What is God?


Is God real? Did He create man, or did man, fearfully conscious of his weakness and mortality, create God in his mind? If God is real, what is He like? Author Paul Johnson (A Quest for God, 1996) wrote: “The existence or non-existence of God is the most important question we humans are ever asked to answer.”3

Before the creation.
The 13th century Sefer HaZohar (“Book of Splendor”) describes God before the creation of the universe: "Before He gave any shape to the world, before He produced any form, He was alone, without form and without resemblance to anything else. Who then can comprehend how He was before the Creation? Hence it is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or even to call Him by His sacred name, or to indicate Him by a single letter or a single point…”4 God was all there was -- neither inside nor outside anything – having no spatial dimension whatsoever or frame of reference conceivable by the human mind.

Proof of His existence.
Today, the Scriptures tell us that the proof of God’s existence is apparent in the created universe: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:20).
Indeed, the breathtaking beauty of nature on earth and the awe-inspiring majesty of the heavens point to the hand of a Creator. But these are oftentimes subjective thoughts engendered by surges of human emotions.
Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist who became the father of the U.S. space program, wrote: “My experiences with science led me to God… Prove the existence of God? Must we really light a candle to see the sun?”5 In today’s world, we have been conditioned to demand rational and objective explanations for nearly everything. Surprisingly enough, modern science supplies many of the answers we seek – beginning with a number of the traditionally acknowledged characteristics of God taught by the Scriptures.

God the Eternal
The Bible repeatedly avers that God has no beginning and will have no end. For instance, Moses exulted: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Ps 90:2). John calls God “him which is, and which was, and which is to come…” (Rev 1:4b).
Jewish mystics refer to God as the Ein Sof (“Infinite Nothingness”), literally, “Without End,” eternal, infinite. Without a past and a future, God is pure consciousness in timeless eternity. Yet, “Without End,” according to some, implies a beginning, so it would perhaps be more appropriate to call God the Ein Techila – “Without Beginning.” (But does that not imply an end?) Others insist that no name would be appropriate for the Creator, because the letters and sounds of names came only after the Creation.6

Beginning of time?
The very first words of the Scriptures relate that time had a starting point. “In the beginning…” (Gen 1:1a).
The apostle Paul repeated the idea no less than three times nearly 2,000 years ago: “No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began (1 Cor 2:7-8, NIV). “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness -- a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time (Titus 1:1-2, NIV). And… “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (2 Tim 1:9-10, NIV).
If time had a beginning, “when” and how did it begin?

When time began.
Time must have begun with the Creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven…” (Gen 1:1a).
What is “heaven”? The word, in the ordinary sense, is synonymous with “sky” -- the expanse above the surface of the earth where the birds fly, where the clouds drift by and, farther out, where the sun, moon, and stars shine. In short, “heaven” is the space above, surrounding, and beyond our planet Earth in all directions. Space, science teaches, is a vacuum (“emptiness”).
So, God created “heaven” or empty space to put His creation in. As the Jewish mystics tell it, the Ein Sof caused a part of His “Infinite Nothingness” to contract in order to make room for the emergence of the physical universe. Thus, empty "space" appeared. The "contraction" or "constriction" is called Tzimtzum, a term first used in his teachings by the Kabbalist master Isaac Luria (1534-72).7 Critics, however, argue that “contraction” is an inaccurate and misleading term as it implies previously existing dimensions. The Ein Sof has no spatial dimension of any sort.
In any case, time came into existence when God created space (“heaven”). How? We measure space (or any object occupying space) by means of the three physical dimensions of length, width, and height. We measure a fourth, more subtle dimension – time -- through the movement of an object in space. The 12th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides noted: “Time is an accident consequent upon motion and is necessarily attached to it. Neither of them exists without the other. Motion does not exist except in time, and time cannot be conceived by the intellect except together with motion.”8 For example, a ball thrown from point A may take two seconds to reach point B. Without the dimensions of space as a frame of reference, there can be no movement and, therefore, no time.
As the Encarta Encyclopedia points out: “In Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which was introduced in 1916, the very existence of time depends on the presence of space.”9 The editors speculate that “the big bang theory (of the birth of the universe) does not explain what existed before the big bang. It may be that time itself began at the big bang, so that it makes no sense to discuss what happened ‘before’ the big bang.”10

