The Revealing of Gods Name Although Gods Name was apparently not revealed to Abraham -- or those before him -- the essential meaning of Gods Name was known. El Shaddai was understood to be the Most High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth (Genesis 14:19). So it was at Mt. Sinai that God first revealed His PERSONAL Name to Moses and the children of Israel. Writes Dr. James D. Tabor -- ...when Israel comes out of Egypt and is gathered by Moses at Mt. Sinai, the dramatic scene is set. God reveals Himself to the whole nation in an overwhelming display of power and glory, speaking directly to them, and setting forth the Ten Commandments (literally the Ten Words). There is thunder, lightning, clouds of smoke and fire, the piercing sound of a trumpet, and the whole mountain shakes. Finally God Himself speaks in an audible voice for all to hear. First, He identifies Himself: I am YHVH your God...you shall have no other gods besides Me (Exodus 20:1). The reaction of the people is stark terror! They call out to Moses, You speak to us and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die! (20:19) (Restoring Abrahamic Faith, Genesis 2000, Charlotte, NC 28256. 1993, pp. 12-13). This was the first account of the Israelites rejecting God -- a trend that was to continue throughout their history. Continues Dr. Tabor: Often in his farewell speeches in Deuteronomy Moses recalls the extraordinary nature of this event, when God personally spoke His Name and revealed His Ten Commandments. YHVH talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire....these words YHVH spoke to all your assembly in the mountain from of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more (Deuteronomy 5:4, 22; cf. 4:9-14). This was a unique, one-time revelation, centered on the Ten Commandments and the manifestation of Gods awesome personal Presence [and Name]. He warns them further in Deuteronomy 11:28, not to turn to other gods, whom you have not known (cf. Jeremiah 7:9). The verb here rendered known can be translated experienced. This Sinai revelation was to be remembered as the one special time when Israel experienced direct contact with YHVH (ibid., p. 13). This revelation of Gods personal Name, which includes an understanding of His very character, carries with it the unique stamp of Divine Authority. Constantly throughout the Five Books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy) we run into the phrase, And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying... followed by complete sections of text in which the Most High God speaks directly, in the first person. Similarly, in the Prophets, we encounter the key phrase, Thus says YEHOVAH.... literally hundreds of times. In Hebrew the phrase is most distinct -- koh amar YHVH. Notes Dr. Tabor -- These phrases, followed by the first person declarations of YHVH Himself, reflect a style that no pious Jew would ever dare to fabricate. Neither the writers of the New Testament nor the rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud adopt such a mode of speaking (ibid., p. 14). For this very reason, the Five Books of Moses and the Prophets must be the absolute foundation for any restoration of Gods true Name. Jews Keep the Divine Name in Their Texts Since the Divine Name YHVH was -- and is -- the most sacred word in the Hebrew language, it is extremely unlikely that Jews of any sort would have deleted it from their Bibles. Furthermore, we now know from discoveries in Egypt and the Judean desert that the Jews wrote the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew even in their Greek texts. The above table displays the name of the Creator in the ancient Paleo-Hebrew text, modern Hebrew text, the English letter equivalents, the sound of the Hebrew letters (transliteration), and the common English translation. Note that Hebrew is always read right to left. Some very old fragments of the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, that actually existed in the Messiahs day, have survived down to our times; and it should be noted that the personal Name of God appears in them. In 1944, W.G. Waddell discovered the remains of an Egyptian papyrus scroll (Papyrus Fued 266) dating to the first or second century B.C. which included part of the Septuagint. In no instance, however, was YHVH translated into any other form. Instead the Tetragrammaton itself -- in square Aramaic letters -- was written into the Greek text. This