Jehovah

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self-subsisting
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


JEHOVAH—See God, § 2 (f).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Jahaveh or Yahaveh is probahly the correct form (the vowel pointing in Jehovah is derived from A-d-o-n-ay) from the substantive verb haawah (found only six times in the Bible; obsolete in Moses' time; retained in Chaldee and Syriac from a time anterior to the division of the Semitic languages), for the more modern haayah, to be; a proof of the great antiquity of the name: "I AM THAT I AM" is the key of the name (Exo_3:14), expressing unchanging Being. The name was old and known long before; it appears compounded in Jo-chebed and Mor-iah, and simply in Genesis 2 and afterward. But its significance in relation to God's people was new, and now first becoming experimentally known. (See GENESIS; GOD; EXODUS.)
Exo_6:2-3; "I am JEHOVAH, and I appeared unto Abraham,... by the name of God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known": its full and precious import is only now about to be revealed. To the patriarchs He was known, when giving the promises, as GOD, Almighty to fulfill them (Gen_17:1); to Moses as Jehovah unchangeably faithful (Mal_3:6) in keeping them; compare Heb_13:8, which identifies Jesus with Jehovah. Elohim can do all that He wills; Yahweh will do all that He has promised. Elohim (the plural expressing the fullness of God's powers) is appropriate to creation (Genesis 1 - 2:3); JEHOVAH ELOHIM to paradise and to the covenant of grace at the fall; the combination identifies the Jehovah of the moral government with the Elohim of creation.
If JEHOVAH had been a name of more recent introduction, the whole nation would never have accepted it with such universal reverence. Elohim appears in the trial of Abraham's faith (Genesis 22); Jehovah, in its triumph. The last 19 chapters of Genesis, from Jacob's meeting the angels and Esau, have Elohim alone (except in the history of Judah and Pharez, Genesis 38; and Joseph's first entrance into Egypt, Genesis 39; and Jacob's dying exclamation, Gen_49:18; the beginning and close of the long period of sorrow and patient waiting) to prepare by contrast for the fuller revelation to Moses, when Jehovah is made known in its full and experimental preciousness. "To be made known" (Exo_6:3) means to be manifested in act (Psa_9:17; Psa_48:3-6), making good in fact all that was implied in the name (Eze_20:9) (nodatiy).
The name was not new to Israel, for it occurs before Exo_6:3 in Exo_3:16; Exo_4:1. ELOHIM, from aalah "to be strong" (Furst), rather than from Arabic aliha, "astonishment", alaha, "worship" (Hengstenberg), the Deity, expresses His eternal power and Godhead manifested in nature, commanding our reverence; JEHOVAH the Personal God in covenant with His people, manifesting boundless mercy, righteousness, and faithfulness to His word. So "Immanuel" is used not of the mere appellation, but of His proving in fact to be what the name means (Isa_7:14). The "I AM" (Exo_3:14) is to be filled up thus: I am to My people all whatever they want. Prayer is to supply the ellipsis, pleading God's covenanted promises: light, life, peace, salvation, glory, their exceeding great reward, etc. I am all that My word declares, and their threefold nature, body, soul, and spirit, requires. I am always all this to them (Joh_8:58). "Before Abraham began, to be (Greek) I am" (Mat_28:20).
The Jews by a misunderstanding of Lev_24:16 ("utters distinctly" instead of "blasphemeth") fear to use the name, saying instead "the name," "the four lettered name," "the great and terrible name." So Septuagint, Vulgate, and even KJV (except in four places "Jehovah": Isa_12:2; Isa_26:4; Exo_6:3; Psa_83:18) has "THE LORD," which in CAPITALS represents JEHOVAH, in small letters Adonai. Maimonides restricts its use to the priests' blessings and to the sanctuary; others to the high priest on the day of atonement, when entering the holy of holies. The Samaritans pronounced the name Yabe (Theodoret); found also in Epiphanius; Yahu in such names as Obadiah (Obad-yahu).
So that Jahveh (or Yahveh or Yahweh) seems the correct pronunciation. The Hebrew said the Elohim, in opposition to false gods; but never the Jehovah, for Jehovah means the true God only. Again, My God, Elohay, but not My Jehovah, for Jehovah by itself means this covenant relation to one. Again, the Elohim of Israel; but not the Jehovah of Israel, for there is no other Jehovah. Again, the living Elohim, but not the living Jehovah; for Jehovah means this without the epithet. Jehovah is in Old Testament the God of redemption. The correlative of Elohim is man, of Jehovah redeemed man. Elohim is God in nature, Jehovah God in grace (Exo_34:6-7).
