Description

JEHOVAH SHUWB ALROSH

In Jewish thought, a name is not merely an arbitrary designation, a random combination of sounds. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named.

This is not a strange or unfamiliar concept as it may seem at first glance. In English, we often refer to a person’s reputation as his “good name.” When a company is sold, one thing that may be sold is the
company’s “good will,” that is, the right to use thecompany’s name. The Hebrew concept of a name is
very similar to these ideas.

An example of this usage occurs is in Ex. 3:13-22: Here Moses asks God what His “name” is. Moses was not asking “what should I call you;” rather, he was asking “who are you; what are you like; what have you done.” That is clear from God’s response. God replies

‘‘I am that I am’’. God designates Himself by this name, indicated in the original Hebrew as Yod-HehVav-Heh and It is often referred to as the Ineffable Name, the Unutterable Name or the Distinctive Name , hence referred to only by its four consonants YHWH. These four letters as written in Hebrew are referred toas the tetragrammaton. This name was pronounced, by

Hebrew scholars as “Yahweh” or “Yaywah”, and English as Jehovah. More important than the actual pronunciation of the name, is the need to understand its meaning for us.