God said, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.”
Did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob not know God as the Lord
(which stands for the Hebrew Yahweh)? But the name Lord
appears more than one hundred times in Genesis. How can this be explained?
Scholars give three solutions:
What is stated here is not correct.
The name Yahweh is used in the story of Genesis, but the people did not know God as such (at that time).
The name Yahweh was indeed known, but not yet in its full meaning. God now clarifies.
The first solution is most unsatisfying: God does not contradict himself! The Bible is his Word, and he himself is speaking!
The second solution seems attractive. God indeed appeared as the Almighty (as in Genesis 17:1).
But God already identifies himself to Abraham as the Lord in Genesis 15:7. And in Genesis 4:26 it already says that at that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
What remains then is the third solution: God now clarifies that he is the Lord. He is trustworthy and will fulfill the promises he made to the patriarchs. He has already made this clear to Moses in the first calling (Exodus 3:1–4:31), but Moses questions this (Exodus 5:23). What is now new is that God is going to fulfill his promises. The patriarchs died in faith; they did not see the promises they received become reality (Hebrews 11:13).
God is going to fulfill his promises, and so the Israelites will come to know the true meaning of his name Yahweh (Exodus 6:7; Ezekiel 20:9) and so will the Egyptians (Exodus 7:5).
God’s name Yahweh is closely connected to the exodus. All nations speak of a creator, but the unique aspect for Israel is that Yahweh has liberated them, and he has made a covenant with them (Deuteronomy 4:32–40).
Every year the exodus was to be celebrated with the Passover. The psalms and the prophets often refer to the exodus (from Egypt) to show God’s faithfulness, and his promise that he will liberate Israel again (from exile; see, for example, Jeremiah 23:7–8).
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.