THE MEANING OF THE NAME JEHOVAH
Presented Steve Marlowe, Evangelist
Presenting a fantastic cover-up that has deep spiritual implications for the salvation of mankind, based on the warning: “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). To worship God in vain is idolatrous worship. We, as believers, are told, “You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD, will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7 NKJV). What greater way to take the name of God in vain, than to actually replace His revealed name given to His people? In other words, “You do not take up the Name of your God YHWH for a vain thing, for YHWH does not acquit him who takes up His Name for a vain thing” (Exodus 20:7 LSV). The revealed name of God is of utmost importance!
The name Jehovah is considered by many Christians as a traditional English rendering of God’s name. It supposedly has a facsimile of the Tetragrammaton, which are the four consonants of God’s true name based on the original Hebrew: Yod-Hey-Waw-Hey, or YHWH. However, most scholars believe the divine name to be YAHWEH, or YAHAWAH by a few. If YAHWEH is considered by scholars to be the closest and more accurate name, far more than Jehovah, then why do so many accept the name of Jehovah? Does God accept this name Jehovah? Does He really? And, is it the JHVH rendering replacing YHWH as if to think they are equally the same, which of course they obviously are different, and YHWH was indeed revealed by God? God revealed only one name which precludes the false impression, held by many, that God has many names, however, to distinguish between many names and the one name revealed by God; for it is acknowledged God has many titles, such as:
El (EL means God)
El Shaddai (God Almighty)
El Olam (God Everlasting)
El Elyon (Most High God of all gods, Deuteronomy 10:17)
Elohim (literally means “gods” plural, or “the Plural of Majesty”)
Eloah (means God singular, as in EL)
LORD (represents YHWH in your Bible, “Adonay” in Hebrew used to replace the name of God when reading Scripture.)
El Shaddai (God Almighty) has only one name according to the Bible: YHWH.
God truly has only one name revealed, however, the essential name is YAH! The Hebrew expression of Halleluyah, “Praise YAH,” behold: the name which is above every name!
Is this name “Jehovah” revealed by God? And if not, is it a concoction? Is it therefore profane? Is it idolatrous?
Where did the name of Jehovah come from?
The answers may be found in Zondervan’s Bible Dictionary: “Because Jewish tradition does not allow the pronunciation of the actual revealed name of God in public readings, it is regularly substituted with Adonay, ‘my Lord.’ To indicate such a reading, Hebrew copies of the Bible preserved the consonants of YAHWEH, that is YHWH, but inserted the vowels” of Eloah (Thus Yehowa)… relating to the practice of inserted vowels onto the four letters (of God’s revealed name called the Tetragrammaton to remind the reader not to pronounce the name of God, but to say, “Adonay” instead). This practice (of inserting vowels from other words, mainly “Eloah” and “Elohim”) “in the writing of the Divine Name misled the (non-Jewish) translators (not only in English, but also in Latin) to create the hybrid form of Jehovah, which never existed in Hebrew” (p.707). This bears repeating, “...the hybrid form of Jehovah, which never existed in Hebrew,” and there is inconvertible truth that the name “Jehovah” was never revealed by God. This is exemplified by the vowels of Adonay (a-o-a), which make Yahowa and does not match with JEHOVAH, and according to Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words, no. 3050, the essential name of God revealed is pronounced YAH, not the Jeh sound in Jehovah. Jews inserted vowels mainly from one of two Hebrew words, which are either of Elohim [e-o-i] artificially causing Jehovih (see Strong’s no. 3069); or Eloah [e-o-a] which artificially causes the erroneous name Jehovah (see Strong’s no. 3068).
The Catholic scholars now recognize the name of Jehovah to be fallacious. New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), “The pronunciation Jehovah was unknown in ancient Jewish circles and is based upon a later misunderstanding of the scribal practice of using the vowels of the word Adonai (Elohim and Eloah) with the consonants of YHWH” (p. 1065).
Where did God reveal His actual name in the Bible? The answer can be found in Exodus chapter 3 (NKJV):
Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord (the actual person of God) appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
So when the Lord (LORD pronounced adonay in Hebrew, and used to replace the actual name of god: YHWH) saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord (YHWH) said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
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?”
