Exodus 6:3

God Almighty. Under this name, ’El-Shaddai, the Sacred Record gives various accounts of the revelation of God, as to Abraham (Genesis 17:1) and to Jacob (Genesis 35:11). The full name is not used by God in any recorded appearance to Isaac, though Isaac himself used it in his farewell blessing to Jacob (Genesis 28:3).

By my name Jehovah was I not known. The meaning of this statement is not entirely clear. According to Genesis 15:7 God had revealed Himself to Abraham as Jehovah, even before declaring His name ’El-Shaddai, God Almighty. Later He revealed Himself to Jacob as Jehovah (Genesis 28:13). That Abraham knew this name is also obvious from the name Jehovah-jireh, which he gave the place where he went to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:14). That Moses regarded this name as known from the beginning of history is evident from Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 4:1,26. The apparent meaning of this statement cannot therefore be its true meaning, for no inspired writer would contradict himself in such a way.

The Hebrews always thought of a name as indicating either the personal characteristics of the one named, or the thoughts and emotions of the one giving the name, or attendant circumstances at the time the name was given. God was now about to reveal Himself more fully than in the past, delivering His people with a “strong hand” (Exodus 6:1), actually taking them to Himself for a people (v. 7), establishing His covenant with them, and giving them the land of Canaan (v. 4). This being true, it seems that in v. 3 God must refer to the new meaning that the experience of deliverance would bring to the name rather than to the name itself (see vs. 1-7).

A similar problem occurs in Revelation 19:11-16. In v. 12 it is stated that “no man knew [Gr., “knows,” as in the RSV]” Christ’s name as He appears riding upon the “white horse,” leading forth the armies of heaven. Yet in v. 11 He is “called Faithful and True,” and in v. 13 “his name is called The Word of God.” These were names by which Christ was already known in character, at least to some extent, by His people. In v. 16, however, John speaks of Christ as “King of kings, and Lord of lords,” yet specifically describes this title as a new “name written, that no man knew, but he himself” (v. 12). From 1 Timothy 6:15 it is clear that this title was applied to Christ as far back as apostolic times. Obviously, John’s statement that “no man knew” the name refers, not to the title itself, but rather to the new role in which Christ appears as champion of His beleaguered people to “rule all nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5; cf. 19:15).