I am posting this from what I have written for the RL website:

Many, by reading Exodus 6:2,3, have concluded that God first revealed his
name to Moses at the time spoken of in Genesis 6. In other words, it is
concluded from the above that no one had ever heard the name of Yahweh
before, and that this was the first time it had ever been spoken.

According
to this theory, none of the servants of God spoken of in Genesis had ever
heard of the name of Yahweh.

Yet when we read the book of Genesis we do find that God's name appears
there many times. Eve evidently spoke it. (Genesis 4:1) Noah spoke it.
(Genesis 9:26) Abram (Abraham) spoke it. (Genesis 13:4; 14:22; 15:2,8;
22:14) Sarai (Sarah) spoke it. (Genesis 16:2,5,13) The servant of Abraham
spoke it. (Genesis 24:12,35,40,42,44,56) Laban spoke it. (Genesis 24:50,51;
30:27,30; 31:49) Isaac spoke it. (Genesis 26:22,25; 27:20) Abimlech spoke
it. (Genesis 26:28,29) Jacob spoke it. (Genesis 27:7; 28:16,21; 32:9; 49:18)
Leah spoke it. (Genesis 29:32,33,35) Rachel spoke it. (Genesis 30:24) This
fact may not be apparent in many translations of the scriptures, because the
divine name has been replaced with the title, "the LORD", making it appear
that God's name was "the LORD". The following translations are a few that do
not substitute the divine name in Genesis: American Standard Version,
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible, Young's Literal Translation, World English
Bible, New World Translation, New Jerusalem Bible.

Many atheists, agnostics, deists and others point to this scripture,
claiming either that it is a contradiction to the record of Genesis, or it
is claimed that the record of Genesis is inaccurate, being a forgery of
Moses or some later writer, and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob actually
worshipped the gods of the heathen before this, especially one purported to
have the name of "El" (which literally means, strength, might, or mighty
one). Thus it is important to arrive at a satisfactory understanding
concerning this matter, not only because of the accusations of those who
oppose the Bible, but because it does involve the most important name in the
universe, that is, the name of our Creator, Yahweh.

Coffman states concerning Exodus 6:3: "This passage must be hailed as one of
the most difficult in the Bible, the
difficulty being in the statement that, 'as Jehovah' (Yahweh), God was
unknown to the patriarchs. Whereas, it is a fact that the patriarchs most
assuredly DID know God by that name! We may be certain that this apparent
contradiction is due to some kind of human error. It is simply inconceivable
that Moses, the author of Exodus, could have stated what is recorded here,
unless some meaning beyond what seems to be said is intended."*
Therefore, we really need to take a closer look.
=========
*Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Exodus 6". "Coffman Commentaries on
the Old and New Testament".
http://www.studylight.org/com/bcc/view.cgi?book=ex&chapter=006.
Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
But if Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were acquainted with the divine name, then
why is it stated in Exodus 6 that this name was unknown to them? Exodus
6:2,3 reads from the King James Version: "And God spake unto Moses, and said
unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto
Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known
to them." Let us also realize that the King James Version has added the
phrase "by my name" before "God Almighty". This gives a false impression
concerning the verse, since it would seem to place the term "God Almighty"
as another personal name for the Creator. Strictly speaking, God Almighty is
not spoken of as the personal name of God. It is a title, and as such it is
a titular name, but it is not his personal name. Most translations read
similar to the World English Version: "God spoke to Moses, and said to him,
'I am Yahweh; and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God
Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.'" Notice that "God
Almighty" is not referred to as his name, but rather it is used as a
descriptive title, thus two personal names are not being spoken of, but a
title -- God Almighty (El Shaddai) and then the divine name, Yahweh, is
added. There are at least four different ways of interpreting the latter
part of verse 3.

Viewpoint One: Josephus interpreted Exodus 6:3 to mean that no one had heard
of the name Yahweh before God spoke this name to Moses. This has been the
conclusion of many others. However, this conclusion does raise the question:
How did the tetragrammaton get into the book of Genesis and in the earlier
part of the Book of Exodus? If we reason that Moses simply wrote the name in
by adding it into the text, then we are left with more questions: What name
was being called upon by the various ones spoken of in Genesis? (Genesis
4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 14:22; 16:13; 21:33; 24:7; 26:25) What name did Abraham
actually have his servant swear by? (Genesis 24:3) What name did Abraham
actually call the mountain in Genesis 22:14? What name did God actually
identify himself by in Genesis 15:7; 28:13? What name was originally given
as the God of Shem (Genesis 9:26); the God of Abraham (Genesis 24:27,42,48;
26:24); the God of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 28:13)? Many who accept
Jospehus' claim that when Moses wrote the book of Genesis, claim that he did
it from hindsight and thus inserted the divine name into the mouths of the
speakers. But in view of the way many of the scriptures are worded we do not
find it plausible to think that EL SHADDAI or some other unknown reference
was originally used in these scriptures and that Moses later added the name
of Yahweh into these statements. We will present all places where the divine
name does appear in Genesis later.

Viewpoint Two: The second way of interpreting this verse is offered by a
few*, which would render the phrase "was I not known to them" as a question:
"By my name, Yahweh, was I not known to them?" This rendering could be, but
most scholars do not accept it since the interrogative in Hebrew is usually
shown by an interrogative pronoun, or by adding the letter "He" as the first
letter to the sentence. Neither appear here, so the sentence is not usually
viewed as interrogative, although there are some fairly good arguments as to
why this should still be viewed as interrogative even without such.
==========
*John Gill states: "by reading the words with an interrogation, the clause
will appear more plain, 'and by my name Jehovah was I not known to them?'
" -- Gill, John. "Commentary on Exodus 6:3". "The New John Gill Exposition
of the Entire Bible".
http://yahweh.com/pages/pw0898/holocaust.shtml
and:
http://www.apibs.org/devo/001.htm See also: The Sacred Name Bible rendering
of Exodus 6:3.
Viewpoint Three: John L. Ronning of the Bible Institute of South Africa,
proposed another rendering. He states*: "We propose instead the following
translation, which involves reading the preposition wl in place of the
negative particle al: '... and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El
Shaddai; but as for My name YHWH, by it I had been known to them.' In more
idiomatic English, this could be rendered, 'When I appeared to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, I was already known to them by my name
YHWH.'" Evidently he is saying that there is a copyist error and that by
changing one letter the whole meaning is different.
==========
*Ronning, John. L. Exodus 6:3 and Patriarchal Knowledge of the Name "YHWH",
copyright 1986
The above quote was obtained from:
http://www.ibri.org/29ex63.htm

Viewpoint Four: The fourth way of interpreting this verse does so by taking
into consideration how the word "know" is used in the Hebrew Scriptures. The
Hebrew word translated "known" is yada' (Strong's Hebrew #3045). It has
various shades of meaning, and its usage in Exodus 6:3 does not necessarily
mean that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not aware of the name. For one
illustration of this, we point to Genesis 4:1, where we read that Adam knew
[Hebrew, yada'] his wife. It does not mean that he did not know his wife
before as a person, but it means that he knew his wife more intimately in
the sexual bond. Similarly, in Exodus 6:3, God was revealing his name in a
manner different than it had been known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The
usage of "yada'" can be also seen by its similar usage in conection with the
divine name in Exodus 6:7; 7:17; 8:10,22; 9:14,29; 10:2; 11:7; 14:4,18;
16:6,8,12; 18:11; Deuteronomy 29:6; 1 Kings 20:13; 20:28; Isaiah 49:26;
Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 6:7,13,14; 7:4,27; 11:10,12,15,16; 12:20; 13:9,14,21;
14:8; 15:7; 16:62; 20:12,20,38,42; etc.

This is further attested to if one looks at the name in the causative rather
than simple present tense. This is believed to be the earlier Jewish view*
of the meaning of the name, but the usual meaning given to this word is
something like "He is," or "The Eternal." "Yahweh", in Hebrew, is a verb,
and as such is the third person singular of the Hebrew verb hayah (to be or
become). In Exodus 3:14 Yahweh gives Moses a different variation of his name
in the first person: "I will be what I will be (Ehyeh' asher' ehyeh')."
(Revised Standard Version - footnote) Many translations render this "I AM
THAT I AM." From this theory developed the idea that the divine name --
Yahweh -- means "Eternal One", although the present tense does not refer to
eternal past at all. Thus this idea is actually read into the meaning of "I
am." Others claim that it means Yahweh exists outside of time, and give the
word "eternal" the meaning of a realm in which time does not exist, that is,
the absence of time. This is a human philosophical theory that cannot be
found in the scriptures. There are some good works that refute the idea that
Biblical eternity means absence of time.* But the proponents of this view do
not give a good explanation as to why God's revealment of such an idea to
enslaved Israelites at this time would have had any meaning to their
suffering condition.
==========
*See:
Time and Eternity, by G. T. Stevenson. This book is online at:
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/time/
http://www.heavendwellers.com/time_eternity_index.html
http://www.kingdomlife.com/kingdom/timeand.htm
http://www.godstruthfortoday.org/Library/stevenson/time000.htm
http://www.heavendwellers.com/time_eternity_index.html
Also see:
Understanding God: God and Time, by Jack Cottrell, Cincinnati Bible
Seminary, Fall 2002
This report can be found online at:
http://www.cincybible.edu/seminary/academics/facpublications/Cottrell.pdf

