Humans Elohim LBD

Barry, J. D., & Wentz, L. (Eds.). (2012). In !e Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Human Beings as % (elohim)? !e structure and terminology of Psa 82 shows that the psalm describes a council of divine beings (Mullen, Divine Council; Prinsloo, Psalm 82; Tsevat, God and the Gods; Kee, !e Heavenly Council). !e plural %(elohim) of Psa 82:1 are called sons of the Most High in 82:6. !e orthodox Israelite knew that the Most High is Yahweh (Psa 83:18). !e plural % (elohim) of the council are therefore sons of the God of Israel. Elsewhere the sons of God are obviously divine beings (e.g., Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:78). However, there is one passage, Hos 1:10, that uses a similar phrase of humans (sons of the living God), and Israelites on occasion were referred to as Yahwehs sons (Exod 4:2223).

Psalm 82 and Psalm 89 in Tandem. Psalm 82s council of plural % (elohim) would be ambiguous if it were the only example. Without context, it might seem to describe Yahweh presiding over a council or group of human judges. However, there is another passage that both uses the same language of divine plurality in a council and rules out that language with human beings.

Psalm 89:57 places Yahwehs council of % (elohim) in the clouds. !is shows that these sons of God are not humansno text in the entirety of the Hebrew Bible suggests that there are a group of human judges in the heavens ruling with Yahweh over the nations.

Deuteronomy 32 as the Backdrop to Psalm 82. Psalm 82 judges the council %(elohim) for their corrupt administrationthis also shows that they are not human. !e last verse of the psalm shows what the council % (elohim) were supposed to be administrating. !e psalmist implores the God of Israel to rise up and inherit all the nations. !e lemma behind inherit (, nchl) is precisely the same lemma used to describe Yahwehs punitive judgment of the nations at the tower of Babel. He allo"ed the nations to the sons of God, and allo"ed those same divine beings to the nations that he was disinheriting. !e key passages are Deut 32:89 and its parallel, Deut 4:1920:

Deuteronomy 32:8: When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance (, nchl), when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God ( , bny h'lhym) But the LORDs portion is his people, Jacob his allo"ed heritage (, nachalatho).

Deuteronomy 4:19: Lest you li# up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down

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to them and serve them, whom the LORD your God has allo!ed to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance (, nachalah), as you are this day.

Both of these passages assume the reality of other + (elohim). Passages in Deut 4:1920 through 32:89 identify the host of heaven as other gods ( +, elohim acherim) worshiped by Israelites in defiance of Deut 4:1920. For example, Deut 29:2325 (Deut 29:2426 in English) contains phrases found in Deut 32:89, where the nations were allo!ed by Yahweh to the sons of God:

All the nations will say, Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger? "en people will say, It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods ( +, elohim acherim) and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allo!ed to them.

Deuteronomy 32:17 identifies these + (elohim) (the hosts of heaven and sons of God) as demonsreal beings (Heiser, Deuteronomy 32:17). "ese + (elohim) are not simply idols, pieces of wood and stone.

Ancient Near Eastern idolaters knew that idols were not the actual deities they rep-resent. While both the entity and the cult object might be called + (elohim), this does not mean that ancient people considered a human-made statue to be identical to the god it looked like. As Robins, a scholar of ancient cult objects notes: When a non-physical being manifested in a statue, this anchored the being in a controlled location where living human beings could interact with it through ritual performance In order for human beings to interact with deities and to persuade them to create, renew, and maintain the universe, these beings had to be brought down to earth. "is interaction had to be strictly controlled in order to avoid both the potential dangers of unrestricted divine power and the pollution of the divine man realm was brought about through their manifestation in a physical body, manifestation in one body did not in any sense restrict a deity, for the non-corporeal essence of a by the impurity of the human world. While the ability of deities to act in the visible, human realm was brought about through their manifestation in a physical body, manifestation in one body did not in any sense restrict a deity, for the non-corporeal essence of a deity was unlimited by time and space, and could manifest in all its bodies, in all locations, all at one time (Robins, Cult



Statues in Ancient Egypt, 12).

Human Elder-Judges of Israel and Plural & (elohim). !ere are passages that seem to use & (elohim) to mean the human elders of Israel acting as judges, but this is not the correct reading.

