Religions are divided due to theological incompatibilities, and by correcting that Jehovah is a description, and not a name, this could help unify religion globally.
Keywords: Bible, Jehovah, Religion, God, Theology, Name, Creator, Dharma, Oneness
Summary: Religions are divided due to theological incompatibilities, and by correcting that Jehovah is a description, and not a name, this could help unify religion globally.
With many believing that YHVH is a name for God, rather than a description, this causes problems in rectifying global theology, that God is one; as people argue about identities, and not what these words mean.
When we investigate what the words for the Divine Beings mean in the many different religions globally, we find that many of them are descriptions of the qualities, not necessarily names.
As time passed within these religious cultures, instead of these Divine Entities being understood as descriptions, slowly they've become that people believed them to be names - as the languages changed, and they were no longer understood to their original meanings.
So lets detail why YHVH isn't a name, and show where it comes from much older religious contexts:
If we dissect the word into its parts, Havah in Hebrew means 'to be', 'to make manifest' (H1933); this is the same as the word Brahma in Sanskrit - which also comes from the root breath, and means exactly the same thing.
If we look into word similar to Havah (H1961) in Hebrew: we have Hayah which means 'to become', we have Ahabah (H160) which means 'to love', etc.
The H added to a word in Ancient Hebrew, implied something breathed by God; when Abram & Sara were blessed with a child, where that child would lead to Israel, their names were changed to Abraham, and Sarah - showing that the breath of God was breathed into them.
The pictographic language seems to imply, that when the H is used at either side of a letter within a word, it implied it would be brought into manifestation in some way.
The other part of the word Yah, I believe has been misunderstood, and thus mistranslated since Babylon; where it has been understood to be a shortened version of YHVH - that they've believed to be a name.
This was most likely because the Babylonian pantheon also had YHVH as a demigod, and so the Hebrews scholars afterwards made it into their official name for God Almighty; even though the prior Biblical texts showed there to be a different theological structuring - Where El Elyon (God Most High) is above YHVH (Creator) in the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 32:7-9), and El (Father of the demigods) was also above YHVH in the Canaanite's pantheon.
This theological identification error has lead to divisions of the world's religions, as it creates additional bigotedness, due to the religion's theological structuring not being compatible.
When it is understood that YHVH is the Arm of God interacting with reality, where the God Most High is the Source of reality, this is exactly the same structuring in the Dharmic religion - where Brahma (Creator) is an Avatar, to interact with reality for Brahman, which is the Source of reality.
If we look at certain phrases prior to the Babylonian Exile, it makes no sense logically that Yah is a shortened version of YHVH, as we can show the way that they used the language prior to that time period:
In Psalms 89:8 it compares, who is a strong Yah like YHVH, so if it meant the same thing, it can't compare it; instead it would make more sense, that there are other Lords, and YHVH (the Creator) is the greatest amongst them.
Quote:
Psalms 89:8 O Jehovah (H3068), the God of Hosts, who is a strong Jah (H3050) like You? And Your faithfulness is round about You?
In ancient times we have references to the Sons of God (Genesis 6:1-4, Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Job 38:7, Deuteronomy 32:8), where they were called Lords in ancient times.
This is where the Quran coming from knowledge of Middle Eastern theology, tries to correct not to practise polytheism, and worship the Lords (12:39-40), yet to recognize that Allah being the God Most High, is the only thing that should be worshipped, as God is the Source of everything else that exists.
This naming still remains in the Dharmic system, with Bhagavan Brahma (Lord Creator), Bhagavan Vishnu (Lord Sustainer), Bhagavan Shiva (Lord Refresher), etc; where each is an aspect of the one God interacting with reality, through different character naming, to suggest what is taking place.
The same can then be seen in the Bible, where we had Yahavah as 'Lord Creator', and then Yehoshua as 'Lord Saves'.
Isaiah has two verses where he has Yah before YHVH, if Yah was a shortened version of YHVH, that would be like nicknaming the Creator, and it wouldn't make sense for a prophet hearing God's Divine utterances, to then depreciate their Divine Being in anyway.
Quote:
Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord (Jah - H3050) Jehovah (H3068) is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.
Isaiah 26:4 Trust in Jehovah (H3068) forever; for in the Lord (H3050) Jehovah (H3068) is everlasting strength.
It would make the most sense, that what is being said is that Yah always meant Lord, and YHVH is a two part word, meaning the 'Lord who makes to Be' or 'Lord who makes Manifest' i.e the Creator.
This is the same structuring in the Dharmic belief, where Brahma is recognized as the Creator, even though the language used is Bhagavan Brahma, meaning the same 'Lord who makes to Be' or 'Lord who makes Manifest'.
What would make the most sense to me, is that Isaiah is saying 'Lord Lord-of-Creation', rather than a nickname, and then the name/description, as that wouldn't be befitting.
The verse in Judges 13:18 could be read that YHVH (H3068) is not a name, and that the name was secret:
Quote:
Judges 13:18 And the angel of the Lord (H3068) said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
I believe the problem with the naming, and even seeing it as a name was since Babylon, as the Bible theology got confused by the Rabbis, where they forgot some of the deeper meanings; plus also due to their contentions with the Canaanite's polytheistic structuring, they forgot their former theology - that we can also find in multiple other religions the same.
Plus whilst the Jews have been exiled among the nations, their understandings from ancient times diminished, due to the lack of original documentation.
There are clear logical problems with Yah being a shortened version of YHVH, like that names have it added into them; where people like Yeshayahu is Isaiah in Hebrew or Jeremiah is Yirmeyah.
Where if Yah was adding a name to a name, it really wouldn't be clear, as the naming could be misunderstood.
If the word 'Yah' implied 'Lord', it would then make more logical sense in its different applications: that Yeshayahu would mean, 'Saved by the Lord', and Yirmeyah would mean, 'The Lord will Rise'.
Within Psalms 150:1 there is both 'Praise the Lord, Praise God'; where both words are added to people's names (El & Yah), as the Divine being referenced in different ways, and not that these were names of a specific deities being added to a person's name, like the polytheistic cultures did.
Quote:
Psalms 150:1 Praise Jah (H3050). Praise God (El - H410) in His sanctuary; praise Him in the expanse of His power.
Theologians often get stuck on identity, that when declaring that there is both El & Yah as distinct references, how could they both be praised, and it contextually be accurate without committing idolatry?
This is easily solved, when we look at the metaphors used: El is the whole body (the Source of reality & the universe), and then the Creator (YHVH) interacts with the reality - like the Arm of God.
Even within this quick summary, we can see how different religious descriptive words became names over time; turning God into different identities, rather than God being everything, interacting with reality through different characters.