THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

and unto Jacob, by the name of _El Shaddai_; but by my name _Jehovah_
was
I not known unto them." [124]
It will be perceived that I have not here followed precisely the
somewhat
unsatisfactory version of King James's Bible, which, by translating or
anglicizing one name, and not the other, leaves the whole passage less
intelligible and impressive than it should be. I have retained the
original Hebrew for both names. El Shaddai, "the Almighty One," was the
name by which he had been heretofore known to the preceding patriarchs;
in
its meaning it was analogous to Elohim, who is described in the first
chapter of Genesis as creating the world. But his name of Jehovah was
now
for the first time to be communicated to his people.
Ushered to their notice with all the solemnity and religious
consecration
of these scenes and events, this name of God became invested among the
Israelites with the profoundest veneration and awe. To add to this
mysticism, the Cabalists, by the change of a single letter, read the
passage, "This is my name forever," or, as it is in the original, _Zeh
shemi l'olam_, as if written _Zeh shemi l'alam_, that is to say, "This
is
my name to be concealed."
This interpretation, although founded on a blunder, and in all
probability
an intentional one, soon became a precept, and has been strictly obeyed
to
this day.[125] The word _Jehovah_ is never pronounced by a pious Jew,
who, whenever he meets with it in Scripture, substitutes for it the
word
_Adonai_ or _Lord_--a practice which has been followed by the
translators
of the common English version of the Bible with almost Jewish
scrupulosity, the word "Jehovah" in the original being invariably
translated by the word "Lord." [126] The pronunciation of the word,
being
thus abandoned, became ultimately lost, as, by the peculiar
construction
of the Hebrew language, which is entirely without vowels, the letters,
being all consonants, can give no possible indication, to one who has
not
heard it before, of the true pronunciation of any given word.
To make this subject plainer to the reader who is unacquainted with the
Hebrew, I will venture to furnish an explanation which will, perhaps,
be
intelligible.
The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, the vowel sounds
having always been inserted orally, and never marked in writing until
the
"vowel points," as they are called, were invented by the Masorites,
some