What's In A Name?

(Today's reading - Exodus 1-3; Matt 15:21-39

I am going to try something a little different today... I am going to try the adage... when writing a blog, shorter is better. Let me know.

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.

Moses is living in Midian after fleeing Egypt. God appears to him and tells him to return to Egypt to tell Pharaoh that he is let the children of Israel go free. He tells Moses to tell the Israelites that "the LORD", "the God of your fathers" had sent him. Moses needed the people to understand that he had been sent by God for the purpose of freeing them. If he was to lead them, they had to accept his leadership. So, God says, "tell them I sent you".

Everywhere you read "LORD", all capitalized in the Old Testament, the Hebrew name YHWH is being translated. There continues to be some dispute among "Bible scholars" as the proper pronunciation of His name. Some hold to Yahweh, while others hold to Jehovah. I don't know which it is. The point is really about what the name reveals about our God. Where you read "God" in the verses above, the word being translated is Elohim.

We can learn a lot about our God by these two names. Names today rarely give insight into the nature of the person who wears it; not so in Bible times. God's names describe Him and gives us understanding of His attributes. "Yahweh" means "the eternal one, self existent and the one who creates". God "was and is and is to come" is the way John describes Him in Revelation 4:8. No one made Him. He made everything. Hebrews 4:6 tells us of the "unchanging" nature of His purpose. Who He was is the same as who He is and who He will ever be. "Yahweh" communicates His faithfulness toward His people. We can trust Him, we can rely on Him. "Yahweh" is found in the Old Testament some 6500 times.

"Elohim" is the first name we read for God in the Bible, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) The Hebrew word Elohim means the supreme God, the creator and the one who judges. This name is found throughout the Old Testament nearly 3000 times. So, what is Moses trying to communicate by the Spirit when he uses these names for God. He wants us to see Him as the all powerful, self-existent creator who will judge the world. He is like no other and we can count on Him. Who He was is who He is and who He will be. That's our God.