Time will end.
Physicist Paul Davies, of the University of Adelaide, Australia, wrote: “Modern scientific cosmology is the most ambitious enterprise of all to emerge from Einstein’s work. When scientists began to explore the implications of Einstein’s time for the universe as a whole, they made one of the most important discoveries in the history of human thought: that time, and hence all of physical reality, must have had a definite origin in the past. If time is flexible and mutable, as Einstein demonstrated, then it is possible for time to come into existence – and also to pass away again; there can be a beginning and an end to time.”11
Truly, the Scriptures also tell us that time will ultimately come to an end: “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time…” (Dan 12:4, NASU).
“Space-time” inseparable.
Space and time are so inseparably tied together that scientists refer to the continuum of space and time as simply one entity: “space-time.”
The Jews had a 16th century saying: "HaMakom V'HaZman Echad Hu." ("Space and time, they are one.”)12 Author Gerald Schroeder, commenting on Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity, observes that “space and time are linked together and are interchangeable. The connection between space and time, however, is not apparent unless you are dealing with vast distances, very short times, or things moving very near to the speed of light.”13

God outside space-time.
If God created space and time, then He obviously pre-existed and must be outside space-time. As the whole cannot be contained in any of its parts, infinite God cannot be confined in the finite universe He merely created. King Solomon asks: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings 8:27).
Moreover, everything in the universe functions according to the laws of physics. Would God subject Himself to the physical laws He Himself had established? If He did, He would no longer be infinite.
Space and time had a beginning, and their Creator existed before time began. He is therefore before, above, and beyond time, which has no effects on Him. Thus, God is timeless. Science confirms Scripture: God is eternal -- with no beginning and no end.

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, The Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)

3Paul Johnson, A Quest for God, 1996, p. 1
4Ein Sof, Wikipedia, Internet
5Wernher von Braun, letter to the California State Board of Education, September 14, 1972
6Ein Sof, op. cit.
7Tzimtzum, op. cit.
8Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, 1190
9Time, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
10Big Bang Theory, op. cit.
11Paul Davies, It’s About Time, 1995, p. 17
12Study of the Book of Revelation, “Spiritual Time, Space, Mass, Light and Energy,” updated 8/20/00, Internet
13Fred Alan Wolf, Space-Time and Beyond, 1987, p. 140


The original Name of G-d


 “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I was not known to them” (Ex 6:2-3, NKJV). “God Almighty” is English for El Shaddai, which is actually a title. 
In a Hebrew Union College Annual article in 1961, Sigmund Mowinchel analyzed the passage: “It is generally recognized that (Exodus) 6:2-3 states that the name (YHWH) was not known till it was revealed to Moses, and that to the patriarchs God had appeared as El Shaddai.”62

A pre-Mosaic Name?
After Eve gave birth to Cain, she referred to G-d as “the LORD.” “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Gen 4:1). As we know, the term “the LORD” has been placed as a substitute in nearly all the verses where the Tetragrammaton (Four-Lettered Name) had originally been written. 
After Adam’s grandson Enos by Seth was born, men began to invoke the Name of “the L-RD.” “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 4:25-26).
Abraham, who lived some 500 years before G-d revealed His Four-Lettered Name to Moses, also called on the Name of “the L-RD.” “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 12:7-8).
We can see that the first men, long before Moses was born, called on the Name of “the L-RD.” What was that Name? Did the patriarchs know a primeval sacred Name that was different from YHWH?

A deeper meaning?
The Encyclopedia Judaica notes the differing opinions: “According to the documentary hypothesis, the literary sources in the Pentateuch known as the Elohist and the Priestly Document never use the name (YHWH) for God until it is revealed to Moses (Ex. 3:13; 6:2-3); but the Yahwist source uses it from Genesis 2:4 on and puts the name in Eve’s declaration, ‘I along with (YHWH) have made a man,’ thus implying that it was known to the first human generation (Gen. 4:1; cf 4:26).”63
Mowinchel believes the Name YHWH was known to the first men. “The earliest Israelite historian J uses the name Yahweh in the patriarchal stories without any reservation, and in his opinion it was known already by the third generation of mankind; at the time of Enosh, the son of Seth, (men) – or as the Vulgate says: he – began to call upon the name of Yahweh… the tribes that under the leadership of Moses – became the people of Israel, already knew and worshiped… Yahweh… What Exod. 3:16 tells us is that the deeper meaning of the name was revealed to Moses by Yahweh himself… When the elders of the people hear that he knows even the mysterious meaning of the name, then they must believe that he is telling the truth.
“In J’s opinion it was not the name of Yahweh, which was revealed to Moses here – that was known already by Enosh centuries before – but the deeper meaning, which according to Yahwistic tradition and the theology of the ‘school’ of J, was hidden in the name.”64
The meaning of His Name that the L-RD gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14 is “I AM THAT I AM.” On the other hand, Mowinchel fails to say if J (Jahwistic or Yahwistic source) gives the least bit of a hint as to what the deeper, hidden meaning of G-d’s Sacred Name is supposed to be.

