Is 'ELOHIM' A Pagan Title?
The Hebrews referred to Yahweh
as El. The Canaanites did the same to their mighty one. So who has rights to it
- Yahweh or an idol?
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It is no secret that the Sacred Name Yahweh
has been disguised, supplanted, and removed from our English Bibles. This gross
mistake lies with the translators who through ignorance or by design
substituted Kyrios and Theos for Yahweh's Name in the Greek texts.
They also translated the Hebrew titles
"El" and "Elohim" to English as
"god" and "God". Some believe that one must not use the
terms El and Elohim in reference to the Heavenly
Majesty because they are considered pagan.
But is the Hebrew word "El" or
its plural "Elohim" so evil and wrong that
we are condemned for employing it as a title to refer to Yahweh? If so, then
why does the first verse in the oldest Hebrew manuscripts available refer to
our Creator as "Elohim"?: "In the beginning G-d (myhla = Elohim) created
the heaven and the earth." (Gen. 1:1)
'Elohim' A
Word Given by Yahweh
If Yahweh refers to Himself as Elohim in the very Book He inspired Moses to write, then is
not Elohim a term sanctioned by Yahweh Himself? If
the inspired texts - breathed from Yahweh's very own mouth - occasionally refer
to Yahweh as "Elohim" (meaning "Mightly One"), how can it be wrong for us to refer to
Yahweh as an Elohim?
How can one arrive, then, at such an absurd
conclusion that it is wrong to use "Elohim"?
One writer who does just that, appeals to the Encyclopedia Judaica to show that among the Canaanites, "El and Elyon"
were originally distinct deities. From this he promotes a delusion, building a
totally groundless case against using Elohim. The
gist of his argument is simply that certain words like El and Elohim were used by pagans and then incorporated into the
Hebrew language from the Canaanites.
This notion ASSUMES that the Canaanite
language had certain words that the Hebrews later borrowed and integrated into
their worship. It PRESUMES that El and Elohim are
such secondhand terms. But are they?
The writer in question leaps to the
erroneous conclusion that the "Canaanite" terms El and Elohim were accepted into the Hebrew langugage many years after the writings of the
Holy Scriptures, basing his contention on Isaiah 19:18: "In that day shall
five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to
Yahweh of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction." This,
however, is a prophetic verse, referring to the FUTURE conversion of Egypt -
with its people to speak Hebrew.
(Hebrew was called the "language of
Canaan" because of all the Hebrew-speaking Israelites who settled in
Canaan, Israel's Promised Land, as one authority notes on page 5 of this booklet.)
This
same writer has produced a Bible that changes Genesis 1:1, which was inspired
by Yahweh to read, "In the beginning Elohim (plural) made..." The writer's new version reads, "In the beginning
Yahweh made..." In the ancient text Yahweh's Name first appears a whole
chapter later - Genesis 2:4. This man's version of the Bible violates the
Scriptures by deliberately mistranslating "Elohim"
to read "Yahweh" in order to support a false doctrine against the use
of "Elohim". When he does use
"el" he uses a "y" for the "e": "yl".
Again, he does violence to the Hebrew, in
essence substituting a yod (y) for the aleph (a) in
"elohim", where no yod existed before. The pronunciation remains the same, however, and the word is
virtually still the same. The folly of this is similar to the mistaken notion
that capitalizing the mere title "god" somehow puts it into the realm
of a personal name for Yahweh. God and god sound the same. But the word remains
just a title. Similarly, whether you say "Israel" or Israyl", you are still saying "el".
The Hebrews Spoke...Well, Hebrew!
Think a minute. What language did the
Hebrews speak before coming into the Promised Land? It was Hebrew, not
Canaanite! Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible BEFORE Israel even approached
the Promised Land of Canaan because he died before Joshua led Israel in, Joshua
1:2. Moses was barred from entering, and therefore could not have been
influenced by the Canaanites when he used the Hebrew terms El and Elohim in the Torah.
In fact, it was Yahweh Himself who inspired
him to use El and Elohim. The Canaanites later seized
the tiles El and Elohim from the Hebrews, who used
them first, and called their own deities by the titles El and Elohim.
