I was in a meeting recently where the presenter spoke about the two different names for God in Greek that are in the book of Job. He stated that the name of God in the beginning was different than the name of God in the end. This intrigued me and I decided to do a little research on my own. What I found really interested me. Here is part of chapter 1 from the Book of Job from the Names of God Bible.
Yahweh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered Yahweh, “From wandering all over the earth.” Yahweh asked Satan, “Have you thought about my servant Job? No one in the world is like him! He is a man of integrity: He is decent, he fears Elohim, and he stays away from evil.” Satan answered Yahweh, “Haven’t you given Job a reason to fear Elohim?” Job 1:7-9
The name Yahweh is used thirteen times in Chapters 1 and 2. However, Satan never refers to God as Yahweh. Yahweh was a personal name that the Lord gave to Moses for His people, Israel. Near the end of the book, God reveals Himself to Job in a more personal way. Other names used for God throughout the book are El , Eloah, Elohim, Shaddai. However, El Shaddai is never combined in the Book of Job. Shaddai simply means “God” or “Lord”. “El” or “Elohim” is the title for any god. And “Eloah” is singular for “Elohim”. Through his trials Job went from fearing “Elohim” to knowing “Yahweh.” Liberty University’s Digital Commons article Job at a Glance says this about the book.
The theme of this book is not Job’s suffering (although this is certainly involved), but rather God’s sovereignty. The name Job literally means, “Where is the Father?”
I needed to confirm this, so I did some more checking and found out that this is indeed one meaning of the name along with “persecuted”. Now this is deep. When the Lord revealed Himself to Job, He became as personal as a father. Job went from doing religions rituals to the God whom He feared, to having a personal revelation of God, His Creator, who spoke in a whirlwind to him. He encountered Yahweh which is the Hebrew for “I am”. The same “I am” who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush. It is so important that we get a correct revelation of God in our lives as our conception of Him is what transforms our thinking and the way we live. A. W. Tozer and Caleb Sinclair wrote about this in The Holy Spirit’s Presence: Accessing God's Power by Acknowledging Our Weakness (Christian Teaching Books on God, Jesus Christ & the Church Book 1)
Christianity at any given time is strong or weak depending upon her concept of God. And I insist upon this and I have said it many times, that the basic trouble with the Church today is her unworthy conception of God. I talk with learned and godly people all over the country, and they’re all saying the same thing. Unbelievers say, “Take your cowboy god and go home,” and we get angry and say, “They’re vile heathen.” No, they’re not vile heathen — or at least that’s not why they say that. They can’t respect our “cowboy god.” And since evangelicalism has gone overboard to “cowboy religion,” its conception of God is unworthy of Him. Our religion is little because our god is little. Our religion is weak because our god is weak. Our religion is ignoble because the god we serve is ignoble. We do not see God as He is. The psalmist said, “O magnify the LORD with me.” (Psalms 34:3) “Magnify” may mean one of two things: “make it look bigger than it is,” or “see it as big as it is.” The latter is what “magnify” means as the psalmist used it. If you want to examine a very small amount of matter, you put it under a microscope and magnify it to make it look bigger than it is. But it is impossible to make God look bigger than He is. When we say “magnify the Lord,” we mean try to see God somewhere near as big as He is. This is what I want to do. This is what, by His help, I have dedicated myself to do. A local church will only be as great as its conception of God. An individual Christian will be a success or a failure depending upon what he or she thinks of God. It is critically important that we have a knowledge of the Holy One, that we know what God is like.
What is your concept of God? Through my trials I have come to know Him as the God who is with me, the God who sees me, The God who provides for me, the God who protects me, the God who guides me, the God who unconditionally loves me and the God whom I can trust. How has God revealed Himself to you?
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