Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-07-26
COMMUNICATIONS.

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I of God, from the verb, hawaii. to be,
hence, self-existence This name is not APP
piled in any sense to any created being.
The kindred word, khavvah, life, is the
name given by Adam TO Eve, because she
was the mother of all living" CGen. mi:2O)
Hawai-, then, beyond dispute, means being,
existence, or life subsisting of itself. And
as we have already seen Yah signifies the
hawaii a self-existing essence. and a self
existing life. Both in~separably combined
The axiom that life can only come from
life is, l suppose, universally admitted.
Life. then, I'm all its m~ultitudinal forms,
comes from the Divine Being. not in His
characteristic of power, Elohim, but in
that of his self-eXistence of being, va
hawai-. Yahavah, therefore, is not only
1.-THE law of life" but is the source whence
all life comes. As Yahavah. he is brought
into relationship with all life, and all life
is brought into relationship with him.
Hence it is that from the fourth verse 10
the end of the second chapter of Genesis
we ave the power of God (Elohim) in
His works, and the relation of God CYa-
hawaii to all living things, but especially
to man, ~inseparably Joined together. whilst
In chapter fourth, where the relationship
to man alone is treated of, We have invari-
ably Yahavah mentioned in that relation
ship. Yahavah, then. and not Elohim, is
the father of all life"
This is, of course. directly opposite to
that which Mr.. Wilson states, and it will
therefore be amusing, if not instructive, to
mark what he does say. He asserts-with-
out any attempted proof, however-that
the second chapter of Genesis Is antagon-
istic to the first in its account of creation.
Beginning as ii does properly at the fourth
verse, it.. with the third chapter, gives the
gospel of the cult of the life-hating god,
the jealous god. and his name "Jhoh" (the
observant reader will note that Mr.. Wilson
~" and not "J"D. il blended with that Of
the Elohim. or lifelong gods of the first
chapter. That Yahavah is a "~life-hating
god is the pith and marrow of Mr.. VIII
sons contention Contrast This bold as
sertiOn with what purports to be the state
ment, not only of the great prophet Moses.
nifcation Of His name. And Yahavah
passed by before him, and proclaimed.
Yahavah, Yahavah Elohim, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth. keeping mercy for thOus-
ands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and upon the
lchildren's children unto the third and to
the fourth generation. 81.
Is 1t too much TO ask that Mr.. Wilson and
such as he will read the Bible for them
selves and not take II at secondhand II
so, this gentleman, who is evidently we'll
read. would not cut such a sorry spectacle
in Biblical criticism and attacks on re-
vealed religion: Even his Hebrew die
ltiOnary would keep him from making such
a statement as this-"In the attempt to
bring the two together there was no change
from the root of the god name of the two
latter tribes Judah and Benjamin. from
one akin to Sanskirt Cvas, to blast, TO kill.
and an attempt to get il from one akin to
Sanskrit Jiv. to create Independent Of
the confusion of thought in this not very
elegantly expressed sentence, l ask upon
what authority are this and kindred asser-
tons made? Not on the authority of the
Bible narrative; not on the authority OF
any historical document; not on the
authority of philology; not on the authority
of scholarship: not on the authority of any
recognized author. II is made solely on the
Authority OF Mr.. George Wilson. He has
spun the theory from his own inner con-
crfpuEnaCC inst as the EnfdnT UqDVpS ifC
web from its own body; and 1t is just as
fimsy.
But perhaps Mr.. Wilson and those who
think with hin will pay respect to a very
ancient authority, and one not of the
Hebrew race. In the British museum there
rs at the present time a tablet in the
the various equivalents of the word Ilu
god" Among these equivalents we find
Yahu, the shortened form of Yahaveh.
THE Babylonian scribe has attempted an
etymolOgy of the name which he has con-
nected with words signifying myself in his
authority of the eminent Assyriologist. Pro-
Ifessor Sayce, of Oxford, an authority which
Mr.. Wilson will accept. The Babylonian
meaning to Yahaveh. or Yahu. that the
Hebrews did. and that scholars do now
the self-existent one.
mature which Mr.. Wilson makes. Although
insignificant when compared with those
Tnderlying the names E ta, q hahayeh,
few. Speaking of the Ten princes of
El' 0he Ten Lost Tribes) he says: I'm
short. It was a confederacy of tribes. wor-
shippers OF the great god FL. whose city
was Babel. or what we know through
the Greek form as Babylon" He takes
pains TO divide the word into syllables. so
as to emphasize all the more the meaning
he gives it-Bab-el, the City of Ell" But
"Bab" does not mean city! It means gate.
The BahylOnian word for city is 'alu."
Nor does the word Babel mean gate OF
the god" II is not n Ba%bylonian word at
all. 1t comes from the Hebrew Babel" to
"confound." The root is not to be found
In B~ahylonian.
Sabbath. from Sheba. the seventh day"
writes Mr.. Wilson, meant at first the di-
WIDER Sabbatuo. or Sabbath, in
Chaldea, "a day of rest for the heart was
originally the seventh, or the day that d.
vided one week from the next" These as
sertions are not facts. "a Sabbath does not
come from Sheba; they are distinct words.
and neither of them means ''divider." Sab
bath, or Shabath. as a verb means TO cease.
TO leave off, to rest from work, and is OPP
posed not to WEAKNESS, but to work. or ac-
ton. As a noun II means cessation from
work, rest from work. Sheba has for its
/ third radical, Ayin. which has no eouiva-
I lent sound in English. and as a verb means
TO have enough. to he satisfied, full. COM
plete; as a noun il denotes suficieucy. or
completeness. Among the ancients the
number that signihed completeness was
seven: hence Sheba came TO express the
Because oaths were usually confirmed by
seven victims the word came also to signi-
~ to swear. Cl II happened that God rest
ed from His work on the seventh day. and
therefore the seventh became the Sabbath.