Across the Pastor’s Desk

By the Rev. Todd Walsh, Grace Lutheran Church

What is God’s name? That may sound like a trick question. God! You’ve probably noticed that there are two primary names used for God in the Bible. The most common is “God.” But there is another in the Old Testament that is easy to gloss over. “Lord.” Many of our Bibles will capitalize all the letters. That means a specific word is in used for God.

The great story of the revelation of God’s name is Exodus 3. You may remember it. It’s the scene with Moses on Mount Sinai. God speaks to Moses and sends him to Egypt to free the enslaved Hebrews. But Moses asks God this strange question. “What’s your name?” God responds with what seems to be an equally strange answer. “I am who I am.” At least that’s how most Bibles translate the passage. You will probably also notice notes related to the passage that explain the translation.

So what is happening here? Moses is being given the divine name of God. A literal translation of God’s answer would be, “I am Yahweh.” So what does that mean? It is a personal name. The root of the name is the verb “to be.” So a translation of the divine name would be, “The one who is” or “The one who exists.”

The divine name was so holy that was never to be spoken. The only exception was the Day of Atonement. The High Priest would enter the Temple of Solomon, part the curtain of the tabernacle to enter the Holy of Holies, lift the mercy seat (the lid) of the Ark of the Covenant and whisper God’s name. He would then pray for God to forgive the people. The really weird part of the story is that the High Priest would have a rope tied to his ankle when he entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The reason was quite practical if not comical. If the High Priest mispronounced the divine name and God struck him dead for the infraction, the other priests could simple pull him out of the Temple without risk to themselves! The High Priest also had the option of tugging on the rope as a signal to the other priests outside, “Get me out of here.”

Even most Bibles will not use the divine name. They insert “Lord” in its place. And even today a Jewish person reading from the Torah will hit the divine name and not pronounce it. They say, “Adonai,” which means, “Lord.”

You might think this ankle rope business is “off the wall” behavior. I would tend to agree. But consider the devotion to God’s name that is revealed here. Luther’s Small Catechism gives us a word about how to use God’s name. It doesn’t have anything about whispering or ropes. “We are to fear and love God so that we do not use God’s name to curse, swear, lie or deceive, but we are to use it in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.”

So what am I getting at here?

God has a name. And it is a revealing name. Our God is real. Our God is personal. We can talk to this God in prayer. We can listen to this God in Scripture.

God’s name is powerful. This name can calm troubled spirits and raise us up when we are brought low. This is the name that brought creation into being, the name that created you and me, the name we can call on each today to start anew.

Now let me share with you about another name: the name of Jesus.

Jesus’ name is remarkable. Our English spelling of it is an attempt at translating New Testament Greek trying to translate Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect used in first century Galilee, the place Jesus lived most of his life. Are you still following me here? The Hebrew would be, “Yeshua.” Now we are nearing familiar turf. “Yeshua” is the root of the English name, “Joshua.” The name means, “savior.” Now the name of Jesus makes sense: savior!

Consider the depth of revelation in just those two names we find in our Bibles. We have a God who is real and personal. And we have a God whose intention is made clear in the name of his only Son: savior.