Another, earlier Name.
If G-d revealed the Tetragrammaton for the first time only to Moses, then the Name of G-d that Adam and Eve, Seth, Enos, Abraham, and others knew and called upon was not YHWH. Clearly, it was another, earlier Name. But why does “the L-RD,” which was used to replace YHWH in Scriptures, occur as early as in the book of Genesis?
Could it be that Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, in his great zeal and esteem for the sacred Name revealed to him, began using the Tetragrammaton in the Scriptural text right from the account of the creation of Adam (Gen 2:4)?

Alternative suffixal form
We have seen that in Israelite theoporic names, the suffix -iah or -jah is actually the abbreviated or Two-Lettered Name of G-d, Yah. The Encyclopaedia Judaica, however, informs us that the suffix has yet another form. “This is confirmed, at least for the vowel of the first syllable of the name, by the shorter form Yah, which is sometimes used in poetry (e.g., Ex. 15:2) and the -yahu or -yah that serves as the final syllable in many Hebrew names.”65 The alternative form is -yahu.
The Jewish Encyclopedia corroborates this, saying that the two short forms of the Name appear as “Yahu or Yah in the second part of such names.”66 Seow gives an example: “In the final position it appears as -yahu (-iah) or -yah (-iah) as in the alternate spellings for ‘Azariah,’ Azaryahu and Azaryah.”67 In this vein, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the name of the prophet Elijah, except on four or five occasions, is spelled Eliyahu, with a waw in the end. Is there much difference between the two? They are probably as different as two kingdoms were from one another.

2 kingdoms, 2 suffixes.
After King Solomon died around 975 B.C., the Israelite monarchy broke up into two -- the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel in the north and the two-tribe kingdom of Judah in the south. The separation led to a distinction between the suffix of theoporic names in the north and of that in the south. Biblical Archaelogy Review editor Hershel Shanks said in the magazine’s May-June 1994 issue: “-yahu (was) the common suffix in Judah... (in the northern kingdom of Israel the suffix was yah).”68 
Writer P. Kyle McCarter concurs: “The expected form of the divine name… when it appears as the final part of a Judahite personal name in this period (late 7th to the early 6th centuries B.C.), is yhw, pronounced yahu (long a and u)…”69  

Archeological evidences.
The March-April 1996 issue of Biblical Archaelogy Review featured a limestone seal from the 7th century B.C. that reads, “Belonging to Asayahu, servant of the King” (actually a high royal official). The short form “Asaiah” is in 2 Chronicles 34:20 -- “And the king commanded Hilkiah... and Asaiah a servant of the king’s...”70   
The same issue of the magazine had a 7th-6th century B.C bulla (seal impression on clay) used by a scribe to seal a document, which reads, “Belonging to Berekyahu, son of Neriyahu, the Scribe.” The names have been abbreviated in the Bible: “Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah...” (Jer 36:4).71
In its May-June 1994 issue, Biblical Archaelogy Review showed an inscription above a rock-tomb in Silwan, Israel, that says: “This is (the sepulchre of ...) yahu, who is over the house.” The term “over the house” refers to the royal steward, who Bible scholars believe was Shebnayahu (short form, Shebna) in Isaiah 22:15. “Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house...”72

Three-Lettered Name
Scholars have found that Yahu is more than just a suffix, it actually is another proper Name of G-d, spelled with only three letters of the Tetragrammaton! This third form became known to “scholars after the discovery of the independent form YHW in the Egyptian papyri of the 5th century B.C. from the Elephantine archives…”73 According to The New 20th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, in the Old World the form YHW was used by the Jews in the Elephantine Island in Egypt.74 Last Day Ministries of Texas shares additional information: “There was evidently a Temple built to YHW in Elephantine, Egypt. Many documents from this place show that the sacred name was written YHW...”75
Seow suggests that this three-lettered Name is another short form of the Tetragrammaton. “The final H in YHWH is not a real consonant… the real consonants of the divine name are YHW… in several inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Arjud in the Sinai… (a)mong the attestations of the name in the inscriptions from that site is one example of YHW… the final vowel not being indicated by the letter H in this instance.76

