One of my favorite all-time comic strip images is an old Kudzu cartoon in which the Rev. Will B. Dunn discusses different names for God, and concludes by saying "You say it Yahweh, I'll say it mine."It's a good thing Rev. Dunn is Baptist, because if he were Roman Catholic he would no longer be allowed to say "Yahweh," at least during the liturgy. U.S. bishops recently sent a letter to local dioceses informing them of a new Vatican directive banning the use of "Yahweh" in worship.
Unfortunately most U.S. versions of the versions of the 2009 Missal, a liturgy guide for Catholics, had already been printed -- complete with seven hymns that include the word "Yahweh." Local leaders were instructed to download revised versions of the hymn and substitute the sanitized versions.
The bishops' concern, apparently, is that continued Catholic use of the name Yahweh could be offensive to Jewish folk, who consider the name too sacred to be pronounced. Early Hebrews had no such compunction, of course, as the divine name is replete in the Hebrew Bible, where it is spelled with the Hebrew letters that English speakers transliterate as YHWH. The Book of Exodus declares YHWH as the personal name by which Israel is to address God: "This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations," according to Exodus 3:15.
The name YHWH is closely associated with the previous verse, in which God said to Moses "I AM WHO I AM" ('ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh), so scholars have often posited that YHWH should be understood as a causitive form of the same verbal root (hyh), suggesting that YHWH is the root cause of all being, "the One who causes to be."
Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other luminaries of Hebrew history gladly spoke of and called upon God as YHWH. At some point in Israel's later history, however, the rabbis concluded that God's personal name was too transcendant for humans to pronounce. When reading from the Hebrew Bible -- which was written without vowels -- they would substitute "Adonai" (a generic term that means "Lord") for YHWH. In time, the original pronunciation of the divine name was lost. The most common guess as to the correct pronunciation is "Yahweh," but others have suggested options like "Yahu" or "Yahuwa."
When the Masoretes got around to adding vowel points to the Hebrew text in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D., they kept the consonants YHWH, but put the vowels for "Adonai" around it. Thus, Jewish readers would see YHWH, but say "Adonai."
That, by the way, is how the awkward word "Jehovah" came about. In the German language, the divine name would be trasliterated JHVH rather than YHWH. When early German translators tried to render JHVH with the vowel points for Adonai, it came out "Jehovah," an unfortunate hybrid moniker that was carried over into early English translations.
But, back to the initial issue -- should Christians avoid pronouncing the name "Yahweh" out of deference to the Jews, as the Vatican has declared?
In my view, it makes no logical sense to ban the use of "Yahweh" for fear of offending our Jewish kin, in part because modern Jews have taken reverence for YHWH a step farther and also avoid saying or writing any name for God. Instead, they intentionally spell "God" as "G-d" to avoid writing it, and they refer to the deity with eupehemisms like "HaShem" ("the Name") or "the Holy One, blessed be he." Should Christians also avoid saying "God," "Lord," or any other name for God that the Jewish community avoids?
Our Jewish friends don't pray in Christ's name, either. Should we also put a ban on that? I have several Jewish friends, and none of them has ever indicated that they took offense at sincere worship vocabulary within Christian churches. My guess is that this hyper-concern with political correctness did not originate in the Jewish community, but with a bunch of bishops who must not have enough to do.
If God said "This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations," I would assume God revealed the name for a purpose, with the idea that worshipers would use it. When I say "Yahweh," I may not be pronouncing it as originally intended, but pronounce it I will.
4 comments:
Interesting post.
I remember learning the name Yahweh for the first time in Dr. Karen Joines' OT class at Samford. When I had Joines for Hebrew, he would not allow us to read "Yahweh" but instead to pronounce "Adonai." Dr. Joines spoke with a deliberate cadence that I, along with others, could remember word for word many of his lectures.
Our popular Bible translations have followed suit, reading "LORD" instead of "Yahweh." Thus, the name of God is unfamiliar to many church-goers.
I do wish we could stop using "Jehovah." I think that the way some these prosperity preachers use these names like El Shaddai and Jehovah Jireh to support their posperity theology of "what God is to ME" is irreverent.
When reading your article, my thoughts teetered to the name of Jesus or "GEE-zus!" as it is pronounced in southern pulpits. Should we not hold the name of Jesus to the same regards as the reverence the Jews do for God (By the way, someone needs to say that G-d is not an appropriate way to write God since that is the way I, and others, refer to the swear word that we are told to avoid.")
Reverence for God's name has little to do with G-d or GD, but with tacking God's name, or Jesus' name, or even the Spirit's name on to one of our projects; this "God is own our side" rhetoric.
Maybe we could learn something from the Jews.
Thank you for the article.
Tim
In my Old Testament/Hebrew Bible class, many (if not all) of my students said they'd never heard "Yahweh" before. (In the buckle of the Bible Belt, no less!!)
I would echo Tim's sentiment that "taking YWHH's name in vain" is not the equivalent to not cussing. In it's original context, it meant a lot more than that.
It is interesting to note that Yeshua (since we're being particular about names) seems to have cooperated with the tradition of the day. We find him in the Gospels consistently using evasive synonyms like "Heaven" or "my Father" instead of God's name.
Since it is our charge to imitate Messiah, perhaps this is something to chew on. Of course, the argument could be made that Jesus was cooperating with the contemporary culture, and that we therefore ought to as well.
To All Who Love God's Name:
The new directive from the Vatican to stop using the Divine name YHWH (Yahweh) in songs and prayers has no authorization from Scripture.
The truth is, no one knows the exact pronunciation of even the Hebrew name "Jesus" which was most likely "Yeshua." This doesn't keep us from expressing the name of God's Son does it?
It goes without saying we must have deep reverence for God but where in Scripture are we authorized to pluck out God's name? We can't point to the traditions of the Jews because Jesus said they made the word of God "invalid" because of their man-made traditions. (Matthew 15:1-6)
Jesus, on the other hand, came to make God's name known. (John 17:26) He knew the third commandment tells us not to use God's name "disrespectfully" not to stop using it.
Beyond that, there are many Bible examples in the Bible of God's servants of old, like Abraham and David, using and saying God's name frequently in song and prayer.
Apparently the angels felt it was fine to praise God using his name. Hallelujah actuall means "praise Jah" Jah being an abbreviated form of Jehovah. (Revelation 19:1)
The LXX had God's name, YHWH, all over it before it was eventually removed. This can easily be seen by comparing LXX early manuscripts with later ones.
The big question is. Where were scribes given permission to do this? They weren't but did anyway. The Vatican should reexamine their decision to hide this most wonderful name that reigns supreme in the earliest, most sacred documents-the Holy Scriptures.
Nick Batchelor
nickhawaii@gmail.com
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