The Names of God

A Personal Revelation

The name was the person. God’s person, presence, and character — none of which can be fully comprehended by the human mind — are all concentrated in his name.

God’s revelations of his names were acts of grace that enabled personal communication between him and those to whom he revealed them.

Five Old Testament Hebrew terms are of basic importance in discussing the various simple and compound names and titles of God.

Old Testament Names

General Names

General

El

El signifies “the strong one,” a mighty being or leader, a god in the widest sense, whether true or false.

• Like theos, Deus and God, it is the generic term for Deity.

¹El was the name of the “high god” or the head of the Canaanite pantheon. Among the Israelites, El is often used of their God in describing  him and as an element in compound names (e.g., El Shaddai, “Immanuel”).

Elohim

This is the plural form of the similar word ‘eloah (found 42 times in Job) and is used of gods and goddesses of the surrounding nations, but chiefly to signify the true God of Israel in the sense of the one supreme Deity (Genesis 1:1, etc.; 3:5; Deuteronomy 4:35,39; Jeremiah 10:10).

The most basic idea of elohim is something or someone who is worshipped. It is the ordinary Hebrew word for God, and it corresponds to the common noun “god” in English.

The plural form, with reference to one particular deity, is not unique to Hebrew Old Testament, but the very frequent usage in Hebrew was almost certainly encouraged by the Israelites’ belief that their God was the only true God, and therefore that the sum and total deity was inherent in him.

The “El” Compounds

There are several “’el” compounds used in scripture. We will briefly look at all of them.

El Elyon

Elyon, El Elyon. Elyon, the “Most High,” is found alone as a destination for God in Numbers 24:16; Deuteronomy 32:8, 2 Samuel 22:14; Psalms 9:2, plus 11 times; Isaiah 14:14; Lamentations 3:35,38.

El Shaddai

God’s power—’El Shaddai, “Almighty God,” probably meaning originally the “god of the mountain(s)” (Genesis  17:1). The term Shaddai occurs alone 31 times in Job as an appellation for God.

El Olam

God’s eternity—’El Olam, “the everlasting God” (Genesis  21:33).

El Ro&i

This expression appears only in Genesis 16:13, which tells how Hagar finds protection and sustenance in the desert at the spring Beer-lahai-roi. She addressed Yahweh with this title, which probably means “God who sees me.”

El Bethel

This expression occurs in 2 places:

• Genesis 31:13

Where God identified himself to Jacob

• Genesis 35:7

Where Jacob built an altar at Bethel in memory of his earlier experience there (Genesis 28:10-22).

Yahweh — The Covenant Name

This is the most significant name of God found in the Old Testament in that it is the personal, proper name Israel had for their God. For this reason in post-Exilic times it began to be considered so holy that it was never pronounced. Instead, usually the term Adonai was substituted.

Tetragrammaton

The Tetragrammaton is the four-letter word for God (YHWH), and Yahweh was doubtless the approximate pronunciation.

The original Hebrew Scriptures contained no written vowels. The Hebrew words consisted of consonants alone, the vowels being provided by the requirement of the context, or by memory.

From Yahweh to Jehovah

The English form “Jehovah” arose in the 6^th-7^th century A.D. Jewish scholars combined the vowels of Adonai with the Tetragrammaton to remind the synagogue reader to pronounce the name as Adonai. That means they left the consonants for Yahweh (YHWH), but put with them the vowels for Adonai (^a, o, a). Thus, we get Y^aWHoWa which, eventually, mutated to Jehovah of today.

LORD

Some translations of the Bible use the name Yahweh, such as the Jerusalem Bible. However, the KJV is not one of those translations.

Instead of printing the name Yahweh, the KJV uses the word LORD, in small caps, to signify the name Yahweh.

God The Father

This is the only personal name of the Father belonging to him alone.

When Moses asked God what was the significance of his name, he replied I AM THAT I AM: and he said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14). Thus God revealed to Moses what was the very inner meaning of his name as Yahweh. God followed with the declaration, “Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, Yahweh the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever” (Exodus 3:15).

His very name was his promise to his covenant people that “he is” with them (cf. 3:12) to be their God and to supply every need. He had not explained the import of his name Yahweh to the patriarchs (cf. Exodus 6:2-3).

• Jesus picked up the thought inherent in the divine name when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).

This identification of himself with the declaration of God in Exodus 3:14 explains why the Jews took up stones immediately to stone him (John 8:58-59).

