BibleProject - God or gods? - God E1

Episode Date: July 16, 2018

This is our first episode in our new series on the Bible’s portrayal of God! We are currently working on a theme video about God that will be released later in 2018. In part 1, (0-8:33) Tim overviews the whole subject. He says later on in the discussion they will talk about the Trinity in the Bible, but for now, they will just focus on the development of the word God in the Bible. In part 2, (8:33-37:34) Tim outlines the problems of modern conceptions with God compared with ancient Hebrew conceptions of God. Tim says that it comes down to how people use the word ‘God’. Today people use the word ‘God’ to refer to a personal being that exists. ‘God’ is both a title for a kind of being and a name for a specific being: the Judeo Christian God. Tim says that if you look up “monotheism” in the dictionary, they define it as “the belief there is only one God, specifically in Judeo Christianity.” Tim asks how can this be the case if the Bible says things like “Lord of lords” and “God of gods”. How did monotheism today come to mean something that it didn’t mean to the ancient Hebrews? Tim says the Hebrew word for “God” is ‘Elohim’. The short forms of this word is “el” and also “eloah”. Tim says that in Hebrew “Elohim” is plural. In part 3, (37:34-54:05) Tim outlines a unique use of the word “Elohim” the story of Saul in 1 Samuel 28:12-13: Saul has a spirit-medium conjure up the presence of the deceased Samuel: “And the woman saw Samuel, and she cried out...and said ‘I see a elohim rising up from the ground.” This refers to a human who exists apart from their body. This is not saying Samuel is “God” or a “god.” Rather, the word elohim apparently refers to the mode of existence: a member of the non-physical, spirit realm. The later biblical authors developed vocabulary to talk about these beings to more clearly distinguish between them as elohim and the one elohim: Angel, demon, spirits, etc… The implications are Yahweh is an elohim, but not the only elohim (= spirit being). He is the most powerful, and authoritative, and he alone is the creator of all things, including the other elohim. Tim cites this quote by theological scholar Michael Heiser: “Yahweh is an elohim, but no other elohim is Yahweh. Elohim is a place-of-residence term. The word tells you what the proper domain is for that being. By nature, the God of Israel, the many elohim of God’s council, demons, angels, the departed human dead like Samuel, they are part of a non-physical domain, that’s related to, but distinct from the physical, embodied domain. An elohim is by definition and by nature a disembodied entity, so the word can refer to many different beings who inhabit that realm.” In part 4, (54:05-end) Tim outlines a New Testament example. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6: Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” Tim says Paul is telling the Corinthians that there are other “Elohim” but for the Hebrews, their is “one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.” What does this mean to the Hebrews? Find out next time in episode 2! Thank you to all our supporters! Resources: Paul Jouon & T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew Michael Heiser: The Naked Bible Podcast 1 Samuel 28:12-13 Check out all our videos and resources at www.thebibleproject.com Produced By: Dan Gummel. Jon Collins. Matthew Halbert Howen Music By: Defender Instrumental: Rosasharn Music In the Distance: Tae the Producer Nocturne: Nomyn 2.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

Most people, when they hear the word God, don't think of the storyline of the Hebrew scriptures. Hey, this is John at the Bible Project, and today on the podcast, we're beginning a conversation about God. Who is the God of the Bible? That's what we're gonna talk about for the next season on this podcast, and it's gonna be an incredible journey. But before we get too deep into the story of the Bible, and what it means to experience the God of the Bible,

we need to stop and come to grips with the fact that... The word God in English is a terribly confusing, unclear word. The word God is a confusing word because God is not a name. God is a title. It's a generic way to talk about any spiritual being. So the problem is that when we use the capital word letter G, we're using a title to refer to a specific deity or spirit being that has a specific story and attributes, namely the Jewish and Christian

God. But Judeo-Christian belief is that there is only one true creator God of the universe. There is one chief supreme God, the God of Israel, revealed Abraham, Christians, believed revealed in Jesus, who has no rivals, but he is the king of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. God of gods. That makes it sound like the Bible talks about there being more than one God. But that can't be true, right? There's only one God. That's what Christians believe. That's what monotheism means. I'm so fascinated with how did this happen? How did a modern definition of monotheism come to be? What Christians believe when it's not in fact at all how the Bible

talks about the identity of God? Yeah, if you're like me, this just made you really uncomfortable. But hold on there, we're gonna talk it through, and what we'll find is that all the confusion has to do with what we mean when we use the word God. Thanks for joining us, here we go. Here we go. You know, I have all this stuff in my head right now. Have you been working on this for the last five weeks, four weeks?

Yeah. I'm just thinking this is like a classic moment where like I have all this stuff. I want you to own. My goal is to get you to own all of this. I love that goal. We need like some like telepathy cord. I know. Some brain direct link. But instead we, I have to articulate. You have to put it into language.

Every one of these ideas. And then I've got to listen to those words and unpack them in my own psyche. So that what's inside of my head can be inside of yours. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, language. Information theory is interesting that our brains aren't computers in the sense that

they're very different than how computers work, but our brains process information. The theory of information processing is the same. And so like when information is in the form of, let's say sound waves coming out of our mouth versus digital information going through a chord versus maybe analog information on a tape versus Neurons fighting in your brain. It's all the same thing just in different formats different modes different mediums. Well, it's crazy. It is

We're gonna talk about God. We're setting up a conversation to begin the process for a theme video for the BioProject that we're going to call God. Yeah, the theme of God, which it's not really a theme. God is a character. Yeah, yeah. And we don't have any other theme videos on characters. No, we don't. No. But the way we're going to be talking about the unfolding

of God's identity, it fits the category of theme. In terms of its a set of words and vocabulary and ideas that are introduced on page one, they undergo development throughout the narrative arc of the Bible. The story of Jesus is a climactic new unfolding of the identity of God that's incontinent with what came before but also is takes some significant leaps forward and then it all comes to closure on the last page. So it qualifies as a biblical theme. It comes to closure. Yeah, and as much as you can ever bring history to closure. But this is an important topic. We could call this video the Trinity. And which a lot of people want.

