Lexicon

H8034 - shem

Strong's: H8034 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: shem (with long ē, IPA /ʃeːm/) Part of speech: masculine noun OT occurrences: ~864 (one of the most frequent nouns in the Hebrew Bible) Greek equivalent (LXX): G3686 - onoma, ὄνομα (consistent rendering across the LXX) Standard rabbinic reverential substitute: Ha-Shem ("The Name"), used in Modern Orthodox speech in place of vocalizing the Tetragrammaton

Semantic range

Personal name, the identifying word by which a person, place, or thing is called (Gen 2:19-20, Adam names the animals; Gen 4:17, Cain named the city)
Reputation / fame / honor, the standing a name carries; the "good name" idiom (Prov 22:1, "a good name is to be more desired than great wealth"; Eccl 7:1)
Memory / monument / posterity, the continuation of a person through descendants or remembrance (Deut 25:6-7, levirate marriage to raise up the name of the dead brother; 2 Sam 18:18, Absalom's pillar "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance")
Authority / authorization, to act in the name of someone is to act with their delegated authority (Deut 18:5, the priests serve "in the name of YHWH"; 1 Sam 17:45, David comes to Goliath "in the name of YHWH of hosts")
The divine Name (the most theologically loaded usage), the personal-revelatory self-designation by which God is to be known, called upon, worshiped, and feared (Exod 3:13-15; 6:3; Ps 8:1; Mal 1:11)

The five senses interlock: God's Name is His personal name (sense 1: YHWH), His reputation among the nations (sense 2: "that My Name might be declared in all the earth," Exod 9:16), His memorial across generations (sense 3: "This is My Name forever, the memorial-name from generation to generation," Exod 3:15), the locus of His delegated authority (sense 4: the priestly blessing in "His Name," Num 6:27), and the supreme self-disclosure (sense 5: the Tetragrammaton itself).

Theological force

1. The divine Name as personal self-disclosure

The decisive OT event for the Name-theology is the burning-bush revelation (Exodus 3.13-14 / Exodus 3.14 / Exodus 3.14-15): Moses asks "what is His name?, what shall I say to them?" and God answers "I AM WHO I AM" ('ehyeh asher 'ehyeh) and then "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'YHWH, the God of your fathers... has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations" (Exod 3:15). The Name is therefore given, not deduced, God self-reveals under a personal-name He authorizes for human address. This is the proto-evangel of revelation as gift: the Name is not the conclusion of natural-theological investigation but the grace of being addressed by name.

The Tetragrammaton (יהוה, H3068 - YHWH) is the proper Name; shem is the category under which that Name and all other divine designations (H0430 - elohim, H0136 - adonai, H0410 - el, H7706 - shaddai) fall. The codex's concept-level treatment of the divine names is at Names of Jehovah.

2. Name as substantive presence

In OT theology the Name of YHWH often functions as a quasi-hypostatic divine presence, the way God is present to His people without (yet) being seen face-to-face. This is the Name-theology (German Namenstheologie) of Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History: YHWH causes His Name to dwell in the Temple (Deut 12:5, 11; 1 Kgs 8:29; 9:3); His Name is placed upon the priestly blessing (Num 6:27); the Angel-of-YHWH carries the Name within Him (Exod 23:21, "My Name is in him"; cf. Angel of the LORD). The Name is not less than God's presence but it is not identical with His unmediated essence, it is a theological category of divine self-communication that is the proto-form of what later theology articulates as missions of the divine persons (the eternal Son and Holy Spirit sent into the economy of redemption).

This Name-as-substantive-presence tradition is load-bearing for the Two Powers in Heaven reading: the Angel-with-the-Name-in-Him (Exod 23:21) is the pre-Christian Jewish prototype that resolves into the Logos-as-second-Power tradition (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 56-62; Philo De Confusione Linguarum 146 on the deuteros theos the Logos). The Name carries divine identity in a way that supports rather than threatens monotheism.

3. Name as object of trust, worship, and salvation

The Name of YHWH is the object of salvific calling, and this is the OT idiom the NT inherits when it applies the same construction to Jesus:

Joel 2:32 (Hebrew 3:5): "And it shall come about that whoever calls on the name of YHWH will be delivered", directly quoted in Peter's Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:21) and Paul's salvation-summary (Rom 10:13, where YHWH-of-Joel is identified with the Lord-Jesus of the gospel)
Ps 9:10: "Those who know Your name will put their trust in You"
Ps 20:7: "Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of YHWH our God"
Prov 18:10: "The name of YHWH is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe"
Ps 8:1, 9: "O YHWH, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth", name-praise as the inclusio of the psalm
Mal 1:11: "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations... My name will be great among the nations,' says YHWH of hosts", the universal-worship trajectory the NT reads as fulfilled in the Gentile mission

4. Name as authority and delegation (Davidic Covenant)

The Name is the locus through which divine authority is delegated, and the Davidic Covenant is the OT's most theologically far-reaching instance of this delegation. In 2 Samuel 7.12-13 (the Nathan oracle) God says: "He shall build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." The first-tier fulfillment is Solomon's Temple (1 Kgs 8:17-20, where Solomon explicitly says "I have built the house for the Name of YHWH, the God of Israel"). The eschatological fulfillment is Christ, who builds the Father's house (the Church as Temple, Eph 2:21; the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22.16) and into whose own Name the Father's Name is poured (Phil 2:9-11; John 17:11-12 "keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me").

