Use of Yahwey (LORD) as document key?

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 11, 2015

The documentary hypothesis asserts that many documents were melded together to make our Pentateuch, leaving some contradictions in place as this was done.

One often cited example is the passage where God says to Moses that He never used His name "Yahweh" (transcribed as LORD in most english translations) with the fathers; yet finding verses where the name LORD is used by Abraham, etc is very easy to do.

Ex 6:2-3 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.
NASU

I have heard many say this idea is false, but I have never heard an explanation of this apparent contradiction. Could someone please share with me the way those who deny the documentary hypothesis explain this apparent contradiction?

LightBearer · Sep 11, 2015

Hi, there is no contradiction. To simplify then.

In bible/ancient times, a persons name had far more meaning than it does today where it is often just an identifier, in bible times they often described much about the very person who bore it. Thus, Abram's name was changed to Abraham (Father of a great crowd or multitude) because he was to become a father to many nations.

God informed Moses of the meaning of his name when he stated:

Gen 3: 13-15 But Moses said to the true God: “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your forefathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’+What should I say to them?”14 So God said to Moses: “I Will Become What I Choose* to Become.”*+ And he added: “This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘I Will Become has sent me to you.’”+15 Then God said once more to Moses:“This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘Jehovah the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham,+ the God of Isaac,+ and the God of Jacob,+ has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever,+ and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

God here links the meaning of his name "I will become what I choose to become" with his known name Jehovah. Jehovah was going to demonstrate the meaning of his name "I will become what I choose to become" in an outstanding and mighty way to all the surrounding nations of that time when he would become a great savior of a nation and a destroyer of their enemies. The events surrounding the exodus reached far and wide. The forefathers of Israel, Abraham, Issac and Jacob never knew God in that way, they knew the name Jehovah but not what his name really implied, it's full implication, that God can become anything he choose to become, to accomplish his purpose. So it is in that sense that Jehovah said "by my name I did not make myself known to them", he didn't demonstrate what his name means or implies concerning the one who bares it.

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 11, 2015

LightBearer said:
Hi, there is no contradiction. To simplify then.

In bible/ancient times, a persons name had far more meaning than it does today where it is often just an identifier, in bible times they often described much about the very person who bore it. Thus, Abram's name was changed to Abraham (Father of a great crowd or multitude) because he was to become a father to many nations.

God informed Moses of the meaning of his name when he stated:

Gen 3: 13-15 But Moses said to the true God: “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your forefathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’+What should I say to them?”14 So God said to Moses: “I Will Become What I Choose* to Become.”*+ And he added: “This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘I Will Become has sent me to you.’”+15 Then God said once more to Moses:“This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘Jehovah the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham,+ the God of Isaac,+ and the God of Jacob,+ has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever,+ and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

God here links the meaning of his name "I will become what I choose to become" with his known name Jehovah. Jehovah was going to demonstrate the meaning of his name "I will become what I choose to become" to all the surrounding nations of that time when he would become a great savior of a nation and a destroyer of their enemies. The events surrounding the exodus reached far and wide. The forefathers of Israel, Abraham, Issac and Jacob never knew God in that way, they knew the name Jehovah but not what his name really implied, it's full implication, that God can become anything he choose to become, to accomplish his purpose. So it is in that sense that Jehovah said "by my name I did not make myself known".

Well, looking at a more standard translation, I see this for Gen 3:15+ . . .

Ex 3:15
15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.
NASU

But I don't see how this verse you cite does away with the meaning of the other verse I cited, where God says
He did not use the name "Jehovah" or LORD or Yahweh (all ways of saying the same Hebrew word there).

I grant you the verse you quoted doesn't say that. But the verse I quoted DOES say that. Doesn't it?

Here, I'll quote it again:

Ex 6:3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.
NASU

How does your translation of Exodus 6:3 read?

timewerx · Sep 12, 2015

Paul of Eugene OR said:
I have heard many say this idea is false, but I have never heard an explanation of this apparent contradiction. Could someone please share with me the way those who deny the documentary hypothesis explain this apparent contradiction?

You will almost never hear such explanation from another Christian...

Or any other person regarding their own religion...

None of them wins because they all hung to the same blind faith than nothing is wrong with theirs and everyone else but theirs is wrong... This won't stand up in any notion of sound reasoning and endangers one to wide open deception, to accept lies instead of the truth.

This phenomenon is called "brand loyalty" and is almost always biased in nature. Favoritism over the truth.

This is why I left denominational Christianity and became an independent Christian not tied to any creed nor denomination. Because I wish to uphold the truth, and not biases and close-minded thinking.