Elohim is the God of providence; Jehovah is the God of promise and prophecy; hence, the prophets' formula is, "thus saith Jehovah," not Elohim. Elohim is wider in meaning, embracing the representatives of Deity, angels and human judges and rulers (Psa_82:6; Joh_10:34-35). Jehovah is deeper, the incommunicable name. The more frequent use of the name Jehovah from Samuel's time is due to the religious revival then inaugurated, and to the commencement of the regular school of prophets. In the first four verses of the Bhagavat God says to Brahma, "I was at first ... afterward I AM THAT WHICH IS, and He who must remain am I." (Sir W. Jones).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Jeho'vah. (I am; the eternal living one). The Scripture appellation of the supreme Being, usually interpreted as signifying self-derived and permanent existence. The Jews scrupulously avoided every mention of this name of God, substituting in its stead, one or other of the words with whose proper vowel-points it may happen to be written. This custom, which had its origin in reverence, was founded upon an erroneous rendering of Lev_24:16 from which it was inferred that the mere utterance of the name constituted a capital offence. According to Jewish tradition, it was pronounced, but once a year, by the high priest on the Day of Atonement when he entered the Holy of Holies; but on this point, there is some doubt.
When Moses received his commission to be the deliverer of Israel, the Almighty, who appeared in the burning bush, communicated to him, the name which he should give as the credentials of his mission: "And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM (ehyea asher ehyeh); and he said, 'Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' " That this passage is intended to indicate the etymology of Jehovah, as understood by the Hebrews, no one has ventured to doubt.
While Elohim exhibits God displayed in his power as the creator and governor of the physical universe, the name Jehovah designates his nature as he stands in relation to man, as the only almighty, true, personal, holy Being, a spirit and "the father of spirits," Num_16:22, compare Joh_4:24, who revealed himself to his people, made a covenant with them, and became their lawgiver, and to whom all honor and worship are due.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

יהוה , the proper and incommunicable name of the Divine Essence. That this divine name, Jehovah, was well known to the Heathens, there can be no doubt. Sanchoniathon writes Jebo; Diodorus, the Sicilian, Macrobius, St. Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Jerom, and Origen, pronounce Jao; Epiphanius, Theodoret, and the Samaritans, Jabe, Jave. We likewise find in the ancients, Jahoh, Javo, Javu, Jaod. The Moors call their god Jaba, whom some believe to be the same as Jehovah. The Latins, in all probability, took their Javis, or Jovis Pater, from Jehovah.
The Jews, after their captivity in Babylon, out of an excessive and superstitious respect for this name, left off to pronounce it, and thus lost the true pronunciation. The Septuagint generally renders it Κυριος, “the Lord.” Origen, St. Jerom, and Eusebius, testify that in their time the Jews left the name of Jehovah written in their copies in Samaritan characters, instead of writing it in the common Chaldee or Hebrew characters; which shows their veneration for this holy name: and the fear they were under, lest strangers, who were not unacquainted with the Chaldee letters and language, should discover and misapply it. The Jews call this name of God the Tetragrammaton, or the name with four letters. It would be waste of time and patience to repeat all that has been said on this incommunicable name: it may not be amiss, however, to remind the reader,
1. That although it signifies the state of being, yet it forms no verb.
2. It never assumes a plural form.
3. It does not admit an article, or take an affix.
4. Neither is it placed in a state of construction with other words;
though other words may be in construction with it.
It seems to be a compound of יה , the essence, and הוה , existing; that is, always existing; whence the word eternal appears to express its import; or, as it is well rendered, “He who is, and who was, and who is to come,”
Rev_1:4; Rev_11:17; that is, eternal, as the schoolmen speak, both a parte ante, and a parte post. Compare Joh_8:58. It is usually marked by an abbreviation, י , in Jewish books, where it must be alluded to. It is also abbreviated in the term יה , Jah, which, the reader will observe, enters into the formation of many Hebrew appellations. See JAH.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

See YAHWEH.
