99 names plus God as an impassioned lover

Religion, like intelligence and language. can be used for both good and evil purposes, but this is also true of culture, science, politics and all other important human activities. Since almost all revealed religions teach that humans have a pre-birth soul that predisposes them to respond to a Divine call even before the revelation occurs,

A reference to the pre-scripture, pre-historic period when spiritual evolution was unaided by God appears in the book of Geneses (4:26) where it states, “At that time humans began to invoke YHVH by name.” Most of the rabbinic commentators translate the verb hukhal to mean ‘profane’ taking this as a negative statement. But ‘began’ is the more normal meaning of the verb.

The Torah asserts that prior to Enosh humans did not practice religion based on the divine insight of revelation “invoke YHVH by name” as they were able to do later. Mystical and spiritual experiences were interpreted by human intelligence without the benefit of prophetic revelation. In the spirit of this Torah insight I offer the following account of the evolution of pre-historic human spirituality.

The Qur’an contains 99 Arabic names (attributes or character traits) for the multifaceted essence of the one God, but not one of them connects the one God with one people, while one of the dozens of Biblical names for God is ‘The God of the Hebrews’. “But they (Aaron and Moses) said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,”. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. “ (Exodus 3:18 and 5 other verses in the Book of Exodus in the Torah).

The Hebrew Prophet Malachi (2:5 New International translation) states: “My covenant was with him (Messengers Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David), a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them (the commandments) to him (Banu Israel); this called for reverence and he (Banu Israel) revered me and stood in awe of my name (YHVH for Jews and Allah for Muslims).”

Awe and reverence for the one God are basic for all monotheistic religions. As the Qur’an says: “Hold firmly to what We have given (the Torah) you (Banu Israel) and remember what is in it (the commandments).” (2:63).

In 1956, Shelomo Dov Goitein (1900-1985), a scholar of both Jewish and Arabic studies, wrote that the special name of YHVH derives from the Arabic root h.w.y (هوى), and the word hawaya (هوايا), which means “love, affection, passion, and desire.” Goitein pointed to the passage in Exodus 34:14 which forbids Israel to worship other gods: “For you must not worship any other god, because YHWH, whose name is Impassioned, is an impassioned God.”

Goitein thinks that “YHWH whose name is Impassioned” refers to the deity’s personal name YHWH, which means “the Impassioned One,” and that this name derives from a proto- Arabic term for passion. This reflects the idea that YHWH’s bond with his worshipers is one of interactive passionate love, and YHWH is upset if some of his worshipers “cheat” by worshipping other gods.

As Prophet David says in his Zabur (Psalm 5::13) “But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them always sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in You.”

An ancient tablet discovered near the Palestinian city of Nablus may contain the earliest known mention of the Hebrew Bible’s unique name for the Jewish People’s God, YHVH; “Yahweh” in ancient alphabetic Hebrew writing; according to Scott Stripling, director of the Archaeological Studies Institute, who announced the discovery of the lead tablet on March 24, 2022. He said it could push back the written record of the name “Yahweh” to 1200-1100 B.C.E..”

Prophet Isaiah said: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he [Abraham] was only one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. (Bible, Isaiah 51:1-2)

The Qur’an states: “You have an excellent example to follow in Abraham.” (Quran, 60:4) And “Follow the way of Abraham as people of pure (monotheistic) faith.” (Quran, 3:95)

What makes Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew an excellent example of pure faith according to three different religion’s Sacred Scriptures? It is that all three scriptures proclaim Abraham to be the one “whom God chose to be His friend”: the Arabic Qur’an 4:125, the Hebrew Bible Isaiah 41:8; and the Greek New Testament Book of James [the brother of Jesus] 2:23.

Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew, “whom God chose to be His friend,” —as far as we know— is also the only prophet to have two sons who were also prophets. And these two sons of Prophet Abraham, Prophet Ishmael and Prophet Isaac, are the only two Prophets who each had a descendant many many centuries later, who proclaimed a sacred scripture each of which has become the basis for one of the two largest religions in the whole world.

Prophet Abraham was the first of those we know to receive a Sacred Scripture (Quran 87:18-19). All of the others were among his descendants. Is being ‘the first’ what makes Abraham so special that his name appears 69 times in the Qur’an, second only to Moses (136 times)? NO!

Prophet Abraham is famous for the numerous ways God tested him, especially the two terrible tests:  banishing Hagar and his first born son Ishmael (Qur’an 2:124, & Genesis 16:1-16) and calling on Abraham to make his son a sacrificial offering to God. (Qur’an 37:100-113 & Genesis 22:1-24)

Most Muslim commentators say the son, unnamed in the Qur’an, was Ishmael (Arabic Isma’il). Some Muslims assert it was Isaac. Perhaps both participated in the test at different times, so that each son could produce descendants who in time would become a blessing for other nations of the earth. (Genesis 22:16-18 & Qur’an 4:163)

The great French medieval commentator Rashi notes that earlier rabbinic commentary states that one of the two young men who accompanied Abraham and Isaac was Ishmael. The Orthodox Artscroll  [Jewish] commentary states that Ishmael had come back to visit his father. Thus, both sons may have shared the test.

Prophet Isaiah said: “But you, Israel, My servant —Jacob— whom I have chosen, are the offspring of Abraham, My friend…”  (Bible, Isaiah 41:8)

So the biological offspring of Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew  (i.e., the Banu Israel) became the first ongoing monotheistic community when God rescued them from Egyptian oppression and made an  enduring covenant with them at Mount Sinai. Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew was not born a Jew, but his descendants from his grandson Jacob/Israel became the Banu Israel—the Jewish People.

For 1200+ years after Prophet Moses, the Banu Israel was the only continuing monotheistic community in the world. Unlike the other monotheistic communities that rose and fell during those centuries, most, but not all, of Banu Israel remained loyal to the covenant which  God had  made with them at Mount Sinai (i.e., Mount Tur – Quran 28:43-46).

It was only several centuries after Prophet Abraham-the-Hebrew that the Hebrew nation acquired its better-known name, the Children (Descendants) of Israel (in Hebrew B’nai Israel; in Arabic Banu Israel). The name of Abraham-the-Hebrew’s grandson, Prophet Jacob, was changed by God to Israel when his descendants were being oppressed in Egypt and in Egypt “YHWH whose name is Impassioned” which means “the Impassioned One,” is a name for an interactive, passionate lover who freed the Hebrews from oppression in Egypt, and made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai. As Prophet David says in his Zabur (Psalm 5::13) “But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them always sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in You.”