Occasionally, groups such as the WMSCOG will misunderstand the Hebrew word “Elohim” to refer to multiple gods, when it in fact refers to the one true God. This comes from a basic misunderstanding of the Hebrew “superior” vs the Hebrew “plural”, also known as the pluralis excellentiae which you can read more about on Wikipedia here, or below.
The argument from supporters of polytheistic sects goes something like this:
Person At Your Door: We have an “Elohim God”.
You: What is that?
Person At Your Door: “Elohim” is the Hebrew word for God.. and it’s plural.
You: (Not knowing a thing about Hebrew) UHhhh…
Are you ready to learn how to respond to this argument? Don’t fret, there is only one God, and we’re about to demonstrate where these door-to-door polytheists (and poor Hebrew scholars) go wrong.
In Hebrew (as in Latin and Greek), when the subject of a sentence is plural, the rest of the verbs that apply to that subject are also made plural. If a noun is plural, the adjectives that affect that noun are also made plural. English is different.
For example take these two lines in English and their singular/plural states:
- (plural)they made it
- (singular)he made it
In English, we would be unable to tell from just the verb “made” whether the subject was plural or singular–only the subject tells us that information. In Hebrew, however, we would be able to tell, because the verb would have plural or singular endings. For example, in Hebrew the sentence would look like:
- (plural)they (plural)made it
- (singular)he (singular)made it
In Hebrew, as in Latin and Greek, we can tell whether a subject is singular or plural based upon the rest of the sentence.
So what happens when we read the book of Genesis in Hebrew? In Genesis, we find the word for God: אֱלהִים
In case you’re not up on your Hebrew, that’s translated in English as “Elohim”. Here is how you pronounce it: el-oh-HEEM. The emphasis is on the last syllable.
Elohim is the plural form of the word “El”. “El” is often used to refer to God, but can also be used to apply to other divine or important objects or persons such as angels or kings.
In Genesis, we find God (“El”) with plural endings (“Elohim”), but the verbs that affect it are singular.
In Hebrew (unlike English), when the subject is plural, but the words that apply to that subject are singular, it does not mean that the subject is plural, but rather superior. God is superior, but you already knew that didn’t you? In Hebrew this is called the pluralis excellentiae.
In other words, by giving something a “plural” ending, but making everything else in the sentence singular, we are saying how great it is. How cool is that? There’s nothing like that in English.
To say that “Elohim” means there is more than one God can only come from a lack of knowledge about the Hebrew language. This could be easily explained to us by:
- Any elementary student in Israel (where they speak Hebrew)
- 4000 years of Jewish understanding about God
- Any Rabbi
- The Wikipedia articles on Elohim and pluralis excellentiae
As you may have already guessed dear reader, yes, we see this literary device of Hebrew used in many other parts of the Bible. For example:
- The word used for “life” in Genesis 27:46 and Job 10:12
- The word used for “virtue” or “righteousness” in Isaiah 33:15
- The word used for “master” in Isaiah 19:4
More importantly though, we even see the word “Elohim” used to refer to other singular subjects.
If “Elohim” (אֱלהִים) always means plural to the uneducated Hebrew scholar, then how does that poor scholar explain:
- The word “Elohim” (plural) used to refer to Moses (singular) in Exodus 7:1? (Hebrew or English)
- The word “Elohim” (plural) used to refer to the dead prophet Samuel (singular), raised by Saul in 1 Samuel 28:13 (Hebrew or English)
That’s right. The word “Elohim” used to refer to Moses. Was Moses plural? No, he was not. Moses was singular. There are many other places where the word “Elohim” refers to singular subjects.
So the next time some kind and well-meaning folks come to your door claiming proudly to “know their Bible”, hopefully the conversation might go a little differently:
Person At Your Door: We have an “Elohim God”.
You: Yes, one God.
Person At Your Door: “Elohim” is the Hebrew word for God.. and it’s plural.
You: Yet, the verbs in that sentence are singular, which denote that the subject is superior rather than plural. This is basic Hebrew.
Person At Your Door: (Having never met anyone who could respond to that) UHhhh…
You: The word “Elohim” is often used to refer to singular subjects. For example, in Exodus 7:1, Moses is referred to as Elohim. Was Moses plural?
Person At Your Door: I don’t know… but the word is plural.
You: It has plural endings to indicate it’s greatness. If it were plural, the verbs would be plural as well. You can ask any elementary school child in Israel to explain that to you.
The Jews have been reading the Bible for about 4000 years. Hebrew is their language. Why not let the people who speak Hebrew and wrote the Old Testament tell you what the word “Elohim” means? Why not let 4000 years of Jewish understanding about Scripture that God is one, enter the picture?
Most egregiously, saying there is more than one god is a violation of the First Commandment.
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