Dear Rolf,
What troubles me about your excellent discussion
is that YHWH is used in the DSS copies
of the biblical texts.
Liz
>
Dear Bill,> (1927) "The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God", p 13. The people at Qumran
If we look at the question from a historical point of view, it was
not a particular interpretation of Scripture that caused people to
stop pronouncing YHWH, but rather foreign influence. In the centuries
after Alexander the Great, the Jews were in many ways influenced by
Greek thoughts, including Plato's view that God is nameless. "A
bitter struggle between Hellenists and Hasidim centered around the
pronunciation of the Divine Name." according to rabbi A. Marmorstein
> ceased pronouncing the name while the Pharisees, Haemerobaptistae and
> others continued to pronounce the name.
> Jewish lexicon M. M. Kasher (1967) "The Encyclopedia of Biblical
There are three passages in the Tanach that has something to do with
the use of the name, namely, Lev 24.16, Ex 3.15 and 20:7.
Manuscripts of the LXX from the second century C.E. translate Lev
24:16 in a way suggesting that the name should not be used (we do not
know the original wording); Targum Onkelos does about the same.
However, the rabbis of old did *not* use Lev 24:16 or Ex 20:7 as
reason for not pronouncing the name, according to G. F. Moore (1955)
"Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. the Age of the
Tannaim Judaism", vol I, p. 428.
It is quite strange that the very passage that definitely says that
the name should always be used, is the passage that was used to show
that the name should not be pronounced, namely, Ex 3:15. For those
interested in the four fanciful ways the words of this verse were
explained to say the opposite of what they do say, please look at the
> Interpretation", vol II, p. 109.
>
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Rolf Furuli
> University of Oslo
>
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