Aaron
Elohim is a very general word which is made up of two hebrew words: elo=goddess, and him-plural masculine. Elohim is translated in a few different ways, including goddess in 2 places. Following is a longer explanation of elohim..
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ELAH
Much the same comment may be made on this word as on the foregoing; the word is very similar indeed, and is applied to the true God and to the false gods of the nations, as the extracts in the summary have been selected to show.
ELOHIM
Probably no word has been the subject of so much discussion as this word. Dr. Robert Young, in general with other authorities, defines its meaning as "God, gods, objects of worship"; that is, the word is used designatory of God Himself, of the heathen gods, of angels, and also of the minor positions held among rulers of nations.
One of the greatest authorities on the Hebrew language -- Gesenius -- makes the following comments under the heading of this word in the Hebrew-English Lexicon:
ELOHIM-plural of ELOAH.
"Of gods or deities in general, whether true or false: the gods of the Egyptians (Exodus xii. 12). "Strange gods" (Gen. xxxv. 2-4; Deut. xxix. 18). "New gods" (Deut. xxxii. 17). Sometimes from the more common popular usage, Jehovah and idols are comprehended under this common name (Psalm lxxxvi. 8). "There is none like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah" (Exodus xviii. 11). Elsewhere the idea of divinity is altogether denied to idols and is attributed to Jehovah alone (Isaiah xliv. 6). "Besides me there is no god" (Isaiah xlv. 5, 14, 21; x1vi. 9). Once applied to kings (Psalm lxxxii. 1, 6)
NOTE.-Not a few interpreters both ancient and modern have regarded Elohim as also denoting angels (see Psalm v. 6; Psalm lii.1; xcvii. 7; cxxxviii. 1), and judges (Exodus xxi. 6; xxii. 7, 8). This opinion is discussed and refuted at length in Thess. p. 95. (But Heb. i. 16, ii. 7-9, shows plainly that this word sometimes means angels, and the authority of the New Testament decides the matter.
"Very often of an idol, a god of the Gentiles" (Exodus xxxii. 1), "make us a god," i.e., an idol (1 Sam. v. 7) "Dagon our god" (2 Kings i., 2,3,6,16). Even used as a goddess (1 Kings xi. 5). The god of anyone is the god whom anyone worships, whom he has as his domestic gods. Jonah i. 5, "Every one called upon his god." (Ruth i. 16; Gen. xvii. 7, 8; xxviii. 2 1). Thus the God of the Israelites is Jehovah."
A very comprehensive definition, precisely confirming the definition as given by Dr. Young. Whenever the word "God" as representative of "Elohim" occurs, the meaning, whether applied to the God of Israel or to the gods of the heathen, is simply "mighty ones"; as also in other instances which Gesenius gives, it has been translated "angels" and "judges"; the meaning still is purely "mighty ones."
This definition illustrates the peculiar combination of words by which God has chosen to reveal Himself. Frequently the words "JEHOVAH THY ELOHIM" appear (e.g., Deut. x. 14) and apart from the meaning which Elohim bears, would be quite unintelligible. Jehovah was Israel's mighty one. In precisely the same manner as the heathen had "mighty ones," so Israel had a "mighty one," but their "mighty one" was the Eternal Creator of heaven and earth.
"Blessed is the nation whose Elohim is YAHWEH" (Psalm xxxiii. 12).
"YAHWEH is the true Elohim -- he is the living Elohim, and an everlasting King" (Jer. X. 10).
Several further authorities may be quoted to confirm the meaning of this word. Two representative writers have been chosen:
DEAN STANLEY:
"In the Patriarchal age we have already seen that the oldest Hebrew form by which the most general idea of Divinity is expressed is 'El-Elohim,' 'The Strong One,' 'The Strong Ones,' 'The Strong.' " -Jewish Church, p. 110.
CALMET:
"Angels, princes, great men, judges, and even false gods are sometimes called Elohim. It is the same as Eloa: one being singular, the other plural." -Dictionary of the Bible, Article "Elohi, Eloi, Elohim."
Many are the instances which could be quoted to prove that no basis may possibly be discovered in this word to support the doctrine of the Trinity: but a few will be noted of the hundreds available, and the famous instance in Gen. i. 26 urged by Trinitarians will be examined.
The gods of the heathen, "of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron" (2 Kings i. 2), "Dagon their god" (Judges xvi. 23), "Ashteroth the goddess of the Zidonians" (1 Kings xi. 5), and the "gods ascending out of the earth " (1 Sam. xxviii. 13) that the witch of Endor declared she saw; all illustrate how general this word is applied. . . In some two hundred and forty cases it is applied to heathen deities.
In the account of Creation as given in Genesis this word "Elohim" is the original of the word "God." This is a plural noun, and in a few instances a plural verb occurs in conjunction with it, but in a great many cases the verb is singular.
