What is in a Name? What God Reveals About Himself in Three Self-Declarations

  

God declared attributes of himself in his self-declared names: 1) יהוה “YHWH” his divine name that he is the only omniscient living God; 2) יהוה אֱלֹהִים “Yhwh elohim” that he is Lord of all creation and the only omnipresent God; and 3) אֵל שַׁדַּי “el Shaddai” that he is God Almighty, the only omnipotent God.

Introduction

In the Hebrew Old Testament (OT), a name was given to represent a declaration of the one who owned it. The self-declarations of God are important because they represent attributes of himself that he wants his people to know. God is letting his people know who he is because he wants to have a relationship with them. Not just a relationship, but he wants an intimate and close relationship with his people. The only way to know who God is, is through the understanding of his self-declarations. This research paper explores the names of God and what God wanted his people to know in his self-declarations. The tetragrammaton is well known and used in the OT over one-thousand times by God. He wants his people to understand that he is the only living omniscient God. He knows the needs and wants of his children before they even know what they are, and he can provide for them. Lord God is used in the OT only 135 times by God. His people can understand that he is the only Omnipresent God. He is everywhere, all the time since he is the God of creation. His people can trust that he will be there when they need him. God Almighty is only used twice by God in the OT, but this name carries weight. It says that he has the power to bless or curse, and to make legal contracts. His people can understand that he is the only omnipotent God and he is more powerful than any powers or principalities that may come against them. They can trust God to always be on their side. Here is a quote from G. R. Lewis that essentially manifests the attributes of God and encompasses his self-declarations;

God is an invisible, personal, and living Spirit, distinguished from all other spirits by several kinds of attributes: metaphysically God is self-existent, eternal, and unchanging; intellectually God is omniscient, faithful, and wise; ethically God is just, merciful, and loving; emotionally God detests evil, is long-suffering, and is compassionate; existentially God is free, authentic, and omnipotent; relationally God is transcendent in being, immanent universally in providential activity, and immanent with his people in redemptive activity.[1]

 

 

                                    יהוה “YHWH” the Omniscient Living God

YHWH the Omniscient God. When God declared his name, the authors/editors/scribes of the Old Testament (OT) purposely obscured the true name of God in zealous observance of the third commandment to not take the name of the Lord in vain. “You shall not take the name (lit. take up/bear/carry) of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain (lit. bear his name for what is false)” (Ex. 20:7).[2] Any time God spoke to his people as a nation, he represented himself as YHWH. It is written in the OT as יהוה, but the scribes obscured the pronunciation of his divine name to remind the reciter to pronounce his name as adonai (the qere of the tetragrammaton). This shows that the people of God revered his name to the point that they obscured his name sometimes to the point of the name being unpronounceable. Martin Rösel concluded that if the tetragrammaton was to be pronounced adonai, “It is likely that the holem was omitted deliberately because the Masoretes wanted to make the pronunciation of the tetragrammaton impossible.”[3] Some scholars, such as Peter Hayman may believe that the name elohim, being plural textually, means that the Hebrews were polytheistic until much after the post-exilic period. Michael Heiser rebuts Hayman’s work by writing, “…there is a straight-forward way to parse the language of divine plurality in both the Hebrew Bible and the Qumran material that is congruent with a religious commitment to the uniqueness of YHWH.”[4]

The question exists; what did God want to describe about himself when he told Moses to tell the people that the Lord sent him? When Moses first asked God who he should tell the people sent him, God answered, ehyeh asher ehyeh, best translated as “I will be what I will be.” He told Moses to tell them that Ehyeh (I Am) has sent him. This is the proper name that God is most comfortable with when explaining who he is. Amitai Adler wrote, “But then, as if anticipating some issue or difficulty with the answer, God defines himself a third time…using the tetragrammaton, the ineffable four-letter name of God….”[5] God is what he was and always will be what he is, not what others want him to be. Adler quoted Maimonides by stating that this means that he is the Being whose being is absolute.[6] The attributes that God may be defining about himself is his infiniteness, that he is paradoxical, that he is the beginning of all being.[7] He knows everything, past, present, future, and to infinity. Since Yahweh is the Lord of creation, he is a personal God that desires to interact with his creation. Since he knows everything, he knows what his creation needs before they even ask, and he provides it for them. Such as the promise he made to Abraham to provide an heir for him. T. E. McComiskey pointed out, “The name Yahweh may thus affirm the continuing activity of God on behalf of his people in fealty to his promise.”[8]

It is not a coincidence that Jesus the Messiah identifies himself as “I Am” in the New Testament (NT). Since he is also God, it is only fitting that he should identify himself with God. Jesus was sent as the completion of the promise el Shaddai made with Abraham.[9] The person Jesus of Nazareth was sent by God as God in the flesh. God came down to earth to spend time with his children once again. He had always desired a personal relationship with his creation as he proved in the Garden and through Jesus. He is the personal, eternal, and only omniscient God.

