'elohim - God/gods

The Hebrew word for God, or gods. It is plural in form but, in contexts where God is clearly intended, it is always used with singular verbs. Why this is the case remains a puzzle and seems unique to the Hebrew language; "When we consult the cognate languages of Arabic and Aramaic on this point . . . we find that the respective word is singular. In fact, this presented a problem to the Hebrews in translating 'elohim into Aramaic, when they adopted that language as their own. It also presented a problem for the Septuagint translators, since the Greek language had no way of translating this plural form without an apparent commitment to polytheism."[1]

Some scholars believe that the plural serves to denote God's majesty.[2] On its use in Gen 1:1, John Goldingay says:

It does not use a title for God of the kind Israel shared with its neighbors, such as Melchizedek's term El Elyon, God Most High. Nor does it use Israel's own distinctive name for God, Yhwh. It uses the ordinary Hebrew word for deity, 'elohim. Elsewhere the plural can be a numerical plural, referring to gods. But applied to the one God, it is an honorific or intensive plural suggesting that this God embodies all the deity there is. So the creator God is very deity itself." [3]

Alan Richardson further reflects on the possible significance of this plural:

It represents a deep biblical insight: God is not, and never was, a lonely God. There is personality in God, and a person could not exist alone. . . God is the supreme and 'only' God, but he is not 'alone'. Hence the use of the plural in several passages (e.g., Gen 1.26, 'Let us make man'; 3:22; 11:7, etc.). The Christian Fathers and the older commentators regarded such passages as adumbrations of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Of course the O.T. writers had no such conception in mind; but yet they were in their own way insisting upon that truth which the doctrine of the Trinity teaches—that a 'unitarian' or 'lonely' God is not the God of the historic biblical revelation."[4]

Other scolars, however, are not so sure. G.A. F. Knight, e.g., believes that this way of thinking about it has its roots in Greek assumptions.[5] Perhaps. This, however, does not negate what have been cited above. Emphasis in the Hebrew language almost always take plural forms, from repetitions of key words to parallelism, to expressions such as "Holy, holy, holy!" or "for three and for four."

'elohim is also used as an adjective expressive of the superlative, meaning "great," "terrible," though such occurrences are infrequent. This use can complicate things. One of the on-going debate among commentators, e.g., is how to translate ruach 'elohim in Gen 1:2, where ruach is also capable of meaning "Spirit/spirit" or "wind"? Should it be translated "Spirit of God," "wind of God," or "a mighty wind"? (For more on this debate, click here.)

1. Millard J. Erickson, God in Three Persons. A Contemporary Interpretation of the Trinity (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995), 167.

1. B. K. Waltke, with C. J. Fredricks, Genesis A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) 58.

3. John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology. Volume One: Israel's Gospel (Downers Grove, Ill.:InterVarsity Press, 2003), 76.

4. Alan Richardson, Genesis 1-11 (Touch Bible Commentaries; London: SCM, 1953) 46.

5. G. A. F. Knight, A Biblical Approach to the Doctrine of the Trinity (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1953), 20, cited in Erickson, ibid.