Yahweh Class Names

The following names are associated with the name Yahweh, though Jehovah is most commonly used.

Yahweh-Elyon

“Yahweh is the most high God.” (Genesis 22:23)

• This name shows that our God is greater than everything.

Yahweh-Elohim

“Yahweh is God.” Usually seen as “the LORD God,” or “the LORD thy God.” Genesis 2:4, 5; 3:21; Exodus 9:30.

Yahweh-jireh

“Yahweh will find (and provide).” The name indicates God’s provision for the believer’s needs. Abraham named the hill where he was about to offer Isaac Jehovah-jireh.

• He thus confessed that God had provided the needed sacrifice in the ram caught in the ticket which could substitute as a burnt offering instead of his son (Genesis 22:13-14)

Yahweh Roph’eka

“I am Yahweh, your healer.” (Exodus 15:25, 26, RSV), was God’s promise to all who would diligently obey him.

Yahweh-nissi

“Yahweh is my banner (conqueror).” God’s leadership shown in the name Moses gave to an altar he built to commemorate the defeat of the Amelekites (Exodus 17:15, 16).

Yahweh Ro`i

The best loved name or description of all, is the familiar “Yahweh is my shepherd.” (Psalm 23:1), with its many applications to leadership, provision, and protection.

Yahweh-shalom

“Yahweh is (my) peace,” exclaimed Gideon after being visited by the angel of the Lord as he created an altar in Ophrah and knew the peace of God in his heart (Judges 6:24).

Yahweh-tsidkenu

“Yahweh our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:6; cf. 33:16)

The name and attribute by which the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was especially to be known (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9; 2 Peter 1:1; John 2:1).

Yahweh-shammah

The name of the New Jerusalem, Yahweh-shammah, “Yahweh is there.”

• A prophecy in (Ezekiel 48:35), which will be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:22; 22:3.

Yahweh Sabaoth

God’s heavenly title, Yahweh Sabaoth, “The Lord of hosts.”

This divine title, first found in 1 Samuel 1:3, was used by David as he went to meet Goliath:

You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied" (1 Samuel 17:45, RSV).

As the Lord of hosts he is mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8,10). The prophets often used the term. It is found in Jeremiah 88 times in the KJV either as “the Lord of hosts" or as “the Lord God of hosts," where it implies that the “hosts” are angelic forces of heaven constantly ready to do God’s command (cf. Psalm 89:5-8; 148:2; Matthew 26:53).

The expression “the Lord of Sabaoth” occurs untranslated in Romans 9:29 and James 5:4.

Adoni

Adonai is an honorific title used both as an intensive plural of rank meaning “Master,” “Sovereign,” or “Lord,” and as a designation meaning “my lord.”

Its alternate form occurs in Psalm 110:1 which reads,

“The Lord (Yahweh) said unto my Lord [adoni].”

• Matthew 22:41-45 shows how Christ identified this title with himself.

The Greek equivalent is Kyrios, “Lord,” representing both Yahweh and Adonai in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is applied to Christ equally with the Father and the Spirit.

Other Descriptive Terms

The Holy One of Israel

This was a favorite title (Qedosh Yisra’el) with Isaiah, who used it 29 times. He also spoke of God as the “mighty One of Israel” (Isaiah 1:24) and the “mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 49:26; 60:16), following (Genesis 49:24).

Rock

Literally sure.

• Deuteronomy 32:4,15,18,31
• 1 Samuel  2:2
• 2 Samuel 22:3,32,47; 23:3
• Psalm 92:15

Father

• Isaiah 63:16; 64:8
• Malachi 1:6
• Matthew 5:16,45,48; 6:9; et cetera

King

• Psalm 10:16
• Psalm 24:7-10
• Psalm 44:4
• Psalm 47:7
• 1 Samuel 12:12

In the ancient Semitic world it was common practice to address one’s deity as “King.” Isaiah saw the Lord seated upon a throne and exclaimed, “Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:1,5).

The First and the Last

Isaiah employs this expression to describe the eternal rule of Yahweh over the entire course of history from beginning to end:

• Isaiah 44:6; 48:12

cf. 41:4; 43:10; 45:21; 46:9-10

The risen, glorified Christ assumes the title as he speaks to John on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:11,17; 2:8; 22:13).

Ancient of Days

‘Attiq Yomin, the one who judges and rules over the empires of the world.

• Daniel 7:9,13,22

New Testament Names

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