When we meet a stranger we want to get to know better, their personal name only distinguishes them from other individuals in a small group, so we ask about their verbs – “What do you do?”
In other words, what describes your accomplishments or activities. For example, when we read about Napoleon, is it the conqueror Napoleon I, or the listless and alienated Napoleon Dynamite?
Let’s start at the very beginning of the Bible.
Elohim
“In the beginning God (English) / אֱ-ל-הִי-ם reading backwards in Hebrew to pronounce “E-l-oh-im)
In Hebrew, ם / “im” at the end of a word serves the same function as “s” in English, making the word plural. This opens the door for uneducated or intentionally biased or subversive translators to claim that there was not a singular creator, but multiple gods involved in creation, such as the Anunnaki.
It is true that “eloh-im” is recognized grammatically as the plural of the word eloh in ancient Ugaritic, referencing the creator’s minor gods, and that in Aramaic ʼĔlāhā and later Syriac Alaha, and in Arabic ʾilāh (“deity”) and Allah in Islam opposing the multiplicity of pagan gods with “The Only God”.
However, the Bible itself clarifies the plural “Elohim” as a single individual with the plurality assigned to his attributes of powers – All Powerful / Almighty God.
- “God / Elohim / אֱלֹהִ֜ים (plural noun) called unto him [Moses] out of the midst of the bush, and said…
- Anoki / אָנֹכִי / me, myself (singular noun), expressing emotional intimacy {Honey, I’m home!) in contrast to the simpler Ani /אֲנַי me, myself (classroom roll call – Here!)
- The God / Elohe / אֱלֹהֵי֙ (singular root of the plural Eloh-im) of thy father Abraham. The [same] God / Elohe / אֱלֹהֵי֙ of Isaac, The [same] God / Elohe / אֱלֹהֵי֙ of Jacob.
- “Isaac called Jacob…God / El / אֵל (singular) Almighty / Shadday / שַׁדַּי bless thee, and…give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee;” (Genesis 28:1-4)
- And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon Elohim.” (Exodus 3:4-6)
- And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, “The God of your fathers”… they shall say to me, What is his name [attributes, characteristics – the god of water, lord of the flies, the god of war]? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, [and we may fairly suppose he shrugs at that point, expressing “What can I tell you? All of the above and so much more!] The English translation “I Am that I Am” is a feeble translation of the Hebrew: “הָיָה אֲשֶׁר הָיָה“
- I am / was / become
- that / who / where / person, places & things
- simultaneously In The Present, Past and Future
- always existent, Eternal One.
- I Am Everything In Eternity, Infinite, The Singularity
- And God said moreover unto Moses [With the juxtaposition of “moreover” in the passage, we can literally connect “I Am That I AM” with “the LORD / YHVH God / Elohim of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, this is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto all generations: YHVH, the eternal God.” (Exodus 3:13-15)
YHVH
There is one unique characteristic that belongs to Elohim Almighty God only, never attributed even in part to the gods.
- “He that created the heavens, and stretched them out;
- He that spread forth the earth,
- and that which cometh out of it;
- He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein…
“I am / Ani YHVH: that is my name / attribute: and my glory [great admiration, honor, and praise that you earn by achieving something] will I not give to another.” (Isaiah 42:5-8)
This identifier for God occurs almost 7,000 times in the Bible. By comparison, the general name of Eloh-im / plural powers indicating the Singularity in diversity is used only 2,500 times in the scriptures.
Called the tetra-grammaton for being composed only of four consonants, these are semi-vowels Y – H – V, pronounced as Ya – Ha – Wa , not articulated like the other consonants with audible sounds.
The vowels of the Hebrew word for Lord, “Adonai” were inserted to spell and pronounce “YaHoVaH” because it taught that the name of God was too holy to be spoken. The King James Bible follows suit by substituting LORD (all capital letters) for most of its occurrences.
(Wildly waving hand to get attention for my question.) “But in an era of general illiteracy when scripture was transmitted orally, wouldn’t the essential name of God need to be spoken to teach people about his essential nature?”
Ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus backs this up in two ways in his description of the high priest’s miter “in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels,”
- This makes the name of God holy, yes, but not unspeakable.
- It is an onomatopoeia – formation of a word from the sound associated with it. – teaching God’s essential nature.
The pronunciation of YHVH is “Ah-Wha- the sound of inhalation and exhalation.
This makes the name of God our first and last word as we enter and leave the world, and keeps his name on our lips with every breath we take throughout our entire life.
Think about that when ruminating on the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name / character of YHVH your God in vain / worthlessly, for evil.” (Exodus 20:7) God is not just saying “don’t use the holy name of God in unholy ways”, he is telling us not to waste the life he gave us!
In its first occurrence of over 6,000 occurrences, in the Bible YHVH is indisputably the same individual as Elohim in Genesis 1:1 – YHVH God / Elohim made the earth and the heavens,
Only the Hebrew Torah documents a specific individual and clearly describes his actions at the beginning and continuing throughout human history, with multiple means of validating the reports from a variety of scientific disciplines.
Documentation of this power by eyewitnesses who saw first-hand what this sentient Being we call God did in the past is the only basis for believing what these same eyewitnesses report what he said that he will do in the future.
By not naming a Creator, the Enuma Elish and Hindu accounts validate what the Hebrew God claims exclusively as his power.
Creation is clearly the basis for trusting which hyper dimensional being holds supreme power.
Every statement in a religious creed – like “ye must be born again” – every theological belief – like the virgin birth – derives its credibility and legitimacy from the first statement that God created, sustains, and controls the universe, and from proof of supernatural origin by future fulfillment of prophecies.
The Bible’s thesis is that the monotheistic Almighty God of the Bible created or transferred every aspect of the immaterial and material universe. Every single element in the rest of the story, which builds systematically from The Beginning in Genesis through The End in Revelation, rests on this fundamental premise of a Creator.
“In the beginning God / Elohim / All Powers / The Singularity created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
“Then [after his resurrection] the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them….And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:16-20)
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle / body of God [the last Adam] is with men, and HE / the last Adam will dwell with them, and they shall be his people…and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne / obtained dominion said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful…I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end…
He that overcometh [the Adversary’s lies to discredit me] shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake / conscribed chaos which burneth with fire and brimstone / heat energy: which is the second death [disconection from life of the individuated energy soul merged into chaos ” (Revelation 21:1-8)
Kingdom Come 