“YHW,” Yahweh

Photo Study III

[Ebal, nineteen of thirty]

“ARWR”, that is, “cursed,” I reviewed in my last post.

I turn now to the divine name–“Yahweh”.

This is my nineteenth post urging that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. To start the journey from its beginning, click here. Otherwise, proceed on.

Galil alleges that this sacred name appears twice inside the tablet.

For simplicity, I discuss only one of those here. That one I call “Upper Yahweh” simply because it lies near the top of the tablet.

Galil’s annotated Table 7 drawing labels it as #’s: 11, 12, and 13.

The phonetic spelling is thus “Yod,” “He,” “Waw”.

Here is what they look like:

• An angled arm symbolizes “Yod”. Picture it as running from above the elbow to the thumb and thence to the pointer finger. See Figure 7’s #11, at Table 5, (1a and b).
• A stickman with raised arms, as if signaling a touchdown, signifies “He”. See Figure 7’s #12, at Table 3, (1a & b). Here the stickman stands. Note, however, that it can also be seated. See Figure 7’s # 40 and Table 3 (3a & b).
• “Waw” is the blunt force weapon, the mace, described previously. See Figure 7’s #13, Table 4, (1a & b) and Table 10, photo #4, for the alleged negative bulge.

The photos of “He”, Figure 7’s #12 at Table 3, (1a & b), and “Waw”, Figure 7’s #13 at Table 4 (1a & b), are distinct.

“Yod”, Figure 7’s #11 at Table 5 (1a & b), however, is faint.

Other views include:

• Stripling’s Figure 4 showing:
  • The hand lies under the hips of “Heh”;
  • The thumb is under and intertwined with “Taw”;
  • The wrist and forearm run below the left leg of “Heh”; and
  • The upper arm extends at a right angle from “Heh’s” left ankle.
• Haughwout’s Figure 5 gives a mirrored view.

Importantly, study Table 10, photo # 3. The Stripling team argues that this depicts the bottom bulge of this “Yod”.

Do you agree?

If you do, this has major consequences–ones to which even Haughwout, the sceptic, agrees. It is this: mirror bulges on the bottom reflect something actually existing on the inner surface of the tablet. The object does not result from a photographic lighting or shading issue. It also nullifies the object resulting from a computer glitch.

That finishes my review of the two words which Stripling declares compel his conclusions–“ARWR” and “YHW.”

What did I tell you? That was not hard.

However, again, read these sections a couple of times. Let the photos really sink in.

With the following post, I complete an initial dive into the tablet’s photos. There, I look at a word and two other letters relevant to Haughwout’s arguments.

Later, however, I delve deeper into the words and symbols mentioned above. This I do as I evaluate a scholarly skeptic’s views.

Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

Our next post examines the tablet’s alleged word “TMT”, meaning “You Will Die!”

Join me there.

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Next post: “You Will Die!”