Page 101 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
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two perceptions of the conduct of the Divine: “Thus said the Lord: “If I create
the world with a measure of mercy—sin increases; with a meaure of absolute
justice—how could the world stand? Therefore I will create it with a measure of
absolute justice and a measure of mercy, and hopefully the world would stand”
(Midrash Rabbah , Bereshit, chapter 12).
The issue of the “true” name of God reappears repeatedly in the Bible. In the

episode where God delivers Moses his mission to save the people of Israel from
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Egyptian bondage, the Bible tells us, “And Moses said to Elohim [God], Behold,
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when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, Elohim [God] of
your forefathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is his name?
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what shall I say to them? And Elohim [God] said to Moses, “I will be that which
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I will be” [Eheyeh asher Eheyeh ]: and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children
of Israel, “I will be” [Eheyeh] has sent me to you” (Exod. 3:13, 14). And in the
next verse, we read, “this is my name for ever and this is my memorial for all gen-
erations to come” (Exod. 3:15). Later the issue of the true name of God resurfaces
when God says to Moses, “I was seen to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the

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name of God Almighty [El Shadai ], and by my name, Jehovah , I was not known

to them” (Exod. 6:3).
Jewish prophets also make repeated reference to the name of God. For exam-
ple, “I am Jehovah this is my name” (Isa. 32:8); “For the sake of my name I will

restrain my anger” (Isa. 48:9); “And they would know that my name is Jehovah”
(Jer. 16:21).
The various names of God, and God’s various forms of conduct as revealed to
humans, have been the subject of much discussion in Jewish scholarship, and the
topic is too vast to address here in any detail. In this section, we discuss only the
most sacred name, Jehovah .
This name is never explicitly pronounced by observant Jews either in the
reading of Scripture or in recitation of prayers. In these cases, the Divine Name
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is pronounced as Adonai (same vocalization as Jehovah , meaning “my master”),
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while in everyday speech, the name Hashem (the Name) is used. Whenever the
Divine Name is written in nonsacred documents, like in dictionaries, the double

letter I.I (two yods), a double repeat of the first letter in the Divine Name, stands
for Jehovah.
Only the high priest of the temple is allowed to pronounce the Divine Name in
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the temple, and then only in the most sacred festivity of the year, at Yom Kippur
(Day of Repentance) and then only in the Holy of Holies.
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The Divine Name, Yehovah, is in Hebrew a compilation of mystery upon
mystery. We will attempt to expose these mysteries in this chapter. However, prior
to doing that, we repeat an alert already given in the preface: one may be inclined
to relate to the pursuing coincidences as play tricks. The statistical analyses,