Elohim

“ When Elohim had built and fashioned p. 232. the world from mutual pleasure, he wished to go up to the highest parts of heaven and to see whether any of the things of creation lacked aught. And he took his own angels with him, for he was (by nature) one who bears upward, and left below Edem, for she being earth did not wish to follow her spouse on high. ”

“ The king is most certainly the supernal wisdom above, and the central pillar is the king down below. Elohim, the craftsman above, is the supernal Ima and Elohim, the craftsman below, is the Shechinah (Tikkunim 72 Page 97a) below.
A wife is not permitted to do anything without the permission of her husband. Of all the buildings that were in the way of Atzilut, Aba would say to Ima, Let it be so and so. And it was immediately done. It is written: "And Elohim said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light." ”

“ Other Jewish scholars content themselves in accounting for this inconvenient plural in the opening chapter of Genesis, by saying that in the Hebrew, Elohim better represents the idea of "Strong," "Mighty," than the singular form would, and for this reason it was used—a view accepted by not a few Christians. (The argument on the plural Elohim continues through eight more pages in "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," from p. 139 to p. 147. It is too elaborate to be reproduced here.) ”

“ Thus we see the Spirit exerted upon this occasion an active effectual energy, by that energy agitating the vast abyss, and infusing into it a powerful vital principle.
Elohim seems to be the general appellation by which the Triune Godhead is collectively distinguished in Scripture; and in the concise history of the creation only, the expression, bara Elohim, “the Gods created,” is used above thirty times. The combining this plural noun with a verb in the singular would not appear so remarkable, if Moses had uniformly adhered to that mode of expression ”

“ THIS MEANS that the name Elohim is included in the name of Hashem, and acknowledged as one and inseparable. And this is the secret of the verse, "Let there be luminaries (Heb. me'orot) in the firmament of heaven...to give light upon the earth" (Genesis 1:14-15) , WHICH MEANS that both names - YUD HEI VAV HEI AND ELOHIM - should be as one without any separation. Thus, me'orot, spelled without a Vav, WHICH MALCHUT IS CALLED ELOHIM, should be included within the term heaven, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN THAT IS CALLED YUD HEI VAV HEI, because they are as one and inseparable. ”

“ But among all these there was not one fit to exercise dominion over the animal world, or to reflect the divine attributes. Therefore, the Elohim said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the living creatures." So Elohim created man in His image; male and female created He them. Further details concerning the formation of the human pair are given in the second chapter of Genesis, verses 7, 18, 21-25. These passages belong to the work of the sixth day ”

“ The God of my kindness will precede me; Elohim will show me what befalls my watchful foes. 12. Do not kill them, lest my people forget; make them wander [destitute] with Your power and bring them down, Adonai our Shield. 13. The sin of their mouth is the word of their lips, and they will be seized because of their haughtiness, and because of the curse and the lies that they tell. 14. Destroy [them] with wrath, destroy them so they be no longer, and let [people] know that Elohim rules in Yaacov to the ends of the earth, Selah. ”

“ Paul of the religion of the Greeks when he came to declare unto them 'Him whom they ignorantly worshipped,' and the same view was taken by Abraham. Whatever the names of the Elohim, worshipped by the numerous clans of his race, Abraham saw that all the Elohim were meant for God, and thus Elohim, comprehending by one name everything that ever had been or could be called divine, became the name with which the monotheistic age was rightly inaugurated,—a plural, conceived and construed as a singular. Jehovah was all the Elohim, and therefore there could be no other God. ”

“ It may be further asked why the plural substantive Elohim is made to agree with the singular verb bara (the Elohim creates) . The reason is, that after the Babylonish captivity, the unity of the Supreme Being was the prevailing opinion of the Jews; it was therefore thought proper to introduce a pious solecism in language, which it is evident had no existence before Moses. Thus, in the names of the children of Jacob, many of them are compounded of a plural verb, to which Elohim is the nominative case understood ”

“ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, "Not because you heard many voices should you think there are many gods in heaven, but know that I am the Lord your God, as it says, 'I am the Lord your God.' The intention is that the multiplicity retained in the name Elohim is not in the essence of God but according to the values, to the old, the young, and the small, as if one were to say that His essence is utterly simple, and the multiplicity of the sefirot is in the aspect of actions. ”

“ Now I understand the difference between Elōhim and Adonāi, and I see how far the God of Abraham is different from that of Aristotle. Man yearns for Adonāi as a matter of love, taste, and conviction; whilst attachment to Elōhim is the result of speculation. A feeling of the former kind invites its votaries to give their life for His sake, and to prefer death to His absence. Speculation, however, makes veneration only a necessity as long as it entails no harm, but bears no pain for its sake. ”

“ When I judge the creatures, I am called Elohim. It is known to the receivers of truth that the name Elohim mentioned everywhere in the Torah indicates the attribute of the severe judgment, the secret of the awe of Isaac. At times, it refers to the kingdom of the House of David, the secret of the lenient judgment. Sometimes, judgment comes to judge the creatures with severe judgment according to the evil of their deeds. At other times, judgment comes to judge them with lenient judgment, and both were necessary according to their corruption. ”

“ There is a further notice of his dealings with Ishmael, Gen. xxii. 17, after his expulsion, with Hagar, from Abraham’s house, and her abandonment of him in despair of his life. “And Elohim heard the voice of the lad: and Melach Elohim [in our version, the angel of God] called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for Elohim hath heard the voice of the lad, where he is. [45] Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make of him a great nation. And Elohim opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and Elohim was with the lad,” &c. ”

“ When the article is prefixed to the word Elohim, it often and perhaps always is meant expressly to distinguish the True God from the false; as when the people, seeing the triumph of Elijah over the prophets of Baal, exclaimed, “Jehovah, he is the Elohim:” he, and not the pretended Elohim of idolaters, is the true God. The import of the formula, Jehovah Elohim, is Jehovah the true Elohim, and is not clearly or fully expressed by the translation Lord God, any more than it would be by a repetition of one or the other of those words. The [41] meaning is, Jehovah who is the true God. ”

“ Whether with Gesenius1 we take the sense of the word Elohim to be ‘the revered,’ or, with Fürst,2 ‘the mighty,’ makes little difference; the fact remains that the word is applied elsewhere to gods in general, including such as were afterwards deemed false gods by the Jews; and it is more important still that the actions ascribed to the Elohim, who created the heavens and the earth, generally reflect the powerful and un-moral forces of nature. The work of [47] creation in Genesis (i. and ii. 1–3) is that of giants without any moral quality whatever. ”

“ Elohim was, in logical terminology, the genus of which ghosts, Chemosh, Dagon, Baal, and Jahveh were species. The Israelite believed Jahveh to be immeasurably superior to all other kinds of Elohim. The inscription on the Moabite stone shows that King Mesa held Chemosh to be, as unquestionably, the superior of Jahveh. ”

“ Thus, in Laban’s remonstrance with Jacob: “Wherefore hast thou stolen my Elohe?” rendered gods, and in Jacob’s answer: “With whomsoever thou findest thy Elohe,” rendered gods, the meaning plainly is, (though there seems to have been more than one image, teraphim-images, v. 34,) that which represents my Elohe. Gen. xxxi. 30-32. Again, Exod. xx. 1-23: “And Elohim spake all these words: I am Jehovah thy Elohe; thou shall have no other Elohim before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Ye shall not make with me Elohe of silver;” an Elohe, a god, rendered gods. ”

“ These are the prophets in the land of Israel. The conception involved in the name "Elohim" no intelligent man denies; whereas many deny the conception of Jhvh, because prophecy is an unusual occurrence even among individuals, not to speak of a nation. That is why Pharaoh said (Exod. 5, 2) , "I know not Jhvh." He knew "Elohim," but not Jhvh, that is a God who reveals himself to man. "Elohim" may be arrived at by reasoning; for the reason tells us that the world has a ruler; though the various classes of men differ as to details, the most plausible view being that of the philosophers. ”