Which a lot of people want. And it's about that, but how we're gonna end up with the Trinity isn't gonna be by starting with it. Okay. Like all our theme videos, the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. And so the identity of God, God's nature and identity undergoes a narrative development

through the sequence of the storyline. And I think there's real value in pausing to let the story unfold God's character in its own way, in its own order. Yeah, there you go. So it's actually going to conclude with the three in one God, Father, Son and Spirit, but I think starting there

won't help people grasp the significance of the Trinity. Okay. So we're not gonna assume the Trinity when we start. We're just gonna let the story tell itself. Okay. Yeah. So we'll talk about that more as we go on, but that's the video tell itself. Okay. Yeah. So we'll talk about that more as we go on.

But that's the video, God. And I thought about calling it the God's identity. And then John talked me down off that one. He was like, yeah, the identity of God or God's identity. I just... I don't remember. Well, I just think we go for more basic vocabulary. Oh.

Yeah, it's God in our videos about God, titles. Yeah, it's God. It's what it's about. It's about God. It's about a whole bunch of things, really specific things about God, but it's about God. So let's just call it that. I think that's great because it's a word we use

all the time that we take a much of it for granted. Yes. And from the little hints I've been getting from you is that it's a lot more interesting and it will be a lot of unexpected things as we build back this onion layers. Yeah. This whole topic of God's identity of the one God, the one true God of Israel, this word got a concept of monotheism, the existence of other gods, how those relate to the one God, and then, yeah, so the rabbit hole goes quite deep.

And I've been interested in it for a long time. And I actually, it was through my years in local church ministry that I've come to the conviction that this is a really important topic for followers of Jesus to process through so we can speak intelligently to our culture about this. So that's actually where I think it'll be most useful for you and I to begin talking, which is what I call them three problems with God talk in the modern West. So this isn't about the video as such, but for me, I began, I wanted to ask myself, like, one of my hoping this video accomplishes, or what do I, what's the problem that I think this video could help? So three problems when the word God comes up in the English language, at least.

And I know we have supporters all around the world, many of whom, you know, don't speak English as a first language. And so, forgive us, that we're going to talk about the English language and the problems with the English word God. But that's our context. And so that's where we live. I gotta imagine it's pretty similar in most cultures. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, these words in different languages of deity come from really different origins, especially if it's different hemisphere, you know, or the start with the first problem. The word God in English is a terribly confusing, unclear word. Really?

In modern English. God. Short and sweet. Yes. Dude in the sky. So, what's confusing about that? I mean, my six year old gets it. No seriously, like he's like, what does it mean for Paxton?

Yeah, I haven't purposefully sat him down and tried to explain God to him Yeah, but through church just other conversations whatever like he just gets it He's like there's yeah, God created things. Yeah, it was funny the other day He pointed to a fork and he said what is that made out of? And I said well, it's made out of metal He didn't know what metal was and he was confused he goes no no no no like what what it's made out of metal. He didn't know what metal was, and he was confused. He goes, no, no, no, no. Like, what's it made out of? And I said, metal.

He goes, no, no, no, no. What did God make that we turned it into that fork? Oh, whoa. Yeah. So he wanted like the base material. He's thinking of like, yeah. And so I had to tell him like, metal, it's a kind of rock, I think, I don't know.

And that's what God made. Actually, a sun made it, but God made the sun. It's like a exploded star than the dust. Yeah. So I mean, he gets it. He gets that. I don't know exactly what's in his head, but it's not that confusing to him. So, so that's a good example though. So, likely he has a personal being.

You think of a personal being with will and intention in his imagination when he thinks of the word God, a personal being? When he says, what did God make that we made it out of? What does that word refer to? Yeah, I'm assuming he's thinking of a personal being. A personal being. Huh? Who's like, has power to generate a universe where there's metal. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, that, I don't know. I don't remember being sex, but I guess you just kind of have to look around and assume like, well, this house is here because someone's made it. That's right. Okay. Yeah. You know, I saw my dad make my bed. Yeah, and that's why that's here So why is the trees here? Yeah, why is the sure? Yeah, that's right. That is someone must made it

But to then conclude ah a singular personal being Is before responsible for we got that from all of that from yeah? Exactly right so you're socialized into that kind of idea because you could grow up in a different culture where yeah therefore responsible for all of that from culture that were in here. Exactly. Right. So you're socialized into that kind of idea because you could grow up in a different culture where the material trees are themselves an aspect of the divine, right? Right. Or there are many gods, not just one. There's all kinds of gods or there's no god.

Or there's no god. So you could use the word God or God's to actually refer to a lot of really different kinds of beings. Yeah. So the English word God can describe many different kinds of deities that could have whatever created or be responsible for the universe. So that's part of what do I mean when I say, it's not a very helpful word.

Got it. Because it's ambiguous. And part of that is because the English word is a title. It's actually not a name. God doesn't any being's name. Right. It's a title for a kind of being. Right, like angel. Or, yeah, spirit,

human or human. It's a category. It's got a good English. God is a category of being. But you're right, it does get filled out with with typical content in the modern Western culture. You named a couple at the beginning. Like the big, what is something big guy? Some big guy upstairs. Oh yeah, I don't know. Dude in the sky, I don't know. The big guy upstairs? Yeah, baby.

Right? I mean, yeah, you just say the word God in a room of 50 people. Right. And the same thing is not going to come into everyone's mind. 50 people all in the same church or 50 people scattered across the city. Yeah, you're on the bus. You're on the bus. And you say, I believe in God. Yeah. And you think

you're being bold and standing, whatever trying to represent your faith. But what that overlooks is the word God enters the sound waves enters enters 50 people's ears on the bus, and contrasts up different kind of words. And very, very different portraits because of their family history, their religious or non-religious experience, right? So God is a title that can refer to many different kinds of beings.

But one thing they would have in common is that they are likely all invisible. And powerful, probably more powerful than humans. I mean, they're more powerful, but they're not invisible. Oh, that's true. That's true. Yeah. If you were in ancient Greece, you might spot Zeus. Yeah, you might run into one. Okay, so that's the first problem about God talk. It's a title that can refer to many different kinds of beings from many different religious traditions.

Okay. So first thing. The second thing is if a singular, all-powerful, creator, ruler type of being is what comes into somebody's mind, that's fascinating, because that certainly isn't what all humans have believed about deities or a deity for all of history. That's a very specific idea of a personal being who's the creator and ruler of everything has a history, intellectual history. By the way, using deity and God interchangeably.

