Theological Term of the Week: Tetragrammaton

tetragrammaton
The four Hebrew letters יהוה (YHWH) that represent the divine name of God in the Old Testament. (Tetragrammaton means “four letters.”)  

• The tetragrammaton in scripture:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (Deut. 6:4-5 ESV).

I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols (Isaiah 42:8 ESV).

• From Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, page 42:

The word Yahweh comes from the tetragrammaton YHWH, which occurs nearly seven thousand times in the Bible and is rendered in most English translations as “LORD” (in small capital letters).*

Although the name Yahweh was not unknown in the days of the patriarchs, we might say the official revelation of the name didn’t take place until the burning bush in Exodus 3:13-15. Moses asks God for his name in verse 13, and God responds in verse 14 by linking “the God of you fathers” with the name I Am Who I Am (ehyeh asher ehyeh). This name, in turn is connected to the covenant name, the LORD (yhwh), given in verse 15. Yahweh comes from the Hebrew verbal root hayah, meaning “to be,” the same word used in the previous verse (ehyeh asher ehyeh). Yahweh is the most important name for God in the Old Testament because it was God’s way of reminding his people, “I am your God. I have been your God. I will be your God. And I am the only God. This is what it means for me to be your God. I am the self-existent, transcendent, independent Great I Am. I am the Lord.”                     

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is YHWH?
2. Bible Hub: Tetragrammaton 
3. Bible Study: What Is the Tetragrammaton?
4. Ligonier Ministries: Yahweh
5. Derek W.H. Thomas: What’s In a Name?
6. Bible Research: The Translation of the Tetragrammaton

Related terms:

• Adonai
• aseity
• Elohim 
• eternality
• transcendence

*Which I don’t know how to do. I tried to figure it out but gave up.

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

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Sunday Hymn: There Is a Green Hill Far Away

There is a green hill far away,
Outside a ci­ty wall,
Where the dear Lord was cru­ci­fied,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we can­not tell,
What pains He had to bear;
But we be­lieve it was for us
He hung and suf­fered there.

He died that we might be for­giv’n,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to Heav’n,
Saved by His pre­cious blood.

There was no oth­er good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He on­ly could un­lock the gate
Of Hea­ven and let us in.

O dear­ly, dear­ly has He loved,
And we must love Him, too,
And trust in His re­deem­ing blood,
And try His works to do.

—Cecil F. Alexander

Sunday Hymn: All Things Bright and Beautiful

Refrain

All things bright and beau­ti­ful,
All crea­tures great and small,
All things wise and won­der­ful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each lit­tle flow­er that op­ens,
Each lit­tle bird that sings,
He made their glow­ing col­ors,
He made their ti­ny wings.

The pur­ple head­ed mount­ains,
The river run­ning by,
The sun­set and the morn­ing
That bright­ens up the sky.

The cold wind in the win­ter,
The plea­sant sum­mer sun,
The ripe fruits in the gar­den,
He made them ev­ery one.

The tall trees in the green­wood,
The mea­dows where we play,
The rush­es by the wa­ter,
To ga­ther ev­ery day.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Al­migh­ty,
Who has made all things well.

—Cecil F. Alexander