Posts by Doug Mason

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Ruby,

There is no doubt that monotheism became the dominant form as an outcome of the Neo-Babylonian Captivity and Exile. As one clear example, consider Deutero-Isaiah (ch 40ff), which were written at that time.

Prior to that, the nation was monolatrous, not monotheistic. Some apply the term henotheistoc. All of these terms would be foreign to them. They were created in recent centuries.

Study the evolution from the god named EL, who appears for example in Genesis 1. There are several serious books and scholarly articles that explain the way that the Israelites took a war-god named Yahweh and over time they assimilated the features of other Gods, such as EL, creating a very different Yahweh.

For example, they took the pantheon of gods from EL and passed them onto Yahweh. Initially, EL was the creator God, but that was given to Yahweh. EL was the "Ancient of Days", and so on and on.

EL and his pantheon came from the northern neighbours. Yahweh was not one of those northern gods. Instead, he came to the Israelites from the south with Moses.

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Ruby,

When talking about the ancient Hebrews and Israelites, do not muddy the water by bringing in anything that came afterwards. Keep the discussion focused on the times.

The Israelites were monolatrists. They were not monotheists.

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Ruby,

Investigate the history as it is most fascinating.

"Moses" is an Egyptian name. His father-in-law was a priest and he made offerings while Moses and Aaron watched on. I understand that Moses learned about Yahweh from his father in law. As the Bible says, prior to that, god was known as EL (shaddai).

Areas that I am keen to investigate to check on:

(1) Who were the Hebrews?

(2) Where did the Israelites come from and what was their political alliance (phoenician?)

(3) What language did they speak?

(4) Which Gods did they have?

(5) Where did the Judahites come from and what was their political alliance?

(6) Did they speak a different language to the Israelites?

(7) Which gods they have?

(8) How did David manage to unite the two nations?

Always remember that the Judaism we are familiar with did not emerge until their experiences with the Neo-Babylonian Captivity and Exile. That is when the monotheists took control (Isaiah 40 ff)

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Smiddy,

I have several books by Bible scholars that discuss Yahweh and some include that word in the book's title.

If God needs a name, does that mean he/she/it needs to be identified from the other gods? Otherwise, what's the point?

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Earnest,

Thank you for your help,

Doug

13

The anonymity of Jehovah's Witness material

by stuckinarut2 in

is it vital for credibility to have the name of the writer of an article referenced?.

does this allow for honesty and accountability?

does this assist in ensuring that whatever is presented is as factual as possible, or not biased in some way toward the religion's ideas?.

Doug Mason

I suppose it's different now, but I had thought in the past they did not want to show that an author was not of the "Anointed Class".

Things change,

Doiug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

hangedman,

Blame the Kabbalah.

Blame Gematria.

Blame the irrationality of Religion in all its forms.

Why oh why do otherwise rational people behave so irrationally, speculatively?

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Wow, Slim, there is just so much to discover but so little time do it all.

Thank you for pointing out that book, which I have added to my wish list.

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Earnest,

Thank you so very much for referring me to the book by Emanuel Tov.

The copy I downloaded from your link commences the discussion on page 224 (PDF page 246).

I will study it carefully and adjust my thinking as required. Every day I learns something new, and I appreciate your help.

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Thank you for your comments. The argument from the book I largely quoted from is that Yahwism arose when Moses brought it from the south (Midian) and that it disappeared. The main proponent and contributor to monotheism being second Isaiah (chapters 40ff), written at the time of the Neo-Babylonian captivity and exile.

The Judaism that emerged from that period did not reflect the prior majority religious experience.

Thanks for pointing me to that book, Slim. At $100 (Australian), it will have to sit on the back burner until my Pension stretches that far. I managed to download a review, so I will see what that says.

Regarding the letter "J" - it was the last letter to make it into the English alphabet. In German, it is pronounced softly, as a "Y". I know this personally as my Viennese mother's surname was Jellinek, pronounced as "Y".

If the WTS wants to reflect the practices it touts, then it should use the ancient form of the Hebrew. That will show it was not meant to be pronoinced.

As for the name of "Jesus", this is a mangled form of "Yeshua", which should be anglicised as "Joshua". This name (Joshua) is the earliest name that contains a reference to YHWH.

I will look into the work by Emanuel Tov (one of my "heroes").

The god named EL came to the Hebrews from their northern neighbours. He was the main fatherly god alongside his wife Asherah. They produced 70 gods, including Ba'al, and the pantheon is known as the "Elohim". We encounter El and his brood in Genesis Chapter 1.

The god named YHWH came from the south. He was not part of the Elohim. Moses (an Egyptian name), who was influenced by his father-in-law, brought YHWH with him. Previously, the people had worshiped EL (as El-shadday).

Doug