Keywords

Jehovah, J source, Christ in the Old Testament, heilsgeschichte

Abstract

In January 2000 the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bore testimony to the world of the reality, humanity, and divinity of Jesus Christ in a document titled “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles.” Among its many truths was the following: “He [Christ] was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament.”1 Though this was not the first time Church leadership had declared Christ to be Jehovah, the pronouncement does reemphasize this teaching. It also emphasizes the centrality of Christ in the Old Testament. In fact, the term translated as “Jehovah,” the Hebrew word יהוה) commonly pronounced “Yahweh”), is found some 6,828 times in the Hebrew Bible. This averages out to almost six instances per page for the 1,184 pages of the King James Bible, with the term’s first appearance in Genesis 2:4 and its last appearance in Malachi 4:5. This, of course, does not mean that the term is necessarily found almost six times per page. Indeed, some books in the Bible do not use the term at all (Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Esther).

Original Publication Citation

Tender Mercies and Loving-Kindness: The Goodness of God in the Old Testament