THE NAME OF GOD AND THE WORD "LORD"

The book of Ruth shows in Ruth 2:4 that in Israel it was totally usual, at least in the time of the Judges, to use God's name in everyday speech. Ruth 2:4 reads: "And look! Boaz came from Bethlehem and proceeded to say to the harvesters: "OUOI be with you." In turn they would say to him: "OUOI bless you."" But the law of OUOI in Exodus 20:7 not to take up the name of OUOI their God in a worthless way, was the reason for the Jews after a certain time to be very strict in not pronouncing God's name openly. They stopped using God's name in the everyday language and eventually didn't use God's name at all. But they faced a problem: God's word was regularly read in public and this word contains the name of God. How did they solve that problem? Instead of reading OUOI they simply read the word "Adonai" or sometimes "Elohim" and even forbade to use OUOI at all. They even were stoned when they read using OUOI. "Adonai" means "Lord". "Elohim" means "mighty God" or only "God". "Elohim" was used to avoid an "Adonai Adonai", when "Lord OUOI" was written in the text.

This reminds us of the Baal worship in Israel, because "Baal" means "Lord" exactly as "Adonai" (5) does. This exaggerated position toward the name of God lateron was the reason that the Septuagint Version was revised though originally it did contain the name of God (6). This name of God was replaced at all places with "Kyrios" meaning "Lord" or "Theos" meaning "God". The same happened lateron with the New Testament because this attitude toward the name of God influenced the thinking of the early Christians. Here the name of God was substituted with "Kyrios" or "ho Kyrios" and "Theos" or "ho Theos" (meaning "Lord" or "the Lord" and "God" or "the God").

The common Bible in medieval ages was the Vulgate. There a "Dominus" was used meaning "Lord". That was the reason why Dr. Martin Luther didn't use God's name in his German translation of the Bible, but only a "HErr" with two capital letters. Luther's translation of "Lord OUOI" is quite ridiculous. He only wrote "Herr HErr", once with one capital and three small letters and once with two capital letters. Most of the other translations into the ordinary languages of the different countries followed Luther's example. Thus the English "Lord" instead of "OUOI" was established in the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity confirmed this modern Baal worship. Since the New Testament often refers to Jesus as "the Lord" or as "Lord Jesus" all "Lord"-appearances in the Old Testament were understood as references to Jesus being "the same" as OUOI, being God Almighty himself.

It took a long time until eventually some translators brought God's name back into the Bibles. They often used "Jehovah" which is a mixture between "Adonai" and "OUOI" (= JHVH) (compare Ecclesiastes 10:1). The JHVH-characters OUOI were equipped with vowel points in the Hebrew of the Massorets, which were the vowel points of "Adonai". This should remind all readers, to read "Adonai" here and not "OUOI". The starting A of "Adonai" was weakened into an slight E, a Shwa-sound of E (7). Thus in medieval times the reading "Jehovah" appeared. The word "Jehovah" then often was further simplified into "Jehova" (German; without final h) or even into "Geova" (Italian) or similar mutilations until nearly nothing of the original Tetragrammaton was left.

The translators of the Bible especially hesitated when God's name in the New Testament was concerned. Only some translators used it at some very few places, especially when quotations of the Old Testament urged them to do so. The New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses then referred to all these courageous translators, and adopted the usage of God's name in all of these places in the New Testament. But they hardly found places by themselves where God's name still has to be restored in the New Testament. Thus in the New World Translation God's name reappears 237 times in the New Testament. Obviously these are too few. My personal guess is that God's name originally appeared around 1000 times in the New Testament.

Now a short look at the word "Jehovah": This word "Jehovah" originally was a totally unwanted word that developed unintentionally because at a certain point in time it wasn't understood any longer that the vowel points from OuOi only point to the necessary reading of "Adonai". Never a joining of "JHVH" with the vowels of "Adonai" was intended. So we owe the word "Jehovah" to the ignorance of some unknown medieval theologians. Thus the word "Jehovah" actually is an error or an oversight (8). Of course it is scientifically correct to declare: Nobody claims that it was necessary to use "Yirmeyahu" instead of "Jeremiah" or "Yehoshua" instead of "Jesus". The purpose of names in the Bible and especially in the worldwide translation of the Bible was to transmit the sense, namely to make clear who was meant. With "Jehovah" no doubt the creator and heavenly father was meant. But from a religious standpoint it is necessary to point to Jesus' command to sanctify God's name in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9). God's name must be sanctified.

