The Name of God - Yahweh

This week we looked at one of the names of God in Hebrew, which is Yahweh. It means “He Who Shall Be” (i am who i am).
In the readings, Jews read the word “Lord” as “Adonai” out of respect for the name of God and the commandment not to take the word of God in vain.
We read the word as "LORD" in all caps.

We started by looking at Exodus 3, where God has just commanded Moses to go to Egypt and to bring his people Israel out of captivity. Moses then asks God what his name is.

13. But, said Moses to God, "when I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?" 14. God replied, "I am who I am." Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you." 15. God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. "This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations

Here God uses the 1st person (I) form, but it gives us the basis for understanding that his character and purpose is bound up in His name. The Hebrew for ‘I am who I am’ is ‘Ehyer asher Ehyeh’ - Yahweh is the 3rd person (he) form and its use in Exodus 34 helps us understand its meaning.

We looked at Exodus 33, in which we discussed God's glory. Moses pleads for God to forgive the people, and asks to see his glory. He wanted to see who God really was, but he asks for too much.

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock.
22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Look at Ch 34 where God proclaims his Glory and uses the expression “the LORD, the LORD God – which in the Hebrew is “Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim”. This can be translated along the lines of ‘He will be who He will be in a multitude of mighty ones’ and gives us the understanding that God’s name, character and glory will be fully shown when there is a multitude who live by His name displaying His character in their lives.

God's glory will be seen in full when the kingdom comes.