Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 11:29 AM 2/12/2003 EST, Awohili AT aol.com wrote:
>rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl writes:
>
>> Moreover, as far as I am aware with regard to the NT, Jesus teached us to
>> call G-d "Father", "Abba"; why should we christians want to use a name 
>> which
>> is so precious in the Jewish tradition -in which the gentiles are only
>> grafted! 
>> 
>

I would also remind us all that even later Jewish tradition began using
even "Adonai" ONLY in worship, substituting HaShem ("the Name") in all
other contexts. The Samaritans do the same, using the Aramaic form "Shema".
The same happened in Jewish writing, where YHWH, still used in hand-written
scrolls, was often "shortened" to YY or YYY in printed Bibles and prayer
books and just the letter He used everywhere else. Many on this list are
familiar with the contemporary Orthodox Jewish custom of substituting even
this ONE of the letters of The Name, with either a Dalet or a Qof, both
graphically similar to the He. Not to mention the replacement of the
number-letters Yod-He and Yod-Vav (15 and 16) with Tet-Vav and Tet-Zayin.
And where "Lord" and "God" used to be used in Jewish English Bibles (cf.
JPS), some have now started using "Adonai" for YHWH, while one modern
Orthodox English Bible now uses "Hashem" for BOTH YHWH and Elohim.  In
Christian translations, we can find "Yahweh", YHWH, Lord, or "Jehovah". 

I mention all this not because it is directly relevant to the LXX or the
NT, but to remind us how quickly such things change and how many different
variations could appear among different groups in a short time.



>True.  On the other hand, the leader of the Jerusalem assembly, James, says 
>that God turned his attention to the Gentiles also, "to take from them a 
>people for his name." (Acts 15:14, English Standard Version)  The UBS Hebrew 
>version also renders this *'am lishmo*, "a people for his name."

"For his name" here (in both the OT and the NT) means "for his honor".

>
>I often wonder why the writer of Revelation used the vocabulary of the 
>Tehillim in incorporating "Hallelu-yah" in his book.  Was it mere 
>embellishment, or an acknowledgement of the Name even at that late date?

"Halleluyah" had become a word in its own right even in the HB. While its
meaning was clear, it was not used as an injunction with a proper noun
("Praise YHWH") but rather as a single word.

Yigal




Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.
>From BillRoss AT norisksoftware.com  Wed Feb 12 11:59:47 2003
Return-Path: <BillRoss AT norisksoftware.com>
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from server2.norisksoftware.com (dial-216-198-100-132.farmerstel.com
        [216.198.100.132])
        by happyhouse.metalab.unc.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 04CCF200A0
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>;
        Wed, 12 Feb 2003 11:59:46 -0500 (EST)
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] LORD
MIME-Version: 1.0
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 11:00:52 -0600
content-class: urn:content-classes:message
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.5762.3
Message-ID: 
<5EF69A85945FFA44926EA595DA205F3502AFE0 AT server2.norisksoftware.com>
X-MS-Has-Attach: 
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: 
Thread-Topic: [b-hebrew] LORD
Thread-Index: AcLSt3TcP2cQFdjgTweejswh+SAXoQAAB0iA
From: "Bill Ross" <BillRoss AT norisksoftware.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Content-Type: text/plain;
        charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1
Precedence: list
List-Id: A forum on the Hebrew Bible, its language and interpretation
 <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman-2.1/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman-2.1/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 16:59:47 -0000

I read in Ford's Anchor Bible commentary on Revelation that she thought
that this was a Jewish prophecy by John the Baptist (whom Jesus called
the greatest prophet born of women, yet still old school) that was later
modified by christians to be the ultimate christian prophecy for
prophecy geeks. Phrases like "and of the lamb" were additions to
christianize this.

=20

I did notice yesterday that John uses EK where later authors use APO,
which seems like it would indicate an earlier time.

=20

Bill Ross

No Risk Software Inc

BillRoss AT norisksoftware.com

=20

-----Original Message-----
From: Awohili AT aol.com [mailto:Awohili AT aol.com]=20
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 10:54 AM
To: Bill Ross
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] LORD

=20

In a message dated 02/12/2003 8:49:11 AM Pacific Standard Time,
BillRoss AT norisksoftware.com writes:




Eli-Jah, Josi-yah, Jeremia-yah...

Apparently the combination is not the name itself, per se, so is not
ineffable.



Correct.  However, Hallelu-Yah is a plural imperative combined with a
name, eliciting an action on the part of several persons in connection
with a being so named.  I just wondered why the Greek writer chose to
specifically say Hallelu-Yah rather than Theos or Kurios.

Solomon Landers

Solomon Landers