literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Date: Tue Apr 8, 2003 11:29 pm
Subject: "Bible", "Babel" and Tetragrammaton

http://www.sulekha.com/chpost.asp...ilosophy&show=0&cid=53618

http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T1071

The Gate of God

babhel; Assyro-Bab Bab-ili, (Bab-ilani, "gate of god," or "of the
gods," rendered in Sumerian as Ka-dingira, "gate of god," regarded as
a folk-etymology):

The noun derives from two roots: "bab" ("gate") and "el"
("God"), "the gate to God"; but in the Hebrew language there is a
similar word, "balal", which means "confusion". However as baa words
are said by babies anyway (along with maa and paa words), this
last 'balal' may be a coincidence.

Does the word BIBLE actually mean, "Basic Instructions Before Leaving
Earth"? thanks (e-11/18/2002 1:28:44 PM) The clever acronym you refer
to is not the reason behind the word Bible. "Basic Instructions
Before Leaving Earth" is a recent creation. The exact source of that
phrase is unknown to me. The true etymology of the word Bible and
it's usage is as follows: Bible, the English form of the Greek name
Biblia, meaning "books," the name which in the fifth century began to
be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the "Library of
Divine Revelation." The name Bible was adopted by John Wickliffe
(1328?-1384), and came gradually into use in our English language.
Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=165&letter=T

The Tetragrammaton is the ancient Israelitish name for God. According
to actual count, it occurs 5,410 times in the Bible, being divided
among the books as follows: Genesis 153 times, Exodus 364, Leviticus
285, Numbers 387, Deuteronomy 230 (total in Torah 1,419); Joshua 170,
Judges 158, Samuel 423, Kings 467, Isaiah 367, Jeremiah 555, Ezekiel
211, Minor Prophets 345 (total in Prophets 2,696); Psalms 645,
Proverbs 87, Job 31, Ruth 16, Lamentations 32, Daniel 7, Ezra-
Nehemiah 31, Chronicles 446 (total in Hagiographa 1,295).

The name of the great capital of ancient Babylonia, the Shinar of
Genesis 10:10 , other names of the city being Tin- dir, "seat of
life," E (ki), probably an abbreviation of Eridu (ki) "the good city"
(=Paradise), Babylonia having seemingly been regarded as the Garden
of Eden (PSBA, June 1911, p. 161); and Su-anna, "the high-handed"
(meaning, apparently, "high- walled," "hand" and "defense" being
interchangeable terms). It is possible that these various names are
due to the incorporation of outlying districts as Babylon grew in
size.

According to Genesis 10:9, the founder of Babylon was Nimrod, but
among the Babylonians, it was Merodach who built the city, together
with Erech and Niffer (Calneh) and their renowned temples. The date
of its foundation is unknown, but it certainly went back to primitive
times, and Babylon may even have equaled Niffer in antiquity (the
American explorers of that site have estimated that its lowest strata
of habitations go back to 8,000 years BC). Babylon's late assumption
of the position of capital of the country would therefore be due to
its rulers not having attained power and influence at an earlier
period. Having once acquired that position, however, it retained it
to the end, and its great god, Merodach, became the head of the
Babylonian pantheon--partly through the influence of Babylon as
capital, partly because the city was the center of his worship, and
the place of the great Tower of Babel, concerning which many
wonderful things were said.

There is no instance of it, however, in Canticles, Ecclesiastes, or
Esther; and in Daniel it occurs 7 times (in ch. ix.)-a fact which in
itself shows the late date of these books, whose authors lived at a
period when the use of the Tetragrammaton was already avoided, its
utterance having become restricted both in the reading of the Bible
and still more in colloquial speech. For it was substituted Adonai;
and the fact that this name is found 315 times in combination
with "Yhwh" and 134 times alone shows that the custom of reading the
Tetragrammaton as if written "Adonai" began at a time when the text
of the Biblical books was not yet scrupulously protected from minor
additions. This assumption explains most of the occurrences
of "Adonai" before "Yhwh"; i.e., the former word indicated the
pronunciation of the latter. At the time of the Chronicler this
pronunciation was so generally accepted that he never wrote the
name "Adonai." About 300 B.C., therefore, the word "Yhwh" was not
pronounced in its original form. For several reasons Jacob ("Im Namen
Gottes," p. 167) assigns the "disuse of the word 'Yhwh' and the
substitution of 'Adonai' to the later decades of the Babylonian
exile."

