11 August 2024

YAHWEH - JEHOVAH

(The Names Of God: TNOG 2)

The Name YAHWEH was revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you”. God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD (YAHWEH), the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob— has sent me to you’. This is My Name forever, the Name by which I Am to be remembered from generation to generation” (Exo.3:14-15).

The Hebrew for LORD (YAHWEH) sounds like “I AM”. Yahweh means “the Self-existent One” (“I Am Who I Am” or “I Am the One Who is”). It denotes God’s Personal Name and His Eternity. The English translation of Yahweh is Jehovah. God is to be remembered by this Name forever. God’s Name is so sacred that the Jews feared to write it less they misspell it or write it wrongly; so quite often they substituted this Name for Adonai (Lord).

This Name Yahweh (Jehovah) is often used in relationship to God as the Redeemer and Covenant Keeper: “I Am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:1). He is the God of Redemption. Deut.7:9: “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the Faithful God, keeping His Covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.”

In Exodus 20, God gave the Ten Commandments and other Laws for His people to walk in His ways. But before He gave the commandments, He said, “I Am Yahweh your God …” and with that He commanded, “You will have no other gods before Me”.

The emphasis is that He is the only True and Living God, and He does not want His people to worship any other gods. That would be sinning against Him. The punishment is that their sin and subsequent consequences will continue to the third and fourth generations. The reason for this is that “I Am a Jealous God”. God, because of Who He is, cannot tolerate the worship of any other gods by His people. Hence Christ also said, “You cannot worship both God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

In giving His commandments, God also said, “I Am your God Who brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery”. Yahweh is the God of Redemption Who forgave and delivered His people from bondage. This is to remind us to be grateful to Him always for His salvation, which is shown in worshipping Him only as the True and Living God.

Paul, in referring to the conversion of the Thessalonian believers said, “How you turned to God from idols to serve the True and Living God, and to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised from the dead” (1 Thess.1:9-10). The “turning” is first turning away from idol worship in repentance and renunciation and then turning to God in faith and surrender to acknowledge Him as the True God and worship Him only. That is what “conversion” means. 

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