parallels the Qumran sects use of the paleo-Hebrew script for the Divine Name in a document which was otherwise written in square Aramaic script. There are three separate pre-Christian copies of the Greek Septuagint Bible extant today; and not a single instant of the Tetragrammaton translated into a Greek form -- or, for that matter, translated at all -- can be found. As a result, we can now say, with certainty, that it was a Jewish practice -- before, during, and after the New Testament period -- to write the Divine Name in the paleo-Hebrew or square, Aramaic script -- or in transliteration right into the Greek text of Scripture. Commenting on the fact that these oldest fragments of the Greek Septuagint do contain the Divine Name in its Hebrew form, Dr. P. Kahle states -- We now know that the Greek Bible text [the Septuagint] as far as it was written by Jews for Jews did NOT translate the Divine name by kyrios; but the Tetragrammaton, written with Hebrew or Greek letters, was RETAINED in such MSS [manuscripts]. It was the Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton by kyrios, when the Divine name written in Hebrew letters was not understood any more (The Cairo Geniza, Oxford, 1959, p. 222). This is also noted by The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Notice! Recent textual discoveries cast doubt on the idea that the compilers of the LXX [Septuagint] translated the Tetragrammaton YHVH by kyrios. The oldest LXX MSS (fragments) now available to us have the Tetragrammaton written in Hebrew characters in the Greek text. This custom was retained by later Jewish translators of the Old Testament in the first centuries A.D. (Volume 2, p. 512). Professor George Howard, of the University of Georgia, makes this comment: When the Septuagint which the New Testament church used and quoted contained the Hebrew form of the divine name, the New Testament writers no doubt included the Tetragrammaton in their quotations (Biblical Archaeology Review, March 1978, p. 14). What AUTHORITY would they have had to do otherwise? Gods Name remained in the Greek translations of the Old Testament for a while longer. In the first half of the second century A.D. the Jewish proselyte Aquila made a new translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, and the Tetragrammaton still appeared in Hebrew characters. Early Church Fathers Retain Divine Name For a While Then, around 245 A.D., the scholar Origen produced his Hexapla, a six-column reproduction of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures in their original Hebrew and Aramaic -- accompanied by a transliteration into Greek, and by the Greek versions of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodotion. On the evidence of the fragmentary copies now known, Professor W.G. Waddell says -- In Origens Hexapla...the Greek versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and LXX [Septuagint], all represented JHWH [YHVH] by PIPI, in the second column of the Hexapla the Tetragrammaton was written in Hebrew characters (The Journal of Theological Studies, Oxford, Vol. XLV, 1944, pp. 158-159). Some believe the original text of Origens Hexapla used Hebrew characters for the Tetragrammaton in ALL its columns. Origen himself said: ...in the most accurate manuscripts THE NAME occurs in Hebrew characters, yet not in todays Hebrew [characters], but in the most ancient ones. As late as the fourth century A.D. Jerome, the translator of the Latin Vulgate, says in his prologue to the books of Samuel and Kings -- And we find the name of God, the Tetragrammaton [i.e. YHVH], in certain Greek volumes even to this day expressed in ancient letters. In a letter written at Rome in 384 A.D., Jerome states: The ninth [name of God] is the Tetragrammaton, which they [the Jews] considered [a.nek.phone.ton], that is, unspeakable, and it is written with these letters, Iod, He, Vau, He. Certain ignorant ones, because of the similarity of the characters, when they would find it in Greek books, were accustomed to read PIPI [Greek letters corresponding to the Roman letters PIPI] (Papyrus Grecs Bibliques, by F. Dunand, Cairo, 1966, p. 47, ftn. 4). While the Jews didnt change the Divine Name in the Hebrew and Greek texts, they avoided saying the Tetragrammaton because they believed that in doing so they would take Gods Name in vain. When reading a passage of the Hebrew Bible that contained it, they referred to God by another one of His