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

jē̇-hō?va, je-hō?va. See GOD, NAMES OF, II, 5.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Jeho?vah, or rather perhaps Jahveh, the name by which God was pleased to make Himself known, under the covenant, to the ancient Hebrews (Exo_6:2-3). The import of this name has been considered under the head God.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Jehovah
(יְהוָֹה, Yehovah', Sept. usually ὁ Κω῏/ριος, Auth. Vers. usually “the LORD”), the name by which God was pleased to make himself known, under the covenant, to the ancient Hebrews (Exo_6:2-3), although it was doubtless in use among the patriarchs, as it occurs even in the history of the creation (Gen_2:4). The theory of Schwind (Semitische Denkm. 1792), that the record is of later origin than the Mosaic age, is based upon the false assumption that the Hebrews had previously been polytheistic. SEE GENESIS; SEE GOD.
I. Modern Pronunciation of the Name. — Although ever since the time of Galatinus, a writer of the 16th century (De arcanis catholicae veritatis, lib. 3) — not, as according to others, since Raymund Martin (see Gusset. Lex. p. 383) — it has been the almost universal custom to pronounce the name יְהוָֹה (in those copies where it is furnished with vowels), Jehovah, yet, at the present day, most scholars agree that this pointing is not the original and genuine one, but that these vowels are derived from those of אֲדֹנָי, Adonai. For the later Hebrews, even before the time of the Sept. version, either following some old superstition (compare Herod. 2:86; Cicero, De nat. deor. 3, 56) or deceived by a false interpretation of a certain Mosaic precept (Lev_24:16), have always regarded this name as too sacred even to be pronounced (Philo, De vit. Mosis, 3, 519, 529, ed. Colon.; Joseph. Ant. 2 ,12, 4; Talmud, Sanhed. 2, 90, a; Maimonides in Jad. Chasaka, 14, 10; also in More Nebochim, 1, 61; Theodoret, Quoest. 13 in Exodus; Eusebius, Praep. Evangel. 2, 305). Wherever, therefore, this ineffable name is read in the sacred books, they pronounced אֲדֹנָי, “Adonay,” Lord, in its stead; and hence, when the Masoretic text came to be supplied with the vowels, the four letters יהוה were pointed with the vowels of this word, the initial taking, as usual, a simple instead of a compound Sheva. This derivation of the vowels is evident from the peculiar pointing after the prefixes, and from the use of the Dagesh after it, in both which particulars it exactly imitates the peculiarities of אֲדֹנָי, and likewise from the varied pointing when following אֲדֹנָי, in which case it is written יהֵוַֹה and pronounced אֵֹּלהַים, “Elohim,” God, the vowels of which it then borrows, to prevent the repetition of the sound Adonay. That a similar law or notion prevailed even before the Christian era may be inferred from the fact that the Septuag. renders יְהוָֹה by ὁ Κύριος, like אֲדֹנָי; and even the Samaritans observed the same custom, for they used to pronounce יהוה by the word שַׁימָא, Shima, i.e. THE NAME (Reland, De Samaritanis, p. 12; Huntington, Letters, p. 33). (See, on this subject generally, Hadr. Reland, Decas exercitationum philol. de vera pron. nominis Jehova [Traj. ad Rhen. 1707]).
II. True Pointing of the Word. — Maimonides (More Nebochim, 1, 62) gives an obscure account of the traditional and secret method of teaching its true pronunciation to the priests, but avers that it was unknown from its form. Many adduce the statements of Greek writers, as well profane as Church fathers, that the deity of the Hebrews was called Jao, ΙΑΩ (a few Ιευω, Ιαου), Theodoret alone adding that the Samaritan pronunciation was IABE (Diod. Sic. 1, 94; Porphyry in Eusebius, Proep. Ev. 10, 11; Tzetzes, Chiliad. 7, 126; Hesychius often; Clemens Alex. Strom. 5, p. 666, Oxon.; Origen, in Dan. vol. 2, p. 45; Irenaeus, Hoeres. 2, 66; Jerome, in Psalms 8; Theodoret, Quoest. 15 in Exodus; Epiphanius, Hoer. 20). The Gnostics classed Ι᾿αω, as the Hebrew divinity, among their sacred emanations (Irenaeus, 1, 34; Epiph. Hoer. 26), along with several of his appellations (see Mather, Histoire du Gnosticisme, tab. 8-10; Bellermann, Ueber die Gemmen der Alten mit dem Abraxasbilde, fasc. 1, 2, Berlin, 1817, 1818); and that famous oracle of Apollo, quoted by Macrobius (Sat. 1, 18), ascribing this name (Ι᾿αώ) to the sun, appears to have been of Gnostic origin (Jablonski, Panth. AEgypt. 1, 250 sq.).
