That God, in the revelation of Himself, employs different names for the purposes of that revelation, which bring out some particular character in which He is pleased to act in the display of Himself, every one who has paid the least attention to Scripture is perfectly aware of.
There are three names especially which constitute so many grounds and bases of relationship with Him. He always was what is revealed in each one; but He was it not formally in relationship with man, until revealed for that purpose.
God is the general name of the Being—Elohim.
Almighty was the name He took as the special protector of Abraham—Shaddaϊ.
Jehovah, as in relationship with Israel, the abiding One, “who was, and is, and is to come,” who will accomplish in power what He has promised and undertaken in grace (see Ex. 6:33And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. (Exodus 6:3)). As this was the name He thus formally took with Israel, to whom these oracles were given, He is careful to show, from the outset, that Jehovah their God was the Elohim Shaddai (“God Almighty") of creation and of Abraham. And hence the name of Jehovah is introduced from the beginning of any relationship of God with His creatures, though it was not the name of formal revelation and relationship. (Comp. Gen. 2)
3. The third name is Father. This is with Christians. Hence it is said in 2 Cor. 6:17, 1817Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:17‑18), “Come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” That is, the living God (see verse 16), Jehovah Shaddaϊ makes Himself Father with those who come out and believe.
As soon as God begins to unfold His ways with His creation, to be in relationship with it as a subsisting thing, and the ground on which this is based, and manner in which it has been formed, is developed, He reveals Himself as being that very Jehovah whom the Jews knew as their God. When it was the mere fact of creation in power, the great thing was to show that God, as such, did it. Elohim created, Elohim made; but when God is teaching what He was for this creation, and how He took such a place, He takes a name of relationship in which those to whom the revelation was addressed knew Him as their God. He is called not simply Jehovah, but Jehovah-Elohim, so as to connect the two thoughts, and show the Jehovah their God as Elohim the Creator, the supreme source of all things. And this was of the very last importance. Germans and infidels, who are entirely ignorant really of the whole scope and purport of Scripture, naturally find some reason within the scope of their infidelity (which cannot reach beyond a question of documents), for what is really altogether a perfection, and a pretty evident one for such as are at all attentive to Scripture.