שׁם

HaShem

(The Name)

In our religious culture today we are missing something that Scripture indicates is very important. We in this current generation aren’t responsible for losing ‘it’, but we are responsible for bringing to ‘light’ that which is being revealed by the Almighty in this late hour.

Once upon a time, the Elohim of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’acov revealed Himself – by His Name – to the Patriarchs of the faith. Along with that – and all – revelation from Him comes responsibility. Those to whom He reveals His knowledge, understanding and wisdom are not to ‘hide it under a bushel’, but rather are to let His revelation shine in this dark place we call home.

For millennia we have been laboring under a yoke of oppression, foisted upon us by our forefathers via man-made religious systems.

O יהוה, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.”

(Jer 16:19 TS98)

We live in an age where the yoke of darkness that has been propagated throughout all the world by these religious systems is producing consequences that will soon coalesce into the certain destruction of everything that has been established in the generations of sinful man. In fact, if our Messiah doesn’t return at the appropriate time we will succeed in destroying all life upon this earth.

In His perfect timing – as always – our Father has been providing His servants with an increasing level of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. The restoration of Hebrew as a spoken language, the reestablishment of Erets Yisrael as a nation, the return of Yehoshua’s Talmidim to the ancient paths of Torah, and other significant events are indicators that He is preparing for the Shofar haGadol.

The amazing thing about this is that He chooses not to act alone, but rather is enlisting the assistance of men to prepare a way for the coming of Messiah. The primary tool that He is using to equip His talmidim is His Truth, something that has been given short shrift in todays many and varied religious systems.

One element of His Truth is His Name. It may sound like a rather small matter when compared to the cataclysmic end time events that we read about in prophecy. Yet the restoration of His Name is a critical element of the overall process.

You see, we have been calling upon the name of the lord, believing in god, acknowledging ‘hashem’, praising jesus etc. What we haven’t been doing is seeking out His direction concerning how He is to be addressed. This, in conjunction with a general disdain for His instructions for living in general have resulted in a people veiled in ignorance of every major aspect of His plan.

Obedience to His instructions not only brings about physical blessings, it results in our eyes being opened to His prophetic plan for the restoration of all things. Why am I bringing this up in the context of a discussion about His Name?

In the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant) Messiah warned us that in the last days false messiahs would arise and deceive many. In an environment where we do not study the foundations of understanding in Scripture, it is easy to see how Messiah’s words can come alive and take shape.

In fact, many people who came about a century later would be led astray by one such false messiah, Shimon bar Kokhba. The Bar Kokhba period (132-135 CE) was a time of great upheaval, with the desire of many to drive out the Romans and return to a more nationalistic, distinctly Jewish form of national governance. Notable of bar Kokhba’s followers is the fact that they did not believe that Yehoshua was/is the Messiah.

Much like today’s Shiite Muslims, bar Kokhba’s followers believed that the return of the Messiah could only be accomplished by warfare with everything and everyone who did not follow their particular flavor of the contemporary, “mainstream”  Jewish halacha. The culture of the day even devolved to such an extent that one of Judaism’s most famous rabbi’s, Akiva, pronounced bar Kokhba to be the Messiah, after bar Kokhba scored some victories on the battlefield.^{1 2}

By the time bar Kokhba experienced his rise in popularity, the practice of pronouncing the Name had largely ceased in most contexts among the Jewish people, with substitutes like “Adonai” (Lord) used in reading the Scriptures.

As Yehoshua’s Talmidim we are not called to walk in the ways of the rabbis, nor to follow in the traditions of the church. We are not to be ignorant and unable to identify Who our Shepherd is. We are called to examine Scripture and find out what His Name IS, and what He has to say about It’s usage. Let’s delve into some Scripture and explore the issue.

Brown Driver Briggs:

H3068

יהוה

yehôvâh

BDB Definition:

Yehovah = “the existing One”

1) the proper name of the one true God

1a) unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of H136

Strongs Exhaustive Concordance:

H3068

יהוה

y^ehôvâh

yeh-ho-vaw’

From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal;

And Aḏam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Shĕth, “For

Elohim has appointed me another seed instead of Heḇel, because Qayin had slain him.” And to Shĕth, to him also a son was born. And he called his name Enosh. Then it was begun to call on the Name of יהוה.

