Elohim: A Plurality of Beings, and Oriental Parallels

[Correspondent] W.G.L. (Birmingham, UK) writes: I was very glad to see that a protest has at last been made against the common assumption that the plural form of Elohim denotes a plurality of beings, and I thought you might be interested in the following Oriental parallels to the use of the plural form “gods” as a singular concept. (I am indebted chiefly to Jirku’s Altorientalischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament.)

(1) In the Amarna correspondence (14th century B.C.) several Canaanite rulers, for example Shuwardata of Kelte (probably the Biblical Keilah), begin their letters with the following address to the Egyptian monarch: “To the king, my lord, my gods (plural), my sun . . . .” Here “gods” is applied to one person.

(2) In the same collection of tablets, “gods” is used with a singular verb, as in a letter to Rib-addi: “May the gods (plural) enquire about (3rd person singular) your prosperity and the prosperity of your house.”

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Author: P. H. Adams

Keywords: Elohim, El, Eloah, Eloha, Elohai, God, Plural of majesty, Trinity, Name of God, God's name, Deity, Lower than the angels, Lower than God, Elohim angels, God manifestation, God representation, angels, let us make man, let us make man in our image, plurality, plurality of majesty, royal we, Moses as a god, Moses made as God, Moses called God, angel, representative of God, God's representative, represents God, representative, might ones, malak, malakim

Bible reference(s): Gen 1:26, Gen 3:22, Gen 18:1-2, Gen 18:9, Gen 18:16-17, Gen 18:22, Gen 19:1, Ex 3:4, Ex 3:15, Ex 7:1, Ex. 12:12, Ex 19:19, Ex. 22:28, Ex. 24:10, Deu 6:4, 1 Sam. 2:25, Psalm 8:5, Ps 45:6, Ps. 82:1, Ps 97:7, Ps. 138:1, Amos 4:11, Acts 7:30, Act 7:35, Acts 7:38, Acts 7:53, Gal 3:19, Hebrews 1:6, Hebrews 1:8, Hebrews 2:2, Hebrews 2:7

Source: “Elohim,” The Testimony, Vol. 18, No. 210, June 1948, pp. 211-2.

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