Yes. I just want to be clear. I am. Yeah. Because that itself is a legacy that comes from the Jewish monotheistic tradition that's been passed on to the modern West largely through its daughter, its religious daughter, Christianity. But there's actually quite a lot of confusion about that. So that's that word monotheism. Just confusion about what?

So, okay, there's one God. Many people think Jewish people believe there's one God. What do Christians believe? There's one God. What's the title given to that belief? It's a monotheistic religion. The confusion is that... And during a time where there was an other monotheistic religion? Yeah, monotheism, like really passionate monotheism, is the legacy of the Jewish and Christian tradition in the history of everyone else is really fine and just assumes there's many gods.

Most religions, for most of human history, have been some form of polytheism, many different gods, or pantheism that's... Everything is God. Everything is God, or some version in between. They're actually, are a handful of other monotheistic religions that have popped up throughout history, but nothing like the

Jewish Christian tradition. It's unique. And the fact that a singular, all-powerful creator-ruler being is what probably comes in to most Westerners minds when they hear the word God that shows you the influence of these particular religions in our history. Because that's not what most humans, for most of human history, have believed. Here's what's fascinating. You can go lookup at dictionary.com, Oxford English Dictionary. If you look up the term monotheism,

it gives you a definition that doesn't actually correspond to what Jews and Christians have believed about God for most of their history. And so here's the English, this dictionary.com. So English definition of monotheism, the belief that there is only one God. Like that's the short definition. The belief that there is only one God. And that seems intuitive. Mono, one, theism, God, one God. The implication being, therefore, there are no other beings that can be described or identified by the noun God or God's. Monotheism, there is only one God, which means there are no other gods. And you asked a bus full of Christians, they would say, yes, that's true.

There is only one God. Including me. Yeah. This is what we learn. Is what we're taught. Yeah, okay. Right? Is that what you learn when you start following Jesus?

Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, there's only one God. There's only one God. Yes, yeah. But as I'm gonna force you to do if you really stop and think that through If you're a follower of Jesus and you've read the Bible at any link, you don't actually believe that All right, so anyway, uh, whatever you we're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about okay So the modern English We're going to talk about it. Okay.

So, the modern English definition of monotheism, that there is only one being who can be described with the noun God. One deity. Hmm? Yeah. So, there you go. I'll just give you the bottom line. If you look at the belief about the God of the Bible that you could use to describe monotheism,

it would not fit that description. What it fits, if you just read both old and new testaments, is that it's a devotion and allegiance to the particular God who revealed himself to Abraham and Israel and ultimately in Jesus, and the belief that that God is the supreme God, creator, and ruler of all, among all other gods who might claim your allegiance.

That's not what the Bible says. What's interesting is there are verses in the Bible that make you go, wait, did they believe there was other gods? And then usually you go, well, no, it's just that's the culture. And so it's just kind of like, yeah. So we'll talk about that. But for me, and I guarantee almost every Christian, Protestant, Catholic, they would listen to you say that and go,

that is BS. Like there's not many gods in which the God of the Bible is the supreme God. That sounds like a fault. Sounds like the Bible. Sounds like you've been reading your Bible. Not even that closely. Like just read it on its faith value meeting.

Well, and you walk away with what, you know, Bible nerds of different stripes call biblical monotheism or ancient Jewish monotheism, which had room for a populated spiritual universe among which they believed there is one chief supreme god, god of Israel revealed Abraham, Christians believe revealed in Jesus, who has no rivals. But he is the king of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. God of gods. Yeah. Is that in the Bible? It is. So there you go. So that's a confusing. I'm making my point. You're like you go. So that's confusing. That's confusing. I'm, I'm, you're making my point.

You're like, you're, you're like, you're teaching me a different religion. You're making my point for me. The, not only is the English word God unclear in English, the concept of monotheism. I, now I'm, I'm so fascinated with how did this happen. How did a modern definition of monotheism come to be what Christians believe when it's not in fact at all how the Bible talks about the identity of God. So anyway, but we'll talk about it. Yeah, one step at a time. One step at a time. Here's the third. That's the first two. Here's the third one. Then once you have those two confusions. The first one being, the God is not a name, it's a title, and it can be ambiguous what you're

referring to. Yep. It can refer to many different types of being. And in human history, if you took a human out of any time in human history, likely they thought of it very different than a monotheistic God. And the second one being, the way we think about monotheism is not the way the Bible thinks a monotheistic God. And the second one being the way we think about monotheism is not the way the Bible thinks about monotheism. Correct. Yep. So you combine those two and then try and talk to somebody in the modern west

about how Jesus is God. And you just, you have a situation ripe for total miscommunication. Not even just miscommunication. I think to say Jesus is God with that kind of confusion in the air is actually irresponsible. Because to say Jesus is God, you mean you're leaving up to the other person's imagination, what that says about Jesus, right? If God is unclear, it can conjure up the big guy upstairs, right? Yeah. Who's going to let you in, the pearly gates, if you've been naughty or nice or something.

That's what comes with many people's minds. And then to say Jesus is God, is a total misrepresentation of Jesus. Because they're equating Jesus with the big guy upstairs who's going to let you into the pearly gates based on whether you've been nodding your knives. Are you with me? I'm just saying as an act of communication, you're not helping somebody at all. Does the Bible say Jesus is God? It does in very Jewish categories.

So, but it doesn't do it in the way I just did it. People are turning off the podcast and saying, yeah, listen to something more Christian. So, okay. The Bible is making the claim that Jesus is the embodiment of the particular God whose story is told in the Old and New Testaments. The embodiment. The human incarnation, embodiment. So, yeah, and why can't that be synonymous? saying Jesus is God and Jesus is the embodiment of. Because most people, when they hear the word God,

don't think of the storyline of the Hebrew scriptures. So if you're saying Jesus is this picture you have of a dude up in heaven, then that's confusing people. But if you just say Jesus is God and someone doesn't have a formed view of. heaven, then that's confusing. Yeah. People. Yeah. But if you just say Jesus is God and someone doesn't have a formed view of what God is, then hopefully then their question is, well, who? What God?

Yeah. Jesus is what God. Right. Or what do you mean by Jesus is God? Ah, yes. And in that case, you've then deal. Okay. Then you can sit down and have the conversation.

