The first recorded language in which we have God reveal Himself is Hebrew. This is the language from which these names are transliterated.
Elohim
Translated in our English Bibles most times as "God."
The opening statement of Scripture begins with Elohim. "In the beginning, God..." is the word Elohim here.
Not the most frequently cited term for the deity, but it occurs 2,570 times.
His Qualities
The derivation of the name is thought to come from two possible sources, one which points to God's:
Power (derived from the shorter Hebrew word El which means mighty, strong or prominent).
The other possible source of Elohim's derivation is which implies an important aspect of His nature which speaks of:
His Character
Covenant (derived from Alah which means to declare or swear). This speaks of the right of the omnipotent being to establish designated and defined relationship with His creation, the basis of which is His authority as the sovereign Creator.
He fulfills the covenant Himself (Genesis 15).
Many scholars believe that the plural in the name Elohim points to the Trinity, even as a singular pronoun or adjective was used to describe Him.
This speaks of the unity in the Godhead as well as the person and purpose of Jesus.
Jehovah
Translated in our English Bibles most times as capitalized "the LORD."
*Most frequently used name of God in the OT, utilized 6823 times beginning in Genesis 2 where it is combined with Elohim. YHWH transliteration which Jews after the destruction of the temple in 70AD used.
From the Hebrew verb havah which means "to be" or "being.
His Qualities
This means that He is the self-existent one, without beginning or end. He is eternal and is the possessor of essential life with a permanent, unchanging existence. The word translated "He" when relating to God is strikingly similar to the Hebrew havah, the word for being.
"The most noted Jewish commentator of the Middle Ages, Moses Maimonides, said with regard to this name (Jehovah): "All the names of God that occur in Scripture are derived from His works except one, and that is Jehovah; and this is called the plain name, because it teaches plainly and unequivocally of the substance of God." Another has said: "In the name Jehovah, the personality of the Supreme is distinctly expressed. It is everywhere a proper name denoting the person of God, and Him only...Elohim....denoting usually the Supreme. The Hebrew may say the Elohim, the true God, in opposition to all false gods; but he never says the Jehovah, for Jehovah is the name of the true God only. He says again and again, my God or my Elohim, but never my Jehovah, for when he says my God he means Jehovah. He speaks of the God (Elohim) of Israel but never of the Jehovah of Israel, for there is no other Jehovah. He speaks of the living God, but never of the living Jehovah, for he cannot conceive of Jehovah as other than living."
- Nathan Stone, The Names of God
This is the name God used of Himself when He revealed Himself to Moses in the deliverance that He would bring about for Israel.
Exodus 3:13-17
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
"Elohim is the general name of God concerned with the creation and preservation of the world, that is, His works. As Jehovah, He is the God of revelation in the expression of Himself in His essential moral and spiritual attributes. But He is especially, as Jehovah, the God of revelation to Israel."
- Nathan Stone, The Names of God
John 8:51-59
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
El-Shaddai
Translated in our English Bibles most times as "God Almighty."
Exodus 6:2-4
God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.
The name was revealed to Abraham and Sarah as God gave the promise of overcoming the natural death in their bodies and produced a supernatural lineage beginning with their son Isaac. It had an even greater connection to the concept of God's self- and all-sufficiency - meaning that He is the one who nourishes, supplies and satisfies us fully as at a nursing mother's breast.
Genesis 17:1-8
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Because of our sin, we are brought to the end of ourselves and must rely on Jesus' sinless life and sacrificial death on the cross to be reconciled to God. It through His resurrection from the dead and forthcoming return that our El Shaddai will satisfy us with eternal life, purpose, and hope.
Second City Church: Revealed Sermon Series 2017
