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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] YHWH is Aramaic?

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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] YHWH is Aramaic?
  • Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:46:58 -0500

Awohili AT aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 06/28/2006 8:40:26 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, hholmyard AT ont.com writes:

1) There is no strong reason to think that God has a name like
Ralph to
distinguish him from others, since there is only one God.

No, but that is not the only reason to have a name. A name expresses essence and qualities and purpose, especially a self-given name. There is no evidence in the Scriptures that YHWH is a name that man gave to God. It appears to be that it is the name that God gave to Himself and revealed to humanity over 6,000 times in the Hebrew text.


HH: Exactly. Yahweh is a name with meaning, not just an empty name. God gave it to convey meaning, truth about himself. I am confused. Somebody wondered why God couldn't just have a name. I assumed that mean a name without a particular meaning. For example, my name is Harold. It is a family name, and my parents were not thinking of what the meaning of "Harold" was. I simply had it because my grandfather did. I was objecting to God having a name like that. If God invents a certain name for Himself to convey a quality such as self-existence, that is different than what I assumed was being proposed. Of course God has a name in that sense.
And even though monotheists believe there is only one true God, there have been other entities worshiped throughout human history from which YHWH has to be distinguished.


HH: True, but what I understand as being proposed was that God had a name from some other sphere and simply communicated it to mankind. No, I believe the name Yahweh is one that he invented in order to convey a certain idea of himself to mankind.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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