The name of Baal Berith in Judges 9:46 is evidently intended 
to be the same as El Eerith in the eighth chapter and thirty- 
third verse, and this will bear out the contention that "El" and 
"Baal" are common names for the same conception of 
Lordship and also show that it was not out of place to apply 
either of the names. Certainly if the idea contained in Baal 
was altogether repugnant to the Hebrew concept of God there 
were frequent and unexpected departures from the right 
application of the term. Even Gideon was called Jerubbaal 
(Baal contends), while Saul named one of his sons Ishbaal 
(the man of Baal), and Jonathan's son was named Meribbaal. 
A father would scarcely put his own son under the ban by 
affixing a name conveying an evil impression, which would be 
the case were the compounds of Baal indicative of proscribed 
worships If El Berith and Baal Berith are acceptably 
synonymous and connect the two terms El and Ball in 
acceptable and interchangeable relations, these must have 
been understood to have existed elsewhere in the common 
usage of the people. It thus would have been as proper then 
for Haggar to have used the name "Baal Roi," for "God of 
seeing," as the name "El Roi," which she did use. In her time 
and with the feebler concept which was then held, there 
would have been no disrespect shown by the use of such a 
name as Baal from a woman filled with gratitude for a special 
deliverance from a greater danger. The close relation in the 
popular mind between the two terms would have made the 
use of either an indication of great thankfulness for relief. God 
saw her and heard her prayer, and she called Him by the 
name most familiar to her, while the other would have been 
used by another person of that time under similar 
circumstances. 

THE SPECIAL NAME JEHOVA. 

We come now to a consideration of the Special name used by 
the Hebrews to designate God. We are not so much at a loss 
as to the root meaning of the word JEHOVA. Whatever may 
have been the method of pronouncing the name, we have the 
idea of Beings Existence, independent of causation and as 
essential to the nature of God. This name in its several forms 
was to the Jews the great and sacred Name of such 
wonderful import. Its utterance was so strongly prohibited that 
at last its rightful pronunciation was lost, and we are left with 
no clue to the mystery. The sounds of the vowel points of the 
other names of God, "ELOHIM" and "ADONAI," were used 
instead of the rightful name, in consequence of 
misinterpreting Ex. 20:7, Lev. 24:11, 15, Deut. 28:58, and 
others. What the real vowels and consequently the proper 
pronunciation should be, is not known. It is probable that, like 
EL, this name was either of Phoenician or Aramaen origin, 
and when appropriated received an added meaning. 
Etymologically it is closely related to the Phoenician name for 
the Sun-god "IOA," which Name was also used in Chalelaic in 
the same form of "IOA" for "The Intelligent Light," and the 
transition from this idea to that of "I am that I Am" - Self 
Existence or Pure Being - was easy and natural. The 
Egyptian temple of Isis at Sais had this inscription: "I am what 
was, and is, and is to come. No mortal hath yet unveiled me." 
Compare, "Jesus the same yesterdays to-day and forever," 
and Rev. 1:4, with the meaning given to Moses at the Burning 
Bush. It is the other contents of the concept in this name 
which indicate the great advancement which use assures. In 
its enlarged meaning EL became the "Master," "Maker," and 
"Possessor," but while heaven and earth are His, there is no 
trace of close appropriation and special relation. Other nations 
had "ELOHIM" in common with the Hebrews, and were as 
much entitled to their protection but the use of the new special 
name with its larger content introduces the idea of Hebrew 
independence. JEHOVAH to them is the National God, and 
as such He is conceived of as above all other gods; and as for 
the nation it should know no others. He becomes the 
"Preserver" of the nation, and sustains a peculiar relation of 
intimacy with all of the stock of Abraham. He becomes 
naturally the Theocratic Ruler, the "First and the Last," still 
more the "ONLY TRUE GOD," the Ever-Living "Defender," 
the "LORD OF HOSTS." Intimately associated with the name 
of JEHOVAH, all of the legislation of the nation was based on 
the Theocratic idea. The supreme civil rule, whether Lawgiver, 
Military Leader, Judge or King, all were the vicegerents of 
JEHOVAH, and the High Priest was His spokesman, as were 
also the Prophets appearing from time to time in the crises of 
the national life. The explicit declaration that the name 
JEHOVA was not known until its revelation to Moses at the 
Burning Bush involves us in a difficulty which vanishes when 
we agree with the higher critics that this statement is part of 
the late Priestly Code, and reflects only a backward light 
along the course of history. But it is not necessary to resort to 
this dismemberment of the Book, for it is possible to find in the 
development of the Hebrew ideal from the time of the 
Patriarchs sufficient advancement to make the name 
practically new, and certainly new as to its content. There is a 
vast difference between the name of a merely local god, even 
the "God of the Thunderstorm," such as JEHOVAH evidently 
was originally, and that larger concept of Leadership, and 
Omnipotent Beings endowed with the specific attributes of 
Righteousness and Holiness, and sustaining such close 
relations to all the details of government which became the 
content of the Name later. 

