When I started studying the Psalms regularly I was struck by how often God was addressed by name as ‘LORD;’ but for a God who was a vibrant, caring and powerful being who was known and worshipped, ‘LORD’ just did not seem adequate. And then in 88% of the 6,829 times it is used it is translated as ‘the LORD.’ Now, that is a title, not a name and being in capital letters with a mixture of font sizes,[1] it looks odd. It gives the impression that it is a secret name, in a special form of language that ‘ordinary’ readers are not intended to understand. And there is no explanation! Not in a footnote or an introduction to the Bible! Nowhere! Except, very occasionally, in an expensive Bible that has a multipage ‘introduction’ there might be a brief mention buried there. Now, interpretation is the task of the reader as well as the translator, so those who are not ‘in the know’ might well assume it is a term of respect that means something like ‘Boss’ or ‘Sir,’ ‘Your Honour’ or even ‘Your Majesty;’ and thus miss out on a significant aspect of God’s self-revelation to his people.
It gets worse in our modern world where most of our information comes to us modified by digitalisation. All the copy and paste programmes I have come across cannot cope with ‘LORD’ so it invariably becomes ‘Lord’ when copied into Word or PowerPoint documents such as church notices, brochures, tracts and screen presentations. Check too the hymns you sing that quote or refer to Scriptures that refer to Yahweh/LORD. They are invariably ‘translated’ into ‘Lord.’ I cannot recall any that use LORD, though there are a few that use Yahweh. That means that the many, possibly 60-90% of church members according to surveys, who gain their Bible knowledge second-hand through hymns, church services and Christian literature are missing, virtually completely, a key biblical teaching about the God we worship.
I began to experiment using ‘Yahweh’ instead of ‘the LORD,’ just to get a sense of what it felt like. It felt better! It is an unusual name; unique, in fact, but there is some warmth in the name. It is personal. Then the one who bore that name began to come alive even more as I read about him in psalm after psalm – and it occurs frequently. Yahweh is used 867 times in Psalms, an average of more than 6/psalm in the 133 psalms that use his name.
I already knew that ‘LORD’ stood for Yahweh, the name that God gave to Moses to use but there was no apparent reason that I could discover for adding the definite article that makes it even harder to see ‘the LORD’ as a personal name rather than a title. In the key verse that introduces the name, God said to Moses as he appointed him to lead Yahweh’s people out of slavery in Egypt,
‘Say to the Israelites, “Yahweh, 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’ (Exodus 3:15).
‘This is my name forever,’ is essentially repeated in, ‘the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’ It is a principle of communication let alone biblical interpretation that repetition implies importance. We should be careful, therefore, to ensure we take due notice. Surely this is an invitation we ought to accept. I cannot find any hint in Scripture that Yahweh withdrew it. And as there may well be grounds for seeing this invitation as a command this lack of courtesy could well be considered to be disobedience. Some theologians have expressed their disquiet about this custom.[2]
Yahweh, God’s name, that was revealed to Moses means something like, ‘always I am,’ the one who was, is and always will be (Exodus 3:13-15 and see also Exodus 6:2-8). It refers to God’s eternal nature. Time does not exist with God. It is always ‘now.’ Yahweh is unique, different to anyone or anything we know so it seems right that he has a unique name that expresses something of his unique characteristics. And such is the name God used to reveal himself to his people. And he invites us to address him using this personal name. That is stunning! Names are significant in the Bible. So we need to reflect about what Yahweh might have wanted us to appreciate about himself in the use of this name. The words that come to my mind are:
• dependability – he is always present, whoever we are, wherever we are and whatever the occasion. That leads to
• communication – having a name to use invites conversation and that leads to
• relationship – to know each other, talk together and share together.
Yahweh’s role as creator, sustainer, guide etc. is in the background. Primarily, this is about who Yahweh is and not what Yahweh does. And this is where we start, not where we end.
Yahweh revealed his name to his people as the name we are to use and so it was – for some centuries at least. It is by far, the commonest term used for God in the OT. It is used on 6,829 occasions. In comparison God is used 3,916 times. Other referents such as the Almighty (about 300 times) and the Most High (about 30 times) are titles and are used relatively rarely. Others are descriptive adjectives, e.g. Saviour or metaphors, e.g. Shepherd.
Here are examples of how Yahweh’s name is used:
… he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of Yahweh (Deuteronomy 18:7).
David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of Yahweh (1 Chronicles 21:19).
Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh (Psalm 118:26).
… we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God for ever and ever (Micah 4:5).
These texts suggest that, ‘in the name of Yahweh,’ gives authority, confidence and comfort.
But then everything changed!
The use of Adonnay (Lord) instead of Yahweh developed during the 400-year intertestamental period so it was already established by Jesus’ lifetime. Apparently, this custom had developed for fear that the third commandment (Exodus 20:7) might be broken by somehow misusing God’s name.[3] Living in fear is a denial of the Bible’s call to ‘live by faith.’ That description was a feature of OT saints (Hebrews 11), though was defined in different terms on occasion, Psalm 20 (notes 29-31) and Psalm 27 (notes 17-27), and was Paul’s example to NT believers (Galatians 2:20). Against such a background Christians might rightly question the point of following such an out of place, fear-derived custom.
