Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 10:03 AM 5/10/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Shalom Alaikhem!
>
>"Barukh ata Adonai...!"
>
>Such words have been said in prayer and passed along for years and years,
>but why was this chosen to substitute the ORIGINAL name in the beginning?

In fact, the name Adonai was one of the many Canaanite deities.  When the
Hebrews entered the land- they adopted the names of various Canannite
deities and applied them to Yahweh.  For instance, the Bible uses El,
Elohim, Adonai, El Shaddai and a number of other names.  These were
originally Canaanite deities and the Hebrews merely took the names of local
gods and applied them to their own.

>
>As far as I have researched, this false name for the Creator (Adonai)

But why is it a false name?  It is simply a canaanite deity name applied to
Yahweh by the Israelites.  They certainly would not have seen it as in any
way blasphemous or a lessening of the dignity of God.  And the reason that
Adonai was pronounced instead of the name Yahweh is because as time
progressed the name of God became more and more special and "magical" and
was uttered only by the High Priest on the day of atonement when he was in
the holy of holies.  So, instead of saying Yahweh in everyday conversation
they substituted one of the many names applied to God- Adonai- which as you
correctly point out simply means lord or sir.

>really originated from the Phoencian word 'AdOn' which means 'Lord' but
>is also employed in Greek mythology as 'Adonis' which is supposedly a
>handsome young male, represented by the Male Phallus. Why would the
>Greeks allow this word introduced to them(Adon) to be converted into one
>of indecency and why did this word later become adopted into Hebrew
>language for replacing the name of 'YHWH' ??

There is no connection between the etymology of Adonai and Adonis.  If you
are familiar with spanish you will know that the word "embarassado"- though
sounding like the english "embarrassed" has nothing to do with embarassment-
but pregnancy.  Assuming that similar sounding words have similar etymology
is fairly hazardous.


Best,

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim West, ThD
Petros Baptist Church- Pastor
Quartz Hill School of Theology- Adjunct Prof. of Bible

fax- 978-231-5986
email- jwest AT highland.net
web page-  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest