~ The Name “Jehovah” ~
Jesus
said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).
There are quite
a number of Jehovah titles. This series
will focus on seven Jehovah titles which embrace the fullness of Jesus Christ
for His people. These titles include the
completeness of Jehovah’s name as it is manifested in the life of Jesus Christ
for His people. These titles show how
the Messiah completely meets His people’s need from their guilt to their future
glory. But first it is essential that we
consider the name “Jehovah.”
Background and Meaning
~ The name “Jehovah” is erroneously
transliterated from the Masoretic Hebrew.
The meaning of our word “Jehovah” (Yahweh, Jahveh) is “to be” or “I AM
that I AM.” This is what “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’” in Exodus
3:14a. This word “Jehovah” appears
nearly 7,000 times in the Word of God.
The Hebrew
word consists of the consonants JHVH or JHWH—with the vowels being a separate
word “Adonai” (Lord). What the original vowels were is partly a
matter of speculation because the scribes of that day considered texts such as
Exodus 20:7 and Leviticus 24:11 to sacred for verbal expression.
“You
shall not take the name of the Lord
your God in vain, for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7, see also
Leviticus 24:10-23).
Later
“Jehovah” became the standard rendition by the Hebrew translators since they
did not realize what had been done by the scribes.
The result
of their reverence for the name is that they began substituting the word “Lord”
and transliterated the vowels into the consonantal expression JHVH.
Emphasis
~ The emphasis of the original
word contains the thoughts of “being,” or "He who is" (or
self-existence). Jehovah is the
One who in Himself possesses essential life, or permanent existence. Jehovah is “our eternal God.” Jehovah is the holiest of all the names of
God. It was considered to be such a holy
name that following the Jewish exile from Babylon it was removed from Scripture
and replaced with the tetragrammaton “YHWH.”
Pronounciation ~
Cases can be made for either “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.”
Usage ~ The
name is used as a proper noun for God as a person and how He relates Himself to
all of Creation. For example consider “And
the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
“Then
Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to
them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What
is His name?” what shall I say to them?’
And God said to 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”’” (Exodus 3:13-15).
Significance ~ Remember
that the word has roots in the Hebrew verb “to be” and the tense used is the
indefinite which combines past, present, and future (without time). In other words God says, “I have always been,
I am, and I always will be.” God is
always with us. God has been with us all
along. God is with us now. God will always be with us. There never has been, is not now, and never
will be a time in which God is not with us!
What a wonderful comforting thought.
Comment ~
Please keep this background in mind as we look at future posts in the
series of seven specific titles of Jehovah.
the key question:
“Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). This is the most important
question you will ever answer. If you do not answer it, or answer it
incorrectly, you have made the biggest mistake anyone can make!