The Name-delegation pattern is also visible in Solomon's Temple-dedication prayer (1 Kgs 8), Solomon prays seven times for YHWH to hear "the prayer toward this place" because the Name is there; the Temple is not God-contained but is the authorized locus of address in the Name.

5. Grasping-the-name vs. receiving-the-name (the Babel inversion)

The Tower of Babel narrative (Gen 11:1-9) turns on the Hebrew verbal construction na'aseh-lanu shem ("let us make for ourselves a name") in Gen 11:4. The builders' aim is self-securing renown, a name grasped through technological-political mediation in defiance of the creation-mandate to "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth" (Gen 1:28; 9:1, 7).

Immediately after, in Genesis 12.2-3, God says to Abram: "I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you shall be a blessing", the same verb-noun construction (va-agdelah shemekha), now received as gift rather than grasped as self-securing achievement. The Abrahamic covenant inverts Babel exactly at the lexeme: humans cannot make themselves a name by their own works (and the attempt produces scattering); but God gives a great name to the one who walks by faith (and that name becomes the channel of blessing for "all the families of the earth"). The Babel-Abram pair is the proto-form of works-righteousness vs. covenantal-grace, expressed in name-theological terms.

This Name-grasping-vs-receiving distinction continues through Scripture: Phil 2:5-11 explicitly portrays Christ as the anti-Babel, He did not grasp (harpagmos, see G0725 - harpagmos) equality with God, but emptied Himself; therefore God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name (Philippians 2.10-11 / Philippians 2.11; the wider Philippians 2.6-11 hymn). The Christological name above every name is given by the Father, the obverse of the Babel builders' attempt to make a name for themselves.

6. Name as the locus of Christological identification (NT recovery of OT shem)

The NT consistently maps the OT Name of YHWH theology onto the Name of Jesus. The mapping is not coincidental and not later-imposed; it is the NT's direct exegetical claim about Jesus' identity:

Matthew 28.18-20, the baptismal commission: "baptizing them in the name (Greek eis to onoma, singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The singular "name" with three genitive coordinates is the load-bearing proto-Trinitarian grammar: one Name, three Persons. The Hebrew-Name-theology grammar is retained (one divine Name) while the Trinitarian-Person grammar is added (Father, Son, Spirit each share that Name).
John 17, Jesus' high-priestly prayer: "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world" (v. 6); "keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are" (v. 11); "I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known" (v. 26). The Name of the Father has been given to the Son and manifested through the Son to the disciples. See John 17.1, John 17.17.
Acts 4.12, Peter to the Sanhedrin: "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." The exclusivist Joel 2:32 / Isa 45:22 one-Name-of-salvation construction is now applied to the name of Jesus.
Romans 10.13, Paul applies Joel 2:32 directly: "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED", where in the LXX Kyrios renders YHWH, and Paul applies it to Christ.
Philippians 2.10-11, the Isaiah 45:23 monotheism-anchor ("every knee shall bow") is fulfilled at the Name of Jesus. Paul applies a passage where YHWH explicitly excludes all rivals to the divine prerogative to Jesus' Name.
John 17:11-12, "the name which You have given Me", Jesus speaks of receiving the Father's own Name. The Two-Powers-in-Heaven tradition (Segal 1977; Heiser, see Michael Heiser) reads this as the Logos-receiving-the-Tetragrammaton tradition the rabbis later anathematized as the "Two Powers" heresy.

