January 6, 2014

What is the Tetragrammaton?

Modern Hebrew for YHWH

The word Tetragrammaton is a pretty big word.  If one would look at it, it looks like it would represent some geometric shape.  It also, seems as though it could be a place within the cartoon, Transformers, but it is neither of these.  Tetragrammaton is "...the Hebrew name for God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 3), consisting of the four consonants Y H V H (or Y H W H) and regarded by Jews as too sacred to be pronounced" (from TheFreeDictionaryOnline.com). The excerpt below goes into more detail on the issue.
"Keep in mind that the Hebrew alphabet did not contain vowels. Ancient Hebrew was a consonantal alphabet. This has led to some debate about the proper pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, with opinions including Jehovah, Yahweh, Yahveh, Yahuweh, and many other variants...the name Yahweh was recorded more than 160 times in the Scriptures preceding Exodus 3:14-15. The name Yahweh should be one of the most frequently occurring words in our English Bibles today. Yet, without exception, all of the most popular Bible versions have removed the memorial name of God from the Scriptures and have replaced it with a titular substitute. In most cases, Yahweh has been replaced with “God,” “Lord,” or “Lord God.” The words Lord and God are NOT names. They are nouns denoting one who is a ruler, and a deity. They are like the word “father.” I am a father, and at times my children may call me “father,” or “dad.” However, neither of these words are my name. They describe my position in the family, but my name is Joseph." (from Joseph Herrin's Parablesblog, "Yahweh's Book - Errors in the Bible").

I've learned this recently and I wanted to share with you too!  Proverbs 27:17 says, "Just as iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend." (CJB)


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