 |
This web site is dedicated to the premise that each person on earth, everyone one of us sooner or later, will be confronted with the fact that the Creator of the universe actually and uniquely has a Name. We don’t mean a title, but an actual Name which has been known since ancient times and the Name is to be used by all of mankind to esteem the Creator.
In Hebrew Scripture, we see that the Name Yehowah first appears in Genesis 2:4, which reads as follows: “These are the births of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yehowah ‘Elohim made earth and heavens.” Abraham, who is claimed by many religions the Hebrew, Muslim and Christian, to be their father, knew and called upon the Name. Please see Genesis 22:14; “And Abraham called the name of the place, ‘Yehowah Yireh,’ as it is said to this day, “On the mountain Yehowah provides.” >In Exodus 3:14-15 we see that Moses was given his identification papers to go back into Egypt to bring out the nation Yisra’el. Yehowah sealed His plan with the Name when giving it to Moses so that He, Moses, could be identified as coming on behalf of Yehowah. The Yisra’elites in Egypt , although in slavery, would have known the Name. Exodus 3:14-15: And ‘Elohim said to Moses, “I Am that which I Am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Yisra’el, ‘I Am has sent you.” And ‘Elohim said further to Moses, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisra’el, Yehowah ‘Elohay of your fathers, the ‘Elohay of Abraham, the ‘Elohay of Yitschaq, and the ‘Elohay of Ya’aqov has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.’” Exodus 6:2-3; And ‘Elohim spoke to Moses and said to him, “I Am Yehowah.” “And I appeared to Abraham, to Yitschaq, and to Ya’aqov, as ‘El Shaddai. And by My Name, Yehowah, was I not known to them?” What an amazing rhetorical question! The answer should be obvious to all! Today, what are we doing with the Name Yehowah? Do we esteem the Name or do we replace it with mere titles? In Exodus 6:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11 we are told the following: “You do not bring the Name of Yehowah ‘Elohaychah to naught, for Yehowah does not leave him unpunished who brings His Name to naught.”YeHoWaH – haShem
The current form of YeHoWaH, which one finds in Jewish Bibles is the product of a long history. What is more, this complex process took place without the knowledge of the protagonists. One can suppose that if God really attaches importance to His Name, all coincidences were not necessarily accidental. In the greatest of paradoxes, the system of qere/ kethib which was supposed to protect God’s Name really did protect it, except for this ‘amusing’ detail; the Name was coded by its own vowels, which has to be the epitome of coding. Consequently, in the debate with those that laugh at the ‘naïve’ reading YeHoWaH, perhaps the naives are not the ones we might think. This practice of qere/ kethib, which consists of pronouncing one word in place of another, was used at first as a protection against idolatry. For example, when God asked in Hosea 2:16 to stop using the word Baal (‘owner’) as a title for him, it was doubtless to help the Israelites to distance themselves from Baal worship. Taken from: “The Name of God YeHoWaH. Its Story” – Page 141 - Written by Gerard Gertoux – University Press of America, IncTruth shows through when we search the Tenach for the Name of “The I Am Who I Am.” First, we see the Name generally written in Hebrew and transliterated as YeH-WaH. Gramatically, we must indicate that there is a vowel missing in the text which shows YeH-WaH. However, further study shows that the full Name has been intentionally placed within the text to show Yisr’el how to pronounce the Creator’s Name so that the true pronunciation will not be lost to future generations of Yisr’elites. Massoretic scribes who copied the ancient text of Scripture could have known the true pronunciation and as well could have suppressed the truth of pronunciation in the manuscripts. However, it seems that scribes did include the missing middle vowel as a cholem within the text. We can find this at various locations in the Tenach as written in the Leningrad Codex, which is also designated as “codex B 19 A”. The biblical text as found in the codex contains Hebrew letter-text along with Tiberian vowels and cantillation signs (poetic accents), which are not to be confused with the Tiberian vowel designations. The “codex B 19 A” MS. is dated 1008 C.E. according to its colophon and is one of the oldest manuscripts of the complete Hebrew bible produced according to the Tiberian massorah. Only the “Aleppo Codex” precedes it, the consonants having been scribed in 920 C.E. by Shlomo ben Buya’a. The “Aleppo Codex” MS. was then verified, vocalized and provided with Massoretic Tiberian vowels and cantillation signs by Aaron ben Asher the last and most prominent member of the ben-Asher dynasty of grammarians from Tiberias. Many Biblical scholars suggest that Aaron Ben Asher was a practicing Karaite and thus his beliefs were by in large free from the teachings of the Classic Works of Rabbinic Law (Oral Law) and subsequent commentaries.
MASSORAH
1. The word Massorah is from the root masar, meaning to deliver something into the hand of another; so as to commit it to his trust. Hence the name is given to the small writing in the upper, lower and outer margins, and as well between the three columns of the Hebrew MS., because it contains information necessary to those into whose trust the Sacred Text was committed, so that they might transcribe it, and hand it down correctly. *The Sacred Text itself had been fixed before the Massorites were put in charge of it. This had been the work of the Sopherim (from saphar, to count, or number). Their work, under Ezra and Nehemiah, was to set the Text in order after the return from Babylon. We read of it in Neh.8:1 & Ezra 7:6, 11. The men of “the great Synagogue” completed the work, which lasted about 110 years from Nehemiah to Simon the first (410-300 B.C.E.).