To answer your question from a Christian who once upheld the Bible to be inerrant for 20 years. I woke up one day and found it to have many contradictions. I am eternally thankful to the REAL GOD for giving me back my sentience that I once lost when I was a kid.

LightBearer · Sep 12, 2015

Paul of Eugene OR said:
Well, looking at a more standard translation, I see this for Gen 3:15+ . . .

Ex 3:15
15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.
NASU

But I don't see how this verse you cite does away with the meaning of the other verse I cited, where God says
He did not use the name "Jehovah" or LORD or Yahweh (all ways of saying the same Hebrew word there).

I grant you the verse you quoted doesn't say that. But the verse I quoted DOES say that. Doesn't it?

Here, I'll quote it again:

Ex 6:3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.
NASU

How does your translation of Exodus 6:3 read?

It's not difficult really. Everyone from Adam and Eve onward new God's name because they used it.

Gen 4:1 "Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.+ When she gave birth to Cain,+ she said: “I have produced* a male child with the help of Jehovah.”

Gen 4:26 "There was also born to Seth a son, and he named him E′nosh.+ At that time people began calling on the name of Jehovah."

God's name was clearly known. What the ancient servants like Abraham, Issac and Jacob didn't know was what God's name really meant, what it implied and said about the one who bore it. God's name is no mere identifier, it describes the very character and person of God, it's who and what he is. He can become anything he chooses to accomplish his purpose. Nothing can stand in his way, nothing can thwart his purpose. Only God almighty can bare such a name because only he can live up to his name. In the exodus he demonstrated this, he made his name manifest. Then they knew his name.

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 12, 2015

LightBearer said:
It's not difficult really. Everyone from Adam and Eve onward new God's name because they used it.

Gen 4:1 "Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.+ When she gave birth to Cain,+ she said: “I have produced* a male child with the help of Jehovah.”

Gen 4:26 "There was also born to Seth a son, and he named him E′nosh.+ At that time people began calling on the name of Jehovah."

God's name was clearly known. What the ancient servants like Abraham, Issac and Jacob didn't know was what God's name really meant, what it implied and said about the one who bore it. God's name is no mere identifier, it describes the very character and person of God, it's who and what he is. He can become anything he chooses to accomplish his purpose. Nothing can stand in his way, nothing can thwart his purpose. Only God almighty can bare such a name because only he can live up to his name. In the exodus he demonstrated this, he made his name manifest. Then they knew his name.

OK so its your position that when God said, in Exodus 6:3 . . .

"and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. "

he really meant that Abraham etc didn't know what the word LORD actually meant, they used the name LORD regularly but didn't understand what the word MEANT.

OK thanks for explaining your understanding.

Is this the best explanation anybody out there has to offer?

LightBearer · Sep 13, 2015

Paul of Eugene OR said:
OK so its your position that when God said, in Exodus 6:3 . . .

"and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. "

he really meant that Abraham etc didn't know what the word LORD actually meant, they used the name LORD regularly but didn't understand what the word MEANT.

OK thanks for explaining your understanding.

Is this the best explanation anybody out there has to offer?

No. "LORD" is not a proper name, it is a title. Abraham, Issac and Jacob new God's personal name Jehovah, just as Adam, Eve and their descendants did.

Gen 4:1 "Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.+ When she gave birth to Cain,+ she said: “I have produced* a male child with the help of Jehovah.” (Clearly, Eve new God's personal name for her to use it.)

Gen 4:26 "There was also born to Seth a son, and he named him E′nosh.+ At that time people began calling on the name of Jehovah." (Clearly, the people new God's personal name for them to "call on it".)

Gen 21:33,24 "After that he planted a tamarisk tree at Be′er-she′ba, and there he called on the name of Jehovah,+ the everlasting God.+34 And Abraham stayed* in the land of the Phi·lis′tines for a long time." (Clearly, Abraham new God's Personal name for him to call on it)

What they didn't know was what that name Jehovah fully implied or said about the God who bore it. They hadn't experienced his name or what it meant and in that sense they did not know it. God's personal name Jehovah characterizes him, it means "I can become whatever I choose to become" and what God's name means was firstly demonstrated to Moses at the exodus. That is why God could say that Abraham, Issac and Jacob didn't know him by his name, they didn't fully understand what God's personal name Jehovah (Not LORD, lord is not a personal name it is a title) said about him.

It's quite simple really.

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 13, 2015

LightBearer said:
No. "LORD" is not a proper name, it is a title. Abraham, Issac and Jacob new God's personal name Jehovah, just as Adam, Eve and their descendants did.

You don't understand what translators are doing when they write "LORD" in all capitols . . . they are writing that word where "Jehovah" appears.

