Hebrew Gods
Yahweh (Mercy)
Topics covered in this document:
Introduction
As you know, God is known by at least two names in the Old Testament.
One of them is Yahweh (or sometimes,
Jehovah), which is usually translated in the King James
version of the Bible as "Lord," often written in small caps.
Yahweh is the Hebrew language name used in Genesis, Chapter 2. Later,
in order to reconcile with the use of Elohim in Chapter 1, he is called
Yahweh Elohim.
According to some sources, Yahweh refers to the Mercy of God.
Most Common Name
Yahweh is the most common name of God used in the Old Testament.
The name consists of four consonants, Y-H-V-H (or sometimes I-H-V-H),
which is an English transliteration of the Hebrew letters,
Yod-He-Vau-He. (Of course, the actual Hebrew letters should be
written from right to left, as is customary in Hebrew. But hey,
since I'm writing this in English, I reversed the letters so that
they're correct for me.)
Hebrew Syllables
Now for a little side note. It's something I learned when I
took a class in Hebrew.
When an ancient Hebrew word was written, it contained only the
consonants -- as was true of several other ancient languages. At a
much later date (about the 7th century AD), vowels were added to the
written language. In Hebrew, vowels originally consisted of dots and
other marks below (and around) the consonants. That's why Hebrew
syllables always begin with a consonant.
Hebrew Pronunciation
In multi-syllabic words, the emphasis is usually on the final
syllable. Just thought I'd throw that one in. It might help you
pronounce some of the more difficult words in the Bible.
It's why Torah is pronounced toe-RAH instead of
TORE-uh.
Hard and Soft Hebrew H
Of course, none of this will help you know how to pronounce a
name like Rachel, which actually sounds more like Raquel, since
the "ch" sounds kinda like the "ch" in the German ich or
the "ch" in the Scottish loch.
That's because you can tell the difference between the two H
sounds when written in Hebrew, but they're both written as the
single H sound in English.
God's Many Names
As mentioned, God had many names. Yahweh is just one of them.
Ineffable Name of God
This four-letter, sacred, unspeakable name of God that we've been
talking about (YHVH or IHVH) is known as the Ineffable Name of
God. As such, it represents an extremely powerful, mystical name
that should be spoken only with extreme care and reverence.
Tetragrammaton
The same four-letter name is known in the Qabbalah and other mystical
literature as the Tetragrammaton.
Yaweh Asher Yihweh
Most likely, YHVH is a shortened form of one of God's full names,
as given in Exodus 3:14, Yahweh asher yihweh, which
means "He causes to be what is," but which our King James translators
turned into "I am that I am."
God's Longer Names
God also has a 12-letter, 42-letter, and 72-letter name. I wonder
what the Bible translators would have done if the Hebrew text had
used the 72-letter name of God instead of the 4-letter one? Hmm.
Entire Torah a Single Word
Some Jewish literature claims that the entire Torah is a single,
breathed word in the language of God.
Jehovah -- Early Christian Mistake
In our Bible, YHVH (yod-he-vau-he) is translated as Jehovah ...
which, unfortunately, is a mistake made by the early Christian
translators. Yes, they did make some mistakes!
Day of Atonement
You see, because the names of God are so sacred, the Jewish
rabbis (priests) were not allowed to voice any of God's names aloud
in public. That is, except once a year on the Day of Atonement, just
as the entire assembled congregation shouted praises to God.
On that one day, the High Priest would whisper God's name. But
since everyone was shouting in unison at that moment, the High
Priest could never be heard over all the racket.
Yahweh Vocalized as Adonai
At other public meetings, such as while reading from the Torah
in the synagogue, a rabbi who came across the Tetragrammaton,
always substituted the name-word Adonai instead
(which translated, means Lord).
Word Mixture
To remind the rabbi to substitute Adonai for YHVH, or perhaps
to confuse someone like me, the vowels in Adonai (AOA) were added
to the consonants of the Tetragrammaton.
Thus, to a gentile (like the Christian translators), the word
would look like Yahovah (there is no letter "J" in Hebrew). But in
reality, it was just a combination of two separate words cleverly
merged together ... one word that was spoken and one that never
was.
If you are interested in finding additional information about
this topic, you can read more on the subject in almost any
comprehensive Bible commentary, Christian or otherwise. The
one by Strong comes to mind.
Man in Image of God
Now let's manipulate the Ineffable Name for just a moment and
see where it takes us. If we write the Hebrew letters of the
Tetragrammaton vertically instead of horizontally, and then
scrunch the letters up a bit (called kerning, if you happen to
be a typographer), then we get the name as shown in the figure
to the right. Hmm.
If you squint, it looks kinda like a stick man, doesn't it?
If not, try squinting a little more ... okay? Now I ask, is it
possible that this resemblance between the name of God (written
vertically) and a human stick figure just might be where the
saying that we're created in the image of God comes from?
Rhetorical question.
How Jesus Performed Miracles?
Incidently, if you read the Jewish Jesus Tales, they
imply that a knowledge of the Ineffable Name was how Jesus was
able to perform miracles.
Bronze Dogs at Temple Gates
You see, legend has it that two bronze dogs were placed at the
gates of the temple to prevent a misuse of the Name. Whenever a
person who knew the Name passed by the dogs, they barked at the
passerby ... causing the frightened person to forget the Name.
Jesus Used Crib Notes
However, Jesus wrote the Ineffable Name on a piece of paper (just
like a crib sheet some college students use), which he hid under his
skin. When Jesus passed the dogs, they frightened him into forgetting
the Name.
But later, he pulled out the paper so he could remember it again.
Very clever!
Yahweh Parallels
Throughout the centuries, the Hebrews came in contact with a
lot of cultures. And over time, their God, Yahweh, inherited many
of the attributes of the gods of those other nations.
Anath Parallel
For example, echoes of the bloodthirsty Goddess, Anath, from
Ugaritic mythology, found their way into the attributes which the
Hebrews assigned to Yahweh.
Here is how the Ugaritic mythology describes Anath's conquest of
her enemies:
She plunged knee deep in the blood of soldiers,
Neck high in the gore of their companies.
Until she was sated.
And here is Isaiah's description of Yahweh's vengeance upon
Israel's enemies (Isaiah 63:3):
I will tread them in mine anger,
And trample them in my fury;
And their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
And I will stain all my garment.
What Next?
Return
Return to a higher level:
Read Next Document in Series
The following documents are in this series:
Have a pleasant day!
|
