The Name Jehovah

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“The name JEHOVAH”

2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. 4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: 7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. Ex. 6:1-8 (KJV)

 

OUTLINE

  • Living and True God (v2-3, cf. Ex. 3:13-15)
  • Covenant-Keeping God (v4)
  • Personal Loving God (v5a, 7)
  • Faithful God (v5b, 6, 8)

INTRODUCTION

A name is the title by which one person is designated from another.[1] Your name is your identity. It distinguishes you from another person. It is the way by which to tell people, places and things apart.[2] Thoughtful parents are careful to choose a name for children that conveys perhaps their aspirations, hope, desires or prayers for them.

My Chinese Name is called “Yiwei.” Wei refers to a type of reed, a water plant that survives easily because I had jaundice and had to have two blood transfusions when I was born. My father gave me this name so that it may be easy for me to survive.

What about the names used in the Bible? A study of Bible names often reveals much about the personality of the people mentioned in the Bible.  For instance, David means “Beloved.”  Abraham means “Father of a multitude.” (Notice that names are changed by God’s direct intervention) Jacob means “Trickster.” All of these people proved true to their names![3]

But the name of God is different. It is not tainted with the attributes of a created, fallen world. In the Bible, the name of God show forth God’s attribute, to describe who He really is. He sought to transform us from who we are, fallen and depraved, to Who He is.

From this passage in Exodus 6:2-8 we are going to study the significance of the name “JEHOVAH”.

We take the story from Exodus 5 when Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go – verse 3 “The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the desert (wilderness), that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with a sword.” (Ex. 3:18, 5:3)

Pharaoh’s response was what God had told Moses he would respond. Exodus 3:19-20 “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.” Indeed Pharaoh responded as God had told him. It should not surprise Moses. Yet, in the heat of the confrontation, Moses buckled, the people buckled.

Pharaoh commanded that a greater yoke be placed on the Hebrew people. The straws supplied to help them in the making of the bricks will be withheld and they are to still produce the same amount of bricks daily.

The straw has a chemical within it that will help to harden the bricks. The straws would strengthen these bricks made of clay and mud. You have to find the straws and produce the same amount of bricks. It became an impossible task and the officers (these are the Hebrew leaders representing the Hebrew people), came to Pharaoh to plead for mercy but there was no mercy. The reason given – that you be not idle! This was a satanic effort to destroy the nation. It is purposely designed to break the will and morale of the people, to take the name of God out of their mind. It was a gruesome time. By the end of Exodus 5, Moses was totally devastated. We pick up the story in verse 19 of Exodus 5.

Exodus 5:19-23 “And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour (us) to be abhorred (hated) in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.”

Moses was certainly very discouraged. Moses was ready to give up even before God has brought one plague He has promised He will do. But in his discouragement, he did the right thing – he brought the matter to the LORD.

There is a lesson that God wanted them to learn and that lesson is encompassed in the name “JEHOVAH”. It is not how great Moses or Aaron but how great God is. Have you caught the key word? Moses was thinking of himself and the size of the problem before him. He thought he will bring about deliverance to Israel but it is not him! God wants Moses to know it is the LORD, from beginning to the end.

I would like you to listen to this as I read quickly over this text and observe the emphasis in this text – the “I” occurring 18 times and the “I will” occurring 7 times to show Moses that God will do it to reassure Moses that He is in control of the situation.

“1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. 2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. 4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: 7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. Ex. 6:2-8 (KJV)

It is Me Who will do the work. What is the first thing that God is reminding Moses? I am the living and true God (v2-3).

(1) Living and True God – He is my LORD (v2-3)

God had to reminded Moses again who He is – the only living and true God there is none else. Not the gods of the Egyptians but Me, the true God. The God who will take action!

Verse 2-3 – “2And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”

God reminded Moses “I am the LORD” in verse 2. The capital “L O R D” is the same word JEHOVAH translated in verse 3. God reminded Moses who He is. I am the LORD; in the Hebrew, I am Jehovah. This is the first time that God introduced Himself as, “I am Jehovah”. The first time it occurs in the Bible in this form. What is the significance?

Remember at the Burning Bush encounter in Exodus 3:13-15 “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: (the Self-Existent and Everlasting, all things are created but I am not created, I exist from eternity past and exist now to eternity future, – I AM WHO I AM fountain of all being) and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The “LORD – JEHOVAH” 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 for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”

I am the LORD, I am Jehovah. 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

The patriarchs knew the name Jehovah. In fact in Genesis 12:1, it is Jehovah who called Abram to get out the Ur of the Chaldees and it is the Jehovah who appeared to Abram at the age of 90 in Genesis 17:1.

But it is by the name Almighty (Shaddai, the All-Sufficient and All-Powerful God) was God known to Abraham, Issac and Jacob, alluding to His power. This was the attribute of God that was known and emphasized in the lives of the Patriarchs.

Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Genesis 28:1-3 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people.

