Ron Rhodes vs Jehovah
Jehovah, Yahweh or LORD?
Excerpt from the book, The
Complete Book of Bible Answers by Ron Rhodes, on page 59, when asked
"Does the fact that the word 'Trinity' is not in the Bible mean the
doctrine is unbiblical?" To answer this in the negative, Ron Rhodes, the
Bible Answer Man, puts himself at odd with the Bible, God, and common sense.
Actually, it is a great many people that hold that the Trinity is not in the
Bible?
Click here for more.
To follow up with
this, Ron Rhodes drops a whopper, "A good response to them is to point out
that the word Jehovah does not appear as such in the Bible."
Is this really so? On page
67 Ron Rhodes has to admit that the name Jehovah is used in some legitimate
translations such as the American Standard Version and the King James Version.
So which is it? Is it in the Bible or isn't it? It may seem that the Bible
Answer Man is the subject of Romans 10:2,3, "For
I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to
knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to
establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of
God."
In fact, as I have constantly shown, the Jehovah/Yahweh is rendered in many
many Bibles, as can be seen at http://hector3000.future.easyspace.com/jhvh.htm
and
http://hector3000.future.easyspace.com/yhwh.htm
and
http://hector3000.future.easyspace.com/jehovah.htm
Let us examine Ron's argument further:
"In fact, the word Jehovah does not appear does not appear in any
legitimate Hebrew or Greek manuscripts of the Bible."
Does Ron know of any
illegitimate Hebrew or Greek manuscripts of the Bible that do contain the name
Jehovah? The fact is, even the name "Jesus" does not appear in any
Hebrew or Greek manuscripts of the Bible. Why? Because Jesus is an Anglicized
form of the Hebrew word Yeshua or Yehoshua and the Greek word Iesous. So, in
this vein, the word Jehovah does not appear in Hebrew or Greek manuscripts of
the Bible just as EVERY OTHER NAME in the Bible does not appear in Hebrew or
Greek manuscripts of the Bible. The Bible was not written in English, simply
put. The Bibles that
But let's move on. The best way to determine Bible
pronunciations by looking at how the Bible renders other names with the same
letters. How does the Bible use other names that incorporate part of the
Divine Name?
Here are Bible names that use the 1st part of the Divine Name:
Jehoaddah (literally YEHOADDA)
Jehoaddan (literally YEHOADDAN)
Jehoahaz (literally YEHOAHAZ)
Jehoash (literally YEHOAS)
Jehohanan (literally YEHOHANAN)
Jehoiachin (literally YEHOYAKIN)
Jehoiada (literally YEHOYADA)
Jehoiakim (literally YEHOYAQIM)
Jehoiarib (literally YEHOYARIB)
Jehonadab (literally YEHONADAB)
Jehonathan (literally YEHONATAN)
Jehoram (literally YEHORAM)
Jehoshabeath (literally YEHOSABAT)
Jehoshaphat (literally YEHOSAPAT)
Jehosheba (literally YEHOSEBA)
Jehoshua (literally YEHOSUA)
Jehozabad (literally YEHOZABAD)
Jehozadak (literally YEHOSADAQ)
The words above, starting
with "J" are the ones that we have in pretty well all English Bibles.
But none of these words are in the Hebrew Bible, according to the same
reasoning that Ron Rhodes uses. None of the above words that start with
"J" appear in any Hebrew or Greek manuscript. In fact, neither are
the literal renderings, since they are transliterations. Why? Because Hebrew is
Hebrew, and English is English.
But what about words the end with the latter element of the Divine Name? Here
are some that are:
Puvah
Kibbroth-Hattaavah
Ivvah
Ishvah
Hodevah
Chavvah
Alvah
(I am indebted to the excellent book The Divine Name Controversy by Firpo W.