The point is, almost nobody comes with a clean or blank slate when they hear the word God. We have a preloaded set of ideas and stories about God. And then we take Jesus and fit those into that container. And what I'm saying is the way the biobiblical narrative works, it's precisely the opposite. It's that the whole story, three-quarters of the Bible is giving you a very detailed portrait of the character and nature and purpose of the God of Israel. And then the story of Jesus comes along and says,

Jesus is the human incarnation of that particular God, the God of Israel. And that's very different because I can't assume that I actually, I always assume that no one has the story of the Old Testament in their heads. Yeah, it's a pretty safe assumption. It's a long, it's a long, confusing story. Totally. Which is why my notes are 32 pages long for this topic. But DC, that's the problem. Yeah, totally. We like to just pass out new testaments and just say,

yes, read about Jesus. And I get that. I mean, Jesus is awesome. And personally, like, it was hearing stories about Jesus all through my mid to late teens that began to challenge my concept of God. I had a concept of God growing up in Portland, here in whatever late Western culture. And then it was actually the stories about Jesus that began to challenge my definitions of God. And so the stories of Jesus begin to remake what that word referred to in my imagination. And then once I started to read the Bible, then it all continued. So I want to start with the word God in Hebrew because it's first of all, it's awesome. It works differently than our

word God does in English. You got to teach me that. So this is how we've done many of these theme videos. We begin with our English, because it's first of all, it's awesome. It works differently than our word God does in English. You got to teach me that. So this is how we've done many of these theme videos. We began with our English word about spirit or whatever covenant or holiness. And then we learned the biblical word and then that invites us into a whole different way

of thinking about things. So the English word God, we've already talked about it. Interesting. If you spell God with a capital G, this Oxford English dictionary, if you spell God with a capital G, you are referring to the God of the monotheistic religions. Who is a singular being creator and ruler source of all moral authority supreme? However, if you spell God with a lowercase G, you could be referring to a God from any other religion in the history of human religions, which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a superhuman being, or a spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes, a deity.

Okay, so the problem is that when we use the capital word letter G, we're using a title to refer to a specific deity or spirit being that has a specific story and attributes, namely the Jewish and Christian God. Are you with me? When I spell God with a capital G, the Oxford English dictionary says, I'm referring to the Jewish Christian God. I'm using the title, oh right, I'm using an ambiguous title, but I give it a capital G and now I'm referring to the Jewish Christian, yeah, to one

particular God. Yeah, that's how we that's how we use the word God. That is not all how the word God works in Hebrew. Okay. But this is the culprit of like 75% of the miscommunication about the word God. Okay. So you probably know the word God, although you're looking down now. You probably knew that beforehand.

Yeah, Elohim. Elohim. Yeah. So it's actually the first sentence of the Bible in the beginning. Elohim created the sky and the land. So even right here in the first sentence of the Bible, in Hebrew it's also a title and it means essentially what lowercase G. So it's like in the beginning a god created the heavens and the earth. Ah, that's the question. Because like if it's a title like human,

yep, yep, and it would be in the beginning, human, yeah, created the heavens and the earth. And this is both a translation debate, because oftentimes the biblical authors will put the word the in front of the word Elohim to specify that we're talking about the God of Israel. Who will put the word the? biblical authors. In other words, it's very common for biblical authors to refer to the Hebrew word God. They'll put the Hebrew word that, so word ha. So ha Elohim, the God. So it'd be like the human.

Yes, the human. The human named Johnhim, the God. So it'd be like the human. Yes, the human. The human named John walked into the room. Yeah, if you were to tell a story about me. Yes, yeah. And you were telling it to a bunch of ants. Yeah, yeah, about this guy. Correct. And you were telling these ants.

Yeah, yeah. The human, he's coming to kill us all and destroy our ant hill. And you're like, what human, the human? The human. Yeah. Yeah. So, interestingly, that's not how Genesis 1 begins. Genesis 1 uses an unspecific title to refer to the particular God whose story is going to be told here.

That's Genesis 1. In Genesis 2 you get the Genesis 1, it just says Elohim all the way through. Just ADATEE. ADATEE. Then in Genesis 2 you get the phrase Yahweh Elohim, which tells you, oh yes, the Elohim that did what he did in chapter 1, that was Yahweh Elohim, which tells you, oh yes, the Elohim that did what he did in chapter one, that was Yahweh Elohim. Stories are set next to each other so that you compare the main actor in each of the stories. But you do know that it's a singular Elohim from Genesis one, all the verbs are singular.

Here's a little more about this word because because this is an interesting word in Hebrew, Elohim. So that's a long form of the word. There are many forms of this word that appear in the Bible. The short form is the word L. It's just the first two letters, L. Over 200 times in the Hebrew Bible. Oh, for a so it's very common L There's another singular form L. O'ahuA So instead of L. O'Him L. O'ahuA and those are both singular that occurs almost 60 times

So and they all in our English translations just get translated God. Why are there a discrepancy between the ways that they're sent? Well, it's a fascinating history to this word. So L, the short form, L-O-W-A, L makes sense because it's like you got human and you got man or something. Oh yeah, okay. Just shorten it. Yeah, shorten it.

Human, man. Yeah. Yeah, take off the it. Yeah, shorten it. Human, man. Yeah. Yeah, take off the cue. Take off the cue. Yeah, that's right. Make it shorter. It's easier to say. That's right.

So L, L, O, A, actually literally probably the way great, great grandpa Moses said it would be L, O, L, L, O, L, O, H, M. Okay, three forms. Just three forms. Three forms. Probably just how people have gotten used-Him. Okay, three forms. Just three forms. Three forms. Probably just how people have gotten used to saying it. How the word developed. How the word's up.

What's interesting is that the... Great grandpa Moses, is that what you just said? Yeah, I love it. How he's, you know, it's like Old English. Yeah. You know, how like our great grandparents, both English, how great. So that picture of that conjured when you say it.

Grandpa Moses, Spokybrew, would be different than later forms Hebrew. So you have L, L, O, A, and then L, O, H, M. And that third one, L, O, H, M, that E, M is significant, because it's the plural noun ending. It's like S in English. This is true.

So when you put an E, M behind a word, you're making a plural. You're making a plural. Yep. Unless you specify by other indicators and context that you're using a plural noun to refer to a singular reality. Which you can do and you can do. Which you can do and you can do.

Yeah. We talked about that with the skies. Skies. Yeah, it's a great example. Yep. That's right. That's a plural. Correct.

