The Name of God

I have been wanting to start a scripture study blog for some time.  I finally decided to start, and I thought, what better way is there to start my blog than is with a discussion about the name of God.  

In Genesis we are first introduced to the words the scriptures use for God.  There are two that are used most of all. (and remember Hebrew is read right to left)

אלהים= Elohim

Yahweh or Jehovah or Adoni=יהוה

So here are some interesting things about these two names. 

Elohim

The word elohim means gods, (plural) in Hebrew.  It is sometimes used to refer to gods, in general, at which time it is treated as a plural noun.  Any pronoun, adjectives or verb endings associated with it are plural in form.  When Elohim refers to the god of the Hebrews, the one true God, it is modified by singular pronouns, adjectives and verb forms.  For instance, in Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I (singular) am God (plural). 

So here are some of my ideas why the ancient Hebrews might have used a plural form of "god" to describe their God.  

1. The people in the Old Testament were surrounded by nations that believed in multiple gods.  They were, in many cases, animistic, meaning that they believed that many objects, creatures, or ideas, were governed by spirits.  So a person could choose if they wanted to pray to a tree god, a wind god, etc.  Having the name of their god be plural might be a way of saying, "Our one God is who we worship in place of all your gods,"  or Elohim=all the other gods, for us.  

2. The early Hebrews worshiped a female god Asherah.  She was represented, at various times, as being the consort of Yahweh.  If they saw Yahweh and Asherah as a couple, they may have thought of them collectively as Elohim.  Later, the worship of Asherah became associated with Baal, and was discouraged by the Jewish religious leaders. Maybe the reference to God as plural was a vestage of the earlier idea that God and his wife were one, just as they commanded Adam and Eve to be one.

3. It might be that Elohim, meaning the one true God, was just a grammatical anomaly, a singular word with a plural form, just like the word "pants" in English.  Maybe there is no more to it than that. 

What significance do these theories of the origin of the name Elohim have for me as a Latter-Day Saint?  If idea #1 is correct, maybe it is a reminder to me and all Christians of the the first of the 10 commandments, that we should have no other god than God. He should be our only focus, and we should disregard other "gods" that vie for our attention.

If #2 is correct, it is an intriguing look into the idea of a Mother-in-Heaven.  If the term really does refer to a divine couple, then Mother in Heaven has had a lot more to do with the history of mankind than we have ever imagined. She was involved, with her husband, from the very creation.  I have always mourned that we have no real role model of what a divine feminine does, but maybe we have had one, all along.

If #3 is correct, it is a rueful reminder not to see more than what is really there.

I don't really have a strong conviction about #1 or #2.  I am pretty sure #3 is not correct.  It seems that God is pretty much in charge of what happens on earth, and I think it likely he directed what his people should call him for a reason.  Maybe it is not a reason we have even mentioned here, but I think it is interesting to ponder the possibilities.

This blog post is getting long, so I will talk about יהוה in my next blog post.