Why Yahweh Isn't Used in Catholic Liturgy

A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH

Why Yahweh Isn't Used in Catholic Liturgy

Biblical Expert Says It Reflects Jewish Tradition

JERUSALEM, 21 NOV. 2008 (ZENIT)

To understand the Vatican directive reiterating that the name of God revealed in the tetragrammaton YHWH is not to be pronounced in Catholic liturgy, it helps to know the history behind the Jewish tradition, says a biblical expert.

Father Michel Remaud, director of the Albert Decourtray Institute, a Christian institute of Jewish studies and Hebrew literature, explained to ZENIT that the message published in June by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments reflects current Jewish practice.

The Vatican note explained: "The venerable biblical tradition of sacred Scripture, known as the Old Testament, displays a series of divine appellations, among which is the sacred name of God revealed in a tetragrammaton YHWH — hwhw.

"As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord.'"

Father Remaud said that "until almost the year 200 B.C., the divine name was pronounced every morning in the temple in the priestly blessing: 'The Lord bless and keep you: The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you'" (Numbers 6:24-26).

He said this blessing originated out of the context of the next verse in Numbers: "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

Left unsaid

Furthermore, the priest said that the Mishna, the Jewish law codified toward the end of the second century, "specifies that the name was pronounced in the temple 'as it is written,' while another denomination (Kinuy) was used in the rest of the country. After a certain period, the divine name was no longer pronounced in the temple's daily liturgy.

"The Talmud leads one to understand that the decision was taken to avoid a magic use of the name by some."

According to Father Remaud's sources, ever "since the death of the high priest Simon the Righteous, about 195 B.C., the divine name was no longer pronounced in the daily liturgy."

The expert compared the Talmud's testimony with the Book of Sirach, which mentions Simon the Righteous in Chapter 50. Chapters 44-50 remember all "godly men" since Enoch, including Abraham, Moses and David.

Father Remaud said the seven-chapter passage ends with the high priest Simon pronouncing the divine name: "Then Simon came down, and lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, to pronounce the blessing of the Lord with his mouth, and to glory in his name; and they bowed down in worship a second time, to receive the blessing of the Most High" (Sirach 50:20-21).

From the time of Simon the Righteous until the temple's ruin, the name was only heard "as it is written" during the Yom Kippur liturgy at the temple of Jerusalem, where the high priest pronounced it 10 times, continued Father Remaud.

"On hearing the explicit name from the mouth of the high priest, the 'cohanim' [Aaron's descendants] and the people present in the atrium knelt down, prostrated themselves with their face on the ground saying: 'Blessed be the glorious name of his Kingdom forever.'"

The Mishna does not say that the high priest pronounced the divine name, but that the name "came out of his mouth," he clarified.

A whisper

Moreover, continued Father Remaud, it seems that toward the end of the period of the second temple — 70 A.D. — the high priest now only pronounced the word in a whisper. This was explained in a childhood memory of Rabbi Tarphon (1st-2nd centuries), who recalls that even straining to hear, he could not hear the name.

The biblical scholar also noted that the formula of Exodus — "This is my name forever" (Exodus 3:15) — through a play of words in Hebrew is interpreted by the Talmud of Jerusalem as "This is my name to remain hidden."

"Today, the divine name is never pronounced," continued Father Remaud. "In the Yom Kippur office of the synagogue, which replaces the temple's liturgy by the recitation of what took place when the temple existed, the people prostrated themselves in the synagogue when recalling — though not pronouncing — that the high priest pronounced the divine name."

The Catholic priest noted that the first Christians called "Jesus by the term 'Lord'
(Kyrios)," by which they "deliberately applied the term used in Greek to translate the divine name."

"In Judaism's liturgical tradition, this divine name was only pronounced in the liturgy of forgiveness of sins, on the day of Kippur," he continued. "One might see an allusion to this tradition and to the purifying power of the Name, in this verse of the First Letter of St. John: 'Your sins are forgiven for his names' sake' (1 John 2, 12)."
 

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