And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness
Seriously, does anyone expect the almighty to be all alone for eons without any "company". What a lonely deity that would be. This "solo god" is not the G-d of the Bible, but it is of Islam.
And the Spirit of God [ruach 'elohym] moved upon the face of the waters.
Bs'd
Genesis 1:26; "Let us make man" If anybody finds in a text the word "us", would any normal person assume that it refers to one person with a multi-personality disorder? Of course not.
But why then, when Christians see the word "us" in the Bible, do they think that?
Gen 1:26 is used as a 'proof' that there is more than one God, or one God who is not one, eventhough the Bible clearly teaches that there is only one God who is one. and despite the fact that there are several other valid explanations for the plural word "us". One explanation is that it is a majestic plural as used by kings. Another possible explanation is that God was talking to the angels.
Some Christians try to refute the last argument by saying that the angels didn't create. They point to Genesis 1:1; "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." They say: 'God was the creator, and not the angels.' However, it is a given in Jewish law that an emissary is equal to the one who sends him. When a Jewish man marries a woman through an agent, the legal effect is the same as when he marries her personally. A good Biblical example of this is to be found in Genesis 19 where is spoken about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God sent two angels to destroy the cities, the angels said to Lot in verse 13: "For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." Upon this Lot says to his sons in law: "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." Lot didn't say: "The angels are going to destroy the city" He said: "The LORD (Y-H-W-H in the Hebrew text) is going to destroy the city". And in verse 29 it is written: "So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley...." So the angels were send by God to destroy the cities, but God is considered to be the one who did it, because He was the one who sent them. So why shouldn't the same hold true for the creation?
But one way or the other, no plural created man. Look in Genesis 5:1; "When God created man ..." In Hebrew this is: "bara Elohiem adam" Here the verb "to create", in Hebrew "bara", is in the singular, indicating clearly that Elohiem who created man is one. The same goes for the very first verse of the Bible: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The word created is here written in the singular; it says "bara". If God was a plural, it should have been "baru".
BUT, back to the pronouns,
Y-H-W-H says the following:
Isaiah 44:6 “This is what
Y-H-W-H says- Israel's King and Redeemer,
Y-H-W-H Almighty:
I am the first and
I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.”
It says "
I" am
Y-H-W-H. And, as we all know, "I" is singular, and not plural, and therefore no three persons in
Y-H-W-H. Otherwise He would have said: "WE are
Y-H-W-H."
But no such thing, God says: "
I am
Y-H-W-H".
No trinity.
Another example of a pronoun:
Nehemiah 9:6 “
You alone are
Y-H-W-H.”
As we see, it says that
YOU, in the Hebrew singular, not plural are
Y-H-W-H.
Again, no YOU, plural, are
Y-H-W-H, but YOU singular, are
Y-H-W-H.
So no three persons in God.
Another one:
Isaiah 44:6 “This is what
Y-H-W-H says- Israel's King and Redeemer,
Y-H-W-H Almighty:
I am the first and
I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.”
Clear what? It doesn't say: “This is what
Y-H-W-H says- Israel's King and Redeemer,
Y-H-W-H Almighty:
WE are the first and
WE are the last;
apart from US there is no God.”
No such a thing, it is all
SINGULAR.
Another one:
Joel 2:27 “Then you will know that I am in Israel, that
I am
Y-H-W-H your God, and that
there is no other;”
Again, God says: "
I am
Y-H-W-H", and not "WE are
Y-H-W-H" Such a thing simply doesn't exist.
I can go on and on with this, but these examples suffice. There is NO plurality in God.
And the word "us" when God speaks to the angels, does not imply otherwise.
