Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique

Dedicated to the scholarly study of the bible as text and the discussion thereof

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
YourWordIsTruth
Student
Posts: 73
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2022 3:41 am
Been thanked: 2 times

Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique

Post #1

Post by YourWordIsTruth »

Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique

Deuteronomy 6:4

“שׁמע ישׂראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד"

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (King James Bible)

This is a favourite verse used by those, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are others, who deny, that the Holy Bible Teaches, that God is “Multi-Personal”. It is argued from this verse, and some others, that God is only One, and not a Trinity. No one who believes in the Trinity, will say that there is more than One God in the Holy Bible.

The Hebrew for Deuteronomy 6:4, can also mean;

“Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God Yahweh is Unique”

“Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God Yahweh is the Only One”

What this verse does not say, is "The is only One God". It does say, "Elohim is One Yahweh".

This verse, does not Teach, that the God of the Holy Bible, is “One Person”, which, as we shall see, is not the case. Neither does it Teach, that Yahweh is “One Person”. There are more than “One Person”, in the Old Testament, Who is called “אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlôhı̂ym)" and “יהוה (yehôvâh)”, Who are distinct from One Another.

That The God of the Bible is ALONE God, and there are no others. This is what the very First Commandment that God gave Moses: “God spoke all these words, saying, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:1-3).

Verse 3 literally translated into English, reads: “not he shall be to you gods other before presence of Me”. Or, “you shall not have any others gods in addition to Me”. Verses 4 and 5 go on to say, ““You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me.”. And in verse 23, “You shall most certainly not make gods of silver or gods of gold for yourselves to be alongside me”. It is clear that the God of the Bible is Unique, and He demands that He has a Unique place in the lives of His children.

Song of Solomon, chapter 6, verse 9, shows the use of the Hebrew “אֶחָד", meaning “unique”;

“But my dove, my perfect one, is unique (אֶחָד): She is her mother’s only (אֶחָד) daughter” (NASB)

This is exactly what is meant in Deuteronomy 6:4, that the God of the Holy Bible is UNIQUE, as there is no other.

The first verse of the Old Testament says: “In beginning He Created God the heavens and the earth”. Our English word “God”, in the Hebrew, is “אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlôhı̂ym)", which is masculine in gender, and plural in number. The Jewish Encyclopedia, says of the plural, “This is, most probably, to be explained as the plural of majesty or excellence, expressing high dignity or greatness”. In the Hebrew Bible, the Names “אֱלוֹהַּ ('ĕlôahh)”, “אֵל ('êl)”, are also used for God, which are in the singular number. Does this mean that these do not mean, “majesty or excellence, expressing high dignity or greatness”? Of course not! A good example can be found in Psalm 18:31, “For who is God, except the LORD? And who is a Rock, except our God?”. Here we have “God” used twice, and “Lord”, once. In the first use, the Hebrew is “אֱלוֹהַּ ('ĕlôahh)”, which is the singular. The second is “אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlôhı̂ym)", which is plural, And we also have “יהוה (yehôvâh)”. Both the singular and plural forms are used for “יהוה (yehôvâh)”, one use of “God” is no “greater” than the other.

It is because those like to Jews, who cannot accept the fact, that the God of the Bible is not One Person, that they provide these lame reasons. Much like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who reject that Jesus Christ is God, so they pervert what John writes in 1:1 of His Gospel, to, “and the Logos was a god”. Nothing to do with the actual grammar of the passage, but, to reflect their demonic view that Jesus Christ is a created being.

It is clear from the Bible, that the plural is used, when the singular could have been, because the God of the Bible is not uni-personal.

In Genesis 1:26, we can see why the plural “אֱלֹהִים" is used:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”

Here we have four plurals “אֱלֹהִים" (God), “נַעֲשֶׂה" (let Us Make), “בְּצַלְמֵנוּ" (in Our Image), “כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ" (after Our Likeness)

There are those, who cannot accept that the Bible clearly Teaches that GOD is not “One Person”, argue, that in this verse, God is Speaking of His angels! Verse 27 goes on to say, “And God created man in His own Image (בְּצַלְמוֹ, is the masculine singular), in the Image of (בְּצֶלֶם, masculine singular) God created He him; male and female created He them”. Cannot include any created beings, like “angels”!. There is not even ONE verse in the Bible that says that humans are Created in “the image of angels”!

In Isaiah 51:13, we read, “And forget Yahweh your Maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth”. Here “your Maker”, in the Hebrew is, “עֹשֶׂ֗ךָ”, which is masculine singular. However, in 54:5, we read, “For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of hosts is His Name”. Here, “your Maker” is the Hebrew, “עֹשַׂיִךְ”, which is masculine, plural, “Makers”! And, in Ecclesiastes 12:1, where it reads, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth”, here also the Hebrew, “אֶת־בּוֹרְאֶיךָ”, is masculine, plural, literally, “your Creators”. Whereas, in Isaiah 43:15, we have, “בּוֹרֵא” (the Creator of), which is singular. It is clear that the use of the plural, has nothing to do with, “plural of “majesties”, which is suggested by some, for the plural, “אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlôhı̂ym)". Genesis 1:26 is clear that more than One Person Created.

