Names of God [2] LORD
Where the AV (most translation follow this convention) has the words God or LORD in capitals it is a translation of the Hebrew Jehovah or Yahweh we are uncertain as to the correct pronunciation or spelling because of the pointing of the Hebrew.
Sometimes the terms are combined as in
Genesis 2:4
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens -- (NIV)
i.e. Jehovah Elohim
Sometimes it stands alone.
Genesis 15:2
But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" (NIV)
The essential difference in these two terms is seen in :-
Elohim being the essential nature of God.
1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (NIV)
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Jehovah expresses far more the aspect of God’s love outworked. It directs out thinking to the outworkings and problems attendant upon that love.
A parent will love their child whatever he / she has done. (Elohim covenant love). A good parent will also discipline that child when it does wrong even to the extent of withdrawing the outward signs of that undying love. (Jehovah righteous love).
Church discipline should combine these two aspects, as does the character of God.
God then is seen neither as - only all loving and therefore indulgent.
Nor as only bestowing love where there is merit (there never is). This is the dilemma of the nature of God faced with the reality of sin. The cross is its glorious resolution.
We see the significance immediately in Genesis.
Genesis 1 uses God - (Elohim) only. We are centring on the nature of God.
Genesis 2+3 19 uses of LORD God
Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (NIV)
Creation again
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Genesis 3:3
but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " (NIV)
Genesis 3:5
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (NIV)
Satan refers only to the God of Covenant love and Eve responds in kind.
The word literally means “One who is what he is” formed of two tenses of the Hebrew word Havah.
Exodus 3:14
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.' " (NIV)
It speaks of self-existence.
It occurs in Scripture 5,884 times. Sometimes on its own and a further often as the phrase Lord God almighty or similar.
Linked with redemption.
Genesis 6:5-8
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth -- men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air -- for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favour in the eyes of
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the LORD. (NIV)
Yet it is Jehovah Elohim who man hides from
Genesis 3:8
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (NIV)
Noah and Enoch are said to walk with Elohim
Genesis 5:22
And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. (NIV)
Genesis 6:8
But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD. (NIV)
Genesis 22:14
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (NIV)
Genesis 22:8
Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. (NIV)
Exodus 3:2
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. (NIV)
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It is LORD that is used throughout the decalogue. Exodus 20
It is the LORD who answers Job Job38ff
Ezekiel with his emphasis on the holiness of God often uses LORD
See Ezekiel 18
Isaiah 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (NIV)
Exodus 33:18-20
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no-one may see me and live." (NIV)
Psalm 91:2
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust." (NIV)
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