THE INNER MEANING. 

What then is the later inner meaning of the chosen name of 
Deity given to Moses at the Mount? "HIH" is the imperfect 
tense of the very TO BE, of which the present tense form is 
"IHIH." By apocopated form the first person is "IHI." The 
meaning was a growth. 

We learn that the name itself then was a symbol of Creation, 
an anagram, and that in the special forms in which it was 
sometimes written was embodied the conception of the union 
of God with His creations, as expressed in the Universe. The 
letter H was considered to be the agent of Almighty power, 
and as this was found in all the pronouns which designated 
sex, and was also more than any other Ietter in evidence in 
the special Divine name, it was felt that the great mystery of 
Fatherhood and Motherhood, the idea of power of 
reproduction was concealed in the Name. As other religions 
were based on Nature worship, and as that was most familiar 
to those who had been under the influence of Egypt, and who 
were environed by tribes whose worship was of the same 
sexual type, the Israelites doubtless in the earliest times made 
the name JEHOVAH contain much of the dogma with which 
they were most familiar. A reversal of the letters gave the 
personal sex pronouns, the male and female, and thus they 
could contemplate with the concept of Being that thought 
which in Egypt was wrapped up in the names "Isis," "Osiris" 
and Chorus," and which, in the land of their own inheritance, 
confronted them in the yearly feasts of the Canaanites and 
veiled itself in the lamentations of the women over the death 
of "Tammuz," slain in the darkness of the North. In JEHOVAH 
all sex was contained, hence none could be slain, and all had 
continuing life. He was therefore the only True God, as the 
only one not subject to evil power. 

THE ATTRIBUTES. 

Moses learned in Egypt the doctrine of God as Eternal, 
Invisible, Omniscient, Just and Powerful. Those attributes 
attached themselves to the "Jehovah" of the Mountains, and 
henceforth were part of the concept. The Mountain and 
Desert tribes knew "Jehovah," but to them He was the "God 
of the Thunderstorm," "the God of Lightning." We believe this, 
because it seems reasonable to suppose that as Moses found 
the name "JEHOVAH" at the Burning Bush in the Sianitic 
region where he lived for so many years, that the name was 
familiar to the people who lived thereabout, who were 
probably of the same original stock as Israel, and more, that it 
could not have been an unfamiliar name to the enslaved 
Hebrews in Egypt, for it was to be to them the assurance of 
the Divine approval of their Exodus. It was to be a Name to 
establish immediate confidence, and must have meant to the 
Children of Israel a powerful protector, more than the equal of 
the united gods of Egypt. Evidently the name JEHOVAH 
represented to them the most powerful deity, who, while 
especially located at Sinai (as there it was that He had directly 
manifested Himself), yet was both able and willing to exert His 
power in behalf of the descendants of the Patriarchs. This 
idea of habitat or localization was held by the Hebrews fear a 
long time, and finds frequent expression. It was perhaps for 
this reason that they were so ready to take their journey into 
"the wilderness," knowing that they were going to the Mount 
of God, and could there enter into covenant relations with 
Him. Perhaps also, because of this idea of relation to the 
region of the great mountain, the association of the name 
"Adonai," the equivalent of "Moloch," or "Adonis," came into 
general use, for "Adonis" was a term for a principal god all 
along the coast which was dominated by the great Desert 
mountain. If the term "OLAM" (eternal) could be applied to 
BAAL, BEL, MOLOCH, and ADONAI, it would of course be 
part of the enlarged concept of JEHOVAH, when all the 
attributes of these powerful deities were passed over to him 
as the proper attributes of the National God. 

