Plural verbs in Old Testament referring to Yahweh

If God is only God the Father then there is no need for the Old Testament writers to address God in plural forms. Here are some examples of plural verbs that refer to Yahveh. The examples are taken from Yoel Natan’s “The Jewish Trinity”. Please refer to pages 249-263 for detailed explanation of these versus.

Genesis 1:26	Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness
Genesis 2:18 (LXX)	It is not good that the man should be alone. Let us make him a suitable helper.
Genesis 3:5 (LXX)	… you would be as Gods, knowing good and evil
Genesis 3:22	Yahveh Elohim said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 11:7	Yahveh said “Let us descend and confuse”
Genesis 20:13	Abraham said, “Elohim, they caused [plural verb] me to wander.
Genesis 35:7	Jacob called the place Bethel, since “[All] The Gods [haElohim], they appeared [plural verb] to him [Jacob]” at Bethel.
Exodus 12:36	Yahveh gave his people favor in the sight of Egyptians and They [Yahveh] caused them [Egyptians] to give, and thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Exodus 32:1, 4, 5, 8 & 23	make us [Israelite] Elohim who will go [plural verb] before us
Exodus 33:14-15	Yahveh [the Father] replied, “My presences [Hebrew plural Panim], they will go [plural verb] with you, and I will give you rest.’
Deuteronomy 5:26	For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living Gods [plurals: khayyim Elohim] speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived?

Luke 1:35 and the Song of Mary

And the angel answered and said to Mary, the Holy Spirit shall come on you, and a power of the Most High (God the Father) shall overshadow you: And for that reason the Holy Thing (God the Son) to be born will be called the Son of God.

Luke 1:35

In this verse, Gabriel accomplishes two things. The first one is obvious i.e. to tell Mary that she is going to conceive a Son. The second one is to assure Mary that God is Triune. Gabriel does this by explaining the role of each Member of the Trinity in this miraculous conception. Gabriel explained to Mary how the power of God the Father will be put forth by the Holy Spirit, as the immediate Divine agent in this work. Thus, Gabriel distinguished God the Spirit from God the Father. The Holy Spirit exerted the power of God the Father as His own power – the Holy Spirit cannot exert the power of the Most High if He is not God Himself. Here itself we see two divine Beings in Gabriel’s explanation. Therefore also - Not only is Jesus Christ, God from eternity, but on the special way he is conceived he shall be called the Son of God. Also note how Jesus is called the Holy Thing which is in the neuter gender.

Mary doesn’t seem to have a problem accepting what Gabriel said. This can also be seen when she sang the “Magnificat” (Luke 1:46-55) praising the individual work of each member of the Trinity. The song of Mary derives most of its words from many versus in the Old Testament and still it flows perfectly. Mary couldn’t have done it without the help of God the Holy Spirit.

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (God the Son), for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

Summary: Here Mary definitely refers to God the Son. She knew through the Old Testament scriptures that salvation for her as well as the whole mankind will come through the God-Man – the Messiah.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One (God the Father) has done great things for me—Holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His Arm (See Psalm 98:1, Exodus 15:6 about the Arm – God the Son);

Summary: The quote “generation to generation” reminds us of the Father’s words during the giving of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:6 we read “but I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love Me and obey My commandments”. Also see Psalm 103:17.

He (God the Holy Spirit) has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

Summary: Humbleness is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 5:3, Galatians 5:22-23). In addition, as we have seen in Psalm 110:1, 4-6, one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to bring down haughty rulers. Also see Hosea 1:6-7 and Zechariah 4:6.

He (God the Son) has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has come to help His servant Israel (also see Psalm 98:3), remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as He said to our fathers (also see Micah 7:20).

Summary: In Psalm 107:9, the Psalmist talks about how the pre-incarnate Christ fed the hungry and filled them with good things. Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth was filled with feeding the hungry and sending away the rich empty handed (both physically and spiritually).