The Watchtower Interpretation of Exodus 3:15

 

"Then God said once more to Moses: 'This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, "Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to YOU." This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation.'" (Exodus 3:15 NWT) Watchtower publications insist that Exodus 3:15 is a command to always refer to God as Jehovah forever, and claim that the name Jehovah is the only name by which to address God.

While God is known by the name Jehovah (or Yahweh), Jehovah is not the only name by which God is known. The Watchtower interpretation conflicts with the numerous Bible passages where God is identified in other ways besides the name Jehovah, such as the numerous times He is referred to as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" without any mention of the name Jehovah. Jesus never addressed the Father as Jehovah or referred to the Father as Jehovah, and He thus demonstrated that Jehovah is not the only way that God can be addressed.

Exodus 3:15 is dealing with more than the use of a word. God was telling Moses that He would be manifest in the nature expressed by that name, that is, He would manifest that in His true nature and being He is the eternally self-existent and sovereign God. (Consider I Kings 18:36-37)

 

Further reading:

WITNESSING TO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES