THE SACRED NAMEVance Ferrell 13
THE INEFFABLE NAME In
Old Testament times, there was also a Sacred Name party. This was a group
of Jews who believed that it was their first work in life to protect the
YHWH name. However, they approached the matter in an entirely different
manner than the Sacred Name adherents of our own time. Instead of focusing
their attention on verbalizing it, they concentrated on not speaking it at
all. They devised ways to orally use other names of God instead. Since
they considered the name to be extremely sacred, they decided that,
although it could be written, it must not be spoken. This was not as
difficult to do as you might think, since written Hebrew only had
consonants and no vowels. In order to carry out their objective, they
agreed that they would not speak the word themselves; and, secondly, they
decided that they would teach the people a different pronunciation for the
word. Before
long, many of these speculative Jews imagined that the word had almost
magical properties. Its very proportions and shape were said to have been
divinely given. They called it the "tetragrammaton"—the four-letter
word (YHWH) ;and, when speaking the word, they substituted different
vowels in place of its true ones. Of
course, this complicated the matter even more. We in the 20th century do
not know the original pronunciation of ancient Hebrew words. But, back
then, efforts were made to keep the pronunciation of that one word just as
hidden as it is today. I
think you are beginning to see what you are faced with, when someone comes
along and tells you that you need to speak the original pronunciation of
the tetragrammaton in order to be saved. What
were those substitute vowels, which were placed in YHWH? They were taken
from the Hebrew word 'DNY' (which, in the Masoretic system is written and
pronounced 'Adonay; it means "lord"). The result of combining
what the Masoretes thought were 'DNY' vowels with what were thought to be
YHWH consonants—turns out to be "Jehovah." I say "in the
Masoretic system" advisedly, because we do not know the original
pronunciation of DNY any more than we do YHWH. Soon,
magicians from other nations became intrigued with this mysterious Hebrew
word which the Israelites were so secretive about. So they tried to delve
into Hebrew books and learn itso they could say it in their magical
rites. This caused even more concern, and the secrecy deepened. On and on
it went; and as the nation went steadily deeper into apostasy and sin,
concern over protecting the name YHWH steadily increased. This mystical
name became known as the "ineffable name;" that is, the
unspeakable name, the name which was not to be spoken. 14
THE HEBREW LANGUAGE Hebrew
is one of the most important of the Semitic languages. It is related to
both Arabic and Aramaic. How closely? Not a lot, as a comparison of Arabic
with Hebrew will reveal. "Hebrew"
included the dialects of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Israel, and, partially
Phoenicia. Narrowly, it was the dialect that centered in Jerusalem and
Judah. In the Old Testament it was called the "language of
Canaan" (Isaiah 19: 18) and the "Jew's language" (Isaiah
36:11). We
do not know for certain whether it was the language of the Hebrews in the
time of Abraham, but it definitely was used by Moses (1450 B.C.) and the
Israelites after his time, on down partway through the Babylonian
captivity (606-538 B.C.) But
then, in its spoken form, the language was lost. During the last part of
the Divided Kingdom, Aramaic came to be the linga Franca of the
Near East. This was because the Arameans were becoming the traveling
merchants of the entire area. As their camel caravans bought, sold, and
bartered, they shared their language also. Because it had similarities to
Hebrew (much as French and Italian are similar, or German and English);
the Jews gradually began to speak Aramaic. Then, when Nebuchadnezzar
carried the Jews to Babylon (between 606 and 586 B.C.), they spoke both
Aramaic and Babylonian. Of the two, the Aramaic stuck the best. Upon their
return to Jerusalem in, and after, 538 B.C., few Jews remembered how to
speak their own language. So, Hebrew gradually became a literary language. When
did this changeover occur? We know that about the year 701 B.C., when the
Assyrian king, Sennacherib, sent the Rabshekeh to Jerusalem to demand the
surrender of the city, the people knew how to speak Hebrew, but not
Aramaic. Because
of the grave importance in realizing that, for far more than a thousand
years, mankind lost the pronunciation of the Hebrew language (and never
really regained it since), we will give you a number of historical
quotations to forcefully illustrate the historicity of this fact. Here is
the first: "From
Lachish the Assyrian king sent officials, including the Rabshekeh (a title
rather than a name), to Jerusalem to urge the people of Judah to submit, A
crowd was gathered on top of the city wall when the Rabsaris [the Assyrian
name for "Rabshekeh") uttered his challenge, an excellent
example of psychological warfare (2 Kings 18: 19-35). Fearing for the
morale of the Jerusalemites, several of Hezekiah's officers asked the
Rabshekeh to speak to them in Aramaic instead of Hebrew (the language of
Judah), The people all knew Hebrew, but the ruling class was conversant in
Aramaic, the diplomatic language of the day."C. F. Pfeiffer, Old
Testament History, 367. Over
the next hundred years, as the Arameans came to their cities in larger and
still larger numbers, the Jews adopted Aramaic as the second language for
barter and trade. Then came the Babylonian captivity, which so disrupted
their lives for more than a century. Continuing with the above quotation,
Pfeiffer tells us: "Later,
during the time of the exile in Babylon, Aramaic was to become the common
language of the Jews, Hebrew being reserved for religious use."
