Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Doug Belot" <dbelot AT bigpond.net.au>]

Could you tell me when the name of God became YHWH and who did decide to 
place English those letters to what was a Hebrew word.

And is this YHWH the name used in the LORD Our Righteousness in Jer 23:6 , 
and would that suggest that the Messiah will have that name.

doug belot
>From leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il  Tue Dec  2 17:42:53 2008
Return-Path: <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix, from userid 3002)
        id 06A124C020; Tue,  2 Dec 2008 17:42:52 -0500 (EST)
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.3 (2007-08-08) on malecky
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=STOX_REPLY_TYPE
        autolearn=disabled version=3.2.3
Received: from mtaout3.012.net.il (mtaout3.012.net.il [84.95.2.7])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2DCF04C01E
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Tue,  2 Dec 2008 17:42:51 -0500 
(EST)
Received: from conversion-daemon.i_mtaout3.012.net.il by i_mtaout3.012.net.il
        (HyperSendmail v2004.12) id
        <0KB900000TGIQW00 AT i_mtaout3.012.net.il> for
        b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:45:01 +0200 (IST)
Received: from xp ([77.127.94.145]) by i_mtaout3.012.net.il (HyperSendmail
        v2004.12) with ESMTPA id <0KB90028ATV05SO2 AT i_mtaout3.012.net.il> for
        b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:45:01 +0200 (IST)
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:42:54 +0200
From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
X-012-Sender: leviny AT 012.net.il
To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-id: <008f01c954cf$50fef760$66a314ac@xp>
MIME-version: 1.0
X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3350
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3138
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1;
        reply-type=original
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-priority: Normal
References: <00ed01c954c7$ce216550$0201010a@homeiavnpau67c>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] yhwh
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: Biblical Hebrew Forum <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/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/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:42:53 -0000

Doug,

In the Hebrew Bible, presumably reflecting Iron Age practice, YHWH is
more-or-less the personal name of the God of Israel, as opposed to El,
Elohim, Shadddai and so on, which are actually descriptive titles (and were
used of other gods as well). There is much debate on the exact origin and
meaning of the name YHWH (and this has been discussed on this list in the
past). Since YHWH is also mentioned as the Israelite God in the Mesha
inscription and "Yahwistic" names (that include the letters YW, YHW and YH)
were common in Israel and Judah (Yehoshua/Joshua, Yehonatan/Jonathan,
Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah etc.) and especially in royal names (Jehoram,
Jehoshaphat, Ahaziahu etc.), YHWH was certainly the patron God of the
Israelite kingdoms. We also have several letters from places like Lachish
and Arad, in which the writer blesses his addressee in the name of YHWH, one
letter from Arad that mentions "the house of YHWH" (either the Temple in
Jerusalem or a local shrine) and the 5th century letters from Elephantine in
Egypt, in which the Jews there have a house of "Yahu".

At some point during the Second Temple Period, the Tetragrammaton was
considered to be too sacred to actually vocalize, and it was pronounced
"Adonai" instead. "Adonai" means "my lord(s)"/"my master(s)", the
plural-like form usually considered an honorific. This form was probably
chosen because there are places in the Bible in whch God is addresses as
"Adonai" anyway, and especially in the combination "Adonai-YHWH" (such as
Deut. 3:24), and this practice survives in Judaism to this day. According to
Rabbinic tradition, the name of YHWH was only actually pronounced out loud
by the High Priest once a year, as part of the Yom Kippur ritual. After the
destruction of the Temple, the actual pronounciation was lost. When the
vowel-points that are used in Hebrew were invented centuries later, the name
YHWH was (usually) given the vowels of Adonai, as an indication to the
reader that this is how the Name is to be vocalized. This is what led to the
English forms "Jehovah" and "Yahweh". In the Greek translation we call the
Septuagint, Adonai was translated as "Kurios". In Latin this became
"Dominus", which became "Lord" in English.

As far as Jer. 23:6, I at least understand "YHWH-cidqenu"
("The-Lord-Our-Rightiousness") as being symbolic, showing that in the
Messianic Age people will realize that true rightiousness lies with God. I
would not wait for an actuall Messiah by that name.

Yigal Levin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Belot" <dbelot AT bigpond.net.au>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:49 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] yhwh


>
> Could you tell me when the name of God became YHWH and who did decide to
> place English those letters to what was a Hebrew word.
>
> And is this YHWH the name used in the LORD Our Righteousness in Jer 23:6 ,
> and would that suggest that the Messiah will have that name.
>
> doug belot
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.12/1822 - Release Date: 01/12/2008
08:23