What's the Name of God?

 King Solomon wrote, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold” (Prov. 22:1). He expressed a similar thought in Eccl. 7:1.

Indeed, a good name means everything in the business world. Many companies spend millions, even billions, of dollars to build a respected brand, a brand that sets them apart from their competitors. A brand is simply a good name.

And who has a better name than God does? What name could be more worthy of honor than God’s name?

For this reason, in the Ten Commandments, God tells us not to take His name in vain (Ex. 20:7; Deut. 5:11). Those who profane or use God’s name lightly, through word or deed, are subject to God’s judgment: “For the LORD [YHWH] will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

In the Old Testament, “name” is the Hebrew word shem (Strong’s # H8034). According to the Hebrew lexicons, it means not only “name,” but also mark, reputation, fame, honor, glory, authority, and character.

A name is so much more than just a label! It becomes apparent, then, that Biblical names are meaningful and not random. They tell us something about the bearer of that name.

Hence, God changed the names of some of His servants to better represent His purpose for them. He changed Abram to Abraham (“Father of a Multitude”), Sarai to Sarah (“Noblewoman”), and Jacob to Israel (“Contender of God”).

So what does God’s name tell us about Him?

Many Titles

At this point, you’re probably expecting a discussion of that most mysterious and often-debated name of God, YHWH. In Hebrew, יהוה. The tetragrammaton, or, the “four letters.”

You’d be correct to expect this. We’ll get there in a moment.

But first, it’s important to note this isn’t the only name or title God’s Word uses for Him. We’re introduced to the Creator in Gen. 1 simply as “Elohim” (Srong’s # H430), which means “Mighty Ones,” “Gods,” or “Judges.”

That’s right, Elohim is plural. It refers to both the Father and the Son, for They created all things together (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-17). They worked together with one spirit and one purpose. As Eph. 3:9 tells us, God the Father “created all things through Jesus Christ.” And John 1:3 tells us, “Without Him [Jesus] nothing was made that was made.”

For this reason, the Old Testament speaks of Elohim, our Creator, in both singular and plural ways. For example, in Gen. 1:26-27, we read,

26 Then God [Elohim] said, “Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God [Elohim] created man in HIS own image; in the image of God [Elohim] HE created him; male and female HE created them.

This illustrates once again that the Father and the Son are both God, but They are of one mind and one purpose. As Jesus said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).

And what of our English word “God”? According to linguists, it comes from an old Germanic root word that means “to call or invoke.” It’s related to an Irish Celtic word, guth, or “voice.”

How did God create the universe? By speaking. God spoke, and it was so. And Jesus Christ is also called “the Word of God” (John 1:1, 14; Rev. 19:13).

But we find many other titles of God in the Bible, too. Titles that refer to both the Father and the Son, and titles that refer only to one or the other.

Here are a few of the Divine names and titles:

• El Shaddai, “Almighty God” (Gen. 17:1)

• El Elyon, “God Most High” (Gen. 14:18-20, 22)

• El Gibor, “Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6)

• YHWH Tzevaot, “YHWH of Hosts” (1 Sam. 1:3)

There are many, many more, but I think we can begin to understand that each name or title of our Creator describes some of His attributes. One name or title is not sufficient to describe Him.

Nevertheless, the Bible uses one name for God far more than all others: YHWH. It uses this name over 6,500 times in the Old Testament!

YHWH

In Ex. 6:2-3, God said to Moses, “I am YHWH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by My name YHWH I was not known to them.”

Now, ancient Hebrew had no written vowels, so this name is written in Hebrew simply with four consonants, the Hebrew letters yud-hey-vav-hey. Most Hebrew linguists believe the ancients pronounced the letter vav, or V, as waw, with a W sound. Hence, the expression of God’s name as YHWH.

But how is it pronounced? And more importantly, what does it mean? What does it tell us about our Creator?

The ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, writing several decades before the birth of Christ, wrote that Moses called his God by the name of Iao (Library of History, 1:94). This is written in Greek with the letters iota-alpha-omega, or Ιαω, and is pronounced “ee-ah-oh.”

Likewise, an ancient manuscript of the Septuagint found in the Qumran caves, dating from around the same time period, also preserves God’s name in Greek as Ιαω. For those who wish to look it up, the manuscript is titled 4Q120 and the passages in question are Lev. 3:12 and 4:27.

This appears to be a shortened form of God’s name. It’s the closest possible Greek transliteration of the Hebrew “Yaho,” or YHW. It seems reasonable, then, to conclude that the full version of God’s name would be pronounced YaHoWaH.