-Ibid. Commenting
on this again later in his book. we are told: "During the Exile a
change took place in the speech habits of the Jews. Their language in
pre-exilic days was Hebrew."-Op. cit., 425, Upon
their return from Babylon, the Jews were far less acquainted with their
mother tongue. Gradually, they lost it altogether. By the time of
Nehemiah, there were few Jews who could still speak it. "It
was the language spoken from at least the time of Moses to that of
Nehemiah ,"SDA Bible Dictionary, 449. Although
reading and writing in the language continued (as shown by the writings of
the later Old Testament prophets: the last prophet-Malachi-wrote about 400
B.C.), the speaking of the language was very nearly lost by the time of
Nehemiah. It was for this reason that, when Ezra rose before the people to
read from portions of the Bible, translators had to explain what he was
reading. Ezra, a very scholarly man (PK 608-609: Ezra 7:10), could still
read, and verbally pronounce, Hebrew. But as he read aloud, someone had
to stand beside him and "give the sense," that is, translate
what he said into Aramaic so the people could understand it. . "So
they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense,
and caused them to understand the reading." -Nehemiah 8:8. "Most
of the people, however, spoke only Aramaic. When Ezra read the Law to the
men of Jerusalem, it was necessary to give an interpretation in the
Aramaic tongue. "C.F. Pfeiffer, Old Testament History. 426. So
the spoken language was partially gone by 538 B.C., and almost totally so
by the time that Ezra and Nehemiah spoke to the people (the year 445 B.C.,
13 years after the governorship of Nehemiah began). From
that time onward, for over a thousand years, there was no spoken Hebrew.
It is true that, in Palestine, Aramaic came to be known as
"Hebrew" by the middle of the first century before Christ. But
it was not the Hebrew language, although it was the language spoken by the
Hebrews. (That is why Acts 26:14 mentions speaking "in the Hebrew
tongue.") Although the Hebrew Bible could still be read in the time
of Christ, the pronunciation used was as different as that of a Frenchman
pronouncing what he read in an Italian Bible. By
the end of the first century, A.D., the study of the Hebrew Bible had
become something that only scholars did. All this was more of a problem
than you might imagine, since written Hebrew did not include vowels. "The
Hebrew alphabet consists of twenty-two letters. all of them consonants.
Obviously vowels were pronounced, speech would be impossible
otherwise, but the ancient Hebrews, like many other Semites, did not feel
it necessary to write them."-I. M. Price, Ancestry of Our English
Bible, 18. This
meant that, when the people stopped speaking the language, the vowels became
totally forgotten! But
more: With the passing of centuries even the consonants could change
somewhat. For example, "ch" in English is sounded as in
"church." But when you read "ch" in the Old Testament,
you should read it as "k." At least, that is what scholars think
it may have sounded like back then, based on what the Masoretes told
them. Actually, they do not really know how it sounded back then. As you
may know, even the consonants have varied over the centuries. One example
of this is "w" and "v." These have switched back and
forth over the centuries, although the character for "v" was not
invented until more recent times. The many variations of "s" in
the alphabets are well-known to students of the history of the 666. In
addition, the Jews changed their spoken language several times. A linguist
will tell you that "th," "ch," "J,"
"c," and many other letters can vary dramatically in
pronunciation in different languages. (The only reason modern Israeli's
speak "Hebrew" is because they reinvented it in our century; it
had not been spoken since Old Testament times.) Since
ancient Hebrew did not place any space between sentences, or even words,
this is how this paragraph would have been written in Hebrew: SNCNCNIBRWDDNPLCNSPCBIWNSNCSR
etc. (The
complexity of ancient languages is a powerful evidence that the further
back we go in history, the more intelligent men were. Even those living
after the Flood were far more intelligent than modern man, but they lacked
our written records and cumulative technology. We deal with this more
fully in volume 2 of our three-volume collection on creation and
evolution.) As
you can see, later generations would have a difficult time putting the
sounds back into the language. However, throughout all those centuries,
the people could still read the language. This was because the Jews had
switched over to Aramaic, later Greek, and still later Roman. So they
substituted the sounds of the language they were currently using. But,
of course, let us not pretend that we can add Aramaic or Greek sounds to
the original Hebrew, and come out with the same pronunciation that was
originally there! So,
time passed; indeed, centuries came and went. Christ was born, Calvary
occurred, John the Revelator died, Constantine passed his six Sunday laws,
Charlemagne ruled. The first millennium since Christ's birth was threequarters
over. Finally,
efforts were made by sincere and dedicated Jews to rediscover the
pronunciation of their ancient language. The results of their guesswork is
what we today call "Biblical Hebrew." These men were called the
Masoretes (the last two syllables rhyme with "Nazarites"). As a
result of their guesstimation, for the first time in all history, vowels
were added to written Hebrew. They began their work on the dead language
over half a millennium after the death of Christ, but did not really
develop a workable system of written Hebrew vocalization (as it is called)
until about the year A.D. 900. But
you must understand that. by the time the Masoretes were doing their work,
even Aramaic was gone! New languages had arisen. Others, Greek, Latin.
