What's in a Name?

What Is God’s Name?

Since God’s name is clearly of the utmost importance to Him, let’s look more closely at what exactly it is. The Scriptures reveal many names for God, but there is one central and personal name used to describe His nature in some detail.

We are familiar with the story of the burning bush in Exodus 3. Moses is drawn to it and then told by God to take off his sandals. There follows a lengthy conversation during which Moses resists God’s call to deliver the Israelites from Pharaoh. Then Moses tells God that the people are going to ask for the name of the God who is sending him. “What shall I say to them?” Moses inquires. Here is God’s reply: “I AM WHO I AM… I AM has sent me to you” (Exod. 3:14).

God clearly states that this is His personal name, “This is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exod. 3:15). That name in Hebrew is יהוה, often translated as YHWH and sometimes called the tetragrammaton (a Greek word meaning four letters). Since biblical Hebrew was written without vowels, we commonly know it as Yahweh, with certain vowels assumed. This name is so holy to the Jewish people that they will not pronounce it, substituting Adonai or HaShem (the Name) whenever it occurs in the Scripture.

God’s Name Represents His Character

I AM WHO I AM! The words are powerful, but also quite enigmatic and mysterious. Later in Exodus 33, God kindly unpacked what His name represents. Let me set the stage. The Israelites had once again fallen into idolatry and disobedience, only hours after their powerful encounter with God at Mount Sinai. Moses had been on the mountain for a long time and the Israelites demanded that Aaron give them an idol. When he did, they proceeded to engage in an orgy around that idol, a golden calf.

When God threatened to let the Israelites continue to the Promised Land without His presence, Moses pleaded with Him, “Is it not in your going with us that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” (Exod. 33:16b).

God relented. Elated, Moses asked God to show him His glory. I have always wondered if it wasn’t a result of the challenge of leading the Israelites from slavery to eventual freedom that caused Moses to cry out, “God, I really need to know You if I am going to have authority with this people!”

God tucked Moses into the cleft of some rocks, passed before him and proclaimed:  “…the Lord [YHWH], the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation” (Exod. 34:6–8).

The rabbis have named God’s description of Himself the “Thirteen Attributes of God’s Mercy.” There is definitely a lot of mercy found in God’s character. Mercy and forgiveness are described every which way with an added portion of discipline and punishment that are limited in their length to three or four generations.

This list of attributes is found at least eight times in the Tanakh (Gen.–Mal.), in full or in part. These attributes are how God describes Himself (see Num. 14:18, Neh. 9:31, Ps. 86:5, Ps. 103:8–11, Ps. 145:8–9, Jonah 4:2), which means the list conveys the meaning that is contained within the enigmatic name of YHWH, “I AM WHO I AM”.

Among the thirteen attributes of mercy, one is listed twice. In Hebrew, the term is chesed. The English Standard Version (ESV) translates chesed as steadfast love. In Exodus 34:6–7 chesed appears twice. I find this double appearance interesting. I have discovered that the word chesed occurs 246 times in the Tanakh, almost always used to describe the character of God. That is an incredible number!

You may not have noticed this repeated use of the word chesed or steadfast love, perhaps because translators are not consistent when translating the word into English. You will find the words mercy, grace, lovingkindness and sometimes covenant loyalty used for the Hebrew word chesed. When chesed is translated as steadfast love, we see how important this trait of God’s character is to our understanding. I once underlined every appearance of steadfast love or chesed in the Bible, and it was overwhelming, especially in the psalms. Sometimes, I like to say it is “God’s nickname.”  

Chesed and Covenant

I began this article with a reference to God’s unbreakable covenant. To keep a covenant when your covenant partner is not faithful requires something extraordinary in terms of character.  It requires chesed: the unwavering willingness to forgive and continue loving.

John Bright, an eminent biblical scholar of a past generation, has this to say: “The word hesed cannot be exactly translated. The usual rendition in the English Bible (“lovingkindness”, “mercy”, etc.) is most inadequate. The word is intimately related to the idea of the covenant. When it is used of God, it is very nearly the equivalent of “grace.” It refers to the favor of God which summoned Israel into covenant and the steadfast love which he shows them even in spite of unworthiness. When used of man, the word denotes that proper response to grace which is utter loyalty to the covenant [keeping] God and obedience to his will.”

The following Scriptures make the link between chesed and covenant explicit:

“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers (Deut. 7:12).

“…the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments” (Neh. 1:5).

“… our God, the great ….  who keeps covenant and steadfast love” (Neh. 9:32a).

“For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of His steadfast love” (Ps. 106:45).

For the Sake of My Holy Name

Let’s return to God’s name, YHWH, which contains His character and His covenant, and to this present time, during which He is bringing the Jewish people back to the Land “for the sake of His holy name” (Ezek. 36). God is demonstrating that He is a covenant-keeping God as He brings the Jewish people back to the Land in spite of their performance and has promised to sanctify them once they are here. He is demonstrating that He is the one, true God.

Ezekiel 36 clearly shows us the incredible importance of what is going on today in the regathering of the Jewish people “for the sake of His holy name.” As the Jewish people return to the Land of their promise, God is proving false the lie of “replacement theology,” with its teaching that God’s patience ran out, that He broke His covenant with Abraham and replaced Israel with the Church.

Moreover, it is incredible that we don’t only have to watch God’s promise coming into fulfilment. We can also participate. Ezekiel speaks of God sprinkling clean water on His people once they are back on the mountains of Israel. He adds that He will give them new hearts and put new spirits within them (Ezek. 36:25, 26). It doesn’t take much imagination to see how Bridges for Peace’s programs to aid and support needy Israelis serve as a fountain of clean water poured out on souls dry and dusty from generations of exile and persecution. We are acting out the attributes of God’s mercy, especially His steadfast love, and participating in the sanctifying of His holy name.