(Gen 4:25-26 TS98)

From the beginning it was intended that the people of Yehowah would call upon His Name.

I lift up the cup of deliverance, and call upon the Name of יהוה. I pay my vows to יהוה now in the presence of all His people. Precious in the eyes of יהוה Is the death of His kind ones. O יהוה, I am truly Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your female servant; You have loosed my bonds. I bring You a slaughtering of thanksgiving, And call upon the Name of יהוה.

(Psa 116:13-17 TS98)

King Dawid understood the pattern set forth in the Torah, that is to bring vows and/or offerings and then call upon the Name of Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey. Not surprisingly, Noach, Abraham, Ya’acov & Moshe all followed this pattern, and set the example for future generations.

And Noaḥ built an altar to יהוה, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And יהוה smelled a soothing fragrance, and יהוה said in His heart, “Never again shall I curse the ground because of man, although the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and never again smite all living creatures, as I have done, as long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”

(Gen 8:20-22 TS98)

And יהוה appeared to Aḇram and said, “To your seed I give this land.” And he built there an altar to יהוה, who had appeared to him. And from there he moved to the mountain east of Bĕyth Ěl, and he pitched his tent, with Bĕyth Ěl on the west and Ai on the east. And he built there an altar to יהוה, and called on the Name of יהוה.

(Gen 12:7-8 TS98)

And Yaʽaqoḇ came to Luz, that is Bĕyth Ěl, which is in the land of Kenaʽan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built there an altar and called the place El Bĕyth Ěl, because there Elohim appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.

(Gen 35:6-7 TS98)

And Mosheh built an altar and called its name, יהוה Nissi, for he said, “Because a hand is on the throne of Yah, יהוה is to fight against Amalĕq, from generation to generation.”

(Exo 17:15-16 TS98)

Moshe meets the Distinct El

And Mosheh said to Elohim, “See, when I come to the children of Yisra’ĕl and say to them, ‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?” And Elohim said to Mosheh, “I am that which I am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” And Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘יהוה Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.’ “Go, and you shall gather the elders of Yisra’ĕl together, and say to them, ‘יהוה Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, of Yitsḥaq, and of Yaʽaqoḇ, appeared to me, saying, “I have indeed visited you and seen what is done to you in Mitsrayim; and I say: I am bringing you up out of the affliction of Mitsrayim to the land of the Kenaʽanite and the Ḥittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite and the Yeḇusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ‘ “And they shall listen to your voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Yisra’ĕl, to the sovereign of Mitsrayim, and you shall say to him, ‘יהוה Elohim of the Heḇrews has met with us. And now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness to slaughter to יהוה our Elohim.’

(Exo 3:13-18 TS98)

The use of the Name has been critically important since the beginning of time. Yehowah wants all of mankind – no matter what false god they worship – to know His Name. This way He could use Yisrael to demonstrate His Greatness, and provoke the world to jealousy – not to be jealous of the god known as ‘the name’, but of Yehowah Elohim, The El of Yisrael!

“And I appeared to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ, as Ěl Shaddai. And by My Name, יהוה, was I not known to them?

(Exo 6:3 TS98)

The Patriarchs knew His Name, and would undoubtedly think it strange that His people Yisrael would at some point in the future cease to call upon His Name!

And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus said יהוה Elohim of the Heḇrews, “Let My people go, so that they serve Me, for at this time I am sending all My plagues unto your heart, and on your servants and on your people, so that you know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. “Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. “And for this reason I have raised you up, in order to show you My power, and in order to declare My Name in all the earth. “You still exalt yourself against My people in that you do not let them go!

(Exo 9:13-17 TS98)

This explains why He performed His Great Works in Mitsrayim – so that all the world would know His Name!

And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Speak to Aharon and his sons, saying, ‘This is how you bless the children of Yisra’ĕl. Say to them: “יהוה bless you and guard you; יהוה make His face shine upon you, and show favour to you; יהוה lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.” ‘ “Thus they shall put My Name on the children of Yisra’ĕl, and I Myself shall bless them.”

(Num 6:22-27 TS98)

As we are called to be Priests in service to our Kohen haGadol Yehoshua HaMashiach, we are to put His Name upon His people Yisrael.