and more recently Arabichad been brought into the Near East. As for the
Jews themselves, they had dispersed throughout those ancient lands, and
also into North Africa and Europe. Languages and accentuation had greatly
changed. But,
now, we want to learn more about these Masoretes who added the "salt
and pepper" (as the vowel points are sometimes called) to Hebrew
language and to the Hebrew Old Testament. We are sure that each of our
readers has seen a page from written Hebrew. The little dots and dashes
are the "vowel points" which the Masoretes added nearly a
thousand years after the birth of Christ: "The
Hebrew pronunciation determined by the vowel signs appearing in modern
Hebrew Bibles is that of the Jews of Palestine in the 9th and 10th
centuries A.D. Up to that time the Hebrew script had been written without
vowels. But the scholars of that time, called Masoretes, invented a system
of vowel signs that showed how Hebrew was pronounced In their own time.
However, the Hebrew language had undergone changes in the Interval of
almost 2,400 years between Moses and the Masoretes." -SDA Bible
Commentary. 449. "They
[the Masoretes] created a system of vowel signs and accentual marks which
they inserted into their manuscripts, above or below, and to a less extent
in the body of the consonants of the traditional text. It is mentioned,
above, that the Hebrew alphabet. In common with most Semitic alphabets, consisted
of consonants alone. This was a reasonably satisfactory method of writing
so long as Hebrew continued to be the common language of the people."
-L.M. Price, Ancestry of Our English Bible, 27. A
written script of consonants was only satisfactory as long as the language
continued to be spoken. But when the Jews stopped speaking the Hebrew
language, they lost track of its vowels. What the Masoretes did was to
develop an artificial method of adding vowels, since they had no idea
which vowels should actually be inserted. "The
sedulous care upon the words and forms have given to us a vocalization
[vowel pointing] which represents the synagogue method of reading. This uniformity
makes it difficult to distinguish between the form of the language at different
periods. "-Funk and Wagnall's New Standard Bible Dictionary, 335. To
add to the confusion, the Masoretes did not want to disturb the ancient
writing pattern, so they sprinkled the vowels in and around the consonants
in little dots and dashes. But they found they could only do this
effectively if they constructed an artificial pronunciation pattern. Because
we are deeply interested in the Masoretes and the work they did. we will
here give an extended quotation from an authority on the transmission of
the Hebrew and Greek Testaments down through the centuries. As you can see
from the following quotation, apparently it was Moses ben Asher, and his
son Aaron, who developed our modern Hebrew vowel pointing. This they did
about the year A.D. 900: "The
Masoretes. . Is a name derived from a Hebrew word meaning tradition: they
were the scholars charged with the responsibility of preserving the
traditional text. The counting of the words in the Biblical books, and the
rest of such minutiae mentioned above, was part of their work. They
accumulated a vast body of notes on the occurrence of words, features of
writing, directions for pronunciation, variants in their sources. and the
like. These constitute what is known as 'the Masorah.' It was written in
the margins of their manuscripts and at the ends of the books of the Bible
and. according to its location and bulk. is called Masorah magna, Masorah
parva, or Masorahflnalls. In some of this the Masoretes were heirs of
earlier scribes, but their own work was distinctive and epochal.
