God's Special Name: The Tetragrammaton

 LORD
In our English Bible, the Hebrew four letters yud-heh-vav-heh are often recorded as LORD. Yud-hey-vav-hey is noted in Hebrew as God’s own name or the separated, social name secular to God. It is also called the tetragrammaton. It is a name so sacred, when reading the Bible in Hebrew, the reader does not utter it. When the four letters appear in the text, the reader will usually say “Adonai” (which translates as “Lord”) if the text is read in the synagogue. If the text is read in schools, the word hashem (which translates as “the name”) is used.

 
Tradition states this special name for God was only known by the high priest. The people did not know how to pronounce the four letters. (Remember there are no vowels in Hebrew. So the four letters can be pronounced in a variety of different ways.) This protected the people from uttering the LORD’S name carelessly.

When the Tabernacle and Temple existed, God’s special name was most likely uttered when the priest pronounced a special blessing over the people:
 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘In this way you shall bless the sons of Israel. You are to say to them:
24
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
25
The Lord cause His face to shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
26
The Lord lift up His face to you,
And give you peace.’
27 So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and then I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:23-27)
The high priest also used the tetragrammaton during special occasions such as the Yom Kippur service.
The tetragrammaton used in Scripture 
The first time the tetragrammaton is used in Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens

When looking up the tetragrammaton in concordances, it states the four letters are the proper name of the one true God. It is used 6,521 times in the Old Testament. In Genesis chapters 2 and 3, the tetragrammaton is accompanied with the word God.

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person. 8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:7-9)

Starting in Genesis chapter 4, the word “God” is dropped and the text starts referring  to the Almighty using only the tetragrammaton.

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought an offering, from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering; 5 but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his face was gloomy. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? 7 If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:3-7)

As the population of the world grew, man’s ability to profane (or make common) God’s name occurred.

In Genesis 4:26, “the people begin to call on the name of the LORD.” This is a mistranslation. The real wording says the people began to to call in a negative way (profane) the LORD’S name. We are not directly told how the people began to profane the LORD’S name, but skipping ahead to chapter 6 where God talks about the people who inhabited the earth, we find the following:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

We get the idea from the text, to profane the LORD’S name is not just to utter it carelessly; it is to be evil and wicked. I think we can be safe to say the people were not simply uttering exclamations of “oh my Lord” or “gosh darn it”. It appears there was a deep root of wickedness which was causing vast sin on the earth. The sin was so severe, the only way for the LORD to cleanse the earth was to destroy everything except Noah, his family and limited numbers of creatures of the earth and sky.

The LORD’S name expands for clarification
In Genesis 24, Abraham’s servant goes to Abraham’s relatives. Abraham’s servant cries out to the LORD and gives a specific title:

And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. (Genesis 24:12).

From this time forth, the tetragrammaton is often accompanied by additional words for clarification. This makes sense because the world at this time was rich with pagan religions. Even using the sacred tetragrammaton, extra words needed to be added to clarify which god the person was referencing.

When Jacob flees from Paddam-aran to escape Laban, Jacob makes it all the way to Gilead before Laban overtakes him. Jacob and Laban make a covenant to promise neither one of them will not pass beyond the pile of stones to do each other harm.

Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my grandchildren, the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth? 44 So now come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it shall be a witness between you and me.” 45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. 46 Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49 and Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.” 51 Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this memorial stone to me, for harm. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55 Then early in the morning Laban got up, and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place. (Genesis 31:43-55)

We see from the text, Laban swears by the God of his fathers—Abraham, Nahor and their fathers. Jacob swears by the fear of his father Isaac. It was a common practice in ancient cultures to swear by the god(s) of one’s family. Each family had its own god. Laban probably does not understand the “God” he is swearing by is a different god than what Jacob is swearing by.

It is tradition that Abraham’s family were idolators. His father owned an idol shop in Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham knew the one true God. One day, Terah left the shop in the care of Abraham. Abraham decided to show his father how false idols were. He took a bat and broke all the idols except the largest idol. He then placed the bat in the largest idols hands. When his father returned, his father exclaimed, “Abraham! What happened? Why did you break all the idols?” Abraham replied, “I did not break them. It was the idol with the bat. A dispute broke out between the idols about who was the greatest. The largest idol took a bat and broke all the other idols.” Abraham’s father said, “You know that is not true. Idols cannot do anything.” Abraham said, “Then why do you worship them?”

It is also tradition that Abraham’s brother Haran (the father of Lot) was killed for trying to follow Abraham’s faith. Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace for his believe in God. Abraham was not injured. Abraham came out of the fire without being burned. When Abraham’s brother, Haran, saw this, he also starting saying he believed in the God of Abraham. Haran was thrown into the furnace. He died.

Scripture gives a hint of this happening in Genesis 11:27-28
Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

*Please note, the actual Hebrew to English translation is “Haran died before the eyes of his father”. This phrase means Haran died while his father watched.

I give all this background to explain why Isaac does not agree to Laban and swear by the god of his fathers. We cannot be 100% sure, but it seems to imply from the text Nahor (Laban’s father) was an idolator. Laban has household idols (Genesis 31:30). This suggests that Laban and his family did not worship the One True God, but instead still clung to the idolatry of their father Terah. In short, it seems Laban’s fathers were idolators. Jacob’s fathers—Isaac and Abraham—were not idolators. This is one reason as history continues, the LORD’S name becomes longer to clarify which LORD or which God the person is referencing.