The LORD/YHVH
By Thomas Thorne
McDowell County
Every word of the Bible is meant to bring us closer to Jesus/Yeshua. The personal name for God in the Old Testament – YHVH – does just that. Let’s take a look at it.
Before there was a Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew was originally written with a pictographic script similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. This is what is known as an ideogramic language, where pictures or symbols, known as pictographs, are used to represent thoughts or ideas. Throughout hundreds of years, these pictographs morphed into the Hebrew alphabet (aleph-bet) of 22 letters. And much later, “vowel markers” were added to ease the reading and pronunciation of the language.
One of the most interesting, telling, and powerful demonstrations of the original Hebrew ideogramic language are the pictographs for:
Yod-He-Vav-He – LORD in all Capitals –YHVH – pronounced as Yah-weh or Yehovah.
The name YHVH is spelled with the four Hebrew letters Yod-He-Vav-He and is always translated as LORD (all capitals) in the English Bible Old Testament.
Strong’s concordance provides the following primary definitions for YHVH – LORD: 1. Self-Existent or Eternal. 2. Jewish national name for God, 3.The Lord. The Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon adds, “Proper name of the God of Israel, the one bringing into being, life-giver, giver of existence, creator, the one who is, absolutely unchangeable, I am He who I am.” (A Lexicon is a volume that provides Hebrew words, as written in Hebrew, and their definitions in English.) One thing both have in common is “the name of God.”
Just the letters Yod-He-Vav-He and the name LORD (all caps) themselves bring to mind power, majesty, and glory. Certainly, God’s name is nothing to be taken in vain, or as empty, or worthless. But is there even more to this great name that we may not have considered?
Let’s combine a passage in the book of Exodus with the original pictographs and see if there is an even deeper meaning to this name.
Exodus 3:15: “And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, “The LORD [YHVH], 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 this is My memorial-name to all generations” (Exod. 3:15 NAS).
Now let’s pause for a second and consider the phrase, “My memorial-name to all generations.” This makes me think of something to be remembered, discussed, and spoken of in conversation, often. Moses was being told here that YHVH – the Hebrew letter – Yod He Vav He —is the name by which God is to be remembered by for all generations. Let’s look at the etymology (description of where a word came from) of this mighty name to see if there is possibly another dimension that we have not considered.
YHVH is spelled with four letters in Hebrew: Yod (English pronunciation – yode), He (hay), Vav (vav), He (hay)). The following table shows the original associated “pictograph” and representation of each letter.
| Hebrew Letter | Pictograph | Representation | |
| י | yod | Hand – action, doing | |
| ה | he | Raised arms – revealing, showing | |
| ו | vav | Hook, Nail, tent stake – establishing | |
| ה | he | Raised arms – revealing, showing | |
- By its pictograph, Yod (the first letter) – which looks like an apostrophe (first column), represents a hand, which implies doing something.
- He (second letter) represents raised arms which imply action or revealing, showing, or looking.
- The third letter, Vav, by its pictograph, is a hook, nail, or tent stake, implying establishing something.
- The word closes with He (raised arms) once again, which implies action, showing, looking, or revealing (a second time)
I maintain that God could very well have been telling Moses over 1,440 years before the physical birth of Jesus, that His name would be remembered by the meaning of these four letters.
And when we put the meaning behind these pictographs together, we have an amazing message for us today which shows the link between the O.T. and the N.T.
Once again, the representation of these four letters, summarized is: Hand, Reveal, Nail, Reveal. If we add a little text to these four letters and start in the middle, we have the message for us:
Our Savior has been revealed (He – letter #2) to us personally – Jesus Christ. We have been allowed to get to know Him! Jesus nailed (Vav – letter #3) to a cross and He died a brutal death to take on the sins of humanity. The hand (Yod – letter #1) and power of Jesus will deliver us from slavery, both physical and spiritual. Jesus has been revealed (He -letters #2 & #4) a first time and He will be revealed (He – #4) a second time as King of kings and LORD of Lords.
This is the name, YHVH, that God told Moses He is to be remembered by forever, over 1,400 years before the birth of Jesus/Yeshua as flesh and blood. The representations of each Hebrew pictograph/letter fit perfectly, especially the use of “He” twice” – which is a picture of raised arms and represents revealing – Jesus has been revealed physically once as a man, and will be revealed again to us in all power and glory. Talk about a prophecy!
Conclusion
Our LORD YHVH has told us that His name is to be remembered by the four letters – Yod, He, Vav, He – which in the ancient Hebrew language were pictures of a hand, raised arms/revealing, a nail, and raised arms/revealing.
My charge for all of us this day is to continue to study His word and His truth. We will be richly rewarded with golden nuggets of knowledge, wisdom, information, truth, joy, excitement, and happiness that we will be able to use all throughout our lives.
Shalom,
Tom Thorne
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Tom and his wife Amy are fellowship coordinators for Avdai El Elyon/Servants of the Most High God Ministries in Marion, NC. Tom offers a “Basics of Biblical Hebrew” 1 and 2 class in a classroom setting and/or online via Zoom. If interested, please contact Tom for details at servantsotmhg@gmail.com.
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