Yahweh is the most commonly used name for G-d in all of the Tanakh. In Hebrew the Name is constructed of four letters; YHWH and first appears in the book of Exodus. While Moses is tending his sheep he encounters G-d in the burning bush which effectively begins his career as a prophet. Moses is ordered to go into Egypt and demand that Pharaoh free the Israelites from bondage. Moses then asked “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?” G-d gives him the most peculiar and profound answer. He tells Moses to inform the Israelites that “YHWH sent you.”
In ancient Judaism it was forbidden to speak the name YHWH aloud. Therefore when reading the scriptures the ancient priests and rabbis would substitute the word Adonai, “my Lord” in its place. This tradition carried over into Christianity so that in the majority of English Biblical translations YHWH is replaced with the word “Lord.” YHWH however, has a much deeper and more profound significance than can be encapsulated in such a human title of devotion such as “My Lord.” It is a word which scholars have struggled to properly translate for the reader unfamiliar with the original Hebrew.
Rabbi Arthur Green describes the YHWH name as a verb artificially rested in motion serving as a noun. Green goes on to explain that a more proper translation for this Name should be “Is-Was-Will-Be.” The implication of this translation suggests that God the eternal Creator is in fact the very essence of existence and exists as a truly eternal state of being. Green also explains that the English translation would be better served as “I Shall BE what I Shall Be.” When the four letters of the Name are reversed they spell out the Hebrew word H-W-Y-H, meaning ‘existence.’ The name itself contains within itself all things past, present and future.
Another possible conjugation of the YHWH name is Ehyeh or “I shall Be,” and Rabbi Green points out that this is the deepest name of God, and to listen to the God who calls himself Ehyeh is to surrender the illusions that we are masters of our own fate. Green continues to say that “when Moses needed to give the slaves an answer that would offer them endless resources of hope and courage, God said; Tell them “Ehyeh sent you.” The Name was conjugated in such a way as if to suggest that G-d was saying “I am tomorrow.”*
“I am tomorrow” as G-d’s name gives us much food for thought. When Moses asked for an identifying Name for this Great Being to motivate the slaves it is as if God said; “Tell them I am the future of their people.” That alone could be one of the best ways to think of the divine. “I am the future. I am tomorrow. I am the fullness of potential.” When considered deeply it can easily be perceived that the existence of a creator is in essence a wellspring of limitless potential, the substance of the creative principle of existence which gives us our most basic, but most vital verb “to be.”
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*Green, Arthur, Ehyeh, A Kabbalah For Tomorrow, Jewish Lights, Woodstock, VT, 2004, pg 2