יהוה אֱלֹהִים “YHWH Elohim” the Omnipresent God

In the beginning, “God” created. Genesis 1:1-2:3, the author used the name God, elohim, in the creation account. This is the author’s thematic literary device connoting a distant, transcendent creator. Beginning in 2:4, in the Garden of Eden, Lord God or “Yahweh Elohim” is the main character of choice. This name however, is only used as “Lord God” in the Garden. After the fall of man, this name is used as, the Lord the God. Example: “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there” (Gen. 24:7). This was the next time (after the Garden sequence) “Lord” and “God” were used in the same sentence together.[10] The authors also used: the Lord, the God of Hosts; the Lord, your God; the Lord, the God of Abraham…; the Lord, the God of your fathers; the Lord, the God of the Hebrews; etcetera.

Pertaining to the name yhwh elohim, not only does this name tell his people of his omnipresence, but also his generous, loving kindness, and deep desire for relationship. He is always there to see and invite his people unto him. Since he gave his people free will, they had to ask for his protection, but he was always there to protect his people. He was always there to hear their grievances. Then, he was always there to provide a way out. He provided a way out of Egypt. He provided a way out of their sin with the judges. He provided a way out for all of humanities death (and subsequent residence in hell) with the cross of Jesus Christ his Son.

Etymology dictates that the name Yahweh Elohim is the way the scribes printed his name with the proper name first and the general name second. The scribes wanted the reader to say aloud adonai for the proper name and to keep the writing from redundancy, they printed the general name second. Example; instead of speaking aloud, adonai adonai, they were to say aloud, adonai elohim. However, there is much more to this name than seen at first glance. Lord God may be such as a proper name and surname just as humans have. Yahweh is God’s personal nature and Elohim is his transcendent nature. He is here with his people personally and he has a higher vantage point than any other in his transcendent state simultaneously. He knows the past, present, and future simultaneously, and yet he can delineate all the events concurrently. He is not limited by time constraints as finite humans are since he is infinite.

Because of his infiniteness, his vantage point is much greater than our limited view can ascertain. It is most interesting how H. C. Heffren put it, “Suppose a man is imprisoned in a dungeon where there is only one very narrow window. The victim of this dungeon gazes on the outside world. He sees the sun, the moon, the grass and the birds. He describes what the world is to him. Everything he relates may be true, but at the same time very limited. A man’s view is enlarged if he is free to walk about outdoors, but it is limited by the horizon some ten or twelve miles distant. A mountain top view or a look through a powerful telescope would push the frontier of vision out accordingly, but withal, it would nevertheless be a small fraction of the total world that could be comprehended even though that fraction would be real and the description accurately portrayed.^[11] Going even farther, an astronaut can look upon the earth from outer space and still only see a fraction of God’s vantage point since they can only see one side of the earth at any given time and not see the whole of space as one and also autonomous. Even though God can see all of space and time simultaneously (Gen. 1:1), he also cares about our feelings (Ps. 103:13), counts the number of hairs on our head (c.f. Matt. 10:30; Lk. 12:7) and counts every tear we shed (Ps. 56:6), that is amazing and reassuring to this writer.

אֵל שַׁדַּי “El Shaddai” the Omnipotent God

This name is this writer’s favorite name for God (well…besides abba). In the Bible, this name is only used twice by God; it is used once in Gen. 35:11, and once in Ex. 6:3.[12] He appeared to the patriarchs as El Shaddai, God Almighty, because he was not only their deity, not only their personal God, but also their covenantal God. Just as Millard Erickson wrote, “There is evidence of God’s unlimited power in one of his names, שַׁדּי אֵל  (‘el Shaddai): when God appeared to Abraham to reaffirm his covenant, he identified himself by saying, ‘I am God Almighty’ (Gen. 17:1).”[13] He had much work to do, which he could do all his own, instantaneously. However, he chose to do his work with the help of humanity. That shows considerable power. Imagine a human being possessed all the power of God, it would be impossible for that person to contain themselves in their display since they are human. True power knows how to use and display the power attributed. “The exercise of intentional power requires knowledge of alternatives between which the agent can change.”[14] He only wants his people to trust him and obey. That is why he presented himself as God Almighty to Abraham, because Abraham obeyed with a blind faith. He never asked God, “why,” he just obeyed.