However, if we look at the earlier Jewish view that the divine name is
causative this would give the the Hebrew phrase Ehyeh Asher Eyeh of Exodus
3:14 the meaning of "I cause to be what I cause to be," rather than "I am
who I am." It would give the name Yahweh the meaning of "He [who] causes to
be", rather than simply "He is." Nevertheless, most today who accept that
the divine name is in the causative look upon this as only meaning Creator,
in the sense of the One who created all things, "he creates", which we still
do not believe would be very meaningly as far as any kind of revealment in
Exodus 6:3. This idea would not have impressed the Israelites, for what
comfort and encouragement would it be to show an enslaved people that God
was the first cause of the universe? Rather we should see something more
meaningful to the situation at hand, that is, as the Causer of events
according to what he had promised. It is in this latter sense that we find
meaning to the revealment of the divine name in Exodus 6:3 (as well as many
other scriptures as referred to earlier), that is, that, although Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob knew of the name Yahweh, they did not know that name in its
fuller meaning, as the One who accomplishes the covenant promises.** God
made the covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but now he was about
to start fulfillment of those promises by delivering Jacob's people from
Egypt. Thus this is our preferred understanding of this verse.
==========
*"Yahweh (ya'we). The Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHVH or YHWH) traditionally
pronounced Jehovah (q.v) is now known to be correctly vocalized yahwe. New
inscriptional evidence from the second and first millennia B. C. point
toward this fact. The old view of Le Clerc, modernly propounded by Paul
Haupt and developed by W. F. Albright, has commended itself in the light of
the phonetic development and grammatical evidence of increased knowledge of
Northwest Semitic and kindred tongues. This thesis holds Yahwe to be
originally a finite causative verb from the Northwest Semitic root hwy 'to
be, to come into being,' so that the divine name would mean 'he causes to
be, or exist,' i. e.,w 'he creates.' Amorite personal names after 2,000 B.
C. lend support to the Haupt-Albright view, demonstrating that the
employment of the causative stem yahwe "he creates" was in vogue in the
linguistic background of early Hebrew." -- Unger's Bible Dictionary, Merrill
F. Unger, 1957, Moody Press, Chicago, Page 1177
See also our document on The Divine Name
Also see F M Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, pg 60-71; W. F.
Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, pgs 147-149.
**Some have read into our statement that we are saying that Abraham did not
have faith that God would fulfill his promises. This, of course, is not our
thought at all.
====

The online study shows every place where the name "Yahweh" appears in the
book of Genesis, as well as in Exodus before Exodus 6:2,3. The evidence is
overwhelming that the name, Yahweh -- as an appelation of the only true
God -- was indeed known to various ones in the book of Genesis. Thus one
needs to examine Exodus 6:2,3 more closely.
http://reslight.com/genesisyahweh.html

Christian love,
Ronald

"thomas p" <tonyofbexarnospam@yahoo.dk> wrote in message
news:frf8815h87th8ukaciogc0e14kfqlt4bdp@4ax.com...

On Thu, 12 May 2005 21:22:06 -0700, "L Perez" <LPerezDncr@hotmail.com>
wrote:

"Libertarius" <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote in message
news:4282BE35.C18038D8@Nothing_But_The.Truth...

"L Perez" <LPerezDncr@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OdudnZITb7MVKBzfRVn-hQ@comcast.com...

"Libertarius" <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote in message
news:1115783047.e5688a42261d5c2478c648894f388bb6@teranews...

buzzy potatosalad wrote:

In article <4280DA0A.FA69896@Nothing_But_The.Truth>,
Libertarius <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote:

L Perez wrote:

--
BEWARE! there are people on this newsgroup who are only here to
slander and
lie about Jehovah's Witnesses. They do not offer any
alternative
organization... as a matter of fact, some are admitted atheists
(Matthew
12:30; John 8:44-47) I have all of their posts filtered out
because
they can
not hold an intelligent conversation and often resort to lies.

===>Can YOU "hold an intelligent conversation"???
The subject was the "name".
What about the forgetful Jehovah depicted in the book of
EXODUS? --
L.

You mean El Shaddai

===>No, I mean YHWH, who tells Moses that no one
knew him by that name until then.
But in Genesis, starting withe Eve, all sorts of people
are said to have known that name. -- L.

you would do well to take your head out of the sand long enough to
see
my
previous explanation of that which you seem to be ignorant

I seem to recall Libretarius pointing out why your supposed explanation
was
not a possible interpretation of the text in question as it is worded.

