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scholars read
whenever they see the Tetragrammaton. This use of the word
occurs 6,828 times. The word appears in every period of biblical Hebrew.
The divine name
'BCB
appears only in the Bible. Its precise meaning is much
debated. God chose it as His personal name by which He related specifically to His
chosen or covenant people. Its first appearance in the biblical record is Gen. 2:4: “These
are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that
the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Apparently Adam knew Him by this
personal or covenantal name from the beginning, since Seth both called his son Enosh
(i.e., man as a weak and dependent creature) and began (along with all other pious
persons) to call upon (formally worship) the name of
'BCB
, “the Lord” (Gen. 4:26).
The covenant found a fuller expression and application when God revealed Himself to
Abraham (Gen. 12:8), promising redemption in the form of national existence. This
promise became reality through Moses, to whom God explained that He was not only the
“God who exists” but the “God who effects His will”: “Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, The Lord [
'BCB
] God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this
is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say
unto them, The Lord [
'BCB
] God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to
you in Egypt: And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the
land of the Canaanites …” (Exod. 3:15-17). So God explained the meaning of “I am who
I am” (Exod. 3:14). He spoke to the fathers as
'BCB
, but the promised deliverance and,
therefore, the fuller significance or experienced meaning of His name were unknown to
them (Exod. 6:2-8).
LOT
(
%
, 1486), “lot.” This word is attested 77 times and in all periods of the
language (if a traditional view of the formation of the canon is accepted).
5
represents the “lot” which was cast to discover the will of God in a given
situation: “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the
other lot for the scapegoat” (Lev. 16:8—the first occurrence). Exactly what casting the
“lot” involved is not known.
Since the land of Palestine was allocated among the tribes by the casting of the “lot,”
these allotments came to be known as their lots: “This then was the lot of the tribe of the
children of Judah by their families; even to the border of Edom …” (Josh. 15:1).
In an extended use the word
represents the idea “fate” or “destiny”: “And
behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of
them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us” (Isa. 17:14). Since God is viewed as
controlling all things absolutely, the result of the casting of the “lot” is divinely
controlled: “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord”
(Prov. 16:33). Thus, providence (divine control of history) is frequently figured as one’s
“lot.”
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