Beginning, as they apparently did, about A.D. 600, their great age of
activity extended from the latter part of the eighth century to the first
half of the tenth. Masoretic work was carried forward in many centers; we
hear of it in Nisibis, in northern Mesopotamia; the Jewish schools of
Babylonia were prominent; but the most famous center was Tiberias, in
Palestine, of whose scholars the names of several have been preserved, in
particular of five generations of the ben Asher family. The last of these,
and apparently the greatest, Moses ben Asher, and his son Aaron, who
flourished just before and just after A.D. 900, brought to conclusion the
line and the work of the Masoretes. Their results have become
authoritative for the Hebrew Bible, for it is in very large measure the
system of ben Asher that is employed in printed Hebrew Bibles. A rival
system goes under the name of ben Naphtali; a few of its readings are
preferred by modern critical editors of the text. Of ben Naphtali little
is known; in fact, the extreme view has been suggested that the name
represents no individual at all, but is only a sort of personalizing of
the system or of the group that produced it. A more reasonable position is
that ben Naphtali (whose personal name is not known) was a contemporary of the
latest ben Ashers and lived also in Tiberias, the great center of
Masoretic activity. Some would locate him in Babylonia, but this is quite
improbable; his system is definitely Tiberian. A number of manuscripts and
fragments have in recent years been identified as of the ben Naphtali
school; consequently, we are no longer dependent on ancient lists of
divergences. but can study at firsthand these differences from the
standard ben Asher reading."-I.M. Price, Ancestry of Our English
Bible, 26-27. As
mentioned earlier, we are making this a more exhaustive analysis, because
there are those who suggest that (1) we must return to the ancient Hebrew
pronunciation of two sacred names, (2) that we will be lost if we do not
do so, and (3) we can know how those two names were anciently pronounced.
It is crucial that you understand the issues, so you can make a wise
decision for yourself in regard to this Sacred Name theory of Moses ben
[son of) Asher who lived in Tiberias, near the Sea of Galilee. Price
explains that three vowel pointing systems were developed: the
Palestinian, then the Syrian, and finally the system we use today, the
Tiberian, developed by Moses ben Asher and his son Aaron: "After
certain preliminary attempts the system of vowel symbols now familiar in
Hebrew Bibles was developed, along with two others that did not attain
comparable popularity." Price. Ancestry of Our English Bible, 18. "It
was doubtless inconsiderable measure due to this situation [the fact that
the spoken language was lost] that the Jewish scholars, apparently about
A.D. 700, found it desirable to undertake a system of written vowels. The
impulse expressed itself in Palestine, and there a group of symbols was
evolved that is similar to the vowel signs found in a few Samaritan
manuscripts. This vowel system is known as the Palestinian. The meager
knowledge which we had of it a little while ago has in recent years been
greatly enlarged by the famous discovery, in 1897 and following years, in
the rubbish room (the genizah of the old synagogue in Cairo), of half a
dozen fragmentary Biblical manuscripts in which it is employed. The
scholars of Babylonia were similarly active, but they had the stimulus and
guidance of Syrian literary men, their neighbors, who were evolving a
system of vowel signs and other guides to reading, based primarily on a
simple diacritical point. The influence of the developed Syrian system is
apparent in at least one fragmentary Hebrew manuscript found in the
genizah. But note content with this: The Jewish scholars went on to create
a complex series of signs based in considerable part on conventionalized
representations of weak letters, some of which had been sporadically used
for centuries to indicate the correct vowel in cases where doubt might
arise. The Babylonian and the Palestinian vowels were written above the
relevant consonants; but the third of these systems, which is correctly
called the Tlberian (although clearly developed out of the Palestinian)
was written, in general. below the consonants. Yet more important was the
precision and detail to which the representation of the pronunciation of
the Hebrew words was developed in this system, differentiating the quality
of even the slightest vocal elements. This is the system that in course of
time became universal in the west and is now familiar through its use in
all printed editions of the Hebrew Bible. But
the Masoretes of Tiberias and of Babylonia went yet further in their
written guides to the correct reading of the Bible. They evolved complex
