Biblical Hebrew Forum

["yahua'sef" <gs02wmr AT panther.Gsu.EDU>]

Shalom Alaekhem Ya Ach George:

On Thu, 29 Apr 1999, George Athas wrote:
> I don't know how say this any other way, but YAH and HUWAH mean absolutely 
> nothing in Hebrew as two
> distinct words. YAH does not mean "He is" or something of the like. It is 
> not a word in Hebrew. "He

I am afraid I don't know how to say this any other way, but you are wrong.
;-)

I never said "YAH" means "He is," sir. I said "YAH"(YUD) by itself means
"OH" or something of a declaratory nature. This is a common form of
respect in the Shemetic languages and tradition when we say each other's
names and greetings. For example, I would say "Shalom Ya Ach"(Hello Oh
Brother) to you in Hebrew and it would be grammatically correct. The
"HA-WAU-HA" ending in Y-H-W-H *DOES* mean "HE IS"(and this is the same
exact thing in Arabic). HUWA = He is. YAH = OH.  Put them together, you
get "OH HE WHO IS."

I think you can look at in the Bible in 2 Samuel 22:3 to see
the same word there used, if I remember correctly. I do know for a fact
however that it is everyday common knowledge in spoken Hebrew that
'HUWA'(H-W-H) means "He is."

> The divine name, YHWH, is one word, not two or three or four. It's 
> impossible to separate it into
> more than one word. 

Why is it impossible?  That's the block between us and others who seem to
bring up this same point. The people on this list are scholars, and look
at the words from a scrutinized linguistic point of view, breaking down
the sylabbles and grammatical rules. But the LORD, the Maker and Master of
the Universe, does not look at such things - and it you guys seem to
neglect the theological edge in your analyses. You eschew any sort of
correlation between symbolic and or metaphorical message and meaning the
LORD put in Ha-TNKH and center in on linguism. I think....this is
debilitating towards a full and well rounded understanding of who and what
THE LORD is about. The Most High does not use a grammar book.

> As Jonathan Safren mentioned, it looks like a Hiphil verb form
(imperfect, not
> perfect as Jonathan probably mistakenly wrote) of the root HWH.

Again - what is all of these words you use? Hipil verb, imperfect verb
form, irregular this and that. Those seem "nonsensical" in the religious
sense.

> been used in the earliest forms of Hebrew and Phoenician. Phoenician in 
> particular uses only
> consonants and never knows of any letters that represent vowels. So, the 
> fact that it even uses waw
> at all speaks for it being a consonant.


I appreciate your comments however!

TODAH RABA!