In the Beginning Elohim

Moses and the other OT authors revealed the Trinity – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in their writing. To fully grasp and appreciate the existence of the Trinity in the OT through God’s grace, Yoel Natan writes in The Jewish Trinity that one must remove his “God the Father only blinders” and come to see that the OT “is as explicit about the Trinity as is the NT.” Let us begin uncovering the plentiful Trinitarian proofs in the Bible by learning some basic Hebrew terms and concepts that will help us see them more clearly. We will start our Trinitarian quest by learning the meaning of the Hebrew word Elohim.

ELOHIM
Reference: Genesis 1:1

Discourse or Account
“In the beginning Elohim (Gods*) created the heavens and the earth.”

The very first sentence in the Bible reveals two things:

1. There is a God, and that God created the heavens and earth; it didn’t just happen by chance.
2. It reveals the nature of God – the possibility of more than one divine being in the Godhead. This is revealed by the use of the word Elohim. Almost every Hebrew scholar will agree that the word “elohim," as it stands by itself, is a plural noun.

The Hebrew word Elohim (literally, “Gods” or “gods”) occurs 2,600 times in 2,247 OT Hebrew and Aramaic verses. Many argue that the word Elohim should be considered singular when the OT writers refer to the true God (Yahveh) and plural when they refer to the false gods. This argument would be acceptable if Elohim plural were the only form available for a reference to God. However, a singular form of Elohim -- Eloah -- also exists and is used only 250 times in the Old Testament. We should note, too, that Elohim was not used in the Old Testament to refer to Yahveh in any polytheistic sense; that is, believing in or worshiping more multiple gods.

It is generally agreed by both the followers of Judaism and Christianity that Moses and other prophets wrote the Old Testament (The Tanakh) by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. The usage of the word Eloah in passages like Deuteronomy 32:15-17 and Habakkuk 3:3 shows that these prophets had a choice between the words Elohim (plural) and Eloah (singular), but they consistently, and frequently, chose Elohim when referring to God. Certainly, if God the Father existed in isolation the recurring use of the word Elohim wouldn’t make sense, and it would confuse most laymen --and our God is not a God of confusion. Remember, Moses did not witness the creation account; he simply recorded what the Holy Spirit moved him to write.

Similarly, the Tanakh was read in the synagogues during the Sabbath; why didn’t the conservative Rabbis oppose Moses' and the other prophets’ use of the word Elohim when they heard it if they discounted its plurality? And what about Jesus’ conservative disciples? They didn’t say a word when Jesus claimed that He is a member of the Trinity. Why? Because they knew He is the truth.

NOTE: All verses cited in this blog are taken from Holy Bible, Beck's An American Translation or www.bible.cc, unless otherwise indicated.

*Words or names--usually Members of the Holy Trinity--in brackets or parenthesis are added to the Bible passage or verse for emphasis.