systems of accentual marks; indeed, in the Liberian tradition there is
actually a second system which is employed for the poetic books of the
Bible only. These 'accents' serve the need that is met in modern writing
by use of punctuation, and thus they frequently become guides to the
correct meaning, as the Masoretes understood it. But it is clear that the
original purpose was to give direction for the proper inflection of the
voice in public reading in the synagogue. They are thus not unlike musical
notations." -Op. cit., 27-28. As
you can see, scholarly Jews spent 200 years (from A.D. 700 to 900) trying
to guess their way toward the recovery of the Hebrew vowels. Finally,
Moses ben Asher's system of guesswork, devised about the year A.D. 900,
was accepted as the standard thereafter. At random, one syllable would be
given an "a' sound, and another an "0" sound. And on it
went until his work was completed. Anyone who has studied the conjugation
of the Hebrew verb, knows what a difficult task he set for himself. Obviously,
ben Asher and his son had to base their system of pronunciations on a
combination of guesswork in languages, dialects, regional pronunciations,
and accents in use in northern Palestine in A.D. 900. These were primarily
Greek and Arabic. Those were probably the everyday languages used by ben
Asher and his son. Keep
in mind that they did their work halfway through the Dark Ages! Six
hundred years earlier, Constantine I decreed his Sunday laws; 600 years
later, Martin Luther would nail his theses to the door of the Wittenberg
Church. From
445 B.C., when Ezra read to the people while helpers "gave the
sense," on down to A.D. 900, when Moses ben Asher and his son Aaron
pointed the Hebrew Bible-was an immense span of time! It amounted to 1,345
years. Regarding
this problem of uncertainty about the pronunciation of Old Testament
Hebrew words, Price comments: "An
acute problem is how far the Masoretic system of vowels represents the
actual pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew in ancient times; for, we would
recall, the insertion of all these diacritical marks took place more than
a thousand years after the writing of considerable parts of the Old
Testament and many centuries subsequent to the latest of it. The question
is of more than passing importance. for it will be realized that all
subsequent systems of Hebrew grammar are built upon the Masoretic
punctuation. Yet uncertainty has been felt for many years."-Op. clt.,
28-29. This
sense of uncertainty regarding the true pronunciation is compounded by the
fact that Origen, the well-known Christian scholar of several centuries
earlier, had also tried to vocalize the Hebrew Old Testament text. When
modern scholars compare the ben Asher vowel pointing with the system
devised by Origen. they are horrified at the differences; the two
pronunciation methods are almost totally unalike! Then they compared the
ben Asher pointings with the Septuagint and Jerome's Latin (Vulgate)
translation. The situation was just as bad. Price explains: "Proper
names in the Greek translation made about 250 B.C. diverge notably from
their vocalization in the Masoretic text. To a lesser extent this is true
of the Vulgate also, although its translation took place only a few
centuries before the great activity of the Masoretes. However, definitive
evidence was not available until the discovery by Cardinal Mercati about
1895 of a palimpsest (rewritten) manuscript of part of the famous work of
the great Christian scholar, Origen, known as the Hexapla; the manuscript
contains considerable passages of the Psalms transliterated into Greek
letters. Since the Hexapla dates from approximately A.D. 250. the
manuscript provides thus our earliest record of the pronunciation of
Hebrew. And the astonishing fact is the Masoretic system is not a faithful
record of the language of the .eighth century A.D., but is in considerable
part an artificial creation. These men, under whatever influence, decided
how the Bible ought to be read, developed their complex and precise
system, and diverted the course of the natural evolution of the Hebrew
language. Their success in Palestine is clearly intelligible, for Tiberias
was through those centuries the intellectual center of the land; but in
time their system overcame and displaced the Babylonian [Jewish system]
also."-Op. clt., 29. Thus
we are told that the Masoretic system of pronunciation was "in
considerable part an artificial creation." In the above quotation. a
"palimpsest" is a leather manuscript which had its text erased,
and a different text was then written over it. This was done because
leather was so valuable. In
this section of the study we have gone into great detail in order to track
down the facts regarding the pronunciation of the Hebrew Old Testament.