The Sopherim were the authorized revisers of the Sacred Text; and, their work being completed, the Massorites were the authorized custodians of it. The Massorah is called “A Fence to the Scriptures.” because it locked all words and consonants in their places.
* Taken from ‘The Companion Bible’ – Authorized Version of 1611 - Appendix 30 – page 31 – Published by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 49501
2. The Consonants formed the most important and fundamental subject of investigation, and to them the primary and most laborious care of the Massoretic scholars was devoted. The consonantal text, and the consonantal text alone, was sacred and inviolable; the vowel signs were of human invention, subject to human criticism, and if necessary, to modification. **
3. The peculiarities and anomalies of the vowel-points and accents were also recorded, and in particular the influence of the latter on the quantity of a syllable. The inference is clear therefore that the Massoretic scholars were not the inventors of the signs for the vowels and accents; but that on the contrary these had already been so long in existence as to have acquired a certain prescriptive right, although inferior to the consonants and not inspired.** Taken from “Introduction to the Ginsburg edition of the Hebrew Old Testament” – pages 50 & 51 – Written by Dr. Alfred S. Geden and Dr. R. Kilgour – Published 1928, in London by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
4. In setting up the beginning of our era as a reference period for proper names we have two sources of evidence of exceptional quality; the first one being the text of the Septuagint, which reflects Hebrew vocalization around 280 B.C.E.; and the second the Massoretic text, which reflects Hebrew vocalization around 100 B.C.E. (and even probably around 300 to 400 B.C.E.). Paradoxically, the vocalization of the Massoretic text seems older than the one of the Septuagint, although its fixing is posterior. Besides, the Septuagint was revised on a Massoretic model as early as the first century C.E. Taken from: “The Name of God YeHoWaH. Its Story” – Page 31 - Written by Gerard Gertoux – University Press of America, Inc >To locate the transliterated Name shown as YeHoWaH in the Hebrew text we first went to the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia edited by Aron Dotan and published by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. PO Box 3473 – Peabody, MA 01961. The Aaron Dotan edition is based upon the Leningrad Codex (Codex B 19A). The Leningrad Codex closeness to the Aaron ben Asher text of the Aleppo MS. is not its only advantage; it is also the oldest complete Bible manuscript in our possession. Once we found the Name shown as YeHoWaH within the Dotan edition text, we went to a lithographic facsimile copy *** of the Leningrad Codex to verify what had been found in the Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia. In every instance when the Scriptures have been checked against each other, there has been agreement between the two Hebrew texts.
*** “The Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition” was published jointly in 1998 by Wm. B Erdmans Publishing Co. 255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49503 and Koninklijke Brill NV – Leiden, The Netherlands – Brill ISBN 90 04 20854 8.
Following are 325 found Tenach Scriptural locations of the complete vowel pointed Hebrew Name transliterated as YeHoWaH:
Torah - Teaching
Bereshith; 4:15, 6:3, 11:6, 13:10, 15:6, 19:23 and 24:12Shemoth; 10:13, 13:15, 14:8, 22:10, 24:1 and 33:12
Wayyiqra; 8:26, 11:45, 15:14, 17:5 and 23:38
Bemidbar; 7:3, 10:35, 11:11, 12:6, 14:10, 14:14, 14:16, 14:18, 22:25, 30:3, 31:28 and
31:50
Debarim; 6:24, 9:25, 9:26, 14:2, 27:15 and 30:9
Nebi’im - Prophets
Yehoshua; 6:26, 8:33, 22:16, 24:7 and 24:15Shophetim; 4:2, 5:4, 6:11, 6:21, 7:22, 8:19, 11:10, 14:6, and 15:14
1 Shemu’el; 3:1, 3:6, 6:8, 6:15, 12:6, 12:24, 14:39, 16:2, 17:37, 22:17 and 26:16
2 Shemu’el; 6:12, 6:21, 7:28, 12:9, 12:11, 12:15, 15:21, 24:10 and 24:11 1 Melakim; 2:30, 2:42, 8:56, 14:26, 15:18, 16:7, 18:1, 18:36, 18:38, 18:46, 20:28 and
22:20
2 Melakim; 1:3, 1:16, 2:21, 3:10, 3:17, 7:2, 7:19, 12:14, 14:14, 15:12, 15:37, 17:36,
19:6, 19:35, 20:3, 22:13, 22:19, 23:3, 23:16, 23:26, 23:27, 24:3, 24:20 and
25:13
Yeshayahu; 1:4, 11:15, 28:13, 31:9, 37:6, 37:36, 42:5, 44:23, 45:14, 48:1, 49:5, 49:8,
