Chapter 3
The
Names of God
The aim of this volume is
to better acquaint its readers with the true and living God. If any of our
readers feel that the author is lopsided, and does not maintain the balance of
truth by emphasizing the responsibility of man, we would remind him that our
thesis is God, not man.
There are several sources
of knowledge about God. The heavens and the earth, the things He has made,
reveal His eternal power and Deity, and declare His glory. The human conscience
also testifies to His existence, as do the laws of nature. But the Bible is the
chief source of information about God in His character and work.
The various names and
titles given to God in the Bible reveal much concerning His character and
government. In the Bible the names of persons, places, and things are of great
significance; the names were chosen because of their meaning! We give names to
our children today without any thought of what the name means, and very often
the name is not appropriate to the character that wears it. Many men have worn
the name Jesus, but to only one Man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is
the name appropriate. All the names of God in the Bible are most appropriate and
much can be learned about Him through the study of His names.
The
study of names given to persons and places in the Bible is so entrancing that we
must pursue it a little further before coming to our main theme—The
Names of God. In the Bible names reveal the
character of persons, and commemorate important events. To illustrate we are
taking a number of names somewhat at random. At the battle of Aphek Israel was
defeated by the Philistines, losing thirty thousand footmen; Eli’s two sons,
Hophni and Phinehas, were slain; the Ark of God was taken by the Philistines;
and when the sad news came to the wife of Phinehas, giving her life in
childbirth, on her death bed she named the child Ichabod, which means
“inglorious,” thus signifying that the glory had departed from Israel:
“And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel:
because the Ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her
husband,” (1 Sam. 4:21). The name Moses means
“drawer out,” and was given him by Pharaoh’s daughter, as “she
said,
because I drew him out
of the water,” (Ex. 2:10). The name Samuel was
given to the son of Elkanah and Hannah as a memorial to answered prayer. Samuel
means “heard of God,” and was given him by his mother: “Wherefore
it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that
she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of
the Lord,”
(1 Sam. 1:20). The human name of Jesus was
given to our Lord because it means “Jehovah saves.” When the angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph to
quiet his fears and suspicions concerning his espoused wife, Mary, he announced
the birth of a son, and said “And
she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus:
for he shall save his people from their sins,”
(Matt. 1:21). The name Abraham means “father of a multitude,” and was given to
Abraham by God when He promised him a numerous progeny.
“Neither shall thy
name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of
many nations have I made thee,” (Gen 17:5). Adam
called the creature, taken from his side, woman:
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man,” (Gen.
2:23). When Adam and his wife became sinners by transgressing the law of God,
the gospel was preached to them by God, the gospel that the seed of woman should
bruise the serpent’s head:
“And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” (Gen.
3:15); whereupon, in faith, Adam named the
woman Eve, which means “living,”
“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living,”
(Gen. 3:20).
Eve’s firstborn was named Cain, which means “acquired”, “And
Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have
gotten a man from the
Lord,”
(Gen. 4:1). The word for man in the Hebrew is “ish,”
which means a man of high degree, and it is probable that Eve believed Cain to
be the promised
Redeemer. If so, she was sadly disappointed, and when her next son was born, it
must have been in a spirit of despair that she named him Abel, meaning “vanity
or vapor.” When Samuel had defeated the Philistines on a field of battle between
Mizpeh and Shen, he planted a stone on the very spot of
victory and called it Ebenezer, meaning “the stone
of help,” “Then
Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of
it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the
Lord
helped us,” (1 Sam. 7 :12).
The
Names of God
Some names of God respect
Him as subject: Jehovah, Lord, God; others are predicates, spoken of Him and
attributed to Him: holy, just, good, etc. Some express the relations between the
persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Spirit; and some express the relation
of God to the creatures: Creator, Preserver, Governor, etc. Some names or titles
are common to the three persons, as Jehovah, God, Father, Spirit. And some are
proper names used to express His character and work.
The name of God is what
He IS; it stands for His character. But the Creator is so great that no one name
can possibly be adequate to His greatness. If the heaven of heavens cannot
contain Him, how can a name describe the Creator? So the Bible contains a number
of names of God which reveal Him in the several aspects of His marvelous
personality.
