[Institutiones Theologicae Ex Optimis Autoribus Concinatae (ex officinâ Francisci Moyardi, 1658)]
Johannes Hoornbeek (4 November 1617, Haarlem – 23 August 1666, Leiden), was a Dutch Reformed theologian. He was a student and a follower of Gisbertus Voetius, writing with him on spiritual desertion. Like his teacher Voetieus, he was also later a professor of theology at the University of Leiden and University of Utrecht. The two universities were closely related in the 17th century, and both the teacher and his students participated in the intellectual “Utrecht Circle.” Another member of the circle was Hornbeek's student colleague Andreas Essenius. The circle was also known as De Voetiaanse Kring (The Voetian Circle), and it was one of the most influential intellectual circles of the Dutch second Reformation.
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TRELC. The second principle of sacred Theology is God; we say ‘second’ not in the order of Nature, for nothing is prior to God, but for the betterment of our knowledge, because as the primary instrument of all saving knowledge concerning God is the Scripture, so the primary and supreme principle of being for those things which serve this knowledge is God, from whom all things directly depend.
**PROF.**In Sacred Theology, God is treated not merely as the principle of its foundation or of our knowledge, but as the subject and the foremost and principal topic of Theology, from whom the others proceed, under whom they are included, and to whom they should be related. Therefore, from this, Theology itself deriveth its name.
GOM. For albeit God, by reason of the infinite excellence of His nature and the limited acuity of the created mind, cannot be fully comprehended, and consequently cannot be perfectly expressed by word or name, wherefore He was aptly termed ‘nameless’ by the ancients (for what is His name, if thou knowest? Prov. 30:4), nevertheless, certain names of God are found in the Scripture, Exod. 3:14-15 and 6:3, whereby He hath represented Himself through a certain suitable analogy (that He might be known and adored by us according to our measure unto salvation). Gregor. Nazian. Oration 36, or 2 on the Son. The proper name of God, which pertaineth unto Him only, Ps. 83:19, common and everlasting, Exod. 3:15, Ps. 135:13, even יהוה, which is not only more ancient than the former ‘Eheje,’ but also more fitting by the differentiation of the word from its verb; whether it be derived from היה by the mutation of yod into vav, as A. Efra. upon Exod. 15:2, or from הוה with the same meaning. That name of God, not to be hidden but to be reverently remembered, He entrusted unto the children of Israel: forasmuch as He calleth it His memorial, Exod. 3:15, Hos. 12:5, and with it thrice repeated, to be blessed by the priests unto the people, Num. 6:24-26, and unto the people, even to swear by it in holiness, He commanded, Deut. 6:13 and 10:20, Josh. 9:19. Touching the right pronunciation thereof, as the learned do contend, so the controversy remaineth yet undecided. For certain affirm that ‘Jehova’ is the true pronunciation: others, contrariwise, deny it and maintain that the vowels annexed unto this name are not its own, both parties upheld by their respective arguments. Even as we deem that the second opinion ought to be tolerated, so we do not hastily esteem that the first should be favored. The first cause is, that the vowels of the name Jehovah, written with the consonants, may agree with them (no less than with its own name Judah): neither is there any necessary ground wherefore they should be accounted as alien vowels. Which thing shall be plainly perceived from the scrutiny of the contrary view. The second is, that the former and half part of the name Jehovah, to wit, Jeho, doth appear with the selfsame points in words compounded thereof, and is read by all, beyond dispute, after the same manner. Names of this sort, therefore, are termed by the most renowned Drusius ‘ikophora,’ ‘programmatophora.’ Such as יהונתןJehonathan, and in contraction יונתן Jonathan (which signifieth ‘given by God,’ Deodatus), and many others like unto them. The third cause is from the witness of the Seventy interpreters: who from the words of Jer. 23:6, יהוה צדקנו ‘Jehovah our righteousness,’ did form the name from Jehovah and tsedek ‘righteousness,’ ἰωσεδέκ (with ω instead of Jeho, by contraction, agreeable to the custom of writing and the nature of the Greek tongue). The fourth cause is from the ancient practice of the Jews. Who, being guided by a certain prohibited religion, did refrain from uttering the complete name Jehovah: hence, they did pronounce that part thereof which was present in words compounded from it, and was freely spoken in them, with like freedom, for the entire Jehovah, to wit, ‘laho,’ and in Greek ἰαω. Diodorus, in his Bibliotheca, book 1, chapter 1; Theodoret, in his fifteenth question on Exodus; and Therap., in book 2, do change ש jeva not into c, as is frequent, but into a gentler sound, à. Even as the Seventy did utter δαδών for דדן and שבא; Num. 32:38, Nabo for נבו; Gen. 10:7, שמואל as σαμεήλ, 1 Sam. 1:20. Lastly, contrariwise, from the twisting back of the objection to this first reason, a fifth argument doth arise in favor of the former opinion. For if Jehovah did bear the points of the name אדני Adonai, then in like manner, the first point would not be simple Sheva, but with Patach: even as, since assuredly the points of the name אלהים Elohim, the first thereof, is fittingly Sheva with Segol.
WAL.
Answer. The occasion of doubting is from Exod. 6:2, wherein God doth witness unto Moses that He appeared unto their fathers by the name of Shaddai, that is, God Almighty; but by His name Jehovah He was not known unto them. But that this is not the intent of that passage, that the name Jehovah was not employed by God aforetime, is shewn from Gen. 2:4. ‘When Jehovah God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.’ And in chapter 4:1. ‘Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from Jehovah.’
Answer. That cannot be, for Moses doth recount the words which Eve herself did use at the birth of Cain. And in Gen. 15:7, he doth relate the words of God Himself unto Abraham. ‘God appeared unto Abraham, and said, I am Jehovah, that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees.’ See likewise Gen. 18:13 and 26:25.
Answer. There, truly, it treateth not of the word or the usage of the word Jehovah, but of the fulfillment of that which is signified thereby. For God had verily promised the land of Canaan unto the Patriarchs aforetime, but He had not sent them to possess it, which at last He did by Moses. Thus also unto us who believe in Christ, He is not only El Shaddai, sufficient to accomplish the promises, but also Jehovah, that is, the bestower of those blessings which are promised in Christ.