Jeho’vah, (יהוָֹה, Yehovah’, Sept. usually ὁ Κω῏/ριος, Auth. Vers. usually “the LORD”), the name by which God was pleased to make himself known, under the covenant, to the ancient Hebrews (Exodus 6:2-3), although it was doubtless in use among the patriarchs, as it occurs even in the history of the creation (Genesis 2:4). The theory of Schwind (Semitische Denkm. 1792), that the record is of later origin than the Mosaic age, is based upon the false assumption that the Hebrews had previously been polytheistic. SEE GENESIS; SEE GOD.
I. Modern Pronunciation of the Name. — Although ever since the time of Galatinus, a writer of the 16th century (De arcanis catholicae veritatis, lib. 3) — not, as according to others, since Raymund Martin (see Gusset. Lex. p. 383) — it has been the almost universal custom to pronounce the name יהוָֹה (in those copies where it is furnished with vowels), Jehovah, yet, at the present day, most scholars agree that this pointing is not the original and genuine one, but that these vowels are derived from those of אֲדֹנָי, Adonai. For the later Hebrews, even before the time of the Sept. version, either following some old superstition (compare Herod. 2:86; Cicero, De nat. deor. 3, 56) or deceived by a false interpretation of a certain Mosaic precept (Leviticus 24:16), have always regarded this name as too sacred even to be pronounced (Philo, De vit. Mosis, 3, 519, 529, ed. Colon.; Joseph. Ant. 2 ,12, 4; Talmud, Sanhed. 2, 90, a; Maimonides in Jad. Chasaka, 14, 10; also in More Nebochim, 1, 61; Theodoret, Quoest. 13 in Exodus; Eusebius, Praep. Evangel. 2, 305). Wherever, therefore, this ineffable name is read in the sacred books, they pronounced אֲדֹנָי, “Adonay,” Lord, in its stead; and hence, when the Masoretic text came to be supplied with the vowels, the four letters יהוה were pointed with the vowels of this word, the initial י taking, as usual, a simple instead of a compound Sheva. This derivation of the vowels is evident from the peculiar pointing after the prefixes, and from the use of the Dagesh after it, in both which particulars it exactly imitates the peculiarities of אֲדֹנָי, and likewise from the varied pointing when following אֲדֹנָי, in which case it is written יהֵוַֹה and pronounced אֵֹּלהַים, “Elohim,” God, the vowels of which it then borrows, to prevent the repetition of the sound Adonay. That a similar law or notion prevailed even before the Christian era may be inferred from the fact that the Septuag. renders יהוָֹה by ὁ Κύριος, like אֲדֹנָי; and even the Samaritans observed the same custom, for they used to pronounce יהוה by the word שַׁימָא, Shima, i.e. THE NAME (Reland, De Samaritanis, p. 12; Huntington, Letters, p. 33). (See, on this subject generally, Hadr. Reland, Decas exercitationum philol. de vera pron. nominis Jehova [Traj. ad Rhen. 1707]).
II. True Pointing of the Word. — Maimonides (More Nebochim, 1, 62) gives an obscure account of the traditional and secret method of teaching its true pronunciation to the priests, but avers that it was unknown from its form. Many adduce the statements of Greek writers, as well profane as Church fathers, that the deity of the Hebrews was called Jao, ΙΑΩ (a few Ιευω, Ιαου), Theodoret alone adding that the Samaritan pronunciation was IABE (Diod. Sic. 1, 94; Porphyry in Eusebius, Proep. Ev. 10, 11; Tzetzes, Chiliad. 7, 126; Hesychius often; Clemens Alex. Strom. 5, p. 666, Oxon.; Origen, in Dan. vol. 2, p. 45; Irenaeus, Hoeres. 2, 66; Jerome, in Psalm 8; Theodoret, Quoest. 15 in Exodus; Epiphanius, Hoer. 20). The Gnostics classed Ι᾿αω, as the Hebrew divinity, among their sacred emanations (Irenaeus, 1, 34; Epiph. Hoer. 26), along with several of his appellations (see Mather, Histoire du Gnosticisme, tab. 8-10; Bellermann, Ueber die Gemmen der Alten mit dem Abraxasbilde, fasc. 1, 2, Berlin, 1817, 1818); and that famous oracle of Apollo, quoted by Macrobius (Sat. 1, 18), ascribing this name (Ι᾿αώ) to the sun, appears to have been of Gnostic origin (Jablonski, Panth. AEgypt. 1, 250 sq.).
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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Jehovah
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 1:21, Deuteronomy 2:7, Deuteronomy 6:3, Exodus 15:2, Exodus 3:14, Exodus 6:2, Exodus 9:30, Genesis 2:4, Hebrews 1:10, Hebrews 13:8, Hosea 12:6, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 26:4, Isaiah 38:11, Joshua 7:13, Joshua 8:30, Leviticus 24:16, Malachi 3:6, Psalms 102:25, Psalms 118:4, Psalms 68:4, Psalms 83:18, Psalms 89:9, Psalms 94:7, Revelation 1:4
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.