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A9- Today, is the pronunciation Yahweh widely accepted ? Those who believe that Yahweh is the correct vocalization of the Name usually quote Clement and Theodoret. The testimony of Clement of Alexandria appeared very late (around 200 CE), furthermore as he explained that God's name Iaoue may be translated into "the one who is and who will be", it appears that Iaoue is more a theological pronunciation than philological (A. Caquot - Les énigmes d'un hémistiche biblique in: Dieu et l'être 1978 Paris Ed. Études Augustiniennes C.N.R.S. p. 24 note 23). Clement's Iaoue can not represent an original God's name for the following reason: In spite of his claim about God's name, Clement did not believe that God had a proper name. For him Iaoue was only a word (not a name) which means ‘the one who is and who will be.’ (Stromateon V:6:34), because God is ineffable (Stromateon V:10:65), without name (Stromateon V:12:81,82). For him the real name of God was the "Son" (Stromateon V:14:136). Another example of the same confusion comes from Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202) who believed that the word IAÔ (Iaw in Greek, [Iah] in Latin) meant ‘Lord’ in primitive Hebrew (Against Heresies II, 24:2) and he esteemed that the use of this Hebrew word IAÔ to denote the Name of the unknown Father, was intended to impress gullible minds in worship of mysteries (Against Heresies I, 21:3). A remark from the book of Theodoret (Quaestiones in Exodum cap. XV) is very often quoted to support the pronunciation Yahweh, because of the following sentence: "the name of God is pronounced Iabe". This remark is true, but Theodoret specified that he spoke about Samaritans and he added that the Jews pronounced this name Aïa. In another book (Quaestiones in I Paral. cap. IX) he wrote that "the word Nethinim means in Hebrew ‘gift of Iaô’, that is the God who is". According to Theodoret there were three different forms, but as Theoderet probably ignored that there were several substitutes for the Name, at his time. The intervening period which preceded the destruction of the Temple, the Talmud (Sotah 7,6 Tamid 33b) makes it clear that substitutes of the Name were used in Palestinian liturgy. These substitutes were numerous, as one can notice in the literature of this time (2M 1:24 , 25; 15:3; Si 23:4; 50:14-19). The Greek Iaô (which comes from the old Hebrew Yahu) and the Samaritan Iabe (which comes from the Aramaic Yaw) are not the pronunciation of the only name YHWH. The name Aïa (probably) represents a transcription of ’ehyeh form. Even if the name Yahweh is widely used its bases are very incertain and that is why most of scholars prefer the form YHWH. At the present time there are two main trends among scholars. The first ones are those who think that the form YHWH is equivalent to its etymology "He is" and they obtain the forms Yahve, Yahwoh, etc. The second ones are those who try to read this name only owing to the philology. For example, the French erudite Antoine Favre d'Olivet used Ihôah in his translation of the Bible (1823),the Jewish translator Samuel Cahen used Iehovah in whole his Bible (1836), the Jewish doctor J.H. Levy preferred the name Y'howah (1903), and so on. Strangely, some people put more faith in Professor Freedman than (1) in most other competent scholars, (2) than the Bible and (3) than Professor Freedman puts in himself. 1) In the note on Exodus 3:14 The Jerusalem Bible (Paris 1986 Éd. Cerf p. 87 note k) recognizes that «at present the causative form "He causes to be" is an old explanation, but it is more probably a qal form, that is "He is."» According to the competent Hebrew scholar André Caquot, the name Yahwe or Iaoue is a theological rather than a philological form of God's name. (Les énigmes d'un hémistiche biblique in: Dieu et l'être. 1978 Paris Ed. Études Augustiniennes C.N.R.S. p. 24 note 23). See also the Karaites website. 2) In Exodus 3:14 the Hebrew Bible uses a qal form “I shall [prove to] be what I shall [prove to] be” and not a hiphil form “I cause to become what I cause to become.” (see http://becomingone.org/gp/gp1b.htm) 3) Professor Freedman’s answer to my letter in which I asked him about his amazing assertions, wrote : «I was pleased to hear from you and to have your detailed treatment of this valuable and interesting subject, on which I have written from time to time. I have never been entirely satisfied with my own analysis and interpretation of the divine name in the Hebrew Bible, or with that of others, including my own teacher, W.F. Albright and his teacher (from whom Albright derived his position), Paul Haupt. At the same time, I haven’t seen anything to