‘And do not swear falsely by My Name and so profane the Name of your Elohim. I am יהוה.

(Lev 19:12 TS98)

Because the P’rushim, Tsadokim and Sophrim were in the habit of swearing falsely (Mat 23:16-22), one of the reasons they stopped using His Name was because of a misguided idea that if they didn’t swear directly in His Name they would somehow avoid becoming guilty of swearing falsely.

“I am יהוה, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols.

(Isa 42:8 TS98)

We have not been called, forgiven, imbued with the Ruach haKodesh from on High and empowered to go forth in the name of the indistinct god. Rather we are to carry forward His esteem in His Name!

“Therefore My people shall know My Name, in that day, for I am the One who is speaking. See, it is I.” How pleasant upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings good news, who proclaims deliverance, who says to Tsiyon, “Your Elohim reigns!”

(Isa 52:6-7 TS98)

Here we see the Father revealing that His name not only would have been lost, but also that it would be restored in the latter days. Note that He specifically states that ‘…My people shall know My Name…’. It seems that in the latter days one of the signs that you are part of His covenant people is that you know – and by implication call upon – His set apart Name.

“And it shall be, if they learn well the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, ‘As יהוה lives,‘ as they taught My people to swear by Baʽal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.

(Jer 12:16 TS98)

It would seem that part of learning to be Yisraeli/grafted in to His people involves learning to swear by His name.

O יהוה, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.” Would a man make mighty ones for himself, which are not mighty ones? “Therefore see, I am causing them to know, this time I cause them to know My hand and My might. And they shall know that My Name is יהוה!”

(Jer 16:19-21 TS98)

Apparently the people of the nations who come to worship the Only True Elohim will worship Him by His Name!

“Therefore hear the word of יהוה, all Yehuḏah who are dwelling in the land of Mitsrayim, ‘See, I have sworn by My great Name,’ declares יהוה, ‘My Name shall no longer be called upon by the mouth of any man of Yehuḏah in all the land of Mitsrayim, saying, “As the Master יהוה lives…”

(Jer 44:26 TS98)

Here we see the crux of the problem. Because Yehowah made a covenant promise that descendants of Dawid (Yehudah) would rule over His people (2 Sam 7:1-17) until the coming of The Sent One, we of the nations would be at the mercy of the descendants of Dawid to teach/proclaim/share The Name. Since the descendants of Dawid stopped using The Name, it has been necessary for those of the nations who come to worship the Elohim of Yisrael to restore the Name.

Fortunately not all of brother Yehudah is ignorant of The Name, nor does all of Yehudah today refuse to use The Name, as you’ll see in the attached article.

G2424

Ἰησοῦς

Iēsous

ee-ay-sooce’

Of Hebrew origin [H3091]; Jesus (that is, Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites: – Jesus.

H3091

יהושׁע / יהושׁוּע

yehôshûa‛

BDB Definition:

Yehoshua = “Yehovah is [our] salvation”

Determining the true Name of our Mashiach is not able to be accomplished (as far as I know) from direct written historical accounts. Rather, the Name of our Messiah can only be determined by utilizing a combination of the improper Greek translation of His proper Ibri Name, and searching the Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim to discover what was prophesied about His person, nature, and purpose, and from there ‘extrapolate’ what His given Name was.

What is even more important is to note what the Prophets were given to tell us what Name He will be known by at His triumphant return to the olam.

Malach Yehovah / Yehoshua

One interesting item that comes into the picture when trying to understand what the Name of the Messiah would be is to consider the scriptures that describe the Malach Yehowah, or Messenger of Yah.

“See, I am sending a Messenger before you to guard you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. “Be on guard before Him and obey His voice. Do not rebel against Him, for He is not going to pardon your transgression, for My Name is in Him.

(Exo 23:20-21 TS98)

And the Messenger of יהוה said to him, “Why do you ask My name, since it is wondrous?”

(Jdg 13:18 TS98)

There are many pictures of Messiah in the Malach יהוה. One of the prominent things to note in Torah is that the D’var Elohim always came through the Malach יהוה.