All his attributes work together as one, in concert. God knows everything past, present, and future (omniscience). He is everywhere simultaneously (omnipresence). He is the only God that has limitless power (omnipotence). These attributes, as they are claimed above, all knowledge, all presence, and all power must work together. Yes, a limited person may have a portion of omniscience and omnipotence but cannot have any portion of omnipresence. Considering a finite individual, “The choices of an omnipotent person being limited to the logically possible can only affect what is not already unalterable by anyone.”[15] God, in the theistic sense must have all three to be the deity of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. Samir Trimèche, et. al. created a human study regarding the ways in which people understood God’s attributes in combination and concluded 14% of 277 people to believe, “A deity that did not possess all of the four previously mentioned attributes together could not be considered God.”[16]  

An issue regarding his omnipotence is the controversial problem of evil. Skeptics abound and wonder, “If God is all powerful, then why does he allow (fill in the evil blank)?” Just because God is omnipotent does not mean that he cannot allow evil. Swinburne pointed out, “It follows that being omnipotent does not entail an inability to do evil.”[17] However, God cannot do anything contrary to his nature. The skeptics need to know that this is another display of God’s power and relentless love. God has allowed humanity free will to do what they wish to do. It is a fallacy of today’s worldview that God is responsible for the evil in the world. Look at any homeowner’s insurance policy, they may or may not cover, “acts of God.” The fact that insurance companies attribute the devastation that a hurricane, tornado, landslide, or rockslide etc. leaves on the earth to God is a false assumption. This is far from the truth. God created the earth and heavens in a perfect state, i.e. The Garden of Eden. It was after the fall of man that the world began to feel the effects of the sin that entered it because of the fall. It was humanity’s free will choice to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, not God’s. Even Augustine of Hippo had a problem reconciling an omnipotent God with the problem of evil, “But though I said and firmly held that the Lord God was incorruptible and unalterable and in no way changeable, the true God who made not only our souls but our bodies also, and not only our souls and bodies but all things whatsoever, as yet I did not see, clear and unraveled, what was the cause of evil.”[18]

This problem is also perpetuated by humanities inability to comprehend and process their suffering, so it causes resistance to submit to the authority and omnipotence of God. Another major factor of humanities resistance is “the oppressive domination experienced by individuals, nations, communities, and races that have lived under some controlling power.”[19] The same with any senseless act of violence, such as children dying at a school shooting. Skeptics and Christians alike sometimes need to blame God for their brains to make sense of it. This was not God, it was the free will evil act of the shooter(s). It causes incredible amounts of pain in the heart of those that experience this type of travesty, so imagine the pain in the heart of God that feels exceedingly more than humans can even imagine. The freedom of humanity comes at a price and that price is the ability to do good and evil (free will). If God, who is wholly good and omnipotent decided to take away the human’s ability to do evil they would not be free. Adam Willows explained, “God, being wholly good, has created humans with free will and we are responsible for evil by the exercise of our free will. If God were to stop us doing evil we would not be free, and therefore would be unable to do good. It is better that God allows us to be free, even though our freedom has resulted in evil. Therefore, God’s goodness and omnipotence are compatible with evil.”[20] Not only does God display his omnipotence by allowing humanity to cause evil against each other, but as claimed above, shows his relentless love.

