CWJah Talk #8: Why "Jah"? A Discussion of the Least Controversial Form of the Divine Name

#DivineName
#Jah
#NameofGod

A live discussion about biblical and other ancient texts involving the use and pronunciation of the biblical God's name, specifically, the shortest form the Divine Name, "Jah," in relation to the following ten (10) items:

1) The Divine Name Jah (Hebrew: YH; Greek: IA) occurs as a stand-alone name forty-nine (49) times in the Hebrew “Old Testament” text;

2) The Greek transliteration of the three-letter form of the divine name (Hebrew: YHW) is “IAO” (iota, alpha, omega) occurs twice in fragmentary remains of one of the earliest examples of a Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the "Septuagint" (or LXX). It is a Dead Sea Scroll text known as 4QLXXLevb (dated to the first century BCE) and it uses IAO in Leviticus 3:12 and in Leviticus 4:27; this Greek form IAO contains the Divine Name “IA”;

3) IAO also occurs in the writings of Diodorus Siculus (c. 30 BCE), who completed a famous “Library of History” in which he writes that among the Jews #Moses “referred his laws to the god who is invoked as Iao” (1.94.2 in the LCL series of Diodorus’ works, vol. 1; p. 321; this reference from Diodorus is also cited by #JustinMartyr (died c. 165 CE) in his Hortatory Address to the Greeks (see ANF 1, chap. 9, page 277);

4) In his Commentary on John, #Origen (c. 185-c. 253 CE) explains the meaning of “Jeremiah” as meteorismos Iao, or, “Iao means ‘lifting up.’” The forms IAO and IAOIA (= IAO + IA) also derive support from the possible readings of Contra Celsus 6.32, where Origen refers to those involved in the magical arts who took the name IAO or IAOIA “from the Hebrew scriptures,” and that it is the “name used by the Hebrews”;

5) Early #onomastica (sources to explain words and expressions), such as P.Oxy 2745, published as an “Onomasticon of Hebrew Names” in The #OxyrhynchusPapyri, vol. 36 (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1970), page 3, use IAO. In this papyrus it is used eight (8) times in a column that provides “an etymological interpretation” of #OldTestament Hebrew names translated into Greek. This portion of the papyrus is dated to the third century CE and it is likely the product of a Jewish or Christian scribe since, in addition to the use of IAO throughout, the Greek word for “God” is contracted in column B, line 5, in what is known as a nomen sacrum;

6) IA (“Jah”) is represented by Origen in the fifth column of his #Hexapla (produced between 230 and 240 CE) in Psalm 67(68):5;

7) #Aquila, (early to middle second century CE) uses IA (“Jah”) in his translations of Psalm 67(68):5 and Isaiah 12:2;

8) #Symmachus, (middle to late second century CE) uses IA (“Jah”) in his translations of Psalm 67(68):5 and Isaiah 12:2;

9) #Theodoret, (c. 393-c. 468) wrote, “The Samaritans pronounce [the divine name] ‘Iabe’ [IABE], but the Jews pronounce it ‘Ia’ [IA].”—Natalio Fernández Marcos and Angel Sáenz-Badillos, Theodoreti Cyrensis Quaestiones in Octateuchum (Madrid, 1979), page 112 (15.17-18);

10) YH, IA (“Jah”) is also used in the expression #Hallelujah in both the Old and #NewTestament. There are four continuing occurrences of the divine name IA in the the New Testament book of Revelation Chapter 19, in verses 1, 3, 4, 6. Notice the parallelism between Revelation 19’s use of IA with texts such as Psalm 135:3: “Praise Jah [halelu+YH], for Jehovah [YHWH] is good. Make melody to his name, for it is pleasant.”

See the following links for more information on the use and the pronunciation of the different forms of the #DivineName:

1) http://elihubooks.blogspot.com/2011/0...

2) http://elihubooks.blogspot.com/2012/0...