Carr, Ph.D. for some of the above information...see also Petrus Galatinus', De
arcanis catholicae veritatis,
As we can see, Jehovah is an acceptable form of the Tetragrammaton in the English
language, in fact, it is more acceptable the oft transliterated Yahweh. Francis
B. Denio, who studied and taught Hebrew for 40 years
says:
"Jehovah misrepresents Yahweh no more that Jeremiah misrepresents
Yirmeyahu. The settled connotation of Isaiah and Jeremiah forbid questioning
their right. Usage has given them the connotations proper for designating the
personalities which these words represent. Much the same is true of Jehovah. It
is not barbarism. It has already many of the connotations needed for the proper
name of the covenant God of Israel. There is no other word which can faintly
compare with it. For centuries it has been gathering these connotations. No
other word approaches this name in fullness of associations required. The use
of any other word falls so far short of the proper ideas that it is a serious
blemish in a translation." On the Use of the Word Jehovah, JBL 46, 1927,
147-148
Notice the very interesting
statements in the Catholic Encyclopedia
(1913) (http://www.newadvent.org)
"Jehovah (Yahweh): The
proper name of God in the Old Testament; hence the Jews called it the name by
excellence, the great name, the only name,....
Finally, the word is found even in the "Pugio fidei" of Raymund Martin,
a work written about 1270 (ed. Paris,
What of Michaelis? Johann
David Michaelis in his German translation of the Old Testament of the
eighteenth century...said in part: "On the other hand, the name Jehovah [ Jehova in German] is used. . . . so I considered it to be a matter of integrity in translation
to identify it, even though it might not always be pleasing to the German
ear." ....Several of my friends insisted that I not at all insert this
foreign word. . . . Jehovah is a Nomen Proprium, and, just as properly as I
retain other nomina propria [such as] Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...
In the translation of a classical author one would not have the slightest
hesitance toward the use of the names Jupiter, Apollo [and] Diana; and why then
should the name of the Only True God sound more offensive? I do not therefore
see why I should not use the name Jehovah in the German Bible."
"How God's Name Was
Pronounced
Biblical Archaeology Review, Mar./Apr. 1995 Volume 21
Number 2; page 30:
"1) Among the magical papyri the name appears as IAWOUHE
(Ya-oh-oo-ay-eh), but it is difficult to know how much this pronunciation had
to do with the Tetragrammaton...so it is not certain how many of these
syllables were thought to belong to the name. At least, however, it has more
syllables than two, and the central vowel is not omitted, as is done in
Yah-weh.
"2)
Clement of Alexandria spelled the Tetragrammaton IAOAI (Ya-oo-ai), IAOE
(Ya-oo-eh), and IAO (Ya-oh). In none of these is the central oo or oh vowel
omitted.
"3) Rabbis often
deduced the meaning of a word by taking the word apart and interpreting each
part...By this logic Clement argued that the Tetragrammaton had the same
consonants as the verb "to be," so it meant the one who caused things
to be, but he did not pronounce the word
according to any form of that verb. His conjecture was homiletic ally thought
provoking, but not scientifically or historically correct...Reams of paper and
gallons of ink have been expended over the years justifying a pronunciation
Westerners deduced on the basis of Clement's conjecture. It may all be
irrelevant to the subject....The word spelled Ya-hoo or Ya-hoh may have been
pronounced Yahowah or Yahoowah, but in no case is the vowel oo or oh omitted.
The word was sometimes abbreviated as "Ya," but never as
"Ya-weh." This can be illustrated further by studying the proper
names of the Bible that were based on the
Tetragrammaton....Yah-ho-na-than..."Yaho-cha-nan"...Eli-yahoo
...Anyone who cares to check the concordances will find that there is no name
in the entire Scriptures that includes the
Tetragrammaton and also omits the vowel that is left out in the two-syllable
pronunciation Rainey upholds.
"There is still one
other clue to the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton— Hebrew poetry. For
example, from the poem of Exodus 15, read aloud verses 1, 3, 6, 11, 17 and 18,
first pronouncing the Tetragrammaton as "Yahweh" and then read it
again, pronouncing the same
word as "Yahowah." Notice the rhyme and poetic beat of the two. In
this way the reader can judge which one is the more likely pronunciation used
in antiquity.
"The name
"Yahowah" is not a ghost word, as Rainey declared. Clement of
Nevertheless, he spelled the Tetragrammaton in Greek employing the central
vowel that Rainey omitted in his determination that the proper name was
Yahweh....
The way Rudolf Kittle
translates YHWH is more accurate than "Yahweh", he translates it
"Yehowah. Why? Became YHWH is a 3 syllable word, not a two syllable
word like "Yahweh" is. George Buchanan of Wesley Theological Seminary
favors the use of "Yahowah" or "Yahoowah."
