"... for traditional source critics, the name Yahweh helps demarcate the J literary strand. Adam’s grandson Enosh was not a lone voice calling upon the name of Yahweh. Despite the statement in Genesis 4:26 that people began to call upon the name Yahweh, the deity was already known to Adam and Eve as well as Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1–7). Many who came after Enosh and yet prior to Moses also had a relationship with the deity Yahweh, to whom they prayed, brought offerings, and built altars (Genesis 8:20; 12:7–8; 13:4, 18; 26:25), not to mention engaging in other cultic activity such as Laban’s use of divination (Genesis 30:27; compare 44:5, 15). Even the name of Moses’ own mother (Jochebed) could be used to prove that Yahweh was worshipped prior to his advent. How does this view handle P’s bold contradiction in Exodus 6:2–3 that the name Yahweh was unknown in patriarchal times? One could assume, along with more conservative scholars, that the name Yahweh was understood in patriarchal times and that Exodus 6 is not stating that the appellation itself was unknown; rather, it was the covenantal nature of the name that was kept secret prior to Moses. Thus the author meant for his audience to be able to read between the lines. Yet relying on an ellipsis to communicate such an important concept hardly makes for an attractive hypothesis ... P emphasizes how the fullness of God’s self- disclosure comes only through the revelation of the name Yahweh to Moses. P uses Elohim for the primeval history, then El Shadday for the patriarchs, reserving his most special name for the foremost covenant, which culminates with the priest and lawgiver Moses. The priestly interests of P here are easy to see ..."

Lewis, Theodore J. The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity (pp. 224-225) Oxford University Press, 2020