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  • From: "Read, James C" <K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk>
  • To: <Awohili AT aol.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Meaning of YHWH
  • Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 14:22:15 +0100


Yes! i fully appreciate what you are saying. But the problem is that the
entire
context of the bible allows for many meanings to the name.

1)Gen1 in particular supports the interpretation 'He causes to become' i.e he
creates
and therefore a Hiphil, but at this juncture we have to either abandon the
theory
that it is 3rd person of Qal EHYEH or question the pointing of EHYEH.

2)The current pointing of EHYEH allows for YHWH to be 3rd person Qal in which
case
the meaning would be 'He exists (in past, present and future i.e eternally)
and this
is both in agreement with the context of the story at hand in Exodus, the
context of
the entire bible (see Rev 1:8) and the pragmatic translation offered by the
LXX

3)The interpretation 'He causes [himself] to become' is nowhere explicitly
described of
Yah and is not supported by a Hiphil theory as the Hiphil never expresses
reflexive
action. If we are, for whatever reason (dogmatic etc.) to assume that the
meaning
is reflexive then we have to abandon the Hiphil theory and propose another
form.


Thus, the context of the entire bible is little help here because
interpretations 1
and 3 are equally supported.


-----Original Message-----
From: Awohili AT aol.com [mailto:Awohili AT aol.com]
Sent: Fri 8/5/2005 1:09 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org; Read, James C
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Meaning of YHWH


There is of necessity speculation and interpretation about the meaning of
YHWH because it appears to be an old form and an old name, and the name of
deity
besides. So what it "means" has to be read in the context of the fullest
narrative in which it appears, i.e., the Bible.

As should be obvious just from reading this forum, there is disagreement on
the "exact" meanings of many things related to the Hebrew language.
Learning
is a work in progress. Exactitude is perhaps yet a ways into the future.

Solomon Landers

In a message dated 08/05/2005 1:30:27 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk writes:

Another confusing factor is that proponents of the Hiphil form say that the
name
indicates that Yah causes *himself* to become whatever is needed in order to
save his people. This adds much more confusion to the matter because this
would
require the verb to be reflexive as Yah would be acting upon *himself* by
causing
*himself* to become something he previously wasn't. To the best of my
knowledge
the Hiphil cannot express a reflexive action and this interpretation would
call
for another form.






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