What Is His Name?
YHWH
Elohim
PART ONE
Genesis Two
1 Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.
2 On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.
3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.
There is much that could be discussed about Genesis one and two but we will keep our attention focused on answering the questions “Who is God?” and “What is His Name?”
The contextual flow of the first chapter of Genesis concludes with Genesis 2:3. This is a summation of the creation account. Genesis 2:4 begins the covenant story of God and His creation. It’s focus is on election through covenant relationship and commission through delegated authority. This is the story of that elect creation which took place in a garden planted and inhabited by God Himself.
The Garden of Eden
4 This is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—
The Hebrew phrase, “this is the story” is sometimes translated “this is the generations” or “this is the history.”
It occurs thirty-nine times in the Hebrew concordance of the KJV. It is this phrase that informs the reader or hearer that what is about to follow is a specific genealogy and history of a family.
YHWH Is His Name
Genesis chapter two introduces God, the Creator Elohim, by His proper name Yahweh (YHWH). God’s name is almost always translated LORD (all caps) in the English Bible.
There are several important points that the writer wants us to grasp by giving these two accounts of creation.
First, it is the LORD (YHWH); He invites us into a personal relationship with Himself.
Second, it is Yahweh, He is the God (Elohim), who bestows authority and makes everlasting covenant with man.
Third, covenant relationship with Yahweh is always by election of His grace.
The Hebrew writers would spell this proper name of God only with consonants: Y-H-W-H. It is called the "Four-Letter" name or Tetragrammaton in Greek. Rabbinic Judaism prefers to say “HaShem” which literally means “The Name” (the "ha" is the attached prefix article "the").
Today in synagogues during Scripture readings the word “Adonai” which is affectionately Hebrew “for My Great Lord” is spoken in place of “YHWH.” But in conversation or in written documents, Orthodox Jews substitute “Ha Shem” to provide further protection of the Name.
It wasn’t until about the 13th century the term "Jehovah" appeared when Christian scholars took the consonants of “Yahweh” and pronounced it with the vowels of "Adonai." This resulted in the sound “Yahowah” which has a Latinized spelling of “Jehovah.”
While there are differing opinions about the structure and etymology of the name, the form Yahweh is most universally accepted.
The main point is this; when you see LORD spelled with capitals in your English Bible, the writer wants you to understand this Elohim is “other than” all, this Elohim is Yahweh. Genesis chapter two moves us from a general chronological order of creation and introduces us to the Creator Himself. He is the LORD God; Yahweh is His Name.
Now that we know to mentally translate the English word LORD as the personal identifying Name of God, it should alert our attention. When reading the Biblical narrative and we see “the LORD” or “the LORD God”—the writer is pointing out this is the Creator, this is the God of the Covenant. This is God declaring Himself. The Almighty is identifying and introducing Himself to you as the reader as well as the individual or nation about which we are reading.
Remember, the goal of this study is to know the LORD Himself. We want to know His ways, like Moses. This begins by recognizing His Name, and how He describes Himself. To do this we will study the biblical accounts of God’s covenant relationship with the patriarchs and the prophets.
Our next blog will begin with the call of Abraham. It is recorded in both the Old and New Testament.