THE SECOND NAME
OF GOD
The second Name employed by God to identify Himself to the Jewish people and to the World is יהוה (first appearing in Genesis 2:4). This Name is never written with meaningful diacritical symbols (e.g., יְהוָה in Genesis 2:4, Exodus 20:2, Leviticus 19:18, Numbers 31:1, Deuteronomy 12:31 and Isaiah 61:1; and יְהוִה in Isaiah 7:7, Ezekiel 18:23 and Amos 3:7; and יהוָה in Amos 3:6 and Psalms 15:1), thereby preventing anyone living Today from knowing how to pronounce the Name. Consequently, this Ineffable Name is known as the Tetragram (meaning: the “Four Letters”) and is reverentially pronounced as “Adonai” (in light of the royal plural usage, meaning: “My Lord”), while being rendered for translation purposes as “HaShem” (meaning: “The Name”).
It is generally agreed among Hebrew Bible scholars that the Name of God יהוה is derived from the Hebrew-language verb infinitive להיות (meaning “to be” or “to become”), based upon the following passage from the Hebrew Bible:
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר
מֹשֶׁ֜ה
אֶל־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים
הִנֵּ֨ה
אָנֹכִ֣י בָא֮
אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י
יִשְׂרָאֵל֒
וְאָמַרְתִּ֣י
לָהֶ֔ם
אֱלֹהֵ֥י
אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם
שְׁלָחַ֣נִי
אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם
וְאָֽמְרוּ־לִ֣י
מַה־שְּׁמ֔וֹ
מָ֥ה אֹמַ֖ר
אֲלֵהֶֽם׃ וַיֹּ֤אמֶר
אֱלֹהִים֙
אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה
אֲשֶׁ֣ר
אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר
כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙
לִבְנֵ֣י
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה
שְׁלָחַ֥נִי
אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃
וַיֹּ֩אמֶר֩
ע֨וֹד אֱלֹהִ֜ים
אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה
כֹּֽה־תֹאמַר֮
אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י
יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ יְהֹוָ֞ה
אֱלֹהֵ֣י
אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֗ם
אֱלֹהֵ֨י
אַבְרָהָ֜ם
אֱלֹהֵ֥י
יִצְחָ֛ק
וֵאלֹהֵ֥י
יַעֲקֹ֖ב
שְׁלָחַ֣נִי
אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם
זֶה־שְּׁמִ֣י
לְעֹלָ֔ם
וְזֶ֥ה
זִכְרִ֖י
לְדֹ֥ר
דֹּֽר׃
“And Moses said to the [one and only] God, ‘Behold, when I come to the Children of Israel, and I will say to them, “God of your forefathers has sent me unto you”, and they will say to me, “What is His Name?” -- what shall I say unto them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I Shall Be Who I Shall Be’ [alternative translation: ‘I Shall Become Who I Shall Become’]; and He [God] said, ‘So shall you say to the Children of Israel, “I Shall Be has sent me unto you.” [alternative translation: “I Shall Become has sent me unto you.”]’ And God further said to Moses, ‘So [also] shall you say to the Children of Israel, “HaShem, God of your forefathers -- God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob -- has sent me unto you.” This is My Name forever, and this is My Remembrance from generation to generation.’”
(Exodus 3:13-15)
In this passage, God first identifies Himself as אהיה (“I Shall Be” or “I
Shall Become”), being the future tense of the first person
singular form of the verb להיות, and He then equates His Name אהיה with His Name יהוה (rendered
in the passage as “HaShem”) by instructing Moses to
essentially declare that both Names have sent Moses to the Jewish
people. Notwithstanding the Divine
Equation, one Name is not an anagram of the other Name, as the Name of
God אהיה contains an “aleph”
(but not a “vav”), while the Name of God יהוה contains a “vav” (but not an
“aleph”). However, all of the
letters of the Name of God יהוה can be found
interspersed among the three tenses of the third person singular form of
the verb להיות, reflecting recognition of the Eternal
Nature of God from the perspective of the Jewish people, to wit: היה (“He [always] Was”); הווה (“He [always] Is”); and יהיה (“He [always] Shall Be”).
