Making God's Name Known Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does.
Would you name your child Jesus? It's not a very common name in English-speaking countries, but in Latin America there are many men who are called Jesus, though in Spanish it is pronounced Jesús. And there's nothing wrong with that because the name itself means "Yehovah Saves." It makes a statement about the source of all salvation, which is our Father in heaven.
But the same cannot be said for Yehovah, or Jehovah, or any of the other names that are transliterations or translations of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton, YHWH. The reason this is so, is that in Hebrew, a name isn't just a label. A name has real meaning. A name represents the person in a way that doesn't occur in modern languages.
That is why God changed the names of his servants when he designated a new role for them. For instance, Abram means "exalted father," but Yehovah renamed him Abraham, "Father of a multitude," because that is what he would become — the forefather of the nation of Israel.
As for God's name, Yehováh, no one can live up to its meaning.
To demonstrate why that is, we can go way back to the time Moses was in exile, some 40 years after he had to flee Egypt for killing an Egyptian soldier who had been beating a Hebrew slave. Apparently, Moses' desire had been to lead the Israelites to freedom from the slavery they were suffering under Egyptian rule. But they didn't recognize him as a leader that they could rally behind, so he fled.
For 40 years he worked as a shepherd, learning humility. Then one day he saw a bush up on the mountain that was on fire, yet it wasn't being consumed by the flames. He climbed the mountain to investigate this phenomenon, but when he got near, a voice sounded telling him to remove his sandals, because he was now standing on holy ground.
We'll pick up the account from that point. But before we do, I wanted to explain that if the translation I'm reading from uses LORD (all caps) as a placeholder for the divine name, I will pronounce it as Yehovah. I worked as a translator for many years, and my reasoning is that a translator's job is to render the original into the language being read. There is simply no valid reason to avoid using an acceptable transliteration.
"And He said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look toward God.
And Yehovah said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and their cry I have heard from before their taskmasters, for I know their pains; and I have come down to deliver them from out of the hand of Egypt and to bring them up from that land to a land good and broad, to a land flowing with milk and honey — to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me, and also I have seen the oppression with which Egypt is oppressing them. And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall bring out My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.'
And Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?'
And He said, 'Surely I will be with you, and this is the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.'
And Moses said to God, 'Behold, I am coming to the sons of Israel and I will say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they will say to me, "What is His name?" What shall I say to them?'"
(Exodus 3:6-14 BLB)
Does that mean that they didn't know God's name? No, because they were all children of Abraham, and he and his sons knew the divine name.
Genesis 12:8 — Abraham "called on the name of Yehovah"
Genesis 26:25 — Isaac "called on the name of Yehovah"
Genesis 28:16 — Jacob says, "Yehovah is in this place"
But how does that reconcile with this:
"And God spoke to Moses, and He said to him, 'I am Yehovah, and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai and by My name Yehovah I was not known to them.'" (Exodus 6:2, 3)
To our western mind, that might seem like a contradiction because a name is just a name, a label to identify a person, nothing more.
That is not the case for a Hebrew back in Moses' day or before.
The key is in the phrase "I was not known to them." The Hebrew word used is yada, "to know." In Hebrew there is more than one word for "to know." This particular word, yada, means to know in a deep, experiential, relational sense. The patriarchs knew the name Yehovah the way that you and I know anyone's name. What they had not experienced was the full meaning and character behind that name. They did not know Yehovah as the covenant-keeping God who redeems, delivers, and fulfills his promises on a national scale. That revelation came through the Exodus — the plagues, the Red Sea, the giving of the Law. That is when the name Yehovah became fully alive in meaning.
So rather than simply restating his name, God puts meaning into it:
"And God said to Moses, 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "Ehyeh has sent me to you."'
And God said moreover to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "Yehovah, 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 this is My memorial from generation to generation.'"
(Exodus 3:14, 15)
What does Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh mean and how does that relate to Yehovah?
Most Bible translations translate those words "I AM THAT I AM." Why does the Berean Literal Bible use a transliteration of the Hebrew instead? I have to commend the translators of the BLB because they recognized that the translation "I AM THAT I AM" could be misleading. Most Bibles are translated by people belonging to one of the modern Christian religions, almost all of which believe God is a Trinity of three persons.