Yep. That means a singular large thing. Yep. What's that called? Well, that was called, I forget the plural of complexity or something like that. Right. So there's something similar happening here, but it creates an ambiguity in Hebrew because the word Elohim is technically plural. You can be reading a sentence in the Bible like in the book of Exodus. Oh no, like in the first commandment. Have no other gods before me. And the word is Elohim. Elohim. Have no other Elohim before me, which is plural for God. Yes, gods. Yeah.

Who gets humiliated in the 10 plagues of Egypt, according to Exodus chapter 12, the Elohim of Egypt, the gods of Egypt. So you can use the common plural noun, but then when it's referring to the god of Israel, the verbs, all the other words connected to Elohim are always in the singular. So the first sentence of the Bible, Elohim created and created and Hebrew is marked as a singular.

Because the verbs have a... That's right. Yeah, in English most of our verbs are not marked, whether it's one person doing it or many. So what does that mean that the noun is plural but the verb is singular? What it means is oh in this case we're talking about one specific Elohim not many Elohim then why didn't they use the word L or Yeah, exactly. We mean exactly. No, I'm just saying that you put your thumb on yep You put your thumb on the the ambiguity in Hebrew. Okay, so we don't have this ambiguity in English, right? But it is there in Hebrew. Okay. So we don't have this ambiguity in English, right? But it is there in Hebrew. It creates fascinating

Well, we could duplicate the ambiguity. We could say in the beginning gods, a gods No, I guess we can't you can't do it. You can't do it because it's referring to one specific Elohim Because it's a singular verb. So and Elohim Created you don't know which one though. Yeah, that's interesting. You read page one. You're like oh Because it's a singular verb. So N, Elohim, created. You don't know which one though. Yeah, that's interesting. You read page one, you're like, oh, which Elohim?

Yeah. Now that wouldn't occur to a modern Westerner because God... Well, that wouldn't occur to a Jewish reader of the Bible either, because they read other portions of the Bible. Yeah, that's right. But again, if we were trying to come to this with the blank slate. Yeah. So here's what you walk away from, this basic point then.

The word Elohim doesn't refer to a specific Elo. God. So if we just had Genesis 1, and that's all we had, then there would be a big debate about which God, do they think created? Exactly right. Yeah. In English, we have this convention where if we put a capital G, it means the God of the Bible. And it's lowercase G and the other God.

In Hebrew, there's just these words, L-L-O-A-L-O-Him. Specifically, L-O-Him is used within the Bible itself to refer to God's other than... Yeah, like the gods of Egypt. Yes, the gods, the Elohim of Egypt, don't have no other Elohim before me. It's the first commandment. The presumes, there are other Elohim that you could have before you. Or that you could try to have imaginary Elohim. But whether they're real or not,

isn't the point. The point is that Israelite sure thought they were real. And so therefore they wanted to have, yeah, we want to worship, we want to worship Ale. But I guess the question that then a modern Christian would ask is, well, just because they thought they were real doesn't mean they were real.

Correct. I mean, that's the question that you guys talk about. And I'm going to force us not to talk about it for a while. But we're going to eventually talk about that. I'm just saying the word means. Got it. The word means deity. So right now you're saying it's totally cool

to still just say there are no other gods. No, I'm saying. At this stage in the conversation. At this stage in the conversation, I'd say the basic meaning of the word Elohim is either referring to the singular god of Israel or all the other gods. Yeah. Well, because culture at large believes there are other gods. But you could say, can the night neighbors believe there are other gods? Can Canaanite neighbors. Yep. And many Israelites were attempted to believe that those gods were more powerful than the

gods of Israel. Yes. That's the first commandment. But what we haven't established is whether or not there are actually other gods. Right. Or they just think there were other gods. Okay. Right.

That is a question that is yet to be addressed. Okay. So here's one that'll throw you for a loop. Go down to this first Samuel reference here. This is a strange story. This is a story about King Saul, Israel's first king, and he isn't hearing from Yahweh, the God of Israel anymore. No guidance, no words of guidance or anything, and the Philistines are breathing down his neck, big army, come in his way.

Samuel, who was an important prophet, has died. And so he goes to this sorceress, who is a spirit medium, and she has him conjure up the deceased Samuel, and she does it. And then in the story, here, it's, and when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out and said, I see an Elohim coming up out of the ground. So whatever the Hebrew word Elohim means, it can refer to the one God of Israel, It can refer to the God's worship by other nations. It can refer to a deceased human that is somehow conjured up by a sorceress. Yes.

So it's a very loose word. So it's a word whose meaning is very different. It's range of, again, different languages. It's range of meaning. The range of meaning is broader. It's broader and has a different set of nuances than our English word God. Okay.

And the no English translation, does this passage get translated? I see gods coming up out of the ground, or I see a God. Right. Because our word God doesn't have the same broad meaning. It doesn't ever refer to the disembodied spirit of a deceased person. We have the word spirit to refer to that.

So that's actually our first clue as to the meaning of this word here of Elohim. That's the clue that it's brought. The fact that Elohim can refer to the disembodied presence of a deceased human, means that Elohim has a certain range of meaning and connections that's different than our English word God. So this is just like we did with spirit or holiness. We have to, you have to flush what you, what categories we're bringing from our English vocabulary.

We've tried to understand the Hebrew category first. What you, what categories we're bringing from our English vocabulary. Try to understand the Hebrew category first. When the Bible figured out how to translate it to English. When the Bible says God, what does that mean? So, first of all, here's one first implication. So Yahweh, the God of Israel, is an Elohim. But he's not, apparently, the only Elohim, because there's the Elohim of Egypt

There's other Elohim that should not be put before Yahweh. They could all be fake. Yep. Yeah Right and but Samuel wasn't fake like I think they encountered something very real. Yeah, then in Hebrew could be referred to as in Elohim Okay, so Here I'll just let someone else do it. This is from Hebrew Bible nerd on a Michael Heiser. Yeah. Who actually has some great the naked Bible podcast books and a great podcast. Yeah. That's called the naked Bible podcast. Yeah. Yeah. And he has a book called the unseen Realm that's been one of the helpful resources that I've been looking at as I put all this together. So here's how Heiser puts it.