===>He has NO explanation.

the Name YHWH was known to people before Moses but until YHWH delivered
Israel out of Pharoah's hand, the *meaning* of the name (I shall prove to
be) was not known

Ah! Kind of like L.S.M.F.T. I didn't know he was in advertising.



Thomas P.

"Life must be lived forwards but understood backwards"

(Kierkegaard)

I am posting this from what I have written for the RL website:

you would do well to take your head out of the sand long enough to see my
previous explanation of that which you seem to be ignorant

"Libertarius" <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote in message
news:1115783047.e5688a42261d5c2478c648894f388bb6@teranews...

buzzy potatosalad wrote:

In article <4280DA0A.FA69896@Nothing_But_The.Truth>,
Libertarius <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote:

L Perez wrote:

--
BEWARE! there are people on this newsgroup who are only here to
slander and
lie about Jehovah's Witnesses. They do not offer any alternative
organization... as a matter of fact, some are admitted atheists
(Matthew
12:30; John 8:44-47) I have all of their posts filtered out because
they can
not hold an intelligent conversation and often resort to lies.

===>Can YOU "hold an intelligent conversation"???
The subject was the "name".
What about the forgetful Jehovah depicted in the book of EXODUS? -- L.

You mean El Shaddai

===>No, I mean YHWH, who tells Moses that no one
knew him by that name until then.
But in Genesis, starting withe Eve, all sorts of people
are said to have known that name. -- L.

you would do well to take your head out of the sand long enough to see my
previous explanation of that which you seem to be ignorant

buzzy potatosalad wrote:

In article <4280DA0A.FA69896@Nothing_But_The.Truth>,
Libertarius <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote:

L Perez wrote:

--
BEWARE! there are people on this newsgroup who are only here to slander
and
lie about Jehovah's Witnesses. They do not offer any alternative
organization... as a matter of fact, some are admitted atheists
(Matthew
12:30; John 8:44-47) I have all of their posts filtered out because
they can
not hold an intelligent conversation and often resort to lies.

===>Can YOU "hold an intelligent conversation"???
The subject was the "name".
What about the forgetful Jehovah depicted in the book of EXODUS? -- L.

You mean El Shaddai

===>No, I mean YHWH, who tells Moses that no one
knew him by that name until then.

But in Genesis, starting withe Eve, all sorts of people
are said to have known that name.

"Libertarius" <Libertarius@Nothing_But_The.Truth> wrote in message
news:427ADEE7.8AE1874E@Nothing_But_The.Truth...

===>That doesn't say much.
Almost ANYTHING is more believable that the Trinitarian
Cerberus of a deity! -- L.

that trinity god is an ancient pagan god that Constantine worshipped and
imposed upon the 4th century Christians in his attempt to conjure one united
Roman religion. By combining Christianity and paganism he created
catholicism

Cracklin' wrote:

"william Kimbler" <w.kimbler@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:%R8ce.2608$iZ1.222@trnddc03...

which scholar is this?

=======================
The WTS seldom names "scholars" in their literature. The JW just

accepts

that it's a real genuine SCHOLAR. :-)
--
CR....
All the JWs wish for is walking around the COUNTRYSIDE (never any

towns

pictured in the WT rags) smiling like the village idiot and carrying
baskets of veggies and fruit with them.

Carol Witkowski has been caught in various vicious lies
Before plaguing ARJW with her nonsense, she use to plague the Health
NG, and now rec.ponds and alt.free.newsservers
Do a google search on Yarrow / windsong / Carol for more details.
She engages people in senseless debates about absolutely nothing.
Her intent on ARJW is to slander JW's

when asked about why she did not contact the authorities when she
accused a JW of raping his daughter, she could not provide and honest
reply, demostrating that she will exploit abused children
do you agree with her net behaviour?

Before you reply, you may want to ask her a few things or only one.
_Where does she get her information?
_Can her information be verified?
_Is the information up to date?
_What is the purpose of her post? To present reliable facts about JW's
or sling mud on
A religious organization in good standing in almost every country in
the
world?

Ask her for evidence of her claims before proceeding with your
conversation
with her, if not you may be end up wasting your time and bandwidth on
discussing subjects based on fraudulent and fabricated information.
This is how she manipulates clueless bystanders in participating with
her distributing false information elsewhere?

Facts about Carol:

*She can never present evidence.
*She never reveals the source of her info (because there is none). Her
common
reply, is: "everybody already knows". If everybody knew, why bring it
up?
*She always hides her identity. And change her header to avoid
killfiles. A TOS offense
*She cuts and paste, rewrite postings, and will even forge e-mail
addresses
;which her ISP allows her to do. Just ask them: support.heartoftn.net


If your newsgroups has been victim of Carol's MCP and ECP that is off
topic;
You can report her to