Serious Question for Protestants?

Question

Ok, please don't be hating! I was just curious, though, as to how many Protestants on here actually know that Jehovah cannot even be written or said in ancient Hebrew, the language from which your oldest scriptures originate. The name Jehovah is a mistansliteration of Yahweh, the tetragrammaton which means something along the lines of, "I am." I'm a little bit more understanding of why so many Christians use the name Jesus for a man who was ~probably~ called something else, but do so many of you really not know the name of your own God? Or do you think that he didn't try to teach Moses the proper pronunciation, and that's why it had to be changed later on?

So, thoughts on this? It is a respectful question which has bothered me for some time.

Answer 1

In the Hebrew language it is written ????. These four letters, called the Tetragrammaton, are read from right to left in Hebrew and can be represented in many modern languages as YHWH or JHVH. God’s name, represented by these four consonants, appears almost 7,000 times in the original “Old Testament,” or Hebrew Scriptures.

The name is a form of a Hebrew verb ha·wah´ (???), meaning “to become,” and actually signifies “He Causes to Become.” Thus, God’s name identifies him as the One who progressively fulfills his promises and unfailingly realizes his purposes. Only the true God could bear such a meaningful name.

Do you remember the different ways that God’s name appeared in Psalm 83:18, as set out in the previous section (page 5)? Two of those translations had mere titles (“the LORD,” the “Eternal”) as substitutes for God’s name. But in two of them, Yahweh and Jehovah, you can see the four letters of God’s name. However, the pronunciation is different. Why?

How Is God’s Name Pronounced?

The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. Why not? Well, the first language used in writing the Bible was Hebrew, and when the Hebrew language was written down, the writers wrote only consonants—not vowels. Hence, when the inspired writers wrote God’s name, they naturally did the same thing and wrote only the consonants.

While ancient Hebrew was an everyday spoken language, this presented no problem. The pronunciation of the Name was familiar to the Israelites and when they saw it in writing they supplied the vowels without thinking (just as, for an English reader, the abbreviation “Ltd.” represents “Limited” and “bldg.” represents “building”).

Two things happened to change this situation. First, a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong to say the divine name out loud; so when they came to it in their Bible reading they uttered the Hebrew word ’Adho·nai´ (“Sovereign Lord”). Further, as time went by, the ancient Hebrew language itself ceased to be spoken in everyday conversation, and in this way the original Hebrew pronunciation of God’s name was eventually forgotten.

In order to ensure that the pronunciation of the Hebrew language as a whole would not be lost, Jewish scholars of the second half of the first millennium C.E. invented a system of points to represent the missing vowels, and they placed these around the consonants in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, both vowels and consonants were written down, and the pronunciation as it was at that time was preserved.

When it came to God’s name, instead of putting the proper vowel signs around it, in most cases they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say ’Adho·nai´. From this came the spelling Iehouah, and, eventually, Jehovah became the accepted pronunciation of the divine name in English. This retains the essential elements of God’s name from the Hebrew original.

Which Pronunciation Will You Use?

Where, though, did pronunciations like Yahweh come from? These are forms that have been suggested by modern scholars trying to deduce the original pronunciation of God’s name. Some—though not all—feel that the Israelites before the time of Jesus probably pronounced God’s name Yahweh. But no one can be sure. Perhaps they pronounced it that way, perhaps not.

Nevertheless, many prefer the pronunciation Jehovah. Why? Because it has a currency and familiarity that Yahweh does not have. Would it not, though, be better to use the form that might be closer to the original pronunciation? Not really, for that is not the custom with Bible names.

To take the most prominent example, consider the name of Jesus. Do you know how Jesus’ family and friends addressed him in day-to-day conversation while he was growing up in Nazareth? The truth is, no human knows for certain, although it may have been something like Yeshua (or perhaps Yehoshua). It certainly was not Jesus.Must we stop using the name of Jesus because most of us, or even all of us, do not really know its original pronunciation?

Similar comments could be made regarding all the names we read in the Bible. We pronounce them in our own language and do not try to imitate the original pronunciation. Thus we say “Jeremiah,” not Yir·meya´hu. Similarly we say Isaiah, although in his own day this prophet likely was known as Yesha`·ya´hu. Even scholars who are aware of the original pronunciation of these names use the modern pronunciation, not the ancient, when speaking about them.

And the same is true with the name Jehovah. Even though the modern pronunciation Jehovah might not be exactly the way it was pronounced originally, this in no way detracts from the importance of the name. It identifies the Creator, the living God, the Most High to whom Jesus said: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.”—Matthew 6:9......“Give thanks to Jehovah, you people! Call upon his name. Make known among the peoples his dealings. Make mention that his name is put on high.”—Isaiah 12:4.

Answer 2

The Jewish tradition of not pronouncing Jehovah's name started +/- 200 years before Christ, but didn't become standard practice until +/- 200 years after Christ. So it is not an old tradition.

Jesus said at Matthew 15 that the jewish traditions of his day had made the word of God invalid.

Why would a christian want to follow Jewish tradition and make God's Word invalid today?

As to the comment that a Rose is a rose by any other name.

If you call a rose a dandylion, don't be surprised if you ask for a dandylion, that is what you get by people who know the difference.

