Yahweh in an Amorite name of 1796 BCE


by koot van wyk    Seoul South Korea  13 December 2008


Yahweh as name was the topic of David N. Freedman in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament V: 500-521.


The article is comprehensive and well presented. He convinces the readers with good sources of some points:


Yahweh can take on various forms:


a. yo-    (Freedman TDOTOT V: 501 b)


b. yeho- (idem)


c. yahu- (idem)


d. yah- (idem)


e. yhwh (Mesha Stone; Lachish Letters; Khirbet el-Qom inscription; Kuntillat `Ajrut; Arad; Khirbet Beit Lei)


f. yhw (Aramaic papyri)


g. yhh (papyrus and ostraca)


h. yhw (Elephantine letter 410 BCE) (also in the 9th century BCE [Freedman V: 506 b.1.]).


i. yh (Lachish incense altar but dubious, so Freedman V: 505)


j. ia-u-  (Assyrian form of Ahaz name; also Hezekiah's name [Freedman V: 508 2)


k. ia-a-u (Assyrian form of Azariah's name; also a near form of a variant of Hezekiah's name [Freedman V: 508 footnote 108])


l. ia-a-h-u (Murashu firm and sons of Nippur [Freedman V: 508-509])


m. ia-a-hu (variants at the Murashu firm 5th century BCE)


n. ia-a-wa (final element in names at Murashu firm)


o. yhw[3] (Egyptian for the "land of the Shasu-yhw" [Freedman V: 510 at 4a]). Date is the time of Amenhotep III 1402-1363 BCE with the entry: t3 s3swyhw[3].

van wyk notes: Moses died according to strict MT chronology in 1411 BCE. The example is close to the time of Moses.


p. y-h-wi (Cross) or y(a)hw(e) (Albright) for the lists from Amenhotep III and Rameses III (Freedman V: 510 4b).


q. yw (Ugaritic KTU 1.1 IV, 14f)


r. 'hyw (Nabatean, see Gazelles in Freedman V: 511)


s. ya-wi (Verbal form hwy added to divine name as Amorite name [Freedman V: 511]).


t. ya-ah-wi ("These names have been associated with the Tetragrammaton but should probably be derived from the root hwy "live").


Van wyk notes:


1. Root yes, but it also could be the Tetragrammaton since the name Yahweh was the God of the fathers Abraham, Izaac and Jacob. The MT chronology date for the death of Joseph is 1880 BCE.


2. There are nearly 20 different renderings by scholars of this root.


3. Jochebed, the mother of Moses also had Yahweh attached to her name before the birth of Moses.


4. Now that we are more accustomed to the variations in form of the Yahweh in both Biblical and Extra-biblical material, it is very attractive to connect ya-ah-wi with Yahweh something this researcher is willing to do but Freedman not:

"Thus Amorite contains a verb form remarkably similar to the reconstruction of the Tetragrammaton, but there is no reason to "identify" the two (Freedman V: 512).

Observation: The reason is possible to supply from the same source as where all the other identifications in Freedman's article come from.


5. Although Freedman did not cite the pre-1796 BCE example of F. Delitzsh in his Babel and Bible 1902: 60-61, it is strongly possible that one can render that name as "yahweh is God" as Delitzsch did but Freedman et al refrain from doing.


6. An investigation of the cuneiform signs ia-ah-ve-ilu in Delitzsch 1902 reading indicate that E. Forrer would have rendered it with his 1922 signlist for Hittite and Babylonian as ia-ah-va-ilu and A. Tsukimoto would probably with his Emarite Late Bronze equivalents for the individual signs come up very near to ia-[?]-wa-ilu (comparison was made with his 1992 texts from Emar).


7. Problem with Freedman's presentation:


In a nutshell, the problem with Freedman's presentation is this:


a. When a word is a quarter of the full word Yahweh, it can still be Yahweh.

b. When a word is half of the word Yahweh it can still be Yahweh.

c. When a word is three quarters of the word for Yahweh, it is still Yahweh.

d. When the word is exactly the same as Yahweh, it is still Yahweh.

e. When an Amorite name is "remarkably close to the Tetragrammaton" or Yahweh, it is not Yahweh.


End item