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The Significant Name of God (12)

Still used by the Jews in the sixth century BC

André H. Roosma
27 May 2020 (NL original: 1 May 2015)

While virtually browsing through some old documents (via the Internet) I came across the Lakhish letters again. These are letters written during the early sixth century BC (Biblically: the time of the last kings, shortly before or already during the Babylonian exile) on potsherds and excavated in Lakhish (Hebrew: לָכִישׁ; identified with Tel ed-Duweir) in 1935.

An example:
Lakhish letter 23
The script used is a late, rapid handwriting variant of the Paleo-Hebrew script.1

What stands out in these letters is the use of the glorious Name of God, YaHUaH.2 Several begin with a salutation along the lines of:

“To my lord Ya’ush (or Yo’ash), may YaHUaH cause my lord to hear tiding(s) of peace today, this very day! ...”

The same picture emerges in the letters that were exchanged one to two centuries later between Isra’elites in Judea and in Elephantine, an island in the Nile near Aswan, southern Egypt, where an important Isra’eli enclave was established at that time. They were written in Aramaic and on papyrus, and here too we find many references to the God of the Bible, through a slightly shortened version of His glorious Name: YaHU (יהו). We also encounter this form a lot at that time, among the other nations around Isra’el, who were all familiar with the God of Isra’el.

What is evident from these archaeological finds is that the rabbinic prohibition on the use of the glorious Name of God arose only during (or shortly after) the Babylonian exile, that is, in syncretistic Babylon, as I will demonstrate in another article in this series. In the centuries before, the Jews still used the glorious Name of God in their daily lives, such as in praise and blessings.4

Hallelu YaH !


Notes

1 For more on this old pictographic Semitic script, see: André H. Roosma, ‘The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David – A study of the pictographic roots and basic notions in the underlying fabric of the earliest Biblical script.pdf document, Hallelu-YaH Draft Research Report, 1st English version: 18 April 2011 (1st Dutch original: January 2011).
2 The names in the Bible have meaning. That is why I transliterate them carefully so that they remain recognizable. Especially the glorious Name of God I represent here as accurately as possible from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more background information see:
André H. Roosma, ‘Life, security and belonging in joyful adoration, from the hand of God.pdf document, brief Hallelu-YaH article about the Biblical Name of God in the earliest Hebrew (old Semitic) script, January 2011.
André H. Roosma, ‘The Shema‘ – the First Testament declaration of faith (1)’, Hallelu-YaH! web article, February 2012.
André H. Roosma, ‘The wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who will be there.pdf document, extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009.
3 Shmuel Achituv, in Echoes from the Past (CARTA Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 2008; p.60) translates this letter into English as follows: “To my lord, Yaush, may YHWH cause my lord to hear tiding(s) of peace today, this very day! Who is your servant, a dog, that my lord remembered his [se]rvant? May YHWH make known(?) to my [lor]d a matter of which you do not know.”
4 Even the well-known Jewish scholar Maimonides argued in 1190 to simply use the glorious Name of God in blessings to one another. In his Arabic book The Guide for the Perplexed (دلالة الحائرين - Dalálat al-Chá’irïn from 1190, written in Yemeni script; translated into Hebrew in 1204 under the title: מורה נבוכים - Moreh Nebhukhim; Part I, esp. ch. 60-65), he remarked, among other things, that the pronunciation of the glorious Name ‘according to the letters’ is simply possible and that pronouncing the Name, as in the ’Aharonic blessing, is even commanded according to Numbers 6: 23-27. Here the Name is not used magically or supernaturally, but for a spiritual purpose, which is legitimate and okay, according to Maimonides. Unfortunately, this is unknown to many Jewish and Christian theologians.

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