If he says, if we're trying to just understand how the Hebrew Bible uses the word God, Yahweh is an Elohim, but no other Elohim is Yahweh. Elohim, he Heiser concludes, is a place of residence term. The word tells you what the proper domain is for that being. By nature, the God of Israel, the many Elohim of God's council, demons, angels, the departed dead like Samuel, these can all be referred to with the word Elohim. So what do they have in common? They're part of a non-physical domain, right? They, that's related to, but

also distinct from the physical embodied domain. So an Elohim is by definition and by nature a disembodied entity. So the word can refer to many different beings who inhabit that realm. So that's his conclusion and I think that's helpful. Yeah. To at least say there's a common denominator between all these uses of Elohim, but it's different than an English word God. Okay. So it's a big bucket word to refer to any type of disembodied being. refer to any type of disembodied being. The Elohim of Egypt, the Elohim of Samuel, of Babylon, the Elohim that is Samuel, coming up out of the ground, is a disembodied, and the Elohim that is named Yahweh, the God of Israel. So basically, the confusion we talked about at the beginning all comes down to this discrepancy, where our word God is specific to a type of divine being.

Right. The all-powerful creator ruler. Right. Yeah. And we understand, or Christians, most Christians understand this idea of other spiritual beings, angels, demons. But we wouldn't call those gods, but in Hebrew, there's a big bucket word, Elohim, and it can refer to Yahweh, the supreme God of, as the Bible presents, Him. It can refer to the gods of other cultures. It can refer to a spirit.

Does it ever refer to angels or demons as Elohim? Yes. Which begs the question of if those can be called Elohim, then are is angel and demon just another type of title for Elohim? God's. Another type of title. Or is it like a subtype? A subtype.

Yeah. Yeah. That's right. In essence, it just means spiritualtype? A subtype. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. It, and that's just means spiritual being. Elohim. Elohim. That's a spiritual being. Okay. A non-physical being. In the beginning, a spiritual being created the heavens and the earth. What spiritual being? And well, if Genesis 2, you like the spiritual being. Yeah, it's created. Yeah. Which in English in Genesis 2, you turn Genesis 2, and it says the Lord God, because the Lord being Yahweh and God being Yahweh.

So it's the phrase Yahweh, Elohim, the Yahweh God. So if you were to do a translation of Genesis 1, 1, would it be in the beginning a spiritual being created the land and the sea or the the sky in the land. Well, it was tricky because for the biblical authors they don't just think any spiritual being. They're thinking of Yahweh, but the language that they use. So they would say the spiritual being. Well, I think they would say God is tricky because in English. No, I'm asking not how Hebrew speaker how would you try to say in English the best way I understand yeah, I understand you probably just would say God because that's what they're yeah, they're thinking yeah Yes, and perhaps using the lowercase G in English to try and communicate what's going on is lowercase G God. Oh, which one? Oh,

keep reading. Well, and actually that's not there's only one Elohim who has the power and capabilities of generating a universe like ours within the convictions for the biblical authors, but you don't get that Elohim's name until page two. Right. So if you're a Jewish person who grew up just worshiping Kineh gods and you do nothing about Yahweh, because it's had been forgotten. That's right. You haven't been told.

You're an ancient Moabite reading Genesis 1. Yeah. And you get Genesis 1, you get Genesis. Someone's telling it to you. And they say, in the beginning, Elohim created, you would go, which Elohim? Yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah, and then you'd get to page two and you'd be like, oh

the Elohim should create the same impact for an English reader. You would say in the beginning a spiritual being created the land in the sky. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I've never actually thought to put it that way. And then you'd as English reader, we were like, okay, what's spiritual being? Yeah, well, you would walk away from the story going, that's a very powerful spiritual being. like, okay, what's spiritual being? Yeah, well, you would walk away from the story going, that's a very powerful spiritual being. Sure, yeah, that's a pretty, yeah. Wow, with his words.

Yeah, created, yeah, I know like, you know, my people, Moab, they, they, could bail is an Elohim. But why, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know any stories of bail doing what that Elohim just did on page one of Genesis. Yeah. So that's a very powerful Elohim. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

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Oh, I'm sure we're doing it absolutely correctly. Yeah. So, all of a sudden, phrases in the Bible begin to be able to make sense, like at the top of the next page of there, a phrase like Deuteronomy 10, 17. For Yahweh, this is Moses to Israel. Yahweh is your Elohim. He is the Elohim of Elohim. And the Lord of Lords, the great, the mighty, the awesome one. How is that normally translated?

God of gods. Is it? Mm-hmm. Yeah, Deuteronomy 10, 17. Yahweh is your Elohim. Yeah. Yahweh is your Elohim. He is the Elohim among all the other Elohim.

Do you see how, even though it's the same Hebrew word? Yeah. In the first place. Well, I like to singularly. I like just rolling with the word spiritual being. Ah, yeah. It's just that's helpful. Yeah.

Good. Y'all way is your spiritual being. Y'all way is your spiritual being, which means he is the spiritual being of spiritual beings. Of all spiritual beings. Yeah. Yeah, this is the classic biblical phrase. It's a Hebrew term of phrase. You put two nouns next to each other, the first one singular, the second one plural.

And what you mean, it's a way of saying, this is the ultimate of that thing. Is that how this is? Those both are plural. The Elohim of Elohim, right? But the first one singular in meaning, because he's the the Elohim of Elohim. It's just like the Holy of Holies, or the song of songs. So the most spiritual of beings. Ultimate Elohim. The ultimate among all other Elohim. So notice here it presumes like whether or not they are

real, and we'll talk about that. It presumes that people think they are people believe in other Elohim. Many Elohim are available to give your allegiance to. Well, and if we're just talking about Elohim in terms of spiritual beings, then yeah, I'm not as worried. See, that's, isn't that interesting? Once you stop using the English word God. Yeah. But the word, yeah, there you go. I mean, it means deity. Elohim means deity. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're right, you're right. Because of Samuel, the Samuel, right. It's the Samuel instance. If I just read you just means virtual being a disembodied virtual being. Yeah. Usually quite powerful. All right. So let's look at another example. This one's from the book of Deuteronomy and it's from a poem where Moses is

anticipating the idolatry of the Israelites when they go into the promised land And he says that they're going to this Deuteronomy 32 verse 17. He says that they're going to sacrifice to demons, so Hebrew word for demons, Shadeem, demons, which means like malevolent, bad spiritual beings. Demons that are not L.O.A. singular and then the parallel line is they are going to sacrifice to L.O.H.M. that they had not previously known. So notice this is a poetic parallel line. These realize they sacrifice to demons that are not L.O.A. They're L.O.H.M. that they had not previously known. This is another good example

that sounds funky in English. It's really confusing. But it makes perfect sense in Hebrew. So... They're not L.O.A. They are not... They're not... Spiritual beings.

