יהוה the proper and incommunicable name of the Divine Essence.
That this divine name, Jehovah, was well known to the Heathens, there
can be no doubt. Sanchoniathon writes _Jebo_; Diodorus, the Sicilian,
Macrobius, St. Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Jerom, and Origen, pronounce
_Jao_; Epiphanius, Theodoret, and the Samaritans, _Jabe_, _Javé_. We
likewise find in the ancients, _Jahoh_, _Javo_, _Javu_, _Jaod_. The
Moors call their god _Jaba_, whom some believe to be the same as
Jehovah. The Latins, in all probability, took their _Javis_, or _Jovis
Pater_, from Jehovah.
The Jews, after their captivity in Babylon, out of an excessive and
superstitious respect for this name, left off to pronounce it, and thus
lost the true pronunciation. The Septuagint generally renders it Κύριος,
“the Lord.” Origen, St. Jerom, and Eusebius, testify that in their time
the Jews left the name of Jehovah written in their copies in Samaritan
characters, instead of writing it in the common Chaldee or Hebrew
characters; which shows their veneration for this holy name: and the
fear they were under, lest strangers, who were not unacquainted with the
Chaldee letters and language, should discover and misapply it. The Jews
call this name of God the Tetragrammaton, or the name with four letters.
It would be waste of time and patience to repeat all that has been said
on this incommunicable name: it may not be amiss, however, to remind the
reader, 1. That although it signifies the state of being, yet it forms
no verb. 2. It never assumes a plural form. 3. It does not admit an
article, or take an affix. 4. Neither is it placed in a state of
construction with other words; though other words may be in construction
with it. It seems to be a compound of יה, _the essence_, and הוה,
_existing_; that is, _always existing_; whence the word _eternal_
appears to express its import; or, as it is well rendered, “He who is,
and who was, and who is to come,” Rev. i, 4; xi, 17; that is, eternal,
as the schoolmen speak, both _a parte ante_, and _a parte post_. Compare
John viii, 58. It is usually marked by an abbreviation, ו, in Jewish
books, where it must be alluded to. It is also abbreviated in the term
יה, _Jah_, which, the reader will observe, enters into the formation of
many Hebrew appellations. See JAH.
That this divine name, Jehovah, was well known to the Heathens, there
can be no doubt. Sanchoniathon writes _Jebo_; Diodorus, the Sicilian,
Macrobius, St. Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Jerom, and Origen, pronounce
_Jao_; Epiphanius, Theodoret, and the Samaritans, _Jabe_, _Javé_. We
likewise find in the ancients, _Jahoh_, _Javo_, _Javu_, _Jaod_. The
Moors call their god _Jaba_, whom some believe to be the same as
Jehovah. The Latins, in all probability, took their _Javis_, or _Jovis
Pater_, from Jehovah.
The Jews, after their captivity in Babylon, out of an excessive and
superstitious respect for this name, left off to pronounce it, and thus
lost the true pronunciation. The Septuagint generally renders it Κύριος,
“the Lord.” Origen, St. Jerom, and Eusebius, testify that in their time
the Jews left the name of Jehovah written in their copies in Samaritan
characters, instead of writing it in the common Chaldee or Hebrew
characters; which shows their veneration for this holy name: and the
fear they were under, lest strangers, who were not unacquainted with the
Chaldee letters and language, should discover and misapply it. The Jews
call this name of God the Tetragrammaton, or the name with four letters.
It would be waste of time and patience to repeat all that has been said
on this incommunicable name: it may not be amiss, however, to remind the
reader, 1. That although it signifies the state of being, yet it forms
no verb. 2. It never assumes a plural form. 3. It does not admit an
article, or take an affix. 4. Neither is it placed in a state of
construction with other words; though other words may be in construction
with it. It seems to be a compound of יה, _the essence_, and הוה,
_existing_; that is, _always existing_; whence the word _eternal_
appears to express its import; or, as it is well rendered, “He who is,
and who was, and who is to come,” Rev. i, 4; xi, 17; that is, eternal,
as the schoolmen speak, both _a parte ante_, and _a parte post_. Compare
John viii, 58. It is usually marked by an abbreviation, ו, in Jewish
books, where it must be alluded to. It is also abbreviated in the term
יה, _Jah_, which, the reader will observe, enters into the formation of
many Hebrew appellations. See JAH.