Hi Jack, I tend to agree that in the pre-exilic, first temple, period YHWH was fully pronounced, though it is impossible to determine the vocalization now. The way it is used in the Lakhish and Arad letters, for instance, seems to support this, but does prove it. On the other hand, I think that the spelling of theophoric additions can not help here since names like Yehonatan are also spelled Yonatan in quite a few chapters in the text. As if to emphasize this point the two forms appear in one verse 1 Sam. 19:1!
Similarly are Yoram and Yehoram, Yoaxaz and Yehoaxaz and others. That a diachronic factor was involved in these slight variations is possible. Such a factor becomes definite in the extra-biblical suffixes -yahu and -yah which you asked about. The former appear exclusively in pre-exilic inscriptional evidence, the latter in post-exilic. This process is also in evidence in the text; compare the difference between the prophets' names Yishayahu, Yirmiyahu and the much later Ts'fanyah, Zekharyah . Unilke the uniform evidence from archaeological findings, the shift in the HB text is gradual, and not consistent as fits in much edited material. There is quite a literature on the subject. I follow Richard Hess and Avi Hurvitz (no relation) among others. George Athas, I Think, does not. And you had another good question - when was the tetragammaton considered too holy to be pronounced? Perhaps a clue that YHWH was considered different from other words can be found in those instances when it was written in some Dead Sea Scrolls in the old paleo -Hebrew script as against the accepted Aramaic script in general use in the rest of the scrolls. In Egypt, it was said about one of the highest gods, Amun, that his name should not be pronounced. Best, Uri Hurwitz Hi Uri I have always been interested in the custom of theophorics and what appears to be a pattern. During the 1st temple period, there was no problem voicing the name of God. When the theophoric was a prefix to a name, it appears to have been יְהֹו "Yeho" (yod-tsere) such as Yeho-shua, Yeho-nathan, Yeho-sef, Yeho-Yakhin, and as a suffix, Yirmi-yahu, Yesha-yahu, Hizqi-yahu. Inscriptions on bullae or LMLK impressions reveal the full suffix theophoric, i.e. חִזְקִיָּהוּ hzqyhw while the Biblical translations are "HezekYAH. I think the 2nd temple prohibition on the Shem haMeforash resulted in truncations, such as Ye-shua for Yehoshua, Yo-sef for Yeho-sef, Yesha-ya for Yesha-yahu (Isaiah). Does anyone else see this pattern for theophoric use and its altered praxis post-exilic? Does the prefix YE-ho and suffix YA-hu tell us anything about the actual voicing of YHWH? Jack Kilmon _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
