The 99 Names Began With The Hebrew Bible’s Many Names – OpEd

There are many names for God in the Hebrew Bible. These four are my most loved ones.

The Holy One of Israel is “YHVH of hosts is exalted in justice, God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.” (Isaiah 5:16) and “The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind  will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 29:19)

One name of God that very  few Christians, Jews or Muslims even know, much less use today, is a name that I believe will become more important in the future as Christians, Jews and Muslims learn more about each other’s religions. This name, El Ro’ee, only appears twice in the Hebrew Bible and, as far as I know, is not used at all in the Talmud or Midrash as a Divine appellation.

El Roee: The God Who Sees Me; is based on the wonderful personal experience of an Egyptian woman named Hagar, banished by Prophet Abraham (under duress), and yet Hagar is blessed by the God of Abraham. “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees, for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.” (Genesis 16:13-14)

This revelation of God’s character as ‘El Roee’ which means ‘the God who sees me’ only appears twice in all of Scripture. The preface El describes the one God, and Roee reveals personal relationships, and caring qualities for communities.

God revealed this aspect of His character to a woman in distress showing His care and compassion to Hagar, Abram and Sarai’s Egyptian servant, who had fled into the wilderness due to mistreatment. God saw her tears and brought her words of hope. Knowing that God saw her situation enabled Hagar to return home and face the future without fear. El Roi is the God who sees and cares about the needs of individuals. 

Who is El Shaddai? “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (Genesis 17:1-2)

El Shaddai means the God (El generic) who is ( Shaddai particularly sufficient)  Although I very much like this appellation, it appears only 48 times, mostly in the oldest sections of the Hebrew Bible and rarely after Solomon. Thus when Jacob is close to death he tells his son Joseph: ” Jacob said to Joseph, “El Shaddai (The Sufficient God) appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ (Genesis 45:3-4)

Abram was seventy-five years old when he responded to God’s call to leave his country and set out on a journey of faith with his wife Sarah. He believed in God’s promise to lead him to a new land and make him into a great nation. Abram arrived in Canaan and ten years later Hagar, his servant, bore him a son. Prophet Ishmael was the result of Abram and Sarai’s efforts to secure their future, and God’s long time plan for monotheism to be spread by Prophet Muhammad.

Then when Abram was ninety-nine years old, God revealed Himself as El Shaddai, the Unlimited God. When Abram and Sarai were too old to have a child, they did. The fulfillment of God’s promise came at this time.so Abram and Sarai would know that their son Isaac was a gift from God. So El Shaddai is the Unlimited One we pray to for anything that is possible, believing in El Shaddai’s faithfulness.

YHVH LORD “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD 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 to all generations.” Exodus 3:14-15

The name YHVH LORD is the personal name for God that He revealed to Moses when he was calling him to lead Israel out of Egypt. This was the name by which God wanted to be known by His people and the name Yahweh became forever associated with God’s redeeming acts. He is the God who rescues and saves.

For Israel, YHVH LORD became the sacred covenant name. But in the generations after the destruction of the first temple in 586 BCE, the name YHVH was no longer in daily use because people feared misusing the LORD’s name. In Scriptural text, the name Yahweh was replaced with the term Adonai (Lord). Today, in English Bibles the two names are distinguishable. YHVH is translated as LORD, the God who redeems, and Adonai shown as Lord, the One we choose to serve.

For Jews, the most important unique personal name of the one God is the name that God himself reveals to Moses at the burning bush: YHVH, which appears more than 6,800 times in the Hebrew Bible. 

In Exodus 3:13-15, Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’—what should I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”.

Ehyeh is the verb “to be” future tense singular and means I will/could/might/may be/become who I may/could/will/might be/become i.e. Ehyeh is The God of Potentialities, The God of Possibilities, The Living God of Becoming and Transforming, the One who can and will liberate Israel from bondage in Egypt. 

Unfortunately, the Greek and Latin translations of this verse were influenced by the Greek philosophical idea that God was similar to a permanent ideal form (like an equilateral triangle) or an unmoved mover; and is not similar to a living personality. 

Since the Greeks thought God must be a static unchanging being. they mistranslated “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh’ as ‘I am who I am’ rather than its plain Hebrew meaning of ‘I will be whatever I should be to redeem you” i.e. God 
Unlimited. 

The Torah continues, “And God said, “You must say this to the Israelites, “I am” (the usual false translation for God’s self revealed name) has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, Ehyeh, 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 from generation to generation.’ (Exodus 3:13-15)

When Jews speak of God in the third person, God’s name is pronounced Yehyeh and written YHVH– “the One who stimulates being and becoming, the One who brings potentials into existence.” 

The name YHVH was spoken publicly for almost a thousand years, from the time of Moses, throughout the centuries of the 1st Temple of Solomon. But it was ultimately replaced by Adonai (Lord) before the 3rd century B.C.E., because God’s actual Holy name was eventually considered too holy to speak audibly. 

In later centuries even the substitution Adonai was considered too holy to utter; and pious Jews till this day do not use any name for God at all (except in prayer); but say only HaShem–the name (of God) when speaking about the one and only God.