YHWH Is God’s Everlasting Name

(This article is my reflection on weekly Torah reading. The original article is written in Chinese (中文). The English version is translated by Philip Liu and edited by Teresa Chen.)

At the very beginning of the book of Genesis and the Bible, it is written: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ESV). In the Biblical language of Hebrew, the word that is used here is אֱלֹהִים ("elohim"), which is the plural form of the word אֵל ("el"), which means “god”. In other words, the word אֱלֹהִים is the equivalent of the English word “gods.” However, we know that the Bible is not saying, “In the beginning, gods created the heavens and the earth” because the verb that follows (or rather, proceeds): בָּרָא ("bara", created), is singular. Therefore, we know that אֱלֹהִים is referring to the Creator of the Universe and not to “gods”. However, while אֱלֹהִים is often used to refer to God in the Bible, it is not, in fact, His holy name. So, this leaves us with a question: What is God’s name?

In the Book of Exodus, we see that Moses asks God this exact question, and this is God’s response: “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord (יהוה), 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, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15 ESV). In other words, God’s everlasting name is יהוה (“Yahweh”, YHWH).

After this event, God again said to Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord (יהוה) I did not make myself known to them” (Exodus 6:3 ESV). And, from this passage, we have all been taught that the patriarchs of Israel never truly knew God’s name יהוה . However, upon further examination, we know that this is not true because Abraham prayed to God: “But he said, 'O Lord God (יהוה ), how am I to know that I shall possess it?'” (Genesis 15:8 ESV). In fact, Jacob also prayed to God: “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord (יהוה ) who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good...’” (Genesis 32:9 ESV). Abraham, Issac, and Jacob did in fact know God’s name יהוה , but they simply did not know the meaning of His name.

So, what is the meaning of God’s name? When God Himself, proclaimed His name, He explained, “The Lord (יהוה), the Lord (יהוה), a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7 ESV).

Nevertheless, even though Abraham, Issac, and Jacob did not know the meaning of God's name, the very fact that they knew God’s name and called Him by His name did reflect their personal relationship with God. Furthermore, we know from the Bible that there were people who knew God's name even way before Moses, Jacob, Issac, and even Abraham. The first person recorded as having uttered the name of God is Eve. When Eve gave birth to Cain, she said: “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord (יהוה )” (Genesis 4:1 ESV). At the beginning of creation, humankind enjoyed a personal and intimate relationship with God, and they certainly knew God’s name יהוה. Even after their fall, humankind began to realize the need to call upon God's name, as is stated, “To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord (יהוה )” (Genesis 4:26 ESV).

However, with the increase of iniquity, humankind slowly and gradually forgets God and turns to worship various idols. And as their idolatry increased, closeness to their Creator decreased, and God’s name was eventually lost to the ebbs and flows of history. I think the ultimate reason God chose Abraham and his descendants as God's people is to eventually restore His everlasting name יהוה and to restore His intimate relationship with the humans that He had created from the beginning.

To this day, at the end of every worship service, Jews faithfully chant the traditional prayer “Upon Us” (עלינו, "aleynu"), and the last line of this beautiful poem is: “And the Lord (יהוה ) will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord (יהוה ) will be one and His name one” (Zechariah 14:9 ESV). This is a powerful reminder for God's people to proclaim and restore God’s holy name, יהוה , and to rebuild His close relationship with us.