Ah! But remember L.O.A. is singular. Oh, L.O.A. is singular. It just means God's name. It's not as L.O.A. is singular. L and L.O.A. are the singular forms. So... So they're not V.O.A singular, it just means God. It's not as L always singular. L and L-O-A are the singular forms. So they're not V-God. They're not V-God, but they are Elohim.

What are these other beings called in this poetic line? You have the demons. They're called demons in one line, and which means spiritual beings that will worship of them will lead to destructive human behavior, destruction. And then in the next line they're called Elohim that your ancestors didn't know, didn't worship. So once again, if you look in your English translations, actually I think I'm just going to look it up. I'm pretty sure all our English translations in that second line use the word gods and the plural. Yeah, they sacrifice to demons that are not gods,

gods that they had not previously known. Now, oh, that's interesting. That's the NIV. The ESV translates, they sacrifice two demons that were no gods. That were no gods. That were no gods. So they take the singular L.O.A. and they make it a plural in English. Two gods that were not known.

That's interesting, I wonder why they made that decision. Anyway, it is confusing, but you see why these words are confusing to try and bring these words across into English is actually difficult. Yeah, because of... But as soon as you use the word spiritual beings, it's not difficult anymore. Sure. Yeah, it uses the tension. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, actually. So why don't we just do that? Yeah, I have a friend who, he's a pastor, and he was trying to talk about this to his church community. Yeah. And so he was using the plural word gods and a whole bunch of people like.

Got frustrated. Oh, they're hair sealer. It went crazy. That's what I'm saying. Because he was talking about. That's why I kept- Other gods. Yeah. And the whole point kept saying. Other gods. Yeah.

And the whole point is that the word gods, the word in the Bible, it's the wrong English word. It's the wrong English word. It's the God is a confusing, unhelpful word in the English language. You don't have to use it at all in the Bible then, right? Because you've got spiritual being. You've got Yahweh or the Lord. Yeah.

And then you've got angels and demons. And there's no reason you use the word God. Yes, fat. Yeah. And this is a debate that Bible translators have. When you come to a word whose meaning has developed so much that it's not a useful word anymore. The challenge is do you just use it anyway and try and redefine it in its biblical meaning or do you ditch it and

find a new word? And that's fascinating to think that the English word God has actually become a hindrance to clear communication. Yeah, I don't think you could actually lose the word God. Yeah, no, it's too much of a fixture. Yeah, do you believe in a spiritual being? Also, that's the new testament example that's interesting. In the New Testament, especially for these Jewish authors, they grew up reading the Greek and Hebrew scriptures. So they're using Greek, but they're thinking often in Hebrew.

So and Paul the Apostle is a good example. So the Greek word, you know, let's see study some Greek in college, Greek word for God. Theos or theos? Yep, theos, yep. So, in 1 Corinthians 8, you have new followers of Jesus who used to go down to the corner temple to whatever Apollo or Zeus and eat meat from a sacrificial lamb offered to Zeus. And the question was, hey, should we still do that anymore? Can we do that?

And he says he thinks it's a bad idea to go there and eat it. But if you get that meat and bring it into your home, he says it's no big deal, unless there's someone around that it's gonna come out cause problems for. But so this how he opens that paragraph in 1 Corinthians 8, he says therefore concerning the eating of things sacrifice to idols. We know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world. Yeah that doesn't mean he says. And that there is no God but one. What does he mean? There's no such thing as an idol in the world. Yeah, he doesn't mean idols don't exist. Obviously there are idols.

Yes, yeah. So, that idols are idols, that idols are no thing in the world. There's no thing in the world? What does that mean? So, you live in a world where there are literally hundreds of idols on the street in the marketplaces, everywhere in town hall, in people's homes, people do all kinds of rituals to them. Yeah.

They fear them, they treat them like little people, they kiss them, they bow to them. And the Jewish Christian conviction is, those idols are no thing. They have no power, they don't represent anything. They're wood and metal. Well, then that's a thing. They're not. Yeah, totally. Right.

I mean, it's like coming in to Portland and saying, that's right. What he means is, because the parallel is, there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and there is no God but one. Okay. Those pieces of wood are not Elohim, plural or singular. That idol is not a thayos. Got it.

It's a piece of wood. Okay. And so, he's a saying, listen, concerning food sacrifice to idols, there's nothing spooky about that piece of wood carved like Zeus down at the temple. And the fact that a piece of meat was dedicated to do it, whatever, it's a piece of wood. It's not an idol, it's a piece of wood. It's a piece of wood. It's not a God.

It's not a spiritual being. It doesn't represent. It's a piece of wood. No, he doesn't say it It's not a God. It's not a spiritual being. It doesn't represent. It's a piece of wood. No, he doesn't say it doesn't represent. Because what he goes on to say. He says, so there's no such thing as an idol in the world and there's no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth, and indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God,

and then he goes on to define what God is our God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He sounded really schizophrenic. Well exactly, in English, it sounds like it doesn't make any sense. But again, in biblical Elohim thought, this makes perfect sense. So what he's saying is that peace of wood isn't a deity. It's a peace of wood. It's not a spiritual being. Yes. Now he says, and that's how people treated these pieces of wood and metal.

They treat them, they revere them, they kiss them, they weep before them, they cry out to them, and it's a piece of rock. Yeah, it's a piece of wood. But there are so-called gods and lords in the world. We do know that. So in other words, he's acknowledging that even though people think, might think that the wood or the rock is a God. He's saying it's not. But there are. But people are connecting themselves to spiritual beings that are real. And he calls them so-called gods. What's that in Greek? So-called. Thethos. It's the plural of Thethos. Why do we put so-called in front?

Oh, got it here. No, he... No, sorry. That is his... I'm certain that's his phrase, but I'm just going to double check the so-called Yeah, there are many called gods named gods. Okay In English when you say so-called. Yeah, it's kind of a prejorative. It's got like bowie now. We know. There's no gods. Yeah Yeah, so it's the passive of the word speak. There are many God spoken of in heaven on our earth. And indeed, then he goes on to affirm, there are spiritual beings out there. Many gods and many lords.

