The Names of God in Old Testament: A Descriptive Research

Subject Areas : Christianity

جواد فیروزی ¹ (ندارد)
طاهره زارع بنادکوکی ² (ندارد)

Received: 2012-07-25 Accepted : 2012-10-10 Published : 2011-09-23

Keywords: name, Old Testament, El, Elohim, Adonai, YHWH,

Abstract :

Talking about the importance of names, particularly God’s names, is acomplicated issue. In ancient era the name of a person or a deity wasequal to his/her identity, therefore, knowledge of names had a magicalfunction. The subject of name has been markedly expressed in OldTestament. God has revealed there by several names, such as El, ElShaddai, Elohim, Adonai and YHWH. Some of these names are veryancient and others are of Semitic origin. El is a common term in allSemitic tribes and YHWH is the personal name of the God of Israel.Calling the personal name of God was taboo and therefore consideredas a great sin. So for expressing reverence the sacred name wasreplaced by the term Adonai (Lord). Every name in Old Testamentreveals different aspect of the God of Israel, for example, El is acompassionate God, and Elohim is the Lord of Judgment. In somepassages YHWH is the God of mercy, while in others is portrayed as anavenger. This essay, with a descriptive-historical approach, tries to shedlight on this issue.