Elohim, Part 2

Previously, I looked at the use of the word Elohim.  Although it has a plural suffix, when referring to the God of the Israelites it is surrounded by singular verbs, adjectives, and pronouns.  This type of structure in the Hebrew language indicates that the noun is not plural, but majestic, superior, great, or absolute.  The noun itself is still singular, as shown by its verbs, adjectives and pronouns, but it's meaning is magnified.

Throughout the Bible, God repeatedly tell the Israelites that He is the only God to be worshipped.  And this is the essence of the first commandment:
Exodus 20:3
You shall have no other gods before [besides] me.

And yet, the WMSCOG will show you the word Elohim and its plural suffix and insist that there are two Gods.  They try to prove this using a few verses where God speaks and refers to "us" or "our":

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...

The WMSCOG combines this with Gen. 1:27 to try to show that there is both a male and female God.  I'll deal with that another day.  But right now I just want to see whether these verses talk about two gods or one.  God talks about "us" making man in "our" image.  Does that mean there are plural Gods?

Do you see the part just before that which says, "Then God said"?  The "said" in that phrase is singular--He said.  If there were plural Gods, it would have been a plural verb--They said.  And then look a little farther to verse 27.  I'm going to type it out here--notice what I've put in bold:
So God [He] created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

If there were truly two Gods, this passage would have said, "God [they] created man in their own image, in the image of God they created him; male and female they created them."  But it doesn't.  There is only ONE God.

Genesis 3:22 (in the Garden of Eden)
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil....

Genesis 11:7 (the Tower of Babel)
Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Isaiah 6:8 (Isaiah's Commission)
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
      “ Whom shall I send,
      And who will go for Us?”

In these verses, God talks about "us" again.  Is there more than one God?  No.  Every time we read that Elohim said something, it is ALWAYS a singular verb--He said.  We also read that He (not They) sent Adam from the Garden of Eden, that He (not They) scattered the people from the Tower of Babel, and that He (not They) answered Isaiah.
There is only ONE God.

Why would any singular individual talk about themselves as "we" or "us"?  It happens.  I'll write about that next time...

Click here to go on to Part 3.