Elohim (Pronounced El-lo-heem)
This is the first name of God in Scripture: “In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth,” (Gen. 1:1). Here it is in the plural form with a singular
verb, denoting plurality of persons in unity of essence or being. This name is
expressive of God’s greatness and power. It is the creatorial name of God, and
is used exclusively in the account of creation: “In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the
light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God
called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the
morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst
of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the
firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament
Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let
the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering
together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God
said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit
tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and
it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his
kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and
God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the
day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars
also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from
the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature
that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and
every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed
them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and
let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth
day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,
cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was
so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their
kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw
that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed
them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God
said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face
of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every
fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there
is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw
every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the
heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the
Lord God made the earth and the heavens ,” (Gen.
1:1-2:4).
Elohim is always translated “God” in our English Bible. According to the
prevailing opinion of scholars the word is derived from a root in the Arabic
language which means to worship. Weight is given to this opinion when we observe
that the word is sometimes used improperly of angels, of men, and of false
deities. In Psalm 8:5 “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
and hast crowned him with glory and honour” the word for angels is elohim, and
angels are sometimes improperly worshipped. In Psalm 82:1and 6: “God standeth in
the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods...I have said, Ye are
gods; and all of you are children of the most High,” elohim is translated gods,
and is used of men. Also in John 10:34,35: “Jesus answered them, Is it not
written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the
word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken”. In Jeremiah 10:10-12 “But
the Lord
is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the
earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the
earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He
hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom,
and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” We have the true God (elohim)
in contrast with “the gods (elohim) that have not made the heavens and the
earth,” thus implying that none but the Creator is the proper object of worship.
El-Shaddi (Pronounced el
Shad-di)
This compound word is translated God Almighty (El for God and Shaddai for
Almighty). The title EL is for God in the singular, and means strong or mighty.
EL is translated God 250 times in the Old Testament. The title is generally
connected with some
attribute or perfection of God; as,
“Almighty
God:” “And
Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him,” (Gen.
17:3); “Everlasting God:”
“And Abraham planted a
grove in Beersheba,
and called there on the name of the
Lord,
the everlasting God,” (Gen. 21:33);
“A
jealous God:”
“Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the
Lord
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,” (Ex.
20:5); “The
living God:”
“And Joshua said,
Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without
fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites,
and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites,” (Joshua
3:10).
SHADDAI, always translated Almighty, means sufficient or resourceful. It is
thought the word comes from SHADDAY, meaning breasts. The word breast is used in
the Scriptures as an emblem of blessing and nourishment. In pronouncing his
dying blessing upon Joseph, Jacob, among other things, said,
“Even by the God
(EL)
of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty
(Shaddai),
who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that
lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:” (Gen.
49:25). Isaiah, describing the future excellency and blessings of
Satan is a competitor of
God and a counterfeiter of His works. Therefore, we may expect to find in
heathen religions imitations of God in the several aspects of His character and
government. This point is well illustrated in the following quotation taken from
the book by Nathan J. Stone on the “Names of God in the Old Testament.”
Such a conception of a
god or deity was not uncommon to the ancients. The idols of the ancient heathen
are sometimes termed sheddim in the Bible. It is no doubt because they were
regarded as the great agents of nature or the heavens, in giving rain, in
causing the earth to send forth its springs, to yield its increase, its fruits
to maintain and to nourish life. There were many breasted idols worshipped among
the heathen. One historian points out that ‘the whole body of the Egyptian
goddess Isis was clustered over with breasts because all things are sustained or
nourished by the earth or nature.’ The same was true of the idol of the Ephesian
goddess Diana in the nineteenth chapter of Acts, for Diana signified nature and
the world with all its products.
This name of God first appeared in connection with Abram:
“And when Abram
was ninety years old and nine, the
Lord
appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and
be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will
multiply thee exceedingly,” (Gen. 17:1, 2).
Years before and on different occasions, God promised Abram that He would make
of him a great nation and a numerous progeny. The years came and passed and no
child was born to Abram and Sarah. Then he resorted to that fleshly expedient
which brought Ishmael and Mohammedanism into the world. And God’s promise was
still unfulfilled. And now, according to the laws of nature, it is too late,
Abram is ninety-nine and Sarah ninety. And then it was that God appeared to him
as God-Almighty (EL-SHADDAI), and repeated the promise. And here it was that his
name was changed from Abram to Abraham, meaning “father of many nations.”
