Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

  Yigal,

  As Sancho Panza said, in Bialik's peerless version of Don Quixote, 'I would 
sign what you said with two hands.'

  Just a couple of remarks.
  On Yahwistic prefixes - these are much more common than the suffixes.    As 
for the name Yokheved  (Alt's suggestion, if memory serves). This would mean 
honor to Yahweh. That the root KBD was used in PNs is evident of the 
deragotary ")iy KBWD" , as a name, 1 Sam 4:21, 14:3.

  Your statement that from inscriptions we know that "YHW was more common in 
pre-exilic Judah, and YH in post-exilic Judah", is a very important element 
in the continuing debate about  diachronic development in the language of the 
HB. Just to amplify this a bit: all pre-exilic inscriptional YHWH suffixes 
end in -YHW (Ahituv). All post-exilic such names found in the inscriptions 
end in -YH (Tal Ilan). 

  As for the names of the early kings of Judah and Israel -- have you seen 
any discussion or attempted explanation on the absence of YHWH theophoric 
elements?

  Uri Hurwitz
   
  


 

1. Theophoric names that include the name of YHWH may also have Yahwistic 
prefixes. As such, the first to have such a name was YEHOshua (Joshua), who 
appropriately received his name from Moses (having previously been called 
Hoshea). One might argue that Yochebed, mother of Moses, Yehudit, daughter of 
Ishmael and Yehudah, son of Jacob also have such names, but that can be 
debated. After Yehoshua, there is of course also Yehonatan (Jonathan) son of 
Saul.

 

2. YHWH can also be abbreviated as YW, YHW and YAH. From inscriptions, we 
know that YW was more common in northern Israel, YHW was more common in 
pre-exilic Judah, and YH in post-exilic Judah. The Bible, being a Judahite 
book which was at least heavily edited in the post-exilic period, uses them 
almost interchangeably, as in Yehonatan/Yonatan or Eliyahu/Eliyah (Elijah).

 

3. While David may have had a son with a Yawhistic name, most early kings in 
both Kingdoms did not, The first king in Judah to have a Yahwistic name was 
Yehoshaphat, and the king who really popularized such names was none other 
than Ahab, who called his sons Ahazyahu (Ahaziah) and Yehoram/Yoram (Joram). 
From that time on, almost all of the kings in both kingdoms had Yahwistic 
names.

 

Now please, what's your point?

 

 

Yigal Levin