To my beautiful readers, I say, Welcome back.
OK, really!? What's with this weather? I really don't want it to be cold anymore. The thought of going outside to mow the rest of the grass is doom and gloom.
So, I recently posted the blog 'Does God have a name? What does the Bible say?' and we are able to read in the Bible, what God's name is at:
18 May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah,+You alone are the Most High over all the earth.- Psalm 83:18
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Tetragrammataon of God's name
(from Greek te·tra-, meaning “four,” and gramʹma, “letter”)
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I had a very good question come across my desk:
I found that the word Jehovah is not the original word. I looks as though the actual word is still in question because of the original alphabet with no vowels.
My response:
I am going to look up specific information on the name 'Jehovah.' When I have it together in blog form (I love doing that) I will make sure you are the first to know. I want you to know that the research and findings that I share with you have been painstakingly researched to insure it's accuracy. This is not just one 'dude's' opinion. Years of research are done before putting it to print.
I will give you a hint, you are correct in your statement 'I found that the word Jehovah is not the original word.' There is wonderful research on this point!
The following information is taken in whole and/or part from:
- Jehovah
- Insight, Volume 2
(Je·hoʹvah) [the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Heb. verb ha·wahʹ (become); meaning “He Causes to Become”].
The personal name of God. (Isa 42:8; 54:5) Though Scripturally designated by such descriptive titles as “God,” “Sovereign Lord,” “Creator,” “Father,” “the Almighty,” and “the Most High,” his personality and attributes—who and what he is—are fully summed up and expressed only in this personal name.—Ps 83:18.
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Tetragrammataon of God's name
(from Greek te·tra-, meaning “four,” and gramʹma, “letter”) |
Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name. “Jehovah” is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although “Yahweh” (my personal favorite, but that's just me) is favored by most Hebrew scholars. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts present the name in the form of four consonants, commonly called the Tetragrammaton (from Greek te·tra-, meaning “four,” and gramʹma, “letter”). These four letters (written from right to left) are יהוה and may be transliterated into English as YHWH (or, JHVH).
The Hebrew consonants of the name are therefore known. The question is, and it is a reasonable question, Which vowels are to be combined with those consonants? You see, Vowel points did not come into use in Hebrew until the second half of the first millennium C.E. (See HEBREW, II [Hebrew Alphabet and Script].) Furthermore, because of a religious superstition that had begun centuries earlier, the vowel pointing found in Hebrew manuscripts does not provide, are you ready for this, the key for determining which vowels should appear in the divine name.
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the divine name
(represented by the Tetragrammaton) |
Superstition hides the name. Just what basis was originally assigned for discontinuing the use of the name is not definitely known, but at some point a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong even to pronounce the divine name (represented by the Tetragrammaton). Some hold that the name was viewed as being too sacred for imperfect lips to speak. Yet the Hebrew Scriptures themselves give no evidence that any of God’s true servants ever felt any hesitancy about pronouncing his name. Non-Biblical Hebrew documents, such as the so-called Lachish Letters, show the name was used in regular correspondence in Palestine during the latter part of the seventh century B.C.E.
Here, another view is that the intent was to keep non-Jewish peoples from knowing the name and possibly misusing it. OK, I can see how that 'might' be possible if it weren't for the fact that, Jehovah himself said that he would ‘have his name declared in all the earth’ (Ex 9:16; compare 1Ch 16:23, 24; Ps 113:3; Mal 1:11, 14), to be known even by his adversaries. (Isa 64:2) The name was in fact known and used by pagan nations both in pre-Common Era times and in the early centuries of the Common Era. (The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1976, Vol. XII, p. 119) Another claim is that the purpose was to protect the name from use in magical rites. If so, this was poor reasoning, as it is obvious that the more mysterious the name became through disuse the more it would suit the purposes of practicers of magic.
What is the proper pronunciation of God’s name?
Further research into the above question led me to this additional information. In the second half of the first millennium C.E., Jewish scholars introduced a system of points to represent the missing vowels in the consonantal Hebrew text. When it came to God’s name, instead of inserting the proper vowel signs for it, they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say ʼAdho·naiʹ (meaning “Sovereign Lord”) orʼElo·himʹ (meaning “God”). This showed me that there is great 'meaning' behind names.
