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The God Who Is
The Significance of A Name
There are three basic ways by which the name "Jehovah" has been interpreted.
The Causative Form
The Masoretes, a Jewish sect that existed about 700 A.D., translated the name in the causative form of the verb "to be," which means, "I Cause To Be What I Cause To Be." The name "Jehovah" is used to express the ability of God to create—to create anything, to create everything, even a nation. "I Create What I Create."
The children of Israel had lived in Egypt 430 years. Generations had come and gone. God had made a covenant with Abraham, and had renewed it with Isaac, and later with Jacob. In recent years, however, the people had been enslaved and brutalized by the Egyptians.
Moses appears and says, "The God of our fathers; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has sent me unto you." It is understandable that the Israelites would ask, "What is His name, Moses?" The answer God gave to Moses was "His name is `I Cause To Be What I Cause To Be.'" Imagine the profound significance that would hold for them. It would mean that He who "causes to be what He causes to be" had sent Moses. It would mean that He to whom all government belongs had sent him.
"I Cause To Be What I Cause To Be." All government is under His control; and as Solomon would write more than 450 years later, "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Prov. 21:1). By the name "Jehovah" we are to understand that God is the cause of all things, whether in heaven or in earth. All things derive their being according to His will.
He sustains and He governs all things according to His will, whether they are natural phenomena like earthquakes, tornadoes, etc., or whether they are historical events like battles, or the reigns of kings. "I cause to be what I cause to be." "He putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:7). "He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth" (Daniel 4:35b). "I AM THAT I AM"—"I Cause To Be What I Cause To Be."
It is as though Jehovah said, "I made a promise to Abraham that I would make of him a mighty nation, and I am here to bring that promise to pass. `I Cause To Be What I Cause To Be.'" It means that He is the Giver of Life to all—to men as well as to nations. The concept that God is the Author of Life was known to Israel. From Israel, other peoples like the ancient Greeks accepted the fact that the supreme God is the Giver of Life. In Greek, the word "zoe" is translated "life." Therefore, the Greeks called the Giver of Life, "Zeus."
Consider the fact that "Jehovah"—"I Cause To Be What I Cause To Be"—is the Giver of Life to all. The Bible tells us, "When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law..." (Galatians 4:4,5). In their pagan and carnal minds, the Greeks said that Zeus, the supreme god, and the Giver of Life, married "Mnemosyne," or "Memory," a mortal woman. The offspring was "Clio," the goddess of history. Note, that "Memory" was mortal, and her marriage to Zeus resulted in a daughter, not a son (the Son of God, as Scripture reveals).
The name "Jehovah" meant to Israel that "He Who Causes To Be What He Causes To Be" has come to bring the fulfillment of His promise to His people.