@ 2023-01-03: HOLY AND AWESOME IS HIS NAME!

 

@ 2023-01-03: HOLY AND AWESOME IS HIS NAME! 

In a previous blog, [@ 2021-12-23: “THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER...” (Exodus 3:15)], I proved that the original pronunciation of the famous Tetragrammaton, [YHWH (יהוה)], was [Y^ehawweh (יְהַוֶּה)]. This is what the accents and grammatical rules of the Hebrew Masoretic Text demand.

Thanks to comparison with other Semitic languages, we may infer that the original spelling was [YHWY (יהוי)], and the original pronunciation was [Y^ehawwey (יְהַוֶּי)]. This is because the original form of the verb root [hawah (הוה)] would have been [haway (הוי)].

Recently, a small inscription was discovered on Mt. Ebal in the Holy Land. That inscription—which contains a short “curse text”—has the three-letter form [YHW (יהו)]. The final semi-consonant of [YHWY (יהוי)]—that is, [yod (י)]—would have marked the presence of a vowel, and thus presumably was left off. Much later, Aramaic did the same with [YHWH (יהוה)]: the [he (ה)] was left off, leaving [YHW (יהו)].

We still have only the Hebrew Masoretic Text as our authoritative guide to the “full” spelling and pronunciation: originally, [Y^ehawwey (יְהַוֶּי)], and later, [Y^ehawweh (יְהַוֶּה)]. The Masoretic accents and vowel-points (especially in Psalms 96:10, but also in other verses in the Letteris and Baer Editions) prove that [YHWH (יהוה)] must have had three, not two syllables. Only the Pi`el or intensive stem, [Y^ehawweh (יְהַוֶּה)], fits all the other requirements. Fully pointed with accents and vowel-points, as in Psalms 96:10, the Name would appear as [Y^ehawweh (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה)], and it would be pronounced as “y^e-ha-WWEH”.

With this more complete background, let us now consider how “holy and awesome” this Name [Y^ehawweh (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה)] was and still is (Psalms 111:9)! 

YEHAWWEH, THE THIRD COMMANDMENT, AND “PURE LANGUAGE” 

So important is the proper understanding and use of “the Name” [Y^ehawweh (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה)]—and indeed, of any other Divine name—that the Third Commandment of the Decalogue is devoted to the subject. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God [Y^ehawweh Elohekha (יְהַוֶּה אֱלֹהָיךָ)] in vain [lashshaw (לַשָּׁוְא)], for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7, ESV).

Respect for and proper use of God’s various names is at the heart of the proper construction and use of language. How is this so? Consider one of the things that will be restored when the Kingdom of God rules on earth: 

“For at that time I [Y^ehawweh (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה): “the Eternal”, in paraphrase] will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord [Y^ehawweh (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה)] and serve him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9, ESV). 

Literally, the Hebrew phrase translated “one accord” above is [shechem ehad (שְׁכֶ֥ם אֶחָֽד׃)], or “one shoulder”. The Hebrew idiom is arresting. It is almost as if everyone will “put their shoulder to the same wheel” in their service to the Eternal.

But what is the purpose of language? At its heart, language is intended to describe the world—that is, God and His creation—accurately and with reverence. If one describes God accurately and with reverence, then one can’t help but describe His works and their purpose with accuracy and reverence. In so doing, one is led to serve the Eternal God in harmony with others.

This is how the Third Commandment is the foundation of “pure language”, free from malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8), profanity and vulgarity, falsehood and even inaccuracy. Pure language reflects the attributes and purposes of God, just as His very names do within the limits of what languages express them. 

THE LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN LANGUAGES 

No known human language—including the three biblical languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—represents God, His attributes, His purposes, and His creation with absolute technical perfection. Only the meaning of the Bible makes it sacred, even in its original languages. Even [Y^ehawweh (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה)] appears to be a clever back-formation from a series of vowels [approximately (ieauouaei)], as sung in “overtone chanting”, into the rules of the Hebrew root system. There could be no closer union of music, mathematics, linguistics, and cosmology than that original “overtone chant”!

Yet, despite the limitations of even the biblical languages, the biblical authors faithfully recorded God’s Word in a way that reflected accurately the personalities, histories, cultures, and circumstances of their times. This fidelity is what makes good Bible translation possible.

The wonder is not (as some think) that the vernacular versions, in various languages, are so poor—rather, it is that the versions are as good as they are! No translation can carry all the nuances of the biblical languages simultaneously. That is why ancient and modern versions range from word-for-word through thought-for-thought to paraphrase. Some versions, for peoples unfamiliar with many things mentioned in the Bible (e.g., snow, lambs, and scarlet wool), must make clever adaptations to the culture of the “target audience”. Sometimes this even includes how to describe “God” or “the Gospel”.

But all this is but background. Now, working with a sample of Divine names in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, with their English translations, let us consider their awe-inspiring sanctity.