Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
HOW DO YOU SAY יהוה
Name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: Part 3
This is one of a four part series on the Name of God.
Part 1 is a brief, broad brush introduction to the Jewish response to the Name of God (HaShem). It shows that the Name is not just an identifier. It speaks of His Capabilities and Intentions in the unspoken words heard by a Biblically sensitive Jew when the Name is spoken/read. It also shows the error of assimilating Allah with Elohim.
Part 2 briefly discusses some differences between Hebrew and English Grammar, plus more on the word unspoken and its importance concerning prayer.
Part 3, briefly discusses the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה). It is included only for those who wish to know. It has no impact on your Salvation so skip it if you are not interested.
Part 4, briefly discusses the Name with which God introduces Himself to Creation, Elohim. It brushes the topic of the Trinity but not much.
Part 5, shows two examples of the Name of God in plain sight but unnoticed.
NAME OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB: PART 5
The volume of the Book is written of Me
medium.com
Brace yourself! This is more of a teaching blog than an entertaining one. It may not be an easy read because there is more here than a normal, well adjusted person would normally want to know but it will be worth it. It is the detail which makes me a boring person that brings the Bible alive for me. But if you happen to like what you read, there’s more to be found here.
[NOTE: Important words analysed below are identified with Hebrew/Greek transliterations into English and Strong’s Numbers so that whoever wants to can check them out — it is strongly recommended that you do. I use the Blue Letter Bible (https://www.blueletterbible.org/ BLB)]
Jehovah? Yehovah? Yahweh?
When I was a lad things were simple. Everyone knew the OT God was Jehovah. Not so, today. There is friction in the pews with some people who have absolutely no knowledge of Hebrew language correcting the pronunciation of other people who have absolutely no knowledge of Hebrew. I’m open to correction but it seems that this should not be a problem. Pontius Pilate was surprised that Jesus (English spelling, not Greek) could speak Latin. It does become a problem, however, when, “Call Him by His Real Name,” banners appear on the Net. A problem for the ones who post the banners, that is.
In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas
“In essential unity. In non-essentials, Liberty. In all things, Charity”
Wesley rephrased it, “There are many doctrines of a less essential nature. … In these, we may think and let think; we may ‘agree to disagree.’ But, meantime, let us hold fast the essentials. …”
Martin Luther coined a word for it, “Adiaphora,” the Law neither forbids nor permits.
That would have been the end of the matter for me but it provides an opportunity to introduce Gentile NT Saints into the rumours spread in the pews about some of the things Jews do.
Not all Rabbis are created equal.
There are:-
Rabbinical Jews: the ones that are common in our society. The ones who study Torah and Talmud. Just as likely to be anti-Christian as anti-Muslim. (Long story but easily tracked down on Youtube.) Devout Rabbinicals are the ones who will not pronounce יהוה. They refer to the Lord’s Name as Adonai, HaShem, spell יהוה (yod-hay-vav-hay), or something like that. These are very sensitive people in this regard. Make a faux pas and use the wrong Name in front of them you are cancelled.
Complete Jews: cultural and ethnic Hebrews who have a Torah and Talmudic training, even become ordained Orthodox Rabbis, but accept Yeshua as their personal Saviour. The ones with which I have had experience have had no problem in pronouncing the יהוה but generally adopt the habit of using HaShem to avoid prickly moments. (Gentile Messianics are not Hebrew speakers so won’t be included here.)
It is now necessary to introduce a new group (to me), Karaite Jews or Karaism (also spelt Qaraite Judaism or Qaraism), is a Jewish religious movement characterised by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in Halakha (Jewish religious law) and theology. It is distinct from mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral Torah, as codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, to be authoritative interpretations of the Torah. Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding the written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or Talmud.
Karaite Jews have no problem with sounding out the Tetragrammaton. One of the prominent Karaite Rabbis in the USA is Nehemia Gordon (https://www.youtube.com/user/ngordon4 )
Being a Jewish Scholar, he could explain things better than me. The link here lasts about an hour. You will see that his research has led to Yehovah if you don’t want to watch.
Origin of Yahweh
The rascal character.
Keeping in mind that Hebrew reads from right-to-left, the Tetragrammaton is
י (yod) ה (hay) ו (vav) ה (hay) [Sorry, Hebrew and English don’t play well together on Medium. This is backwards.]
The dispute is to do with the ו (vav). It used to be pronounced as a hard ‘V’ until the ‘W’ sound crept in.
I have a good friend who is a Sabra. That is, a Jew born and bred in the drier parts of Israel, and whose mother tongue is Hebrew. I asked him whether the pronunciation of ו is as in very vitally vivacious or wobbly wombles of Wimbledon. His reply was very vitally vivacious which is in line with Nehemia. Will it change your life? Probably not. But at least the information comes from real Hebrews — not pretend Hebrews.
Next installment.
The final episode in this part of the series on The Name will briefly examine the enigmatic Elohim.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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