Jeremy Boulter
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

ECHAD

When Babu G. Ranganathan says, The word for “one” comes from a Hebrew word meaning composite oneness (not singular oneness), in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD,” he is practising a sleight of hand.

The pronunciation of this verse is, “shamai yishra’il [yahweh] adonai eloheino [yahweh] adonai eHad.

I decided to check his references and translation, and other translations of the Bible in other languages. All of them translate “echad” as “one; single; mono; unique”, as the primary translation, and “one of a type” as a secondary translation.

Other pronunciations, such as “iHad” and “uHad”, mean “to make one”, or “assert as one”, and “was made one” or “asserted as one” or “unified”.

He continues, “like when the Bible describes Adam and Eve were one.”

I researched this one, as well, and found Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”

The pronunciation of this sentence ends, “and they will be one flesh;” pronounced, “ve haiyu lebesha iHad.” iHad: meaning, “shall be (living) to make into one in flesh”.

When a man or woman leaves the home of their birth to wed each other, this makes them one — a unit: actually, a paired unit that engenders offspring — not a united unit of three. It is true that the written Hebrew for one in both cases is אחן yet the pronunciation is different, and changes the meaning.

So, when he says, “there is a Hebrew word for singular oneness,” he speaks the truth, but when he says “that word is not used for Jehovah in Deuteronomy 6:4.” the truth is distorted. “eHad” means “single, unique”.

    Jeremy Boulter

    Written by

    I am the father and cater of an autistic boy, Khalid, and a volunteer for an organization called Building Bridges in Burnley.

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