So they use Jesus' words at John 8:58 to try to prove that Yeshua is Yehovah. The New King James Version even capitalizes it. Here's what I'm talking about:
"Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.'" (John 8:58 NKJV)
They claim that Yeshua isn't saying in Greek "I existed before Abraham." Instead, they claim he's stating his name as God Almighty based on what's written in Hebrew at Exodus 3:14.
If that were so, then substituting "Yehovah" for "I AM" should work just as well, since both are being treated not as a common grammatical pronoun-plus-verb construction but as a name. But it doesn't work. Observe:
"Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, Yehovah.'"
I often find that the best way to show someone the absurdity of a false belief is to take it to its absolute conclusion.
Anyway, the reason I like the Berean Literal Bible's decision to render the Hebrew words without translating them is that God's name is not so much a noun as it is a verb. It is a most dynamic name.
Based on the context, which is speaking about how Yehovah will manifest himself to the Israelites through Moses, the verb tense is future. You see, Hebrew doesn't have verb tenses the way most modern languages do. There is no past tense or future tense in Hebrew. One must use the context to determine whether the action spoken of is in the past, present, or future.
Hebrew only has the perfect and imperfect tense. So, an action is either completed or incomplete.
Since Yehovah is telling Moses about something that has not yet happened, a more accurate translation would be "I will be what I will be" or "I will become what I will become," but that doesn't help a religion that is trying to find support for its blasphemous Trinity doctrine.
It is crucial to understand why it is that Yehovah says to Moses:
"Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'Ehyeh has sent me to you.'"
God does not define himself statically. Instead, he reveals something dynamic: he will become whatever is necessary to accomplish his purpose.
This is not merely a philosophical statement. It is a declaration of divine freedom, power, and intent.
Yehovah has the freedom to become what he wants, since he answers to no one. He has the power to become or do what he wants, since no one can stop him. But his will is what moves him to do that which he wishes to do, and no one can undo that will.
Immediately after this declaration, God gives Moses the name:
יהוה (Yehovah)
"This is my name forever." (Exodus 3:15)
This name is directly connected to the statement in verse 14.
Ehyeh — "I will become" (first person)
Yehovah — "He will become" or "He causes to become" (third person)
God can say Ehyeh, because he speaks in the first person, "I will be," but when you and I refer to him, we speak in the third person, Yehovah, "He will be."
The Trinitarian-biased rendering most Bible translations succumb to misses the true dynamic power of God's name. The Hebrew allows for something far more dynamic. God is not merely saying that he exists. He is declaring that he actively brings about reality in harmony with his will.
He is:
- The Creator of all things.
- The One who directs the course of events to suit his will.
- The One who ensures that his purposes are fulfilled.
This is why the name is so significant. It reveals not just who God is, but what he does.
Consider the meaning carefully: "He causes to become."
Who can truthfully claim this?
- Not humans.
- Not rulers or kings.
- Not angels.
- Not even Yeshua, God's son.
This is borne out by what Yeshua himself said:
"So Jesus answered them, 'I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.'" (John 5:19 NET Bible)
Only God Almighty can rightly be called Yehovah, because he is the one who brings all things into existence out of nothing, even his Son.
"Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory." (Isaiah 46:8-13)
This is commonly attributed to the coming of Cyrus to liberate Israel from Babylonian rule, but the Greater Cyrus is Yeshua and he is also "the man of my counsel from a far country" who brought salvation to Zion.
But notice again that only Almighty God can properly bear the name Yehovah, for he is the only one declaring the end from the beginning. That is why it is wrong to conclude that Yeshua is God. He tells us so when he declares:
"Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father." (Matthew 24:36)
This knowledge, as is often the case, raises more questions than it answers.
Trinitarians have frequently tried to challenge me by asking if I think Yeshua was created. Their view is binary: either Yeshua is a created being like the rest of us, or he is God. But what if there's a third state?
People ask if I believe Yeshua is an eternal being, meaning not just that he has no end, but also that he has no beginning. I do believe he is eternal, but I also believe he is both the firstborn of all creation and the only begotten Son of God. So that seems to present a contradiction.
People who believe Yeshua is God believe God was literally with us in a physical sense, yet I believe God cannot enter into our universe.
If all of this sounds very confusing and contradictory to you, I quite understand. I've wrestled with these concepts for a good long time. I'd like to share what I've learned, and perhaps together we can deepen our understanding of God and his Son and our role in all of this.
So that will be our topic in the next video in this series.
Thank you for watching and for your support of our work.