The Dwelling of the Name: The Meaning of the Name YHWH (Part 2 of 12)

billspivey
Nov 5, 2025
9 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Understanding God’s covenant Name — “I AM WHO I AM”

Introduction

Names have meaning. Many times, parents choose names not just for how they sound but because of their meaning. For example, Bill is the nickname for William. William comes from the German name Wilhelm. It combines two parts - meaning ‘will’ and ‘helmet,’ to form the meaning "resolute protector". This meaning conveys what the parents hope is the basis for their child's character.

In the last blog, we read that Daniel's reference to God was "your Name.” We traced God’s presence moving from a structure to the Spirit.

But in time, God made His personal and divine name known among the descendants of Israel. They knew that when "the Name" was spoken, its meaning gave evidence that God was behind it—not as a newly revealed deity, but as the same God their fathers had known and trusted.

To understand the Name of God rightly, we must go back to its earliest appearance—before law, nation, or temple—to see what God revealed about Himself.

LET'S EXPLORE: From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells one continuous story—God’s desire to be in relationship with His creation, to dwell among His people. When Moses stood before the burning bush and asked God for His Name, the answer revealed the very nature of the One who would dwell with Israel:

“I AM WHO I AM. Tell the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” — Exodus 3:14–15

This second post in The Dwelling of the Name series explains how that declaration — “I AM” — became the foundation for everything that followed—a name of meaning.

1 · The Name Revealed to Moses

Through Moses and the Exodus, a name that is tied to a covenant would be demonstrated in power and remembrance.

Moses grew up in a Pharaoh's household, but his real mother kept him close to his Hebrew heritage. He fled Egypt forty years prior and at age 80 was confronted by the God of his people whom he had long known by heritage, but was now called to know by commission. Moses wanted to know by what authority he was being sent to rescue the Israelites, so that they would recognize the God who stood behind his words and not dismiss him.

“Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD [ehyeh asher ehyeh], the God of your fathers … has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, the Name you shall call Me from generation to generation.’” — Exodus 3:15

God’s reply, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh — ‘I AM WHO I AM’, is in the first-person form of the Hebrew verb to be.

The Israelites knew who this was. The first use is found in Genesis 2:4 in its third-person form as YHWH Elohim (“the LORD God”); words that spoke to Adam & Eve during creation and invoked worship reflected in Genesis 4:26, when “men began to call on the Name of the LORD.”

The patriarchs heard this same name: to Abraham (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 15:7), to Isaac (Genesis 26:2, 24), and to Jacob in a dream at Bethel (Genesis 28:13) He said — ‘I am YHWH, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.’

The patriarchs therefore knew the Name YHWH and confessed Him as God Most High, yet they had not witnessed the full redemptive power that the Name would later display through the Exodus. Through Moses and the Exodus, that same covenant Name would be demonstrated in power—the God already known by the fathers now proving Himself as the One who acts decisively in history. He is the self-existent and faithful One. He depends on nothing outside Himself.

When God says “I AM,” He declares that He is real, constant, and active — the One who keeps His word from generation to generation.

2 · Meaning of Name YHWH from Ehyeh

In Exodus 3:14, God reveals Himself to Moses as ‘Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh’ — ‘I Am Who I Am,’ or ‘I Will Be What I Will Be.’ This Name, Ehyeh, shares the same root letters (H-Y-H) as YHWH. The connection shows that God’s covenant Name is built on the very idea of existence itself — that He is the source of all being and is eternally present.

In Hebrew, the verb hayah means “to be.”

When God speaks of Himself, He says Ehyeh — “I AM.”

When His people speak of Him, they say YHWH — “He is.”

This four-letter form YHWH (called the Tetragrammaton) combines different forms of the Hebrew verb to be:

HaYah (היה) — He was (past)
HoVeh (הוה) — He is (present)
YiHyeh (יהיה) — He will be (future)

The first letter, Yod (י), marks the third-person masculine form in Hebrew grammar — “He will be.”

The middle letters He (ה) and Vav (ו) are shared across the verb’s forms, uniting all three tenses.

Taken together, YHWH expresses that God was, is, and will be —the eternal One who remains present and faithful across all time.

While this form is not a strict grammatical construction, it faithfully expresses the theological force of the Name as Scripture presents it—God who was, is, and will be. In simple terms, when we say YHWH, we are saying that God is always present — He was, He is, and He will be forever.

3 · The Name Bound by Promise and Oath

When God first entered covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15), He did so in a striking and deliberate way. In a covenant ceremony that normally bound both parties, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and alone passed between the divided offering. By this act, God bound Himself to the promise without placing its fulfillment on Abraham.

The covenant rested entirely on what God would do, not on what Abraham could sustain. What God enacted through this covenant action, He later declared openly through an explicitly sworn word after Abraham’s obedience in offering Isaac (Genesis 22). Declaring, “By Myself I have sworn,” the LORD made clear what had already been shown through action: there was no higher authority by which He could swear, and no condition by which the promise could fail. What God had enacted in covenant, He now guaranteed by oath.

"When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ... God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged." — Hebrews 6:13-18

Together, these moments reveal the nature of God’s faithfulness. The covenant was secured by God’s action, and the promise was confirmed by God’s sworn word. Both rested on the same foundation—the unchanging character of YHWH Himself.