H1697

דּבר

dâbâr

BDB Definition:

1) speech, word, speaking, thing

1a) speech

1b) saying, utterance

1c) word, words

1d) business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner

Part of Speech: noun masculine

Also note that Yehoshua is called in Greek the Logos in Yochanan 1:1.

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. the same was in the beginning with God. all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made.

(Joh 1:1-3 Mace)

G3056

λόγος

logos

log’-os

From G3004; something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ): – account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.

Greek logos = Hebrew D’var

And Aḇraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son, but the Messenger of יהוה called to him from the heavens and said, “Aḇraham, Aḇraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

(Gen 22:10-11 TS98)

And the Messenger of יהוה called to Aḇraham a second time from the heavens, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares יהוה, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I shall certainly bless you, and I shall certainly increase your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and let your seed possess the gate of their enemies. “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

(Gen 22:15-18 TS98)

“See, I am sending a Messenger before you to guard you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. “Be on guard before Him and obey His voice. Do not rebel against Him, for He is not going to pardon your transgression, for My Name is in Him. “But if you diligently obey His voice and shall do all that I speak, then I shall be an enemy to your enemies and a distresser to those who distress you.

(Exo 23:20-22 TS98)

Big clue – My Name is in Him!? What does this mean?

Ha Navi / The Prophet

‘I shall raise up for them a Prophet like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I shall put My Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ‘And it shall be, the man who does not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name, I require it of him.

(Deu 18:18-19 TS98)

Note that the ‘Prophet’/Navi speaks ‘Words’ (D’varim) in ‘My Name‘. Compare this with Yochanan (John) 5:43:

“I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not receive Me, if another comes in his own name, him you would receive.

(Joh 5:43 TS98)

Sound familiar??

“And now, say to My servant Dawiḏ, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be ruler over My people, over Yisra’ĕl. “And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth. “And I shall appoint a place for My people Yisra’ĕl, and shall plant them, and they shall dwell in a place of their own and no longer be afraid, neither shall the children of wickedness oppress them again, as at the first, even from the day I appointed rulers over My people Yisra’ĕl, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. And יהוה has declared to you that He would make you a house. “When your days are filled and you rest with your fathers, I shall raise up your seed after you, who comes from your inward parts, and shall establish his reign. “He does build a house for My Name, and I shall establish the throne of his reign forever. “I am to be his Father, and he is My son. If he does perversely, I shall reprove him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. “But My kindness does not turn aside from him, as I turned it aside from Sha’ul, whom I removed from before you. “And your house and your reign are to be steadfast forever before you – your throne is established forever.” ‘ ”

(2Sa 7:8-16 TS98)

This is not only talking about King Dawid, it is also a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah, who would come through the kingly line of Dawid → Shlomo → Messiah.

Also note that the Messiah was to be known as ‘My son‘. Does not the Son bear the Name of the Father?

“And one shall say to him, ‘What are these wounds in your hands?’ And he shall say, ‘Because I was wounded at home by those who love me.’ “O sword, awake against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” declares יהוה of hosts. “Smite the Shepherd, and let the sheep be scattered. But I shall turn My hand upon the little ones. And it shall be throughout all the soil,” declares יהוה, “that two thirds therein are cut off and die, and one third is left therein. “And I shall bring the third into fire, and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My Name, and I shall answer them. I shall say, ‘This is My people,’ while they say, ‘יהוה is my Elohim.’ “(Zec 13:6-9 TS98)

And יהוה shall go forth, and He shall fight against those gentiles, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, which faces Yerushalayim on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. And you shall flee to the valley of My mountain – for the valley of the mountains reaches to Atsal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziyah sovereign of Yehuḏah. And יהוה my Elohim shall come – all the set-apart ones with You. And in that day it shall be: there is no light, it is dark. And it shall be one day which is known to יהוה, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. And in that day it shall be that living waters flow from Yerushalayim, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea, in summer as well as in winter. And יהוה shall be Sovereign over all the earth. In that day there shall be one יהוה, and His Name one.

(Zec 14:3-9 TS98)

In the above Messianic prophecies, we see that the Messiah will bear the Name of יהוה. Also note the clear salvation (Yeshua) theme in the above passage. The passage tells us that salvation (Yeshua) comes in the Name of יהוה.

