What is the name of the Lord?

It would seem that the easiest way to find out the name of the Lord would be to ask him. It turns out that it is not, in fact, that easy.

We have records of several people asking God¹ what his name is. When the father of Samson asked him, he replied: “Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?” (Judges 13:18) A better translation would be: “Why do you ask my name? You are incapable of comprehending it.” Moses, who was much more clever in persuading the Lord to divulge his name, was told:

...I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)

There has been some argument over the meaning of the Hebrew words translated as “I Am That I Am,” but consider this rendition: “I am what I have done, what I do, and what I will do; I am why I have done it, why I do it, and why I will do it; I am how I did it, how I do it, and how I will do it.” These attributes form the character of an individual, and this is precisely what the Lord’s name is: It is what he does, how he does it, and why he does it. This should come as no surprise.

Though perhaps lost to most in modern times, the ancients understood that there exists a link between a person’s character and their name. In fact, the Greek noun translated as “name” in the New Testament (Strong’s 3686, onoma ) means the manifestation or revelation of someone’s character. In this sense, a name is an attempt to circumscribe the essence of a person’s attributes within a single term or short phrase.

The breadth and depth of the Lord’s character explains his apparent reluctance to tell others his name when asked: it isn’t that he won’t, but that he can’t.

God is extremely limited in his ability to convey to us more about how he is. On several occasions, the Lord introduced himself to others. Most notably, he came down from heaven and lived a mortal life among the Jews. He also vocally introduced himself to some,² as well as face-to-face to others.³ He has introduced himself face-to-face to some individuals throughout history. In every case, he was immensely limited in what he could convey about himself to those he spoke to. For example, to the twelve best men he could find during his mortal life, with whom he had spent three years, he lamented: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)