What is the Name of our Creator?

Answer From The Annual Reading Schedule - Week 13 Notes For Exodus: At first he says "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh" in Exodus 3:14. This means in English, "I AM AND WILL BE THAT WHICH I AM AND WILL BE".

Ehyeh is the first-person form of the verb "HaYaH" (HYH). When you make it first person form of HYH (HaYaH), you put an Aleph א at the beginning of HYH and it becomes EHYeH. HaYaH is the verb which means "To Be". The first person form, EHYeH used in Exodus 3:14 means "I AM AND WILL BE".

This is the same verb as used in Genesis 1:29, commonly translated as "shall be" or "it is" at the end of that verse. The only difference is in Genesis 1:29 it is in the third person form of the verb HaYaH (HYH). In the third person form of the verb HYH, a Yad (modern Hebrew Yud or Yod) י instead of an Aleph is put at the beginning to make YHYH (YiHYeH). YHYH (YiHYeH) means "is and shall be".

You may be asking, "Which is it? Is now? Or will be in the future?" In Hebrew, it's not like English. We have these tenses of time:

Past Tense: Was
Present Tense: Is
Future Tense: Will Be

In Hebrew, they just have two tenses:

Perfect: Was
Imperfect: Is And Will Be

The perfect tense is something already completed, while the imperfect tense means it could be still occurring or that will occur in the future. So Perfect Tense is like our past tense, and Imperfect Tense is like our present and future combined. I am no Hebrew expert, but you can view this link for more examples of these two Hebrew tenses.

So to recap:

EHYeH = "I AM AND WILL BE" (1st Person form of HaYaH (HYH)
YiHYeH = "IS AND WILL BE" [e.g. He Is, – 3rd Person form of HaYaH (HYH)]

Then in Exodus 3:15, our Creator tells Mosheh to say:

YHWH Elohiym of your fathers, the Elohiym of Avraham, the Elohiym of Yitschaq, and the Elohiym of Ya'aqov, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.

YHWH is from the Hebrew יהוה which is the four letters Yad Heh Waw Heh (in Ancient Hebrew). Notice here there is a W, not a Y in the middle. EHYeH was from HYH (HaYaH), and YiHYeH was from HYH (HaYaH), but YHWH is the third person form of HaWaH (HWH), a more ancient verb similar to, but not exactly the same as HaYaH. HaYaH means "to be", whereas HaWaH (from what I’ve studied) means "to exist". Again, I am no Hebrew scholar or expert, but I'm sharing my current understanding based upon studies I've done. I do not claim perfection in my understanding, so study for yourself.

Just like the word YHYH (YiHYeH) in Genesis 1:29 is the third person form of HYH, and we took the Yad and put it in front of HYH to get the third person form YHYH, similarly, we take a Yad and put it in front of HWH to get the third person form of HWH which is YHWH. So YHWH means "He Does And Will Exist".

Some people say the name of our creator is the third person causative form of the verb HYH (HaYaH), but I do not know Hebrew grammar enough to verify that is correct or not. I base what I am sharing off of what I remember learning from Jeff Benner from the Ancient Hebrew Research Center who I remember stating the Name of our Creator is the third person form of a more ancient verb, HWH, which is very similar to, but not exactly the same as HYH. Do your own research, I am not an expert by any means in Hebrew – far from it.

So in Exodus 3:14 it appears he was saying "EHYeH" (I AM AND WILL BE) was His name, but it seems that since they, as well as we, would be proclaiming not about our own self but about Him in the third person, that He clarified in Exodus 3:15 we should remember His Name as יהוה (YHWH) (HE DOES AND WILL EXIST). He clarified in verse 15 that יהוה is His Name that will be His remembrance.

We can see His Name in the Name of His Son, יהושע – which shares the same first three letters Yad Heh Waw. His Name is also found in many of His servants and prophets that He sent throughout the ages.

Some may come asking you, "How do you pronounce the Name or know the way you pronounce it is right?" I warn you now to not debate about it with them. Some people make how you "pronounce" the name to be a "salvational" issue, but it is not. How do I know it is not? It is simple. Answer this question: Can a person who is deaf or suffers with a speech impediment be saved? Of course they can! So out goes any doctrines which claim you must pronounce it 100% correct to be saved. These doctrines are divisive and you should avoid getting involved with them.

If someone who says the name wrong because they are deaf or have a speech impediment can be saved, then I can also be saved even if my understanding on how to say His name is incorrect. We are not saved by head-knowledge, we are saved by His mercy and grace, and the shed blood of יהושע.

The important thing is that we do not replace His Name with a substitute when reading or quoting Scriptures. His Name is not "Adonai", "HaShem", "GOD", or "The LORD"; so where יהוה is in the Scriptures, we should do our best to read it.