Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
NAME OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB: PART 4
Is it three? Is it one? My brain hurts! I’m so confused!
This is one of a four part series on the Name of God.
Part 1 is a brief, broad brush introduction to the Jewish response to the Name of God (HaShem). It shows that the Name is not just an identifier. It speaks of His Capabilities and Intentions in the unspoken words heard by a Biblically sensitive Jew when the Name is spoken/read. It also shows the error of assimilating Allah with Elohim.
Part 2 briefly discusses some differences between Hebrew and English Grammar, plus more on the word unspoken and its importance concerning prayer.
Part 3, briefly discusses the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה). It is included only for those who wish to know. It has no impact on your Salvation so skip it if you are not interested.
Part 4, briefly discusses the Name with which God introduces Himself to Creation, Elohim. It brushes the topic of the Trinity but not much.
Part 5, shows two examples of the Name of God in plain sight but unnoticed.
NAME OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB: PART 5
The volume of the Book is written of Me
medium.com
Brace yourself! This is more of a teaching blog than an entertaining one. It may not be an easy read because there is more here than a normal, well adjusted person would normally want to know but it will be worth it. It is the detail which makes me a boring person that brings the Bible alive for me. But if you happen to like what you read, there’s more to be found here.
[NOTE: Important words analysed below are identified with Hebrew/Greek transliterations into English and Strong’s Numbers so that whoever wants to can check them out — it is strongly recommended that you do. I use the Blue Letter Bible (https://www.blueletterbible.org/ BLB)]
The opening gambit.
It is written in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s it. Simple statement of fact. No fanfare. No explanation. If you understand that single utterance, the rest of the journey is downhill.
Parsing “God”
God: H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm אלהים Noun, Plural
It can be seen that it is translated as both singular and plural. How to differentiate? It makes your brain hurt if you try to nut it out using English Grammar.
The Arrogance of Ignorance
It may come as a surprise the learn that the Bible was not originally written in Elizabethan English. Hebrew Grammar has rules of syntax that can only be imperfectly translated into English. The imperfections do not detract from the Gospel Message but the detail of the words are not always crisp. The principle is similar to that of the rules of Rugby Union and Rugby League. Both are football games, both have an egg-shaped ball, the object of both is to get the ball to the other end of the field, both have a similar number of team members, and a number of other things. But the rules are not identical or they would be the same game.
So many naysayers make such a fool of themselves when they forget that the Bible is structured on Eastern (Hebrew) logic that NT Saints try to translate and interpret using Grecian logic. That is why Apostle Paul commands (not suggests) that everyone study.
[NOTE: Personally, I’ve undertaken a Greek-in-a-week type course on line at the Ezra Project (https://ezraproject.com/understanding-grammar/). I’d recommend it highly as money well spent.]
The properties of English and Hebrew nouns are Case, Number, Gender. It is a good exercise for you to investigate these so that you could see the absurdity of the gender-fluidity debacle. The interest in this instance is Number — how many? In English there are two possibilities; singular or plural. In Hebrew there are three:-
° Singular: one.
° Dual: two coupled together somehow. [This is mentioned here only in the interests of completion. It is a worthwhile exercise to pay attention to it. It will sort out some confusion about the sequence of the Christ’s Passover — not Easter/Good Friday.)
° Plural: more than two, all of which are mutually exclusive.
Each having the same root meaning which is modified by prefixes or suffixes.
Expanding the Hebrew using English.
(BLB is technical reference)
H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm, אלהים, is plural of the singular H433 — ‘ĕlôha, אלוה , (big ‘G’)God or (small ‘g’)god, as yet.
ים is the Hebrew suffix denoting a plural noun as does English suffix ‘s’. God becomes Gods.
So אלה .+. ים = אלהים = God .+. s = Gods (or gods).
How do we know it is not millions of gods?
Elohim is not singular (one), nor dual (two) but plural (three or more). That is not specific. But it is written in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Name (singular) = Father (singular) + Son (singular) + Holy Spirit (singular). Obviously another reference to the Trinity.
How does Gods become God?
H430 occurs 2,600 times in 2,246 verses in the Leningrad Codex — which is the Hebrew text used for all Jewish and Gentile Old Testament versions. Sometimes God, sometimes gods. How do you tell the difference?
Hebrew Grammar rules of syntax.
Check this out. When H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm (obviously a plural noun) is associated with a singular verb it represents God the Creator. [I don’t know if it happens in other cases. This is the case that has my attention.]
Back to Genesis 1:1.
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God(H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm) created(H1254 — bārā’) the heavens and the earth.”
H1254 — bārā’ verb, singular, perfect. Perfect in Hebrew means a completed task.
Septuagint Greek equivalent of H1254
I know a little bit of Koinonia Greek Grammar, and the LXX Genesis 1:1 translation of H1254 is G4160 — poieō;
Speech: Verb
Voice: Active (Elohim did it)
Tense: Aorist (Elohim completed it. Nothing more to be done.)
Number: Singular (only Elohim did it)
Mood: Indicative (simple statement of truth)
English lacks Grunt.
The Greek Grammatical construction of Indicative+Aorist carries the flavour of a Sargent Major on parade barking out orders. God didn’t suggest to the stars they be formed. They had no option! The English misses the unbelievable Power of Creator God.
But there is only one God. Look, it says so.
There are a number of groups who reject the Trinity entirely as a fabrication of the Roman Catholic Church. The term doesn’t occur in the the Bible. The topic is too big to tack on the end of this post but it is hoped that a very, very superficial look at some Grammar will start you on your own journey.
Parsing ‘One.’
Two verses which help unpack the conundrum.
- Genesis 1:5 (ESV), God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first (H259 — ‘eḥāḏ) day.”
However, H259 — ‘eḥāḏ; adjective, cardinal number, one. It is NOT the ordinal number, first. Literally, “And evening was, and morning was, a day, one.” The ESV, and almost all English translations, are weak.
- Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (ESV), “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one (H259 — ‘eḥāḏ). You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Literally, “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” Obviously, this is not the first of many Gods. Another weak translation.
The flavour of the word in both these cases is not one of an alloy of different metals molten together, nor a tossed salad. It is more the harmonics of sound waves in a chord using a multi-stringed instrument. The different frequencies and amplitudes resonate causing a wall of sound, greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Elohim and plural verbs.
The Judges appointed by Moses were called small ‘g’ elohim because they could impose capital punishment under the auspices of the Law of the (big ‘G’) God Who, alone, has the power over life and death. Their associated verbs are always plural. Simple scrutiny of the text will show that this rule is universal.
Heavenly Beings and demons are also often referred to as small ‘g’ elohim with the same verb structure.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ネ
