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HOUSMAIL HM094 6
August 2002 "ELOHIM"
- THE HEBREW WORD FOR GOD - SINGULAR OR PLURAL? This
paper arose out of a need to explain to my 10 and 12 year old grandchildren how
it happens that the most common Hebrew word for "God", (Elohim) can be claimed by Trinitarian
theologians to be plural but is NOT. How can it appear to be plural and yet still
be singular? One
of the ongoing effects of the confusion of languages, which invaded the world
at the tower of Babel, is that we often find words and concepts which do not obey
the normally expected "rules of grammar". We call these "exceptions
to the rule". This can be further complicated by differences in "thinking
patterns", which exist in different cultures. Sometimes these can be so different
that there is no exact "cross cultural equivalent" in other languages. My own
"mother tongue" (Aussie English) is like that. Local Aussie usage can
be quite different to the "Queens English". (spoken now only in parts
of England). And for English speakers from other countries, sometimes the USA
"dialect" can be even more difficult!! It should not surprise us therefore, to encounter the same sort
of problems with Biblical Hebrew! The
Hebrew word we are considering is "Elohim". In the Old Testament it is translated more than 2300 times as "God"
(singular) and only about 240 times as "gods" (plural). Same Hebrew
spelling -- different meaning! Normally
we would expect that the presence of the suffix "IM" should indicate that the
word is PLURAL! However "Elohim" is different! "Elohim" can be used as either singular or plural! In the Hebrew
Old Testament it is most frequently used with singular verbs and/or pronouns.
Scholars call this "plural intensive". But don't be fooled by the word
PLURAL. Plural intensive isn't really plural at all! In Hebrew
grammar, it is one of those "scholar's big words" which make things
sound more complicated than they really are. In simpler layman's language, all
it says is that Elohim looks plural but is being
used in a way that actually means singular! But
Elohim is
also sometimes used with plural verbs and pronouns. In those cases it normally
means plural, and the context clearly refers to something OTHER than the True
God. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). The
common mistake made, especially by Trinitarian theologians, is to fail to distinguish
between these TWO different uses of "Elohim" just described above.
And THAT leads to all sorts of illogical conclusions! (Such as the Trinity, or
Oneness, or Arianism) Although
there is no direct equivalent for "plural intensive" in English, we
could use "sheep" singular and "sheep" plural, to illustrate
the important point that words in English can have identical spelling but be either
singular or plural in meaning. We have no way of knowing which is intended until
we read the verb and/or pronoun which accompanies the word. Then we can tell at
a glance. i.e. If we
say, "the sheep IS in the field", the SINGULAR verb tells us that there
is only ONE! But
if we say, "the sheep ARE in the field", the PLURAL verb tells us that
there is MORE than one. For
simplified practical layman's purposes, that is how it is with the great majority
of appearances of ELOHIM in the Hebrew Old Testament. Allon APPENDIX 1 - ILLOGICAL ABSURDITIES COMMONLY ENCOUNTERED Trinitarians
claim that because the most common Hebrew name of God is "ELOHIM" --
and because the word ends in "IM", it must always be the PLURAL form
of "ELOAH" -- and it must therefore mean that God is more than one person!
To "explain" this, they often resort to desperate and totally illogical
examples. One
of these is water! They say it can be in the form of "water, steam, or ice".
Therefore Q.E.D. the Trinity! But how does that even begin to "explain"
three co-existent, co-eternal, equally infinite, equally omniscient, and equally
all powerful beings, in ONE single essence? Another
is "eggs" -- "shell, yolk, and white". Hey -- you can
separate an egg from its shell! And, like poor old Humpty Dumpty in the nursery
rhyme, it often finishes up scrambled, uncooked, and never put back together!
But -- how does it help to make the Trinity even a remote possibility? Even
more illogical still is the absurdity which they call "compound unity"!
(That's the one where the incredibly credulous are invited to scramble their brains
with the mathematically preposterous 1+1+1=1!) If you
get too awkward about any of those, they simply retreat behind saying that it
is "impossible to understand" -- although of course they still insist
that believing this illogical "mystery" is essential for salvation!
Alas ..... that doesn't get even close to worshipping God with all our
mind ..... does it? APPENDIX 2 - STATISTICS AND EXAMPLES STATISTICS
- From Strong's and Young's concordances: Elohim appears in the Hebrew text, about 2600 times. It is
translated as God (Singular, and most often with an upper case "G")
2346 times, and as gods (plural with a lower case "g") 240 times, goddess
2, judges 5, *great 2, *mighty 2, *
Inexact translations, e.g. of a noun by a verb
or adjective, of an active by a passive. EXAMPLES
OF SINGULAR USE Translated
With An Upper Case "G": Always
about the ONE LORD of the Shema - THE ONE TRUE GOD who
Jesus calls Father. (John 17:3) Deuteronomy
6:4-5 - The Shema -"Hear O Israel: The LORD our
God is one LORD. *
That means - The LORD (YHWH)
is ONE (Echad). Our God (elohim) is ONE (Echad). This
greatest commandment of all, is repeated by Jesus for disciples, in Matthew 22:38. Isaiah
45:21,22 Translated
With A Lower Case "g": About
men Exodus
4:16 and 7:1 - about Moses, speaking as God's representative
to Aaron and Pharoah. About
idols - god, goddess 1
Kings 11:33 - Referring to Ashtoreth the goddess (elohim-singular)
of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god (elohim-singular) of the Moabites, and
Milcom the god (elohim-singular) of the children of Ammon. EXAMPLES
OF PLURAL USE Translated
With A Lower case "g”. About
Men - Psalm
82:6 - The word translated as "gods", is Elohim. About
Angels Psalm
8:5 - The word translated in the KJV as "angels",
is Elohim. About
human judges Exodus
22:8,9 - The word translated in the KJV as "judges",
is Elohim - Referring to men appointed as God's human representatives to
administer the laws of God. About
Idols Exodus
34:15,16; Deuteronomy 12:30, 1 Kings 11:2, -
The word translated as "gods" is "elohim" - Referring
to the idols of the nations surrounding Israel. |