Trust the King, not the chariots

Trusting the name of the LORD is not a formula. Heiser puts it bluntly: Israelites were not going to get much protection out of a string of consonants. Nobody stopped a chariot by shouting four letters at it.
In the Hebrew Bible the Name is cast as an entity - as Yahweh himself, his actual presence, the presence that came to rest in the tabernacle. So "we trust in the name of the LORD our God" means: we trust him, personally, present with us. "The point of the psalm is that trusting in the Name means trusting in Yahweh himself - he is the Name."
Scripture links:
- Psalm 20:7 - "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." - Not a word, a person.
- Psalm 20:1 - "May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!" - The Name protects because the Name is him.
Chariots are real. So is he, and he is closer.