Presumed pronunciation.
In the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran, Professor Emeritus George Wesley Buchanan of the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. found a similar three-lettered Name transliterated in Greek. He speculates: “Clement of Alexandria spelled the Tetragrammaton IAOAI (Ya-oo-ai), IAOE (Ya-oo-eh), and IAO (Ya-oh)… Among the caves of Qumran was a Greek text that included a few Greek word of Leviticus (4QLXX Lev), one of which was the Tetragrammaton. It was spelled (Ya-oh). This is apparently a two-syllable word, but the second syllable is only a vowel. There is no way that it could be rendered ‘Yah-weh.’ This was a transliteration of the Hebrew Ya-ho. It is the same spelling given in the fifth century B.C. Aramaic papyri. From the Aramaic alone this word could be pronounced either Ya-hoo or Ya-hoh… When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one syllable it was ‘Yah’ or ‘Yo.’ …If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been ‘Yahoo’…”77  
The Century Cyclopedia attests to it. “The early Gnostics, moreover, when they transcribed it in Greek characters, wrote Iao (that is, Yaho).”78
Ziony Zevit confirms the “oo” sound at the end of words: “…waw was used to indicate the final vowel ‘u’… By employing waw as a m.l. (matres lectionis or vowel indicator) for ‘o’ in word final positions, some potential ambiguities were eliminated… in this position there was small opportunity for confusion between waw as a m.l. for ‘o’ and as a m.l. for ‘u,’ because the first value would occur exclusively with substantives, while the second, most frequently with verbs.”79
Hence, YHW can be explained as follows: The first two letters YH are the two consonants of the first syllable “YaH,” while the third and last letter W is a matres lectionis indicating the vowel “U.” Therefore, YHW = YH (“YaH”) + W (“U”) = “YaHU.”

Pronunciation confirmed.
The Century Cyclopedia proves the pronunciation from ancient artifacts: “…we may gather from the contemporary Assyrian monuments that it was pronounced Yahu. Wherever an Israelitish name is met with in the cuneiform inscriptions which, like Jehu or Hezekiah, is compounded with the divine title, the latter appears as Yahu, Jehu being Yahua, and Hezekiah Khazaki-yahu.”80  
Rabbi Heiliczer says it is indeed the pronunciation in the vowel-pointed Hebrew Scriptures. “Moreover the first three letters, yud-hey-vuv (YHW), do appear by themselves in the Tenakh and always with vowels making the pronunciation ‘yahu’.”81
A curious thing, moreover, has been observed. If we try to vocalize YHW as vowels only, using the three consonants used at the end of words to indicate vowel sounds (yod, ee as in “see”; hey, ah as in “bah”; and waw, oo as in “pool”), the resulting sound is: ee-ah-oo = Yahu. It seems that, whether we read the Three-Lettered Name as Hebrew consonants only or pronounce the characters as vowels only, we get the same result -- “Yahu!”

Both a suffix and a prefix
Unlike the Two-Lettered Name “Yah,” which is used only as a suffix, the Three-Lettered Name “Yahu” is used as both a suffix and a prefix. The Jewish Encyclopedia notes the use of “the forms Jeho or Yeho, and Jo or Yo (wy, contracted from why), which the word assumes in combination in the first part of compound proper names, and Yahu or Yah (why, hy) in the second part of such names.”82
The Encyclopaedia Britannica adds that “the usual form is YH or Yhw, occurring in unvocalized texts of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.E. These forms appear in the Old Testament sporadically as the independent Yah and regularly as Yah or Yahu at the end and Yeho or Yo at the beginning of proper names.”83  