Exodus 22:68 (translation from the JPS Tanakh):When a man gives money or goods to another for safekeeping, and they are stolen

from the mans houseif the thief is caught, he shall pay double; if the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall come near to God (&, ha'elohim) that he has not laid hands on the others property. In all charges of misappropriationpertaining to an ox, an ass, a sheep, a garment, or any other loss, whereof one party alleges, !is is itthe case of both parties shall come before God (&, ha'elohim): he whom God (&, elohim) declares guilty (, yarshi'un) shall pay double to the other.

If the & (elohim) and & (ha'elohim) in Exod 22:68 were human beings (the elder-judges of Israel), Psa 82 may be describing Israelite judges. !e plural predi-cate in Exod 22:8 (, yarshi'un) would seem to support thisif the passage speaks of Israels judges rendering decisions for the people. However, there are several prob-lems with this use of the passage.

First, these judges (if &, ha'elohim; and &, elohim; are plural and refer-ring to people) give decisions for the nation of Israelnot the nations of the world as is the case in Psa 82 and Deut 32. Also, & (elohim) and & (ha'elohim) in Exod 22:8might be singular, and might not refer to human beings.

Exodus 18:1324where Moses appoints judgesmight suggest that & (elohim) and & (ha'elohim) in Exod 22:8 are humans. However, the story of the judges uses & (elohim) and & (ha'elohim) to refer to God:

!e next day, Moses sat as magistrate among the people, while the people stood about Moses from morning until evening. But when Moses father-in-law saw how much he had to do for the people, he said, What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you act alone, while all the people stand about you from morning until evening? Moses replied to his father-in-law, It is because the people come to me to inquire of God (&, elohim). When they have a dispute, it comes before me, and I decide between one person and another, and I make known the laws and teachings of God. But Moses father-in-law said to him, !e thing you are doing is not right; you will surely wear



yourself out, and these people as well. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God (%, elohim) be with you! You represent the people before God (%, ha'elohim): you bring the disputes before God (%, ha'elohim) and enjoin upon them the laws and the teachings, and make known to them the way they are to go and the practices they are to follow. You shall also seek out from among all the people capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who spurn ill-go!en gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fi"ies, and tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them decide every minor dispute themselves. Make it easier for yourself by le!ing them share the burden with you. If you do thisand God so commands youyou will be able to bear up; and all these people too will go home unwearied. Moses heeded his father-in-law and did just as he had said.#ere is nothing in Exodus 18 to suggest that % (elohim) or % (ha'elohim)

are pluralthese refer to the singular God of Israel. #e same is true of Exodus 22. A singular translation referring to God Himself is the correct reading. Without evidence for a plural translation, the % (elohim) cannot be assumed to be the elders of Israel. Also, the men appointed by Moses in Exod 18 are never actually called % (elohim) or % (ha'elohim) in the text. #is account of the appointment of judges, then, does not support the % (elohim) in Psa 82 being humans.#ere is one other passage that speaks of % (elohim) in a context similar to that

of Exod 22:8. Exodus 21:26 reads:When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go

out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God (%, ha'elohim), and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

It is possible that the master is commanded to bring the slave before the elder-judges of Israel (%, ha'elohim) before piercing his ear. However, this unlikely.

First, % (ha'elohim) can be singular, referring to the God of Israelas in Exod 18 and Exod 22. #e promise about the status of the slave is being made in truth before



God. However, there is evidence that the redactor-scribes responsible for the final form of the text did not interpret % (ha'elohim) as singularand also did not interpret a plurality as referring to human beings. !e parallel passage in Deut 15 shows that redac-tors saw % (ha'elohim) as semantically plural: the parallel in Deut 15:17 removes the word % (ha'elohim) from the instruction. If this were thought to mean the God of Israel, the redactors would not have removed it from the text. Again, if %(ha'elohim) had been understood as plural humans, Israels judges, they would not have removed it. If % (ha'elohim) were intended as a semantically plural word that referred to gods, then the reason for deleting was theological (Gordon, , 'lhym; in Its Reputed Meaning of Rulers). Gordon argued that % (ha'elohim) in Exod 21:6referred to household gods like the teraphim of other passages. Bringing a slave into ones home in patriarchal culture required the consent and approval of ones ancestorsdeparted human dead, % (elohim)as in 1 Sam 28:13. !is phrase was later removed a"er Israels struggle with idolatry. Only a plural referring to multiple divine beings can coherently explain the deletion. As a result, this passage also does not support the plural human % (elohim) view.


Humans Elohim LBD

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