THE NAMES OF GOD IN THE HEBREW BIBLE

 

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

In the Hebrew Bible, we find different names for God. (Later on, Rabbis came up with new terms):

a.     EL

 This is the generic term for any divinity in the ancient Near East, often appearing in Akkadian as as ilu. In the Bible, this name is at times found in compound names, such as El Elyon (Gen. 14:18, “El, the Most High “), El Roi (Gen.16:13, “El who looks upon me”), El Betel (Gen 31: 13, “El of Bethel”), El Shaddai (Gen. 17:1, “El almighty”), El Berit (Judg. 9: 46, “El of the Covenant”), or even attached to personal names, like Yehezkel (“El strengthens”).

 ELOHIM

This term contains a Hebrew plural ending, im, and often refers to the gods of other nations (e.g., Ex.12:12). However, it also appears as the name of the Israelite God. Often, it is accompanied by a singular verb, like : “When God (Elohim) was about to create…(Gen. 1:1), but at times it is followed by a plural ending, such as “When God (Elohim) made me wander…( Gen.20: 13), perhaps as a vestige of the old, polytheistic, usage.

c.     ELOHA    

T      This is a singular evocative form of Elohim, and simply means God, like in Deut. 32: 15 (“He     forsook  the God –Eloha-who made him”) or 32:17 (“They sacrificed to demons, no gods, lo     eloha”).

d.     SHADDAY

     The original meaning of this term is not clear. In the Septuagint (Greek      translation of the Bible) and the Vulgate (Latin translation of the Bible), it is   rendered as “Almighty.”  Most likely, the word is related to the Akkadian   shadu, meaning “mountain.” Others, derive it from shadayyin, divinities  mentioned  in old Aramaic texts. Often, this term appears alone, referring to  the Israelite God (Num. 24:4 or Ps. 91:1), but at times we find it in combination with the name EL, such as El Shadday (Gen. 17:1) or attached to human names, like Zurishaddai (Nu. 1:6).

e.     YHVH

     Often transliterated as Yahweh, this tetragrammaton appears more than 600   times in the Hebrew Bible as the personal name of God. It also has a  shortened form as YAH (Ex. 15:3) or YAHU, in personal names, like Uziyahu (Is.6:1). Often, it appears as YY. Its root is likely related to the  Hebrew verb HAYAH, meaning to be, to exist. The term is also found in      sources outside of Israel, such as in 9/8 th cent. BCE Phoenician storage  jars, in northern Sinai, in the form of “YHVH and his Asherah,” or in association  with other groups, like “YHVH of Samaria.” In the synagogue,  the term is pronounced as ADONAY, by applying the vowels of the Hebrew word, “My Master.” In reality, we do not know how this name was  pronounced in Biblical times. The term “Jehovah” appears for the first    time in 1530 in the English Bible by William Tyndale.

In the Ten Commandments, the law states that we should not swear falsely or take God’s name in vain (Ex.20:70. Based on this teaching, some people believe that it is sinful to write God’s name in full and that we should write G-D or L--D instead. There is no justification for that because G-D or L--D does not refer to God’s real name in the Bible. In fact, I would argue, God does not even need a personal name. If God represents the totality of Being, the simple term “God” in English (Deus in Latin, Dieu in French, Dio in Italian, Dios in Spanish, Gott in German, Theos in Greek, Allah in Arabic and Turkish, etc.) should do just fine.

For more details, see the recent Responsum by David Golinkin on “Must God’s Name be Written in English as G-D, 02/22021.

(Comments are welcome)