Did Abraham Know God by the Name Yahweh?
Among the most searching questions that arise from a careful reading of Scripture is one that emerges from an apparent tension between the Book of Genesis and the Book of Exodus. Throughout the patriarchal narratives, the divine name Yahweh ( יהוה , YHWH) appears again and again. Abraham builds altars to Yahweh, calls upon the name of Yahweh, and hears Yahweh speak to him directly. Yet when God later reveals Himself to Moses at the threshold of the Exodus, He says something that seems, at first hearing, to overturn all of this: "I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name Yahweh I was not known to them" (Exodus 6:2–3). How can both testimonies stand together? Did Abraham know God by the name Yahweh, or was that name unveiled for the first time only in the days of Moses? The question is not a trifling one, for it touches the very heart of how God makes Himself known to His people. And the answer, when we listen patiently to th...