Names of God

Henry Barclay Swete, in An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge, 1902), writes that the Septuagint put ho kyrios, kyrios, or often ho theos for the Tetragrammaton. He adds that the newly found fragments of Aquila's Greek version write the name in archaic Hebrew letters.

The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 records seven divine names that require the scribe's special care, and a name once written may not be erased: El, Elohim, Adonai, YHWH, Ehyeh asher ehyeh, Shaddai and Tzevaot.

Julius Wellhausen, in his Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1878), read the change between Elohim and YHWH as the mark of separate sources. He read Exodus 6:3 as one source saying the name was first revealed to Moses. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 sets the names by their sense as well: Elohim for God as the transcendent and universal Lord, and YHWH as the more distinctively Hebrew national name. Rashi on Genesis 1:1 had already paired Elohim with strict justice and the LORD with mercy. John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765), read Exodus 6:3 to mean that the patriarchs knew the name but did not know God as the name makes Him known.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, in their Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871), gloss El Shaddai as all-sufficient. Three derivations are proposed. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 records the suggestion that it is connected with the Assyrian shadu, mountain, an epithet of Assyrian deities. It records a rabbinical explanation of the word as He who is sufficient, and judges it improbable. The third, shadad, to overpower, stands behind Almighty, which the Septuagint sometimes renders pantokrator, and the article allows that the name may keep the sense of overpowering strength.

Jerome, in his Letter 15, takes I AM WHO I AM as the name of the one God who alone truly is. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible (1810 to 1826), notes that the Septuagint renders it I am he who exists. Rashi, in his commentary on Exodus 3:14, reads ehyeh as I will be with them, in this sorrow and in the sorrows to come under other kingdoms. Schrader reads YHWH as a causative, He Who brings into existence, and the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910, which records his reading, answers that it is not in keeping with Exodus 3:14.

Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706), reads Most High in Genesis 14:19 as a title of the one God, which speaks of His sovereign dominion over all the creatures. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 finds El in Assyrian and Phoenician as an ordinary name of God, and finds the name Elyon among the Phoenicians in Philo of Byblos.

Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the New Testament, holds that the writers of the New Testament apply to Jesus expressions which in the Old Testament are applicable to God. His examples are Romans 10:13 over Joel 2:32, and an allusion to Isaiah 45:23 in Philippians 2:10. The biblical unitarian site biblicalunitarian.com answers that calling on Jesus where Joel called on Yahweh shows a shift of responsibility rather than an identity of persons. It adds that the second lord of Psalm 110:1 is adoni, a word used of human masters and lords.

Matthew 1:23 names Jesus Immanuel, God with us, quoting Isaiah 7:14. Albert Barnes, in his Notes on Isaiah 7:14, says the verse has given more perplexity to commentators than almost any other. He reads its obvious meaning as a son born to a young woman of Ahaz's own day. He also weighs the Hebrew almah against the Septuagint's parthenos, young woman and virgin, and holds that almah means virgin.

The Blue Letter Bible counts YHWH 6,519 times. The STEPBible tagged Hebrew text that the word pages read counts YHWH 6,520 times and Elohim 2,601 times. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 notes that the concordances of Fürst and Mandelkern do not exactly agree on the number.