An ancient tablet discovered near the Palestinian city of Nablus may contain the earliest known mention of the Biblical name of God, YHVH “Yahweh” in proto-alphabetic Hebrew writing; according to Scott Stripling, director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Texas, 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 1300-1200 B.C.E. The inscription reads: “Cursed, cursed, cursed — cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed.”
Prophet Muhammad said, “Allah has ninety-nine names, i.e. one-hundred minus one, and whoever knows them will go to Paradise.” (Sahih Bukhari 50:894) The unknown ‘minus one’ might be Prophet Muhammad’s reference to the too sacred to be uttered YHVH name revealed to Messenger Moses: “God also said to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, “Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. ‘ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:15).
Why don’t monotheistic religions have just one name for God? Polytheistic religions have many names for their gods because they have many gods; and each god has one or more names. But if you worship only one Deity why give it a name at all, if it is the only one? The universal, non-material, force of attraction is called gravity; and there is no need for an individual name for it, in any of the world’s languages.
Monotheists call God by a name because we believe that the Divine is not an impersonal, universal force or power: for the Divine One is a personality. A unique, disembodied, undying, always creative personality, who cares about the whole created world. We even use a pronoun of gender, although God includes both genders, because we do not wish to refer to the Divine One, as it.
The Qur’an tells us (17:110) “Say, “Call upon Allah or call upon Ar-Rahman/Ha Rakhaman, the Most Merciful. Whichever [name] you call – to Him belong the best names.” And do not recite your prayer [too] loudly or [too] quietly, but seek a way in between.”
For those religions that trace their prophets back to Prophet Abraham, and his two sons Ishmael and Isaac; the many names or appellations (titles and descriptions) of God simply describe different aspects or attributes of the one God’s multifaceted personality.
Thus, to say that God is a King or a Judge describes one of many ways God acts. To say that God is the Merciful-Compassionate One is to describe one of many character or personality traits of the one and only........