There is much debate about it. The only definition I have ever heard of is "He exists"
All I know for sure is that the name of god given to moses at the burning bush "YHWH", which has been pronounced many different ways from Yahweh to Jehovah, must be pronounced as "Yahu" in hebrew. For 2 reasons: First, the only verb is can be associated with is "Hiyah" which means to exist. And, though yahu would not be proper hebrew for a verb, here is my 2nd reason: Because so many hebrew names reflect it. For instance, "YAHUda" (Judea), "NetanYAHU" (Gift of God), "MattitYAHU" (also means gift of god), "EliYAHU" (means.... "My god is Yahu"), and the list goes on and on and on. So, what it means is definitely not completely clear, but the widely disputed pronunciation of it, I think, is pretty easy to conclude. But if it does mean "He exists" which is about the only difinition of it I have ever heard, that would make sense, because from Moses's perspective that would been a valid answer to his question "Who shall I say sent me?" God responded "I am that I am, Tell them I am (yhwh) sent you" Sensible, since both Moses and God realized that the egyptians had many, many gods they believed in. He was saying, perhaps, "Tell them the one god who REALLY DOES EXIST sent you", which is, I think, the origin for a popular jewish expression "Shamu echad" (His name is One), or he is the only one of his kind.
All I know for sure is that the name of god given to moses at the burning bush "YHWH", which has been pronounced many different ways from Yahweh to Jehovah, must be pronounced as "Yahu" in hebrew. For 2 reasons: First, the only verb is can be associated with is "Hiyah" which means to exist. And, though yahu would not be proper hebrew for a verb, here is my 2nd reason: Because so many hebrew names reflect it. For instance, "YAHUda" (Judea), "NetanYAHU" (Gift of God), "MattitYAHU" (also means gift of god), "EliYAHU" (means.... "My god is Yahu"), and the list goes on and on and on. So, what it means is definitely not completely clear, but the widely disputed pronunciation of it, I think, is pretty easy to conclude. But if it does mean "He exists" which is about the only difinition of it I have ever heard, that would make sense, because from Moses's perspective that would been a valid answer to his question "Who shall I say sent me?" God responded "I am that I am, Tell them I am (yhwh) sent you" Sensible, since both Moses and God realized that the egyptians had many, many gods they believed in. He was saying, perhaps, "Tell them the one god who REALLY DOES EXIST sent you", which is, I think, the origin for a popular jewish expression "Shamu echad" (His name is One), or he is the only one of his kind.