No other name in the Bible deserves such a high attention and esteem. No other name should be sanctified. Not even Jesus' name is to be sanctified (9). Is it a true sanctification of the name of the heavenly father when an error-word is used, when a mixture-word between "JHVH" and "Adonai" is used - which has the same meaning as Baal (Baal = Bel = Baal Zebub =Beelzebub = Devil)?

Another argument in the religious literature is that "Jehovah" seems to be the traditionally more widely known word and worldwide the more introduced word. "Yahweh" seems to be unknown compared to "Jehovah". But it is a matter of fact that today in all lexicons, schools, universities, common literature and even the media the word "Yahweh" is used and made known worldwide (10). "Yahweh" is already known even to many children who know that the name of God is "Yahweh" and not "Jehovah". At least that is my experience here in Germany. Today the term "Yahweh" is generally accepted, it is known and wide-spread, whereas the term "Jehovah"  is being refused and ridiculed.

Some argue that the scientists are not 100% unanimous in supporting "Yahweh". They say it seems only reasonable to use " Yahweh" when all scientists agree. Of course there will be different opinions at all times in all sciences. It is a matter of fact, however, that the large majority prefer "Yahweh" (11). Of course "Yahweh" was certainly not the only pronunciation of God's name ever used, as I will show in my book as well. But there are some unmistakable proofs that Yahweh indeed was used in old times.

Let's keep in mind how the prophet Elijah killed 450 persons who stood for the worship of Baal (1 Kings 18:17-40). What would Elijah do today to all those who stand for the worship of a "Lord" (which has the same meaning as "Baal"), of an "Adonai", a "Herr" or a "Herrgott" (German), of a "Seigneur" (French), of a "Rab" (Turkish), of a "Dominus", "Kyrios" etc.. What would Elijah do today to all those who stand for a mixture-god "Jehovah", mixing "Lord" with "JHVH". What would Elijah do today to all those who replace God's name with "Eternal One", "der Ewige", der "ER" (Martin Buber), a custom that Jews already developed in Jesus' time, according to Mark 14:61 ("the Blessed One"). What would Elijah do to all those who worship a god who has three heads, a trinity god, making father, son and holy spirit three persons equally holy and equally almighty, thus attributing the word "Lord" to God and Son interchangeably?

But let us leave all these religious aspects. It is not the purpose of my book to make a decision about what was religiously right or wrong. It is the task of religious leaders (12) to decide what god they want to worship - a trinity God or an "Adonai" or a "Jehovah" or a "Yahweh". My book is intended to be a scientific one. Some outlooks on religious aspects of God's name might be allowed, but I don't want to force any religious rules into any religion. The purpose of my book is merely to present some newly detected phenomena in the text of the Bible to the scientific world.

(6) Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 882-884, heading: Jehovah, subheading: When did the superstition take hold?

(7) compare: Prof. R. K. Harrison: Teach Yourself Hebrew, The English University Press, London 1957, p. 45

Compare also: Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 882-885, heading: Jehovah, subheading: Correct pronunciation of the Divine Name

Compare also: Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 2, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania 1988, p. 7, subheading: What is the proper pronunciation of God's name?

(8) Compare: "The Watchtower", 1963, December 15, p. 761,762, Bible Translation That Honors God. Compare also: "The Watchtower", 1960, August 1, p. 455, Not Forgetting the Name of God.

 (9) Compare: Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 891, heading: Jehovah, subheading: God's primary purpose: His Name's sanctification.

(10)  Compare also: "The Watchtower", 1960, August 1, p. 455, Not Forgetting the Name of God. Compare also: The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Foreword.

(11)  Compare: "The Watchtower", 1980, February 1, p. 6,7, Does God Have a Name? Why "Yahweh"?

(12)  Compare: "The Watchtower", 1953, September 1, p. 532, Walk in the Name of Jehovah Our God for Ever, paragraph 13.