names -- adonai or LORD. Gentile Christians Discard the Tetragrammaton But Gentile Christians, unlike the Jewish Christians, had no traditional attachment to the Hebrew Tetragrammaton and no doubt often failed to even recognize it. Early in the second century A.D., after the last of the apostles had died, the falling away from the true Christian faith foretold by the Messiah and his followers began in earnest. Pagan philosophies and doctrines infiltrated the congregation of believers; sects and divisions arose, and the original purity of faith corrupted. And Gods Name ceased to be used. Gentile scribes, who had never before seen Hebrew writing (especially in its archaic form), stopped preserving the Divine Name. This contributed to the use of kyrios and theos for the Tetragrammaton, and toward the end of the first Christian century the use of these surrogates crowded out the Hebrew Tetragrammaton in both Testaments. Another factor in dropping the Tetragrammaton from the Bible texts is that the Gentile Christians did not want to appear Jewish. From 66 A.D. to 135 A.D. there were several Jewish revolts that resulted in severe persecution by Roman authorities upon any who appeared Jewish. Most of the Jewish Christians were killed by the Romans, leaving mostly Gentile Christians. These Gentile Christians wanted to appease the Roman authorities and gain approval amongst Romans in general. To accomplish this they began to discard almost anything that made them look in the least bit Jewish. The Greek philosophies were placed on a par with the Scriptures (see 2 Timothy 6:20-21). Under these circumstances all scriptures containing the Divine Name were destroyed, leaving only copies that contained the substitutes, kyrios or theos. The Jews, on the other hand, because of their reverence for the Divine Name, did NOT destroy texts containing the Tetragrammaton. A famous rabbinic passage (Talmud Shabbat 13.5) discusses the problem of destroying heretical texts (very probably including books of the Jewish Christians). The problem the rabbinic writer has with this is that the heretical texts contained the Divine Name and the wholesale destruction would include the destruction of the Divine Name! This further suggests that the Jewish Christians did NOT translate the Divine Name into Greek. In later copies of the Septuagint, Gods Name was completely removed and words like God (The.os) and Lord (Kyri.os) were substituted. The same thing occurred in the New Testament, or Christian Greek Scriptures. Professor George Howard makes the following comment: When the Hebrew form for the divine name was eliminated in favor of Greek substitutes in the Septuagint, it was eliminated also from the New Testament quotations of the Septuagint....Before long the divine name was lost to the Gentile church except insofar as it was reflected in the contracted surrogates or remembered by scholars (BAR, March 1978). Therefore, while the Jews refused to pronounce Gods Name, the apostate Christian church managed to remove it completely from Greek language manuscripts of both testaments of the Bible -- as well as from other language versions. The Messiahs Disciples It should be noted that the so-called Christians who replaced the Tetragrammaton with kyrios in the later Septuagint copies, were NOT the early disciples of the Messiah. They were people of later centuries, when Pauls prophesied apostasy was well under way and had corrupted the purity of Christian teachings. States the Insight On the Scriptures -- Thus, in the days of Jesus and his disciples the divine name very definitely appeared in copies of the Scriptures, both in Hebrew manuscripts and in Greek manuscripts. Did Jesus and his disciples use the divine name in speech and in writing? In view of Jesus condemnation of Pharisaic traditions (Mt 15:1-9), it would be highly unreasonable to conclude that Jesus and his disciples let Pharisaic ideas (such as are recorded in the Mishnah) govern them in this matter (Volume 2, p.10). The Messiahs own name means YEHOVAH is Salvation, and he thus carries the true Name of the Creator God in his own name. The following Scriptures show, without a doubt, that Yeshua and the writers of the New Testament used the Divine Name: MATTHEW 6:9: You, therefore, pray like this: Our Father in heaven! May YOUR NAME be kept holy. JOHN 5:43: I have come in my FATHERS NAME, and you dont accept me; if someone else comes in his own name, him you will