Yahweh

In the Bible, Yahweh is the Hebrew name of God that was used by the ancient Hebrews. This name, also known as the Tetragrammaton, comprises four Hebrew consonants: Yod, Heh, Waw, and Heh, or Y-H-W-H. That combination of letters is considered too holy to be verbalized, so the name is widely pronounced as Adonai, which means "my lord" in Hebrew.

The meaning of Yahweh, the personal name of God, is argued by scholars. Some believe it means, "He Brings into Existence Whatever Exists," but other scholars disagree, saying it means, "He Brings the Hosts into Existence." Another interpretation is, "Was, Is, and Will Be"; this interpretation expresses the eternity and omnipresence of God.

Yahweh was a deity specific to a people and to a place, as all gods of antiquity were. At first, He was the god of the Israelites as they traveled through the desert, en route to Canaan. Once the Israelites had settled in Canaan, which is modern-day Israel, the worship of Yahweh as the sole god was implemented throughout the land.

Background

Yahweh is the name of the god of the ancient Israelites. The Bible relates several stories about the revelation of God’s true name.

The Book of Genesis suggests that the name Yahweh was known nearly from the creation of the world. Genesis 4:26 says that the people in the time of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, first "called on the name of Yahweh." Later, in Genesis 12:8, Abraham called on the name of Yahweh at Bethel.

The best-known story of the revelation of God’s true name is in Exodus 3, when God appeared to Moses as the burning bush. God tells Moses that he is the first to learn the secret of the divine name of Yahweh, saying that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but He did not make himself known to them as Yahweh.

Once this name was revealed to them, the Israelites seemed to embrace it. Biblical names mentioned during the time the Israelites were in Egypt and afterward often contain an element of the sacred name. Names such as Joshua, Jocheved, and Jehosaphat, include yo or yeho at the beginning of their names. Other names, such as Eliyahu, feature yahu or yah at the end.

According to the Book of Exodus, Yahweh led the Israelites, His chosen people, from captivity in Egypt, through the desert, to the promised land of Canaan, also known as Israel. At the time of the Israelites’ entrance into Canaan, the land was populated by nations that were polytheistic, or worshipped many gods. The Israelites were monotheistic, following only Yahweh. The Bible records an ongoing struggle between the monotheistic beliefs of the Israelites and the polytheistic beliefs of the Canaanites.

Following the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE, when the Jews were forced out of Israel, the name Yahweh fell out of use. As Judaism grew to become a universal religion, the Jews favored the name Elohim to describe God, as it denoted the greatness of the Jewish God over all other gods. Additionally, because the name Yahweh was considered too holy to be uttered, the four letters of the name were instead read aloud as Adonai, which means, my lord.

In the following centuries, Christian scholars replaced the letter Y, which does not exist in Latin, with the letter J. Yahweh was thus pronounced as Jehovah. Christian scholars after the Renaissance period used the name Jehovah. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, biblical scholars resumed pronouncing the name as Yahweh.

Overview

Yahweh was the name that the ancient Israelites used for their god. Because the name was considered too holy to utter, the correct pronunciation of the name was lost through the ages. The meaning of this name is contested by scholars. It can be translated as, "He will cause to become," "He was, He is, He will be," "I am the One Who Is," or "He brings into existence whatever exists." This name is used with more frequency than any other name of God in the Hebrew Bible. Yahweh is mentioned almost seven thousand times, Elohim appears thousands of times, and El Shaddai is used more than thirty times.

In ancient times, names conveyed an idea about a person’s character, so God’s choice to reveal himself with the name Yahweh communicates ideas about the character of Yahweh. Yahweh might originally have been a way of expressing the religious feeling of awe that is evoked when one experiences holiness. Biblical scholars consider the name Yahweh to denote mercy. God uses that name when he wants to be merciful, or compassionate, toward his people. In contrast, the name Elohim expresses power and judgment. Elohim expresses the idea of a supreme deity who people must worship.

The concept of Yahweh is God as the unchanging, eternal, absolute creator of the universe. He is also a being who cares intensely and personally for people, compared to a father’s love for his child or a husband’s love for his wife. He is characterized by patience, beauty, loving kindness, wisdom, and righteousness. At the same time, He is jealous: although He is slow to anger, those who betray Him will feel His anger and be harshly punished. The purpose of the punishment is to bring about people’s repentance.

Use of the Name. Yahweh was used by the Israelites in the desert and during their early years in Canaan, or the land of Israel. The Israelites followed only one god, Yahweh, while the other nations who inhabited Canaan tended to worship a multiplicity of gods. This name of the Supreme Being prevailed until the Babylonian exile, in the sixth century BCE.

The exile occurred when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked and defeated Judah, or the southern kingdom of the land of Israel. After he defeated Judah, the king took the elite and aristocratic members of the Israelites to Babylon. These captives, who had been the teachers, priests, and leaders of their people, created synagogues (meaning "to bring together" in Greek) in place of the Temple where they had worshipped in Canaan. In the synagogues, the culture of the Hebrews was preserved through study and prayer, but the name Yahweh, which was considered too holy to be spoken, was replaced with Adonai or my lord.

Bibliography

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