Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — If your book isn’t a buzz, it’s not the Bible.
IS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB, JUST ONE OF MANY?
The importance of boring grammar.
The Trigger for this article
Psalm 82 is a plea for justice. It opens with a confounding piece of text
|| God (H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm — אֱלֹהִים) stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods (H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm — אֱלֹהִים). How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked?
IT APPEARS THAT ELOHIM IS JUDGING ELOHIM FOR BEING UNJUST.
What is this all about?!
In an excellent article, Who Are the Elohim? The Answer Might Rattle Your Theology, the late American Bible Scholar, Michael S. Heiser, gives a Theological treatment of H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm. It is a must-read so I won’t go anywhere near the depths it delves. But he leaves the nit-picking reader (someone like me) waiting for the other shoe to drop.
[Side note: I use Blue Letter Bible.]
The dilemma
אֱלֹהִים (‘ĕlōhîm) occurs 2,600 times in 2,246 verses in the Westminster Leningrad Codex Hebrew; the standard for both Hebrew and Gentile Bibles. Consulting a lexicon shows it has a range of meanings; God, rulers, judges, divine ones, heavenly beings, gods; but there is no hint on how to determine which is (Big ‘G’) God and which is (small ‘g’) gods.
Once again, the answer is in the boring grammar!
Unfortunately, NT Saints are generally Torah-fied. A high proportion keep away from the OT written in their Mother Tongue, (for fear of coming under the Law) so there is scant chance that they peek into Hebrew language. (I was the same.) Even the highly esteemed Dr Heiser who, in his article, confides he was working on a PhD in Hebrew studies, had read through the Bible seven or eight times, had been to seminary, had studied Hebrew, and had taught for five years at a Bible college, when he made an important discovery. He was unaware of something that a reasonably educated Hebrew Atheist would know.
However, another highly esteemed American Bible Teacher, the late Chuck Missler, knew a lot of Israelis and had been shown the key. The following comes from a Koinonia House teaching.
An apparent anomaly
H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm — אֱלֹהִים is the plural of H433 — ‘ĕlôha — אֱלוֹהַּ.
It is the (im)(ים) suffix of אֱלֹהִ(ים) that renders it gods rather than god.
The apparent anomaly in Hebrew is that when plural אֱלֹהִים is the subject of a sentence, and associated with a singular verb or adjective, it depicts God the Creator and is pronounced as a singular. This is the (Big ‘G’) God. When this pattern does not occur, the other meanings apply, according to the context.
God’s opening gambit
The first sentence of Torah is a stark statement of fact that leaves no doubt. If you can accept it, life runs a lot easier.
It is written in Genesis 1:1 || In the beginning God (H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm) created (H1254 — bārā’) the heavens and the earth.
Elohim in Hebrew is אֱלֹהִים. It is a noun. It is the subject of the sentence. Bara is the verb.
H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm = rulers, judges with the power to hand down capital punishment under the auspices of Yehoveh by the Law of Moses (only God can give life — only God can take life), divine ones, heavenly beings, (small ‘g’)gods.
H1254 — bārā’ = to create, shape, form
Comparing the grammar of the subject and the verb shows that Torah opens with the central Character, God.
Check it out yourself in other places. (There is one instance that appears to defy the rules, but closer inspection shows that not to be the case. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where that is. When it is found it will be circulated.)
NOTE: One of the objectives of Holy Hormones Bible Study is to show the depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of the Word of God and light a fire in the belly of self-feeders. Only Elohim knows how successful this has been.
This is not knowledge for only special people.
But it is a tiny piece of simple technical knowledge that makes the Bible more special to NT Saints.
SO YOU KNOW ABOUT ELOHIM. WHAT ABOUT YEHOVAH AND JESUS?
Comments like, “I like your Jesus, but I don’t think much of his dad,” and “Jesus is cute but Jehovah’s a brute,” abound. It is worthwhile delving into this series to get things in the proper perspective. It is a lot to swallow but is cut up into five bight-sized pieces.
Part 1 demonstrates, using simple Hebrew spelling and etymology that, at the Burning Bush, Moses was speaking to the God of the Old and New Testament, Who is one-and-the-same Person.
Part 2 uses the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible to confirm that the OT Yehovah and NT Yeshua/Jesus is one-and-the-same-Person.
Part 3 uses the Scriptures from both Testaments to show that the tasks completed by Yehovah, Christ and the Holy Spirit confirmed that the OT Yehovah and NT Yeshua/Jesus is one-and-the-same-Person.
Part 4 examines why NT Saints have such a low regard for the loving kindness and mercy of the OT Yehovah and present a remedy for anyone interested enough to take it up.
Part 5 examines the evidence provided in the Scriptures to give a different perspective as to the type of relationship Christ desires with His Church.
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. If you have seen something you like, I encourage plagiarism. So, always check everything I say first, then please re-cycle, re-brand, re-structure, re-issue, re-label, or re-gurgitate in any manner you please. No need to acknowledge me because the Holy Spirit Who holds the Intellectual Rights.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
