How can I be so sure? Easy! The sound of the letter "J" (such as in John, Jacob, Jingleheimer Schmidt) has never existed in the Hebrew phonetic system. For more information go here or here. Therefore, any word beginning with a hard "J" would have not existed in ancient Israel.
But what does the Watchtower say? WT words are in BLUE.
In Reasoning from the Scriptures page 191 it reads under “Jehovah, Definition: The personal name of the
only true God.”
In What Does the Bible Really Teach? page 13 it reads, “However, the Bible also teaches that
God has a personal name: Jehovah.”
In What Can the Bible Teach Us? page 12 it reads, “God has told us that his name is
Jehovah.”
In Aid to Bible Understanding page 882 it reads, “Jehovah, the personal name of God.”
Ask a JW at your door, "What is God's name?" and they will answer "Jehovah," because that is what they have been taught. HOWEVER, they should read from their own book, the rarely read by JW's, Aid to Bible Understanding pages 882-885. Here is what they will find under the heading JEHOVAH.
"Jehovah is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although "Yahweh" is favored by most Hebrew scholars. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts present the name in the form of four consonants, commonly called the Tetragrammaton. These four letters . . . transliterated into English as YHWH."
"The Hebrew consonants of the name are THEREFORE KNOWN. The question is as to which vowels are to be combined with those consonants." On page 885 the Aid book again states that the name favored by Hebrew scholars is "Yahweh" but some prefer "Yahuwa, Yahuah or Yehuah."
Where did the name Jehovah come from? Back to the Aid book page 884-885. "By combining the vowel signs (letters) of Adhonay and Elohim with the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton the pronunciations Yhowah and Yhowih were formed. The first of these provided the basis for the Latinized form "Jehova(h)." The first recorded use of this form dates from the thirteenth century C.E. Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican Order, used it in his book Pugeo Fidei in the year 1270."
Why is the WT so intransigent, insisting that "God's personal name IS JEHOVAH?"
(1). First, the WT clings to the name "Jehovah" because the second President of the WTBTS, Judge Rutherford, selected the name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931 and they are loathe to admit the President misnamed the organization.
(2). Once stuck with the name "Jehovah" the WT "doubled down" on using that name by stating "true believers" promote and honor God's name, Jehovah. Consider the WT publication, Good News from God! The title of Chapter 10 on page 20 reads, “How Can You Recognize True Worship?” Further down on page 20, “Question 3. How can you recognize true worshippers? Consider these five identifying marks:” Mark #2 on page 21 reads, “Jesus’ true followers honor God’s Name, Jehovah. Where you live, which religion makes God’s name known? And what would be the answer to this question? Why, Jehovah's Witnesses of course!
(3). Finally, in an effort to 'toot their own horn,' the WT in “What Does the Bible Really Teach?,” page 195, states “Clearly, God’s name is of the UTMOST importance,” and who treats it as such. Why, Jehovah's Witnesses of course! Once they have declared using Jehovah is of the UTMOST (greatest, highest) importance, they now must defend the use of Jehovah as God's person name, untenable as it is, as I have shown. But stuck they are and so they dig in their heals and you read in their various publications some form of: "Jehovah is God's personal name," and they down play (i.e. you must look far and wide to find) "Yahweh is the name agreed on by Hebrew scholars" and "Jehovah was first used in 1270 C.E. by a Catholic Monk."
What length will the WT stoop to promote the name Jehovah? The JW’s have inserted into their Bible the name Jehovah 237 times in the NT. There are over 25,000 complete and partial manuscripts of the NT and not once does the name Jehovah appear. The WT does not shy away from changing the Bible to back their doctrine. See my eight (8) part series, “Presto Change-O” part 1 is here. The WT has made up a "Rule for Bible Interpretation" (when to insert Jehovah into the NT). Go here to see where they have ignored this rule and why.
In Conclusion. The WT has taken a page from George Orwell's 1984 and put into practice his term "Double Think." This is where a person can absolutely believe in facts that are diametrically opposed. The WT, in Aid to Bible Understanding, writes that (1) Jehovah is the personal name for God and can be found in both the OT and NT; (2) A Catholic Monk, in 1270 C.E. made up the name Jehovah.
PS: I have quoted from the Aid book, pages 884-885, where the WT admits that the first use of Jehovah was by a Catholic monk in 1270 C.E. Clearly Jehovah could not have been in use up until that time. What is the WT to do? Simple! Reprint the Aid book as Insight on the Scriptures AND leave out the entire section mentioning the birth of the word Jehovah. Now everyone at WT HQ can breathe a sigh of relief. That old Catholic monk, Raymundus Martini, has been put to rest.
Why is the WT so intransigent, insisting that "God's personal name IS JEHOVAH?"
(1). First, the WT clings to the name "Jehovah" because the second President of the WTBTS, Judge Rutherford, selected the name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931 and they are loathe to admit the President misnamed the organization.
(2). Once stuck with the name "Jehovah" the WT "doubled down" on using that name by stating "true believers" promote and honor God's name, Jehovah. Consider the WT publication, Good News from God! The title of Chapter 10 on page 20 reads, “How Can You Recognize True Worship?” Further down on page 20, “Question 3. How can you recognize true worshippers? Consider these five identifying marks:” Mark #2 on page 21 reads, “Jesus’ true followers honor God’s Name, Jehovah. Where you live, which religion makes God’s name known? And what would be the answer to this question? Why, Jehovah's Witnesses of course!
(3). Finally, in an effort to 'toot their own horn,' the WT in “What Does the Bible Really Teach?,” page 195, states “Clearly, God’s name is of the UTMOST importance,” and who treats it as such. Why, Jehovah's Witnesses of course! Once they have declared using Jehovah is of the UTMOST (greatest, highest) importance, they now must defend the use of Jehovah as God's person name, untenable as it is, as I have shown. But stuck they are and so they dig in their heals and you read in their various publications some form of: "Jehovah is God's personal name," and they down play (i.e. you must look far and wide to find) "Yahweh is the name agreed on by Hebrew scholars" and "Jehovah was first used in 1270 C.E. by a Catholic Monk."
What length will the WT stoop to promote the name Jehovah? The JW’s have inserted into their Bible the name Jehovah 237 times in the NT. There are over 25,000 complete and partial manuscripts of the NT and not once does the name Jehovah appear. The WT does not shy away from changing the Bible to back their doctrine. See my eight (8) part series, “Presto Change-O” part 1 is here. The WT has made up a "Rule for Bible Interpretation" (when to insert Jehovah into the NT). Go here to see where they have ignored this rule and why.
In Conclusion. The WT has taken a page from George Orwell's 1984 and put into practice his term "Double Think." This is where a person can absolutely believe in facts that are diametrically opposed. The WT, in Aid to Bible Understanding, writes that (1) Jehovah is the personal name for God and can be found in both the OT and NT; (2) A Catholic Monk, in 1270 C.E. made up the name Jehovah.
Is God's Name Jehovah Part 2 is here.
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