To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: God's name is feminine?
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 11:46:55 +1100
Some may misunderstand the tetragrammaton YHWH as being feminine, equating
the final-HE of YHWH
with the feminine marker. This is probably not the case. Rather, it's likely
that the final-HE is
just reflecting the root letters HWH (or HYH). If the name was feminine, it
would probably have the
consonants YHWTH (final-HE turns to TAW before the addition of a fem.sg.
gender ending).
Despite the linguistic gymnastics, Yahweh is clearly a male deity in both the
Hebrew Bible and the
wider ancient Near East. He may be given female attributes, but that does not
make him female. A
parallel example comes from the New Testament where, as Jesus weeps over
Jerusalem, he compares
himself to a hen wanting to protect her chicks. This does not mean that Jesus
was either female or
even a chicken, or even that he owned pet chicks. It's just a metaphor.