Names of God

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 10/24/01 6:19:04 PM Eastern Standard Time,
dcamp911 at JUNO.COM writes:

> Though interestingly the Hebrew Elohim, used often in the Bible to refer
>  to G*d, is plural. I have asked for an explanation from Jewish friends,
>  and you can see the light bulb go on over their head.  It was obvious,
>  but they had never thought of it.

Yes, "Elohim" is a plural form, but it is always used in contexts in which it
is clear that a singular is implied.  For example, "Adonoi Hu Elohim", the
closing words of the Yom Kippur service, obviously means "THE LORD, HE IS
GOD" even though a literal translation would come up with "THE LORD, HE IS
GODS".

To add to the complications, the other major term used to refer to the Deity
in Hebrew is "YHVH" which I understand is a singular term (some scholars
prefer to translate it into English as "HE WHO IS".  I do not know if "SHE
WHO IS" would be an equally plausible translation.).

Why two different terms?  The Documentary Hypothesis gives the answer, based
on identifying the J and E documents as comng from the Southern and Northern
Kingdoms respectively, that "YHVH" was the name used in the dialect area
centered on the Kingdom of Judah and "Elohim" was the name used in the
dialect(s) of the area of the Kingdom of Israel.

Some sources state that "Elohim" is a "plural of majesty."  Not knowing if a
plural of majesty is a recognized Hebrew custom, I cannot comment.

It is not obvious to me what this "obvious explanation" you cite might be.
Are you trying to say that "Elohim" implies the Israelites, or perhaps the
proto-Israelites, had multiple gods who were worshipped collectively until
the pantheom came to be considered as a single deity rather than plural gods?

The trouble with this hypothesis is that, as far as I know, there simply is
no evidence in favor of it.  For example, this hyposthesis would predict that
plural "Elohim" must antedate singular "YHVH".  However, the J and E
documents, which have the earliest written citations of these two names,
appear to be based on the same oral traditions, with nothing to say that
those oral sources containing the term "Elohim" are any older (or for that
matter any younger) than those oral sources containing the term "YHVH".

         - Jim Landau