He explains how he came up with those: "In ancient times, parents
often named their children after their deities. That means that they
would have pronounced their children's names the way the deity's name was
pronounced. The Tetragrammaton was used in people's names, and they always used
the middle vowel." A few examples of proper names found in the Bible
that
include the shortened form of God's name are Jonathan, which appears as
Yohnathan or Yehohnathan in Hebrew. It means "Yaho or Yahowah has
given." Elijah's name is Eliyah or Eliyahu in Hebrew, which means:
"My God is Yahoo or Yahoo-wah." Also, Jehoshaphat is
Yehohshaphat meaning "Yaho has judged."
The two syllable pronunciation of YHWH as "Yahweh" would not allow
for the "o" vowel sound to exist as part of God's name. But in
dozens of Biblical names that incorporate the divine name, this middle vowel
sound appears in both the original and the shortened forms, as in Jehonathan
and Jonathan. Professor Buchanan says about God's name: "In no case
is the vowel oo or oh omitted. The word was sometimes abbreviated as
'Ya,' but never as 'Ya-weh.'... When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one
syllable it was 'Yah' or 'Yo.' When it was pronounced in three syllables
it would have been 'Yahowah' or 'Yahoowa.' If it was ever abbreviated to
two syllables it would have been 'Yaho.' " (Biblical
Archaeology Review)
Gesenius in his Hebrew and
Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament Scriptures agrees saying: "Those
who consider that YHWH [Yehowah] was the actual pronunciation are not
altogether without ground on which to defend their opinion. In this way
can the abbreviated syllables YHW [Yeho] and YH [Yo], with which many proper
names begin, be more satisfactorily explained." -George Wesley Buchanan
Professor Emeritus, Wesley Theological Seminary Washington, DC
However, if the word were
spelled with four letters in Moses' day, we would expect it to have had
more than two syllables, for at that period
there were no vowel
letters. All the letters were sounded. At the end of the OT period the
names like Shemayahu) or yaho (as in names like Jehozadek). The
pronunciation yaho would be favored by the later Greek from iao found in
Qumran Greek fragments (2d or 1st centuries B.C.) and in Gnostic
materials of the first Christian centuries.—Theological Wordbook of the
Old Testament
"In the history of the
English language however, the letter J has a written counterpart in the German
J, although the latter J in German is pronounced like an English Y. The bulk of
theological studies having come from the German sources, there has been an intermixed usage in English of the J and the Y.
Our English translations of the bible reflect this, so we have chosen to use J,
thus Jehovah, rather than Yahweh, because this is established English usage for
Biblical names beginning with this Hebrew letters. No one suggests that we
ought to change Jacob, Joseph, Jehoshaphat, Joshua etc. to begin with a Y, and
neither should we at this late date change Jehovah to Yahweh." -Bible
Translator Jay P. Green, Sr.
Girdlestones says: "It
is generally agreed that Jehovah [unlike Elohim]
is not a generic or class name, but a personal or proper name.
Maimonides says this is called the Plain name. [Another] says: It is
every where a proper name, denoting the person of God, and Him only;
whence Elohim partakes more of the character of a common noun.
"The Hebrew may say
the Elohim, the true God, in opposition to all false
Gods; but he never says the Jehovah, for Jehovah is the name of the true
God only! He says my God, but never my Jehovah; the God of Israel, but
never the Jehovah of Israel, for there is no other Jehovah, the living
God but never of the living Jehovah.
"God's personal
existence, the continuity of His dealings with man, the
unchange-ableness of his promises, and the whole revelation of his
redeeming mercy gather round the name Jehovah.
"In
the 3rd chapt. of Genesis it may be noted that THE SERPENT AVOIDS
THE USE OF THE NAME."—Girdlestones Synonyms of the Old Testament;
36-38:
"Knowing another's
name was a special privilege that offered access to
that persons thought and life...God favored His people by revealing [his
name] which offered special insight into his love and righteousness."
-Illustrated Bi. Dict.
It might be added here that
the meaning of Jesus, is, according to
in the N.T.
So Why Does Ron
Rhodes Hate the Name Jehovah?
Because, according to Ron, "Jesus is Yahweh" (same book, p.101).
[Rhodes himself says that "Jesus is not the Father." p. 127 Yet the
Bible clearly says that Yahweh/Jehovah is the Father at Isaiah 64:8
"Yahweh, you are our Father" Jerusalem
Bible]. If Jesus is Yahweh/Jehovah, then to translate it as such does not really
promote a Trinity teaching.