It is also clear form the Old Testament, that there is not One Person Who is God. In Isaiah 9:6, which is a Prophecy for the Birth of Jesus Christ, we read, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name (שְׁמוֹ, masculine, singular) shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God (אֵל גִּבּוֹר,’êl Gibbôr), Everlasting Father (אֲבִי־עַד, Possessor of Eternity), Prince of Peace”. In the next chapter we read, “but shall lean upon Yhaweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant shall return, [even] the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty God (אֵל גִּבּוֹר,’êl Gibbôr)” (verses 20-21). Here we have two distinct Persons Who are equally called “אֵל גִּבּוֹר,’êl Gibbôr”. Some have tried to have one meaning of the Hebrew for 9:6, “God-like Hero”, and “Mighty God”, in 10:21. This is done for theological purposes, as they cannot accept that Jesus Christ is GOD. It has the SAME meaning in both places.

In the majority of uses, of either, “אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlôhı̂ym)", and “אֱלוֹהַּ ('ĕlôahh)”, and “אֵל ('êl)”, are used to denote the God of the Bible, without reference to any of the “Persons”, as in Genesis 1:1. Yet, it is also clear from the Bible, that God is also used for distinct Persons, as in Isaiah 9:6, and 10:21, and Genesis 1:26-27.

In Isaiah 45:5, it says, “I am Yahweh and there is no other; besides Me there is no god. I equip you, though you do not know Me”

Like “אֱלֹהִים ('ĕlôhı̂ym)", which is clearly used for more than One Person, we have “יהוה (yehôvâh)”, also used for more than One Person. The Uniqueness of Yahweh is meant, and not that He is only One Person.

In the Book of Zechariah, chapter 2, we read:

“Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent Me to you”

Here we have the Speaker Who is Yahweh, Who says that Another, Who is “Yahweh of Armies”, has sent Him. There is a clear distinction between the Two Who are called Yahweh, and cannot refer to the same Person.

This can also be seen in Isaiah chapter 48, where it is clear that the Speaker is Yahweh:

“I have declared the former things from of old; yea, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass...therefore I have declared it to thee from of old; before it came to pass I showed it thee; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them...Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Yea, my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spread out the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together...I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Adoni Yahweh hath sent Me, and His Spirit. Thus saith Yahweh, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go”

In this passage, the Speaker says that He is “the First and the Last” (see, Revelation 1:17; 2:8; 22:13). That He “laid the foundation of the earth”, and His “Right Hand spread out the heavens” (see Hebrews 1:10-12). Which is the Creation of the universe, as in Genesis 1:1, and elsewhere, and like the passage in Zechariah, is said to have been “sent” by Another Person, Who is “Adoni Yahweh”.

In 2 Samuel we have a very interesting passage on the Holy Spirit:

“Spirit of Yahweh He Speaks by me, and the Word of Him is on my tongue. He said the God of Israel to me, He has Spoken Rock of Israel…”

In the Hebrew, “Spirit” is “רוּח”, which is a feminine word. Yet we have “דִּבֶּר־בִּי”, which is in the singular, masculine, “He Speaks by me”. And further, “וּמִלָּתוֹ” (His Word), which is also singular, masculine. It is the One Subject Who is the Speaker, “רוּחַ יהוה” (the Spirit of Yahweh), or, “the Spirit Who is Yahweh”. The following words in this passage are also used for the Holy Spirit. Here we have the Holy Spirit Who is clearly identified as Yahweh, and also as a masculine Person, not impersonal, or feminine, as some heretically teach.

We have Three distinct Persons in the Old Testament, Who are called Yahweh.

User avatar
Conversator
Student
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2023 4:55 pm
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique

Post #2

Post by Conversator »

Deuteronomy 32:39 "See now that I, I am He, and there is no god with Me". I don't see any room for a multi-personnel deity. As for elohim, Moses was called an elohim in Exodus 4:16. Moses is one, not many. To interpret elohim as plurality of the individual is not accurate.
I prefer Coca-Cola

User avatar
Miles
Savant
Posts: 5179
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:19 pm
Has thanked: 434 times
Been thanked: 1614 times

Re: Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique

Post #3

Post by Miles »

YourWordIsTruth wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:33 am Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique
"For know that no one is free, except Zeus."
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 50

"The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all."
Aeschylus

“Zeus, first cause, prime mover; for what thing without Zeus is done among mortals?”
― Aeschylus, Agamemnon

"Zeus, the father of the Olympic Gods, turned mid-day into night, hiding the light of the dazzling Sun; and sore fear came upon men."
Archilochus

"It is not possible either to trick or escape the mind of Zeus."
Hesiod

"Zeus most glorious and most great, Thundercloud, throned in the heavens! Let not the sun go down and the darkness come, until I cast down headlong the citadel of Priam in flames, and burn his gates with blazing fire, and tear to rags the shirt upon Hectors breast! May many of his men fall about him prone in the dust and bite the earth!"
Homer

"Bear up, my child, bear up; Zeus who oversees and directs all things is still mighty in heaven."
Sophocles

"The wise is one only. It is unwilling and willing to be called by the name of Zeus."
Heraclitus

"Zeus does not bring all men's plans to fulfillment."

Homer

"Proud is the spirit of Zeus-fostered kings - their honor comes from Zeus, and Zeus, god of council, loves them."
Homer

"Proud is the spirit of Zeus-fostered kings - their honor comes from Zeus, and Zeus, god of council, loves them."

Homer





.

PolytheistWitch
Student
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:29 pm
Location: USA
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Yahweh Our God Yahweh is Unique

Post #4

Post by PolytheistWitch »

Well since the gods are actual individual beings with personalities they're all unique. The God of Abraham just like other gods has unique characteristics but he's not unique in that he's a deity. And one of the few ways he's unique is that he tells you you basically can't worship any god but him. Christians feel like they can worship him through Jesus even though there's nothing that basically connects Jesus to the Jewish god's rules. I mean Christians are basically violating rule number one by believing Christ is a god.

Post Reply