In the Bible, God is presented with various names
and references, but the actual divine name in the original Hebrew consists of 4
consonants and their implied vowels:
Yad-Hay-Vav-Hay.
When I was in grade 4, starting to study Hebrew
grammar, it struck me that the actual, 4 letter name of God is a combination of
the Hebrew verb ‘to be’ in its 3rd
person singular (male) in what should be [1]
its past, present and future
forms.
God’s most holy and accurate name is, therefore, best
translated as “The Eternal”. It encompasses the roles of creator of the
universe (past), active agent in current events (present), and controller of
the future.
(This etymology is also given in the Art Scroll
Series, Stone Edition, The Chumash,
p.304 footnote to verse 13.]
God’s secret sign “I AM” or “I
Shall Be” (Exodus,
ch 3)
It is interesting to note in this connection, the
passage in Exodus were Moses asks God
what ‘secret word’ will convince the Children of Israel that Moses is sent by
their true God.
The King James Version,
following the Vulgate’s Latin – including the use of all capitals at two key
points -- reads:
13. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I
come unto the children of Israel,
and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and
they shall say to me, “What is his name? What shall I say unto them?”
14. And God said unto Moses, “I AM THAT I AM” [Vulgate:
“EGO SUM QUI SUM”] and he said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM [Vulgate “QUI
EST] hath sent me unto you.”
15. And God said moreover unto Moses, “Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial
unto all generations.”
Exodus:
Ch 3 :13 – 15 (King James version) www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/Bible/ [July 20, 2011]
The passage, however, incorrectly translates the ALL CAPITALS
parts in the present tense, but as the Art Scroll Series, Stone Edition, The Chumash points out, the Hebrew ‘secret sign’ is in the future
tense.
Hashem answered Moses, “I Shall Be As I Shall Be.”
And He said, “So shall you say to the Children of Israel, ‘I Shall Be has sent me to you.’”
Art Scroll, The
Chumash, p.305, verse 14 [red is my highlighting].
In conclusion, whether
mistranslated as the present or correctly as the future, the ‘secret sign’
attests that God’s name and the verb ‘to be’ are clearly one and the same.
[1] No present tense of ‘to be’
It may be that this link to God is why in
Hebrew there is no present tense for the verb ‘to be’.
For example, the English: “I am happy.”
becomes in Hebrew “ I happy.” -- with the verb ‘am’ implied.
Similarly English’s “He is powerful” becomes in Hebrew “He powerful.”
Otherwise, at least 3 of the letters in
God’s true name would be written or spoken, in contravention of Biblical law
and Jewish tradition.
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