The Divine Name Revealed
13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה) He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am (אֶהְיֶה) has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD (יהוָה) the God of your ancestors, 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 title for all generations.
(NRSV, Exodus 3:13-15 from Bible Gateway)
Here God gives us a name, אֶהְיֶה, thought to be pronounced Eh-yeh, which means “I am.” It is the name by which God wants to be called for all eternity. But what is going on here? Why do we disobey this direct commandment from God? Somewhere along the way, religious authorities decided that the name of God was too holy to pronounce or write. The Hebrew scribes write the name as יהוָה instead of אֶהְיֶה, while in English we write YHWH or say it as Yahweh. YHWH is believed to be based on the Hebrew word that means “to be,” although the truth is no one knows how the word evolved or it’s meaning. However, even that is not the name God commanded us to address God by, that name is Ehyeh, I am.
Why the ancient religious authorities decided God’s name is too holy to pronounce, I can only speculate. Maybe they were afraid of slipping up and taking God’s name in vain. Maybe they decided that saying God’s name held power and wanted to keep that power for themselves. We don’t know why, we can only guess, and maybe there are multiple reasons why. But there is nothing anywhere in scripture that forbids speaking God’s name or says it’s too holy for us to speak. In fact, throughout the Bible God urges us to call on God by name, with the promise that God will come to our aid if we do so.
God is telling us something through wanting to be named “I Am”, from God’s statement of “I am who I am.” That is, it is God who defines who we are. It is God who is our Creator. In contrast, we humans do not define who God is, we are not God’s creator. There is no one image of our Sovereign God because an image would define and thus limit who God is. Human beings, by defining and therefore limiting and creating who God is, are a true example of the tail wagging the dog.
However, in almost every English Bible translation, יהוָה, or YHWH is now replaced with “LORD.” The word “LORD” creates an image and definition of God of who God is.
The English word “lord” has a definite meaning, it is a man, never a woman, who rules over others. He values riches and shows off finery. He likes power and prestige. He has estates where workers must obey him and he is free to exploit them. He is an English speaker from Britain, a white landowner, who received a privileged, exclusive education. His image as a white upper-class European male landowner and member of the nobility represents only a tiny fraction of the world’s population. Historically it is the fraction of the world’s population that has been privileged to rule over and make money off of everyone else in the world. This rich, proud, greedy, exploitative person who lords it over others does not describe my Christian God.
We are children, not subjects of God. God is so much more than a ruler. God is with us, God is for us. God is a savior, a healer, a mother, a father, a protector, our best friend. God is our creator, a suffering servant, an avenger, a teacher, a shepherd, and so on. God transforms us. God is the male figure of Christ. God is the female figure of Sophia. God is the Holy Spirit. God has infinite facets and to translate the name of God as Lord limits who God is in our minds. “I am who I am” in Exodus 3:14 means that God alone will define who God is.
We are all created in the image of God, but the word “lord” implies that only a small portion of the world’s population is created in the image of God. It allows a small percentage of people to believe that God appointed them as better than and rulers over others. It opens people up to exploitation. It can lead people into believing that God values them less than others and to put up with abuse of all kinds. This is not the love of our neighbors that God intends for us.
God is named as יהוָה, YHWH, and translated as LORD 6,823 times in the Old Testament. This means that there are 6,823 times God is identified as male in the Old Testament when God shouldn’t be. “I am” has no gender. Translating “I Am” as “LORD” does much to add to the overly-male translations in our Bible and stresses a male-only identity of God that wasn’t intended by God nor the ancient Hebrews.
This is one of the reasons why I use the Inclusive Bible so much for my work and my private study and devotions. The translation uses YHWH instead of LORD, which is still not entirely perfect, but it makes the Bible so much more readable and applicable to myself and those around me. It removes a stumbling block between myself and God. It restores us to the humility that God wants for us, to recognize that all humanity is created in the image of God. It helps to reconnect us to the will of God, to know that we are the ones who are defined by God and not vice versa, to realize we don’t control who God is, and helps direct us back to the path of God’s will for us.
Alleluia!
Give thanks to YHWH,
and call on God’s Name;
proclaim God’s deeds among the peoples!
sing to God; sing praise
and tell of all God’s marvels!
Glory in God’s holy name;
let the hearts that seek YHWH rejoice!
(Psalm 105:1-3)