THE SUN GOD 

In Egypt, when Israel was led by Moses, the sun-god was 
"Ammon-Ra," for while Ammon, the supreme, was originally 
the "concealed god," and regarded like Jupiter as "the father 
of gods and men," he became associated in the common 
mind with "Ra," and the two were recognized in the Sun. 
"Ammon-Ra" was thus the equivalent of "Appollo," the sungod 
of the Greeks, and "Baal," the sun-god of the Phoenecians, 
and "Bel," the sun-god of Babylon, and "Asshur," the sun-god 
of the Assyrians, while he also contained the enlarged idea of 
supremacy with which the Greeks and Romans invested their 
"Zeus" and "Jupiter." The Persian "Mithra," the god of fire and 
light, and thus the sun-god, was not represented by images, 
but in all these other instances where the names indicated 
that substantially the same belief obtained, the "Ephod" or 
image was a necessary part of the furniture of the Temple) a 
more approachable representation of the Deity than the fierce 
and distant sun. The Persians conceived also of a Creator 
who was beyond and superior to the sun, and of whom the 
glorious sun was a symbol - "Ahura-Mazda," or "Ormudz," 
who was "invisible and eternal and righteous," a far loftier 
conception than that embodied in Jupiter. To this Persian 
concept doubtless the Jews owed much of the content of their 
own later thought of Deity. As commerce and other relations 
were close for many centuries, it is reasonable to suppose 
that what was best and loftiest was appropriated anal made 
part of the concept of JEHOVAH. As the loftiest thought and 
most advanced ideals were there found, it was to be expected 
that the developing Nation would make use of the intellectual 
conquests of the other. It was this discriminating and 
extensive appropriation of ideas which finally completed the 
Hebrew concept of the Most High. 

SACRIFICE AND WORSHIP 

Another side-light slowing development concerns the 
recognition of human sacrifice, which under certain 
conditions, was not only allowable at first but was to be 
commended. The cruel sacrifice of the male firstborn to 
"Moloch" or ''Adonis'' among the Hebrews was commuted by 
the consecration of the first-born to the service of JEHOVAH, 
and by exchange made the Levites servants (slaves) of 
JEHOVAH, bound to His service, and with their lives at His 
disposal. That the first-born were not slain was not because 
the rite was altogether abhorrent, for even in late times it was 
common, but because, as in the case of Abraham, a 
substitute was provided, both for person and for worsen. 
There was no substitute for Jeptha's daughters In the mails, it 
can hardly be denied that the cult associated with the name 
JEHOVAH was due largely, so far as form was concerned, to 
the influence of the Canaanite and Egyptian people, the 
former always active until fully absorbed in Israel. But sacrifice 
and worship was the bond between the children of Israel and 
their God, and as JEHOVAH was their God, and not the God 
of any other people, whatever was borrowed from the 
Canaanites or other nations became holy, when it was used 
only to still further honor Him, and make His presence and 
power more manifest. The idea of sacrifice among the Baal 
worshippers was that it partook of the nature of a bribe to turn 
away anger, or a gift to win favor, and the ordinary mind 
among the Hebrews so associated these thoughts with the 
sacrificial service to JEHOVAH, that it had to be clearly and 
constantly taught that the most acceptable service was not 
sacrifice but heart service and holiness. Until the element of 
personal righteousness entered into the scheme of life as that 
which would make men most acceptable to JEHOVAH, 
because most like Him, the worship of Israel differed but little 
except in name from the worship of BAAL or ADONIS, or 
BEL, or RA. It was the enlarged conception of the nature of 
God which worked the complete change, but the change 
needed centuries. Even until the time of Christ the influence of 
the early cult inherited from the Canaanites was discernible. 
For one thing, the rise of the priestly office itself, evidenced 
the influence of the BAAS cult, for until in late times the 
priestly function in sacrifice and prayer was part of the 
investiture of the head of the household It was when it 
became necessary to hear the voice of the Oracle that some 
consecrated person was called in, and generally in early times 
this was a person who possessed an "Ephod," or image of 
God, but when the concept of JEHOVAH was filled out by the 
absorption or adoption of the desirable attributes of other 
gods, the development of a settled priesthood and an orderly 
service was natural. As long as Israel was nomadic it was not 
possible to have more than the germ of the magnificent 
service which grew into completeness with the permanent 
location of shrines and temples. 

THE TEMPLE. 

