Biblical Hebrew Forum

["M. Brody" <mbrody AT earthling.net>]

Thank you Brady R. Johnson for your letter 0n 21:31 02/03/99 -0800. You wrote:
>An interesting interpretation, but I don't think it stands up.  Each
>reference that you offer in which the Targums reference "the word of the
>Lord" is a translation of the Tetragrammaton.  The the Word or Name of the
>Lord was too holy to pronounce and may well have been translated with the
>euphemistic "word of the Lord", just as today it is translated "Adonai" or
>in the Stone translation "Hashem".
>
 If I may add:
We find frequently in the Targumim translation of the name of G-d as:
LIFNAY  [before, in the presence ] of  G-d
KAVOD [glory, honor] of G-d
as well as MAMAR [statement, word] of G-d.

All of these additions appear to form a consistent attempt to avoid an
impression of HAGSHAMAH [personification ?] by the unsophisticated listner
to the original Hebrew Biblical verses, apparently a serious problem in the
first century, if we judge from the sects that splintered away from Judaism
in this period. 

Menachem
.
Menachem Brody
Machon Helkat Hasadeh
Elon Moreh
mbrody AT earthling.net
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