"Jehovah" is not a real word in the hebrew text, either. Originally, Hebrew text had nothing but consonants. Vowels were added later as "points" jotted into the consonants. But the Hebrews when they read scripture never pronounced the name of God, as a way of being sure to never "take the Name of God in vain". So when they came upon the name (which was Yahweh) they said "Lord" instead (Adonai) and in that particular word, Yahweh, they added instead the vowel points for Adonai, and the first translators into english called it Jehovah.

You didn't know that, so you don't realize that LORD and JEHOVAH are alternate ways of referring to exactly the same thing in the Hebrew text.

You need to learn these things and understand them before you are even qualified to speak about the issue of this thread.

Most modern translations discuss this in their prefix.

Der Alte · Sep 13, 2015

Jewish Encyclopedia-Names of God

In appearance, Yhwh (יהוה) is the third person singular imperfect "kal" of the verb ( הוה ("to be"), meaning, therefore, "He is," or "He will be," or, perhaps, "He lives," the root idea of the word being, probably, "to blow," "to breathe," and hence, "to live." With this explanation agrees the meaning of the name given in Ex. iii. 14, where God is represented as speaking, and hence as using the first person—"I am" (אהיה, from ( היה, the later equivalent of the archaic stem ( הוה). The meaning would, therefore, be "He who is self-existing, self-sufficient," or, more concretely, "He who lives," the abstract conception of pure existence being foreign to Hebrew thought. There is no doubt that the idea of life was intimately connected with the name Yhwh from early times. He is the living God, as contrasted with the lifeless gods of the heathen, and He is the source and author of life (comp. I Kings xviii.; Isa. xli. 26-29, xliv. 6-20; Jer. x. 10, 14; Gen. ii. 7; etc.). So familiar is this conception of God to the Hebrew mind that it appears in the common formula of an oath, "hai Yhwh" ( חי־יהוה = "as Yhwh lives"; Ruth iii. 13; I Sam. xiv. 45; etc.).

If the explanation of the form above given be the true one, the original pronunciation must have been Yahweh ((יהוה) or Yahaweh (יהוה). From this the contracted form Jah or Yah (יה) is most readily explained, and also the forms Jeho or Yeho (יהו), and Jo or Yo (יו contracted from יהו, which the word assumes in combination in the first part of compound proper names, and Yahu or Yah (יהו) in the second part of such names. The fact may also be mentioned that in Samaritan poetry יהוה rimes with words similar in ending to Yahweh, and Theodoret ("Quæst. 15 in Exodum") states that the Samaritans pronounced the name Iαβέ. Epiphanius ascribes the same pronunciation to an early Christian sect. Clement of Alexandria, still more exactly, pronounces 'Iαουέ or 'Iαουαί, and Origen, 'Iα. Aquila wrote the name in archaic Hebrew letters. In the Jewish-Egyptian magic-papyri it appears as Ιαωουηε. At least as early as the third century B.C. the name seems to have been regarded by the Jews as a "nomen ineffabile," on the basis of a somewhat extreme interpretation of Ex. xx. 7 and Lev. xxiv. 11 (see Philo, "De Vita Mosis," iii. 519, 529). Written only in consonants, the true pronunciation was forgotten by them. The Septuagint, and after it the New Testament, invariably render κύριος ("the Lord").

Jewish Encyclopedia online

BelieveTheWord · Sep 14, 2015

The ban on the name didn't start until after the Babylonian exile. As the Pharisees rose in power they began accumulating more and more laws that they claimed were teachings of Moses passed down orally, or an oral torah. However The Name was still used during the time of Yeshua and even into the second century. At that time Rome itself banned The Name and it was all over from there.

Adonai and YHWH are both used in Hebrew text. Elohim (God) is used also. The thing is that Adonai and Elohim can refer to many different beings. In order to distinguish when The Most High God is being referred to, The Name is used (at least many times it is).

So it has been understood throughout Israel's history that Moses wrote the Torah. The difficulty with The Name being revealed to Moses first, is that it is also used in the portions of text that is chronologically prior to Moses. While some would like to assume this means the text is errant and can't be trusted, we need to take a realistic look at basic communication. Moses had the primary purpose of explaining their past to the Israelites. The text is all in Hebrew, but did Joseph speak to Pharaoh in Hebrew? Of course not. Should we throw our Bibles out the window and follow some hippie Buddhist kind of religion? I don't think so. The words spoken by Abraham or Jacob are most likely not direct quotes. The gospels are the same way. This doesn't make the text untrustworthy. The history and the principles are still correct. It is just written in a way to make it flow for the readers/hearers of Moses' time. This includes using The Name before it was actually used, because it was now part of the people's culture and clarified the stories through Genesis.

