"Thinking about the Torah"
Kenneth Seeskin
Keep in mind that many author's have different views.
At Moses encounter at the Burning Bush,
the Lord responds to Moses' question regarding
who shall he say sent him ....
"Ehiyeh-asher-ehiyeh" I am who I am
a hebrew student will know that "Ehiyeh" is the first person imperfect form of the verb chayah (to be).
The past imperfect is an action continually happening in the past....unfinished from the past
it can be translated then in the following ways:
I was
I used to be
I kept being
the verb "to be" in this tense does not imply completed action and has led some translations of "I am who I am" to be read as "I was and shall always be"
or
"I am and shall always be"
or
"I shall be who I shall be"
the connecting word "asher" = who, what, that
(note in english the words are specific)
The basic idea is that God is not limited to a specific time in the past, present, or future but extends over all time.
In the next passage, the shift is to the 3rd person form "YHWH"
the Term YHWH - commonly known as the Tetragammaton (4 letters)
the meaning and pronunciation has never been established with certainty
This is God's formal or official name.
"This is my name forever."
Ancient Israelites were protective of God's name.
the tetragrammaton was only to be pronounced by the priests in the temple
and
by the high priest on the Day of Atonement
Since the destruction of the temple after the invasion, it is forbidden to pronounce it.
Recall the hymn lyrics "hear then what YHWH asks of you..."
this was changed.......at a later time to respect the YHWH
also note that no one knew how to pronounce it (as per article) but one must ask, then how did the high priest pronounce it (or was it done in a quiet, non-audible way)
The normal practise when the YHWH comes up in liturgy is to replace it with Adonai (Lord) or with "ha Shem" (The Name)
This is the reason that the standard vowels were removed from the YHWH
to remind readers to substitute the word.
- the Jehovah witnesses attempted this by substituting the vowels of ADONAI into YHWH and today thats where u see the jehovah
but this can be "safely ruled OUT""To this day, there are some people who think Jehovah is the correct pronunciation"
regarding other theories, we basically just do not know.
God's revelation to Moses Exodus 6:3
"I am the Lord (YHWH). I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El-Shaddai (God almighty), but I did not make myself known to them by my name YHWH."
The name was reserved for Moses.
though while God did not reveal his name to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as he did to Moses, the name YHWH occurs throughout the Genesis narrative. 13:4, 15:2 22:14 26:22 28:13
Spinoza states that the writer of Genesis did not employ names from the time of event, only names that were in use when they actually wrote Genesis
...to be continued....stay tuned...
lets keep them in short bursts
