I think there is something about the God of the Pentateuch. Elohim and YWHW where two seperate Gods in Judea that latter combined into YWHW Elohim which mean "He who wants to become God" or commonly known as the LORD God by Christians today. I do not like using LORD when I speak about God. I prefer to either use Elohim or just simply God. This is apart of the documentary hypothesis that scholars use to explain how the Pentateuch was formed. What do you all think of this matter?
Hi Myron,
I cannot speak from a position of knowledge about the Elohim / YWHW issue but I have read some concerning the history. One interesting theory with some fairly persuasive evidence points to a much more distant past origin....the God of Akhenaten, Aten, represented by the Sun disc is also associated with El....in the era of Jacob and Joseph. (see books by Robert Feather...controversial yes, but well researched and written).
A good discussion can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(god)
"The theological position of the Tanakh is that the names Ēl, ’Ĕlōhîm when used in the singular to mean the supreme and active 'God' refers to the same being as does Yahweh. All three refer to the one supreme god who is also the God of Israel, beside whom other supposed gods are either non-existent or insignificant. Whether this was a longstanding belief or a relatively new one has long been the subject of inconclusive scholarly debate about the prehistory of the sources of the Tanakh and about the prehistory of Israelite religion. In the P strand Yahweh claims in Exodus 6.2–3:
I revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Ēl Shaddāi, but was not known to them by my name Yahweh."
Hi Myron,
Most Bibles give a decent description of why and how the different words are used in a preface or introduction section. YWHW Elohim is actually translated as Sovereign LORD, or the God of Hosts, or the Most High God. To translate it as "He who wants to become God" is an error of great magnitude.
The Chumash, The Stone Addition, would be a good book to refer to when studying the Old Testament or Hebrew writings. It contains the Torah, Haftaros and five megillos with a commentary Anthologized from the Rabbinic writings. The Old Testament becomes not a history book, but a book showing how the Hebrew faith system evolved over time.
The ways in which most Christians are taught to apply the Old Testament term LORD to Jesus is in error.
Eruonen's post is also correct that belief in the One God has deeper Egyptian roots. The teachings that we have are a blend of the Egyptian, Canaanite, and Syrian belief systems. Added to this are those of the Greek, Roman, and of India. There is now also evidence of Druid influence.
The concept that two gods were believed in was an invention to try to explain the conflicts in the Old Testament between a loving God and a wrathful, vengeful, and destructive god. One set of teachings was truth, the other was to hide the truth from the masses. The one set man free and the other gave the priests control and power because they could demand the loyalty of the masses through fear.
These are my opinions.
With love,
Rev Dorris
Hi Myron,
Most Bibles give a decent description of why and how the different words are used in a preface or introduction section. YWHW Elohim is actually translated as Sovereign LORD, or the God of Hosts, or the Most High God. To translate it as "He who wants to become God" is an error of great magnitude.
I am afraid I must disagree. The true Hebrew translation of YWHW is indeed "He who wants to become". It is just that through the ages the term YWHW and Elohim have evolved over time with Jewish language and theology.
Not to mention there is evidence to prove that ancient Hebrews where polytheistic and believed in many Gods. Sure they had one main deity, but they believed in others too. This has simply changed over the course of history.
I'm afraid we will have to agree to disagree.
There was and is only one supreme God. They did have 72 different names for different aspects or ways in which this one God interacted with mankind. Unless you are in to mysticism these specifics hold little importance to the average person. The Moslem's use 99 names plus the name of Allah in the same way.
The cultures around the Hebrews added to their beliefs. They, the Hebrews, recognized what they termed the lessor gods or those gods established by man. This is reflected in the first commandment, to recognize the One Supreme God that was before and is above all others. The Hebrews were also told to not bow done before or serve any of the lesser man created gods. They did also recognize that the other cultures although addressing the Supreme God by different names were still worshiping the same One God in their own ways.
With love,
Rev Dorris
I'm afraid we will have to agree to disagree.
There was and is only one supreme God. They did have 72 different names for different aspects or ways in which this one God interacted with mankind. Unless you are in to mysticism these specifics hold little importance to the average person. The Moslem's use 99 names plus the name of Allah in the same way.
The cultures around the Hebrews added to their beliefs. They, the Hebrews, recognized what they termed the lessor gods or those gods established by man. This is reflected in the first commandment, to recognize the One Supreme God that was before and is above all others. The Hebrews were also told to not bow done before or serve any of the lesser man created gods. They did also recognize that the other cultures although addressing the Supreme God by different names were still worshiping the same One God in their own ways.
With love,
Rev Dorris
Agreed, there is only one God that has many different names. I was just simply stating what the documentary hypothesis states.