From Yahu to Yeho.
The Century Cyclopedia informs us that the Three-Lettered Name YHW, when used as a prefix, “Even according to the Masoretes it must be read Yeho when it forms part of a proper name.”84  
Seow explains the change of Yahu to Yeho when used as a prefix in theoporic names as a linguistic peculiarity: “…the first vowel was further changed from a to e, in accordance with rules of Hebrew Grammar.“85 Rabbi Heiliczer thinks it was introduced on purpose. ”When a Hebrew name in the Masoretic Tenakh begins with a part of the divine name, the vowels are given as E-O (shortened form of Eh-O-ah from Eloah). Some examples are: Yehoshaphat (Jehoshaphat) YEHO-Shaphat; Yehoshua (Joshua) YEHO-Shua.”86

From Yeho- to Yo-, Jo-.
Yeho-, though, through syncope or word contraction was further abbreviated to Y’ho-, before eventually becoming Yo-, then Jo-. Author Garrison tells us that the form Yehoshua, “in its original Hebrew form it was Y’hoshua… frequently abbreviated to Joshua.87 Seow gives another example: “In personal names, what scholars call the ‘Yahwistic theoporic element’ appears in the initial position as Yeho- (Jeho-) or Yo- (Jo-), as in the two forms for ‘Jonathan,’ Yehonatan and Yonatan.”88
Yo- was written as Io- in Scriptures before the letter “J” became a consonant. As an Oil Derrick tract explains: “This short form of ‘Io’ as the sacred name can also be seen in the original 1611 King James Version where it is attached to such Biblical names as Ioshua, Iohn, Ioel, Ionathan, Ioshaphat, Iosedech, Iochebed, Ioram, Ioseph, Ionadab etc. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance shows the fuller form of these names as Yehoshua, Yehochanan, Yehonathan, Yehoshaphat, Yehosedech, Yehoseph, Yehoram, Yehonadab.”89

Names prefixed with YHW.
Emeritus professor Buchanan cites more instances: “The Hebrew for the name ‘Jonathan’ is Yah-ho-na-than, ‘Yaho… has given.’ John was spelled ‘Yaho-cha-nan’, ‘Yaho… has been gracious.’ Elijah’s name was Eli-yahoo, ‘My God is Yahoo…’ Ancients often gave their children names that included the name of their deity.”90
One prominent theoporic name today is the surname of the Israeli prime minister: Netanyahu, which means “given by (netan) Yahu” (Nethaniah -- 2 Chron 17:8, Jer 36:14, etc.). It was adopted by his grandfather in Lithuania in 1920, following the Hebrew language revival that began among the Jews in 17th century Europe. When the sacred suffix is transposed to form the prefix, the name becomes Yahu-netan (“Yahu has given [netan]”), but is spelled Yeho-natan. In the course of time Yehonatan has been contracted to Yonatan. When the new letter “J” became part of the English alphabet, the name became “Jonathan.”
Incidentally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s elder brother was redundantly named Jonathan (Yonatan) Netanyahu. A major in the Israel Defense Forces, he led IDF commandos in rescuing over 100 hostages held by terrorists in a jetliner at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976. He died a hero’s death as the only IDF casualty in the daring raid.
Below is an illustration of how some Biblical names developed.

How “Yahu” Became “Jo” in Theoporic Names
Names w/ Yahu last*
Nethaniah/ Netanyahu
Isaiah/ Yeshayahu
Hananiah/ Chananyahu
Elijah/ Eliyahu
Abijah/ Abiyahu
Meaning
Given (by) Yahu
Salvation (is) Yahu
Gracious (has been) Yahu
My God (is) Yahu
My father (is) Yahu
Same names w/ Yahu first
Yahunatan
Yahushua
Yahuchanan
Yahuel
Yahuab
Meaning
Yahu (has) given
Yahu (is) salvation
Yahu (has been) gracious
Yahu (is) God
Yahu (is) father
First ‘a’ to ‘e,’ ‘u’ to ‘o’
Yehonatan
Yehoshua
Yehochanan
Yehoel
Yehoab
‘e’ lost thru syncope
Y’honatan
Y’hoshua
Y’hochanan
Y’hoel
Y’hoab
‘h’ dropped over time
Yonatan
Yoshua
Yohanan
Yoel
Yoab
I used for Y, MiddleAges
Ionathan
Iosua
Iohann, Iohn
Ioel
Ioab
New letter J replaced I
Jonathan
Joshua
Johan, John
Joel
Joab
*Modern English Biblical forms over Anglicized traditional Hebrew pronunciations

