Had to do a little historic research to find out that Jehovah is actually 2 Hebrew words compounded: Yah(h) and Hovah.
Yah(h) means: "I exist," "I am," "I create," or "I will be or bring into being."
Hovah means: Ruin, Mischif, but yet,it's root, havvah,translates as: "calamity, iniquity, mischief, mischievous (thing), naughtiness, naughty, noisome, perverse thing, substance, very wickedness."
I just can't shake this feeling about the word Jehovah, and Now I know why
by A-Team 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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A-Team
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mrsjones5
Yeah I know about that "Hovah" part, hella funny.
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WTWizard
And that is a perfect dsscription of what Jehovah has done. He exists, and He has selfishly caused calamity. He is nothing more than a vindictive tyrant that destroys whole nations just because they don't serve Him the way He wants them to, ruins people's lives capriciously and for kicks, and then demands them to exude with joy and happiness and serve Him beyond their capacity.
I bet they wouldn't even think of listening to Jay-Z. He has used the Hova part of the word extensively in his rap lyrics. The Witlesses will not listen to anything like that because they cannot listen to rap music (I do anyways).
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Sarah Smiles
The Names of God
The God of the Hebrew Bible has many names, one of which is never pronounced.
By Lavinia and Dan Cohn-Sherbok
The article below discusses God's proper name, written using the loose Hebrew equivalents of JHWH (or YHWH). Though traditional Jews never pronounce this name, some modern scholars believe that it was originally pronounced Yahweh . The following is reprinted with permission from A Short Introduction to Judaism, published by Oneworld Publications.
The Jewish God is not merely a philosophical concept, a final cause which explains the existence of the universe. He is a personal God, the true hero of the biblical stories, and the guide and mentor of His Chosen People. As such He has a proper name. In the Hebrew scriptures that name is written as JHWH, since Hebrew script originally contained no vowels. God's name was almost certainly pronounced in early times, but by the third century BCE the consonants were regarded as so sacred that they were never articulated. Instead, the convention was to read the letters as Adonai, which means "Lord." Thus in English translations of the Hebrew text, JHWH is never written as a proper name, but as "the Lord."
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about godJHWH is explained in the book of Exodus as "I am Who I am" and it is clearly derived from the old Hebrew verb HWH which means "to be." The term "Jehovah" was introduced by Christian scholars. It is merely JHWH pronounced with the vowel of Adonai, thus making JeHoWaH. It is a hybrid and is not usually used by Jews. Over the course of time, even the title Adonai was regarded as too awesome to represent the four letters of God's name and today most Orthodox Jews use [the term] Hashem, which simply means "the Name."
Terms for God are treated with the greatest reverence. Among the strictly traditional, even English translations are perceived as too holy to write and today the custom is to inscribe G-d, the L-rd and even the Alm-ghty. This carefulness is explained and justified by the prohibition in the Ten Commandments : "You shall not take the name of JHWH your God in vain; for JHWH will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain" (Exodus 20:7).
In ancient times the term Adonai was not just used for God. It was a common mode of address to kings, slave-masters, and even by wives to husbands. The "i" at the end signifies "my" and, in fact, Adonai is a plural form so it literally means "my lords." In many verses of scripture and in the liturgy, God is spoken of as JHWH (pronounced Adonai) Eloheynu, which means "the Lord our God."
In the Bible, God has many other names. He is often described as Elohim, which simply means God. It is in fact, like Adonai, a plural form and is also, on occasions, used to refer to the pagan gods. When referring to the One Jewish God, the form Ha-Elohim (the God) is often employed. Various conjectures have been made as to why a plural noun should be used to designate the unity of the One God. It has been suggested that it is a final remnant of archaic polytheistic beliefs, or even that it indicates the importance of the deity, as in the "royal we." Most scholars, however, think that it was taken from the Canaanite language. The Canaanites were the indigenous people of the land of Israel and they seem frequently to have addressed
their individual gods as "my gods."
The Canaanite word for god was El. This is not used often in the Bible except when it is coupled with another title. God is sometimes called El Elyon, literally God Most High. So the Psalmist declares, "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart…I will sing praises to Thy name O Most High" (Psalm 9:1-2) and "Let them know that Thou alone whose name is JHWH art the Most High over all the world" (Psalm 83:18). Like the term Elohim, this title was taken over from the Canaanites who traditionally described El Elyon as the lord of all the gods. When the Jews took possession of the Promised land , it was natural enough for them also to adopt this title for their One God.