7. Apologetic load

OT-deity-of-Christ argument: the NT applies Kyrios (LXX rendering of the divine Name) to Jesus in passages where the OT context unambiguously refers to YHWH (Rom 10:13 / Joel 2:32; Phil 2:10-11 / Isa 45:23). The Name-bearing pattern is deliberate and load-bearing against the Trinity Invented at Nicaea Objection. See Old Testament Witness to the Deity of Christ and Christs Deity.
Trinitarian apologetic against modalism: the Matt 28:19 singular-name-three-Persons construction is the load-bearing grammatical-form against the modalist / Oneness-Pentecostal reading that the three are merely modes / titles. Names in OT-Name-theology are not mere labels; they are the locus of personal address and substantive presence. Three Persons sharing one Name is not three labels for one Person; it is one divine Name carried by three personally-distinguishable hypostases.
Anti-supersessionist correction: the Mal 1:11 trajectory ("My name will be great among the nations") is fulfilled in the Gentile mission (Rom 15:9; 1 Tim 2:5-7), not by replacing Israel but by extending the Name-worship to the nations through Israel's Messiah.
Hebrew Israelite (BHI) doctrine engagement: BHI readings often emphasize the exclusivity of "the Name" (treating Yahweh's name as obscured by NT Kyrios / Theos / Iesous / Greek-pagan-corruption charges). The proper response is to grant that the Tetragrammaton is the personal-revealed Name and to show that the Name-bearing tradition extends Christologically (Phil 2:9-11; John 17:11-12) rather than abrogating it. See concept hubs on BHI-doctrine engagement.
Anti-Islamic apologetic on Tahrif: the Islamic charge that Christians abandoned the Name of God for Iesous / Kyrios misreads the Name-bearing tradition. The Name bestowed on the Son (Phil 2:9) and the Name manifested by the Son (John 17:6, 26) are continuous with the OT Name-theology, not a rupture from it. See Tahrif.

Notable verses

Outside the codex's verse-hub corpus (worth knowing but no stubs yet)

Gen 11:4, na'aseh-lanu shem, Tower of Babel grasping
Gen 12:2, va-agdelah shemekha, God makes Abram's name great
Exod 23:21, the Angel "for My Name is in him" (the Name-bearing Angel)
Exod 33:19; 34:5-7, YHWH proclaims His Name in the cleft of the rock
Deut 12:5, 11, the place YHWH chose to put His Name there
Num 6:27, the priestly blessing "they shall put My Name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them"
1 Kgs 8:17-20, 29, 43, Solomon's Temple-dedication, "the house for the Name of YHWH"
Ps 8:1, 9, name-majesty inclusio
Ps 138:2, "You have magnified Your word according to all Your name"
Prov 18:10, "The name of YHWH is a strong tower"
Isa 9:6, Messianic names: "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace"
Isa 30:27, "Behold, the name of YHWH comes from afar"
Isa 42:8; 48:11, "My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images", Name-jealousy
Isa 52:6, "My people shall know My name"
Jer 23:6, "YHWH our righteousness" (Tetragrammaton-bearing Messianic Branch)
Ezek 36:21-23; 39:7, the holy Name profaned / vindicated among the nations
Mal 1:11, universal Name-worship trajectory
Matt 1:21, "and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins", etymological proof: Yeshua = YHWH-saves
Matt 6:9, "hallowed be Your name" (Lord's Prayer's first petition; Name-sanctification as the chief eschatological hope)
Phil 2:9, "God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name"

In the codex's verse-hub corpus

Exodus 3.13-14 / Exodus 3.14 / Exodus 3.14-15, burning-bush Name-revelation
Genesis 12.2-3, Abrahamic Name-promise (counter to Babel)
2 Samuel 7.12-13, Davidic-covenant Name-locus
Matthew 28.18-20, singular eis to onoma baptismal formula
Acts 4.12, no other name under heaven
Romans 10.13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Philippians 2.10-11 / Philippians 2.11 / Philippians 2.6-11, Name-above-every-name
John 17.1 / John 17.17, high-priestly prayer Name-manifestation
Joel 2.31, adjacent stub for Joel 2:28-32 prophecy-of-Spirit context
Revelation 22.16, root and offspring of David, eschatological Name-bearing Davidic Messiah

Patristic note

The Christian Name-tradition develops along three lines:

Justin Martyr (c. 155), Dialogue with Trypho 56-62, 75 reads the OT Angel of YHWH and the Name-bearing tradition as Christological. The Logos-as-deuteros-theos receives and bears the Tetragrammaton; this is the theophanic line.
Tertullian (c. 213), Adversus Praxean applies the nomen (Latin for shem) theology to the Trinitarian-grammar argument: one Name in Matt 28:19, three personae under that Name.
Augustine (c. 400), De Trinitate and Confessions X-XII develop the Name-of-God / Name-of-Christ as a theological category of invocation: to call on the Name is to participate in the Trinitarian life by faith.

Modern engagement: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics I/1 §8 (the Name of God as the form of revelation); R. Kendall Soulen, The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity (3 vols., WJK 2011-2022); Michael Heiser (The Unseen Realm, 2015), ch. 15-16 on the Angel-bearing-the-Name and Two-Powers-in-Heaven tradition; Christopher Wright, Knowing God by His Name; Andrew S. Malone, Knowing Jesus in the Old Testament (IVP 2015) on the Christological-name tradition.