The holy or sacred names of GOD written in the Old Testament were not realy names of GOD but rather titles which represents GOD. (which has been misunderstood for centuries by Christians). We can see this in the story of Moses at the burning bush on Mt Horeb (Mt Sinai), where we have another example of a misunderstanding of GOD's name. I'd like to deal with both of these matters in this article, regarding The Sacred names of GOD and what's in a name? What is in a name (in the Hebrew or Jewish world) it is an explanation of the nature and being of the individual so named. All Hebrew (i.e. Israelite, Jewish) names have meanings. It is the same with GOD's holy and sacred name, Y-H-V-H, which is also known as the Tetragrammaton (or the "four letters"). Moses tells GOD that the Children of Israel will ask for GOD's name when he tells them that G-d has sent him. At Exodus 3:14 it reads, "And GOD (Hebrew: Elohim, which is a title not a name) said unto Moses, "I am that I am" which is how the Hebrew words are normally translated into English. But the Hebrew in the text of the Torah is actually three words "ehyeh asher ehyeh" which happens to be the forms of the verb "to be". Some translate Y-H-V-H to mean "the Eternal One" … as the holy name of GOD that refers to his self-existence and eternity. The sage Rashi here translates the three words to mean, "I will be what I will be" as a future conjugation of the verb "to be", since there is no present tense in ancient Hebrew (everything is expressed either in the past or in the future). Furthermore, at Exodus 3:15 it reads, "And GOD said moreover unto Moses: 'thus shall you say unto the Children of Israel, Y-H-V-H (a contraction of ehyeh asher ehyeh), the GOD of Abraham, the GOD of Isaac and the GOD of Jacob hath sent me unto you; this is My Name for ever and this is my memorial unto all generations." So now we come the Hebrew word that is called the NAME of GOD. This word comes from the same root as ehyeh (which is hayah meaning "to be". According to the commentary in the Hertz Chumash, "It gives expression to the fact that He was, He is and He ever will be. Here too the words must not be understood in the philosophical sense of mere 'being', but as active manifestation of the Divine existence". This is such a lofty concept that I can understand why translators into the English might have chosen to give the Tetragrammaton a simpler translation, such as that of "I am". Which, by the way, is another proof of the adage that "translation is always also interpretation". But we shall see shortly that this cannot be the true "meaning" of the sacred name, because of it's use in the context here of the redemption of the Children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. We need to read a little further into the text to get a better send of the true meaning of the NAME as it is used in this fuller/wider context. In Exodus 6:2 (the beginning of this week's reading Vayera) it reads, "And GOD spoke to Moses and said unto him, 'I am Y-H-V-H (Hebrew: Ani Y-H-V-H) and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob as GOD Almighty (Hebrew: El Shaddai) but by My Name Y-H-V-H I made Me not known to them.' " Now to serious and studious reads of the Bible this is a serious problem … because of course the Name Y-H-V-H had been used in the text prior to this in the Book of Genesis, and earlier in Exodus. So the words cannot mean that GOD had never mentioned to the patriarchs His Name of Y-H-V-H. But then again, upon a careful reading of the text, it does not say that either. It does NOT say that GOD had never told them (or made known to them) his Name Y-H-V-H. It says, better translated, "but as to My Name Y-H-V-H, I was not known to them."