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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Ex 3: 14/15 & three words about Aramaic

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  • From: Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Ex 3: 14/15 & three words about Aramaic
  • Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 15:43:23 -0700 (PDT)

  Dear Rolph

  Your question is a good one: " One problem for
such a claim is that the verb in v. 14 is HYH, and
if YHWH is a verb form, the root is HWH.  If the
writer wanted to explain YHWH, would he not have
used the same root in his explanation ( in v. 14
) as in the name (v. 15)? "

  A possible answer is: when the author wrote these
verses the original meaning of deity's name YHWH was
forgotten, and the standard verb for 'to be' was
pronounced and written with a Yud. However, the
ancient author  derived this divine name from HWH,
because of the similarity. Most modern scholars are
doing the exact same thing today. The ancient author
then used the language of his time, including
verbs derived from the root HYH, to explain it.

  Nevertheless the author was not sure of the meaning of YHWH
and thus wrote the enigmatic v. 14.

   I too am not sure that our understanding of the
name YHWH is better now, in the twenty first century,
than it was in this pre-exilic text. But that of course
is a different subject.

  By the time this biblical passage was written , there
was a clear split between Judean Hebrew and Aramaic.
Cf. the language of Gezer and of the recently
discovered Kh .Qeiyafa inscriptions - more than a
century older that Tel Deir-'Ala. The great influence
of Aramaic on biblical writing was to come later.  

 Best,

  Uri Hurwitz                                   Wilmington, . VT

 


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