Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: boris@sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU (Boris Chen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Name of God (was Re: gulf crisis, spiritual help for peace) Message-ID: Date: 21 Oct 90 05:35:03 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: ucb Lines: 100 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article pmafire!geoff@uunet.uu.net (Geoff Allen) writes: >mike@turing.cs.unm.edu (Michael I. Bushnell) writes: >>On an exegetic basis, there is considerable debate about the meaning >>of the tetragrammaton. It is traditionally translated into most >>languages elliptically rather than as a proper name. Most English >>bibles use the word "LORD" written in small caps, following a >>tradition started (I think) by the KJV. The tetragrammaton is of great significance; it is the name of God the Almighty. "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth."(Ps. 83:18, KJ) >I'm not a Hebrew scholar, and I don't play one on TV (or the net), but >it is my understanding that the tradition of translating the >tetragrammaton as 'Lord' comes from the Masoretic text. The name of God >is written as the consonants YHWH, and the vowel pointings (diacritical >marks added above or below letters to indicate vowels -- there are only >consonants in the Hebrew alphabet) for the original word are not known. >The Masoretic text uses the vowel pointings for 'Adonai,' which is >'Lord.' When reading the Masoretic text, one would say 'Adonai' even >though 'YHWH' is printed, so as not to attempt to pronounce the holy >name of God. Interesting what Martin Luther had to say about this: "That they now allege the name Jehovah to be unpronounceable, they do not know what they are talking about...If it can be written with pen and ink, why should it not be spoken, which is much better than being written with pen and ink? Why do they not also call it unwriteable, unreadable or unthinkable? All things considered, there is something foul." >The tradition of translating YHWH into English as 'LORD' in all caps is >to distinguish between 'YHWH' and 'Adonai.' I have no idea if it >started with the KJV or earlier versions of the English Bible. I am not positive on which was the first to use 'LORD' in all caps, but I know that Tyndale used it in his translation. The Vulagate also substituted the word Dominus (Lord) in the place of the Tetragrammaton, for further info. I feel that it is extremely unfortunate and an insult to God to have his name deleted and substituted with another word. It is the name that Jesus wanted to be let sanctified (Matt. 6:9), and the name that Jesus wanted to make known and glorified (John 12:28, John 17:6,26). Peter quoted Joel as saying,"And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved." (Acts 2:21, Joel 2:32). Fortunately many people have kept the name in their translations. "[The translators] were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament. . .This Memorial Name, explained in Ex. iii. 14,15, and emphasized as such over and over in the original text of the Old Testament, designates God as the personal God. . .This person name with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim." (American Standard Version, 1901) "The spelling and the pronunciation are not highly important. What is highly important is to keep it clear that this is a person name. There are several texts that cannot be properly understood if we translate this name by a common noun like 'Lord' or much worse, by a substantivized adjective [for example, the Eternal]." (Steven Byington, translator of The Bible in Living English) In any case, I don't think that Jewish tradition should have any relevance as to whether Christians should use the name or not. Jesus didn't seem to hold them in high regard. >If there are any Hebrew scholars out there who see anything I've said >which needs to be corrected, feel free. I am no Hebrew scholar either. But I don't think it takes a scholar to figure out what sounds better and makes more sense: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enimies thy footstool," or "Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enimies thy footstool." (Ps. 110:1) /---------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Boris Chen || Berkeley, CA || boris@ocf.berkeley.edu | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Those knowing your name will trust in you, for you will certainly not| leave those looking for you, O Jehovah." (Ps. 9:10) | \---------------------------------------------------------------------/ P.S. Please excuse the typos, if there are any. [One of the problems is that we don't know what the name actually is. There are conjectures, some of which may be probable, but it's not clear whether using a conjectural name is better than using "Lord". There's also a question of what time period you want to take as authoritative. By the time the NT was written, it's pretty clear that Lord was used, not the name. That is true of the Greek translation in use at the time, and the NT itself uses Lord for God, not a name. For the sake of accuracy in historical study, it is certainly good to understand that there was an actual name there, but if we started using it in prayers, public reading, etc., we would be reverting to a tradition that seems not to have been followed by Jesus or the Apostles. --clh]