THE NAME OF GOD

                                                     

Still talking about the divine revelation to humanity, in this post I want to comment on the attitude of God to make known His own name to man. He said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you ... that is my name forever ..." (Exodus 3: 14-15). This is the name of the God who created all things: I AM, in Hebrew, "Yahweh". Jesus applied it to himself by saying, "Very truly Itell you, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am (John 8.58).

In Exodus 6.2, the Creator said, "ani Yahweh" (approximate pronunciation in Hebrew) translating is: "I am Yahweh", but several versions translate as "I am the LORD." This is probably to follow the custom of the Jews not to pronounce the name "Yahweh". After the Babylonian exile, they proceeded to pronounce it only on special occasions, for fear of violating the commandment of Exodus 20.7: "you shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuse his name”.

Because of this the correct pronunciation has been lost. It is believed to be probably "Yahweh." But many misuse the sound of the spelling "Jehovah." This is because in the Masoretic text, the tetragrammaton YHWH (Yahweh) comes with the vowels of the word "Adonai" (Lord), whose combination generates this pronunciation. However, it was never used by the Jews, for when they saw the tetragrammaton with the vowels, they read "Adonai".

Biblical Hebrew is a consonantal language, it means that it has no vowels; only consonants. Then competent Jewish scribes in the sixth century gathered the texts considered to be God-inspired, used in the Hebrew community in a single writing. This text was called Masoretic. They introduced a punctuation system and vowels because the original pronunciation was beginning to get lost.

Scholars try to understand the meaning of this name. When He says "I AM" it seems to suggest that only He is. He alone has existence of his own; the universe and all beings do not possess it. They exist only because of Him. But Gerhard von Rad, German theologian, saw the basic sense of "Yahweh" in the idea of "presence." In fact, Deuteronomy 12: 5-11 speaks of the question of the name of God "dwelling" in a certain place. This is reassuring, since humankind has lost its divine presence in the Fall, but today, in a sense, it is among men by its name, which can be invoked.

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

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