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Rev 19:1. Φωνὴν, a voice) Widely different from the complaints described in ch. 18-ἀλληλούϊα, Hallelujah) This is a most weighty cry, respecting which we deem it necessary to make some remarks.
§ 1. It is a Hebrew word הללו יה, compounded of הללו and יה.
§ 2. The name יָהּ occurs in hymns of the Old Testament; Exo 15:2, Isa 38:11, Psa 118:5; Psa 118:14; Psa 118:17-19, and elsewhere repeatedly, especially in this very Hallelujah, which the Apocalypse alone contains in the New Testament, and that in this one chapter, but repeatedly.
§ 3. Some derive יָהּ from יָאָה, and refer it to the Divine comeliness; but, as many acknowledge, under this name is rather denoted, He who is.
§ 4. Hiller, in his Onom. p. 262, supports the threefold repetition of the letter of breathing ההה, from which, by a change of the second radical into י or ו, the theme היה and הוה, and moreover the name אהיה and יהוה, are derived.
§ 5. In the same manner is formed ייָהּ by י for ה (as in עֹטְיָה for עֹטְהָה and אֶהֱמָיָה for אֶהֱמָהָה) and by הּ marked with the mappik:[207] for as from the final הּ is formed the middle ה, in like manner from the middle ה is formed the final הּ, as in נֹהַּ from נהה, and in other words, which Cocceius has well remarked upon in his Lexicon, col. 284.
[207] The tittle in ח final, making the letter emphatic, which otherwise would be quiescent.-E.
§ 6. I obtrude this analysis upon the attention of no one: no one, however, will readily deny, that He, Who is, is called יָהּ; and that remains firm, even though you should derive it with Hiller from יהי, the future; for the phrase, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, has already before been given for the pause (close of the formula): see above on ch. Rev 11:17. In the three clauses, ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ὢ καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, the times had to be accurately distinguished; but when the יָהּ is found separately, the derivation from יהי does not remove the force of present time, as is seen in so many proper names of men. The LXX. use the name, ὁ ὢν, Exo 3:14, and (where there was less occasion for it) Jer 1:5 (6), Jer 14:13, Jer 32:17 : and יָהּ itself has the same meaning as ὁ ὢν, Euthymius explaining it in Fuller, Miscell. pp. 486, 487. Add Drusius on this passage.
§ 7. That the name יָהּ is not curtailed from the name יְהֹוָה, is evident from this, that יְהֹוָה is used much more frequently than יָהּ, and that it is quoted sometimes jointly יָהּ יְהֹוָה.
§ 8. As God commanded by Moses that He should be called יְהֹוָהּ, immediately upon the very coming out of Egypt, the name יָהּ was also introduced in the Song of Moses, Exo 15:2, in these words: עזי וזמרת יה ויהי לי לישועה, where, from a most present feeling of that most saving Divine work, the Lord is called יָהּ, ὁ ὤν. Hence this name is quoted only in Songs. Isaiah is in harmony with the Song of Moses, introducing the people thus speaking: כי עזי וזמרת יה יהוה ויהי לי לישועה, ch. Isa 12:2. The same has בטחו ביהוה עדי עד כי ביה יהוה צור עולמים, ch. Isa 26:4. But in both passages Isaiah at the same time exhorts to trust in God for the future, and on this account he calls the Lord יהוה and יה יהוה, and by this very circumstance he teaches us the difference between the two names.
§ 9. God is called יה, because He is; He is called יהוה, because He will be, and Is and Was: He is called יה יהוה, because, for instance, in the Song of Isaiah He is celebrated, as He has shown Himself a present God in the very act itself, and at the same time He is with all confidence declared as about to show Himself (similarly) for the future. The name, יהוה, was frequently used in the times of promises drawing towards their accomplishment: יה is adapted to all times which are gladdened with present aid, and therefore especially to the last times. Thus the consideration of time future, and also of former time (Jer 23:7), coalesces with the present: and He who was before called ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, is at length called ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν, and ὁ ὤν.
§ 10. Hallelujah therefore is again and again suitable to this song, Revelation 19, and in it the name יָהּ, ὁ ὢν, Being.
§ 11. The observation which is found in Kimchi is everywhere quoted, that Hallelujah resounds, in the place where it first occurs in the Psalms, upon the destruction of sinners and the ungodly: Psa 104:35. More instances from the Rabbis to the same purport, comp. Pro 11:10, have been collected by Cartwright, l. iii. Melif. Hebr. c. 8.