The name of the Lord – with a more complete understanding

The Name of the Lord:   יהוה [updated]

The name of the Lord is known theologically as the Tetragrammaton and consists of 4 Hebrew letters יהוה  yod hey vav hey (right to left) and is usually transliterated into English as Jehovah, Yahweh, or YHWH.  In this post we will look at the meaning of this name and also the meaning of the ancient Hebrew characters that name up the name of the Lord.  Typically in some English translations of the bible the form LORD (all uppercase) is used to denote the name of God.

In Judaism the name of God is not usually written (other than the scriptures, i.e. the Torah) and is usually spoken or written as HaShem (The Name) or Adonai (The Lord) out of reverence for the Lord. The meaning of the word is “I am” or “I continue to be” or even more accurately “the self existent one”.
This also explains why some people write G-d for the Lord especially when written by Jewish people.

We know from the ancient Hebrew each character is derived from a pictograph.  See the chart below. As I have studied this and prayed I felt the Lord show me a deep understanding of His name.

The first two characters are yod י and hey ה.
Yod is like a small tick and its ancient pictograph is a hand, especially a right hand help up as a sign of authority, it also can signify a spark or lightning.  This is symbolic of God the Father’s authority.
The pictograph for Hey is that of a man with his arms raised and also has a meaning of breath. This is symbolic of the Holy Spirit of God.
I felt that these two letters together speak of the Genesis creation and the creative nature of God. In Genesis 1 we know the Lord spoke (with complete authority) and His Spirit hovered over creation.  This gives us the idea of God creator of everything.

The second pair of letters are vav ו and hey ה.
In ancient Hebrew vav is shown as a tent peg or nail. We need to always remember that Hebrew words are most always about function so we need to consider the function of a nail which is to join together or to build, and in the case of a tent peg to hold the tent ropes securely.
To me these two letters together speak of reconciliation, i.e. a nail holding or building together in the Spirit. Also, obviously to us today, the nail also speaks of Jesus on the cross albeit the Hebrews did not know of crucifixion until the time of the Romans.  We do know the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world (John 1:29).  So we have the idea of God who reconciles everyone.

Putting these two ideas together we get the concept that God’s name describes all of scripture, i.e. the Lord who creates everything and the Lord who reconciles everyone to Himself which sums up the whole Bible in His name.  It is incredible that His name, which means, I continue to be who I continue to be, also has in it His complete purpose of creating everything for us to be in reconciled relationship with Him.

So if we consider a verse such as Numbers 6:24 The LORD bless you and keep you; (and based on the Aaronic Blessing ) can be rendered in an hyper-amplified form as:

Number 6:24 Yahweh (The self existent one, He who creates everything by His Authority and Spirit, and Reconciles everyone by His Spirit) will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection.

WOW!! This so captures the nature of God and His love towards us.

If we consider the third commandment and the meaning of the Hebrew word shem, meaning name, but more fully character and nature; then we see something amazing.

Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name (HaShem) of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Not taking the Lord’s name (His character and nature) in vain means:

You shall not take the character and nature of The self existent one, He who creates everything by His Authority and Spirit, and Reconciles everyone by His Spirit in vain.

We can see this really gives depth to this verse.  It is not about swearing when we hit our thumb with a hammer; but is a guide to how we live.  E.g. If a business man, who professes to be a Christian, but operates his business in a dishonourable manner he is besmirching the very character and nature of God.  On the other hand Jesus taught us how to live in the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10).

When we read the name of God, in our minds we can substitute ‘The self existent one, He who creates everything by His Authority and Spirit; and reconciles everyone by His Spirit’ and mediate on that verse we will have a much deeper understanding.

E.g. Psalm 23:1a can be thought of as:

Psalm 23:1 he self existent one, He who creates everything by His Authority and Spirit; and reconciles everyone by His Spirit is my shepherd (shepherd, ruler, teacher, friend);

We pray this study encourages the reader and allows you to come to know the Lord in a deeper way.

Hebrew Names of God

Here are some well known names of God from the Old Testament.  Thanks to my wife Nel for this table.  This helps us understand how much the Lord loves us and how we enter into such a blessing when we are in Him.

Try reading these names knowing the name of the Lord!

Ancient Hebrew Chart

This chart courtesy of Jeff Benner’s Ancient Hebrew Research Centre.  It is an easy way to get some understanding of the ancient Hebrew alphabet (a.k.a aleph bet).

Aleph Bet (Hebrew Alphabet)

This is a simple block letter version of the Aleph Bet.