HI. Proper Sif/nification of the Term.— A clew to the real import of this name appears to be designedly fur- nished in the passage where it is most distinctively as- cribed to the (iod of the Hebrews, Exod. iii, 14 : "And God said to Moses, / shall be what I shall be (Jn^nx '^')^^: "''"^^3 ; a'"l 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 tV^f}i< by o lov, the Venetian Greek barbarously 7; ('irr(ur;/c, Vulg. qui smn, A. Vers. "I am"). Here the Almightv makes known his un-
changeable character, implied in his eternal self-exist- ence, as the ground of confidence for the oppressed Isra- elites to trust in his promises of deliverance and care respecting them. The same idea is elsewhere alluded to in the Old Test., e. g. IVIal. iii, 6, " I am Jehovah ; I change not;" Hos. xii, 6, "Jehovah is his memento." The same attribute is referred to in the description of the divine Redeemer in the Apocalypse (Rev. i, 4, 8, o wi> Kai 6 ijv Kal 6 epxo^evog, a phrase used indecli- nably, with designed identification with .Jehovah, see Stuart, Commentary, adloc), with which has been aptly compared the famous inscription on the Saitic temple of Isis ('Eyw ci'jui to yiyovog Kai 6v Kai iaofiivov, Plu- tarch, be Jsid. et Osir. 9), and various parallel titles of heathen mythology, especially among Eastern nations. Those, however, who compare the Greek and Roman de- ities, ywpiter, Jove, Awt;, 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.; Heng- stenberg, Genuineness of the Pentateuch, i, 213 ; for other Shemitic etymologies, see Fiirst, s. v.). Nor are those (as A. M'Whorter, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, Jan. 1857, who appears to have borrowed his idea from the Joui-n. of Sac. Lit. Jan. 1854, p. 393 sq. ; see Tyler, Jehovah the Redeemer, Lond. 1861) entirely correct (see Furst's Ileb. Wu7-te}-b. s. V.) who regard iHiri^ as = tT1il^, and this as the actual fut. Kal of the verb "^^'^^'^l^f^, and so ren- der it directly he shall be, i. e. Jle that shall be ; since this form, if a verb at all, would be in the Hiphil (see Koppe ad Exod. loc, in Pottii Syll. iv, 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 n'^ril', Yihyeh', as frequently occurs. It is rather a denominative, i. e. noun or adj., formed by the prepositive "^ prefixed to the verb-root, and pointed like M3S^ and other nouns of similar formation (Nord- heimer's Jlebr. Gram. § 512; Lee's Ilebr. Gram. § 159). The word will thus signifj' the Existent, and designate one of the most important attributes of Deity, one that appears to include all other essential ideas. — Gcsenius.
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 Elo- HiM, 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 apposi- tion, and not, as some would have it, Jehovah of gods, 1. e. chief or prince of gods. This is the customary ap- pellation of Jehovah in Gen. ii and iii ; Exod. ix, 30, etc. Far more frequent is the compounded form when followed by a genitive, as "Jehovah God of Israel" (Josh, vii, 13; viii, 30); "Jehovah God of thy fathers" (Deut. i, 21 ; vi, 3); "Jehovah God, thy God" (Deut. i, 31; ii, 7); "Jehovah of hosts," i. e. of the celestial ar- mies. 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 sj'nonymous with Jehovah in the Old Test. As Christ is called " The Alpha and Omega, the be- ginning 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, to-day, and forever;" he must be Jehovah, the eternally existing and supreme God (Psa. cii, 25-27; Heb. i, 10-12; xiii, 8 ; Rev. i, 4, 8). See Logos. Jah {1^'^, Yah, Sept. K !- QioQ, Auth.Vers. "Lord," except in Psa. Ixviii, 4) is a poetic form abbreviated from Jehovah, or perhaps from the more ancient pronunciation Jahveh. It is chitfiy employed in certain customary formulas or refrains (as a proper title in Psa.lxxxix, 9; xciv, 7, 12; Isa. xxxviii, 11; Exod. XV, 2; Psa. cxviii, 4 ; Isa. xii, 2; Psa. Ixviii, 5; Isa. xxvi, 4). This, as well as a modification of Je- hovah, frequently occurs in proper names. See Hal- lelujah.
JEHOVAH-JIREH
811
JEHU
I
It should be remembered that the Hebrew name Je- hovah 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 ■'^^!S> and K.v(>ioQ by the same word; it is rendered "Jeho- vah" oiily in Exod. vi, 3; Psa. Ixxxiii, 18; Isa. xii, 2; xxvi, 4, and in the compound proper names following.