Let no man tell you that he knows how to pronounce the tetragrammaton-YHWH
(variously guessed as "Yahweh," Yehveh," "Yahuah,"
etc.) or the Hebrew of Joshua-YHS' (possibilities range through "Yeshua,"
"Yahuahshuah," "Yosha," etc.) Here
is but one example of the confused uncertainties which research into the
possible pronunciation of YHWH leads to. The following paragraph was
written by a distinguished Jewish scholar (Aaron Lichenstein) who has
spent years trying to figure out how the tetragrammaton was sounded in
ancient times. Yet "hybrid," "could be," "could
have been," and "equally valid" is the closest he can come
to it: "There
are several hybrid names of the Father and of the Messiah that have come
down to us through time. For example, Jehovah, Jehova, Yahweh, Yahveh,
etc. We must understand the development of alphabets. First, note that
there is no 'J' in Hebrew. Second, that the letters 'J: 'U: and 'W only
came into existence during the Middle Ages (800-1600 C.E.). The 'V' in
Latin had an '00' sound [in the early Christian centuries] and 'U and 'W
were derived from 'v.' Even 'W retains this in its name of double 'u.' "Keeping
these things in mind, 'Jehovah' could be correct if taken back in time and
could have been pronounced 'Yahooah' or equally valid as 'Yahuah,'" This
is actual history we have been discussing. It is important for you to
understand that although the pronunciation has been lost, the meaning of
the words has not. This is due to the fact that Hebrew was a trilateral
language. The root stem of each noun, pronoun, and adjective had three
radicals, or characters. (YHWH was an exception; which was why it was
called a tetragrammaton.) To this basic stem would be added prefixes and
suffixes, so that the single word "obey" could thus become
"I obey him:' Thus it had a carefully structured verb system, noun
formation, a tendency to coordinate its sentences, together with a sparing
use of particles ("if," "but," etc.), and suffixed
pronouns. Therefore, we can know the meaning of the ancient Hebrew
Writings, but we cannot know their pronunciation. Let us now turn our
attention to the meanings of the divine name in Hebrew. Two facts stand
out: (1) Our kind Father had many sacred names in the Old Testament, and
(2) each one contains most beautiful meanings. 15
YHWH IN THE BIBLE YHWH
appears 6,800 times in the Old Testament Scriptures. It is easy to locate
YHWH in either of two English Bible translations of the Old Testament: the
King James (Authorized) Version and the Revised Standard Version. In
the KJV and RSV of the Old Testament, YHWH is always written as LORD (note
the full-cap "ORD" in "LORD"), instead of Lord.
"Lord" in the KJV or RSV is generally translated from 'DN (Adon)
or 'DNY (Adonay). When either is combined with YHWH, the result is written
in the KJV or RSV as Lord GOD (note OD in the second word): the second of
which is always YHWH. Thus
we find that, in the King James Version, the word "Lord" is most
frequently used to translate YHWH. But it can also be found as
"God" in the phrase "Lord God." But there is a third
translation of YHWH in the King James: Four times it is written
"Jehovah" (Exodus 6:3: Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2: 26:4). As
mentioned earlier, a group of ancient Jews changed the sound of the
four-consonant word. YHWH, when they read it. This was done either by
saying "Adonai," or by combining the vowels of Adonai with the
consonants of YHWH. But, of course, we today do not know the vowels of
either word. The Masoretes invented the vowels for both Adonai (they
pointed it as 'adhonay) and YHWH that we use today. (It should be mentioned
that this form of pointing is grammatically impossible, for it does not
match the derivation of YHWH, which is "to be.") When
the Masorete vowels of Adonai are applied to YHWH, the result is 'U"ahovah"
(which we today write and sound as "Jehovah"). Well,
then, how should we TODAY say that word? By what name or names should we
speak to, or of, our God? That is a crucial question. The Sacred Name
theory maintains we must use the one name, YHWH, and only its original
pronunciation. But we have discovered that no one knows what that
pronunciation was, or any other pronunciation. But
there is an answer: An excellent solution to the problem is to find how
the latter, day prophet used the word. Whenever Ellen White quoted one of
the more than 6,000 passages in which YHWH is found, she rendered it in
the same way that the translation before her did it. It is thus clear that
it does not matter which name is used, and it does not matter if it is a
foreign name (English, for example, instead of ancient Hebrew). Beginning
in the 1880s, a movement began to translate Spirit of Prophecy and other
Advent books into other languages. Yet Ellen White never required that the
name of God be rendered in a special language. She was quite content to
see Great Controversy translated into French, German, Spanish, and
Italianyet
with the names of God in each translation being only those names current
and familiar to each language group. For
over a decade, as the present writer has typed quotations from her
writings to use in his tracts and books, he has carefully noted her
writing style. As you may know, the best writing style does not repeat the
same word any more than necessary. In her use of the divine name, she
would generally use the word, "God." But when it had to be
repeated in the next sentence or two, she generally substituted a
different word, frequently "Lord." Or
she would start with "Lord" and use "God" as the
alternate. It is of special interest that she only used the word "Jehovah"
when too frequent repetitions of the divine name were needed in
succeeding sentences. Then she used "Jehovah" as a third
variation. But she might instead use "the Creator," etc.,
instead. Apart from writing style, there seems to be no reason why she
used "Jehovah." Yet that word comes closer to YHWH than the
other English divinity words used by her. All
this would indicate that there is no requirement that we today must try to
recover the original word and say it in the original pronunciation. Read
again Early Writings, 70,122, and Mount of Blessings, 103-106 (quoted at
the beginning of this study). You will there find the divinely appointed
rules by which we are to sacredly reverence and use that name. Let us stay
with Scripture and not wander away. Obedience by faith to the revealed
will of God is worth all else beside. 16
THE
MEANING OF EXODUS 6:2-3 "And
God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: And I appeared
unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty (El
Shaddai] , but by My name of JEHOVAH [YHWH] was I not known to
them."-Exodus 6:2-3. It
would appear from this verse that YHWH was not used earlier in Scripture.