Does knowing the likely etymology of the Tetragram teach us how to pronounce this Name? Possibly. I will return to this question later.
There seems to be a linguistic connection between the Name of God יהוה and the Name of God אלוה (first appearing in Deuteronomy 32:15), as
(1) the first two letters of each Name of God, to wit: יה and אל, each constitute, in and of themselves, a Name of God (first appearing, respectively, in Exodus 15:2 and in Genesis 14:18); and
(2) the last two letters of each Name of God, to wit: וה, are identical.
Accordingly, due to these similarities in function and structure, I was initially inclined to believe that the Name of God יהוה would most likely be pronounced with the same vocalization as the Name of God אלוה, traditionally pronounced as Eloah. If so, this would render the pronunciation of the Name of God יהוה as “Yehoah” -- a Name that projects Power and evokes Awe. Moreover, this pronunciation of the Name incorporates sounds from all three tenses of the third person singular form of להיות, to wit: Yeh (from the future tense: יהיה yiyeh), Ho (from the present tense: הווה hoveh), and Ah (from the past tense: היה hayah).
Moreover, the diacritical marks employed to reveal the pronunciation of theophoric names in the Hebrew Bible that begin with the letters יהו (being the first three letters and constituting the first two syllables of the Name of God יהוה) support my hypothesized pronunciation of the Tetragram. For example, the theophoric name יְהוֹשָׁפָט (rendered into the English language as “Jehoshaphat”, meaning: “God has judged”, in 1 Kings 15:24) employs diacritical marks dictating that the name be transliterated and thereby be pronounced as “Yehoshafat”, meaning that the יהו portion of the name is pronounced in the Hebrew language as Yeho.
However, then I recalled the following passage from the Hebrew Bible concerning the fateful encounter between God and the Prophet Elijah on Mount Horeb:
“And He [God] said [to Elijah], ‘Go out [from the cave] and stand on the mountain [i.e., Mount Horeb] before HaShem’; and behold, [Elijah perceived] HaShem passing by, and a great and powerful Wind, smashing mountains and breaking boulders, before HaShem; [but he realized that] HaShem is not in the Wind; and after the Wind, an Earthquake, [but he realized that] God is not in the Earthquake. And, after the Earthquake, a Fire, [but he realized that] HaShem is not in the Fire; and after the Fire, a quiet slender Voice. And it happened that when Elijah heard [this Voice], he wrapped his face in his cloak, and he went out and stood by the entrance of the cave; and, behold, [there appeared] unto him a Voice saying, ‘Why are you here, Elijah?’”
(I Kings 19:11-13)
And I thought that perhaps the Name of God יהוה is not intended to project Power or evoke Awe. Instead, perhaps this second-revealed Name is intended to represent the quiet slender Voice of God that Elijah encountered on Mount Horeb. Perhaps, by the earlier Equation of His Name אהיה with His Name יהוה, God meant to convey to the Jewish people that the Name of God יהוה is supposed to be pronounced with the same vocalization as the Name of God אהיה, traditionally pronounced as Eheyeh. If so, this would render the pronunciation of the Name of God יהוה as “Yeheweh” -- a Name that ends in a Whisper.
And there is yet another possibility. Perhaps, like Quantum Theory (which seeks to explain the duality of the subatomic object, sometimes presenting itself as a particle and sometimes presenting itself as a wave), the Name of God יהוה exists as an Aural Duality, being sometimes pronounceable as “Yehoah” and sometimes pronounceable as “Yeheweh”.
Obviously, no one can know whether “Yehoah” and/or “Yeheweh” (or any other theorized pronunciation) is correct.
Perhaps, when the Messiah comes, he will enlighten us. May it be so!
© Mark Rosenblit