For a simple wandering people the simplest form of altar was 
sufficient, and the sacrifice one which could be offered by any 
person. This was at first in the nature of a meal provided for 
JEHOVAH, of which the offerer partook with all his household 
as guests of God. These simple essentials were enough to 
give scope to the reverent feelings of the soul, and renew the 
bond between JEHOVAH and His people. Worship then was 
in simple form, without money and without price or toll to 
priestly intercessor, totally unlike what it became in those later 
years when a numerous priesthood held the keys of heaven 
and made worship a matter of much cost to the worshipper 
and of gain to the priest who officiated. The Patriarchs had 
built up their rude altars wherever the spirit moved them, and 
the names which they gave to them were indicative of the 
spiritual experience through which they had passed in that 
place, but later on when the growth of Priesthood and the 
broadened concept of God led to an amplified ritual of 
worship, the early freedom which prompted men to build 
simple altars was lost, and the more elaborate ritual required 
instead the maintenance of the great Temple even at the 
sacrifice of the earlier shrines. The thought was if JEHOVAH 
could be induced to leave the Mount of Manifestation, His 
favorite abode, it would be when He had a suitable House for 
a habitation, a House more perfect in all its appointments than 
any which had ever been erected to BAAL or other of the 
country gods. To maintain such a Temple and its Priesthood 
properly would require the united support of all the people, 
and the abolition of local Temples (Bamoth), which were, after 
the manner of the Canaanites, common on the high places 
and in the groves throughout the land. The presence of 
JEHOVAH sanctified the Temple above all other shrines, and 
made it the peculiarly appropriate place for all the people to 
worship, and made certain the voice of the Oracle to those 
who ha(l desire to consult it. Thus when the Temple was 
completed and all the courses of priestly service fully 
established, the influence of the Temple enlarged the concept 
of God held by the people and finally led to a partial 
abandonment of the simpler practices which, in the earlier 
times, were associated with the name EL. The people had 
then left the more simple service, with a more simple Name, 
and its concept, and yet had carried into the enlarged service 
all of the more valuable elements pertaining to the older. Thus 
it is still possible to see in the Temple the necessary 
development of what had gone before. But the Temple itself 
was mainly a reproduction of the older Temple of Baal in its 
forts as well as in the arrangement of much of its ceremonial, 
and it is this power of adaptation and of appropriation of all 
that was best in what had gone before, which made the 
strength of the Jehovistic worship. It was as though out of the 
mire and filth of idolatry the jewel of faith was rescued and 
was made to do service in the adornment of true worship. The 
Targum says that originally "Abraham was called from the 
service and worship of the stars in order that the nation to be 
born from him might be established in the worship of Him who 
made the stars, and Arab tradition has it that even in their own 
land it was hard to hold back the people from the worship of 
the heavenly bodies until in the Temple they behold the glory 
of JEHOVAH. Out of the false beliefs, the superstitions and 
vanities which environed them, and by the natural yet slow 
process of growth and absorption of whatever was found 
most fit, was built up at last that which has, in the goodness of 
God, resulted to the advantage of all the races and all the 
ages of Man. Through feebleness and uncertainty, often in 
conflict with those things which the world has found most 
degrading, yet still ever impelled by spiritual forces not 
apprehended at the time, the Hebrew mind was led from 
gross darkness into more of the divine brightness than any 
other people of old enjoyed. 

CONCLUSION 

Our study of the subject has led us to the following 
convictions: 

First. That climatic and purely physical conditions affect the 
idea of God which men hold, and that this to a large extent 
conditioned the earlier concept which appears in Hebrew 
history. 

Second. That the amplified conception of God was an 
evidence of mental energy, and also an indication of spiritual 
development, such a conception being necessarily based 
upon enlarged ideals only possible to those whose intellectual 
growth had outworn the narrower limits of the earlier age, and 
whose spiritual development had awakened loftier moral 
ideas. 

Third. Every change in the National character was a direct 
consequence of a change in the National ideal of God, for 
while the change was at first an individual one, it spread so 
rapidly that soon it embraced the people as a whole. Moses 
was one man, but he was able to matte JEHOVAH a reality to 
all his people. 

Fourth. The final Theology of the Hebrew people was a 
natural outgrowth of the final idea of JEHOVAH, coupled with 
the National development, and testifies to the strong influence 
of environment, as well as to the bitter experiences through 
which the people were called to pass. 

Fifth. The ideal embodied in the name JEHOVAH has 
broadened and enlarged during each century since first the 
Name was given at the Burning Bush, and each century has 
had some part in shaping the final concept and has also 
contributed something of value to it drawn from its own 
experience. 

Sixth. The Masonic use of the Name has been helpful to the 
enlargement of the concept, in that it has made the moral 
attributes prominent in all its work, and has sought to develop 
the spiritual side of men through the emphasis which it places 
upon the duty of worship and service, as well as by the 
stimulus which it gives to the study of the Divine character as 
exhibited in the Universe. 

Seventh. The present Masonic use of the Name is 
meaningless if there be and departure from the homage 
which the principles of Masonry inculcates, and the use of the 
Great Light is an emphatic declaration that Masonry 
recognizes righteousness as the source of its power and the 
assurance of its continuance and prosperity, and that the 
protection of the Most High is given in answer to the prayer of 
faith, which itself is consequent upon a high ideal of the Divine 
Nature.