One of the first pieces of advice I give to people who are interested in engaging the original languages of the Bible[1] is, “Never forget, it’s not just a different word, it’s a different world.”
[This is the part where you ooooo & aaahhhhh, and if you want to throw in a “He’s soooo wise!” I won’t object.]
Nowhere is this better illustrated than in our use of the word “God” as it relates to the Hebrews’ use of the words אל el, אלוה eloah, and אלהים elohim (plural) which we translate God/god/gods.
We said up front, “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”[2] The first part of the first thought would be, it seems to me, our definition of the word “GOD” itself. Every word we use when talking about important things should be used with an exact understanding of what it means.
English speaking Jews and Christians would, I imagine, primarily associate the word GOD with Yahweh (The Creator) in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and New Testament. Thus, we infuse the word GOD with all the attributes of the One Holy Creator of all revealed throughout Scripture and consider anyone else laying claim to the word (like the gods of the pagans) to be paltry and false. We put a small g on god, as if we acknowledge the claim to deity and “godness” with an amused wink. It is akin to toddlers dressed as lions for Halloween. How cute… I mean… how scaaaaary.
The problem?
That is not how the Hebrews have used the words we translate God/god/gods in Scripture. In Scripture, other entities fall under the category elohim that we would shudder to permit under the category God. Some have suggested that אל el comes from the root אול meaning strength/leader.
So, in addition to Yahweh and pagan gods, the word אל el, when used for entities,[3] also includes:
The beings in the council of el in Psalm 82:1; Cherubim inGenesis 3:24; The Sons of Elohim in Deuteronomy 32:8, among whom is Satan in Job 1:6, coming to answer for his doings before Yahweh; the evil spirit sent by Yahweh in 1 Samuel 16:14 who takes hold of Saul after the Spirit of Yahweh was taken from him; a spirit, as a lying spirit in 1 Kings 22:19ff; Seraphim inIsaiah 6:2 cowering in service before holy holy holy Yahweh; the living creatures in Ezekiel 1:5; demons in Deuteronomy 32:17 andLeviticus 17:7; an angel in Daniel 3:28 along with Chief Princes and the prince of the kingdom of Persia in Daniel 10:13.
The word el also seems to be used in Exodus 21:6, 22:8, and 22:9 to reference the judges of the land, and Exodus 22:28 leans heavily in that direction as well. In the same way, we find an apparent shift in Psalm 82 from verses 1 to 6-7 where Yahweh speaks to those He is judging in the “council of the el” and says, “I said, ‘You are gods,’ sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”
So in Hebrew, the words we translate God/gods el, eloah, elohim, reference the entities of power in the world, seen and unseen.
Even so, while there are many elohim, Yahweh is supreme above them all, of a wholly different essence, for He made the heavens (Psalm 96:5) and the rest of the elohim along with them. Thus, the single entity Yahweh is called by the “plural” of majesty, a “plural” of supremacy—He is Elohim, the most singular elohim of all elohim.
In spite of the fact that Yahweh is one elohim among a host of elohim active in the world, this does not diminish His distinction in the least, any more than saying that both humans and amoebas are both life forms, or that humans are one life form among a world full of life forms. We find the same distinction in terms of Christians becoming “sons of God.” We are all children of God, but only Jesus is what John 3:16 declares, “τοῦ μονογενοῦς son of God”… “the only begotten” son of God. We are not even on the same plain of sonship existence as Jesus is.
Indeed, the truest essence of Yahweh, the thing that separates Him from all other elohim, is not found in the words we translate as “GOD,” but in a word that describes the true essence of Yahweh alone, making Him utterly unique[4]—He is HOLY. The Elohim, the elohim of all elohim in contradistinction to any other elohim is “the creative force behind the whole universe. He’s the one and only being with the power to make a world full of such beauty and life. And so all these abilities, they make God utterly unique, which is the meaning of the word ‘holy.’”[5]
Yahweh, the Creator, IS one of the elohim, but more importantly, he is HOLY, making Him the elohim above and distinct from all other elohim. He is true God. He is living God. He is holy God.
Psalm 86:8-10 says it wonderfully. “There is none like you among the elohim, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are Elohim.” This echoes Deuteronomy 10:17, “Yahweh your Elohim is Elohim of elohim and Lord of lords, the great Elohim, mighty and awesome.”
The other elohim say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8) and “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord Elohim the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy,” (Revelation 15:3-4).
And so should we.
~Andrew Sargent, PhD
[1] Hebrew, Aramaic, & Koine Greek (i.e. Street Greek from the first century, which in the Bible is used by Aramaic speakers and Hebrew readers.
[2] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Harper Collins, 1961) pg. 1.
[3] This is opposed to the preposition of the same spelling (to, toward).
[4] Yes, I know, saying unique should be enough. I use utterly for emphasis not qualification.
[5] The Bible Project, “What the Idea of ‘Holiness’ Means in the Bible,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9vn5UvsHvM (4/18/2024).
