The God Who Is

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Exodus 3:13

Introduction

One of the more noticeable changes in the LSB translation is the usage of Yahweh throughout the Old Testament.
While the question of how to translate the name of God has caused endless debate in academic circles, and especially in the field of translation, it is not a subject that comes up as frequently among daily Bible readers.
So when you hear that name that you may be vaguely familiar with you may wonder why the change.
Some members here and some not members here have asked about that change. Enough that I thought it deserved a little extended treatment.
Some people are VERY passionate about what should be done here. I am not one of those people.
But I do like the shift and so this lesson will be coming from someone who thinks it is a good thing.

The Name of God

We are talking about four letters in the Hebrew Old Testament (Ex. 3:15).
The letter are yod hav vav hav.
Or YHWH
This is sometimes called the Tetragrammaton
Most of your translations will say LORD there.
ASV will say Jehovah (more on that in a moment).
Jews fell into a tradition of avoiding the pronunciation of this name.
They would use “adonai” or “elohim” most often instead.
“Lord” was chosen by the Greek translators as the best substitute.
New Testament writers used this substitute any time they quoted a passage using YHWH.
This shows that it is acceptable to go with that substitute.
Jehovah is a combination of the original name and a substitute.
This name is used 6,828 times in the original text.
That certainly isn’t an attempt to make its usage rare.
They were commanded to swear by His name (Deut. 10:20).
Just because we might sympathize with a degree of care surrounding God’s name, the idea was never to avoid the name but rather the misuse of that name (Lev. 24:10-16).
The name is found in the mouths of faithful men and women (Ex. 7:16; Josh. 3:9; 1:17; 2:9-14; 1 Sam. 17:37).
That should suffice that using this name (however it is pronounced) was acceptable then and was never a taboo given by God.
The ones who stopped using it, are the same ones that made a lot of other rules that didn’t come from God too.
Sometimes it is helpful to distinguish that name from LORD (Psa. 110:1).
There is something personal (much more but not less than) about this specific name.
It puts a lie to the notion of each nation referring to the same thing when they say “god.”

What’s In a Name

God gives His name in context (Ex. 3:13-15).
He says tell them I AM has sent me.
Then he says tell them Yahweh sent me.
I AM is a first person form of “to be”
Eh whey and yahweh.
YHWH emphasizes the eternal nature of God (Ex. 3:11-13).
This concept is sometimes referred to as transcendence.
It means God exists outside the confines of the time and space that we live inside of.
This is the only rational explanation of a God who can create the whole world.
Atheists make fun of the question “but where did that come from.” They say that when you say God then the next question is where did God come from. But that is exactly the question that this name anticipates. He didn’t. He just is.
YHWH emphasizes God’s faithfulness (Ex. 3:16-22; 6:2-8).
This may explain a distinction between Abraham and Moses (Ex. 6:3).
His faithfulness demands faithfulness. It is a covenant name. A nameless god is “safe” because it does not demand. It can be what I want it to be.
YHWH has acted in space and time on my behalf and makes demands that are attached to His name.
YHWH emphasizes God’s unchanging character (Ex. 34:6-7).

Yahweh and the New Testament

We see YHWH in the word Hallelujah (Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 6)
It is helpful to see it in the name of Jesus (Matt. 1:21; cf. Num. 13:16).
Jesus is the I AM (Jn. 8:24; 58; 17:6).
He is LORD (Lk. 1:76; 2:11; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Heb. 1:10-13).
It is helpful to keep the distinction to cause dissonance.
This provides an opportunity for the question to be asked.
Like the passover.

Conclusion

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