This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. (Genesis 2:4)

Two of the most significant terms for God, “Elohim” and the divine name, Yahweh, are found in precise combination “Yahweh Elohim” 37 times, plus a few instances where the terms are reversed. All the major English translations render this couplet as “the LORD God.” Early in the biblical record, the two terms are associated to make sure it is understood that the Creator God of the universe is none other than Yahweh of Israel. Although Adam and Eve probably didn’t know that terminology for God, since the formation of Israel was far distant in the future, Moses, who is the human author of Genesis, establishes the connection. So we might say the account of creation is the record of Israel’s God moving in the beginning.

The Jews were unabashed in proclaiming that their God was the true God over all, not just a territorial deity. The message to the world was from the God over all creation, the true Deity who created the universe—that was whom the Jew worshipped. Modern scholars of comparative religion like to view the Jewish God Yahweh as one of many representations of deity in the ancient world. However, Yahweh was not a human creation devised by Jews coming out of Egyptian slavery to establish their own uniqueness as an emerging nation with their own unique god. When Moses met Him in the Sinai desert, it was “God [“Elohim” who] called to him from the midst of the bush” (Ex 3:4). The voice said, “I am the ‘Elohim’ of Abraham, the ‘Elohim’ of Isaac, and the ‘Elohim’ of Jacob” (Ex 3:6 ). And this “Elohim” identified Himself by name, Yahweh (Ex 3:14-15).

Conversely, it was Yahweh of Israel who created the heavens and the earth, as our verse for today indicates. He is the LORD God, that is, Yahweh Elohim. Twenty times we find this connection being made in Genesis 2-3 alone, irrevocably tying Yahweh to the creation account and the fall into sin of humans. The Creator God is not an impersonal deity detached from people, His image bearers. Rather it was “Yahweh Elohim” [who] “… formed man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen 2:7). And it was “Yahweh Elohim” who confronted Adam and Eve when they sinned (Gen 3:8-9). Interestingly, Satan, as personified in the serpent only refers to God as “Elohim,” exhibiting a distinct lack of relationship with Him. By extension, therefore, the God we worship as Christians is the LORD God, Yahweh Elohim over all the universe.

Lord God, I am overwhelmingly privileged that You reveal Yourself to me.