Blessed is the coming reign of our father Dawiḏ – in the Name of יהוה! Hoshia-na in the highest!”

(Mar 11:10 TS98)

יהושע answered them, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s Name, they bear witness concerning Me.

(Joh 10:25 TS98)

In the two passages above Messiah is being equivocated / identified with the Malach Elohim and the Deliverer of Zecharyah 14! Hence, the true Messiah who brings salvation and bears the Name of the Father would have the name Yehoshua.

What is the Name of the One True Creator of the Universe? Read this short teaching from Karai Nehemia Gordon of Jerusalem, Israel.

It is widely believed today that the divine name was originally pronounced Yahveh (or Yahweh). The basis for this belief is a statement of the 5th Century Church Father Theodoret of Cyrus. Theodoret reports on the divine name: “The Samaritans call it IABE while the Jews AIA.” Theodoret’s statement that the Samaritans pronounce the divine name as IABE is the only historical basis for the modern pronunciation Yahweh!

There are several problems with Theodoret’s statement. First of all, Theodoret is not talking about the Israelites but rather the Samaritans, who were Babylonian gentiles forcibly settled in Israel by the Assyrian Kings. Furthermore, Theodoret states that the Jews pronounce the name as AIA. This does not refer to the name YHVH but to the abbreviated form Yah (as in: Halleluyah). If Theodoret is talking about the Jewish pronunciation of Yah, then perhaps he is not even talking about the Samaritan pronunciation of YHVH when he says they call God by the name IABE. Finally, the Greek language in which Theodoret is writing is incapable of transmitting the full range of Hebrew sounds. For example, the divine name has the Hebrew letter he as the second letter, a sound which cannot even be expressed in the ancient Greek language! So whatever Theodoret may have heard from the Samaritans would have been corrupted when he transcribed it into Greek.

If there is no reliable proof that the name is Yahweh, what real evidence is there about the name? The first solid piece of evidence comes from the names of ancient biblical personalities. In ancient Israel, people often had names that incorporated the divine name in a short sentence. For example, my name is Nehemia, in Hebrew Ne-chem-yah, which means “YHVH comforts”. This name combines the verb nichem (“he comforts”) and yah. In earlier times, yah would have been yahu as in the name Elijah, in Hebrew Eliyahu (eli “my God”, yahu “is YHVH”). Yahu appears in biblical names as part of YHVH. From this we could conclude that the divine name is to be pronounced something like Yahu-ah or Yahu-vah.

The problem with this is that in the names of other biblical personalities the name YHVH appears as Yeho-. For example, in the name Joshua, in Hebrew Yehoshua (Yeho “YHVH”, shua saves). This raises the question: Does the divine name begin Yeho or Yahu? One of the rules of Hebrew names is that when words are combined to form a name, they undergo changes to their vowels depending on their position within the new name. So the verb nichem “he comforts” is changed to nechem in the name Nehemia because of its position in the word. The rule is that the letters YHV (from YHVH) always appears as yeho- at the beginning of names, but as -yahu at the end of names (because of something called “pre-tonal shortening”). In the name YHVH, the letters YHV- are at the beginning of the name, so based on the rules of Hebrew pronunciation the divine name should begin YeHo-!

The next piece of evidence comes from the Masoretic Text, the oldest and most reliable complete version of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is commonly believed that the vowels of the name of YHVH in the Masoretic Text are the vowels of Adonai (LORD). Were this true, the Masoretic Text would have the name written as YaHoVaH (using the vowels of Adonai). But this is just not how the name is written in the Masoretic text! In fact, the divine name is written as Yeh?vah in the Masoretic Text.

Any Hebrew reader will see an immediate problem with the spelling Yeh?vah, namely, that the first H has no vowel associated with it even though the rules of the Hebrew language require it have some vowel (at a minimum it must have sheva). The fact that it has no vowel indicates that the scribes intentionally withheld writing the vowel so that readers would not (accidentally) read this word. The only reason the scribes would want to prevent people from reading the name Yeh?vah is if they knew that the name was pronounced in this way. It is significant that the ban on pronouncing the divine name never applied to pronouncing it with the wrong vowels!

