What Does YHWH Mean?

If I’m walking down the halls at our church and someone shouts out, “Pastor,” I turn around. That’s not the name my mother and father gave me, but I still turn around because my position is such that people will refer to me by a title instead of my personal name. But the other day I was walking around with a pastor friend and someone said, “Hey pastor!” We both turned around.

Pastor isn’t a personal name. In the same way, in the beginning pages of Scripture, words were used to describe God that were more impersonal. Words like Elohim are a more general title. It’s like saying “pastor” and multiple people turn around. But in Exodus 3:14, God shares his personal name with Moses: YHWH or Yahweh.

What does that name mean?

The Origin of YHWH

That’s kind of an ironic header I just wrote. The name YHWH is what God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14-15. It points to the reality that God is self-existent. In other words, He doesn’t have an origin. YHWH is derived from the Hebrew verb “to be” (hayah). It’s a name that means “I am.”

This name is God’s answer to Moses’ question, “Who should I say sent me?” When God replies that He is YHWH, it’s significant. No other gods and certainly no human can claim self-existence. He simply IS. That means He doesn’t need Moses. He doesn’t need the Israelites. He doesn’t need the Egyptians. He is standing outside of history. He doesn’t get His identity or existence from the things taking place on earth. What a tremendous comfort this would be to Moses and the Israelites.

The Meaning and Theological Significance of YHWH

It’s rather amazing how God reveals Himself to Moses and then the Israelites. If He were merely a functional God, then remaining as El Shaddai or Elohim could suffice. He could be the God who…fill in the blank. But God let’s Moses know the core of His identity: I Am. He is relating to Moses as a living being, not one who is static or distant. God is not a flat character in a story but One who is vivid and alive.

This also sets God apart from all others. He is wholly other. The idols of Egypt require others to prop them up. They are not self-existent. They need to be crafted in a furnace. But God isn’t crafted — He does the crafting.

Furthermore, it shows God’s unchanging nature. It’s not that He was or that He will be. No, God is. Always. He is eternally present. That’s pretty difficult to grasp, but I do know that it means that He is fully present in every moment of our existence. He is fully existing in every moment.

And all of this leads to the surety that Moses and the Israelites can have in such a God. He is a covenant keeping God. He will never fail them. The name YHWH appears often when making promises and covenants with the people. He’s signing His name. Not a title but rather His own existence is sealing the deal with covenants.

Why Was YHWH Not Spoken Aloud?

The name YHWH took on such significance that the Jewish people would not say His name. This is why we aren’t entirely certain how YHWH ought to be pronounced. Another name for the name of God is the tetragrammaton. That’s a big word that simply means “the four letters.” When Hebrew started supplying vowels, they took the vowels from Adonai and stuck them between the consonants. That gave us YeHoWaH.

That wasn’t meant to make it easier to pronounce but to signal readers to say “Adonai” instead of attempting to pronounce YHWH. It was taboo to speak God’s name, so they would either say HaShem (the Name) or they’d use names like Adonai or Elohim. There is no Scripture where God says “Don’t say YHWH.” But the practice likely derived from God telling them not to use His name in vain. I guess they supposed you can’t say His name in vain if you always revere it so much that you never say it.

You’ve also maybe heard the name Jehovah. That’s not a different name for God; it’s just YHWH in a Latinized form. There isn’t a Y or a W in Latin. So Latin writers replaced Y with a J (or an I) and the W became a V. Thus rendering the name of God as JeHoVaH. Up until the medieval period that I or J would have still been pronounced like a Y sound. But over time we started pronouncing the J like we do today, thus giving rise to Jehovah.

All that to say, "Jehovah" is a later development, originating from medieval misunderstandings of the Masoretic notations. But it’s still YHWH and we cannot be entirely certain how to pronounce it — though most are agreed that Yahweh is likely closest.

YHWH in the New Testament

Have you ever heard someone make the argument that Jesus never claimed to be God? That argument falls apart if you understand the meaning of the name YHWH. Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus makes several “I am” statements. But the big one — and the one which caused the religious leaders to pick up stones to throw at Him for blasphemy — was John 8:58.

There Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He was not only uttering the name of God, but also applying it to Himself. It was a bold claim. But His other “I am” statements are just as bold. Each of these statements parallels something YHWH did in the Old Testament:

"I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) and YHWH provided manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4)

"I am the light of the world" (John 8:12) and YHWH is called the light of Israel (Isaiah 60:19).

"I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11) and YHWH is Israel’s shepherd (Psalm 23:1, Ezekiel 34:11-12).

"I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25) and YHWH alone gives life and resurrection (Deuteronomy 32:39).

"I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6) and YHWH is the truth and life (Psalm 86:11, Deuteronomy 30:20).

"I am the true vine" (John 15:1) and Israel was called YHWH’s vineyard (Isaiah 5:7).

In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul picks up on this by saying that Jesus has the “name above all names” and then quotes Isaiah 45:23 where YHWH says that every knee will bow before Him. It doesn’t get much more explicit than this.

Jesus the Son of God is the great I Am.

Why YHWH Matters Today

The name YHWH isn’t just some argument about semantics but rather a revelation of who God is. Or rather that God is. He is the self-existent, covenant keeping God who does not change. That’s rather needed in a world that is constantly shifting. To know that we serve a God who is not shaped by history or dependent upon anything outside of Himself, means that we can breathe easier. He is in control, just as He always has been.

It also helps us to rejoice that God is always present. And He consistently shows Himself to be a God who delivers. Jesus, the great I AM, stepped into history in order to redeem us. YHWH took upon human flesh and died a criminal’s death to rescue us from ourselves. That’s the beautiful story of the gospel.

We are not left to wonder who God is. YHWH means that God is. The I AM has made Himself known. The question is, will we trust Him? Or try to find meaning on our own?

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Andry Djumantara