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Why "G-d" instead of "God"?

rosends

rosends

Well-Known Member
BTW, in term of "names" there are "names" of G-d in Judaism of 4, 12 and even a 70 letter name. In fact, some say that every Hebrew word is a "name" of G-d and that every combination of any Hebrew letters is a name, and that the entire text of the written Torah is one long name. Clearly, "name" is not used in the same way as "personal name".

jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/322/322_Namesgo2.pd
 
H

Harmonious

Well-Known Member
Ingledsva said:
What? The letters are in the text holding the name place, not the word tetragrammaton.

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I think we're having a disconnect.

The four letters ARE God's ineffable name. And the four letters are the Tetragrammaton. The letters are not a "name place". Anything we have that is not specifically the Tetragrammaton IS a name place.
 
Ingledsva

Ingledsva

HEATHEN ALASKAN
rosends said:
To understand what this verse means, you should study the precise Hebrew -- here is the explanation from about 1000 years ago:

It is not written here לֹא הוֹדַעְךְתִּי, “but My Name YHWH I did not make known to them,” but לֹא נוֹדַעְךְתִּי, “I did not become known.” [I.e.,] I was not recognized by them with My attribute of keeping faith, by dint of which My name is called YHWH, [which means that I am] faithful to verify My words, for I made promises to them, but I did not fulfill [them while they were alive].
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That just makes it - by my name YHVH I did not become known (to them)

It still says the name is YHVH.
 
rosends

rosends

Well-Known Member
Ingledsva said:
That just makes it - by my name YHVH I did not become known (to them)

It still says the name is YHVH.
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But, as the commentary explains, it refers to a trait, not a name "was not recognized by them with My attribute of keeping faith, by dint of which My name is called YHWH, [which means that I am] faithful to verify My words."
What the text calls a "name" is a title reflecting an attribute.
 
Ingledsva

Ingledsva

HEATHEN ALASKAN
rosends said:
But, as the commentary explains, it refers to a trait, not a name "was not recognized by them with My attribute of keeping faith, by dint of which My name is called YHWH, [which means that I am] faithful to verify My words."
What the text calls a "name" is a title reflecting an attribute.
Click to expand...

The Rabbinic page I read did not agree with that.

It said YHVH was a form of the name of God, without being disrespectful by using the whole actual name.

And Harmonious said -"The four letters ARE God's ineffable name. ..."

I'm getting confused. Your Rabbis don't agree on this?

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rosends

rosends

Well-Known Member
Ingledsva said:
The Rabbinic page I read did not agree with that.

It said YHVH was a form of the name of God, without being disrespectful by using the whole actual name.

And Harmonious said -"The four letters ARE God's ineffable name. ..."

I'm getting confused. Your Rabbis don't agree on this?

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No, the rabbis agree. The question is what you mean when you say "name." The 4 letters are a "name" of G-d, but not a personal name -- a label for a certain aspect. God is infinite -- no single combination of letters can describe him completely. o there are combinations of letters which call forth traits and facets. The commentator points out that the forefathers didn't have an aspect of faithfulness revealed to them so in that sense they didn't know that "name".
 
Ingledsva

Ingledsva

HEATHEN ALASKAN
rosends said:
No, the rabbis agree. The question is what you mean when you say "name." The 4 letters are a "name" of G-d, but not a personal name -- a label for a certain aspect. God is infinite -- no single combination of letters can describe him completely. o there are combinations of letters which call forth traits and facets. The commentator points out that the forefathers didn't have an aspect of faithfulness revealed to them so in that sense they didn't know that "name".
Click to expand...

That is where I am confused because the page I visited implied that the four letters were part of the Name of God - with letters left out so as not to announce the actual name. They did not say it was a descriptive of aspects.

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rosends

rosends

Well-Known Member
Ingledsva said:
That is where I am confused because the page I visited implied that the four letters were part of the Name of God - with letters left out so as not to announce the actual name. They did not say it was a descriptive of aspects.

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This is how Jewish sites use the word "name". G-d has no singular and personal name to the exclusion of other names. There are combinations that have mystical significance and call forth elements of G-d's "personality" but none is a name over another. The combination of the 4 letters is a significant set of letters which refers to G-d's attribute of mercy.
 
Ingledsva

Ingledsva

HEATHEN ALASKAN
Harmonious said:
I'm curious now. What site did you find that says this?
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I have no idea - it was years ago.

Jewish Encyclopedia says the tetragrammaton YHVH, was the original name of God

"The Tetragrammaton is the ancient Israelitish name for God. According to actual count, it occurs 5,410 times in the Bible, ..."

"The avoidance of the original name of God both in speech and, to a certain extent, in the Bible was due, according to Geiger ("Urschrift," p. 262), to a reverence which shrank from the utterance of the Sublime Name; and it may well be that such a reluctance first arose in a foreign, and hence in an "unclean" land, very possibly, therefore, in Babylonia."

TETRAGRAMMATON - JewishEncyclopedia.com

"When the Rabbis say that before the world was created there was only God and His name they call attention to the special nature of this name and how it differs from all the other names for God. The other names are derived from God’s acts in the world and therefore could only have come into being after the world had been created. But the Tetragrammaton indicates God’s essence and was therefore in being before the world was created."

The Tetragrammaton - My Jewish Learning

Both articles also go into the longer names, and magic, and mysticism.


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JacobEzra.

JacobEzra.

Dr. Greenthumb
Yeah, i always thought it was the name of god. Hence the not saying it.

I learn something fascinating on this site everytime.
 
wizanda

wizanda

One Accepts All Religious Texts
Premium Member
What a confused ideology....:confused:

YHVH is a name, the same as we find in the Canaanite belief (it was possibly borrowed from); with El as the head of the pantheon, as we clearly find mentioned within the Bible as well.

The Bible on most occasions uses two words to refer to 'YHVH + Elohim', which would indicate YHVH is the name of an Elohim. :innocent:

G_d would imply you're trying to use the word as a name, which can't be spoken; yet in doing so, you're implying it is a name, which would then confuse the matter more, by making it the name of another deity. :rolleyes:
 
Rick O'Shez

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
wizanda said:
G_d would imply you're trying to use the word as a name, which can't be spoken; yet in doing so, you're implying it is a name, which would then confuse the matter more, by making it the name of another deity. :rolleyes:
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So "G-d" can be written ( sort of ), but not spoken?
 
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