My Name Is Jehovah (Exodus 6:1-13)

My Name Is Jehovah

 

Exodus 6:1-13

 

Through our lifetime, we are influenced by various people. Some of the influences work in a good way, and some not so good way. They form my inner character, and often change the direction of my life. Such people can be close friends or teachers, or famous politicians or celebrities. Of course, we are influenced by our parents. However, there is one whose influence is most decisive. It is “god.” Here, I don’t mean by “god” just the God who we Christians believe. Who is my god? And how is the god? Answers to the two questions are the most important factors that determine the way of my entire life. Some may say, “I don’t believe any god,” or “I don’t believe the existence of God.” But that is not true. Each person has someone or something that exerts “divine influence” on his life. In order to sustain his life, to avoid misfortunes, and to promote happiness, he relies on the divine being and submits himself to that. In the era of capitalism as today, “money” has such a divine power. YouTubers may be greatly affected by the numbers of views and subscribers. In this way, people have something or someone, “a divine being,” that determines their survival and happiness. We are put in a certain relationship with the divine being, and adjust ourselves to the relationship for leading a better life.

 

The people of Israel lived as the slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt. “Master and slave,” this was the relationship between Egyptian king Pharaoh and the Israelites. And actually this is the most common relationship that people have with their “gods.” Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bricks. Certainly, of course, he put them in various hard works. The front part of Exodus mentions several times that the people of Israel were being oppressed, and their cries were heard by God. Pharaoh had a great power. Nobody was able to stand up against him. If Pharaoh ordered, it should be done even if it was unjust or impossible, and if the order was not carried out, punishment was unavoidable. It was impossible for the Israelites to get out of Pharaoh’s ruling. God heard the cries of his people, and he sent Moses in order to lead them out of Egypt. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and delivered God’s message. “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’” But Pharaoh laughed at them, saying, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:1-2). Instead of letting them go, Pharaoh worked the slaves even more cruelly. Because of Moses and Aaron, the Israelites were hated by the king. The people came to Moses and Aaron and said to them, “The Lord look upon you, and judge; because you have made us to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us” (KJV). Their biggest concerns were “the eyes of Pharaoh” and “the eyes of his servants.” They had to do their best in order to be good in the rulers’ eyes. They could not pay attention to God’s word or God’s messenger Moses. They read only Pharaoh’s face. To them, only Pharaoh was “god.” And disobeying the god and following another god meant “death” to them. In this way, once I have entered into a relationship with a god, it is almost impossible to get out of the influence of the divine being.

 

Now God is going to save the Israelites from Pharaoh’s hand, and he himself to be their God. In verse 7 of today’s text, Lord God says, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” This word of God explains best the meaning of “salvation” that God gives to us. It is setting us free from the oppressive ruling of idols so that the Lord be our God and we be God’s own people. God sent Moses to the people of Israel and introduced himself to them. Verses 2-3 says, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my name the Lord (Jehovah) I did not make myself fully known to them.” God’s intimacy to Abraham was quite special. In Genesis 18:17, God said to Abraham, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” Then God shared with him his plan to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even with such intimate friendship, now God says that he didn’t make himself known to them by his name “Jehovah.” “God Almighty (El Shaddai)” is one of God’s names, and this name spotlights God’s power and sufficiency. In fact, the God who the people of Israel need desperately is “God Almighty.” They had long suffered hard labor under the oppression of Pharaoh. How wonderful would it be if God, in his mighty power, destroys Pharaoh and the Egyptians and gives the fertile land to the Israelites? The Israelites would praise God and crown Moses as their king.

 

However, God wanted to be known to his people not as “God Almighty” but as “Jehovah.”  In today’s text 6:1-13, the phrase “I am Jehovah” is repeated several times (2, 6, 7, 8). Why did God want to make himself known to the Israelites not as “God Almighty” but by the name “Jehovah”? “Jehovah” is the name that God revealed to Moses, having the meaning “I AM WHO I AM.” This name is a proper noun referring to God. Thus, this name points at God himself. It does not point at God’s power, or wisdom, or any other attribute or function of God. This name indicates “the person” of God. God came to his people in order to meet them and become their friend as a person. For this, God sent Moses ahead and introduced himself by the name “Jehovah.” He wanted to be known to his people by that name. “Knowing by name” means personal intimacy. John 10:3 says, “The shepherd calls his own sheep by name.” This means that the shepherd knows each of his sheep, and treats them not as a group or not as a property, but individually and “as a person.” Mark Twain said, “The name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  This is true. When somebody who I don’t know much calls me by my Korean name in very correct pronunciation, I am quite moved and feel much closer to the person. I believe this is also the case to God. God wants to be known and called by his own name Jehovah. And by this name, he wants to make a person-to-person relationship with each of us.