But there are some other interesting points about the Greek form of God’s name. The first letter, iota, is the Greek alternate of the Hebrew yud, the first letter of God’s name. The next two Greek letters are alpha and omega, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.

What did Jesus Christ say? “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Rev. 1:8). Again, in Rev. 22:13, He said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

These statements parallel a couple passages from the Old Testament.

First, we read in Isa. 44:6, “Thus says YHWH, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, YHWH of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.”

Next, we find that when God first spoke to Moses, and Moses asked His name, He said, “‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you”’” (Ex. 3:14).

In Biblical Hebrew, the phrase ehyeh asher ehyeh, “I am who I am,” has no verb tenses. It isn’t past tense, present tense, or future tense, but embraces all of them. It conveys the idea that God exists, and that He always has and always will. It parallels Jesus’ statement in Rev. 1:8 that He is the One “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

So first, God told Moses, “‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’” Then, in the very next verse, God repeats the same statement, but this time He uses His name: “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘YHWH 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 this is My memorial to all generations’” (Ex. 3:15).

This establishes a link between the name YHWH and the statement “I am who I am.” We’re beginning to get a sense that God’s name, YHWH, tells us that He is eternal, that He is the beginning and the end of all things, and that all things exist only through and because of Him. He is the Eternal, the Creator.

Dan. 7:9, 13, and 22 describe God the Father as “the Ancient of Days.” And in Mic. 5:2, God the Father foretells the human birth of His Son Jesus Christ: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

In Psa. 90:2, Moses prayed, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Isa. 40:28 tells us, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, YHWH, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.”

The fact that our Creator, YHWH, is the everlasting God implies another fact about His character and who He is. Because He is everlasting, His character and His principles are also everlasting. He is our Rock (Psa. 31:3).

YHWH is who He is; He never changes. Thus we read in Mal. 3:6, “For I am YHWH, I do not change.” And in Heb. 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

The name YHWH contains an incredible depth of meaning! It tells us who God is: the Eternal, the Creator, the source of life, the unchanging. Our Hope.

Now, by this point, it should be obvious that the name YHWH applies to both the Father and the Son. Just as a human father passes on the family name to his son, so God the Son bears the name of God the Father. Both the Father and the Son are God, and both are YHWH. They are of one mind and one spirit (John 10:20), though the Father is supreme (John 14:28; 1 Cor. 15:28).

YHWH’s Servants

There’s one more aspect of God’s name that I’d like to cover: how God’s Word places His name on various servants of His. Remember, Biblical names have meaning!

Many names in the Bible bear the name of YHWH. For example, Elijah is pronounced “Eli-Yahu” in Hebrew, and means, “My God is YHWH.”

Our Savior’s name, Jesus, comes from the Hebrew name Joshua. In Hebrew, Joshua is “Yeho-shua,” which can be shortened to “Yeshua,” as it is in 1 Chron. 24:11 and other places. The name means “YHWH is salvation.”

Among Jacob’s sons, the two most favored by God also bear His name: Judah and Joseph.

Judah’s mother Leah defined his name when she gave it to him, saying, “Now I will praise YHWH” (Gen. 29:35). In Hebrew, Judah is “Yehu-dah,” a combination of “YHWH” and “odeh” (Strong’s # H3034), or “praise.” Thus, the name Yehudah, or Judah, means “YHWH is praised.”

As for Joseph, or “Yosef” in Hebrew, it’s a contraction of the longer form “Yeho-sef,” which is found in Psa. 81:5. Once again, Joseph’s mother, Rachel, defined his name when she gave it to him, saying, “YHWH shall add to me another son” (Gen. 30:24). Yehosef, or Joseph, means “YHWH will add.”

Now I’ve included these examples not merely because I find them interesting, but to illustrate another point. Namely, that God’s name doesn’t have just one correct pronunciation. Based on how His name has been preserved for us, both in Greek and Hebrew as well as in the Hebrew names of His servants, we can see that there’s more than one possible pronunciation: YaHoWaH, Yahu, Yaho, YaHuWaH, and other variations as well, are all perfectly legitimate pronunciations of God’s name.

And, of course, God’s names and titles change slightly more when converted from one language to another. Such as from Hebrew to Greek, for example, or from Hebrew to Greek and then to English (such as the name Jesus).

Therefore, it’s pointless to argue about the pronunciation of God’s name. Such arguments fall into the category of “foolish and ignorant disputes” described by the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 2:23.

The importance of God’s name lies, not in its pronunciation, but in its meaning. It tells us about our Creator, who He is, and why we can have hope in Him.

He is the Eternal, the Creator, the source of all life. He is YHWH, He does not change. He, and He alone, is worthy of our faith and our hope.