"And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." Psalms 9:10
Jehovah is God's most famous name. It is the name of him who alone is the necessary and self-existent Being. The name, Jehovah, implies God's eternality. It comes from a root word which signifies "to be." Jehovah is, God who is, who was, and who is to come (Rev. 1:4). This is God's personal, proper, and incommunicable name. "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth" (Ps. 83:18). The other names of God are sometimes applied to creatures, but Jehovah is used exclusively of the true and living God.
In his book, "The Divine Inspiration of the Bible," A. W. Pink gives the following, instructive comments showing the distinct use of God's names "Elohim" and "Jehovah."
"The names Elohim and Jehovah are found on the pages of the Old Testament several thousand times, but they are never employed loosely or used alternately. Each of these names has a definite significance and scope, and were we to substitute the one for the other the beauty and perfection of a multitude of passages would be destroyed. To illustrate: the word God occurs all through Genesis 1, but 'Lord God' in Genesis 2. Were these two Divine titles reversed here, a flaw and blemish would be the consequences. 'God' is the creatorial title, whereas 'Lord' implies covenant relationship and shows God's dealings with His own people. Hence, in Gen. 1, 'God' is used, and in Gen. 2, 'Lord God' is employed, and all through the remainder of the Old Testament these two Divine titles are used discriminately and in harmony with the meaning of first mention. One or two examples must suffice. "And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God (Elohim) had commanded him." 'God' because it was the Creator commanding with respect to His creatures, as such; but in the remainder of the same verse, we read, "and the Lord (Jehovah) shut him in" (Gen. 7:15,16), because God's action here toward Noah was based upon covenant relationship. When going forth to meet Goliath David said "This day will the LORD (Jehovah) deliver thee into mine hand (because David was in covenant relationship with him); and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth (which was not in covenant relationship with Him) may know that there is a God (Elohim) in Israel. And all this assembly (which were in covenant relationship with him) shall know that the LORD (Jehovah) saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands" (1 Sam. 17:46,47). Once more: "And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD (Jehovah) helped him; and God (Elohim) moved them to depart from him" (2 Chr. 18:31). And thus it is all through the Old Testament."
The name Jehovah is frequently used as a compound with other words to set forth some specific aspect of God's character and work in meeting the needs of his elect. There are fourteen of these Jehovah titles in the Old Testament.
1. JEHOVAH-JIREH – "The LORD will provide." "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Gen. 22:14).
2. JEHOVAH-RAPHA – "The LORD that healeth thee." "And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee" (Ex. 15:26).
3. JEHOVAH-NISSI – "The LORD our Banner." "And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi" (Ex. 17:15).
4. JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH – "The LORD which doth sanctify you.": "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you" (Ex. 31:13); "And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you" (Lev. 20:8).
5. JEHOVAH-RA-AH – "The LORD my Shepherd." "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want" (Ps. 23:1).
6. JEHOVAH-HOSEENU – " The LORD our Maker." "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker" (Ps. 95:6).
7. JEHOVAH-ELOHEENU – "The LORD our God." "Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy...He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions" (Ps. 99:5,7,8).
8. JEHOVAH-ELOHEKA – "The LORD thy God." "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: ... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me...Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" (Ex.20:2,5,7).
9. JEHOVAH-ELOHAY – "The LORD my God." "And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee" (Zech. 14:5).
10. JEHOVAH-SHALOM – "The LORD our Peace.": "Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites" (Judges 6:24).
11. JEHOVAH-TSEBAHOTH – "The LORD of Hosts" "And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there" (1 Sam. 1:3); "And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha" (Rom. 9:29); "Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth" (Jas. 5:4).
12. JEHOVAH-HELEYON – "The LORD Most High." "I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high" (Ps. 7:17); "For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth" (Ps. 47:2); "For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods" (Ps. 97:9).
13. JEHOVAH-TSIDKEENU – "The LORD our Righteousness." "In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. 23:6); "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness" (Jer. 33:16).
14. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH – "The LORD is there." "It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there" (Ezek. 48 :35).