"The strongest anti-Arians experienced their present as a sharp break with
the past. It was they who demanded, in effect, that Christianity be
"updated" by blurring or even obliterating the long-accepted
distinction between the Father and the Son." When Jesus Became God by
Richard E. Rubenstein,p. 74
By creating a confusion between the Father and Son, you end up with an unholy
incest. Take note of Ps 110:1 in the NASB:
"The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand."
It sounds like God talking to another part of himself.
This is what trinitarians want. God as a community.
Yet, if you look in any Hebrew Interlinear, you will see that this is not the
case. The first Lord is the Divine Name, the second is
the word is ADONI.
"I.e., adon with the personal
suffix 'i' ('my'). It is amazing that that a number of commentaries wrongly
assert that the second lord is adonai. See, for
example, The Bible Knowledge Commentary (ed. Walvoord and Zuck,
representing Dallas Theological Seminary faculty, Victor Books, 1987) which
states mistakenly that 'my lord' in Ps. 110:1 'translates the Hebrew adonay,
used only of God' (73). Unfortunately this comment suggests that the Messiah is
God Himself. In fact, the Hebrew for 'my lord' is not adonai
but adoni, which is never used of God but often of the king of
The Doctrine of the Trinity-Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound, p.46,
Anthony Buzzard.
George Howard has done extensive study on the Divine Name in the New Testament
and has this to say:
"The removal of the Tetragrammaton from
the New Testament and its replacement with the surrogates KYRIOS and THEOS
blurred the original distinction between the Lord God and the Lord Christ, and
in many passages made it impossible which one was meant.
..Once the Tetragrammaton was removed and replaced by the surrogate 'Lord',
scribes were unsure whether "lord" meant God or Christ. As
time went on, these two figures were brought into even closer unity until it
was often impossible to distinguish between them. Thus it may be that the
removal of the Tetragrammaton contributed significantly to the later
Christological and Trinitarian debates which plagued the church of the early
Christian centuries." George Howard, The Name of
God in the New Testament, BAR 4.1 (March 1978), 15
There would
be less confusion if Bibles would just translate this name accurately. In
the book Bible Translations and How to Choose Between Them by Alan S.
Duthie says,
"In the Old Testament, God's name should appear as a name, either
'Jehovah' [BLE] or 'Yahweh' [NJB] (ch. 6); while other proper names
should take their most familiar English form [top five] preferably with
assistance in their pronunciation [NWT; cf. RSV]. p.111
He also says, "One of the forms of the divine name should appear for the
original YHWH throughout the Old Testament, and especially in Exodus 6:3, 'by
my name JEHOVAH' and 1Kings 18:39, 'Jehovah, he is God', which hardly makes
sense without the actual name. However, in place of the name, many Bible
translations use 'the LORD' (in capitals)...but capitals are inaudible when
read aloud and are readily ignored. A few Bible translations do not even use
capitals for Lord (LB, AB, etc)." p.38
Does the Bible ever tell
us to stop using his name?
No, definitely not. This name is in the Hebrew scriptures
almost 7000 times. This is more than any other name, and more than all the
other titles put together. The math and common sense alone tells us this
repetitive emphasis means the Name was meant to last forever.
"You must tell the Isrealites this, that it is
JEHOVAH the God of their forefathers, the God of Abraham, The God of Isaac, the
God of Jacob, who has sent you to them. This is my name forever; this is my
title in every generation." The New English Bible(Protestant
and Catholic).
"Then have those
fearing Jehovah spoken one to another, And Jehovah doth attend and hear, And written is a book of memorial before Him Of those
fearing Jehovah, And of those esteeming His name." Malachi 3:16 Young's Literal
Version
"Jehovah our Lord, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set
thy majesty above the heavens." Ps 8:1 Darby
"That
[men] may know that thou, whose name alone [is] JEHOVAH, [art] the most high
over all the earth." Ps 83:18 King James Version
"Let them praise the
name of Jehovah; For his name alone is exalted; His
glory is above the earth and the heavens." Ps 148:13 American Standard
Version
'From the sun's rising even
to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place
sacrificial smoke will be made, a presentation will be made to my name, even a
clean gift; because my name will be great among the nations,' Jehovah of armies
has said."-Mal 1:11 NWT
"And in very deed for
this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My
power in you; and that my name may be declared in all the earth." NKJV
"And I will sanctify
my great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have
profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah,
saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in you before their
eyes." Ezekiel 36:23 ASV
"Praise
Yahweh! Call
upon his name. Make known among the peoples his doings. Bring to remembrance
that exalted is his Name. Praise in song Yahweh, for a splendid thing he has
done. Well known is this in all the earth."-Isaiah 12:4, 5.