Hank77 · Sep 14, 2015

Paul of Eugene OR said:
Well, looking at a more standard translation, I see this for Gen 3:15+ . . .

Ex 3:15
15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.
NASU

But I don't see how this verse you cite does away with the meaning of the other verse I cited, where God says
He did not use the name "Jehovah" or LORD or Yahweh (all ways of saying the same Hebrew word there).

I grant you the verse you quoted doesn't say that. But the verse I quoted DOES say that. Doesn't it?

Here, I'll quote it again:

Ex 6:3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.
NASU

How does your translation of Exodus 6:3 read?

I'm going to take a shot at this, I believe that the answer is in the context of the first eight verses.

First let me say that a name can mean more than one thing to different people at different times. The name Yeshua/Jesus is just the name of a man before one knows Him. When they do come to first know Him, His name becomes more, it's now Redeemer, Savior, Son of God. The closer one becomes to Him, His name becomes larger, if you will, He is Lord and King.

Exo 6:2 And God speaketh unto Moses, and saith unto him, `I am Yehovah,
Exo 6:3 and I appear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; as to My name Yehovah, I have not been known to them;
Exo 6:4 and also I have established My covenant with them, to give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, wherein they have sojourned;
Exo 6:5 and also I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians are causing to serve, and I remember My covenant.
Exo 6:6 `Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I am Yehovah, and I have brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and have delivered you from their service, and have redeemed you by a stretched-out arm, and by great judgments,
Exo 6:7 and have taken you to Me for a people, and I have been to you for God, and ye have known that I am Yehovah your God, who is bringing you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians;
Exo 6:8 and I have brought you in unto the land which I have lifted up My hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and have given it to you--a possession; I am Jehovah.'

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew Yehovah as God Almighty/El-Shaddai and as the God who had made a covenant of promises to them, but now God is saying that He is Yehovah, the God who is keeping those covenant promises, He did and will perform what He promised them He would do. Yehovah, God Almighty, Yehovah, the Covenant Keeper.

LightBearer · Sep 14, 2015

Your profound ignorance on this subject is duly noted.

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 14, 2015

BelieveTheWord said:
The ban on the name didn't start until after the Babylonian exile. As the Pharisees rose in power they began accumulating more and more laws that they claimed were teachings of Moses passed down orally, or an oral torah. However The Name was still used during the time of Yeshua and even into the second century. At that time Rome itself banned The Name and it was all over from there.

Adonai and YHWH are both used in Hebrew text. Elohim (God) is used also. The thing is that Adonai and Elohim can refer to many different beings. In order to distinguish when The Most High God is being referred to, The Name is used (at least many times it is).

So it has been understood throughout Israel's history that Moses wrote the Torah. The difficulty with The Name being revealed to Moses first, is that it is also used in the portions of text that is chronologically prior to Moses. While some would like to assume this means the text is errant and can't be trusted, we need to take a realistic look at basic communication. Moses had the primary purpose of explaining their past to the Israelites. The text is all in Hebrew, but did Joseph speak to Pharaoh in Hebrew? Of course not. Should we throw our Bibles out the window and follow some hippie Buddhist kind of religion? I don't think so. The words spoken by Abraham or Jacob are most likely not direct quotes. The gospels are the same way. This doesn't make the text untrustworthy. The history and the principles are still correct. It is just written in a way to make it flow for the readers/hearers of Moses' time. This includes using The Name before it was actually used, because it was now part of the people's culture and clarified the stories through Genesis.

Thank you for your suggestion.

I think it is improbable that Moses would directly write

Ex 6:3
3 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.
ASV

and then write so many verses in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob use the name Jehovah.

Is it your view that in fact Moses did exactly that, heedless of the point he was making so strongly in 6:3 about his very own key revelation about the name of God?

justlookinla · Sep 14, 2015

Obviously Abraham did not have the same understanding of the name of Yahweh as the Mosaic folks had. The Mosaic covenant introduced elements the Abrahamic covenant didn't have, thus different spiritual revelations.

BelieveTheWord · Sep 15, 2015

Paul of Eugene OR said:
Thank you for your suggestion.

I think it is improbable that Moses would directly write

Ex 6:3
3 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.
ASV

and then write so many verses in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob use the name Jehovah.

Is it your view that in fact Moses did exactly that, heedless of the point he was making so strongly in 6:3 about his very own key revelation about the name of God?