49:18, 49:25, 50:1, 51:22, 56:4, 61:10, 62:11, 65:8, and 66:12
Yirmeyahu; 4:3, 5:3, 5:22, 10:2, 12:14, 13:13, 14:9, 15:2, 15:15, 16:3, 16:5, 17:5, 22:6
22:18, 22:30, 23:8, 23:19, 24:8, 26:2, 29:16, 29:32, 30:18, 31:14, 31:15,
31:34, 31:36, 33:10, 34:22, 36:30, 37:9, 38:20, 49:2, 49:12 and 50:20
Yechezqel; 14:4, 28:22, 30:25, 34:27, 36:36, 44:2, 44:5 and 45:23
Hoshea; 14:10 Yo’el; 2:11
Amos; 2:4 and 7:17 Yonah; 1:4
Michah, 4:2 and 4:6 Nachum; 1:3 and 1:12
Habaqquq; 3:2 (Shown as YeHoWaH two times in this verse)
Zecharyah; 1:7, 1:11, 1:14, 1:16, 12:1 and 12:4
Malachai; 2:17
Ketubim - Writings
Tehillim; 1:2, 2:7, 5:2, 5:4, 6:2, 6:4, 6:9, 6:10, 9:14, 10:12, 14:2, 14:4, 17:13, 18:1(Shown as YeHoWaH two times in this verse), 18:14, 18:42, 19:15, 20:6, 20:7,
21:2, 23:6, 24:8, 25:1, 26:1, 26:8, 27:4, 29:1, 29:2, 29:3, 29:5, 29:8, 29:11, 30:4,
30:11, 31:6, 31:18, 33:5, 33:10, 34:11, 34:12, 35:10, 37:9, 37:40, 40:10, 40:12,
40:14, 41:11, 47:6, 50:1, 55:17, 56:11, 68:17, 68:27, 69:7, 70:2, 71:5, 78:21,
86:17, 87:6, 93:3, 93:5, 94:19, 96:1, 96:7, 97:9, 97:10, 98:9, 99:6, 101:8, 102:1,
103:13, 103:19, 103:20, 104:24, 104:35, 115:1, 116:4, 116:19, 118:11, 119:31,
119:52, 119:65, 119:107, 119:149, 119:159, 120:2, 121:7, 121:8, 126:2, 134:1,
135:6, 135:13, 140:7, 143:9, 144:3, 145:21 and 148:13
Mishle; 1:29, 3:7, 3:19, 8:21, 16:1, 16:6, 16:9, 16:33, 17:15, 19:3, 19:14, 20:12, 20:22
and 31:30 Iyob; 40:3 and 42:12 Ezra; 1:1
1 Dibre haYamim; 15:2, 21:13, 22:5, 22:19, 28:2, 29:18 and 29:21
2 Dibre haYamim; 12:5, 12:9, 17:10, 18:19, 19:11, 21:7, 21:12, 21:14, 27:2, 29:11, 29:25,
30:8, 30:9, 34:31, 35:3 and 36:22
A Conclusion:
As noted by Maimonides in his work The Guide of the Perplexed, it is impossible to have a deep relationship with a nameless God (‘Elohim). Juda Halevi expressed the same idea in his book The Kuzari, explaining that knowing the God of the philosophers cannot be considered worship, but is simply a polite recognition of his existence. These two authors agree in that what differentiated the God of Abraham from the God of Aristotle was His name, a unique name, not a simple title, or honorary designation as God, Lord or Almighty, but a proper noun, the Tetragram YHWH. Moreover, when a person wishes to meet someone, do they not usually start by first asking their name? “What is your name? has been the start of many a happy relationship. ****In the bible, refusal to pronounce the name of a god is a refusal to worship the god in question. That is why the Israelites were never to mention the name of other gods
(Exodus 23:13; Joshua 23:7) thus indicating their refusal to worship them. Since the refusal to pronounce the Name meant a refusal to worship, Satan, by means of the seers of Baal, urged the Israelites to abandon the pronunciation of the Tetragram (Jeremiah 23:27). History shows unfortunately he succeeded (Jeremiah 44:26). Jeremiah had nevertheless warned that refusing to pronounce the Name would be fatal, even to non-Israelites, when God intervened to pour out His fury (Jeremiah 10:25). Yes, in that day, it will be imperative to call on the Name in order to be saved (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13). Today, the situation is similar; the “prophets of Baal” are still present. They claim to serve the true God while citing various reasons to refuse to name Him. For example, some object by reasoning that naming God is a very great responsibility. But, a letter to Timothy stipulates that in order to do so we must renounce unrighteousness (2 Timothy 2:19). Definitely a worthy goal! **** Taken from: “The Name of God YeHoWaH. Its Story” – Pages 213-214 - Written by Gerard Gertoux – University Press of America, Inc
Tsleeleem Shofar Qeheelah - PO Box 1084 - Murrieta, CA 92564
Shma’ Yisra’el – Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Yisra’el, Yehowah ‘Elohaynu/our ‘Elohay, Yehowah is One!”
“And you shall love Yehowah ‘Elohaychah/your ‘Elohay with all your heart,
and with all your being,
and with all your might.”
“And these Words (Deut. 5:6-21), which I Am commanding you today, shall
be in your heart, and you shall impress them upon your children, and speak
of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when
you lie down, and when you rise up, and you shall bind them as a sign upon
your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”
“And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