 

There is the highly loved Christian song “He Knows My Name.” The lyrics of this song are as on the left side of the table below. I would like to change the word. Instead of “He knows my name,” I would like to sing, “I know His name.”

Red-colored letters are the changed parts. “He,” which is God, was switched to “I,” and “I” to “He.” (It would be good to find the video in YouTube and sing the song in the revised lyrics.)

 

He Knows My Name	I Know His Name
I have a Maker He formed my heart Before even time began My life was in His hands   He knows my name He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls And He hears me when I call I have a Father He calls me His own He'll never leave me No matter where I go He knows my name He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls And He hears me when I call	I have a Maker He formed my heart Before even time began My life was in His hands   I know His name I know His every thought I see each tear that falls And I hear Him when He calls I have a Father He calls me His own I'll never leave Him No matter where He goes I know His name I know His every thought I see each tear that falls And I hear Him when He calls

 

God is our Maker and our Father. God’s love toward us is endless. He knows my name. He knows my thought. He knows my tears. He answers whenever I call, and He follows wherever I go. God’s love toward me is unchanging eternal truth. Still, there is another truth that we should remember. It is that God is also a person and he desires my love. Standing behind me, God waits for me to turn around and look at him. I should also call his name, hold his hand, and think over his thoughts. I should also feel the pain of his heart, and hear his voice. I should also stay with him, and walk together with him wherever he goes, just as he does for me.

 

We want to know God as God Almighty, and we want to know what God can do for us. The Israelites were led out of Egypt and crossed the sea into the wilderness. There they tested God, and God tested them. They tested what God can do for them, and God tested what they have in their heart. They tested God’s power, and God tested their love. In Exodus 17, the Israelites camped at a place but there was no water to drink. Then, they demanded Moses, “Give us water to drink.” Because of this trouble, they complained, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” To their grumbling, Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” The Israelites kept testing God, and because of this, they often provoked God’s wrath. With God, they knew only the “master-slave relationship.” So they sometimes got angry to God, and were sometimes silenced by God’s anger. On the other hand, God also tested them. Deuteronomy 13:3b-4 says, “The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” The relationship God wants to have with his people is not “master-slave relationship” but “person-to-person love relationship.” For this, God tests our heart in the wilderness to see if we still love Jehovah, not El Shaddai, and follow him with all our heart. Jesus’ disciple Peter asked the Lord, ““We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27). He was almost like a hired man, expecting a give-and-take transaction with the Lord. But risen Jesus called his name, “Simon, son of John,” and asked Peter, “Do you truly love me more than these?” “Do you truly love me?” “Do you love me?” (John 21:15, 16, 17). With Peter, Jesus wanted to make “a person-to-person love relationship” that can overcome any barrier or obstacle between the two, even the time of thousands of years, even the distance between heaven and earth, even the difference between the Son of God and a fisherman from Galilee.

 

My relationship with “my god” dictates all the other relationships I have with people in this world. If it is “master-slave relationship,” I will also be somebody’s poor slave or somebody’s merciless master. If it is “person-to-person love relationship,” I will also love others whoever and however they are. It is amazing grace that Holy God made himself known to us by his name Jehovah. For this, God undressed all his divine glories and visited us as a humble man. To those who seek only El Shaddai, Jesus has few things to show or to give. But to those who seek Jehovah, Jesus, out of his love, gives them “himself,” his body and blood, and even the true power of God, the Holy Spirit, so that we may also receive God as my Father, love him, and be with him forever. Praise God who gives the name Jehovah and makes himself known to us by that name! May the Lord bless our souls so that we find true joy in the name, and keep it in our hearts as our eternal treasure!