I teach a 5th grade CCD class

[brian614]

And today one of my students asked me why LORD found in the bible is all capital letters but God only has the first letter capatialized? I had no clue how to answer that since I have never really given it any thought. I told her I would let her know next week… Does anyone know why LORD is all capital letters?

Thanks in advance

 

[Robyn_p]

I think it was done to replace the Tetragrammaton, YHVH, out of reverence. So whenever you see LORD that means YHVH is being used right then.

 

[brian614]

I think it was done to replace the Tetragrammaton, YHVH, out of reverence. So whenever you see LORD that means YHVH is being used right then.

Huh, I never knew that… Thanks a lot, it is greatly appreciated

 

[Robyn_p]

I just learned that recently myself. Thanks for teaching our youth! They usually come up with the best questions

 

[sirach2v4]

This is a kind of interesting subject.

Yahweh (LORD) is found very early in the Bible, actually in Genesis, and it is Eve who first uses this personal name for God.

I thought it was earlier in Genesis, but I just hastily found it in Gen 4:1.

That tells you a couple things or raises a couple questions:

1. Where did Eve learn the holy name YHWH? It’s not mentioned in the preceding verses.
2. The writer(s) of Genesis do not seem to be aware of the later Jewish tradition of NOT saying the holy name of God. That was a much later tradition of piety developed in Judaism.
3. Eve uses the holy name of God without further explanation, so the early readers or listeners of Genesis must have been familiar with what would be later considered the unspeakable name of God.
4. In Exodus 3:13, Moses asks God by what name he should be known. I looked this up a long time ago, the name revealed to Moses was YHWH. So, why didn’t Moses already know this name and why didn’t the Israelites already know this name? a Jewish commentary says they already knew this name, otherwise it would have made no sense to them.

 

[sirach2v4]

regarding my previous post, I might add that in regard to point #1, that Eve knew the holy personal name of God and that it is not used previously in the verses of Genesis that have come down to us:

this shows that not everything is recorded in the Bible. Vatican II says that what was recorded what that which is important for our salvation. But, still, in order to understand the Bible, we have to make some sort of conclusion, or at least consider the alternatives.

Suppose there really was no Eve, then, somebody came up with this story, divinely inspired as we consider it, to show that mankind had an intimate relation with God from the beginning.

And the point here is, there was a belief in the one true God from the beginning. This was a radical departure from surrounding religions at the time.

This is important theologically throughout Genesis and the Bible. In Genesis, It’s also not written down on what basis God sent the flood of Noah’s day. Sure, it says mankind was wicked. But, (in the Jewish commentaries) it seems that God would be being unfair unless there was some explicit command(s), much as Adam and Eve had the command not to eat of the fruit. So, the Jewish commentaries (rabbis writing in the Talmud) have postulated a series of basic, minimal commands that these people must have violated. One of these must have been to worship only the one true God. …But, this is drifting from the main subject of this thread. The relevance is, not everything is explained in the Bible. The Bible is a book of faith and must be read so.