God's Name

In G. Campbell Morgan's book, The Ten Commandments, in addressing the first commandment lays the foundation of who the God is we are to worship -- Jehovah. Readers of this blog know this is something I've studied for a long time. I find it interesting that there is a rise in the number of books and authors who no longer use the name Jehovah. Morgan gives a defense of His Bible and the name Jehovah.

"There is deep significance in the name by which God here declares Himself, JEHOVAH. It is a combination of three Hebrew word, which may be translated into an English form thus: Yehi, "He will be," Hove, "being," and Hahyah, "he was." A combination is made from the tree workds by taking the fist syllable of the firs YeHi, the middle syllable of the second, hOVe, and the last syllable of the third, hahyAH, so that we have the name YEHOVAH. The whole name means, "He that will be, He that is, He that was."

In a footnote, Morgan went on to explain:

"This interpretation of the meaning of the word Jehovah has been severely criticized, and among other things has been designed "elaborated absurdity." The interpretation is that of the late Mr. Thomas Newberry, the author of the Englishman's Bible, a Hebraist of conspicuous ability. Of course it is a personal conclusion by one who interprets the Old Testament in the light of the New. The original Hebrew form YHVH left open the question of hte vowels. The generally accepted idea that the word Jehovah is a hybrid of the combination of the vowels ADONAI and YHVH is also a conclusion arrived at, and cannot be fairly stated to be a certainty. In correspondence with Mr. Newberry on the point, after the criticisms referred to, he said in a letter to me, 'The explanation of the Divine title Jehovah is given as a simple statement of facts on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures. In Revelation 1:4, the Holy Ghost has so interpreted its meaning." this may appear to some to be "elaborated absurdity," There are others of us who look upon it as sound and spiritual exposition."