This is the second name of God found in the Old Testament. Its first occurrence is found in Gen. 2:44These 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, (Genesis 2:4). It is translated GOD some 300 times, and LORD about 6,000 times. Its meaning is, He, that always was, that always is, that always will be, the Eternal. It is far more numerously mentioned in Scripture than any other name of God. Wherever the reader finds the name of GOD printed in capital letters, or the name LORD printed likewise in capital letters in his Bible, he may in both cases know that it refers to Jehovah.
The meaning of the word, Jehovah, is furnished by God Himself. It is a name setting forth God's covenant relationship with man. You may remember how the Angel of the LORD, in this case none other than Jehovah Himself, spoke to Moses out of the bush which burned with fire, and yet was not consumed. He announced that He had come down to deliver the children of Israel from the cruel bondage of Egypt. We read, " And GOD [Elohim] said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM bath sent me unto you." (Ex. 3:1414And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)). Thus was Moses commissioned to be Jehovah's servant in this matter.
It appears the Jews had a special reverence for the name, Jehovah, so much so that they would not allow the name to pass their lips. They substituted for it Elohim or Adonai, according to the vowel points by which it was accompanied. Smith's Concise Dictionary of the Bible affirms that the true pronunciation of the name, Jehovah, by which God was made known to the Hebrews, has been entirely lost through the Jews scrupulously avoiding its use. Would that we, Christians, showed more reverence when we take the sacred name of God upon our lips!
A good deal of inquiry has arisen over the following verse of Scripture: "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name Jehovah was I not known unto them." (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)). The answer is, that up to the time of the burning bush, though the name of Jehovah occurs frequently on the sacred page, yet in God's oral communications with the early patriarchs the meaning of the word, Jehovah, was not fully revealed, but He presented Himself again and again as the Almighty God. They knew the name, but did not know its significance. We read, " When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD [Jehovah] appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God [Shaddai, Hebrew singular]; walk thou before Me, and be thou perfect." (Gen. 17:11And 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. (Genesis 17:1)). See also Gen. 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:253And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; (Genesis 28:3)
11And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; (Genesis 35:11)
14And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. (Genesis 43:14)
3And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, (Genesis 48:3)
25Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: (Genesis 49:25). These confirm the fact that God presented Himself to the patriarchs as the Almighty God.
To come back to Gen. 1 and 2, why is the name for God Elohim, in Chapter 1, whilst in Chapter 2 from verse 4 we get the double name, Jehovah-Elohim?
A French doctor, Jean Astruc, a man of profligate life, seeking for ways and means of destroying confidence in God's Word, propounded a theory, that because Gen. 50 used the single word, Elohim, and Gen. 2 The double name Jehovah-Elohim for God, that there must have been two original documents written by two different authors, which documents must have been incorporated by some unknown redactor, or editor, into one book. This strange theory found a too ready response with infidels, and the class described by Scripture as "willingly ignorant" (2 Peter 3:55For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (2 Peter 3:5)). What sort of treatment would this French doctor have had, if, having read a Life of the great Napoleon, and finding that he was referred to as Napoleon, and in a subsequent Chapter as Napoleon Buonaparte, had then set forth the theory that here was the work of two authors, which some unknown editor had pieced together? He would have been laughed at for his pains, scoffed at as a man of feeble brains, producing a senseless idea. If we would not treat a secular book after this fashion, why treat a divine book in this way?
The real answer to our question only shows the wonderful inspiration of Holy Scripture. It is surely fitting that Gen. 1, that great Chapter, describing the creation of the mighty universe, and how it was fashioned for man's residence, before man, the topstone of God's handiwork arrived, should use the word, Elohim, the name of the Creator God, of Trinity acting in unity. But in Gen. 2 we do not have a second story of the creation, but how everything was ordered when man arrived on the scene. How fitting surely that the name of Jehovah (God's covenant name for man's blessing) should appear, the name, Elohim, in conjunction with it. How wonderfully the stamp of divine inspiration is seen in the choice of the names of God, where Anstruc, completely blind to spiritual things, failed utterly to see any point or beauty at all.
To show how fully the name of Jehovah is linked up with covenant blessing, we now draw attention to the different ways in which this wonderful name is brought before our notice by the addition of a second name added to Jehovah, thus showing how one blessing after another comes to men, and that through our Lord's Manhood, His wondrous life, and atoning death on the cross. The first in order is Jehovah-Jireh.