Jeffrey Johnson Supporter

When did God first identify Himself as the LORD?

God first explicitly identified himself as the LORD (Yahweh) to Moses in Exodus. While earlier patriarchal figures knew God as El Shaddai ("God Almighty"), God stated in Exodus 6:3 that he did not make his name "Yahweh" known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God revealed his name to Moses with the declaration, "I AM WHO I AM," and commanded him to tell the Israelites, "I AM has sent me to you." 

Before Moses: God was known by other names, such as "God Almighty" (El Shaddai) and "Most High God" (El Elyon).

1: Exodus 3:14: God reveals his name to Moses, saying, "I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

2: Exodus 6:3: God confirms this to Moses, explaining that while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew him as El Shaddai, "by my name, Yahweh, I did not make myself known to them." 

Exodus 3: 13-16 Rotherham Bible:

And Moses said unto God, "Lo! as surely as I go in unto the sons of Israel, and say unto them, 'The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you.' So surely will they say unto me, 'What is his name?' What shall I say unto them?" 14 And God said unto Moses, "I will become whatsoever I please." And he said, "Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, 'I will become hath sent me unto you.'" 15 And God said yet further unto Moses, "Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, 'Yahweh, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name to times age-abiding, And this is my memorial to generation after generation.' 16 Go—and thou shalt gather together the elders of Israel, and shalt say unto them, 'Yahweh, God of your fathers, hath appeared unto me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "I am concerned for you, and for what is done to you in Egypt."'"

Exodus 6:3 Rotherham Bible:

I appeared, therefore, unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, although by my name Yahweh was I not made known to them.

God used the title "God Almighty" (ʼEl Shad·daiʹ) when making his promise to Abraham concerning the birth of Isaac, a promise that required Abraham to have great faith in God's power to fulfil it. It was thereafter used when God was spoken of as the one who would bless Isaac and Jacob as heirs of the Abrahamic covenant.​—Ge 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 48:3.

In harmony with this, God could later say to Moses: "I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty [beʼElʹ Shad·daiʹ], but as respects my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them." (Ex 6:3)

Note: Professor of Hebrew D. H. Weir therefore rightly says that those who claim Exodus 6:2, 3 marks the first time the name Jehovah was revealed, "have not studied [these verses] in the light of other scriptures; otherwise they would have perceived that by name must be meant here not the two syllables which make up the word Jehovah, but the idea which it expresses, when we read in Isaiah, ch. Lii. 6, 'Therefore my people shall know my name;' or in Jeremiah, ch. Xvi. 21, 'They shall know that my name is Jehovah;' or in the Psalms, Ps. ix. [10, 16], 'They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee;' we see at once that to know Jehovah's name is something very different from knowing the four letters of which it is composed. It is to know by experience that Jehovah really is what his name declares him to be." (Compare also Is. xix. 20, 21; Eze. Xx. 5, 9; xxxix. 6, 7; Ps. lxxxiii. [18]; lxxxix. [16]; 2 Ch. vi. 33.)"​—The Imperial Bible-Dictionary, Vol. I, pp. 856, 857.

Conclusion:

While God revealed the specific significance of his name, Yahweh, to Moses, the name itself (YHWH) appears many times in the Book of Genesis, which Moses also wrote. This indicates that while the patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may have used or heard the name, they did not know its whole meaning or experience God in the specific redemptive capacity that the name represented until the time of the Exodus.

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