Christian/Muslim ThreadsTrinity ~ God is One not 3!I posted one reference by a Hebrew scholar on the thread we had our debate about. However I didnt inlcude the following which is below.
“This word is plural in form, and although it most frequently means “God” it can be used in a plural sense. Thus it can refer to other gods (Ex. 20:3; Josh. 24:16), foreign gods (Jer. 5:7), gods of the nations (Isa. 36:18), etc. Sometimes it appears to mean beings with divine qualities or authority — either angelic or human (Ps. 8:5; 82:1, 6; 138:1)…The use of the plural form with singular meaning is not unique to Israel. Similar forms occur in pre-Israelite Babylonian and Canaanite texts in which a worshiper wishes to exalt a particular god above others. This form has been called the “plural of majesty” or the “intensive plural” because it implies that all the fulness of deity is concentrated in the one god. Elohim being the most common word for God in the OT thus conveys this idea. Some have also thought that the frequent use of Elohim emphasizes that God is not intrinsically monistic but includes within Himself plurality of powers, attributes, and personhood.” [Bromiley, Geoffrey W. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, Vol. 2, Page 505-506. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988; 2002.]
“Typically West-Semitic, though not exclusively so, is the use of the divine plural where a single entity is concerned. In texts that use the aphabetic script such plurals of excellence are not readily recognizable. Where the Akkadian writing system is used, combining a syllabic script with various logograms, plural forms are less ambiguous. A good illustration of the plural of divinity is found in the Amarna letters, where the Pharaoh is repeatedly addres by his Canaanite vassals as DINGIR.MES-ia, literally 'my gods', but planely referring to one person only...It also occurs as a designation of the personal god in combination with a verb in the singular; this phenomenon parallels the Hebrew use of 'elohim...There are some rare examples of a pluralis divinitatis in Akkadian texts; most of them betray West-Semitic influence. Judging by the Babylonian Theodicy however, it was not uncommon in Standard Babylonian to refer to the personal god with the plural form 'gods'.” [Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst (eds.). Brill:1995, pg 683]
So according to these scholars the plural of Majesty is nothing new or just came about during or after the tiime of when the Quran was revealed
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