The God Who Has NO Name

Having just celebrated the Passover, some of you may have watched the movie The Ten Commandments.  I seem to watch it every year to be able to visualize some of the events of the Exodus from Egypt. 

Now, it was not a new thing to me this year, but it seemed to stand out a bit more – I kept hearing the characters say – “this God who has no name”. 

I got to where I was almost yelling at the TV – “Yes He does!”

Then it dawned on me, how often was His Name even recorded in the Exodus? (341 times)

In fact, even Moses didn’t know what to call Him.

When he encountered God at the burning bush, he was being sent to Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of bondage.

Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

 Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

 15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel:

 ‘The LORD  (Yehovah)  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, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

Many just want to stay with “I AM” as His Name.  That is not far off, but there is a better way.

His Name is composed of three parts:     YEH – HO – VAH

Hayah – He Who Was

Hoveh – He Who Is

Yihyeh – He Who Will Be

Here you can see that the verb “to be” in 3 tenses – past, present and future. 

He always was, is and will be!

That is pretty cool when you think of it. 

Just know, that if you call our God by His Name – Yehovah – you are essentially saying He is the One who Was and Is and Is to Come.

By the way, a quick Bible search showed that His Name appears in the Book of Exodus alone, 341 times! 

In the entire Bible (Old testament only – since the New doesn’t show His Name??), His Name appears some 7000 times.  I used to know the number – I think it was 7,686 times.

In our Bibles, they just show “the LORD” or “GOD”.  – In a way, this system of hiding His Name is making Him remain – the God who has No Name!! 

I want to look at something else on this topic.

A little further in Exodus we find this:

Exodus 6:2 And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: (I am Yehovah) 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

 So, this would suggest that even Abraham didn’t know God by His Name.

(Of course, since Moses wrote down the book of Genesis – Yehovah’s name appears in it today.)

Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly."

Genesis 28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 "Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. 3 "May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham."

For whatever reason, God chose to reveal His Name to Moses first.  Then Moses wrote it down with the rest of the Torah, and it was preserved for all time. 

Here we are in 2019 – some 3500 years since Moses and men have covered God’s Name up again – as I mentioned above.

How amazing is it, that over the past 15-20 years, Yehovah has been revealing His Name to the World again! 

I wouldn’t know it if others hadn’t brought it out for people to hear and read. 

At the same time as God is restoring the Nation of Israel to the Land, exposing the world to the Dead Sea Scrolls – which prove the validity of the Bible,  He is also turning His people back to His Law so they will again keep His commandments.

We truly live in amazing, exciting times!

Compiled by G.E. Walker                                                                                                  April 2019