What is the missing vowel in Yeh?vah? The linguistic evidence of names such as Yehoshua (Joshua) would indicate that the missing vowel is a cholam, in English “o”. Based on this evidence we would expect the name to be Yehovah and it would seem the scribes suppressed the “o” to prevent people from pronouncing this true pronunciation of the name. What confirms this is that in a small number of places in the Masoretic manuscripts, the scribes forgot to withhold the vowel “o”! For example, in the Leningrad Manuscript of the Masoretic Text, upon which the renowned BHS edition is based, the name appears as Yehovah with the “o” in Genesis 3:14 (even though it usually appears in this manuscript as Yeh?vah). This is because the scribes knew that the name was pronounced Yehovah, and in most instances successfully suppressed the vowel “o” to prevent people from reading it in the correct manner. But sometimes they let the secret “o” slip and the truth was able to shine through!

It is worth noting that the English Jehovah is quite simply an Anglicized form of Yehovah. The main difference is that the English letter J has crept its way into the divine name. Of course, Hebrew does not have a J sound and the letter in Hebrew is Yod which is pronounced like English “Y”. Another difference is that in the Masoretic text the name has the accent mark on the end of the word. So the name is really pronounced Yehovah with the emphasis on “vah”. Pronouncing the name Yehovah with the emphasis on “ho” (as in English Jehovah) would quite simply be a mistake.

One question we must consider is how the Masoretes, the medieval scribes who copied the text of Scripture and suppressed the “o” in Yehovah, could have known the true pronunciation of the name. After all, the ban on the name was in full force since the time of Abba Saul in the 2nd century CE (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 10:1). One of the things we know about the Masoretic scribes is that they were Karaites. We also know that there were two factions of Karaites, those that required the pronunciation of the name and those that forbade it. It is clear that the Masoretes belonged to the group that forbade the pronunciation of the name and this was why they suppressed the middle vowel from Yeh[o]vah. At the same time they heard how the other Karaites pronounced the name so they knew how it was properly pronounced.

The 10th century Karaite sage Kirkisani reports that the Karaites who pronounced the name were based in Persia (Khorasan). Persia had been a major Jewish center ever since the 10 Tribes were exiled to the “cities of Media” (2Ki 17:6) and remained so up until the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. Because Persia was so far from the Rabbinical centers of Galilee and Babylonia, the Jews of Persia were protected from the Rabbinical innovations in the Mishnah and Talmud up until the 7th century CE. It was only when the Rabbis attempted to impose these innovations on the Jews of Persia in the 7th-8th centuries that the Karaite Movement rose up to ensure the preservation of the old ways. So it is not surprising that the Karaites of Persia preserved the correct pronunciation of the name from ancient times. It seems that the Masoretes suppressed the vowel “o” from the divine name to prevent their fellow Karaites from simply reading the name as it was written. Now when these Karaites read the Biblical text, they had to provide the vowel missing from the name themselves.

A final issue of pronunciation concerns the Hebrew letter vav. Some linguists suggest that this letter was pronounced in ancient times like the English “w” while others maintain it was pronounced as “v”. This is the reason for the difference between Yahweh and Yahveh or Yehovah and Yehowah. Obviously there are no audio recordings from ancient times so the only evidence comes from pronunciation traditions of Jewish communities around the world. The facts are that while some Jewish communities pronounce this letter as “w” most pronounce it as “v”. For example, the Jews of Egypt, Eastern Europe, and Spain traditionally pronounced the letter vav as “v” while in Yemen they pronounced it as “w”. Which is right? V or W? It is possible that both pronunciations originally existed in ancient times! In Judges 12:6 we are told that some Israelites pronounced the Hebrew letter shin as “sh” while others pronounced it as “s”. This combines with other evidence that points to the existence of different dialects of spoken Hebrew in ancient Israel. Some linguists suggest that the differences in pronunciation traditions among Jewish communities around the world may go back to different dialects of spoken Hebrew in ancient Israel. So it is very possible that in ancient Israel some said Yehovah while others said Yehowah (like potayto and potahto)!

1. Talmud Jerusalmi, tractate Tannit, “When Rabbi Akiva saw bar Kokhba, he said, ‘this is the king Messiah’.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kokba