Hence many recent writers have followed the opinion of those who think that the word in question was originally pronounced יְהוָֹה, Yahvoh', corresponding to the Greek Ι᾿αώ. But this view, as well as that which maintains the correctness of the common pointing יהוה (Michaelis, Supplem. p. 524; Meyer, Blätter für höhere Wahrheit, 11, p. 306), is opposed to the fact that verbs, of the class (ל8ה) from which this word appears to be derived do not admit such a pointing (Cholem) with their second radical. Moreover, the simple letters in יהוה would naturally be pronounced Jao by a Greek without any special pointing. Those, therefore, appear to have the best reason who prefer the pointing יִהְוֶה, Yahveh' (not יִהֲוֶה, Yahaveh', for the first ה being a mappik-he [as seen in the form יָהּ, kindred sum, esse] does not take the compound Sheva), as being at once agreeable to the laws of Hebrew vocalization, and a form from which all the Greek modes of writing (including the Samaritan, as cited by Theodoret) may naturally have sprung (י=t, ו=o as a “mater lectionis,” and ה being silent; thus leaving a as the representative of the first vowel). From this, too, the apocapated forms יָהוּ and יָהּ may most readily be derived; and it is further corroborated by the etymology. Ewald was the first who used in all his writings, especially in his translations from the O.T. Scriptures, the form Jahve, although in his youth he had taken ground in favor of Jehovah (comp. his Ueber d. Composition der Genesis, Brunswick, 1823). Another defender of Jahveh was Hengstenberg (Beiträge zur Einleit. ins A. T. Berlin, 1831-39, vol. 2). Strongest in defense of Jehovah is, among prominent German theologians, Hölemann, Bibelstudien (Leipzig, 1859-60), vol. 1.
III. Proper Signification of the Term. — A clue to the real import of this name appears to be designedly furnished in the passage where it is most distinctively ascribed to the God of the Hebrews, Exo_3:14 : “And God said to Moses, I shall be what I shall be (אֲשֶׁר אְֵהיֶה אְֵּהיֶה); and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, The I SHALL BE has sent me to you” (where the Sept. and later versions attempt to render the spirit of the Hebrew אְֵהיְה by ὁ ὤν,, the Venetian Greek barbarously ἡ ὀντώτης, Vulg. qui sum, A. Vers. “I am”). Here the Almighty makes known his unchangeable character, implied in his eternal self-existence, as the ground of confidence for the oppressed Israelites to trust in his promises of deliverance and care respecting them. The same idea is elsewhere alluded to in the Old Test., e.g. Mal_3:6, “I am Jehovah; change not;” Hos_12:6, “Jehovah is his memento.” The same attribute is referred to in the description of the divine Redeemer in the Apocalypse (Rev_1:4; Rev_1:8, ὁ ὣν καὶ ἠν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, a phrase used indeclinably, with designed identification with Jehovah, see Stuart, Commentary, ad loc.), with which has been aptly compared the famous inscription on the Saitic temple of Isis (Ε᾿γώ εἰμι τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ ὃν καὶ ἐσόμενον, Plutarch, De Isid. et Osir. 9), and various parallel titles of heathen mythology, especially among Eastern nations. Those, however, who compare the Greek and Roman deities, Jupiter, Jove, Διός, etc., or who seek an Egyptian origin for the name, are entirely in error (see Tholuck's treatise transl. in the Bib. Repos. 1834. p. 89 sq.; Hengstenberg, Genuineness of the Pentateuch, 1, 213; for other Shemitic etymologies, see Fürst, s.v.). Nor are those (as A. M'Whorter, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, Jan. 1857, who appears to have borrowed his idea from the Journ. of Sac. Lit. Jan. 1854, p. 393 sq.; see Tyler, Jehovah the Redeemer, Lond. 1861) entirely correct (see Fürst's Heb. Wörterb. s.v.) who regard יִהְוֶהas= יִהֲוֶה, and this as the actual fut. Kal of the verb הָוָה= הָיָה, and so render it directly he shall be, i.e. He that shall be; since this form, if a verb at all, would be in the Hiphil (see Koppe ad Exod. loc., in Pottii Syll. 4, p. 59; Bohlen, ad Gen. p. 103; Vatke, Theolog. Bibl. p. 671) and would signify he that shall cause to be, i.e. the Creator; for the real fut. Kal is יַהְיֶה, Yihyeh', as frequently occurs. It is rather a denominative, i.e. noun or adj., formed by the prepositive יprefixed to the verb root, and pointed like יִבְנֶהand other nouns of similar formation (Nordheimer's Hebr. Gram. § 512; Lee's Hebr. Gram. § 159). The word will thus signify the Existent, and designate one of the most important attributes of Deity, one that appears to include all other essential ideas.
