I'm hesitant to know how far to
carry this conversation, because it doesn't precisely seem apropos to
understanding Biblical Hebrew, and could very easily (if it hasn't already)
degenerate into inter-religious name calling. But I'll try to stay as
objective as I can on the matter.
I'm not sure which evidence you're
asking for, but I'll toss out evidence for various things I referred to in my
last post:
(1) That common, ordinary,
every-day people regularly spoke and pronounced YHWH seems clear just from the
Biblical writers’ recording of numerous conversations. Some very random
examples which could be multiplied repeatedly include Deut. 1:6, which records
Moses saying to the entire assembled nation of Israel, “YHWH our God spoke to
us at Horeb.” 1 Sam. 1:11 records Hannah’s vow, “YHWH Sabaoth, if only
you will look on the misery of your servant.” In 2 Kings 18:22, the
Assyrian Rabshakeh says that YHWH sent him to destroy Jerusalem. I’m not
sure how else to understand these passages than to believe that common
Israelites – and non-Israelites – all knew how YHWH was pronounced, and indeed
pronounced it regularly and without a thought. I certainly don’t intend
to tread on Jewish sensibilities here; my understanding was that even Jews
agreed that the prohibitions against speaking the Name were the result of
later developments, of attempts to “put a hedge around the law” to prevent the
possibility of accidentally using the Name L$W). If it’s normal to argue
that even, say, Adonijah and Elijah and Hezekiah never pronounced the Name,
that’s news to me, and difficult if not impossible to support historically.
(2) Given #1, there’s a variety of
evidence which might indicate how those same lay people might have pronounced
YHWH. Part of the problem in evaluating it is that some of it points in
different directions. Everyone seems agreed that the Masoretic vowel
points are a qere perpetuum
taken from )DWNY, so those are out as a pointer. But there are a number
of theophoric names which contain a shortened version of YHWH, i.e.,
“Adoni-Yah”, and have the first vowel as a qamets. The same is true of
“Hallelu-Yah” in the Psalms. The sere for the second syllable is more
debatable, as it doesn’t seem to have been included in any names. (It’s
also possible that the Name was known in multiple forms: it certainly seems to
have been shortened in some instances, e.g., in the admittedly syncretistic
Kuntillet Ajrud fragments, where it is sometimes found as YHWH, and sometimes
as YHW.) There are some who put forth arguments that it must be sere based on various linguistic
considerations, but I’m not really qualified to evaluate those, and they
strike me as hypothetical at best. More to the point are various forms
of YHWH found in Greek transliteration from before the fourth century CE,
where it occurs variously as IAO (perhaps equivalent to the Kuntillet Ajrud
YHW), IABE, IAOUE, IAOUAI, and IAE. These latter seem to point fairly
clearly towards an original pronunciation as YFH:W”H
(Yahweh).
Is there other evidence that
you’re looking for, Shoshanna?
Ken Smith
> -----Original
Message-----
> From: Shoshanna Walker
[mailto:rosewalk AT concentric.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 23,
2002 7:25 PM
> To: Biblical
Hebrew
> Subject: RE: God's name: was
Curious abut "G-d"
>
> Which
evidence?
>
>
>
> I'm sure other folks on this
list know far more than I do, but I'll
> jump in anyway with what I do
know. Shoshanna, I think it's pretty
> clear from the evidence that,
well, pretty much everybody knew how to
> pronounce the name, up until
the time of the Maccabees or later. The
> tradition that only the High
Priest could pronounce the name
> certainly isn't found in the
Hebrew Bible itself. Far to the
> contrary, given that many
Israelites had theophoric names, and that
> YHWH (or variations thereon)
are found in purely secular
> correspondence like the
Lachish letters, it seems beyond dispute that
> the restrictions on
pronouncing or writing haShem are from a much
> later time than the Biblical
materials themselves.
>
> In other words, if average,
every day people pronounced the Name back
> in, say, King David's time
(as the Scriptures very clearly indicate
> they did), it shouldn't (in
theory) be beyond the scope of
> investigation to understand
how they pronounced it. Now, I suppose
> some might find it
irreverent; and everyone agrees that it is
> difficult and uncertain; but
I guess I don't understand why you think
> that it is beyond the
possibility of investigation. (Nor do I
> understand why being Jewish
would have anything to do with the
> possibility of the
investigation succeeding or not.)
>
> Ken Smith
>
> > -----Original
Message-----
> > From: Shoshanna Walker
[mailto:rosewalk AT concentric.net]
> > Sent: Wednesday, January
23, 2002 4:12 PM
> > To: Biblical
Hebrew
> > Subject: Re: God's name:
was Curious abut "G-d"
> >
> >
> > Lookit
> >
> > Only the High Priest
knew how to pronounce the Name, and was the only
> > one permitted to
pronounce the Name, once a year, on Yom Kippur, in
> > the Inner Chamber of the
Temple, where no one else was ever permitted
> > except for him, and only
on this one day per year. In case he DIED
> > from not being
sufficiently spiritually prepared for the sheer
> > holiness of the
experience, a rope was tied to him, so that they
> > could pull him out if
necessary, without having to go in.
> >
> > And you tell us that
there is a - modern - non Jewish - BOOK - which
> > purports to discuss the
pronunciation of this holy Name????????
> >
> > Is this author really
serious? What utter chutzpa! What is there to
> > discuss, what is the
need that people feel, to what purpose do they
> > think they need to know
the pronunciation of the Name? They
> > wouldn't even know what
to do with it, even if they knew how to
> > pronounce it, and worse,
it could cause them great damage, if they
> > were not meant to
know.....
> >
> >
Shoshanna
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > There is a new book on
this subject that soon will be
> > published in English. I
have read the French edition: "Gérard
> > Gertoux (1999) Un
Historique du Nom Divin YHWH, Paris:
> > L'Harmattan. It will
soon be published in English by
> > "University Press of
America": I got a pre-publication
> > discount of 20 % by
ordering it last week
> > (custserv AT rowman.com.);
ordinary price is $ 47.
> >
> > The author has marshaled
a huge amount of material from
> > Hebrew and cognate
languages, and while it is difficult to
> > draw definite
conclusions regarding the pronunciation of the
> > name, this is the most
thorough discussion I have seen.
> >
> >
> >
Regards
> >
> > Rolf
> >
> >
> > Rolf
Furuli
> > University of
Oslo
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
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