Aineo wrote:Well, since you want to deal in semantics:
|8085| Hear,
|3478| O Israel,
|3068| Yahweh,
|0430| our God,
|3068| {is} Yahweh
|0259| one.
The word translated "our God" is
OT:430
'elohiym --
1) (plural)
a) rulers, judges
b) divine ones
c) angels
d) gods
2) (plural intensive - singular meaning)
a) God, a god, a goddess
b) god-like one
c) works or special possessions of God
d) the one true God
e) God
(from The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright (c)1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
Now why do you suppose the Holy Spirit used the plural form of God instead of "el" the singular?
Because it's one of many Hebrew words which are plural in form but singular in meaning.
Such Hebrew noun forms are sometimes used for abstract nouns and as intensifiers. Gesenius'
Hebrew Grammar devotes several pages to this subject.
The following list is by no means exhaustive, but serves to illustrate the point.
Bearing in mind that the masculine plural ending is
-im, while the feminine plural ending is
-oth, consider these examples:
- zequnim - old age (Genesis 21:2, 7; 37:3; 44:20.)
- ne`urim - youth. David was only a boy (na`ar), but Goliath "has been a fighting man from his youth (ne`urim.)" (I Samuel 17:33.)
- chayyim - life. This is used in the song "To life, to life, lechayyim" in the movie Fiddler on the Roof.
- gebhuroth - strength. The singular form gebhurah is the usual word for strength, but the plural form is used in Job 41:12.
- tsedaqoth - righteousness. The singular form tsedaqah is the usual word, but tsedaqoth is used in Isaiah 33:15 - "he who walks righteously (or "in righteousness.")
- chokmoth - wisdom. Chokmah is the usual form, but chokmoth is used in Proverbs 1:20.
- 'adonim - lord. 'Adon means "lord," and 'adonim normally means "lords," but Isaiah 19:4 says, "I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master ('adonim.)"
- behemoth. This word normally means "beasts", but in Job 40:15 it refers to one particular animal.
So the plurality of
elohim is by no means unique, and therefore carries no special significance whatsoever. It is, in fact, nothing more than a peculiarity of Hebrew grammar.
Plurality of
form does
not always indicate plurality of
meaning in Hebrew, and our brief list (above) confirms this beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Hence the words of Ethelyn Simon
et al, in
The First Hebrew Primer for Adults
- When (ELOHIM) refers to the God of Israel it is always singular in concept, even though it has a masculine plural ending."
The citation is taken from the 2nd Edition, published in 1983.
If you wish to argue for a "plurality" within the Godhead, then we are at liberty to argue for:
- A plurality of youths within Goliath.
- A plurality of lords within the "cruel master" of Isaiah 19:4.
- A plurality of beasts within Behemoth.
You see how ridiculous this would be.
The word "elohiym" indicates a plurality not a singularity.
Not always, as we have just seen.
For example:
- Exodus 7:1
And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god [elohim] to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Now, according to your argument, God said "See, I have made thee a gods to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet."
Which is obviously not what God meant at all, so it's obviously wrong.
You have the Trinity hidden by the word used by Isaiah.
No you don't.
The Trinity is one God with three pesonalities or distinct persons with distinct roles in the life of a Christian.
Find me a single verse in Scripture which says exactly this.
Oh, wait - you can't, because there isn't one.