The prevalence of this custom by the time of Jesus is presumably the reason why ‘Yahweh’ is never used in the NT though there are occasions when it might have been. For example, compare Isaiah 61:1-2 with Jesus’ quotation in Luke 4:18-19 when he preached in Nazareth. As usual, the OT quotations in the NT follow the text of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the OT, that was produced during 300-150 BC. See https://www.biblestudytools.com/lxx/esias/61.html. ‘The LORD’ meaning Yahweh but written as Adonnay in Isaiah 61 becomes Kurios (Lord) in the Greek of the Septuagint. That then leads to how it appears in virtually all translations of Luke 4 as ‘the Lord.’ Because of this, we miss some of the stunning impact Jesus’ words had on his listeners.
At first his audience were impressed (Luke 4:22) but as he went on to talk about Yahweh blessing the gentiles (Luke 4:25-27) it came home to them that he had stopped the Isaiah reading in the middle of a poetic line that went on to refer to Yahweh’s antagonism toward Israel’s oppressors (Isaiah 61:2b). That change, from violent aggression to blessing and healing the oppressed and needy, from the poorest widow to the army general, was stunning. To the God-fearers of Jesus era such people had no claim on Yahweh’s compassion but here was Jesus claiming his new approach was of Yahweh (Luke 4:21)!
Notice too, how the High Priest phrased his question when Jesus was challenged at his trial:
“Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:61-62).
The High Priest would not say ‘Yahweh’ so used a euphemism that occurs on only this one occasion. Jesus replied in kind with a euphemism that does appear in OT on nine occasions referring to Yahweh.
Because the name Yahweh has for many centuries not been used as God intended we also miss out on some of the significance of the way the name of Jesus is used in the NT.
Peter summarised the gospel to the high priest and the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jewish nation referring to, ‘the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth’ he said:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Such a reference to the name of Jesus appears about twenty times in the NT. Such as:
… the Lord had spoken to him [Saul], and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord (Acts 9:27-28).
… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
… whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17).
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
As I see it, that gives an equal prominence to the name of Jesus in the NT as Yahweh has in the OT. These texts too, suggest that, ‘in the name of Jesus,’ gives authority, confidence and comfort as happened with the name Yahweh. Both names are aspects of how God has revealed himself to humankind.
It is a feature throughout Scripture that some names have special meaning and represent something of the character or destiny of the person concerned. So here we see this applied to both Yahweh and Jesus. Furthermore, both Yahweh and Jesus were named in special circumstances. Yahweh revealed his name directly to Moses and in the NT Jesus’ name was revealed directly to Joseph by an angel:
“She [Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
The angel also said to Joseph,
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
These two angelic messages would remind a ‘righteous man’ like Joseph (Matthew 1:19) of Scriptures such as,
Show me your ways, Yahweh,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Saviour (Yesa),
and my hope is in you all day long (Psalm 25:4-5).
There are 18 similar OT texts in which Yahweh as Saviour translates Yesa/Yesua. Bear in mind that Jesus is the anglicised version of the Greek Iesous (there is no J in Greek). In Hebrew Iesous is Yeshua (I becomes Y in Hebrew). Languages and spelling change over the years so note the older version as used in the OT is Yehosua which becomes Joshua in English. Etymologically Yehoshua/Yesa/Yeshua are closely linked to Yahweh so Jesus and especially Joshua are sometimes said to mean ‘Yahweh is Saviour.’[4]
In contrast to Yahweh’s unique name, Jesus was a common personal name among Jews when Jesus lived and in the previous century[5] so being named Jesus would not have stood out. Its significance, therefore, only became apparent after the resurrection and Jesus’ explanations to his disciples (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45, Acts 1:1-3). The contrast in how these personal names are developed and used is a feature of how Jesus identified with humankind:
… Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8).
In the Old Testament God revealed himself to his people as Yahweh and in the New Testament, the revelation of Jesus as Yeshua and Immanuel makes it clear that Jesus truly is divine. God became man and lived amongst us. John makes the same point using different imagery:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Recovering the use of Yahweh when referring to God is I believe, true to Scripture, and may well be a means of enhancing that sense of glory, grace and truth that is revealed in Jesus. To test that hypothesis I am therefore, using Yahweh throughout Psalm Insights.
Endnotes
[1] Sorry, but I have not yet worked out how to show this in WordPress. However, in your Bible you will see the L of ‘LORD’ is a larger font size than the rest of the word.
[2] J. A. Motyer, ‘Name: II. The Name of God’ in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary ed. by J. D. Douglas and others, (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980) p. 1053 says, ‘leading as it has done to a deep loss of the sense of the divine name in English versions of the Bible.’ Willem A.Vangemeren, ‘Psalms’ in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol 5 Revised Ed, ed. by Trumper Longman III & David E. Garland, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), p. 106 says, ‘… the rendering “the LORD” in the NIV keeps us from feeling the emotive significance of the name revelation.’
[3] William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), p. 421.
[4] I. H. Marshall, ‘Jesus Christ, Titles of,’ in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary ed. by J. D. Douglas and others, (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980) p. 772.
[5] William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), p. 366.
Written: 18 August 2022
Published: 29 December 2022
Updated: 22 April 2024