Skeptics say this proves that Exodus 6:2-3 was written before Genesis.
Others claim that YHWH was a later insert into Exodus 6:2-3. But
YHWH was used large numbers of times in Genesis. (It was used in the
phrase "Lord God," in connection with Adonai, Genesis 15:2,8.
It was used alone as "Lord"in Genesis over a hundred times.) In
addition, YHWH is from Havah, the form of "to be" which is in
the oldest Hebrew, previous to its separation from the Syriac and Chaldee
(after the separation of those two dialects from it, Hebrew has Hayah,
not havah. The meaning of Exodus 6:2-3 is probably this: "I was
manifested to Abraham . . as the almighty One, able to do all I
promised; but in My character of YHWH, the unchanging I AM (see Exodus
3:14], the fulfiller of My covenanted promises, I was not in act made
known, as I am now about to make Myself known to My people." In
Genesis 2:4 to the end of chapter 3, YHWH Elohim are combined, indicating
that the powerful Creator is the same YHWH who revealed Himself to Adam,
and later to Moses. Eve exclaimed: "I have gotten a man by the help
of YHWH." Thus she hoped that her firstborn son would be the fulfiller
of the covenanted promise of Genesis 3:15. (YHWH is the covenant-keeping
God.) The covenant promise was also given to Noah. He received the
covenant promise from YHWH in Genesis 5:29. In
the plagues sent upon Egypt as well as the divine deliverance of His
people from slavery, the Covenant-keeping God powerfully acted on behalf
of His own. 17
THE
HEBREW AND GREEK WORDS FOR GOD" IN THE KING JAMES VERSION The following Hebrew words are translated "God" in the King James Version: Old Testament
New
Testament
Of
the above words, Elohim is translated "God" in the king James
Old Testament far more frequently than any other word. In those instances
in which YHWH is translated as "God," it is found in the phrase
"Lord God," with Elohim translated "Lord" and YHWH
translated "God." In the New Testament, Theos is translated
"God" in every instance excepting two.
18 THE
HEBREW AND GREEK WORDS FOR LORD" IN THE KING JAMES VERSION The
following Hebrew words are translated "Lord" in the king James
Version: Old
Testament
New
Testament
Of the above Hebrew words, YHWH or Adonai are the ones almost always
found. In the New Testament, Kurios is used in nearly every instance. 19
THE
PRIMARY NAMES OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT Here
are the principal names of God in the Old Testament. To the extent that
space permits, we will list some of His secondary names at the conclusion
of this study. In
the following suggestive analysis, we will use the customary pronunciation
pattern in use today, which ben Asher and his son developed nearly 1,100
years ago. As
we study the various occurrences of each of the primary names of our
Creator, we find certain qualities asserting themselves in the context of
the passages in which each name occurs. ELOHIM-
This word occurs 2,700 times in
the Old Testament. Its first occurrence associates it with the Creation.
Elohim indicates the relation of God as the Creator to His creatures. We
see vital power exercised. This word is used in the Genesis 1 creation
narrative, and is common throughout the books of Moses. Elohim expresses
the might of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is sometimes
used in compounds, such as EIelyon (the Most High God) and EI Shaddai
(the Almighty). This word occurs in the Old Testament as follows:
"God" over 2,000 times; "angels" 1 time;
"goddess" 2 times; "gods" 240 times;
"judges" 5 times; "great" 1 time; "mighty" 2
times; "very great" 1 time. YHWH
(YAWEH, YAHWEH, YEHAH, YAHUAH, YEHOWAH, JEHOVAH)This
word
occurs 6,800 times in the Old Testament. Commonly called "Jehovah,"
Yahweh is the Covenant-keeping God. This is God in relation to His people.