The passage referred to of Gen. i. 26 so frequently quoted in all its solitariness is:
"And Elohim said, Let us make man in our image."
From this expression Trinitarians assume support for their doctrine of Three Persons in the Godhead. The reason of assuming Three Persons is not apparent, for the word may convey the idea of any number. However, a close examination, even when the evidence of the almost innumerable statements against the doctrine are ignored, reveals that the verse supports no such doctrine, but is indeed a simple account of the Creation work at the hands of the angels of God. That the translation of the word "angel" from Elohim is fully authorised there can be no doubt in view of the testimony of Gesenius and the confirmation of the New Testament, which he alludes to; and if they be not accepted then the translation by the word itself in Psalm viii. 5 must finally decide the question.
The work of Creation is described many times in the Old Testament. One of the most picturesque accounts is recorded in the Book of Job, chapter xxxviii.:
"Then the LORD (YAHWEH) answered Job, and said. . . . Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding (or knowledge). Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God (Elohim) shouted for joy."
Obviously the "us" of Gen. i. 26, were the Elohim, and the Elohim were the "sons of God," the angels who worked God's will.
Further evidence that this passage in Genesis i. 26, cannot allow of the Trinity, is apparent at the time of the Fall of Man, when the Elohim of Yahweh declare:
"Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil" (Gen. iii. 22).
Who would affirm that God -- the Trinity -- knew (i.e., had experienced) evil?
Truly the meaning of the word Elohim is apparent and simple; it stands for the angels of God, who now await the commands of their Creator; and of those in the future, who at the return of Jesus Christ to this earth, shall by reason of their redemption in Him, be "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter i. 4), and will then be "equal unto the angels" (i.e., become Elohim) (Luke xx. 36), to be the "ministers of their God" for evermore (Psalm ciii. 21).
Many scholars not only affirm that this word gives no countenance to the doctrine of the Trinity at all, but ridicule the arguments for it based thereon. The following are a few instances:
DR. SIR WM. SMITH, Dictionary of the Bible, Art., "Jehovah":
"With regard to Elohim, the other chief name (than Jehovah) by which the Deity is designated in the Old Testament, it has been held by many, and the opinion does not even now want supporters, that in the plural form of the word was shadowed forth the plurality of persons in the godhead, and the mystery of the Trinity was inferred therefrom. Such, according to Peter Lombard, was the true significance of Elohim. But Calvin, Mercer, Drusius, and Bellarmine, have given the weight of their authority against an explanation so fanciful and arbitrary. Among the Jewish writers of the middle ages the question much more nearly approached its solution. R. Jehuda Hallevi (12th century) the author of the book Cozri, found in the usage of Elohim a protest against idolators, who call each personified power Eloah, and all collectively Elohim. He interpreted it as the most general name of the Deity, distinguishing Him as manifested in the exhibition of His powers, without reference to His personality or moral qualities, or to any special relation which He bears to man. Jehovah, on the contrary, is the revealed and known God."
BISHOP COLENSO. The Pentateuch, part ii. p. 256:
"The word Elohim is a plural noun; it is the general name for Deity in the Hebrew language, and may be used, accordingly, for a heathen god. Upon this word KUENEN observes, p. 62:
"' . . . It is enough that Elohim, by virtue of its original meaning, is used to denote Deity in general.'
"It is, therefore, quite a mistake to think of proving the doctrine of the Trinity, as some do, from the fact that Elohim is a plural name. . . . And, as above mentioned, it is used of an idol, Dagon (1 Sam. v. 7); Astarte (1 Kings xi. 5); Baalzebub (2 Kings i. 2, 3, 6); as of the true God. . . . Thus we have 'a cruel lords' (Elohim) (Isaiah xix. 4)
KITTO, Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Article, "God":
"An old opinion is that the peculiarity in question (the usage of a plural noun with a singular verb) was determined by dogmatical considerations: that as God has revealed Himself in His word as subsisting in Trinity, One yet Three, it is as corresponding to this revealed fact that a plural designation of Him, construed as if it were singular, is employed in Scripture. . . . This has found few supporters among the scholars, and has been formally repudiated by several who were strongly attached to Trinitarian views, e.g., Calvin, Drusius, Bellarmine, Buxtorf, Hottinger."
SIXTUS SENENSIS, Biblotheca Sanctor, Lib. V., Annot 1:
"With the exception of Peter of Lombardy, and Paul of Burgos, there has not been amongst the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew writers, one commentator worthy of imitation who has explained the word Elohim, of the Trinity."
ELOAH
This word is the singular form of Elohim, and is applied to the heathen deities indiscriminately with the application to the true God of Israel.
Gesenius affirms that it is used:
" . . . of any God (Dan. xi. 37-39; 2 Chron. xxxii. 15).
The comments and the extracts of the previous word may with equal force be read in reference to this word "Eloah."
