And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. -Exodus 6:2-3
Translating the Name of God
The above verse is a prime example of the great variability in how different translators (and their accompanying translations) can choose to translate words and terms. I’ve intentionally chosen the KJV because the translators choose to break with tradition for this verse and literally render God’s name for once: Jehovah (or what we would more commonly call “Yahweh” today).
This is significant because what nearly all English Bible translations do in nearly all instances throughout the Old Testament is to render God’s name as “LORD”—specifically in all caps, to denote that God’s name (Yahweh) is really being used, rather than the mere title of Lord.
The Tetragrammaton
Despite the sophisticated-sounding terminology, the word simply means four (tetra), and letters (grammaton)—but in this case, the tetragrammaton is a very specific reference to the four-lettered Hebrew name of God: יהוה. In English characters, it could be transliterated as YHWH, or pronounced as Yahweh.
Throughout the Old Testament, this Hebrew name YHWH is used well over 6,000 times, and yet, in nearly all English Bible translations, the name of Yahweh is scarcely ever seen, so what gives?
Names versus Titles
From reading the Old Testament, you wouldn’t get any impression that using God’s name was at all forbidden. It’s used by everyone from Abraham (Gen 15:2) to Zedekiah (Jer 32:3). Indeed, in some places, using His name was even commanded. “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deut. 6:13).
It’s important to keep in mind that even though as English-speaking Christians today, we can almost use “Lord” and “God” interchangeably in prayer, in Hebrew, each of these words would’ve had very distinct and different meanings. For instance, the Hebrew word for God (elohim) is a generic term that can also refer to false “gods” as well (see Ex. 20:3). The term lord (adonai) likewise can also refer to human rulers or those in authority (see Gen. 23:11).
The word God (or god) is a concept referring to a supernatural force or supreme spiritual being, and can mean different things to different people. The word Lord (or lord) is a title referring to one who has authority or power over their subjects. But YHWH is a name, and unambiguously refers to a specific being—and it was in this name that the Jews’ were to swear by (see Deut. 6:13 above).
As an aside, I see a lot of parallels between this Old Testament command, and Jesus in the New Testament when he told His disciples to make their requests “in my name” (John 14:14). No where is the fuzziness of titles versus names on clearer display than in closing a Christian prayer. “In God’s name we pray / In the Lord’s name we pray / In your name we pray / In your Son’s name we pray.” This is akin to the groom signing his marriage certificate as “the guy who’s getting married” or signing a will with “it’s me, of course!” I know we all mean well, but why not use the precision of a name? (See Acts 4:10-12.)
The Jewish Prohibition Against Using God’s Name
But going from the multitudinous examples throughout the Old Testament to the New, somewhere in the narrative, it seems as though there arose a prohibition against speaking God’s name, YHWH, directly.
Possible Theological Reasons
While there is no explicit verse in the Bible that delineates this shift among the Jews from using God’s name, it’s possible that the Jews began to reinterpret the Third Commandment.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. -Exodus 20:7
While there is no specific consequence delineated here, there is another pertinent passage later in Leviticus.
And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him… Leviticus 24:16
At some point in time, most likely between the times of the Old and New Testament, the Jews began treating God’s name as unlawful to pronounce outside of specific Temple ceremonies.
Knowing God
Back to Exodus 6:3, why did God say that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob only knew God by the name “El Shaddai” (i.e., “God Almighty”) but they never knew him as YHWH (i.e., “the LORD”)? Because there’s a lot of instances of people using the name YHWH in Genesis.
One theory that I’ve heard is that even though the name YHWH is used in Genesis, the book was written later (presumably by Moses and those that came after him), and so when they were writing the accounts in Genesis, they just inserted the name YHWH for clarity even though it wasn’t actually used in the time of Genesis.
For instance, in Genesis 1, it only uses God (or elohim) in creation. But in Genesis 2, YHWH is used instead. Genesis 1 possibly started as an oral story, while Genesis 2 could have been written later and included YHWH.