Monday, February 27, 2023

2023: Jehovah - Jem

 


Jehovah
Jehovah.  Anglicization of “Yahweh,” the Hebrew name for God (Allah) (the Creator).

Jehovah is an anglicized representation of the Hebrew name for God. It is a transliteration of the name that, according to the Bible, God revealed to his people. The earliest available Latin text to use a vocalization similar to Jehovah dates from the 13th century.

Yahweh, was the God of the Israelites, his name being revealed to Moses as four Hebrew consonants (YHWH) called the tetragrammaton. After the Exile (6th century B.C.T.), and especially from the 3rd century B.C.T. on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh for two reasons. As Judaism became a universal religion through its proselytizing in the Greco-Roman world, the more common noun Elohim, meaning “god,” tended to replace Yahweh to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered. It was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai (“My Lord”), which was translated as Kyrios (“Lord”) in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament.

The Masoretes, who from about the 6th to the 10th century worked to reproduce the original text of the Hebrew Bible, replaced the vowels of the name YHWH with the vowel signs of the Hebrew words Adonai or Elohim. Thus, the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being. Although Christian scholars after the Renaissance and Reformation periods used the term Jehovah for YHWH, in the 19th and 20th centuries biblical scholars again began to use the form Yahweh. Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century, had used a form like Yahweh, and this pronunciation of the tetragrammaton was never really lost. Other Greek transcriptions also indicated that YHWH should be pronounced Yahweh.

The meaning of the personal name of the Israelite God has been variously interpreted. Many scholars believe that the most proper meaning may be “He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists” (Yahweh-Asher-Yahweh). In I Samuel, God is known by the name Yahweh Teva-ʿot, or “He Brings the Hosts Into Existence,” the hosts possibly referring to the heavenly court or to Israel.

The personal name of God probably was known long before the time of Moses. The name of Moses’ mother was Jochebed (Yokheved), a word based on the name Yahweh. Thus, the tribe of Levi, to which Moses belonged, probably knew the name Yahweh, which originally may have been (in its short form Yo, Yah, or Yahu) a religious invocation of no precise meaning evoked by the mysterious and awesome splendor of the manifestation of the holy.


Yahweh see Jehovah.
God see Jehovah.
Allah see Jehovah.
The Creator see Jehovah.


Jelal-zade Mustafa Celebi
Jelal-zade Mustafa Celebi (Qoja Nishanji) (1490-1567).  Ottoman civil servant and historian.  Of his projected description of the whole empire, a very full history of Sultan Suleyman II up to 1555 is known to exist.


Celebi, Jelal-zade Mustafa  see Jelal-zade Mustafa Celebi
Qoja Nishanji see Jelal-zade Mustafa Celebi
Nishanji, Qoja see Jelal-zade Mustafa Celebi


Jem
Jem (Cem) (Gem) (Djem) (Jem Sultan) (Jem Zizim) (December 22, 1459 - February 25, 1495).  Ottoman prince.  He was the son of Sultan Muhammad II.  He opposed his elder brother Bayazid II but was defeated and fled to the Mameluke Sultan Qa’it Bay in Cairo, and then to Pierre d’Aubusson, the Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John in Rhodes.  A valuable hostage, he was interned in France, and then in Rome where he met Pope Innocent VIII.  The French king, Charles VIII, took him to Naples where he died.  Jem composed poems in Persian and Turkish.  

Cem was a pretender to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century. He was a son of Mehmet II the Conqueror and younger brother of Sultan Bayezid II.

At the death of Mehmet the Conqueror, Bayezid was the governor of Sivas, Tokat and Amasya, and Cem ruled the provinces of Karaman and Konya. An account of the ascendancy of Bayezid and Cem's banishment to Europe, first under the protection of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John on the island of Rhodes and ultimately that of the Pope himself is a rather strange story.

Contrary to Islamic law, which prohibits any unnecessary delay in burial, Mehmet II's body was transported to Istanbul, where it lay neglected. Three days passed before perfumed candles were placed with the corpse so as to mitigate its stench. The grand Vizier Karamani Mehmet Pasha believing himself to be fulfilling the wishes of the recently deceased Sultan attempted to arrange a situation whereby the youngest son Cem, whose governing seat at Konya was closer than Bayezid's at Amasya, would arrive in Istanbul prior to his older sibling so as to claim the throne. Alas, in spite of vizier's attempts at secrecy, the Sultan's death and the grand vizier's plan was discovered by the Janissaries. As a result of Karamani Mehmet's scheming, in addition to giving their support of Bayezid over Cem, the Janissary corps entered the capital and murdered the vizier. Prompted by the arrival of their ruler's corpse in the capital and the murder of Vizier Karamani Mehmet Pasha's killing, there was ubiquitous rioting. Understanding the danger of the situation former grand vizier Ishak Pasha, took the initiative of beseeching Bayezid to arrive with all due haste. In the meantime, he took the sanguinary measure of proclaiming the latter's eleven-year-old son Prince Korkud-Korkut regent until the arrival of his father.

Bayezid arrived at Istanbul on May 21 and was declared Sultan. Only six days later, Cem captured the city of Inegöl with an army of 4000. Sultan Bayezid sent his army under the command of vizier Ayas Pasha to kill his brother. On May 28, Cem defeated Bayezid's army and he declared himself Sultan of Anatolia and made his capital Bursa. He proposed dividing the empire between them, leaving Bayezid only Europe. Bayezid furiously rejected the proposal and marched on Bursa. The decisive battle between the two took place near the town Yenişehir. Cem lost and fled with his family to Mameluke Cairo.

In Cairo, Cem received a letter from his brother, offering Cem one million akçes (the Ottoman currency) in order to dissuade him from competing for the throne. Cem rejected the offer and in the following year he launched a campaign in Anatolia. On May 27, 1482 he besieged Konya but was soon forced to withdraw to Ankara. He intended to give it all up and return to Cairo but all of the roads to Egypt were under Bayezid's control.

Cem and a few followers asked protection of the Spanish captain of Bodrum Castle. Pierre d'Aubusson, grand master of the Knights of St. John then invited Cem to Rhodes. On June 29, he went there as a guest and was received with honor. In return for the overthrow of the sultan, Cem offered perpetual peace between the Ottoman Empire and Christendom. However, the sultan paid the Knights a large amount to keep Cem captive. The Knights betrayed him and Cem became a well-treated prisoner. Afterwards, Cem was sent to the castle of Pierre d'Aubusson in France. Sultan Bayezid sent a messenger to France and requested Cem to be kept there and he agreed to make an annual payment in gold for his brother's expenses.

Cem was transferred in March 1489 to the custody of Pope Innocent VIII, who unsuccessfully attempted to use Cem to begin a new crusade. The Pope also tried to convert Cem to Christianity without success. Cem came to use anyway, because whenever Bayezid intended to launch a military campaign against Christian nations of the Balkans, the Pope would threaten to release the pretender. In exchange for maintaining the custody of Cem, Bayezid paid Innocent VIII 120,000 crowns (at the time, equal to all other annual sources of papal revenue combined), a relic of the Holy Lance (which allegedly had pierced the side of Christ), and an annual fee of 45,000 ducats.

Cem died in Capua on February 25, 1495. Sultan Bayezid declared national mourning for three days. He also requested to have Cem's body for a Muslim funeral, but not until four years after Cem's death was his body brought to the Ottoman lands. He was buried in Bursa.

Cem see Jem
Gem see Jem
Djem see Jem
Jem Sultan see Jem
Jem Zizim see Jem

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