Sporadic theological and historical musings by Edgar Foster (Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies and one of Jehovah's Witnesses).
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Elohim (Anchor Bible Dictionary)
The post below is taken from the ABD. It is part of the entry for Elohim; we believe this blog entry conforms to United States Fair Use of Material for Scholarly or Educational purposes.
The Israel biblical studies link you provided does not deny El means "God." In fact, it only questions the common understanding of Shadai/Shaddai. Even if El originally did not mean "God/god," that still appears to be bow the Hebrew Bible uses it.
As you know, "mighty" is an adjective rather than a noun.
5 comments:
Sorry, still do not think that El means "god", at least in some cases.
In contrast to Noah's walking with HaElohim (3 times) see Gen 28:3. El shadai to expand the seed of Abraham.
https://blog.israelbiblicalstudies.com/jewish-studies/he-is-our-el-shadai-insight-by-dr-eli/
Information like this gets part way but ignores the contextual use in Gen 28:3 and its implications. No definite articles & no plurals.
Mighty nurturer - because that is what he made possible = "fruitful" (bare fruit/ fertile), "multiply" (increase/numerous)
Gen 27:28 “May God give you of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, abundance of new grain and wine.
Nurturer on many levels through chapters 26-28.
The Israel biblical studies link you provided does not deny El means "God." In fact, it only questions the common understanding of Shadai/Shaddai. Even if El originally did not mean "God/god," that still appears to be bow the Hebrew Bible uses it.
As you know, "mighty" is an adjective rather than a noun.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tCM5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA840&lpg=PA840&dq=Elijah+%22the+strong+lord%22&source=bl&ots=KbOCEv-o1R&sig=ACfU3U1V91kay91zlrb1iC6XGCjH0Ze4Lw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwigppvM3IbnAhWKXsAKHeiLD3s4ChDoATAAegQIBhAB#v=onepage&q=Elijah%20%22the%20strong%20lord%22&f=false
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fKotDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA353&lpg=PA353&dq=elijah+%22the+mighty+lord%22&source=bl&ots=tLcSLIXM5O&sig=ACfU3U26QJ6_0bZKLzEFITx23cQKpBfGEw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIycan7IfnAhVHfMAKHXcGDNwQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=elijah%20%22the%20mighty%20lord%22&f=false
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=40QHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=elijah+%E2%80%9CThe+strength+of+God%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=OmM5fLP3K9&sig=ACfU3U3DADybqcTHv6PuczLP9UZ2O31-Ng&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJrubz7YfnAhVzQEEAHTbzAU8Q6AEwD3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=elijah%20%E2%80%9CThe%20strength%20of%20God%E2%80%9D&f=false
Post a Comment