A writer I know has written that the following verse, along with a
couple others, is part of the reason for the idea the Name should not be
pronounced. I believe the context shows this was only a temporary
restriction, as they were handling dead bodies and were unclean at the
time. However, here is the verse: Amos 6:10-11"And a man's uncle shall
take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the
house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is
there yet any with thee? and he shall say No. Then shall he say, Hold
thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of YHWH. (11)For,
behold, YHWH commandeth..."
Dear Robert,
I think your own suggestion about a temporary restriction is valid. There
are two candidates in the OT which could have been used as an argument
against pronouncing T, namely Ex 20:7 and Lev 24:16. G.F Moore,(1927-30 I
427,428) Judaism, tells that the rabbis used neither of the passages to
prove that T should not be pronounced. The passage they used to show this
was Ex 3:15 which tells the exact opposite.
The Greek translation of Lev 24:16, however, is an argument against
pronouncing the name. LXX says WNOMAZON DE TO ONOMA KURIOU, QANATWi
QANATOUSQW. Targum Onkelos (Aramaic), Peshita (eastern script) have
readings similar to "naming the name".The Hebrew, the Vulgate and the
Samaritan Pentateuch has "blaspheme" and Peshitta (Western script) has "set
apart the name". Two questions may be asked: (1) In Lev 24:11 a man is said
to have "named the name and cursed". Does "name the name" in v 16 represent
an ellipsis of what happened in v 11? (2) Is this an original LXX
rendering? In any case this Greek rendering can be classified among the
evidence against pronunciation.
Regards
Rolf
Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo