Author: Author | 3/19/2017 9:41:14 PM
Jehovah
"The eternal, self-existent God"
The Apostle John said, No one has ever seen God... (I Jn. 4:12). However, there have been numerous occasions when God has manifested Himself to men in very spectacular ways. One of the most intriguing is found in the third chapter of the book of Exodus where we read: Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a burning bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
Later, in verses 13 to 15, we read: Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" 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." God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation'.
The important significance of this passage is that the Hebrew word for LORD in verse 15 (which we know as Jehovah) sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew word for I AM, in verse 14. This and other considerations about this passage give us important insight into the meaning of the name Jehovah.
THE FIRST GREAT SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS NAME
On this occasion, God gave a major revelation of Himself to Moses. The revelation itself draws attention to this name, Jehovah. This name is derived from the Hebrew verb havah, "to be," or "being." Nathan Stone points out that this Hebrew word ...is almost exactly like the Hebrew verb, chavah, "to live," or "life." One can readily see the connection between being and life. Thus when we read the name Jehovah, or Lord in capital letters in our Bible, we think in terms of being or existence and life, and we must think of Jehovah as the being who is absolutely self-existent, the One who in Himself possesses essential life, permanent existence (Nathan Stone, NAMES OF GOD, p. 19).
Therefore, the name Jehovah speaks of the eternal God who never had a beginning and will never cease to exist. It is He who is the source of all that lives and has being. But the name has even greater significance. This name actually appears before this event in the life of Moses. It is not the name of God used in the account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, that is Elohim. Rather, Jehovah first occurs in Genesis 2:4.
Before this, the narrative is concerned only with the general account of the entire creation. However, it is at this point where God's special act of the creation of man in His own image takes place. It is apparent from the beginning that man is a special creation of God and that He stands in a special relationship to God which is distinct from all other creatures of the earth. Man is the one being on earth who should have capacity for the enjoyment of God. It is therefore very significant that the first use of this name, Jehovah, occurs in this connection with the creation of man.
Nathan Stone provides an interesting quote from Moses Maimonides, the most noted Jewish commentator of the Middle Ages: All the names of God which occur in Scripture are derived front His works except one, and that is Jehovah; and this is called the plain name, because it teaches plainly and unequivocally of the substance of God.
Another helpful statement is found in Girdlestone's OLD TESTAMENTS SYNONYMS (p. 62): In the name Jehovah the personality of the supreme being is distinctly expressed. It is everywhere a proper name denoting the person of God, and Him only ...Elohim ...denoting usually ...the Supreme. The Hebrew may say the "Elohim," the true God, in opposition to all false Gods; but he never says the "Jehovah," for Jehovah is the name of the true God only. He says again and again, my God or my Elohim, but never my Jehovah, for when he says my God he means Jehovah. He speaks of the God (Elohim) of Israel but never of the Jehovah of Israel, for there is no other Jehovah. He speaks of the living God, but never of the living Jehovah, for he cannot conceive of Jehovah as other than living.
Therefore, the important point to be noted is that when God wished to make a special revelation of Himself, He used the name Jehovah as His personal name. One of it's primary purposes is to remind us that this is the only true God who is eternally self-existent. All others which possess life and being derive their existence from Him.
THE SECOND GREAT SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS NAME
From the very beginning of His dealings with man, Jehovah revealed Himself as one who is concerned with righteousness. After Jehovah created man, He immediately placed him under commandment; saying, Thou shalt and thou shalt not, and He gave a warning of what would happen if His commandment were broken. Then, God demonstrated His justice by enforcing His warning and casting man out of the garden.
However, and this is important to a full understanding of God as Jehovah, He did not leave man without hope (Gen. 3:15). Therefore, while Jehovah is deeply and passionately concerned about righteousness, He is also compassionate, loving, and merciful.
In fact, His love for man is so great that He is actually said to be "jealous" concerning man and his affections. Jehovah desires to be the supreme object of man's affections. When man shuns Jehovah and turns his back on Him to place other interests and concerns at the center of his affections, Jehovah is grieved and jealous and His wrath is kindled against man.
Furthermore, this expectation on the part of Jehovah is perfectly legitimate. Like a husband who has the right to expect fidelity on the part of His wife, God, as our creator and maker has the right to expect to have the greatest place of devotion and honor in the hearts of men who were created for Him. [In fact, the passage in which God appears to Moses in the burning bush marks His faithfulness to the covenants He had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It also marked the beginning of a new phase of His relationship with the seed of Abraham in which He would introduce the covenant of the law through Moses. These covenant relationships, like marriage, reinforce the legitimacy of God's claims upon this people].
Andrew Jukes says, ...sin grieves and wounds "Jehovah," and ...He also suffers, if His people are disobedient. He Himself is pained by the destructions which sin must bring with it. Unless we see this, says Jukes, we do not know Jehovah.
In the twentieth chapter of the book of EXODUS, in verses five and six, we read: ...I, the LORD [i.e. Jehovah] your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Over and over again in the Old Testament, when Israel ...did evil in the eyes of the LORD [Jehovah] ...And because the Israelites forsook the LORD [Jehovah] and no longer served him, he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands... of their enemies, ...and Israel was in great distress (Judges 10:6-7 & 9). But, it was not only Israel that was miserable in the midst of their sin, in verse 16, it is said of Jehovah Himself: And His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
The King James version translates Amos 2:13, Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. The image here is of Jehovah, who is pressed and burdened, and who goes about groaning because of the sins of His people. Also, in Psalm 95:10 we read, For forty years I was angry [KJV "grieved"] with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways."
We again see the drama and even the romance in this personal struggle which exists within Jehovah Himself in Isaiah 63:9-10, In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
Listen to the anguish of His words in Hosea 11:8, How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Adman? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.
JEHOVAH REVEALED IN JESUS CHRIST:
We are told in Hebrews 1:3 that Jesus Christ is ... the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being... The Apostle Paul said He is the image of the invisible God... (Col. 1:15). The work of atonement which Jesus came to perform on the cross confirms the fact that the invisible God is a holy God who requires righteousness. But at the same time, the sorrow and grief that He bore upon Himself because of our sins confirms His deep love for us and His pity and mercy toward us; for, Surely He hath born our griefs (Isa. 53:4).
In the cross, God has demonstrated His solution to the problem of sin which destroys our relation to Him and separates us from the love and affection of our holy and righteous God. It is His supreme act of love on our behalf which at one and the same time makes possible the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God while it continues to underscore the supreme importance of righteousness to Jehovah our God. But most importantly, it demonstrates the deep and profound love He has for His creatures, a faithful and unending love for those who will receive it.
We need desperately to see the Holy Savior standing before us with outstretched hands saying, Come unto me all ye who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest... (Matt. 11:28). And we need to be warned that the struggle still goes on, All the day long have I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people (Isa. 65:2).
Jehovah is the God who requires righteousness, but He is also the God who, through an amazing act of love, makes His creatures righteous (II Cor. 5:21). Jeremiah the prophet said, "...this is the name by which he will be called: The LORD [Jehovah] Our Righteousness (Jer. 23:6).