God’s Hebrew Name–Yahweh

“What do You want me to do?” I had asked God.

With lightning speed, this thought came whizzing through my mind. “Tell them who I am.”

“Yes, but God, You are so stupendous. Where do I start?”

Where would you start to get to know anyone? You would ask them their name. You cannot tell them who I am, without first knowing My name.

At the Burning Bush

This reminded me of the conversation between Moses and God at the burning bush. Having fled Egypt, Moses was tending sheep on Mt. Horeb when he noticed a bush ablaze yet not consumed. As he approached, God called to him by name. Moses, stunned, heard God declare, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God then revealed His purpose: He had heard the cries of His people in Egypt and had come to deliver them. And He was going to use Moses to do it. “Come now therefore, and I will send you unto Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

Moses, overwhelmed, asked, “Why me? Who am I to do such a task?” God reassured him: “Certainly I will be with you.” Still uncertain, Moses asked, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” Moses knew this would be their first question. If he didn’t know God’s name, they would doubt his calling. A true messenger of God would surely know His name (Ex. 3:10–13).

God answered, “I AM THAT I AM.” He continued, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Then He added, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD…has sent me to you’: this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (  ex. 3:1-15) [*RSV footnote: “The word LORD when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, to be.”].

With that understanding, we can restore the divine name into the passage: “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘YHWH has sent me to you: this is my name forever.” Yahweh is His name forever. God explicitly states that YHWH is His eternal name: “And thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” This is not a passing title but a memorial name—how He is to be remembered.

The name YHWH appears more than 6,800 times in the Old Testament. The prophets addressed Him by this name. They remembered Him by using it. It was not merely a label but a declaration of His identity and presence. Did Moses obey? Yes. When he and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, they declared, “Thus saith the LORD (YHWH) God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” (Ex. 5:1).

Moses recorded the name YHWH approximately 1,700 times in the first five books of the Bible. Yet in almost all translations, this divine name is unfortunately rendered as the title “the LORD.” But His children remember Him by remembering His name–Yahweh.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock