Elohim in Biblical Context2

“Elohim” in Biblical Context: Part 2

Section C — Survey Details

http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/monotheism/context-elohim-C.html

[Continued from "Elohim" in Biblical Context]

(1) Elohim, El, Elah

A grammar note.

In the Hebrew Bible Elohim often appears in its construct or bound form: Elohei. This means "God of," as in "Elohei [God of] Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov." (Cf. benei, sons of.)

El is Elohim.

Because El held connotations of the head of the Canaanite pantheon, the biblical writers at times reminded their hearers that the true El was the Elohim of the fathers, who was Yahveh, the covenant maker.

He erected there an altar and called it "El is the Elohim of Israel" [El-Elohei-Yisrael]. (Gen 33:20)

El, Elohim, YHVH, El, Elohim, YHVH! He knows, and may Israel itself know. (Josh 22:22a)

El, Elohim, YHVH has spoken. (Ps 50:1)

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Messiah as Elohim

"Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever" (Psalm 45:6, Heb v. 7). This royal wedding psalm is addressed to the Davidic King in Jerusalem and (many believe) to the future Messianic King. Can the Hebrew David-Messiah rightly be called "God"?

It's not unthinkable for the anointed king to "be God" to the nation. He sits on "the throne of Yahveh" (1 Chron 29:23), at Yahveh's "right hand" (Ps 110:1) as his "Son" (Ps 2:7).

King David was called God's "angel" (2 Sam 14:17; 19:27). "Angel" (from Greek angelos) merely means a messenger or ambassador. The idea that David was God's physical, speaking representative on earth finds further expansion centuries later in a prophecy in Zechariah 12:8: "In that day . . . the House of David will be like elohim, like the angel of YHVH." A key prophetic text in the Septuagint calls the Davidic Messiah, "Messenger of the Great Council" (Isa 9:6).

A throne for Messiah?

On the other hand:

the Hebrew in Ps 45:7 can be read as: "Your throne is Elohim, forever and ever." (This is also true of the Septuagint text, which is quoted in Hebrews 1:8.) The verb "is" is not present in the Hebrew or Greek, but can be inserted when a context requires or suggests it.

Moses sings in Psalm 90, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations." Psalm 91 says, "You have made the LORD . . . the Most High, your dwelling place" (v. 9). And David calls God a "rock, stronghold, and refuge" where a desperate king can abide (2 Sam 22:3). If people can live and hide "in" God, why can he not be a "throne" for Messiah to sit upon?

But I believe the icon-breaking sense of Psalm 45:7 (and Heb 1:8) — and the thrust of Davidic Theology in the Hebrew Bible — favors the translation, "Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever."

However, whether we read "O God" or "is God," we must include the next verse, where the Messianic King is distinguished from God: "You have loved justice and hated wickedness; therefore Elohim, your Elohim, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than your comrades" (v. 7; Heb v. 8). So Messiah is — and he isn't — Elohim.

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Messiah as El

In Isaiah 9:5 (Eng v. 6), one title for the Messianic King is El Gibbor. This phrase raises a quandary how to translate it. Gibbor, as a noun, means a mighty man, hero or warrior. Its related noun gever is a strong man, often in battle. If Gibbor is a noun in this verse, the most literal rendering of El Gibbor would be "God Warrior."

However, since gibbor can also be an adjective (= mighty, strong, valiant), most English translations render El Gibbor as "Mighty God." (In Hebrew the adjective usually follows its noun.)

But El can also perform adjectival service. Its root meaning is might or power, so too it can denote something that is powerful, mighty, or divine. El Gibbor could mean "Divine (El) Warrior (Gibbor)" or "Mighty (El) Hero (Gibbor)."

In 7:14 Isaiah uses another messianic title: "Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanu-El" — that is, "With-us-is El" (cf. 8:8). In 8:10 "Immanu-El" is a statement, not a name: "Devise a plan but it will be thwarted; state a proposal but it will not stand, for God is with us."

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El

The ancient term El is used some 225x for the true God, primarily in Genesis, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Psalms, and Job. It is frequently found in compound proper names: Isra-El (contends with God), Ezeki-El (strengthened by God), Jo-El (Yah is God), Dani-El (God is judge), Micha-El (who is like God).

Elah

The plural elahin creates a translation quandary in seven verses in Daniel.1) After Nebuchanezzar threw the three Hebrews into the furnace, he was shocked to see a fourth man in the fire with them. Of this "man" (Ara, gevar) the king said he was "like a bar elahin" (Dan 3:25). This could be translated "son of the gods" or "son of God"—both meaning he had supernatural or divine appearance. (In 7:13 the messianic figure is like a bar enash, son of man, or has human appearance.)

How did Nebuchadnezzar conceive the word elahin: as the entire pantheon of gods or as the chief god of Babylon (Marduk)? The versions render bar elahin: "son of the gods" (KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV, ESV), "a god" (NRSV), "divine being" (NJPS). The different Septuagint versions have "angel of God" or "son of God."

2) Daniel quickly developed a reputation in Nebuchadnezzar's court for having ruach (qadishin) elahin within him. Most English versions read this as "a spirit of the (holy) gods" (Dan 4:8, 9, 18 [= Heb vv. 5, 6, 15]; 5:11, 14).

But the phrase could be read: "Spirit of the (holy) God." It depends on how we perceive Babylonian perception of the gift within Daniel. Even if these pagans only knew a spirit of wisdom from their gods, they gave him a testimony. For the readers of Daniel know that in reality he was filled with the Spirit of his holy God.

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(2) Other Elohim

Angel Elohim

The book of Psalms speaks of the elohim who surround and worship God in the heavenly court (Ps 97:7; 138:1). They are also called benei elohim(sons of God; Gen 6:2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). At Deut 32:8 the Qumran and Septuagint versions read: "The Most High . . . set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the benei Elohim [sons of God]." The Masoretic text has: "sons of Israel."

Psalm 8 looks at the paradox of human existence. "Mortal man" (enosh) is merely an offspring of Adam (ben Adam). Yet God "has made him a little lower than elohim and crowned him with glory and majesty" (v. 5, Heb v. 6). Are we lower than God or the elohim who serve God? The Septuagint, Targum, and Latin Vulgate read "angels" for elohim. And the book of Hebrews, as usual, follows the Septuagint interpretation (Heb 2:7).

These angelic servants are also benei Elim, sons of God or, possibly, sons of the elim, supranatural beings (Ps 29:1; 89:6). The Song of Moses asks, "Who is like You among the elim, O YHVH?" (Exod 15:11). Who are these elim? Are they his court angels or the foreign deities of Egypt who were recently humiliated (this song follows the exodus)?

Demon Elohim

In the Bible, "strange" elohim (i.e., the gods of pagans) are seen as "demons" (sheidim, Deut 32:17). They aren't real gods, but merely impostors deceiving people as deities.

When the Serpent assures Havah that once she takes the forbidden fruit, she and her husband "will be like elohim" (Gen 3:5), his promise is ambiguous. Does he mean they will be "like the Elohim" (God himself) or "like the divine beings" — which ones? those near God, or those like the evil one himself? Perhaps that's part of his ploy.

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Elohim Used for Singular Foreign Gods

Ashtoreth (goddess) — 1 Kgs 11:5, 33

Baal — 1 Kgs 18:24

Baal-Zebub — 2 Kgs 1:2

Chemosh — Judg 11:24; 1 Kgs 11:33

Dagon — 1 Sam 5:7

Marduk (?) "his god" — Dan 1:2

Milcom — 1 Kgs 11:33

When "Elohim" is not enough honor

Since elohim was used for foreign deities, whether as a group or individuals, the ancient Israelites were apt to add further emphasis when speaking of their God. There are several passages in which the word "God" has the article attached. This would be ha-Elohim and translates as "the true God."

The Carmel Contest

A wonderful example of this is the "God Contest" on Mount Carmel (above modern Haifa) during the time of King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, and the prophet Elijah.

This event was organized by Elijah to once for all prove to the ambivalent Israelites just which deity was the true God: either Baal, the fertility god of Canaan and son of El — or Yahveh, the God of the Hebrew ancestors.

At the end of the match, when Baal failed to show, the convinced spectators confessed (in Hebrew): "Yahveh, he is ha-elohim, Yahveh, he is ha-elohim" (1 Kings 18:39). Most English translations obscure the original here with a phrase like "The LORD is God" or "The LORD, he is God." Literally, it is: Yahveh, he is the true God.

The confession, in context, meant, "Yahveh, the God of our fathers, the deity whom we are betraying, is the true Elohim — and the elohim Baal is not."