Difference between revisions of "Yahweh"
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| − | Yahweh means "I am who I am". In the Hebrew language, which has no vowels, it is written YHWH. During the encounter at the Burning Bush, God instructed Moses to use the name 'Yahweh' when speaking of Him. This | + | Yahweh was originally Israel's tribal god. The name means "I am who I am". In the Hebrew language, which has no vowels, it is written YHWH. During the encounter at the Burning Bush at Exodus 3.14, God reportedly instructed Moses to use the name 'Yahweh' when speaking of Him. |
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| + | Because, under the terms of the First Commandment, other Jews were forbidden to pronounce the sacred name, however, the vowels of ''Adonai'' (literally 'my lords') were normally inserted between its consonants, resulting in the name 'Jehovah'. Reflecting the same taboo, the earlier English translations of the Bible represented the name with the phrase 'the LORD'. Because Jesus' followers routinely called him ''adon'' ('boss', 'lord', which translated into the gospels' Greek as '''kuros''), the two titles became confused in English, to the point where it became unclear whether the phrase 'the LORD' was referring to Jesus or to Yahweh. This helped to reinforce Christians' conviction that Jesus was God - even though, to any faithful Jew such as Jesus was, suggesting that a mere man could be God was the ultimate in blasphemies. As a result, centuries of dispute arose over the question. | ||
Revision as of 16:17, March 13, 2007
Yahweh was originally Israel's tribal god. The name means "I am who I am". In the Hebrew language, which has no vowels, it is written YHWH. During the encounter at the Burning Bush at Exodus 3.14, God reportedly instructed Moses to use the name 'Yahweh' when speaking of Him.
Because, under the terms of the First Commandment, other Jews were forbidden to pronounce the sacred name, however, the vowels of Adonai (literally 'my lords') were normally inserted between its consonants, resulting in the name 'Jehovah'. Reflecting the same taboo, the earlier English translations of the Bible represented the name with the phrase 'the LORD'. Because Jesus' followers routinely called him adon ('boss', 'lord', which translated into the gospels' Greek as 'kuros), the two titles became confused in English, to the point where it became unclear whether the phrase 'the LORD' was referring to Jesus or to Yahweh. This helped to reinforce Christians' conviction that Jesus was God - even though, to any faithful Jew such as Jesus was, suggesting that a mere man could be God was the ultimate in blasphemies. As a result, centuries of dispute arose over the question.