The Names of God. ELOHIM

Introduction: “The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” said the Writer of the Proverbs.

Pro 2:3  yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding;

Pro 2:4  if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures,

Pro_2:5  then you shall understand the fear of Jehovah and find the knowledge of God.

How does God reveal Himself and give us this knowledge and Understanding of Himself?

It is through His Word. One of the most meaningful ways he reveals Himself to us is through His Names. Each Divine Name shows us an aspect of His Divine nature and His great Love for us.

Name Number One  - ELOHIM

Elohim is the very first Name of God that we meet in the Bible.

“ In the beginning God ( Heb. El or Elohim) created the heaven and the earth”. Genesis 1:1 Over 2500 times in the Hebrew Bible we meet this Name for God. One of the oldest and most widely distributed terms for Deity known to the human race is 'Ēl, with its derivations 'Ēlı̄m, 'Ĕlōhı̄m, and 'Ĕlō^aȟ. ISBE.[1]

El is the Root word of Elohim and it describes His Greatness and Glory; it displays God’s Power and Sovereignty. This two letter Name El show the depth of the Hebrew language – which is a language of pictures

Consider the ELOHIM which extends the scope of the Hebrew Root  EL.  In Genesis 1:1 Elohim is the God who CREATES. So we now see that ELOHIM shows us God’s Total Power, Might and Sovereignty, and reveals Him as the God of Creation. What force and Creative Power is manifested because God created this vast Universe out of nothing. Hebrews 11:3 It was not with the so called ‘Big Bang’ either. Elohim spoke and it appeared. M.H.

ELOHIM is Plural.

The original word אלהים  Elohim, God, is certainly the plural form of אל  El, or אלה  Eloah, and has long been supposed, by the most eminently learned and pious men, to imply a plurality of Persons in the Divine nature. As this plurality appears in so many parts of the sacred writings to be confined to three Persons, hence the doctrine of the Trinity, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who have been deemed sound in the faith, from the earliest ages of Christianity. A.C. No singular word could describe this plural element in God’s Nature.

Many places in the Bible confirm this plurality. Genesis 1:26-27

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.

Gen 1:27  And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. [2] See Barnes Notes below.

Applications

1.      God is revealing His Divine Greatness and Power through His Names. We are amazed that He is the CREATOR of everything from nothing. What a Mighty God we serve.

2.      This Divine name reveals the Plurality of his nature right there in Genesis chapter One.

3.      Ask God, “ LORD, show me Who you are. I want to know you more.

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[1] ISBE International Standard Bible Encyclopedia in Esword

[2] The plural form of the sentence raises the question, With whom took he counsel on this occasion? Was it with himself, and does he here simply use the plural of majesty? Such was not the usual style of monarchs in the ancient East. Pharaoh says, “I have dreamed a dream” Gen_41:15. Nebuchadnezzar, “I have dreamed” Dan_2:3. Darius the Mede, “I make a decree” Dan_6:26. Cyrus, “The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth” Ezr_1:2. Darius, “I make a decree” Ezr_5:8. We have no ground, therefore, for transferring it to the style of the heavenly King. Was it with certain other intelligent beings in existence before man that he took counsel? This supposition cannot be admitted; because the expression “let us make” is an invitation to create, which is an incommunicable attribute of the Eternal One, and because the phrases, “our image, our likeness,” when transferred into the third person of narrative, become “his image, the image of God,” and thus limit the pronouns to God himself. Does the plurality, then, point to a plurality of attributes in the divine nature? This cannot be, because a plurality of qualities exists in everything, without at all leading to the application of the plural number to the individual, and because such a plurality does not warrant the expression, “let us make.” Only a plurality of persons can justify the phrase. Hence, we are forced to conclude that the plural pronoun indicates a plurality of persons or hypostases in the Divine Being.