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Pastor Ted Dudak referred to a plaque in his office that shows fifty-two names of Jesus. You think that is a lot? It is! However, his mention of this led me to doing some research on how many names of Jesus are found in Scripture and located He is referenced quite a bit more - one-thousand times! Jesus as we all know is God, and that led me to a further study on the words for God whether as the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. I will cover this in two parts.
When Moses asked God what he should tell the people His name is, “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14) Research shows there are other names for “I am who I am” not listed in every translation, as in the original Hebrew Manuscripts.
There is a song on Christian Radio called “Jireh.” When I first heard the song, I had a difficult time in understanding what they were singing. [Call it old age if you will]. A part of that song is, “Jireh You are enough, Jireh You are enough I will be content in every circumstance, Jireh You are enough. [1]
JEHOVAH (Jĕ hōʹ vah)[2] means “God will provide.” Jehovah is what is called a tetragrammaton. While that is a whopper of a name it simply means the four-letter word found in the Old Testament – YHWH (יהוה, yhwh) in the Bible Translations that show it. It is found more than 6,800 times in the OT. The Jewish people, especially the Hasidic Jews carefully avoid pronouncing God’s divine name, so as not to commit blasphemy.
Therefore, in every Scripture that refers to God we find the tetragrammaton YHWH. The Hebrew language had no vowels, but it is still pronounced Yahweh. Whenever they read through scripture, and they come across that name they substitute the word “Adonai” or its meaning – Lord as in most modern translations.
As previously mentioned, JEHOVAH -JIREH (Jĕ hō vah-jīʹ rĕh) means “God will provide. It goes back to the story of when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son. “So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:14)
JEHOVAH -NISSI (Jĕ hō vah-nĭsʹ sī) is a transliteration of a place after Israel defeated Amalek. “And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,” (Exodus 17:15).
JEHOVAH -SHALOM (Jĕ hō vah-shä lōmʹ) means “Yahweh is peace.” It is found in the story of Gideon being told by God to destroy his father’s altar and the Asherah [side note: Starbucks Logo]. He was further instructed to build a new altar in. Judges 6:25–32. “Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.” (Judges 6:24)
JEHOVAH -SHAMMA (Jĕ hō vah-shămʹ mȧ) means “The Lord is there.” “The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.” (Ezekiel 48:35)
JEHOVAH -TSIDKENU (Jĕ hō vah-tsĭd kĕnʹ ū) Hebrew is a Hebrew name meaning “The Lord [is] our righteousness.”
“In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:6)
“In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 33:16)
El means God – any god and does not necessarily refer to our God. However, the West Semantic culture uses EL to refer to our God as in Gen 31:29; 33:20; Num 12:13. Though often EL denotes other gods or foreign gods as in Exod 15:11; 34:14; Deut 32:21; Psa 44:20). In all the use of EL is used over 2500 times in the Old Testament.
ELOHIM (אֱלֹהִים, elohim). is a masculine plural form of El (אֵל, el). The plural form ELOHIM being plural is used to imply the Triune God of the Bible. However, it also refers to other gods as found in Exodus 12:12;18:11 where it means gods of Egypt. Joshua 24:20, 23 refers to foreign gods.
EL SHADDAI (אֵל שַׁדָּ֥י, el shadday). One of the names applied to Yahweh in the Old Testament found in (Gen17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; Exod 6:3). The name El Shaddai appears mainly in the book of Genesis. In Exodus 6:3, Yahweh says El Shaddai was the name by which He was known to the patriarchs. Ezekiel uses the name once (Ezek 10:5). The label “Shaddai” alone is used more often as a name for God. The meaning of shaddai is uncertain. El (God) Shaddai is traditionally translated as “God Almighty.”
ADONAI, a-dōʹnī, ad-o-nāʹī (אֲדֹנָי, ’ǎdhōnāy)[3] A Divine name, translated “Lord,” and signifying, from its derivation, “sovereignty.”[2] As mentioned above is the tetragrammaton used so as to not pronounce the Holy Name to avoid blasphemy.
For your further edification, you may wish to study the entire stories surrounding the above verses.
Part II Names of God will discus the “Elohistic” Names of God.
[1] Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Christopher Joel Brown / Steven Furtick / Chandler Moore / Naomi Raine Jireh lyrics © Be Essential Songs, Songs By Moworks, Songtrust Ave, Maverick City Publishing, Heritage Worship Music Publishing, Naomi Raine Music
[2] Jehovah-Jireh. (2003). In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 878-879). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Adonai. (1915). In J. Orr, J. L. Nuelsen, E. Y. Mullins, & M. O. Evans (Eds.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vols. 1–5, p. 57). The Howard-Severance Company.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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