Yahweh first appears as the name of God in Exodus 3:14-15. In Genesis 2:5 occurs Yahweh Elohim of the self-created Creator God. On account of this occurrence of Elohim, Jehovah, and Jehovah Elohim in different parts of these narratives, linguistic critics have divided them into three separate documents by three different authors, one of whom used Elohim for God, another Jehovah (Yahweh), and a third Jehovah Elohim; but the above shows that where the original writer uses these three names for God or gods his choice is governed by a special purpose. He uses Elohim as a singular to obliterate the idea of the many gods of Egypt. He uses Yahweh, the special name of the One God, in contrast to the many; and Yahweh Elohim is used as a direct assertion that Yahweh, Jehovah, is the Creator Lord of Gods. Though Yahweh Elohim occurs in Genesis 2, the fact that it is full of Egyptian influence and ideas precludes the possibility of its being much later. The original document cannot date many years after the Exodus.
Alexander Thomson