accept. JOHN 12:28: Father, glorify YOUR NAME! At this a bat-kol [heavenly voice] came out of heaven, I have glorified it before, and I will glorify it again! JOHN 17:6: I made YOUR NAME known to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. JOHN 17:26: I have made YOUR NAME known to them, and I will continue to make it known... HEBREWS 2:11-12: For both Yeshua, who sets people apart for God [YEHOVAH], and the ones being set apart have a common origin -- this is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers when he says, I will proclaim YOUR NAME to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. REVELATION 3:12: I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also I will write on him THE NAME OF MY GOD and the name of my Gods city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own NEW NAME. REVELATION 22:4: They will see his face, and HIS NAME will be on their foreheads. In view of all this, when the Messiah quoted the Hebrew Scriptures -- or read from them -- he most certainly used the Divine Name, YEHOVAH. Therefore, logically, Yeshuas disciples, including the inspired writers of the New Testament, would follow his example in this. So why, then, is the Divine Name absent from the manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures that have come down to us today? Clearly because by the time those extant copies were written (from the 3rd century A.D. onward) the original text of the writings of the apostles and disciples had been altered. As a result, later copyists replaced the Tetragrammaton with Kyri.os and The.os. Restoration of the Divine Name In time, however, Gods Name came back into use. In the Insight On the Scriptures we find the following -- In the second half of the first millennium C.E., Jewish scholars introduced a system of POINTS to represent the missing vowels in the consonantal Hebrew text. When it came to Gods name, instead of inserting the proper vowel signs for it, they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say Adho.nai (meaning Sovereign Lord) or Elo.him (meaning God) (Vol. 2, p. 7). For many centuries the Hebrew language was maintained without vowels. However, after the dispersions when the Israelites were scattered around the world, the Hebrew language (the language through which the Creator God had dealt with the nation of Israel) became so obscure to many that even the prayers could not be spoken intelligibly. As a result, a set of VOWEL MARKINGS called niqqud were designed and attached to the consonants to provide a somewhat uniform pronunciation. Writes Richard Davis: For centuries Hebrew teachers had taught their students to pronounce the Great Name as Adonai. When the vowel points were applied to the Holy Name, the people were tempted to speak the name as the vowels indicated -- which would have been YEHOVAH (The Great Holy Name, page 7). This we see verified in Christian D. Ginsburgs edition of the Masoretic text. In 1908 this noted scholar prepared a work entitled The Old Testament, diligently revised according to the Massorah and the early editions with the various readings from MSS and the ancient versions for the British and Foreign Bible Society. It compares various readings from more than seventy manuscripts and nineteen published editions. Ginsburg dates the manuscripts, including the Pentateuch Or. 4445 in the British Museum, to about 820-850 A.D. These manuscripts, as late a date as this, convinced Ginsburg to render the Sacred Name only ONE WAY when it stands alone -- YEHOWAH. Adds the Insight On the Scriptures -- Ginsburgs edition of the Masoretic text vowel points the divine name to read YEHO.WAH. (Ge. 3:14, ftn) Hebrew scholars generally favor YAHWEH as the most likely pronunciation (page 7). In order to support the centuries-old tradition of pronouncing the Great Name as Adonai, and to help the students make the switch in their minds from what they SAW to what they were SUPPOSED TO SPEAK, a teaching was established that the vowels of the Great Name were to be looked at as the vowels of Adonai. However, this worked only because of the strong tradition it supported, for all one has to do is look at the two sets of vowels to see that they are definitely NOT the same set of vowels at all. Judaism has utilized a rigid law of devotion in protecting the Torah, the Prophets and the sacred writings that make up the Hebrew scriptures -- what we know as the Old Testament. In the entire history of the