Reason for Disuse.

The avoidance of the original name of God both in speech and, to a
certain extent, in the Bible was due, according to Geiger
("Urschrift," p. 262), to a reverence which shrank from the utterance
of the Sublime Name; and it may well be that such a reluctance first
arose in a foreign, and hence in an "unclean" land, very possibly,
therefore, in Babylonia. According to Dalman (l.c. pp. 66 et seq.),
the Rabbis forbade the utterance of the Tetragrammaton, to guard
against desecration of the Sacred Name; but such an ordinance could
not have been effectual unless it had met with popular approval. The
reasons assigned by Lagarde ("Psalterium Hicronymi," p. 155) and
Halévy ("Recherches Bibliques," i. 65 et seq.) are untenable, and are
refuted by Jacob (l.c. pp. 172, 174), who believes that the Divine
Name was not pronounced lest it should be desecrated by the heathen.
The true name of God was uttered only during worship in the Temple,
in which the people were alone; and in the course of the services on
the Day of Atonement the high priest pronounced the Sacred Name ten
times (Tosef., Yoma, ii. 2; Yoma 39b). This was done as late as the
last years of the Temple (Yer. Yoma 40a, 67). If such was the
purpose, the means were ineffectual, since the pronunciation of the
Tetragrammaton was known not only in Jewish, but also in non-Jewish
circles centuries after the destruction of the Temple, as is clear
from the interdictions against uttering it (Sanh. x. 1; Tosef., Sanh.
xii. 9; Sifre Zuṭa, in Yalḳ., Gen. 711; 'Ab. Zarah 18a; Midr. T=
eh. to
Ps. xci., end). Raba, a Babylonian amora who flourished about 350,
wished to make the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton known publicly
(Ḳid. 71b); and a contemporary Palestinian scholar states that the
Samaritans uttered it in taking oaths (Yer. Sanh. 28b). The members
of the Babylonian academy probably knew the pronunciation as late as
1000 C. E. (Blau, l.c. pp. 132 et seq., 138 et seq.). The physicians,
who were half magicians, made special efforts to learn this name,
which was believed to possess marvelous powers (of healing, etc.;
Yer. Yoma 40a, below).

Meaning and Etymology.

It thus becomes possible to determine with a fair degree of certainty
the historical pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, the results
agreeing with the statement of Ex. iii. 14, in which Yhwh terms
Himself "I will be," a phrase which is immediately preceded by the
fuller term "I will be that I will be," or, as in the English
versions, "I am" and "I am that I am." The name is accordingly
derived from the root (= ), and is regarded as an imperfect. This
passage is decisive for the pronunciation "Yahweh"; for the etymology
was undoubtedly based on the known word. The oldest exegetes, such as
Onḳelos, and the Targumim of Jerusalem and pseudo-Jonathan
regard "Ehyeh" and "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh" as the name of the Divinity,
and accept the etymology of "hayah" = "to be" (comp. Samuel b. Meïr,
commentary on Ex. iii. 14). Modern critics, some of whom, after the
lapse of centuries, correct the Hebrew texts without regard to the
entire change of point of view and mode of thought, are dissatisfied
with this etymology; and their various hypotheses have resulted in
offering the following definitions: (1) he who calls into being, or
he who gives promises; (2) the creator of life; (3) he who makes
events, or history; (4) the falling one, the feller, i.e., the
stormgod who hurls the lightning; (5) he who sends down the rain (W.
R. Smith, "The Old Testament," p. 123); (6) the hurler; (7) the
destroyer; (8) the breather, the weather-god (Wellhausen). All these
meanings are obtained by doing violence to the Hebrew text (Herzog-
Hauck, "Real-Encyc." viii. 536 et seq.).

Get your own free IRC Chat room