“ They are actually elohim, but not possessed of the right of self-government; there is a Most High (עליון) to whom they as sons are responsible. The idea that the appellation elohim, which they have given to themselves, is only sarcastically given back to them in Psa 82:1 (Ewald, Olshausen) , is refuted by Psa 82:6, according to which they are really elohim by the grace of God. But if their practice is not an Amen to this name, then they shall be divested of the majesty which they have forfeited; they shall be divested of the prerogative of Israel, whose vocation and destiny they have belied. ”

“ There appears to me, then, to be no reason to doubt that the notion of likeness to man, which was indubitably held of the ghost Elohim, was carried out consistently throughout the whole series of Elohim, and that Jahveh-Elohim was thought of as a being of the same substantially human nature as the rest, only immeasurably more powerful for good and for evil. ”

“ Volney, in the notes to his 'Ruins of Empires,' says, 'If we further observe that the root of the word Elohim signifies strong or powerful, and that the Egyptians called their decans strong and powerful leaders, attributing to them the creation of the world, we shall presently perceive that the Book of Genesis affirms neither more nor less than that the world was created by the decans, by those very genii whom, according to Sanconiathon, Mercury excited against Saturn, and who were called Elohim. ”

“ The God of this essence is only and solely Adōnāi, and because He established a connexion with man, the name Elohim was altered after the creation into Adonāi Elōhim. This the Sages express in the words: A 'full name over a full universe' (Ber. Rabbāh chap. xi.) . The world was but completed with the creation of man who forms the heart of all that was created before him. No intelligent person will misunderstand the meaning conveyed by 'Elōhim,' although this is possible with regard to 'Adōnāi,' because prophecy is strange and rare in single individuals, and much more so in a multitude. ”

“ The point, however, is that Elohim is a term equivalent to Red Indian Wakan, Fijian Kahu, Maori or Melanesian Mana, meaning the 'supernatural,' the vaguely powerful—in fact X. This particular example of Elohim was a phantasm of the dead, but Elohim is also used of the highest Divine Being, therefore the highest Divine Being is of the same genus as a ghost—so Mr. Huxley reasons. ”

“ It is written of Jacob, "Therefore the Elohim give you of the dew of heaven" (Beresheet 27:28) . This is the supernal dew drawn from Atik Yomin, which is called 'the dew of heaven', drawn from the grade called 'heaven', from which it flows into the field of holy apple trees; "of the fatness of the earth." The earth refers to the land of the living above, that is, Malchut, while attiring the Sefirah Binah called 'living Elohim', is then called 'the land of the living'. And Jacob inherited in the upper earth and upper heaven. Esau was in the lower land here and in the lower heaven here. ”

“ The Elohim were, therefore, a convenience for travellers and an unidolatrous monotheism a necessity which the absence of vehicles imposed. On the other hand, given every facility, it is presumable that the result would have been the same. Mythology is the mother of poetry. Idolatry is the father of art. Neither could appeal to a people to whom delicacy was an unknown god. Had it been known and a fetish, they could not have become the practical people that they are. Even then they were shrewd. Their Elohim might alarm but never delude. Israel was uncheatable even in dream. ”

“ May God bless him and them whatever passes of nights and of days and of months and of years, whenever flashes the dawn of morning or night remains in darkness may abundant peace and trust be for ever! O Allah-humma!” (the mystic Muhammadan remnant of Elohim = Lords, Gods) “provide us with Thy contentment” (this is a play of words implying that our best “daily bread” is God’s contentment with us) “and with Their contentment” (this is either a Trinitarian or Polytheistic invocation to “Elohim”) “and with their intercession and with Thy mercy and with their mercy in this world and in the next! ”

“ And what changed during the Great Flood, when the term 'Elohim' is used, while the term Hashem (is not used at all) ?
We have learned that everywhere the term "and Hashem" is mentioned, (it indicates) Him and His courthouse. But when the term Elohim is mentioned alone, this indicates only the courthouse. In the case of Sodom, Judgment was passed not to destroy the world, and thus, (Zeir Anpin) was involved in carrying out Judgment. But in the case of the Great Flood, the whole world and all of its inhabitants were destroyed. ”