And lords meaning, yeah, referring to, I think spiritual beings. Spiritual beings that have some sort of dominion. Dominion, correct, Yeah. And that's because he's Jewish. And he knows that there are real spiritual beings that have been given dominion by God. We're not there yet. That they're under God's authority. And that they're real. There are Elohim out there that are real spiritual beings. So this is what he's saying is that piece of wood, that people are sacrificing meat to,

don't sweat it, it's just a piece of wood. It's a piece of wood. It's not a spiritual being. Yes. So there's nothing weird with the meat. Yeah. Don't worry about that. And for us, we know and give our allegiance to one God. So eat the meat. That's why.

The point is, yeah, this point is there's nothing spooky magical about the meat. His point is, yeah, his point is, there's nothing spooky magical about the meat. Yeah, because, because nothing, that would statue can't do anything to the meat. Besides, maybe like, give a nice smoky flavor to it if you burnt it underneath it. Right. So that's his first point.

But that's his first point. And then he says, but then he doesn't want to be misunderstood as saying, now I'm not saying there's no other. So he doesn't want you to go from there and go, oh, okay, there's no other. So he doesn't want you to go from there and go, oh, okay, there's no other spiritual beings. Correct.

He's saying, no, there are spiritual beings and they have many names and they have dominion over things and we need to watch out for them. Yes, and yet for us, there is one God. So notice this claim, there is for us one God answers two things. First of all, he can say it's just a piece of wood. There's nothing, there's no reality to it. It's just a piece of wood, it's not a God.

And for us, there's one God. So we know who the ultimate God is, that's just a piece of wood. There's no problem here. But then, now I don't wanna be misunderstood. There's no one who says there's one God. There's no God but one. Yeah, right, what does that mean? Well, yeah, we'll talk about that,

but it's why I put this example last before the next conversation about one person. There's no God but one. So is he saying only one spiritual being exists? Well, no, no, because what's the next thing he says? Now there are many named gods and lords but for us remember there's only one God

And then he goes on to name that one God as being the father and And then he goes on to name that one God as being the father and the Lord Jesus Christ, to which a pagan would be, oh, so you believe in two gods. And then he would say, no, no, just the one God of Israel, who is father and son and spirit. But that's getting, that's getting that one. So yeah, so you're gonna explain what he means

by there is no God but one. Correct. Okay. Yeah. I wanna know. What he doesn't mean is there are no other Elohim. There are no other, there's no other Thethos. There's no other spiritual being.

Yeah. He doesn't mean that, right? Because in the next sentence he says, there are. Yeah. So. Well, couldn't he be saying there are in theory? Well, if he wanted to say in theory, he would say that. Well, he said so called.

He says there are, yeah, but that's an English translation that is putting a pejorative spin on it. There are many God spoken of. Yeah. And then in the next sentence, and indeed, there are many gods and many lawyers. He's pretty explicit there. Yeah.

So he says there's some that are just spoken of. Yeah. So we don't know, they're real, they're not real. Right. But you've read your Hebrew Bible. There are. There are many gods and lawyers. OK.

But for us, we give our allegiance to the one God. So you're saying for us there's one God. It means for us, there's allegiance to one God. Yes. To say for a Jewish person to say, there is no God but one doesn't mean that there are no other spiritual beings that could be called Thaas or Elohim. What it means is my allegiance alone is to the God that I believe is a supreme Elohim over all the other Elohim. That's what he's saying here. Does it mean more than just we have allegiance to just one this one God? Because it seems like when he says there's no God but one. Yeah.

It seems like he's saying more like there's only really only one. Yeah, I hear that. God, that only one. Yeah, I hear that. God, that's important. Yeah, I hear that. And here, he's actually just borrowing a phrase from Deuteronomy and Isaiah that we'll look at a little bit later. It's often misunderstood to mean to be a claim

that there are no other spiritual beings, but he goes on to say in the next sentence that there are. So that can't are you with me just like to say he has a coherent brain with you. He can't say there's no other spiritual being and then in the next sentence say now we know there's many other spiritual beings. That doesn't make any sense. Right. So for him to say at first it sounds really schizophrenic. Exactly. That's right. Yeah, and that's the English problem. Yeah, there we go. Okay, so are you with me? Elohim, there's ones refers to spiritual beings. Biblical faith is oriented towards one particular Elohim.

And the claim is that it's thatimh is the most powerful, the creator, ruler of all, and that Elimh's personal name is revealed as Yahweh. You got to be Abraham. Why is that? I can Jacob, all that. Okay. So, in light of all that, what then does it mean to say there is one like the Shema? Hero is real. The Yahweh is our Elohim. Yahweh is one or Yahweh alone. Or what does it mean for a Jewish monotheist in Paul's day to say, now we know there is no God but one.

So what did they mean when they use this one? Thanks for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. Next week we're going to pick right back up and continue to talk about the identity of God in the Bible. Specifically, we're going to look at the Shema. The famous Jewish prayer found in Deuteronomy. And the famous line in the Shema, here is Israel, the Lord is our God, Yahweh is our Elohim, Yahweh is one. So does that one mean that there is only one Elohim, one God?

Well, that's the question. Next week we'll explore that question. In the meantime, check us out at thebibletproject.com. We have free resources like videos and other podcasts and blog posts and study notes and it's all for free. This episode was edited and produced by Dan Gummol with music by Tay the producer. Thanks for being a part of this with us. Hi, this is Nancy.

I'm from Wenzhou, China. Hi, this is Nancy. Hi, this is Nancy. I'm from Wenzhou, China. Hi, this is Nancy. Hi, this is Nancy. Hi, this is Nancy. Hi, this is Nancy Nian, Xin, Wulai, Zilun, Zhongguo, Wenzhou. What I like best about the Bible project is that it provides framework for me

to understand what each book of the Bible is. Because for a lot of the Bible books, one of the first times I read it, it could be very overwhelming, especially for books like the Vitticus and those things. And so watching the Bible project really helps me to understand the theme of that book我們相信聖經是一個統一的故事讓我們學習到耶穌是誰他是一個聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的聖經的�OK我們相信聖經是一個統一的故事 讓我們學習到耶穌是誰 它是

BibleProject是通過像我一樣的 人們來一起贊助來支持 你可以去BibleProject.com 來找到免費的視頻 學習的資源 還有更多的東西 you