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 'Ĕlōaȟ. 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.
[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.
