Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Read, James C" <K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk>]

During my studies of Hebrew, it was very common for my professors 
to make very authoritve comments that usually began 'The massoretes...'.
One of such comments was the massoretes intention for the written 
'yhwh' and the spoken 'my lord'.
However, I have to admit that it has never been directly demonstrated 
to me that this was unquestionably their desire. Why are we so sure 
of this? Did the Massoretes write it for us?

Again, I have no opinion in this regard. It is just a question 
I have always had but have never received an answer.

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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] ineffable name - Abba
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On 24/07/2005 16:50, Yaacov Yeretz wrote:

>...
>
>If Jews tremble when thinking about uttering the IN,
>should this not teach
>us to think a little deeper than just to the level of
>know-how?
>
>
>
Yaacov, Shoshanna, Solomon,

As a Christian I tremble before getting involved in an issue which is
clearly sensitive to some Jews. And I am sure none of us want to give
offence in how we discuss the Name here.

But what is meant by the Name being ineffable? It surely cannot be that
if the Name is accidentally pronounced in ignorance "all the mountains
would tumble, and the world would end in flames". For any word of two or
three syllables must be a common and regularly pronounced word in some
of the world's nearly 7000 languages (see
http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/contents.asp), and so the world
could never have survived this long if the Name had such a magical
effect. And similar objections apply to any thought that it is dangerous
to represent the true pronunciation in e-mail.

So surely the real point must relate not to the sounds of the Name but
to its meaning, and to people who misuse what they believe to be the
divine Name, whether or not they pronounce it in the same way as the
ancient Hebrews did. And sadly there are many people in every country
who do regularly misuse their own version of the Name, as a curse and a
swearword. Well, the world is still here, but maybe this misuse is why
it is in such a bad state.

Meanwhile, many of us on this list are carrying out what is essentially
an academic linguistic exercise. Maybe for some the true pronunciation
of the Name has some religious significance, but this is not true for
me. In my life I seek to honour the Creator by not abusing any word
which I understand as his Name. But for me it is not an abuse of the
Name to study it, for by studying these details we surely honour its Owner.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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