Simeon has reported how God
first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for His name. Acts 15:14 HCSB
"Hallowed be thy name" Matt 6:9 Revised Version
"I have made known to
them your name, and will make it known," John 17:26 NASB
"I will protect those
who know my name." Psalm 91:14 NRSV
"For the Name of
Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to our God! The Rock! --perfect [is]
His work, For all His ways [are] just; God of
stedfastness, and without iniquity: Righteous and upright [is] He. It hath done
corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A
generation perverse and crooked! To Jehovah do ye act thus, O people
foolish and not wise? Is not He thy father--thy possessor? He made thee, and
doth establish thee." Deut 32 Young's Literal Version
Here are
some fast facts
on the Divine Name and the sinister agenda behind it’s
removal.
Most English Bibles, like the New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard
Version, New American Bible, New King James Version etc refuse to translate
YHWH. Yet, the average Bible contains the name Satan about 50 times. Satan, it
seems, is afforded more respect than the Bible’s own author. **
In the Bible, Satan never uses the Divine Name, preferring the title
“God,” (Gen 3) a parallel situation to the average Bible
translator.
How did Jesus view God’s name when confronted with Satan? When Jesus was
tempted by the Devil, he answered each and every time with a scripture that
highlighted the Divine Name. At Matthew 4:4, Jesus quotes Deut 8:3 which says,
“man doth not live by bread only, but by
everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.”
At Matthew 4:7, Jesus quotes Deut 6:16, “Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your
God,” and at Matthew 4:10, Jesus quotes from Deut 6:13/10:20, “Thou
shalt fear Jehovah thy God; him shalt thou serve.”
**Many may argue that some, like the Jews, stopped saying the Divine Name in
order that they may not break the commandment, "Thou shalt not take the
name of Jehovah thy God in vain." (Ex 20:7). Yet, I do not see the same
kind of zeal to remove the sex organs for fear of breaking the commandment at
v. 14, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." This is the height of piety
and arrogance, and nothing else.
Marmorstein (1927: 17, 13) "The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God":
"Greek philosophy, Jewish
Alexandrian theology, christian apology and Gnostic lore concur in the idea of
God`s namelessness. That God has no name was taught by Aristotele, Seneca,
Maxim of
"We notice a very far-reaching difference between Palestinian and
Alexandrian theology concerning the Tetragrammaton. A bitter struggle between
Hellenists and Hasidim /forerunners of the pharisees, my note/centered around
the pronunciation of the Divine Name. A similar
controversy arose afterwards around the use of the Name Elohim and even as to
the substitution of the Tetragrammaton."
One Bible
Translator who opted to translate the Name, John W. Davis, a missionary in
"If the Holy Ghost says Jehovah in any
given place in the Hebrew, why does the translator not say Jehovah in English
or Chinese? What right has he to say, I will use Jehovah in this place and a
substitute for it in that? . . . If any one should say that there are cases in
which the use of Jehovah would be wrong, let him show the reason why; the onus probandi
[burden of proof] rests upon him. He will find the task a hard one, for he must
answer this simple question,-If in any given case it is wrong to use Jehovah in
the translation then why did the inspired writer use it in the original?"
-The
Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, Volume VII,
For more of a detailed
discussion I highly recommend The Divine Name that
Lasts Forever
The books The Divine Name Controversy by Firpo W.
Carr, Ph.D.
Jehovah's
Witnesses Defended by Greg Stafford
and The Role of
Theology and Bias in Bible Translation by Rolf Furuli
"In the Scriptures there is
the closest possible relationship between a person and his name the two being
practically equivalent' so that to remove the name is to extinguish the
person.( Num. 27:4; Deut. 7:24)To forget God's name is to depart from
Him." -571 Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary.1964
Jehovah's Witnesses