I don't think it is unreasonable. If you are telling a story about a man and woman before they were married, and he was having difficulty finding out her name, you would likely refer to the woman by her name or as "his wife" even though they weren't yet married and he didn't learn her name until later. It simply adds clarity and allows the story to flow so the people listening aren't just hearing "a woman" and not being sure which woman it is. Remember that for most of history people were predominantly listening and not reading.

While there is a level of interchangeability with a persons name and his character, it simply doesn't fit this context. First there is the distinct statement: "I am Yahweh." Clearly He is emphasizing His literal name to clarify from Whom this message is coming. Second, His relationship with Moses was in an early stage. How can Yahweh being trying to emphasize that He has given Moses a greater understanding of Himself at this point than He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob after many decades of relationship?

I don't think anyone argues that Adam wrote his story in the Torah, and Abraham wrote his, etc. It is clearly written from a later perspective, so why not make the stories understandable to the masses (the Torah was intended to be read to all the people each year) instead of pleasing hyper-critical academics?

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 15, 2015

BelieveTheWord said:
I don't think it is unreasonable. If you are telling a story about a man and woman before they were married, and he was having difficulty finding out her name, you would likely refer to the woman by her name or as "his wife" even though they weren't yet married and he didn't learn her name until later. It simply adds clarity and allows the story to flow so the people listening aren't just hearing "a woman" and not being sure which woman it is. Remember that for most of history people were predominantly listening and not reading.

While there is a level of interchangeability with a persons name and his character, it simply doesn't fit this context. First there is the distinct statement: "I am Yahweh." Clearly He is emphasizing His literal name to clarify from Whom this message is coming. Second, His relationship with Moses was in an early stage. How can Yahweh being trying to emphasize that He has given Moses a greater understanding of Himself at this point than He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob after many decades of relationship?

I don't think anyone argues that Adam wrote his story in the Torah, and Abraham wrote his, etc. It is clearly written from a later perspective, so why not make the stories understandable to the masses (the Torah was intended to be read to all the people each year) instead of pleasing hyper-critical academics?

Thank you for your comments.

Job8 · Sep 16, 2015

Paul of Eugene OR said:
The documentary hypothesis asserts that many documents were melded together to make our Pentateuch, leaving some contradictions in place as this was done.

The Documentary Hypothesis was debunked long, long ago. It has no merit.

Ex 6:2-3 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.

The KJB has it thus: And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:[YHWH] And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH [YHWH] was I not known to them.

Yahweh (Jehovah) is the personal name of God. And when you go back to God's dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you find that they were familiar with this name as YHWH Elohim (LORD God). So how do we reconcile this with what is stated above? It certainly looks like a contradiction. But when you connect it with Exodus 3:13-18, you realize that what God is saying is that He did not disclose His name of "I AM" or "I AM THAT I AM" or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE" (which is an alternate to YHWH) to the patriarchs, but He was now disclosing it to Moses, because He would also be disclosing the Old Covenant through Moses. The significance would be the covenant relationship with Israel (Exod 3:13,14): And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Paul of Eugene OR · Sep 17, 2015

Job8 said:
The Documentary Hypothesis was debunked long, long ago. It has no merit.

There have always been people who asserted that, but their reasons are always because they wish to retain their religious belief in Moses as the sole human author of the Torah, so all other evidence is ignored.

The KJB has it thus: And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:[YHWH] And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH [YHWH] was I not known to them.

Yahweh (Jehovah) is the personal name of God. And when you go back to God's dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you find that they were familiar with this name as YHWH Elohim (LORD God). So how do we reconcile this with what is stated above?

It certainly looks like a contradiction.

Yes it does.

But when you connect it with Exodus 3:13-18, you realize that what God is saying is that He did not disclose His name of "I AM" or "I AM THAT I AM" or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE" (which is an alternate to YHWH) to the patriarchs, but He was now disclosing it to Moses, because He would also be disclosing the Old Covenant through Moses. The significance would be the covenant relationship with Israel (Exod 3:13,14): And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

I'm not seeing how what you said removes the contradiction. You seem to merely restate that Yahweh was used by the fathers. What does a change in how the name is understood have to do with whether or not the name was used? Why would the children of Israel bother asking Moses "what is His name" if they already knew about the fathers calling him Yahweh, however meager their understanding of that word might have been?

The documentary hypothesis explains why this happened. One tradition had the stories of the fathers without using Yahweh until revealed to Moses, and it was a whole other tradition that had the stories of the fathers while using Yahweh. So when the two traditions were conflated, those who conflated them dared not change a single word, preserving the contradiction for us to see.

If the above from you is the best possible reconciliation of the contradiction then there is no real reconciliation.

Use of Yahwey (LORD) as document key?

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