21 August 2022 index-hebrew
There is a recurring phrase in the Bible, QRʾ BŠM YHWH, traditionally translated "call upon the name of the Lord" (KJV), or more recently "invoke the name of the Lord" (e.g. NRSV Genesis 4:24) or even "invoke the Lord by name" (e.g. NJPS Genesis 4:24).
What can be found below is the result of an attempt to work out the meaning(s) of the phrase using all the relevant verses that contain the Hebrew words QRʾ ("call, invoke"), ŠM ("name") and YHWH ("Yahweh", often replaced with "Lord" in translation). It was inspired in part by Driver's note on Genesis 4:24, which suggests that the phrase has connotations of sacrifice.
Just reading through this list of verses, two things immediately jump out: first, that many references connect "invoking the name of Yahweh" with the offering of sacrifices, and that the goal, at least in many cases, of "invoking the name of Yahweh" is to lead Yahweh to answer a request for help. I don't think this post will contain any sort of brilliant analysis, but a simple listing of instances where the phrase appears, with brief comment, should help give the reader an impression of the phrase. No doubt there are probably other passages that could be referred to to shed light on the question, and no doubt the verses here could be analyzed further, but here is a start.
The biblical quotes below were hastily put together by looking at the Masoretic Text and retaining as much KJV wording as seemed appropriate.
"There he built an altar to Yahweh, and invoked the name of Yahweh" (Genesis 12:8).
"And he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, as far as the site where his tent was in the beginning, between Bethel and the Ai, to the site of the altar which he had made there at first, and invoked the name of Yahweh" (Genesis 13:3-4).
"And he built an altar there, and invoked the name of Yahweh" (Genesis 26:25).
"I -- I alone! -- remain a prophet of Yahweh, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. So let them give us two bulls, and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay on wood. But set no fire. And I will dress the other bull, and lay on wood, and set no fire. You invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of Yahweh" (1 Kings 18:22-24).
The Kings passage makes clear that QRʾ BŠM is a general term that can refer to sacrificial situations involving deities other than Yahweh.
"The cords of death encircled me, and the distresses of Sheol found me: I found disturbance and grief. Then I invoked the name of Yahweh -- I beg you, Yahweh, deliver my soul. ... How can I repay Yahweh for all his benefits upon me? I will lift up the cup of deliverance, and invoke the name of Yahweh. I will fulfill my vows to Yahweh before all his people. ... I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will invoke the name of Yahweh. I will fulfill my vows to Yahweh before all his people. In the courts of Yahweh's house, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise Yahweh" (Psalm 116).
The site of the invocation is the Jerusalem temple, the site where a Judahite would be expected to give such a sacrifice in thanksgiving.
Next we come to a number of passages where sacrifice is not explicitly mentioned, but in some cases we can see how it seems likely that the same sense of sacrifice-related invocation applies.
In Genesis 21 Abraham solemnizes a covenant with a Philistine ruler.
This in itself is interesting given the uniformly hostile attitude of some other biblical books to the Philistines.
Then we read, "And he planted a tamarisk at Beersheba, and there he invoked the name of Yahweh, El Olam" (Genesis 21:33). So we may ask -- is the reader intended to assume that this invocation of Yahweh's name involves sacrifice?
One of the things Abraham does repeatedly, in his literary role of justifying later sacred sites, is to go and make sacrifices at those sites. The sites chosen are not accidental; they foreshadow later Israelite practice. And so a look at other biblical references to Beersheba is useful.
According to Genesis, Abraham's son Isaac "built an altar there and invoked the name of Yahweh" (26:25). Isaac's son Jacob "journeyed along with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the god of his father Isaac" (46:1). Though the language is slightly different in each of the three examples, it is not unreasonable to think that they are all describing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as maintaining sacrificial worship at Beersheba.
Amos confirms that Beersheba was a cultic center, which in the view of Amos made it an illegitimate rival to Jerusalem. "For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, Seek me and live. But do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor cross over to Beersheba" (Amos 5:4-5). A similar inference can be drawn from Amos 8:14. And because worship in the Hebrew Bible was centered around the institution of sacrifice, it is perfectly reasonable to take Abraham's invocation at Beersheba to be a sacrificial event.
1 Chronicles 16:8 has the phrase "Give thanks to Yahweh, invoke his name, make known his deeds among the people." The context involves the Temple worship, which, again, was the central sacrificial site in the deuteronomistic ideology. Similar phrasing appears in Psalm 105:1 and Isaiah 12:4. Isaiah 12 identifies its audience as "you, inhabitant of Zion", the center of sacrificial worship.
Joel 2:32 reads, "And it shall be, that whoever invokes the name of Yahweh will escape, because in Mt. Zion and in Jerusalem will be a refuge, as Yahweh said, and in th remnant whom Yahweh calls." Again, a reference to invoking the name of Yahweh is mentioned alongside the famous site of sacrifice.
Zephaniah 3:9-10 -- "For then I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may invoke the name of Yahweh, to serve him in one accord. From beyond the rivers of Kush my suppliants, the daughter of my diaspora, will bring my offering." In other words, despite the exile, the diaspora will return (to Jerusalem, of course) and bring Yahweh's offering, and this restoration of worship constitutes "invoking the name of Yahweh".
Zechariah 13:9 reads, "And I will bring the third [part of my people] through fire, and refine them as silver is refined. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, This is my people. And they will say, Yahweh is my god." And who are the people referred to in this chapter? The Jerusalem monarchy and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (13:1).
In 2 Kings 5:11, it is possible but by no means necessary to read the phrase "invoke the name of Yahweh" as referring to sacrifice.
Lamentations is a book that laments the destruction of Jerusalem, and Lamentations 3:55 says, in the KJV, "I called upon thy name, O Lord". So we might imagine that this is an example of someone who could not perform sacrifices using the phrase. But a look at the Hebrew shows that the b, traditionally "upon" is in fact missing in the Hebrew, so it is literally, "I called your name". So in a case where sacrifice is impossible, a different phrase is used. This might, indirectly, be taken as confirmation that the expression QRʾ BŠM really is a term that refers specifically to sacrifice.
Exodus 33:19 is the sole exception to the rule that I've been able to find, that all examples of "invoke the name of Yahweh" either explicitly mention sacrifice or are capable of being interpreted as referring to sacrifice. In the curious episode of Exodus 33, Moses wants to see Yahweh, but Yahweh is only gives Moses part of what he wants, hiding his face but showing his "back parts". Announcing his plan, Yahweh says:
"I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will invoke the name of Yahweh before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion."
This verse is anomalous. In every other verse, it is a person who "invokes the name of Yahweh". Here Yahweh invokes his own name. We cannot imagine that, during his appearance to Moses, he sacrificed an animal to himself. That strains credulity. But phrases can be used in more than one way.
Conclusion
As far as I can see, every single case in which a human being "invokes the name of Yahweh" in the Hebrew Bible is either explicitly involves or plausibly could involve the making of a sacrifice. Occam's Razor thus suggests that the term has a single meaning in these contexts (i.e. every case but Exodus 33:19): to "call upon" Yahweh by participating in the institution of sacrifice.
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