His relentless love is displayed by, “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8, NASB). Paul’s letter to the Romans focuses on the Romans gentile tendencies for paganism. He had to confront this problem of evil to let the Romans know that God was not a deity that needed sacrifices to placate his wrath, but to worship him for his relentless love toward them. Paul’s message is timeless since it is written in the “living Word of God.” God also showed his love in the Garden before the first sin when he instructed his children to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge. He allowed the tree to be there as a symbol of their free will. He instructed them not to eat, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (NASB). They would not die a physical death, but they would suffer a spiritual death. This spiritual death is a separation from God. This is not only felt as loneliness of the first humans, but God felt that loneliness as well since he created them for a relationship with him. “The Bible tells us that God was grieved by human sinfulness (Gen. 6:6).”[21] He also knew that the cross was the only way to eradicate the power of sin on humanity and this caused him tremendous pain as well. In this way, God is also a victim of sin. “The Triune God knew that the Second Person would come to earth and be subject to numerous evils: hunger, fatigue, betrayal, ridicule, rejection, suffering, and death. He did this in order to negate sin and thus its evil effects. God is a fellow sufferer with us of the evil in this world, and consequently is able to deliver us from evil.”[22]

Conclusion

God has declared his nature in three self-declarations, YHWH, Yhwh Elohim, and El Shaddai. For the ancient Hebrews a name was more than a way to identify a person, it was a way to identify the nature of the person. God chose to reveal himself to his children through the Scriptures, so he could have an intimate relationship with them. His names indicate his active involvement with his creation, a personal God. Although he is a transcendent deity, he chose to be personally involved with his creation. God revealed his omniscience when he called himself, Lord, YHWH. This is the name God revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush event in Exodus. His omniscience was not only contained in his obscure transcendence but also in his personal knowledge of their sufferings and his ability to offer liberation from their captors. This name is so sacred to the ancient Hebrews that they obscured this name so much so that it was practically unpronounceable. The scribes intentionally left spaces blank for this name to be revered in silence or placed vowels on the tetragrammaton to be spoken as adonai (as most scholars can agree). Other scholars believe the tetragrammaton is Jehovah and not Yahweh. This was the scribes’ intent, to leave the people guessing and not utter the name aloud. This was in zealous observance of the third commandment to not take the name of the Lord in vain. He knows everything and yet he continued with his creation, this reveals his love for humanity.

The name Yahweh Elohim or Lord God was only used this way in the Garden of Eden, when he enjoyed a close, intimate, and personal relationship as a Father with his children. This name revealed his omnipresence. Although he knew (by his omniscience) that Adam and Eve was going to eat of the forbidden fruit, he still allowed them the dignity of free will to tell him the truth. He asked Adam, “Where are you?” God knew where Adam was and what he had done but offered them respect instead. Considering the omnipresence of the Lord, he could have remained on his throne and made Adam and Eve suffer the consequences of their actions without the personal explanation but that is not what he did. The name yhwh elohim, not only told his people of his omnipresence, but also his generous, loving kindness, and deep desire for relationship. He is always there to see and invite his people unto him. Since he gave his people free will, they had to ask for his protection, but he was always there to protect his people. He was always there to hear their grievances. Then, he was always there to provide a way out. He provided a way out of Egypt. He provided a way out of their sin with the judges. He provided a way out for all of humanities death (and subsequent residence in hell) with the cross of Jesus Christ his Son. He is still Yahweh Elohim for all his children that believe in the redemptive power of the cross.

Lastly, the name El Shaddai “God Almighty.” Although this name was only used twice by God in the OT, it packs a punch. He is the only omnipotent living God. He appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty because they obeyed, no questions asked and because he had a covenantal relationship with them. His covenant with the patriarchs was realized in Jesus Christ and the power of the cross to defeat evil once and for all. Because of his omniscience, God knew that he was going to send Jesus to the cross, but he created humans anyway. This shows power of resolve but all his relentless love. All his attributes work together as one, in concert. God knows everything past, present, and future (omniscience). He is everywhere simultaneously (omnipresence). He is the only God that has limitless power (omnipotence). These attributes, as they are claimed above, all knowledge, all presence, and all power must work together. Yes, a limited person may have a portion of omniscience and omnipotence but cannot have any portion of omnipresence. He made his children in his “image” so these attributes are proportionately transferrable but not omnipresence. All his attributes work together as one in the triune Godhead to show humanity his relentless love, his need to be intimately and actively involved in his children’s lives, and to point to the cross. The problem of evil is defeated by Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. His relentless love is displayed by, “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8, NASB). Paul’s letter to the Romans focuses on the Romans gentile tendencies for paganism. He had to confront this problem of evil to let the Romans know that God was not a deity that needed sacrifices to placate his wrath, but to worship him for his relentless love toward them. Everything God is and does will always point to the cross.               