Old Testament proof
Proof exists in the Old Testament that Yahu was truly G-d's first and original Name that the ancients knew from the time of Adam – the name of Moses's mother. “And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister (Num 26:59).
Moses’s mother was Jochebed, a granddaughter of Jacob (Israel) by his son Levi. She married her brother Kohath’s son Amram, who became Moses’s father (Ex 6:16-18,20). Jochebed lived around 3,600 years ago in Egypt during the period of Israelite bondage.
Jochebed means “YHWH is glory”91chebed coming from the Hebrew root-word kabed, meaning “splendor, glory, honor.” The initial letter “J” in her name was anciently a “Y,” so Jochebed used to be Yochebed. Even earlier, it was Y’hochebed, from Yehochebed. And, long before that, its original form was Yahuchebed.
Since Jochebed was born and given her particular theoporic name by her parents before the Creator revealed a new Name to her future son, Moses, that leaves us with but one conclusion: The sacred Name of G-d that the Israelites knew before the time of Moses was YAHU.
“According to Albright (Assyrian Cuneiform scholar) and others the most ancient form of the sacred name (outside of Scripture) is ‘Yahu’. YHW or YHU are indicated by the same letter in Hebrew.”92 Researcher James Montgomery, in the Journal of Biblical Literature (1944), put the matter to rest: “The earliest form of the Name was doubtless Yahu.”93  

The meaning of Yahu. If the Four-Lettered Name YHWH means “I AM THAT I AM” and the Two-Lettered Name YH stands for “I AM,” what does the Three-Lettered Name YHW signify?
There are several Biblical names that similarly end in -hu, other than those ending in –yahu. Let us examine three of them.
1) Abihu, a son of Aaron, Moses’s brother (Ex 6:23, etc.). Abihu in Hebrew means “My father (Abi) is he (huw).”94
2) Elihu, David’s eldest brother, et al. (1 Chron 27:18, etc.). Elihu signifies “My G-d (Eli) is He (huw).”95
3) Jehu, a prophet of Israel, et al. (1 Kings 16:12, etc.). Jehu stands for “The L-RD (YHWH) is He (huw).”96 (Note that in all three instances the last letter “w” is lost in personal names. Huw is written hu in modern Hebrew.)
Based on the foregoing examples, it follows YAHU means “I AM (Yah) HE (huw).” (The original Hebrew wording Yah huw is never used in ordinary speech. In common usage, “I am he” is Ani hu.)
Obviously, Yahu is the abbreviation of Yah huw. Gesenius Hebrew Grammar explains how it happened: “Assimilation usually takes place when one consonant which closes a syllable passes over into another beginning the next syllable and forms with it a strengthened letter.”97 In other words, if the last consonant of a syllable is the same as the first consonant of the succeeding syllable, the two identical consonants are written as only one letter.
Accordingly, the two words Yah and huw together form Yahhuw, which becomes Yahuw in conformity with Hebrew grammar rules, and is further simplified to Yahu, as illustrated below: 

Yah
+
huw
=
Yahhuw
=
Yahuw
=
Yahu
(“I AM”)
+
(“HE”)
=




(“I AM HE”)

Allusion by the LORD.
The L-RD alluded to His Three-Lettered Name on many occasions: “See now that I, even I, am he…” (Deut 32:39).
“Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he” (Isa 41:4).
“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last” (Isa 48:12; also 43:10,13,25; 46:4; 51:12).

New Testament Proof
YHW appears to have been spoken by Christ Himself, “Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Then -- when He said to them, "I am He,"-- they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:3-6, NKJV).
Why did Judas and the band of men fall to the ground? What power did the Three-Lettered Name of God have? We see why in Temple worship practices: “The High Priest spoke the name of God on the Day of Atonement in his recitation of Lev. xvi. 30 during the confessions of sins; and when the priests and the people in the great hall heard him utter the ‘Shem ha-Meforash (the Distinguished Name),’ they prostrated themselves and glorified God.”98
Translator H. Danby corroborates this in the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish legal traditions. “And when the priests and the people which stood in the Temple Court heard the Expressed Name come forth from the mouth of the High Priest, they used to kneel and bow themselves and fall down on their faces and say, ‘Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom for ever and ever!’ (Yoma 6:2).”99  
Many people get the impression that the men arresting Christ fell backwards. On the contrary, they fell forward on their faces in an act of worship! They were from the Temple, and, as our references relate, they customarily fell to the ground on their faces whenever they heard the Name of God. Apparently, when Christ said “I am He,” He used the sacred phrase Yah huw i.e., the Three-Lettered Name YHW (Yahu).