Similar borrowings occurred with El Olam (the Everlasting God) and El Shaddai (the Almighty God). The book of Genesis describes the patriarch Abraham calling God El Olam at the shrine of Beersheba: "Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of JHWH, the Everlasting God" (21:3). Similarly, when Abraham attained the age of ninety-nine, JHWH appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty, walk with me and be blameless" (17:1). In both instances there are clear Canaanite connections. Beersheba was almost certainly an old pagan shrine and, when God revealed Himself as El Shaddai, He was promising the patriarch that the land of Canaan (the Promised Land) was to be given to his descendants forever.
It is notable that even today many Hebrew personal names incorporate the names of God. Daniel, Michael, Elisha , Israel, and Ezekiel are all built round El. Elijah uses both El and JHWH while Adonijah grows from JHWH and Adonai . The same is true of many modern Israeli surnames, as in that of [former] Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which is clearly derived from the proper name of God.
Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok is a writer and a teacher. Dan Cohn-Sherbok is a widely published and eminent scholar of Judaism, and is currently Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales, Lampeter.
How many names for God can you make? Takes the vowels from the above article and applied them to JHVH ? Jahovah It is kind of fun!
I am okay with God's name as Jehovah but I still think the WTBTS has abuse the name by false teachings!
I like everyone out there using God's name beside just the J.W. Remember they were suppose to be the only people using his name! </form>
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brinjen
As a child, I had an endless fascination with pyramids... Wasn't until I found this forum I realised why
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A-Team
My take on this is that Jehovah is just an artificial name that dosen't fit the actual name of the ALmighty. And to say that JWHW is his name is very inaccurate, as the J vouel wasn't created until around the Middle 2nd Millennium. YWHW is the most accurate English spelling, with Yahweh being a more accurate pronounication then Jehovah.
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moshe
Judaism is all about tradition.
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IP_SEC
Hovah and Jehovah are not even similarly related in hebrew.
Yes the jehovah in the bible is a complete asshole but, it has nothing to do with the hebrew word hovah.
This is a common mythconception.
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Hellrider
I`m a bit bewildered...I knew allready that "the name" was rooted in a verb, hawah, but until this point, I believed hawah meant "to become" (I believe I heard it on this board)! Then I checked Wikipedia, and it says:
A root hawah is represented in Hebrew by the nouns howah (Ezek., Isa. xlvii. II) and hawwah (Ps., Prov., Job) "disaster, calamity, ruin." [46] The primary meaning is probably "sink down, fall", in which sense (common in Arabic) the verb appears in Job xxxvii. 6 (of snow falling to earth).
A Catholic commentator of the 16th century, Hieronymus ab Oleastro, seems to have been the first to connect the name "Jehova" with "howah" interpreting it as "contritio sive pernicies" (destruction of the Egyptians and Canaanites); Daumer, adopting the same etymology, took it in a more general sense: Yahweh, as well as Shaddai, meant "Destroyer", and fitly expressed the nature of the terrible god who he identified with Moloch.
The derivation of Yahweh from hawah is formally unimpeachable, and is adopted by many recent scholars, who proceed, however, from the primary sense of the root rather than from the specific meaning of the nouns. The name is accordingly interpreted, He (who) falls (baetyl, ßa?t????, meteorite); or causes (rain or lightning) to fall (storm god); or casts down (his foes, by his thunderbolts). It is obvious that if the derivation be correct, the significance of the name, which in itself denotes only "He falls" or "He fells", must be learned, if at all, from early Israelitish conceptions of the nature of Yahweh rather than from etymology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yhwh
...anyone know the real story here?
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Terry
The most dangerous thing about taking somebody's name and wearing it publicly is that you become an agency of representation.
You reflect on the name and, by extension, the person.
In other words, you are asking for it if you screw up!
But, not even getting the name right in the first place has to be the worst screw up of all!
Jehovah's Witnesses are sooooo particular about soooo many things, but; airly dismiss the mispronunciation of their God!
Imagine saying you are employed by Cuckoo Cola company or Dr.Pooper!
Imagine a wife spelling and saying her husband's name wrong on purpose!
JW's have made a fetish out of God's name. They've made a fetish out of holidays, birthdays and blood too.
They've substituted a kind of public priggishness for piety and ritual obstinancy for charity or devotion.
If the JW's were honest they'd change their name to "Yahweh's Witnesses"* *we think