world there has NEVER been a literature that has been so PROTECTED by such a rigid law, or by such dedication of the people involved. As the apostle Paul said, What advantage then has the Jew [Judahite], or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because TO THEM WERE COMMITTED THE ORACLES [SAYINGS, SCRIPTURES] OF GOD (Romans 3:1-2). That law of protection that has been in effect from Moses until now was in effect in the 9th century A.D. when the Jewish leaders approved a set of vowels to be applied to the scriptures and the prayer book. Those vowels were also APPLIED TO GODS NAME to set forth the PROPER pronunciation by the SAME rigid law of protection that was applied to the total scriptures and prayer book. Today, unfortunately, there are many scholars and students from the ranks of both Jews and Gentiles (and those from the House of Israel) that are reading these vowels and CALLING THEM SOMETHING OTHER than what they actually are! But fortunately, to some of them, the holy spirit is saying, Read what you SEE instead of what you are TOLD TO SAY, and you will speak my Holy Name YEHOVAH. By oral (Jewish) tradition, Gods Holy Name -- YEHOVAH -- is spoken as Adonai, a symbolic form created by adding a qamats and a yod (pronounced i or oi) to Adon which is Hebrew for lord. By inspiration from the One who gave us His Name in the beginning, and has preserved it for 3,500 years, we now have a set of vowels that enables even the beginning Hebrew student to read and pronounce the GREATEST NAME the world has ever know -- YEHOVAH! In 1278 the Tetragrammaton appeared in Latin in the work Pugio fidei (Dagger of Faith), by Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk. He used the spelling YOHOUA. Soon after, in 1303, Porchetus de Salvaticis completed a work called Victoria Porcheti adversus impios Hebraeos (Porchutus Victory Against the Ungodly Hebrews). In this he, too, mentioned Gods Name -- spelling it variously IOHOUAH, IOHOUA and IHOUAH. During the 14th century the Tetragrammaton was being used in translations of the Christian Scriptures into Hebrew -- beginning with the translation of Matthew into Hebrew that was incorporated into the work Even bochan by Shem-Tob ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut. Wherever Matthew quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures, this translation used the Tetragrammaton in each case of its occurrence. Then, in 1518, Petrus Galatinus published a work entitled De arcanis catholicae veritatis (Concerning Secrets of the Universal Truth) in which he spells Gods Name IEHOUA. The Name first appeared in an English Bible in 1530, when William Tyndale published a translation of the first five books of the Bible. In this he included the Name of God, usually spelled IEHOUAH, in several verses, and in a note to this edition he wrote: IEHOVAH is Gods Name...Moreover as oft as thou seeist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew IEHOVAH. The Origin of Yahweh/Yahveh The quote above from the Insight On the Scriptures, page 7, ends by saying, HEBREW [JEWISH] SCHOLARS generally favor YAHWEH as the most likely pronunciation. Think about this for a moment. Why would the Jews favor YAHWEH as the correct rendition of the Divine Name if they considered it taking Gods Name in vain and blasphemy to even pronounce the Tetragrammaton? Did they do this on purpose knowing full well that YAHWEH and its variations (YAHVEH, YAHWAH, YAHVAH etc.) are NOT the true pronunciation of the Divine Name? This way the Christian world -- which the Jews actually hate -- could pronounce YAHWEH as the Divine Name to their hearts content and NOT take Gods Name in vain in the mind of the Jews! Notice what Richard Davis has to say -- While attending classes at the Jewish temple, we also attended the Jewish worship services. One weekend a visiting Rabbi, professor at the Hebrew University in Los Angeles, came and taught on the Holy Name. This was NOT a class taught to Jewish and non-Jewish students, it was a seminar taught to the JEWISH CONGREGATION. He opened his teaching with these words, The time has come for our people to know the correct pronunciation of Ha Shem (The Name). He wrote on the blackboard the first syllable of the Name, and had the congregation pronounce it, then erased it; wrote the second syllable, had us pronounce it, and erased it. Then he wrote the THIRD SYLLABLE, had us pronounce it, and erased it. Then he said, Now, pronounce