I was preparing to teach a Bible study on Genesis 3 and I noticed something about the name of God. Much has been made in the past about the change in names between Gen 1 and Gen 2-3, from simply "God," to "the LORD God," but I saw something different. Gen 3 generally uses "the LORD God," referencing both the majestic, powerful, Creator Elohim ("God") of Gen 1 and the personal Yahweh ("LORD") of those called into his covenant. But, the serpent of Gen 3--Satan--only refers to "God." Satan does not use the personal name of God. And in answering the serpent's questions, Eve only refers to "God." Then, the serpent is even able to tell the woman that she can be like elohim, a term also used to describe angels and even earthly rulers. While she could never be like Yahweh, the serpent never claims she could be. And in her desire to be wise, she forgets the love and care of Yahweh.
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Father, I praise you for not only being the Creator of the universe, which by itself makes you more worthy of praise than anything in creation, but I praise you for giving your people your name, Yahweh, by which we know you and live in a relationship with you. May your people always remember that we not only have a God who is in control, but we have a God who has chosen to love us, covenant with us, provide for us, disciple us, protect us, and forgive us. We have a God who knew from the beginning how things would end and from the beginning promised his people that you would make a way to restore us to what we destroyed. May your people look forward with hope and faith to the day when we are welcomed into your city and led back to the tree of life.
I praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
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