“Neither shall thy
name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of
many nations have I made thee,” (Gen 17:5). Here
was a staggering promise, but it did not stagger Abraham,
“He staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to
God:” (Rom. 4:20). Abraham’s strong faith was based
upon this new revelation of God as God-Almighty (EL-SHADDAI).
“And being not weak in
faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:” (Rom
4:19). His thoughts were upon an All-sufficient God. Here is a fine illustration
of the difference between nature’s law and nature’s God. The laws of nature
could not produce an Isaac, but it was not too much for nature’s God. It matters
not if everything is against God; He is all-sufficient in Himself.
Adonai (Pronounced A-do-ni)
This name or title of God is in the plural, denoting a plurality of persons in
the Godhead. It is translated Lord in our King
James version, and expresses the relationship of a master and slave. When used
in the possessive it is an acknowledgment of God’s ownership and authority.
Slavery is a blessing when God is the Owner and Lord. And in the days of Abraham
when slavery was the order between man and man it was not an unmitigated evil.
The purchased slave had the protection and privileges not enjoyed by the hired
servant. The bought slave was to be circumcised and allowed to eat the Passover:
“But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised
him, then shall he eat thereof,” (Ex. 12:44).
This word in the singular (ADON) is applied to man more than two hundred times
in the Old Testament, and is variously translated lord, master, owner. This name
for God is first used in the Old Testament in connection with Abraham. Abraham
was the first man to address God as ADONAI. Abraham as a slave owner also
acknowledges God as his Master
and Owner. When Abraham had returned from the slaughter of
the king’s, and had rescued Lot, the king of
Jehovah (Pronounced
Je-ho-vah)
This is the most famous of the names of God, and is predicated of Him as a
necessary and self-existent Being. The meaning is:
He that always was, that
always is, and that ever is to come. We have it
thus translated in Revelation 1:4: “John
to the seven churches which are in
Jehovah is the personal, proper, and incommunicable name of God. In Psalm. 83:18
we read: “That
men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all
the earth.” The other names of God are sometimes
applied to creatures, but the name Jehovah is used exclusively of the true and
living God.
The
Jews had a superstitious reverence for this name
of God and would not pronounce it when reading, but
would substitute other names as Adonai and Elohim. This is the name of God in
covenant relation with man. It occurs about seven thousand times and is usually
translated “Lord” in our King James version. As already noted it includes all
tenses, past, present, and future. The name comes from a root which signifies
“to be.”
Of the relation between
Elohim and Jehovah, A. W. Pink has some illuminating remarks in his book, “The
Divine Inspiration of the Bible,” and we quote:
The names Elohim and Jehovah are found on the pages of the
Old Testament several thousand times, but they are never employed loosely or
used alternately. Each of these names has a definite significance and scope, and
were we to substitute the one for the other the beauty and perfection of a
multitude of passages would be destroyed. To illustrate: the word God occurs all
through Genesis 1, but “Lord God” in Genesis 2. Were these two Divine titles
reversed here, a flaw and blemish would be the consequences. “God” is the
creatorial title, whereas “Lord” implies covenant relationship and shows God’s
dealings with His own people. Hence, in Genesis 1, “God” is used, and in Genesis
2, “Lord God” is employed, and all through the remainder of the Old Testament
these two Divine titles are used discriminately and in harmony with the meaning
of first mention. One or two examples must suffice. “And
they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the
breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as
God (Elohim, C. D. C.)
had commanded him.”
“God” because it was the Creator commanding with respect to His creatures, as
such; but in the remainder of the same verse, we read, “and
the Lord (Jehovah, C. D. C.)
shut him in,”
(Gen. 7:15,16), because God’s action here toward Noah was based upon covenant
relationship. When going forth to meet Goliath David said
“This day will
the Lord
(Jehovah)
deliver thee into mine hand (because David was in
covenant relationship with him);
and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the
carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and
to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth
(which was not in covenant relationship with Him)
may know that there is a God (Elohim)
in Israel. And all this assembly (which were in
covenant relationship with him)
shall know that the
Lord
(Jehovah)
saveth not with
sword and spear: for the battle is the
Lord’s,
and he will give you into our hands,” (1
Sam. 17:46,47). Once more: “And
it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they
said, It is the king of
The Jehovah Titles
The name Jehovah is often
used as a compound with other names to set forth the true God in some aspect of
His character in meeting the needs of His people. There are fourteen of these
Jehovah titles in the Old Testament, but there is not space in this volume to
treat each one separately. It must suffice for us to present them and give a few
references where they are used:
·
JEHOVAH-HOSEENU, “Jehovah our Maker.”
