It is true that God gave to Moses his name as YHWH (in Hebrew).

The topic of the name Jehovah. There is a lot of misinformation in the article. There is some equivocation that occurs at several points. It is true that God gave to Moses his name as YHWH (in Hebrew). But that is not the only name of God.

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Titles and Attributes can be Names

Sometimes we can be guilty of reading our 21 century Occidental understanding of things back into the text of Scripture. I think the hard separation we maintain between a person’s name, title and character is an example.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

These are examples of things that we normally consider as titles, but from a biblical standpoint they are regarded as names. Moreover:

Exodus 34:14 says, “for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

An obvious ramification of these truths is that God may have more than just one name. For example:

Isaiah 51:15 I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name.

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

Isaiah 63:16 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Amos 5:27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

There are many other names of God such as Adonay, El Shaddai, El Olam, Eloine. YHWH is then combined with many other terms (like Roi, Rapha, Nissi) to further express his characher. There is a danger, therefore of thinking of the name of God too narrowly. It is not just the name YHWH. It is that, but it is more than that.

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“Name” May Not Refer to Any Written Name

A name is not merely the letters that compose your identification on a birth certificate. When I say that my father has a good name in the community I do not mean that “Bruce” is an aesthetically pleasing name. Rather it means that he has a good reputation. People know the character and nature of my father (regardless of his given name). When the people began to build the tower of Babel, they reasoned, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” This idea of making a name for oneself is synonymous for creating a certain reputation.

Gen 12: 2 says, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

What does it mean to make his name great? This is more than just the letters of his name.
This is a very similar mistake to what certain “name it and claim it” groups do. They are fond of passages like these:

John 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

They will come to these verses and think that all you have to do is say the name “Jesus” and you have what you want. This is simply not true. The study notes in the ESV state, “His name refers to all that is true about him, and therefore the totality of his person.” Thus to pray in his name is to pray according to the character of God, according to his will (1 Jn 5:14-15). John 14:14 and 16:24 only make sense if “name” does not refer to the name “Jesus” or any other printable name but rather refers to the whole of who Jesus is – his entire being.

Isaiah 53:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Of course God already had the name YHWH by the time Isaiah was writing. So it is likely that this passage uses “name” in a way very similar to what we just looked at in John. To make a name for God is to make his nature and character known and does not refer to any specific written name. So while I applaud Jehovah Witnesses for wanting to reclaim then name of God, I think that they have too restricted a view of that. Our understanding of the name of God should be a deep, rich, and expansive understanding that is not limited to just YHWH.

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