YHWH used as early as the 14th century B.C.E.

HOW early in history does the divine name, Jehovah, or Yahweh, appear in sources outside the Bible? Some scholars confidently answer: As early as the 14th century B.C.E. Why do they say that?

By about the year 1370 B.C.E., the Egyptians had conquered many lands. The Egyptian ruler of the time, Pharaoh Amenhotep (Amenophis) III, built a magnificent temple at Soleb, in Nubia, now known as Sudan. When archaeologists discovered that temple, they found an Egyptian hieroglyphic that appears to show the Hebrew Tetragrammaton—YHWH, or Jehovah. That engraving is older by 500 years than the famous Moabite Stone—previously the oldest known occurrence of God’s name. Why does the name of the God of the Bible seem to be engraved in an Egyptian temple?

Hieroglyphics decorating the bases of columns in one of its halls list the names of territories that Amenhotep claimed to have subjugated. Each territory is represented by a prisoner, his hands tied behind his back and bearing a shield upon which the name of his land or people is inscribed. The lands of a number of the so-called Shasu, or Shosou, people figure among those hieroglyphics. Shasu was the generic name that the Egyptians gave to the Bedouin, despised tribes who lived beyond the eastern border of Egypt. The lands of the Shasu covered southern Palestine, southern Transjordan, and Sinai. Some researchers say p. 22that the lands described as belonging to the Shasu extended as far north as Lebanon and Syria. The list of subjugated lands displayed at Soleb includes one that has variously been read “Yahwe in the Shosou land,” “The Shasu land of Jahu,” or “Land of the Shasu-yhw.” Egyptologist Jean Leclant says that the name that appears inscribed in the shield at Soleb “corresponds to the ‘tetragram’ of the god of the Bible, YHWH.” Some scholars question whether this hieroglyph implies that the Shasu “were followers of the god Yahweh.” They believe that the otherwise unknown name of this land might bear only a coincidental, but curious, similarity to the name of the God of Israel.

Unlike the names of other gods that appear in ancient inscriptions, the name of the God of the Bible, Jehovah, is still widely used and revered. For example, in over 230 lands, more than seven million of Jehovah’s Witnesses devote their lives to helping others not only learn that name but also draw close to the God who bears the unique name Jehovah.—Psalm 83:18; James 4:8.