The Name of Yahweh (#1 in Yahweh and the Angel of Yahweh)

What does your name mean to you? I have to say that I don’t think about the meaning of my name much at all.  The name William has several possible meanings, “determined protector,” “resolute protector,” or “strong-willed warrior.” Randall may mean “wolf shield” or “strong defender,” and Johnson is self-descriptive. I would like to think those meanings have become reality for my character, but that might just be wishful thinking.

I don’t recall the meaning of my name ever being particularly motivating of my actions or decisions, but I am rather fond of my name.  I’m more particularly fond of my middle name, the name my parents and siblings always called me. When I was in ninth grade and a new kid on the first day of school, each of my teachers called roll from a roster they had been given and my name was listed as William Johnson. I just said “here” when they called William Johnson, not wanting to correct them and say I went by Randall.  But by the end of the day I was miserable, even crying at home that I didn’t like being called William at school. So the next day I bit the bullet and went to each of my teachers and asked them to change my name on their list to Randall. My science teacher, however, had somehow already memorized my name from the first day and called me Will the rest of the year. For some reason I was okay with that.

Our names are valuable to most of us. Others of us don’t like our names. But either way they form our identity and fix us as someone unique in the world. Does the God of the universe have a name? Does the Namer of all things name Himself? He tells us that He does:

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, 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, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. (Exodus 3:15)

I am Yahweh; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. (Isaiah 42:8)

And of course, the One who created language didn’t need to look at a names-for-babies book to understand the meaning of His name.

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”  ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13,14)

The name God gives Moses, Yahweh, is made up of four Hebrew consonants, yohd (י), heh (ה), waw (ו), and heh (ה), and because Hebrew reads from right to left, it looks like this, יהוה. We write this YHWH, and supplying vowels read it as Yahweh. Yahweh tells Moses that the meaning of His name is like the Hebrew word HYH, which can be translated either “I am” or “I will be.” Jesus, alluding to this name, tells his detractors in John 8:58, “before Abraham was, I am!” signifying his understanding or interpretation of HYH. Yahweh is related to the present tense “I am,” and Yahweh Himself gives Moses no further explanation than that.

So why do we so infrequently use Yahweh in our translations, and instead often translate it Lord, that is, capital L and small capitals ORD? Some translations use Yahweh (see the Jerusalem Bible, The Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition, New Jerusalem Bible, and occasionally the Holman Christian Standard Bible), but the use of LORD is an unfortunate translation convention or policy. Are we showing dishonor to God by not using His name? God is not so petty as I was that I needed to correct my teachers. He understands our confusion and conventions. But I would suppose that if we know His name, since He revealed it, we should use it. It is used 6,823 times in the Old Testament. We also see it in the names people were given, Isaiah (Yeshayahu, Yahweh is salvation), Jehoshaphat (Yehoshaphat, Yahweh has judged), Joshua (Yehoshua, Yahweh is salvation), and many others, as well as in the encouragement “hallelujah” (Let us praise Yah).

Yahweh says He does not give His glory, and so we might say, His name, to another (Isaiah 42:8), so what does this mean for the identity of the Angel of Yahweh? What does it mean for Jesus’ assertion that he is the I Am (John 8:58)?