Biblical Hebrew Forum

[gs02wmr AT panther.Gsu.EDU]

On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Ben Crick wrote:
>  Dear Wondell,

Shalum Bn CRK -


>  I am no expert; but to me YHWH *is* the Personal Name, and not the *Title*
>  of God. Exodus 6:3 seems to classify El Shadday as the Title; and YHWH as

I think you just misunderstood me, because that's exactly what I was
saying. I said that ha'Shem(THE NAME) is a TITLE and not a NAME for The
Allmighty. The only *real name* for the Deity of the Tanakh is the
Tetragrammaton. For example, you are a man, you could be a computer
engineer - that is one of your titles but it is not an individual and
personal name that positively identifies your unique makeup. Your NAME is
Ben Crick, not "Mr. Computer Engineer." The same logic can be used to this
issue we are discussing I personally consider the titles complimentary of 
the ineffable name.

>  When I was in west London, I went to some Passover lectures by the Rabbi
>  at Ealing synagogue. He consistently used the word HaShsheM as a Q:re'
>  for YHWH when reading from or referring to the TeNaCh (not 'a:DoNaY).

Yes - he used one of His titles because the actual name is too sacred.

>  Again I'm not an expert: but there may be a simple homophone here. The
>  root Sh-M-H provides us with the dual noun ShaMaYiYM, the skies, or
>  heaven. Hence, could HashSheM denote "the Heavenly One"?

Wow! I thought the same about MAYIM(WATER) and SHEMAYIM(HEAVEN). Too much
of a coincidence is it not? There is definitely a theological twist to
this.

>  There is a theory that the name Shem is a variant of Sumer, the Akkadian
>  name for certain tribespeople (the Sumerians).

Interesting.

>  Or Shem may be prophetic. His progeny would include Eber and Abraham
>  and his Seed of promise. The Eberites "Hebrews" would bear God's "Name"
>  as a witness to the Gentiles. Jerusalem would be the place where God
>  would put his "Name" (1 Kings 9:3; 11:36). This place and its priesthood
>  would be QoDeSh L:YHWH (Exodus 28:36; 39:30). Israel too (Jeremiah 2:3).
>  Domestic as well as Temple vessels will be holy (Zechariah 14:20-21).
>  "Cursed be Canaan"; but, on the contrary, "Blessed be the LORD God of Shem,
>  and Canaan shall be his servant" (Genesis 9:24-15).


You just beautifully illustrated the thoughts being conjured in my head by
those theories. Thanks for the input!


Shalom BeShem ElohIym,

Wondell M. Rachman