Dear Uri, Your comments are well taken and may be true. My point was not that there is no connection between HYH in Exodus 3:14 and YHWH in v 15, but rather that if YHWH represents a verb HWH, there are no clues in the context to connect the verb HYH with the supposed verb HWH. So if there is a connection, we cannot know what it is.
Best regards Rolf Furuli Stavern Norway Mandag 10. Juni 2013 00:43 CEST skrev Uri Hurwitz <[email protected]>: > Dear Rolph > Your question is a good one: " One problem for > such a claim is that the verb in v. 14 is HYH, and > if YHWH is a verb form, the root is HWH. If the > writer wanted to explain YHWH, would he not have > used the same root in his explanation ( in v. 14 > ) as in the name (v. 15)? " > > A possible answer is: when the author wrote these > verses the original meaning of deity's name YHWH was > forgotten, and the standard verb for 'to be' was > pronounced and written with a Yud. However, the > ancient author derived this divine name from HWH, > because of the similarity. Most modern scholars are > doing the exact same thing today. The ancient author > then used the language of his time, including verbs derived from the root > HYH, to explain it. > > Nevertheless the author was not sure of the meaning of YHWH > and thus wrote the enigmatic v. 14. > > I too am not sure that our understanding of the > name YHWH is better now, in the twenty first century, > than it was in this pre-exilic text. But that of course > is a different subject. > By the time this biblical passage was written , there > was a clear split between Judean Hebrew and Aramaic. > Cf. the language of Gezer and of the recently > discovered Kh .Qeiyafa inscriptions - more than a > century older that Tel Deir-'Ala. The great influence > of Aramaic on biblical writing was to come later. > > Best, > > Uri Hurwitz Wilmington, . VT > > > > , > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > b-hebrew mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