Yahweh is also the Eternal God, the Immutable One. This is He who WAS,
and IS, and IS TO COME. This name expresses His unchangeable faithfulness
in His covenanted promises to His people. As
mentioned earlier, Yahweh is indicated in the King James Version by small
capital letters, "LORD." When it occurs in combination with
Adonai, it is written "GOD" in this arrangement: "Lord GOD" or Adona Yahweh. YHWH
is translated "Lord" or "God." There
are several other combinations which occur in the King James. These are
called "Jehovah titles." Here they are: 1 - JEHOVAH-JIREH Jehovah will see, or provide (Genesis 22: 14). 2 - JEHOVAHROPHEKA Jehovah that healeth thee (Exodus 15:26). 3 - JEHOVAH-NISSI Jehovah my banner (Exodus 17:15). 4 - JEHOVAH-MeKADDISHKEM Jehovah that doth sanctify you (Exodus 31 :13; Leviticus 20:8; 21:8; 22:32; Ezekiel 20:12). 5 - JEHOVAH-SHALOM Jehovah (send] peace (Judges 6:24). 6 -
JEHOVAH-ZeBa'OTH Jehovah of
hosts
(1 Samuel 1 :3, etc.). 7 - JEHOVAH-ZIDKENU Jehovah our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6; 33: 16). 8 - JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH Jehovah is there (Ezekiel 48:35). 9 - JEHOVAH-ELYON Jehovah most high (Psalm 7:17; 47:2; 97:9). 10 - JEHOVAH-ROI Jehovah my Shepherd (Psalm 23:1). The name Yaweh should especially be studied in connection
with Exodus 3:13. It is there given in the so-called imperfect tense of
the verb "to be," and is rendered "I am that I am."
This means the self-existent, eternal God. He exists, always has existed,
and can never cease to exist. He is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. He is thus completely dependable, and can be relied upon to do
all that He has said.
JAH-This
occurs 49 times and is Jehovah as our salvation. This word is translated
"God" or "Lord."
EL-
This is Elohim in all His strength and
power.
This is the Mighty One. The word could be translated the Almighty,
although it never is. This is God the Omnipotent, who knows all, sees all,
and does all for His people. This word occurs as follows: "God"
212 times; "god" 15 times; "idol" 1 time; "might"
1 time; "mighty one" 1 time; "power" 3 times;
"goodly" 1 time; "great" 1 time; "mighty" 4
times; "strong" 1 time. The last three were inexact translations
of a noun by a verb or adjective, etc.
ELOAH-This
is the One who is to be worshiped. It is God in connection with His will
rather than His power. It is the title used whenever He is contrasted
with false gods or idols. Eloah is the living God, in contrast with
mindless,
inanimate idols. The word is translated "God" 52 times, and
"god" 5 times. ELYON-
This title is applied to our Creator 36 times. This is the most high
God. It is EI and Elohim, but not as the Creatorbut as the possessor of
heaven and earth. This name expresses His sublimity. For this reason it
is associated with Christ who is the "Son of the highest." As
possessor of the earth, Elyon
divides the nations "their inheritance." He is "over all
the earth." As a King upon His throne, He dispenses His blessings.
The word is translated as follows: "high" 9 times;
"higher" 4 times; "highest" 3 times; "most
high" 27 times; "on high" Itime;
"upper(most)"
I time. SHADDAI-
In
every instance this is translated as "Almighty." It is God (El), not
as the source of strength, but of grace. It is God, not as Creator, but as
the Giver. This name expresses His all-sufficiency. He is the AlIbountiful.
We see here His power to supply all the needs of His people. This word is
translated "Amighty" 48 times. ADON- This is the Lord as Overlord, or Ruler of the earth. He is the Ruler
of all men, including those who are not His subjects, having denied His
rulership. The word is usually translated as "Lord,"
"lord," or "master." Once each it is translated "owner,"
or "sir." ADONAI-
This is the Lord as Blesser. He carries out His purposes of blessing in
the earth. (It was the vowels from this word which ancient Hebrews placed
with YHWH to change its pronunciation.) This name expresses His lordship.
In reference to Him, this word is always translated as "Lord." ADONIM-
This is the plural of Adon, and multiplies the qualities of Adon. Adonim
is the Lord as owner and proprietor. He is the Ruler of those who love
Him. The word is always translated as "Lord," or
"lords." There are many other names and titles which our kind Father has given us to call Him by. Let us try to use every one. for all are outstanding. He is too wonderful a Father to call by just one of His great names. |