From the beginning, God bound His Name to what He had promised: to preserve a people, to bless the nations through them, and to bring about a decisive answer to the problem of sin. The fulfillment of these promises would not depend on human strength or consistency, but on the God who both swore and acted to keep them.

4 · Why the Name Was Revered

Out of reverence, and to avoid blaspheming the Name, Israel stopped pronouncing it directly. Their restraint came from deep respect for God’s holiness and His command not to misuse His Name.

“You shall not misuse the Name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name.” — Exodus 20 : 7

"anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death." — Leviticus 24:16

Instead they said Adonai (“Lord”) or Ha-Shem (“The Name”).

In most English Bibles, LORD in small capitals marks where YHWH appears in Hebrew.

This practice is meant to protect the holiness of the Name and reminds readers that the LORD is not ordinary or common.

It kept His identity sacred and His Presence honored.

5 · The Name and the New Testament

When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, YHWH became Kyrios (“Lord”). The New Testament writers kept that usage.

So when Paul wrote that “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” he was identifying Jesus with the eternal YHWH — the “I AM” of Exodus—now revealed personally rather than from a mountain or a sanctuary (Philippians 2:9–11).

Jesus confirmed this when He said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” (John 8:58-59). The Jewish leaders knew His claim and moved to stone Him for blasphemy.

In ancient Hebrew script, the four letters of YHWH were written with symbols that carried visual meanings:

Yod (י) — “hand/arm”
He (ה) — “behold”
Vav (ו) — “nail” or “peg”
He (ה) — “behold”

While the letters of YHWH are not translated by their pictographic meanings, the ancient Hebrew forms carry visual symbolism that later readers have recognized as strikingly prophetic: “Behold the Hand, Behold the Nail.”

Across centuries, the prophets used this same imagery to describe the coming Redeemer, whether describing a peg that secures what is precious, or foreshadowing the nails that would pierce His hands:

“I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father.” — Isaiah 22:23–25

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.” — Isaiah 49:16

“From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.” — Zechariah 10:4

After His resurrection, Jesus made that prophecy visible—His body still bearing the marks of crucifixion as he spoke to His Apostle Thomas:

“Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” — John 20:27

These verses reveal that the meaning behind God’s covenant Name—the LORD who was, is, and will be—finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

He is the visible expression of the invisible God, the eternal Word made flesh, whose hands still bear the marks of our redemption.

6 · The Name Dwelling Among Us

The same divine Name that spoke from the burning bush was revealed again in the person of Jesus Christ, "the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14)

Through Jesus Christ, the LORD’s name was no longer confined to the Temple or spoken from a mountain. It walked among men, teaching, healing, forgiving, and revealing the Father. In Him, the fullness of God’s presence took human form—the eternal “I AM” living among those He created.

After His resurrection and ascension, that same Presence was poured out upon believers at Pentecost.

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 2:4)

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” — 1 Corinthians 3:16

The glory that once filled the tabernacle and the Temple now fills human hearts.

Through the Spirit, God’s dwelling has moved from stone to Spirit, from a house made with hands to living temples made new by grace.

Living in Light of the Name

1) What you just learned

You have learned that God’s Name is YHWH, a Name known since the time of Adam and Eve and spoken by Israel as the personal Name of the one true God. In the Exodus, this Name was presented more fully as ‘I AM’—the self-existent, eternal, and faithful One who depends on nothing, yet makes Himself known and acts within history according to His purpose. You also learned why Israel treated the Name with extraordinary care: because the Name did not merely identify God, it revealed who He is.

2) Why this is important

This matters because the Name YHWH does not merely describe who God is—it binds Him to what He has sworn. In Scripture, when YHWH swears by Himself, He binds His Name to specific promises that cannot fail. God first demonstrated this when He alone swore the covenant with Abraham, passing through the sacrifice while Abraham slept, making the promise dependent entirely on Himself. The Law revealed the seriousness of sin, but it was never the final solution. In perfect consistency with His Name, YHWH acted by Himself to fulfill what He had sworn, providing a once-for-all redemption through the Messiah. Because these promises rest on God’s own unchanging character, salvation is not fragile, conditional, or temporary—it is as secure as the Name that guarantees it.

3) How this applies to sanctification

Sanctification grows as we rest in his promises and learn to live attentively before an active God. Prayer, study of Scripture, fasting, seeking godly counsel, and fellowship are not attempts to summon God’s attention, but practices that align us with the God who is already present and speaking. Growth in holiness comes as we cultivate habits of listening and discernment—learning to recognize God’s guidance, submit to His timing, and respond faithfully when He calls.

4) Reflection and orientation

If God has always been present and faithful, am I cultivating the same faithfulness toward Him? If He acts purposefully within time, am I willing to be a vessel when He chooses to act through me—patiently listening, reverently waiting, and ready to respond when called? The Name YHWH is not merely spoken—it is kept.

Please visit the website at www.bible-is-history.com

Part 2 of 12 in The Dwelling of the Name Series

Back to Part 1

← Previous Series [From Stone to Spirit]

Next to Part 3

Next in Series → [The Place that bears His Name]

To receive new blog notices (wait for pop-up)