Echad appears in standard translations of the Bible as the numeral "one", and also as "only", "alone", "undivided", and "single." It usually means "one and not two", as we find in Ecclesiastes 4:8. Abraham was "only one man" (echad) in the New International Version's rendition of Ezekiel 33:24, and he was "alone" (echad) in the King James translation of Isaiah 51:2.
Koehler and Baumgartner's Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (1967) clearly states that the fundamental definition of echad is "one single." Any plurality, therefore, is not found within the word itself, but in the subject to which it is applied.
The simple truth of the matter is that the word echad could be replaced with the Hebrew words for "two", "three", "four", or any other number - and in every case, the "complex unity" would not be found in the number itself, but in the subject to which it is applied!
Let's take a few examples, using English:
- One pair. (The "compound unity" here is "pair" - not "one.")
- One triplet. (The "compound unity" here is "triplet" - not "one.")
- One bunch. (The "compound unity" here is "bunch" - not "one.")
- One herd. (The "compound unity" here is "herd" - not "one.")
This is
no different to the use of
echad (or any other number) in Hebrew. As always, it is
the subject which denotes the "compound unity", not the number itself.
Finally, it is with considerable satisfaction that I now quote Gregory Boyd (the indefatigable Trinitarian apologist), who has conceded that the
echad argument is totally useless for Trinitarian purposes:
- Even weaker is the argument that the Hebrew word for "one" (echad) used in the Shema ("Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord") refers to a united one, not an absolute one. Hence, some Trinitarians have argued, the Old Testament has a view of a united Godhead. It is, of course, true that the meaning of the word may in some contexts denote a unified plurality (e.g. Gen. 2:24, "they shall become one flesh").
But this really proves nothing. An examination of the Old Testament usage reveals that the word echad is as capable of various meanings as is our English word one. The context must determine whether a numerical or unified singularity is intended.
Boyd, Gregory (1995), Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity.
Echad is simply the Hebrew word for "one", and operates in exactly the same way as the English word for "one."