What’s In a Name? Literally.

Fun Facts ….

YHWH (often pronounced Yahweh) is the personal name of God revealed in the Hebrew Bible. It comes from the Hebrew verb hayah, which means “to be,” and it carries the meaning “I Am” or “I Will Be.” In Exodus 3:14, God introduced Himself to Moses as “I Am Who I Am”—the One who exists by His own power and has no beginning or end. The four Hebrew letters that make up this name—Yod , Hey (H), Vav (W), and Hey (H)—are called the Tetragrammaton, a Greek term that means “four letters.”

Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, so the original pronunciation of YHWH was never recorded. Later Jewish scribes, out of deep reverence, stopped saying this name aloud and instead used substitute titles like Adonai (Lord) or HaShem (The Name) when reading Scripture. To remind readers to make these substitutions, they placed the vowel markings of Adonai into the consonants of YHWH. This mixture later led to attempts to pronounce the name as Yahweh and even the hybrid name Jehovah, but those extra letters and vowels were never part of the original name.

The name YHWH was intentionally hidden in this way. Think of it like an envelope. An envelope carries a label on the outside that hints at who it belongs to, but the full content of the letter inside is sealed until the right time. In the same way, YHWH was like the envelope—a name that carried immense meaning but was kept mysterious and set apart, not to be fully opened or spoken by the people until the time was right.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Miriam (Mary) to announce the birth of the Messiah (Luke 1:31; Matthew 1:21), he finally revealed what was inside the envelope. He told her the child’s name would be Yehoshua. This name was not random; it was the full content of the letter inside the envelope, now opened for everyone to see. Yehoshua is made up of two Hebrew parts: Yeho- (יהו), which comes directly from YHWH, the Tetragrammaton, and -shua (שׁוּעַ), from the verb yasha, which means “to save” or “to deliver.” When put together, Yehoshua means “YHWH saves” or “YHWH is salvation.”

This is where the analogy comes to life. YHWH was the envelope—holy, mysterious, and untouchable—and Yehoshua is the letter inside, fully revealing the name and nature of the envelope itself. The contents of the envelope were always a part of the envelope, but only now could they be seen in their entirety. In other words, Yehoshua is the name of God the Father revealed in its fullness.

The name itself proclaims the message. In the days of Moses, YHWH was the self-existent “I Am” who was partially veiled. In Yehoshua, that same “I Am” stepped into time and space to personally save His people. This is exactly what the angel Gabriel explained to Miriam in Matthew 1:21: “You shall call His name Yehoshua, for He will save His people from their sins.” His name is not just a label—it is His mission.

Yehoshua is the Tetragrammaton opened. It is the eternal name of God fully revealed. The envelope has been unsealed. The God who was, is, and always will be, has made Himself known, not from a distance but up close and personal, and His name declares exactly what He came to do: He saves.