Bibliography

Amitai, Adler. “What’s in a Name? Reflections Upon Divine Names and the Attraction of God to Israel.” Jewish Bible Quarterly 37, no 4. October 2009. ATLASerials.

Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. The Confessions of St. Augustine: Book VIII, Translated by E. B. Pusey (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).

Erickson, Millard. “Chapter 11: Infinity.” Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013. MBS Direct E-Reading Platform.

Heffren, H. C. Thoughts on the Nature of God. James L. Fleming, Ed. Camrose, Alta: Gospel Contact Press, 2005.

Heiser, Michael. “Monotheism and the Language of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Tyndale Bulletin 65, no 1: 85-100. Cambridge: Tyndale House, 2014. Accessed March 14, 2018. ATLASerials.

Lewis, G. R. “God, Attributes of.” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Walter A. Elwell, Ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2001.

Logos Bible Software. Names of God Interactive. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2015.

McComiskey, T. E. “God, Names of.” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Walter A. Elwell, Ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2001.

Miller, Patrick D. “Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent Reigns.” Theology Today 53, no 1. April 1996: 1-4. Accessed March 18, 2018. ProQuest Central.

Rösel, Martin. “The Reading and Translation of the Divine Name in the Masoretic Tradition and the Greek Pentateuch.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 31, no 4: 411-428. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2007. Accessed March 5, 2018. ATLASerials. DOI: 10.1177/0309089207080558

Swinburne, Richard. “How the Divine Properties Fit Together: Reply to Gwiazda.” Religious Studies 45, no 4 December: 495-498. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Accessed March 18, 2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27750038.

Trimèche, Samir, Geneviève Vinsonneau, and Etienne Mullet. “Individual Differences in the Theological Concept of God.” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 16, no 2: 83-100. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates, 2006. Accessed March 18, 2018. ATLASerials.

Willows, Adam M. “Augustine, The Original Evil, and the Mystery of Free Will.” Religious Studies 50. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

 

Footnotes

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[1] G. R. Lewis, “God, Attributes of,” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter A. Elwell, Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001).

[2] Unless otherwise noted, the biblical passages will be cited from the ESV version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016).

[3] Martin Rösel, “The Reading and Translation of the Divine Name in the Masoretic Tradition and the Greek Pentateuch,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 31, no 4 (Los Angeles, CA: SagePub, 2007), 413, accessed March 5, 2018, ATLASerials.

[4] Michael Heiser, “Monotheism and the Language of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Tyndale Bulletin 65, no 1 (2014), 87.

[5] Amitai Adler, “What’s in a Name? Reflections on the Divine Names and the Attraction of God to Israel,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 34, no 4 (Jerusalem: Jewish Bible Association, October 2009), 265, accessed March 18, 2018.

[6] Ibid. 266.

[7] Ibid.

[8] T. E. McComiskey, “God, Names of,” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter A. Elwell, Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001).

[9] Ibid.

[10] Logos Bible Software, “Lord God, יהוה אֱלֹהִים” Names of God Interactive, (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2015).

^[11] Heffren, H. C., Thoughts on the Nature of God, James L. Fleming, Ed. (Camrose, Alta: Gospel Contact Press, 2005), 1.

[12] LBS, “God Almighty,” Names of God.

[13] Millard Erickson, “Chapter 11: Infinity,” Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), MBS Direct E-Reading Platform.

[14] Richard Swinburne, “How the Divine Properties Fit Together: Reply to Gwiazda,” Religious Studies 45, no 4 (December, 2009), 496.

[15] Ibid., 497.

[16] Samir Trimèche and Geneviève Vinsonneau, Etienne Mullet, Ed. “Individual Differences in the Theological Concept of God,” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 16, no 2 (2006): 83-4.

[17] Swinburne, Divine Properties, 496.

[18] Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. The Confessions of St. Augustine: Book VIII, Translated by E. B. Pusey (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).

[19] Patrick D. Miller, “Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent Reigns,” Theology Today 53, no 1 (April, 1996): 2, accessed March 9, 2018, ProQuest Central.

[20] Adam M. Willows, “Augustine, The Original Evil, and the Mystery of Free Will,” Religious Studies 50 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014): 256.

[21] Erickson, “Chapter 18: God as the Victim of Evil,” Evangelical Dictionary.

[22] Ibid.