Now does taking a word that is from the
start right, good, and proper, then perverting it and making it a common thing
- does that make the word itself sinful? Does not man pervert, besmirch, smear,
befoul, corrupt, and tarnish EVERY good thing he touches?
To take a title and apply this title to a
pagan deity does not of itself make the title sinful. Man defiles virtually all
that is good. Given the change he will even corrupt Yahweh's own Name! Would
that mean we should not call on Yahweh by His Name? Does applying the term
"Sabbath" to Sunday "dirty" the seventh-day Sabbath?
Just because some have misused Scripture to
uphold false worship does not mean that we throw the Scriptures out! The same
holds true for "El", "Eloah", and
"Elohim". Yahweh Himself used or influenced
writers to use elohim in reference to pagan
"deities" (Ex. 12:12, 20:3; Lev. 19:4). Yet, He still sanctifies the
title for Himself. If it is okay with Him, it has to be acceptable for our use.
Oldest Hebrew Texts Use El, Elohim
Clearly, Yahweh inspired the use of El and Elohim, therefore, these titles are NOT borrowed from pagan
peoples.
Hebrew was the language spoken by Yahweh
Himself. The Hebrew terms found in the Bible show that it is still the same
basic tongue used by Moses and the patriarchs down through history.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest
Biblical manuscript texts in existence today. In his book, The Temple Scroll, Vol.
2, editor Yigael Yadin reconstructs the Book of Deuteronomy from the Scrolls' Hebrew text. Throughout
this Deuteronomic Hebrew we find the word Elohim used. Remember, the Scrolls are the OLDEST extant
Bible manuscripts and they use El and Elohim (for
several examples, see Yadin's "The
Temple Scroll, Column LIV, Deut. 13:3, p.401).
So-called higher criticism suggests that
Scripture originated from various source manuscripts like the J source, E
source, and P source. Unlike the others, the J source "traced back the
Name of Yahweh to the dim past", notes the Anchor Bible - implying that it is a more faithful rendition. Significantly,
this reference also notes, "There is of course, nothing new in J's use of Elohim" (Genesis, Vol. 1, p.37).
No evidence exists that any terms other
than El and Elohim were used for "mighty
one(s)" in the original Scriptures.
We prefer the Hebrew titles El, Eloah, and Elohim over
"G-d" as a reminder that we worship the Mighty One of the Hebrews -
and we have a part in similar promises He made to them.
'El' in Names of Patriarchs and the
Foremost Angelic Beings
Because the oldest Scriptures are in
Hebrew, we must conclude that the Hebrew language was first spoken by the
Creator when He began His work of creation. Hebrew was therefore also the first
language spoken by mankind.
The names "Adam" and
"Eve" as well as others in Genesis are decidedly Hebrew names. And so
are "EliYah, Eliezer,
Israel, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, and many more than contain the
Hebrew El. If El is a pagan term,
why is it found in the names of these and many other righteous men and in the
names of the great archangel Michael (a name meaning, "who is like El") and Gabriel ("El is powerful")?
"El" could not have come from
paganism if it is found in the names of angelic beings who existed BEFORE the
world was.
Moses is credited with writing the first five
books of the Bible. These all have been recorded for us in Hebrew. Names of
places and expressions are Hebrew, clearly revealing a Hebrew source. Many of
these employ "el".
The Bible plainly demonstrates that Hebrew
was the language of the heavenly messengers. Whenever celestial beings spoke to
mankind, it was to those familiar with Hebrew.
Angels did not speak Canaanite, Chinese,
Greek, Latin or English. They spoke to those humans who knew and understood
Hebrew. Therefore, when they spoke of the Father or the Son, they used the
Hebrew names Yahweh and Yahshua.
Hebrew, the Mother Tongue
McClintock
and Strong's Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature comments on the Shemitic (Semitic) languages:
"The Hebrew language takes its name from Abraham's descendants, the
Israelites, who are ethnographically called Hebrew..."
"In the Old Testament it is poetically
called the language of Canaan, Isaiah 19:18, emphatically the language of the
holy land consecrated to Yahweh as contrasted with that of the profane Egypt.
In its earliest written state it exhibits in the writings of Moses a perfection
of structure which was never surpassed."