And God said to Moses, (“HAYAH ASHAR HAYAH”) ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord (LORD here replacing the actual name of God YAHAWAH) 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.’ Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord (YHWH) God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king (Pharaoh) of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
YHWH, the meaning of God’s revealed name:
1) The name revealed to Moses is evidently related to the Hebrew verb ‘to be’; and it must be pointed out that while this verb can mean “to exist,” its characteristic force is “to be actually present,” “to be a present reality.”
2) The form YAHAWAH is the revealed name (YAH) and form (in ancient Hebrew: hawah) as a part of the verb “to be.”
In Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words, we find two names attributed to God, Jehovah and Jehovih?
How could it be this name: Jehovih? Answer: Jehovih could never be the name of God. Jehovih was only created by adding vowels from Elohim (see Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words, no. 3069, p. 509), and then Eloah causes Jehovah by inserting the vowels e-o-a onto the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, and this is how the false names of Jehovih and Jehovah began among Christians unaware of the Jewish practice of adding vowels from another Hebrew word onto the YHWH (Tetragrammaton) to remind the public reader in the synagogues not to pronounce the name of God. As to the creation of these two false names, Jehovih and Jehovah, this of course was done by Christian translators in ignorance of the Jewish practice of the use of the vowels of Eloah (another Hebrew word for “God”), which created the hybrid, erroneous name of Jehovah. Proto-Hebrew (ancient Hebrew) has the word hawah, which means: “to be, in the sense of existence” (see Strong’s no. 1933), as in “I AM.” The Hebrew word Hawah comes to us from the Aramaic word as “havah”.
What is the revealed name of the Messiah, Christ, our Savior?
The Hebrew expression “Halleluyah”, which means, “Praise YAH”, and is therefore YAH the name which is above every name, which is the essential revealed name of God, which is the name which is above every name revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:15). The name which is above every name was given to our Savior (Philippians 2:9). The Savior’s only true revealed name is YAHSHUA, which means, “YAH Saves” (Matthew 1:21). Joseph and Mary never ever heard of the name of Jesus! It is necessary that we understand why YAH has come to us in the erroneous form of “Yeh,” and in some cases, “Jah”. The Aramaic name of Yeshua is based on the Yeh, as is Yehovah, now Jehovah, which influenced the name of Jesus, a name never revealed by God, nor ever given to the Savior as a valid name, a name not known until the 17th century. That is correct, the name of Jesus has only existed since the 17th century. Historian, scholar, Ernest Renan acknowledged that the Savior was never in His lifetime called Jesus (Life of Jesus, p. 90). The apostle Peter never knew the name of Jesus when he testified before the Jewish authorities, who commanded the disciples not to preach in that name, as these leaders recognized the name above every name YAH in the name of the Savior (Acts 4:1-22). As has already been discussed, the Jews did not want the Gentiles to know the revealed name of God, and therefore, would insert vowels from Eloah or Elohim onto the Tetragrammaton. Thus causing the true name YAH, which is above every name, to be falsely translated as “Yeh”. The Hebrew vowel (e) called shewa (:), replaced the proper vowel (a) called qamets. Thus changing the vowel sound “ah” in “YAH” to “eh”. Again, a Jewish practice done to conceal the true revealed name of God, “YAH”. The two dots (:) that appear under the Hebrew letter of Yod (Y) causing an “eh” sound, however, this conceals the true “ah” sound. It would fall that Satan would do all in his power to conceal the one name given for our salvation, “Nor is there any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Messiah said, in John 5:37-47, “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” The Father gave the Son the name which is above every name, a name not to be changed in any way, or altered by man, or changes through the languages of mankind. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
This explains how the letter of “e” came about in the name of Jesus. The letter of “J”, was the last letter to enter the English alphabet in the 17th century. According to Webster’s College Dictionary, the letter “J, 1 the tenth letter of the English alphabet; formerly a variant of (of the letter) I… in the 17th century...” (Fifth Ed., p. 775, 2014). The letter J did not exist before the 17th century. Therefore, the letter J is not the proper letter to represent the Hebrew letter, Yod, however, the English letter Y is the proper letter. Now we know that the first two letters in the name of Jesus are false. The next letter is S, which replaced the Sh in the Savior’s revealed name. This was done because the SH sound is not represented in the Greek language, which changed the one and only name revealed from heaven, YAHSHUA, to Iesous. Iesous has no meaning in Greek, or in any language. The final letter in Jesus is of course S (called sigma), which signifies masculinity. Jesus is a false name for the Savior.