At Bethel, God spoke to Jacob, Genesis 35:11-12 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

 …but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

What do you mean by “know”? Do you really know His name? Do you know what it really implies or do we just verbalize it.

You ask people today, “Who is the Saviour of the world? What is His name?” Well, His name is Jesus. But do you know that name? Do you know Him? Yes, I have heard about him from childhood. You didn’t understand me? I said, “Do you know Him?” That’s the point. Do you have a personal experiential knowledge of Him!

The negative “no” is the Hebrew word “lo”. It is an objective denial of a fact. The fact is that they did not understand the true significance of that name back in the Patriarchal era as they now for the first time really could.

He did not mean that He did not use that name Jehovah but people in the Patriarchal era did not fully understand the significance of that Name which we shall see from verse 4-8.

(2) Covenant-Keeping God – He Keeps His Promises (v4)

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

 It is almost 600 years since God first promised Abraham that his seed will inherit Canaan as an everlasting possession (Gen. 17:8) and the circumcision was the sign of the covenant or promise that God had made as a proof of the covenant. God sealed the covenant by Himself walking over the dissembled animals and putting His name on the line to fulfill His promise. And God is about to activate His plan with the Exodus now that the family of Jacob has multiplied from 70 persons 430 years to approximately 2 million people at the time of the Exodus.

You would notice that the greatest challenge that the children of Israel had was not Pharaoh, it was not necessarily their bondage. But it was to believe, to believe in God’s Word, to believe in God’s promises. This is the greatest lesson Israel learned.

God gives to us His promises today in His Word for our blessing. And we are to search it to know what He has promised us so that we can take hold of these promises in His Word for our eternal blessings.

One of them is that comfort that we can receive when our loved ones dies in the Lord. God’s Word promises us, we will see them again one day.

(3) Personal Loving God – He is always by your side (v5a cf. v7)

5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; 7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Jehovah is a personal God with knows and feels the burdens of His people and is working to help them in their time of suffering and trouble. He is a personal, loving God. When we are in trouble, we can call upon Him for help. This personal relation is so wonderful it has to be experienced personally. It speaks of the tears of God’s people how they poured them out to the LORD. There is that intimate relationship that we can have with our God that is cultivated and nurtured and that gives hope in moments of despair.

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and grieves to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

This is an experienced faith that he is testifying that we can have too.

We saw in Exodus 2:23-25 how the children of Israel cried out to God for help by reason of their bondage and suffering and how God heard their cries. In fact, deliverance has been put in place 80 years before with the birth of Moses.

 

(4) Faithful God – He can be Trusted (v5b, 6, 8)

5 and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments…8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

This is a tense of completed action. He remembers and He does not forget. God will be faithful to His promises. This is what we call the future of certitude in Hebrew grammar – it will certainly come to pass. He keeps His covenant. He is true to His promises.

Moses wrote in retrospect for our encouragement in Deuteronomy 7:7-9 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy…”

The name Jehovah really means a covenant keeping God who through the centuries keeps promises He made in spite of the appearance that He has forgotten. He is a God who really meets needs at a personal level over long periods of time and not till the Exodus in the times of Moses could it be known until now what the name Jehovah really meant all along.

God’s faithfulness guarantees He will make good His promises and warnings. It must give to us great hope, comfort and encouragement in our deepest trials.

2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

We take God at His word and believe that there is a literal “hell” where all who does not have life with God in Christ goes to at death. And we make sure that we are in Christ and we persuade others with fear and trembling to come and believe too because God is true to His promises and His warnings.

 

CONCLUSION

Though the name Jehovah was in frequent use as is the word “God” by the Patriarchs, the full significance was not revealed to them. It has to be viewed in connection with the fulfillment of God’s covenant and promise, that now, after a lapse of nearly 400 years, the true significance of the name was unfolded by a personal living Being, working on behalf of Israel, so as to fulfill the promises made to the Fathers. Thus, the message is that we may know personally this unchanging, ever-living God, Who remains faithful to His Word through the generations, caring for His people. This message may begin to dawn on the mind of Israel.

The name that was hoped for and sealed up in the name during the Patriarchal age began to work itself out in complete fulfillment. God’s personal existence, the continuity of His dealing with man, the unchangeableness of His promises, and the whole revelation of His redeeming mercy gather around the name Jehovah.

 It is as Jehovah that God became the Saviour of Israel and as Jehovah He saves the world. This is embodied in the name of Jesus who is the Saviour of the world. This is the name that we proclaim because only Jesus Saves! May you know Jesus personally that He is God, He keeps His promises, He is always by your side. And He can be trusted. May these truths fill our hearts! Amen.

 

[1] http://www.sermonnotebook.org/old%20testament/Isa%209_6_Matt_1_21-25.htm

[2] http://www.edginet.org/christian/sermons/john1v42.html

[3] http://www.sermonnotebook.org/old%20testament/Isa%209_6_Matt_1_21-25.htm