This commentary states that the descendants
of Shem indeed spoke Hebrew and other Semitic languages, of which they list 14
primitive dialects. A number of respected scholars assert that Hebrew is the
mother of all languages, including Canaanite.
From Girdlestone's Old
Testament Synonyms we learn, "The Hebrew language, though poor in
some respects, e.g. in tenses, is rich in others; and probably no better
language could have been selected for the purpose of preparing the way for
[Messiah]," p.6.
Genesis 1:28 records the first spoken
command given to mankind. "And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Gen. 1:28)
Yahweh communicated with Adam and Eve in Hebrew.
Many linguistic scholars agree that Hebrew
is the basic language from which all others are derived. Isaac Mozeson's comprehensive book, The Word, goes into
detail showing the Hebrew is the ultimate source of English. Joseph T. Shipley,
author of The Dictionary of Word Origins, says of Mozeson's comprehensive study, "This work is a challenge to linguists...It calls for
a re-examination of our etymologies."
Angels Spoke Hebrew
In examining the New Testament, we find
again that whenever anyone was spoken to from the heavens, it was always in the
Hebrew tongue.
In Luke 1 we read of the priest Zacharias
(Zachariah) performing his duties in the Temple. The angel of Yahweh appeared
to him and related how Elizabeth ("El of the oath") was soon to have
a son who would be called John. Certainly a priest of the course of Abia would be addressed in his native Hebrew tongue! Later
we learn that the virgin Miriam was also visited by Gabriel ("man of
El") who proclaimed the soon-coming birth of Yahshua the Messiah.
Both Mary and Joseph were descended from
the lineage of King David, the ruler of Israel of the tribe of Judah. We read
in chapter two of Luke of Judean shepherds watching their flock by night when
the celestial being came to them announcing the birth of the Redeemer of
Israel. The language used to communicate was understandable to these
uneducated, pastoral, Hebrew-speaking people.
Resurrected Messiah Spoke Hebrew
Acts 9 tells that the Apostle Paul was
struck down on the Damascus road. Recounting this experience to King Agrippa
(Acts 26:12-14), Paul says the voice that spoke to him from heaven did so in
the Hebrew tongue, asking, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?"
This was after Yahshua's death and resurrection. Yahshua told us that Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob would be in the Kingdom, Matthew 8:11.
All of those resurrected people will be
brought back to life in a country that even now is speaking Hebrew as its
national language.
The Pure Language
It is at this time that Yahshua commences
to take charge of world affairs and will rule with a rod of iron. He will set
up His rule at Jerusalem and it will continue to expand until it eventually
encompasses the world. "For the law
shall go forth of Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem," Micah 4:2.
"For then will I turn to the people a pure language, [Hebrew] that they
may all call upon the name of Yahweh, to serve Him with one consent,"
Zephaniah 3:9.
All of those who will be in the Millennial
rule will be speaking Hebrew and will be calling upon the personal, revealed
Name of Yahweh and His dear Son, Yahshua.
To teach that the Hebrew nouns El and Elohim derive from paganism disregards the obvious fact
that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew - the original language! And we
are introduced to Yahweh's truth through the Hebrew language of the Old
Testament, which uses the Hebrew terms El and Elohim abundantly.
When making His Covenant with His people,
Yahweh begins by introducing Himsel, "I, Yahweh,
am your Elohim which have brought you out of the land
of Egypt..." Now, If Yahweh refers to Himself as Yahweh your "Elohim," certainly we can boldly say, "Yahweh is
my Elohim."
When hanging on the tree, our dying Savior
cried out, "Eloi, Eloi,
Lama Sabbachthani," which meant, "My El, My
El, why have you forsaken me?" The Hebrew-To-Greek-To-English translation
preserves His words through TRANSLITERATION, proving that our own Savior
Himself used the title El! Transliteration is the bringing of exact word sounds
across language barriers.
Both El and Elohim are solid Hebrew words, originating from Yahweh's own mouth. If He inspired
their use, and His Son used them, so can and so should we!
For additional information on the Heavenly
Father's revealed, personal Name, read the ministudy, Is
His Name Jehovah or Yahweh?
© 2007 Yahweh’s Assembly in Yahshua
2963 County Road 233, Kingdom City, Missouri 65262
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