Why does the original name of the Savior, YAHSHUA, change to the completely foreign mutations of Iesous, Iesus, and finally Jesus, while the name of Satan, the Adversary, retains its original form and close pronunciation (Strong’s no. 7854)? If God reveals that there is only one name given under heaven by which man must be saved, would it not behoove Satan to seek to change the very name of salvation?
Who is the “I AM?”
The Savior was confronted, and, “Then the Jews answered and said to Him, ‘Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?’
YAHSHUA answered, ‘I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.’
Then the Jews said to Him, ‘Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?’
YAHSHUA answered, ‘If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’
Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’
YAHSHUA said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:48-59). Therefore, the I AM equates to YAH, as in HAYAH, and the Saves equates to Shua, therefore, behold the only revealed name of the Savior is YAHSHUA!
El Shaddai means “God Almighty.” God would tell Abraham that He is God Almighty, or El Shaddai, as stated in Exodus 6:3, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai, but by My name YAHAWAH, I was not known to them.”
God said to Moses, “HAYAH ASHAR HAYAH,” and “HAYAH,” which means “to exist” according to Strong’s no. 1961, however, in Strong’s no. 1962, there is a different definition! “Hayah- another form for Strong’s Dictionary of Bible words no. 1943, meaning ruin:-calamity (p. 427). Do we worship the God of ruin, mischief, and calamity? How did this false association happen?
What is the true meaning of the name of Jehovah?
Je-hovah, a euphonious name, which means “ruin, mischief, and calamity! HOVAH, Strong’s no. 1943, another form for Strong’s 1942; “ruin-mischief” (p. 426). Hovah is a root word that defines the name “Je-hovah.” Therefore, the meaning of the name Jehovah is the god of ruin, mischief, and calamity! Defined in a connected sense, using Strong’s no. 1942, which means “ruin, calamity, mischief, iniquity, naughtiness, and a perverse thing. Whenever you invoke the name of Jehovah, you are invoking the god of “ruin, calamity, and mischief,” and it would be a wicked perverse thing. Therefore this name Jehovah constitutes “a perverse thing.” Somehow Strong’s no. 1942 (connected to Strong’s no. 1943) is also connected to Strong’s no. 1933 (HAVAH, or HAWAH) meaning “To be,” the actual meaning in God’s true name. The Hebrew letter “Waw” is now in this modern setting “Vav,” however, when God revealed His name it was a Waw, and so His revealed name was YAHAWAH. “YAH To be”, which identifies “YAH Ever-existing.”
To those who insist on using this false, erroneous, name of Jehovah consider this:
According to Revelation in the New Testament, “...Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his fallen angelic beings were cast out with him” (Rev. 12:9). How deceived are we? The Savior has stated, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). This causes great concern when you realize that Christianity is the number one religion in the world! Christ further warns in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons (fallen angelic beings) in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Clearly there are more Christian believers on the broad road of destruction because they follow the traditions and the doctrines of men, which makes them workers of lawlessness! Is not this the warning of the Savior, that echos woe to you, pastors, priests, and teachers, hypocrites! For you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men, and you are like the Sadducees and Pharisees of old; for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, who are as scribes and Pharisees of old, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, religious leaders, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Is this not the echoing warning of our Savior to the Christian leaders, pastors, priests, and teachers of today?
“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
The Only True Name of the Savior:
“An angel of the LORD” revealed the name of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, to Mary and Joseph, and this name is defined, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Because He (YAH) will save (Shua) His people, and therefore His only revealed name is YAHSHUA, which is a unique name as opposed to the more common name among the Jews of Yeshua (Aramaic). “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name (YAH) which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow...and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Messiah is LORD, to the glory of the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For YAH, the LORD is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV).
The name of the Savior, YAHSHUA, is an essential part of our salvation, therefore, inseparable from the Person of our salvation. This is the essence of the Gospel:
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through
Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned;
But he who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18).
“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord YAHSHUA, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17).
Halleluyah, Praise YAH, Praise YAHSHUA, to the glory of God the Father!
