes overlooked, and the proper name of the invisible God does not appear where it ought to be. In our printed Bibles, you will see that when Lord stands for Jehovah, it is made of four capital letters: LORD.
What the name says about God
The name is built on the Hebrew verb "to be," and God supplied its own explanation at the burning bush.
Walter ScottThe dread and sacred Name Jehovah means 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 who is and who was and who is to come" (Rev. 1:4; 4:8)... "Which is" implies independent, unchangeable existence. "Which was" points to Jehovah's relation to the past. "Which is to come" shows His connection with the future.
A name for relationship, not just for theology
Writers note that the name appears exactly where God draws near to people rather than where sheer power is in view.
Morrish Bible DictionaryJehovah. This is a name of relationship with men, especially with Israel, taken by God in time... God reveals Himself in time as the ever-existing One: that is, in Himself eternally, He is always the same. The relationship above may be seen in the change from Elohim, the Creator, in Genesis 1, to Jehovah Elohim in Genesis 2, when man was brought into relationship with God. Again in Genesis 7:16 Elohim ordered Noah to make the ark, but Jehovah shut him in.
Abraham and the other early fathers had already used the word, so commentators explain what was new at the Exodus as its significance rather than its sound.
F. B. HoleGod greatly emphasised the Name under which He had just revealed Himself. He had revealed Himself to Abraham and the fathers as God Almighty, but not as Jehovah. They knew the name, but its meaning had been hidden from them. Now its meaning had come to light, and it was to be displayed in His dealings with the insolent man who had begun to defy Him.
The name no one would say
Reverence hardened into a rule, and the rule carried a threat attached to it.
William Kelly"Hallowed be Thy Name": compare Leviticus 24:16, by misusing which the Jews came to treat Yahveh (Jehovah) as forbidden, using it in the Temple services only, and in the synagogues Adonay (Lord) alone... In everyday life they spoke of "the Name." In the Tosefta "Sanhedrin" we have, "He who pronounces the Tetragrammaton has no part in the world to come."
The cost of that caution was the loss of the word itself — and one writer turns the observation back on the reader.
A J PollockThe Jews had a special reverence for the name Jehovah, so much so that they would not let the name pass their lips. They substituted Elohim or Adonai for it... The true pronunciation of the name Jehovah, by which God was made known to the Hebrews, has been entirely lost because the Jews scrupulously avoided using it. If only we Christians showed more reverence when we take the sacred name of God on our lips!
The name carried into the New Testament
Commentators point to places where words spoken by Jehovah in the Old Testament are applied to Jesus in the New.
Hamilton SmithThe prophets are quoted as witnesses to the glory of His Person... Jehovah's word to Malachi is, "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me." The Spirit applies these words to Christ... Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The second quotation, from Isaiah, speaks of preparing the way of the LORD. So again it is Jehovah whose way is prepared — for Jesus is Jehovah.
Summary
- Written — the name is four Hebrew consonants, JHWH, probably said as Yahweh; your Bible prints it as LORD in capitals, a habit inherited from the Greek translation that swapped it for "Lord."
- Meaning — those letters come from the verb "to be": underived, self-existing being, spelled out as "I AM THAT I AM" and as the One who is, was, and is to come.
- Given — it is a name of relationship taken by God in time; Abraham knew the word, but its meaning only came to light when God moved to rescue Israel.
- Guarded — reverence became superstition: the name was confined to the Temple, replaced by Adonai elsewhere, and its true pronunciation was lost.
- Fulfilled — words spoken by Jehovah in the prophets are applied to Jesus in the Gospels, so the Name once too holy to speak is the Name now freely preached.