Correcting popular misconceptions about the Divine Names and Titles
British-Israel Proofs in the Name of Israel's God
New Research into the Biblical Sacred Name
One of the most divisive issues facing churches and groups teaching the Gospel of the Kingdom is the issue of the Name of God. A number of ministries in America and elsewhere insist (often in the strongest terms) that the use of titles such as “Lord,” and “God,” are pagan and represent false worship. Well-known Divine Names such as “Jesus,” “Christ,” and “Jehovah,” are similarly denounced as well.
In our own congregation, otherwise likeminded individuals have refused to worship and fellowship with us in the past over the Sacred Name issue. Some years ago, one such individual would visit our church service about once each year for the purpose of making his views on this subject known. During congregational singing, whenever the words “Jesus” or “Lord” appeared in a hymn, he would raise his voice and loudly shout, “Yahweh!”
Since this issue has been a continuing source of division and hostility, I have spent a considerable number of hours researching it in leading libraries. There is much more in my compiled notebooks than can be presented here, but the information below is quite interesting and throws some needed light on the tremendous amount of confusion and misinformation people have on this subject.
SACRED NAME WAS NOT "YAHWEH"
Many Sacred Name groups use "Yahweh" as the Hebraic Divine Name, and there is no question that beginning with the early Christian era this was the most used form. However, Hebraic language scholars point out that the names of Hebrew kings and prophets in the pre-exilic era formed a composite including the Sacred Name, and it was not "Yahweh." For example, the Hebrew form of the names of Judahite prophets such as Isaiah (Yeshayahu), Jeremiah (Yirmeyahu), Zedekiah (Sidquiyyahu), and Zephaniah (Tzfanyahu) had "Yahu" or "Yahua" appended to them. Elijah’s name was Eli-Yahu, ‘my God is Yahu’. King Hezekiah's name in Hebrew was "Khizakiyyahu."
Additionally, as we will discuss shortly, the kings of the ten-tribe House of Israel usually used a slightly different Divine Name than did Judah: Yo, Yeho, or Yao, compared to Yahu in Judah. Neither of the two houses of Israel used "Yahweh" until well after the exilic period ended.
Dr. F.C. Norton, in "A Popular Handbook of Information for Beginners in the Study of Assyriology," tells us that the famous "Black Obelisk of [Assyrian king] Shalmaneser II has five tiers of bas-reliefs and 190 lines of inscription. Among the Tributes of the Nations is Jehu (Ya-u-a) 'son' of Omri. It was found at Birs-Nimroud by Sir Henry Layard and is now in the British Museum." (p.31) Israelite King “Jehu” (2 Kings 9) was named after his God, which was not “Yahweh.”
Dr. W.F. Albright has been widely acclaimed as the leading Mideast scholar of the twentieth century, and he presented further evidence that the sacred forms “Yahu” and “Yahueh” were used as the Divine Name in early Israel. "The ostraca from Samaria and the earlier seals from the 9th and 8th centuries write consistently YAU (for the older YAHU)… [There was a] religious revival of Yahwism in the period of Hezekiah and Josiah, which insisted on the use of the full form of the name YAHUEH…To strict Yahwists, the pronunciations YAHU, YAU and YO were associated with religious laxity and worship of the God of Israel under heathen forms." ("Further Observations On The Name Yahweh," Journal of Biblical Literature, 44:159)
Dr. James A. Montgomery of the University of Pennsylvania also wrote on "The Hebrew Divine Name" in the Journal of Biblical Literature. He stated, "The earliest form of the [Divine] Name was doubtless Yahu." (63:162)
This is verified again in an article titled, “The Name Of God” in the Jewish Quarterly Review. It states, “Except for appearances in the proper names of people, the name Yahu all but disappeared from Israelite consciousness; replaced by a never-pronounced YHWH…” (90-1:212)
Another leading Hebrew language scholar was Dr. Daniel Luckenbill, who said, "The writing YHWH found in the Moabite stone, so far from favoring a pronunciation 'YAHWEH', seems definitely to preclude it." (Quoted by Dr. W.F. Albright, "Further Observations On The Name Yahweh," Journal of Biblical Literature, 44:161)
“JEHOVAH”
Is it probable that the Almighty would allow the truth of His Name to be entirely lost and forgotten by His covenant people? Interestingly enough, Hebrew language scholars have commented on the fact that the word, "Jehovah" used in the King James Bible for centuries is close to the true Hebrew pronunciation of the Sacred Name. The famous Biblical scholar, William Tyndale, spelled the Divine Name, "IEHOUAH," which could be pronounced, "Yehuah." The Hebrew language did not have the letter "J" and its sound, but early German scholars wrote the Sacred Name as Jehovah because in German the letter "J" is pronounced as a "Y." (This is similar to some other European languages as well, although not true of English.) Therefore, language scholars of the past were pronouncing the Sacred Name as "Yehovah" or "Yehuah," since at one time the letters "V" and "U" were used interchangeably. If you want to use an English equivalent of the Sacred Name, “Jehovah” is surprisingly close to the original Hebrew pronunciation.