Now, this next bit of information points out to me why things are pronounced the way they are. The Codex Leningrad B 19A, of the 11th century C.E., vowel points the Tetragrammaton to read Yehwahʹ, Yehwihʹ, and Yeho·wahʹ. Ginsburg’s edition of the Masoretic text vowel points the divine name to read Yeho·wahʹ. (Ge 3:14, ftn) Hebrew scholars generally favor “Yahweh” (again, my personal favorite) as the most likely pronunciation. They point out that the abbreviated form of the name is Yah (Jah in the Latinized form), as at Psalm 89:8 and in the expression Ha·lelu-Yahʹ (meaning “Praise Jah, you people!” Which was an eye opener to me, because, growing up with the Pentecostal teachings, the term 'Ha·lelu-Yah' was used often, and it wasn't until a study into the scriptures did I find out that it actually had MEANING, and that all that time, when they were saying Ha·lelu-Yah, they were actually saying 'Praise Jah, you people!' I...J...S...). (Ps 104:35; 150:1, 6)
I like this point as well, the forms Yehohʹ, Yoh, Yah, and Yaʹhu, found in the Hebrew spelling of the names Jehoshaphat, Joshaphat, Shephatiah, and others, can all be derived from Yahweh. Greek transliterations of the name by early Christian writers point in a somewhat similar direction with spellings such as I·a·beʹ and I·a·ou·eʹ, which, as pronounced in Greek, resemble Yahweh. Still, there is by no means unanimity among scholars on the subject, some favoring yet other pronunciations, such as “Yahuwa,” “Yahuah,” or “Yehuah.” Now, I don't know about y'all, but I find that educational.
Since certainty of pronunciation is not now attainable, there seems to be no reason for abandoning in English the well-known form “Jehovah” in favor of some other suggested pronunciation. If such a change were made, then, to be consistent, changes should be made in the spelling and pronunciation of a host of other names found in the Scriptures: Jeremiah would be changed to Yir·meyahʹ, Isaiah would become Yeshaʽ·yaʹhu, and Jesus would be either Yehoh·shuʹaʽ (as in Hebrew) or I·e·sousʹ (as in Greek). (It makes sense to me.) The purpose of words is to transmit thoughts; in English the name Jehovah identifies the true God, transmitting this thought more satisfactorily today than any of the suggested substitutes.
So in closing, the last bit of information that I would like to add is this, Importance of the Name. Many modern scholars and Bible translators advocate following the tradition of, get this, eliminating the distinctive name of God. They not only claim that its uncertain pronunciation justifies such a course but also hold that the supremacy and uniqueness of the true God make unnecessary his having a particular name. Really, such a view receives no support from the inspired Scriptures, either those of pre-Christian times or those of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Really!? Every one and every thing has a name! If I were to be referred to as such titles as 'mom, wife, homemaker (kinda) and never by my name, I would feel, I don't know, slighted, as though it weren't 'important' to know and use my name. However, if someone were to use my name and mispronounce it, I would correct them. And one day, we 'just might could' get to know the correct pronunciation of God's name when he tells us himself. Until then, it's Jehovah for me.
The Tetragrammaton occurs some 6,828 times in the Hebrew text printed in Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. In the Hebrew Scriptures the New World Translation contains the divine name 6,973 times, because the translators took into account, among other things, the fact that in some places the scribes had replaced the divine name with Adho·naiʹ orʼElo·himʹ. (See NW appendix, pp. 1561, 1562.) The very frequency of the appearance of the name attests to its importance to the Bible’s Author, whose name it is. Its use throughout the Scriptures far outnumbers that of any of the titles, such as “Sovereign Lord” or “God,” applied to him.
I know the above information may be a lot to take in, and I hope that I have not overwhelmed y'all. Sometimes, overcoming the 'teachings of man' can be a challenge. Don't give up. The answers are out there! The truth is out there! Jehovah will help us find it! :-)
So, if ya wanna learn even more about the name Jehovah, additional information is just a click away. You can learn such things as:
There is always so much to be learned about our wonderful creator. It is my hope, that after reading the above information, you have learned something, oh I don't know, wonderful!?
If you would like to do your own research, tons of information is available at
jw.org