the entire word IN YOUR MIND. He taught the Holy Name one syllable at a time, pronouncing each syllable, but never pronouncing the entire name....The syllables that he taught in English were (YE) (HO) (VAH), just as I had learned them some thirty years previously from Strongs Hebrew Dictionary #3068 (The Great Holy Name, Addendum p. 2). Continues Richard Davis: When the Jewish leaders decided to discontinue usage of the Holy Name, they chose the STREET NAME Adon added a suffix to it, called it Adonai (or Adonoi) and taught their people to use it as a SUBSTITUTE for any and all forms of the Holy Name. When many of the people refused to accept the street word Adon as the name of their Holy One, the Rabbis had to go back into conference and come up with a name that would be acceptable to the more pious of their people. They took the shortest form of the Holy Name, Yah, added a SYNTACTICALLY INCORRECT suffix to it and created what they call a NON-WORD, Yahveh, or after the Germans introduced the double V (VV), the English interpret it as Yahweh. How can this be a NON-WORD? As with English, Hebrew also has grammatical rules. When the contraction of Yehovah brings the name down to its shortest form Yah, the middle H and V are dropped. When they were ADDED BACK to Yah as SYNTACTICALLY INCORRECT suffix, they were REVERSED, thus VIOLATING the grammatical rules of the Hebrew language, and rendering them MEANINGLESS. This, coupled with the fact that the word Yah does NOT take a suffix, since it is complete in itself, gives a double reason for declaring it a NON-WORD. Then the vav being changed to an English w (which has NO COUNTERPART in the Hebrew language) moves Yahweh a third step away from the true Holy Name thus making it easier for the Rabbis, who refuse to pronounce the true name, to use when necessary in their teaching. The fourth step away is the ah feminine ending that is an INTEGRAL PART of the true name. Yehovah and its contracted form, Yah, both end in ah. Yahweh DOES NOT, thus it DOES NOT QUALIFY for consideration as the true name (ibid., p. 2). The Rabbis, with whom Mr. Davis studied, all use Adonai in their teaching. However, when questioned about the use of the street word Adon as the name of the Holy One of Israel, they will then use Yahweh -- knowing that they still ARE NOT pronouncing the TRUE Holy Name! Protecting the name of the Creator God is probably the most absolute point of doctrine upon which all Judaism agrees. So, the fact that all of the Rabbis with whom Mr. Davis studied DID in fact pronounce Yahweh -- and NONE of them would pronounce the TRUE name -- is proof positive that Yahweh is used as a SUBSTITUTE for the true Holy Name! Most of the Jewish people today recognize Adonai as a substitute for the Holy Name. Those who KNOW the Hebrew language also recognize Yahweh/Yahveh as a substitute. Either of these MAY BE SPOKEN. Adonai is used in the temple services, and the Rabbis will ALLOW the use of Yahweh/Yahveh. Yet, many of the Rabbis want their people to KNOW the TRUE name so they can speak it in their SILENT prayers, in their heart, and in their mind, although NEVER with their mouth. And many of the Jewish people today are eager to have a greater understanding of the true name of the Creator God. Probably the one thing that is detrimental to understanding the true Holy Name is the Gentile acceptance of the substitute name, Yahweh/Yahveh, and their teaching it as the true Holy Name. Why? Because the most important aspect in understanding the Holy Name is to understand that the name of the Father and the name of the Son is one name. The Fathers name and the Sons name are two applications of the SAME name. Yahweh/Yahveh has no direct relationship to the Sons name or its contracted form. Yahweh/Yahveh is the modern spelling of a NON-WORD that was created by the Jewish leaders as a SUBSTITUTE for the TRUE Holy Name. Since, in Hebrew syntax, the name Yah NEVER takes a suffix, Yahweh, Yahshua and Yahsha are INCORRECTLY FORMED words. Any time a suffix is added to the name Yah, it can be considered a NON-WORD. Over the centuries Bible translators went in one of two directions: Some avoided any use of Gods Name, while others used it extensively in the Hebrew Scriptures, but had a difference of opinion regarding which form to use -- either YEHOVAH or YAHWEH.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:23:35 +0000
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