Dr. Raymond Abba of University College of Swansea (U.K.), in an article titled, "The Divine Name," in the Journal of Biblical Literature, says, "The original pronunciation is uncertain…If however—as seems probable—Huwa is the original Semitic form…the original cry would be YA-HUVA, which, ironically enough bears a close resemblance to the hybrid form Jehovah. This, Mowinkel argues, could have developed into both Yahu and Yahveh." (80:320-321) So popular modern terms such as “Yahveh” and “Yahweh” are later developments and not the correct original form of the Divine Name that was used throughout Israel’s Biblical pre-exilic period.
ALTERATION OF THE DIVINE NAME
If the Divine Name was indeed originally pronounced something like “Yehuah” or “Yehovah,” how did it change into “Yahwah” and “Yahweh?” In the early pre-Christian centuries, a Jewish belief arose that this Name was too sacred to be spoken, so a variation was substituted. The Jewish Sanhedrin (VII:5 Mishna) stated, "The blasphemer is not guilty until he reproduces exactly the Name, that is, until he make use of the exact Name."
Commenting on this, Dr. William R. Arnold of Andover Theological Seminary stated, "[This is] confirmation of the proposition…that the name was sometimes purposely mispronounced…the alteration was not accidental, but due to the purpose to prevent the utterance of the ineffable name…the alteration took place, accordingly, sometime during the 4th century, B.C.…to avoid its actual pronunciation…The altered word is 'entirely devoid of meaning' [a non-word]…In the 4th century, B.C., YHWH was pronounced YAHWA." ("The Divine Name In Exodus 3:14," Journal of Biblical Literature, 24:159-162) The form, "Yahwa," then over time became pronounced "Yahway," so neither of those pronunciations is original.
BRITISH-ISRAEL CONNECTION
Professor Avraham Biran of Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem, tells of an amphora jar discovered in the area of the northern House of Israel. Its handle was stamped "immadi-yo" meaning "God [i.e., 'Yo'] is with me." Dr. Biran adds, "The theophoric ending Yo is the same as Yahu in Judah." ("Biblical Dan," p.199) This was dated to the eighth century, B.C., during the time of King Jeroboam II of the ten-tribe House of Israel. Note again that the House of Israel, the northern kingdom that broke away from Judah after the death of Solomon, used a slightly different Divine Name (Yo or Yaho), than did Judah (Yahu). For instance, the Hebrew name of Jonathan, son of Saul, was Yaho-nathan, ‘Yaho has given’.
In his essay on “The Pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton,” Dr. George Wesley Buchanan wrote, “Clement of Alexandria…spelled the Tetragrammaton ‘Iaoue, ‘Iaouai, and ‘Iao. In early Aramaic papyri, the divine Name was spelled Yao… which might also be pointed Yaho. Later magical papyri found in Egypt, often spelled the name Iao...In a Leviticus LXX fragment from cave 4, the Tetragrammaton was used and spelled IAO, with majuscule letters…” (“The Consequences of the Covenant,” Supplement to Novum Testamentum, 20:316-317)
The Biblical tribes of Dan and Asher dwelt on the Mediterranean Sea and according to both Scripture and historians were involved in sea trade. In addition, King Solomon's ships traveled to Western lands (1 Kings 9). (Read my research on this at http://www.israelite.info/thebiblestoryfiles/sea-migrations.html). Did in fact Israelite ships trade and colonize the British Isles in early times?
Celtic scholar, John Daniel, wrote, "So to the Druids there was a secret name for the Deity, which was unutterable to all but the most privileged of their order, and was symbolized by the three Bardic characters representing the vowels IAO." (“The Druidic Idea of God,” p.11) Celtic scholarship has made a hugely significant revelation that the British Druids worshipped God as "IAO," most probably identical to the Northern Israelite Divine Name "Yao" and strong evidence of Hebrew settlement in early Britain.
As British-Israelites, the Sacred Name really should not be a divisive issue since it constitutes another very solid historical-linguistic proof for our belief. Let us not focus on our differences, for this is tangible evidence that we can agree on!
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