Disappearance.
Why is the form Yahu not found in the Bible? Allen says, “When the Jews were carried into Babylon in 606 B.C.E. many of the personal names had the element ‘yahu’…”100 Yet, Zevit found that when the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity 70 years later, the suffix had changed from -yahu to -yah. “An examination of the chronological distribution of the suffix in Judean inscriptions indicates that -yhw is characteristically pre-Exilic, and -yh post-Exilic… Japhet points out that in Ezra-Nehemiah all names with this element are written -yh with one exception…”101
After Babylon fell, the Jews began returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the Temple under a decree King Cyrus of Persia issued in 536 B.C. By the time of the Jewish leaders Ezra and Nehemiah, the use of -yahu as a suffix in Hebrew theoporic names had ceased.
About 2,000 years later, in Europe, even the rare names which had the suffix -yahu in the Hebrew text, such as Eliyahu, were transliterated by Bible translators with the more familiar -iah and -jah suffixes

The 3 Personal Names of God
Below is a summary of the LORD’s three Personal Names:

Spelling
Pronunciation
Meaning
Passages
Notes
Y-H

“YaH”

“I AM”
Ex 3:14; John 8:58
As in Isaiah or Hallelujah
Y-H-W

“YaHU”

“I AM HE”
Isa 41:4, etc. John 18:5-6
As in Eliyahu
or Netanyahu
Y-H-W-H
God’s most sacred Name, known only to a few.*
“I AM THAT
I AM”
Ex 3:14; 6:3
The “Ineffable Name,” never spoken aloud
_________________________________
62.
Sigmund Mowinchel, “The Name of the Heavenly Father of Moses,” The Hebrew Union College Annual, 1961, p. 14
63.
God, Names of, op. cit., col. 679
64.
Mowinchel, loc. cit.
65.
God, Names of, op. cit., cols.. 679-680
66.
YHWH, Names of God, Jewish Encyclopedia, Internet
67.
Seow, loc. cit.
68.
Herschel Shanks, “The Tombs of Silwan,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, p. 48
69.
P. Kyle McCarter, “In Private Hands,” Queries & Comments, Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1996, p. 26
70.
Shanks, “Fingerprint of Jeremiah’s Scribe,” Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April 1996, p.38
71.
Shanks, op. cit., pp. 36-38
72.
Shanks, “Isaiah’s Ire,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, pp. 48-49
73.
The New 20th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 2nd edition, p. 886
74.
Ibid.
75.
“Comments,” Last Day Ministries, tract, undated
76.
Seow, op. cit., p. 49
77.
George Wesley Buchanan, “The Tetragrammaton,” Comments & Queries, Biblical Archaelogy Review, March-April 1995, pp. 30,31,100
78.
Sayce, Ancient Monuments, The Century Cyclopedia [1900], p. 75; excerpted by Allen in “How Long Halt Ye Between Two Opinions,” tract, undated
79.
Ziony Zevit, Matres Lectionis in Ancient Hebrew Epigraphs, American Schools of Oriental Research, 1980, p. 25
80.
Sayce, loc. cit.
81.
Heiliczer, op. cit., p. 20
82.
YHWH, Names of God, op. cit.
83.
Yahweh, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. 12
84.
Sayce, loc. cit.
85.
Seow, op. cit., p. 50).
86.
Heiliczer, loc. cit.
87.
Garrison, Strange Facts About The Bible, p. 81
88.
Seow, op. cit., p. 49
89.
“Ioua/Iona,” The Oil Derrick, tract, undated, p. 1
90.
Buchanan, loc. cit.
91.
Jochebed, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
92.
“The Mystic Symbol,” Indian Sabbath Trail, tract, undated
93.
James Montgomery, “The Hebrew Divine Name and the Personal Pronoun Hu, Critical Notes, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. lxiii, 1944, p. 162
94.
Abihu, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
95.
Elihu, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988
96.
Jehu, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary,1986
97.
Gesenius Hebrew Grammar, p. 68
98.
God, Names of, op. cit., col. 263
99.
The Mishnah, translated by H. Danby, 1954, p. xiv
100.
Allen, op. cit.,  p. 7
101.
Zevit, op. cit., pp. 12-13
102.
Jehucal, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988