persuade me of the superior value of another interpretation, but I will be glad to learn from your study and perhaps discover that you have finally solved this long-standing puzzle.» Despite Professor Freedman’s reputation as a famous editor, I would say that his arguments are poor. For example, he stated «However, the name could be a unique or singular use of the causative stem.» This cannot be taken seriously because there is no evidence, because the causative form of the verb “to become, to be” does not exist in Hebrew and it has never existed. Whereas, the dogma of the causative form «He causes to become» is not in the Bible. Therefore, can we believe in it ? Furthermore, professor Freedman chose this analysis not for grammatical reasons but for theological reasons (See his own comment in the Anchor Bible Dictionary.) Therefore the name Yahweh " He causes to become" is a theological choice against Jehovah, who said that "He will [prove to] be".For example, to prove the causative form Professor Albright (who was Professor Freedman's teacher!), in his book From the Stone Age to Christianity, supposed that the true name could rediscovered through names coming from false religions (Babylonian and Egyptian). He then supposed that the formula of Exodus 3:14 was modified to fit his first hypothesis. By saying that, Professor Albright modified the biblical formula. Thus, should we accept Professor Albright’s hypothesis concerning an old modification of Exodus 3:14 ? Professor Freedman's theory is only supported by a tiny group of supporters (Freedman’s teacher and a few others) but it is not based on reliable analysis. Even in 1906, the Brown, Driver and Briggs dictionary stated: «Many recent scholars explain hw,h]y' as Hiph. of hwh (…) But most take it as Qal of hwh.» At present, competent scholars know (for example, L. Pirot, A. Clamer Bible Ed. Letouzey et Ané, 1956, p. 83) that the causative form can not be taken into account for two main reasons. Firstly, the causative form of the verb "to be" is not known in Hebrew, furthermore to express a causative sense, the Piel form was used. Secondly, this philosophical notion did not come from Hebrew (but from Greek philosophy) and the more natural meaning is: "I shall be with you" according to Exodus 3:12. Thus, the position taken by several Bible Translation Committees is based on the Hebrew concept being the omnipotent One who is the First Cause of the entire universe, but it appears that there is confusion between philosophy and grammar. Furthermore, this "Hebrew concept" is above all a "philosophical Greek concept". The translators of the Septuagint made a similar mistake, changing the meaning of Exodus 3:14 "I shall [prove to] be what I shall [prove to] be" into "I am He who is." In the same way, the sentence "I shall [prove to] be what I shall [prove to] be" is sometimes modified into "I cause to become what I cause to become", based on the same philosophical concept, which is not an additional insight. In addition, the assertion that the name of God means "He causes to become," is in itself a “description” of God. However, there is no evidence except for the dogma of the causative form. The emeritus professor E.J. Revell of the University of Toronto, in an answer to a letter of mine, wrote: «I was very interested to read the copy of your work which you sent me. Before reading your study, had no particular opinion on the pronunciation of the name of God. As a student in the 50’s, I was told that scholars had determined that “Yahweh” was the ancient pronunciation. I did not find the argument well-grounded, but the view was held almost as an article of faith by my instructors, and I had no superior argument, so I ignored the problem. I have occasionally thought about it since, but I have not acquired any information that you have not noticed in your study. You have certainly collected more information on the question than any other study I know, and you are to be congratulated on the production of a valuable work. Many thanks for sending it to me.» Moses gave the right explanation "He will [prove to] be" of the name Jehovah (Ex 3:14). Furthermore, it is written «my people will known my name» (Is 52:6) that is, of course, the true name because Jehovah "will guard it"(Ps 12:7) for his servants (Is 43:10). Jesus officially declared the name of his Father to his brothers (Heb 2:12). The name Yahweh (which is a barbarism) has only been created to battle with the true name Jehovah. (The emeritus professor C. Perrot, of the Institut Catholique de Paris, wrote to professor Gertoux “Your arguments are very pertinent, but it would be hard to come back without yielding to Jehovah's Witnesses.” ! |