“O come, let us
worship and bow down: let us kneel before the
Lord
our maker,” (Ps. 95:6).
·
JEHOVAH-JIREH, “Jehovah will provide.” “And
Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day,
In the mount of the
Lord
it shall be seen,” (Gen. 22:14).
·
JEHOVAH-ROPHECA, “Jehovah that healeth thee.”
“And said, If thou
wilt diligently hearken to the voice
of the Lord
thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his
commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the
Lord
that healeth thee,” (Ex. 15:26).
·
JEHOVAH-NISSI, “Jehovah my banner.”
“And Moses built an
altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi,” (Ex.
17:15).
·
JEHOVAH-M’KADDESH, “Jehovah that doth sanctify you:”
“Speak thou also
unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is
a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I
am the Lord
that doth sanctify you,” (Ex. 31:13);
“And ye shall
keep my statutes, and do them: I am the
Lord
which sanctify you,” (Lev. 20:8).
·
JEHOVAH-ELOHEENU, “Jehovah our God.”
“Exalt ye the Lord
our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy...He spake unto them in
the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies,
and
the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answeredst them, O
Lord
our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of
their inventions,” (Ps. 99:5,7,8).
·
JEHOVAH-ELOHEKA, “Jehovah thy God.”
“I am the Lord
thy God, which have brought thee out of the
·
JEHOVAH-ELOHAY, “Jehovah my God.”
“And ye shall flee to
the valley of the mountains; for
the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as
ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of
·
JEHOVAH-SHALOM, “Jehovah send peace.”
“Then Gideon built an
altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet
in Ophrah of the Abiezrites,” (Judges 6:24).
·
JEHOVAH-TSEBAHOTH, “Jehovah of hosts.”
“And this man
went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the
Lord
of hosts in
·
JEHOVAH-ROHI, “Jehovah my shepherd.”
“The
Lord
is my shepherd; I shall not want,” (Ps.
23:1).
·
JEHOVAH-HELEYON, “Jehovah most high.”
“I will praise
the Lord
according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the
Lord
most high,” (Ps. 7:17);
“For the
Lord
most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth,” (Ps.
47:2);
“For thou, Lord,
art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods,” (Ps.
97:9).
·
JEHOVAH-TSIDKEENU, “Jehovah our righteousness.”
“In his days
·
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, “Jehovah is there.”
“It was round about
eighteen thousand measures: and
the name of the city from that day shall be, The
Lord
is there,” (Ezek. 48 :35).
The Names of God in the
New Testament
1.
THEOS. In the Greek
New Testament this is the general name of God, and corresponds with Elohim of
the Hebrew Old Testament. It is applied to all three persons of the Trinity, but
especially to God the Father.
2.
PATER. This title
corresponds with Jehovah of the Old Testament and expresses the relationship we
have with God through Christ. It is applied to God two hundred and sixty five
times and is always translated Father.
3.
DESPOTEES (English Despot). This title sets forth God in His absolute
sovereignty, and is similar to Adonai of the Old Testament. It occurs only five
times in the New Testament:
“Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word,” (Luke
2:29); “And
when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and
said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and
all that in them is,” (Acts 4:24); “But
there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction,” (2
Pet. 2:1); “For
there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and
denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Jude
4); “And they
cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Rev.
6:10).
4.
KURIOS. This word is
found hundreds of times and is translated lord, Lord, master, Master, owner, and
sir. In quotations from the Hebrew it is often used for Jehovah. It is a title
of the Lord Jesus as master and owner.
5.
CHRISTOS. This word means the Anointed and is translated Christ. It comes from
chrio to anoint. It is the official
name of the long promised and long expected Messiah or Savior. The New Testament
applies this title to Jesus of Nazareth exclusively.
From all these names of
the Supreme Being we learn that He is the eternal, immutable, self-existent,
self-sufficient, and all-sufficient being; and is the supreme object of fear,
trust, adoration, and obedience.
To the author this study
has been interesting, and at the same time tedious and difficult, and the reader
will have to be a patient plodder if he is to get the most out of it. What a
marvelous revelation we have of the great God in these various names!
