Did the Burning Bush Lie to Moses?
Dave Mullenix djmullen@facstaff.wisc.edu
Fri, 7 Nov 1997 14:57:15 -0600 (00878957835, 199711072057.OAA62338@mail1.doit.wisc.edu)
J Alward wrote:
>2. Wasn't Yahweh a personal name, like Isaac or Yeshua, which the Hebrews
>attached to their tribal god? They didn't feel comfortable pronouncing it?
> Can anyone supply any references on this? When did Yahweh become too sacred
>to pronounce?
This is a holdover from magical traditions that predate the Old Testament.
It was believed that knowing a supernatural creature's name gave you power
over it. Much of magic involves learning the names of demons and other
supernatural creatures and using those names to control them and force them
to do the magician's bidding. Uttering Yahweh's name would have been seen
as attempting to order him around. You can see echoes of these ancient
beliefs in fairy tales such as Rumpelstiltskin, where learning Rump's name
is the key to defeating him. Even today, many Jews write God as G*D. And
of course, we've all heard phrases such as "In the name of the Lord" enough
times.
>3. The Greeks who translated the Old Testament were the ones who would have
>made the alleged (by me) fraudulent switch from Yahweh to Lord, wouldn't
>they? They wouldn't have been in awe of the word Yahweh, would they? Or
>have I misunderstood the thrust of Till's comments?
The Greeks who translated the Old Testament into the Septuagint were
actually Greek speaking Jews who had all the Jewish taboos about writing out
or saying the name of God. They combined the consonants for Yahweh with the
vowels for "Adonai" to signify that "Adonai", which means roughly "Lord"
should be spoken and not "Yahweh". Unfortunately, that combination of the
consonants of one word and the vowels of a second got translated into
English as "Jehovah". "Jehovah" is actually a translator's error. The
Jewish god was actually named "Yahweh".
The details about God's name and how it's written and spoken are covered in
many introductions to the Old Testament.