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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] YHWH...Was..Is..Will (shall) be

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Gene Gardner <g_gardner1234 AT yahoo.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] YHWH...Was..Is..Will (shall) be
  • Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:00:49 +0100

On 03/08/2005 19:38, Gene Gardner wrote:

...

I am not specifically quoting any text, as I believe
that hayah howeh yihyeh is a rabbinic interpretation
based on Exodus 3:14. There is no hidden agenda
Harold, I am just trying to examine every available
aspect of the YHWH questioning process in an attempt
to have a clearer understanding of the finer points
presented by the wide variety of people that post on
this list.


So, this text is to be understood as Mishnaic rather than biblical Hebrew? That makes for a very different meaning. For Mishnaic Hebrew already had more or less the tense structure of modern Hebrew.

In that case this sentence is interesting, because it suggests that the Rabbis were aware that the Name did not represent a particular tense as they understood it, and that the same meaning had to be expressed in their own Mishnaic Hebrew with this threefold explanation: "he was, he is, he will be".

It reminds me of another self-description of God, in Greek: EGW EIMI ... hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS, literally "I am the being and the was and the coming", or "I am ... who is and who was and who is to come". That is from the New Testament, Revelation 1:8. And I would suggest that it represents that author's take on the meaning of the divine name - and perhaps one which was already commonplace in the first century CE since the Rabbis and the New Testament more or less share it.

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





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