Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

The Tetragrammaton Yhwh is the personal name for the God of Israel and Judah as revealed to Moses in the Wilderness (Exodus 3:14). This name is first attested to outside the bible in the late ninth century Mesha Inscription, where the enemy king of Moab announces “I took the vessels of Yhwh and dragged them before Chemosh” (line 17). It is unmistakable that Yhwh was worshipped and his name was known and spoken by even Israel’s neighbours. However it happened that the nation of Israel went from a time when they knew the name of their God, and spoke it, to a time where they forgot the proper pronunciation, and avoided using it.

This change began to occur in the late Second Temple Period when the Jews decided to avoid speaking the name of Yhwh in public places. By the time of the Middle Ages the name of their God was not spoken at all, and in fact the knowledge of how to correctly pronounce Yhwh had been forgotten. Instead the simple title ‘Lord’ was preferred and used, one reason was to safeguard against intended or unintended blasphemy.

The correct pronunciation of Yhwh and its meaning has been the subject of much scholarly debate and a great effort has been made to recapture what was lost over time. Foremost in understanding of the name Yhwh is to realize that in the Hebrew Bible it is written one way, but pronounced another way entirely; this is called a qere perpetuum. This is when the consonants Y h w h are marked either with the vowels of Adoni (my Lord/Master) or with the vowels of Elohim (God). This was to indicate to those reading the text that they should actually read (qere) “Lord” or “Master” instead of the unspeakably holy name of God! Not knowing this writing convention has led to the erroneous reading of Jehovah which conflates the consonants Yhwh with the vowels of ‘My Master’.

Today it is generally accepted to see Yhwh as a verbal form derived from the root hyh meaning “be at hand, exist, become, come to pass”; and should be pronounced as Yahweh. If translated as a hiphil verb, which is causative, then it appears we are dealing with a sentence name, such as Yahweh Shalom “he creates peace” the name written on Gideon’s altar (Judges 6:24). We have a clue into the eternal and consistent nature of Yahweh through the story in Exodus 3:14 where Yahweh declares

’ehyeh ’asher ’ehyeh. The many translations we have bear testimony to the difficulty in capturing its meaning; “I AM who I AM”; “I create whatever I create” or “I AM The One Who Always Is”. Both ’ehyeh and Yahweh are from the same verb and are attesting to the character of the God who bears its name; a creator who is an eternal being.
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