IV. Application of the Title. — The supreme Deity and national God of the Hebrews is called in the O.T. by his own name Jehovah, and by the appellative ELOHIM, i.e. God, either promiscuously, or so that one or the other predominates according to the nature of the context or the custom of the writer. Jehovah Elohim, commonly rendered the “Lord God,” is used by apposition, and not, as some would have it, Jehovah of gods, i.e. chief or prince of gods. This is the customary appellation of Jehovah in Genesis 2, 3; Exo_9:30, etc. Far more frequent is the compounded form when followed by a genitive, as “Jehovah God of Israel” (Jos_7:13; Jos_8:30); “Jehovah God of thy fathers” (Deu_1:21; Deu_6:3); “Jehovah God, thy God” (Deu_1:31; Deu_2:7); “Jehovah of hosts,” i.e. of the celestial armies. SEE HOST.
It will be evident to the attentive reader that the term Lord, so frequently applied to Christ in the N.T., is generally synonymous with Jehovah in the Old Test. As Christ is called “The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty;” and also, of him it is said, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever; he must be Jehovah, the eternally existing and supreme God (Psa_102:25-27; Heb_1:10-12; Heb_13:8; Rev_1:4; Rev_1:8). See LOGOS. JAH (יָהּ, Yah, Sept. Κύριος, Auth. Vers. “Lord,” except in Psa_68:4) is a poetic form abbreviated from Jehovah, or perhaps from the more ancient pronunciation Jahveh. It is chiefly employed in certain customary formulas or refrains (as a proper title in Psa_89:9; Psa_94:7; Psa_94:12; Isa_38:11; Exo_15:2; Psa_118:4; Isa_12:2; Psa_68:5; Isa_26:4). This, as well as a modification of JEHOVAH, frequently occurs in proper names. SEE HALLELUJAH.
It should be remembered that the Hebrew name Jehovah is generally rendered, in the English version, by the word LORD (sometimes GOD), and printed in small capitals, to distinguish it from the rendering of אֲדֹנָי and Κύριος by the same word; it is rendered “Jehovah” only in Exo_6:3; Psa_83:18; Isa_12:2; Isa_26:4, and in the compound proper names following.
VI. Literature. — For a full discussion of the questions connected with this sacred name, see, in addition to the above-cited works, Gataker, De noms. Dei tetragram, in his Opp. Crit. (Traj. ad Rhen. 1698); Meier, Lectio nom. tetragram exam. (Viterbo, 1725); Capellus, Or. de nom. Jehova, in his Critica Sac. p. 690; Crusius, Comment. de nominis tetragran. signif. (Lips. 1758); Malani, De Dei nom. juxta Heb. comment. crit. (Luccae, 1767) ; Koppe, Interpretat. formuloe, etc. (Göttingen, 1783), and in Pott's Sylloge, 4, 50-66; Eichhorn, Biblioth. 5, 556-560; Wahl, D. Namen Gottes Jehova, excurs. 1 to his Habbakuk; J. D. Michaelis, De Jehova ab AEgyptüs culto, etc. in his Zerst. kl. Schrift. (Jena, 1795); Brendel, War Jehova bei den Heb. bloss ein Nationalgott? (Landsb. 1821) [see Theol. Annal. for 1822, p. 384]; R. Abr. ben-Ezra, Sepher Hasshem, mit Comm. by Lippmann (Fulda, 1834); Landauer, Jehova u. Elohim (Stuttg. 1836); Gambier, Titles of Jehovah (London, 1853); De Burgos, De nomine tetragrammato (Frankf. 1604; Amsterd. 1634); Fischer, id. (Tub. 1717); Jahn, De יהוה (Wittenb. 1755); Rafael ben-David, תִּעֲלוּמוֹת(Venice, 1662); Reineccius, De יהוה(Leipz. 1695- 6); Snoilshik, id. (Wittenb. 1621); Stephani, id. (Leips. 1677); Sylburg, De Jehova (Strasburg, 1643); Volkmar, De nominibus divinis (Wittenb. 1679); Kochler, De pronunciatione et vi יהוה(Erlangen, 1867); Kurtz, Hist. of the Old Covenant, 1, 18 sq.; 2, 98, 215. SEE ELOHIM.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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