GOD’S WORD FOR AUGUST 17 ~ ~ Exodus 3:6 ~ ~ “Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

Excerpts from Tony Evans’s book, The Power of God’s Names”

(God is speaking with Moses from out of the burning bush in the desert where Moses has been keeping the sheep of Jethro, his father in law for about 40 years)

In my “Tony Evans’s translation”, Moses says, “Okay, God, so You want me to go down and tell Pharaoh that he’s supposed to let Your people go. I get that—-sure. But when I do, people are going to start asking a lot of questions, like “Who died and made you boss?”

Moses was concerned about what Pharaoh and the Egyptians would think and do, and he was also concerned about how the Hebrew people would respond. As we read in Exodus 3:13, Moses came out straight with his concern. “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’s reply is succinct:

“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 you shall call me from generation to generation.” (Gen 3:14-15)

This name is especially important—and not just because of the number of times it’s used. JEHOVAH (“I AM WHO I AM”) is important because God Himself is telling Moses—essentially His chosen people of Israel—that this is who He is. In fact, this name is so sacred in Jewish culture that the Jews don’t dare even speak if for fear of breaking the prohibition against taking the Lord’s name in vain. Therefore, in time, we lost touch with the correct pronounciation.

Even when the scribes who copied the bible came upon this sacred name of God, they silently read over what they had just copied without pronuncing His name.

The four consonants in this self-revealing name of God form what is called the tetragrammaton. In fact, the literal translation of the word “tetragrammaton” is simply “the four letters”. They are the Hebrew letters yud, hay, vav, and hay. The combination of these consonants is derived from a word that means “to be” Because all four letters are consonants, the vowels from the Hebrew word for Adonai were later added in order to help pronounce His name.

Initially, this rendering of God’s name YHWH was YAHWEH, which comes from the God-given YHWH, meaning “I am the existing one” and on another note, when you come across Lord or God written in all caps you can know that it’s a translation of the Hebrew word YHWH (YAHWEH, OR JEHOVEH)

God has so many names, each reflecting specific character qualities and attributes; it’s important to know just how He is revealing Himself in the particular passage you’re reading. We can’t comprehend Him in His entirety, but we can learn more through a greater knowledge and insight into which name God is using to reveal Himself.

Psalm 8:9

O Lord, our Lord, How majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!

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