Answer 3

Yhwh is not the same as Jehovah. Same God but the names are used differently or implied diffrent things. The original name for Jesus is "the word" (Rev 19:13). Its very simple actually. Jesus is a name that "the word" took when he dwelt on this earth. In the beginning, Jesus was called "the Word"(John1:1) and at the end Jesus will be called "the word"(Rev 19:13) again.

After the fall of man, Man cant reach God. Man had failed.

So God came down to earth representing God to man(The word Became Flesh) but he went back to heaven representing man to God(There is only one name under heaven in which man can be saved.... ) because now representing man, he had defeated sin and death. So in him we have life(the psuche:temporal life and Zoe: the eternal life)

Answer 4

Protestant scholars have always been aware of the name Yahweh, and it has been adequately presented in Bible studies, Sunday School Quarterlies, and commentaries.

You error with your statement that the name could not be written. It appears in the Masoretic manuscripts as the tetragrammaton YHWH. Jewish fear of taking the name of God in vain. Hence, the pronounciation was lost through the centuries, but not the spelling. Also, Jewish fear led to the substitution of Adonai for Yahweh as well.

Don't think we don't know this stuff.

Answer 5

As you are aware of, GOD has many names based on His attributes:
Ex: Adonai, El Elyon, EL Shaddi, 'Elyon, YHWH Sabaoth, YHWH Rapha, Elohei Avraham...etc...

Yes, Jahovah is a mis or incorrect spelling/pronunciation for the one of the names of GOD, but I am not sure that it is really important.

What is important is that you have a personal relationship with the Father (Abba). A personal relationship that can only be obtained through knowing the son, Jesus Christ.
(Who is the son of God ( who was also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephas if you want other historical accounts besides Christian accounts).

Answer 6

Jesus has been called many names, Jehovah is just one of them. I don't know the origin of the name Jehovah. I do know that all the bibles that I have used, refer to the son of God as Christ or Jesus.

Answer 7

I don't understand why you're losing sleep over the pronounciation of a name from over 2000 years ago. There are few languages today that are the same as they were 2000 years ago! The Bible has gone through many translations in many languages since it was first conceived. Suffice it to say that the meaning and intent of the name is known, and the original pronounciation - whatever that might have been - is unknowable, and moot.

Answer 8

The name "Jehovah" is an English translation of the Hebrew name pronounced as or similar to "Yahweh" or "Yehowah"; the exact original pronunciation is unknown. The four Hebrew characters corresponding to the letters "YHWH" are well-recognized as the biblical personal name of Almighty God, and are universally designated as "the Tetragrammaton" or "the Tetragram".

For centuries, most Jews have superstitiously refrained from pronouncing aloud any form of the divine Name. They base that superstition on the third of the Ten Commandments given to Moses:
(Exodus 20:7) You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way
http://watchtower.org/e/bible/ex/chapter_020.htm?bk=Ex;chp=20;vs=7;citation#bk7

Over the centuries, that Jewish superstition has expanded to also forbid writing or engraving any form of "YHWH", even when simply copying from one of the nearly 7000 occurences in the Hebrew Scriptures. In recent centuries, some superstitious Jews have even forbade unabbreviated EUPHEMISMS for "YHWH"; capitalized terms such as "Tetragrammaton" and (amazingly) even "the Name" are forbidden by such superstitions.

More recently, the Jewish superstition has ballooned out of all reasonableness by also forbidding respectful impersonal TERMS referring to the Almighty; thus many Jews insist upon writing "G-d" or "G~d" rather than "God". They may even refrain from capitalizing impersonal terms such as "Creator" and "Almighty".

Naturally, the religious and superstitious practices of a person are between him and his Creator. However, in recent decades these superstitious Jews have worked to impose their superstitious sensibilities beyond their religious communities, and onto the entire populace. Thus, although "YHWH' is unanimously recognized as the personal name of God, few today use any form of it in their writings and conversation.

Interestingly, Christendom has largely joined with superstitious Jews in suppressing the use of "Yahweh" and "Jehovah". However, it seems that Christiandom's anti-YHWH bias largely devolves from their hatred of Jehovah's Witnesses, the religion almost single-handedly responsible for the growing public recognition that the Almighty God of Judaism and Christianity actually does a personal name.

It seems that too many are more interested in coddling superstition than in allowing intellectual honesty and respect for the Almighty.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/na/
http://watchtower.org/e/20040122/


Interestingly, Encyclopaedia Judaica says that “the avoidance of pronouncing the name YHWH ... was caused by a misunderstanding of the Third Commandment.”
http://www.jehovantodistajat.fi/e/20040122/article_02.htm

(Psalms 83:18) That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth

(John 17:26) [Jesus said] I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them

Answer 9

When Moses said "Who shall I said sent me?" presumably God said "Tell them I am that I am."

That's cause he knew if he told Moses his name Moses wouldn't even write it down (he left his pen at base camp anyway) and by the time got down the mountain he would have forgotten it and made something up.

Which is what he did anyway, and so today we have the name "Jehovah" which is just a made-up word, made up by Moses...

Furthermore Moses spoke with a lisp, and that irritated God I'm sure.

Answer 10

You are trying to turn into English something that was translated form old English that was translated from Latin that was translated for Greek that was translated from Hebrew that was translated from Aramaic, with each language having its own definition of the word that may have not been translated correctly. And you are trying to make a definitive point here???