What does the name Elohim mean?
The very first sentence of the Bible calls God "Elohim," and the word is a puzzle in plain sight: it is grammatically plural, yet it is attached to a singular verb and used of the one true God more than two thousand times. What does the word actually mean, why is it plural, and how does it differ from the other great name, Jehovah?
The ordinary word for God
Elohim is not a rare or specialist title. It is the standard Hebrew word for God as God — the Creator, the One every human being must answer to. A dictionary of Bible terms sets it out with its relatives:
Morrish Bible DictionaryEloah (Elah in Chaldee), Elohim. The names most commonly used for God the Creator, the One with whom man has to do, the supreme Deity. Genesis 1:1-31. (Running all through the Old Testament to Malachi 3:18.) These words are also applied to God's representatives, such as angels and judges... Elohim (which is plural, called the plural of majesty or excellency) is the word of most frequent occurrence. When it is distinctly used for the one true God the article is often added.
Power is the root idea
Elohim, Eloah and El all grow from one root, and that root carries the thought of might. One writer traces three shades in how Scripture actually uses them:
G. V. WigramThe three words Elohim, Eloah and El are from one root, and seem, each of them, to convey the idea of power in their meaning. Judging from their use, however, I think three shades of meaning can be traced: that He whom alone we adore has (1) creatorial power, (2) victorious power, and (3) thus, in His very being, stands in contrast with all that are called gods.
Plural word, singular verb
The strangeness of a plural name for the one God is not a slip of the pen. Genesis 1:1 pairs the plural noun with a verb in the singular, and writers see the grammar itself teaching something:
A. J. PollockAnd further, it is striking indeed that the plural word Elohim is followed by a singular verb. Has this no meaning in the light of Scripture? It is clear that we have here the first hint of the Godhead as Trinity — Father, Son and Spirit, yet one God. Hence the verb in the singular; the two words, "God (plural) created (singular)" set forth a plural unity, never known except in relation to the Being of God.
Commentators differ on how much weight the plural should carry, and one writer lays both explanations side by side before pointing to what follows in the chapter:
The Christian's FriendThere are those, as might be expected, who argue that it is simply, according to Hebrew usage, a plural of excellence, that the word in this form conveys the excellency or the perfections of the One spoken of; there are others who maintain that it is divinely intended to set forth the Trinity, the unity of the Godhead in the three Persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In support of this the devout reader will not fail to notice the language of Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
Borrowed by God's representatives
Because the word means supreme power, Scripture lends it to those who exercise power on God's behalf — and that secondary use has a sharp edge:
J. N. DarbyThis quotation of the elohim shows, I think, that it applies to Jews properly, for the judges there are expressly in the law called elohim, and so the rebuke of our Lord is most powerful... It also shows the meaning of that word elohim in the law, and how foolish the dispute between judges and God, for it is calling judges "gods" because they stood as sent in God's place and acted for God in their office. We know that all power is of God, and ought to be exercised in His righteousness.
Elohim and Jehovah are never interchangeable
Genesis 1 uses Elohim throughout; from Genesis 2 the text says "the LORD God," Jehovah Elohim. The switch is deliberate, and the difference is between what God is and the name by which He relates:
J. N. DarbySo we have in Genesis 1, "Elohim," the Creator; in Genesis 2, "Jehovah Elohim," because the relationship of God with men is spoken of; for there it is not His place simply over creatures as such, but all His various relationships: how Adam was placed, warned, and dealt with, his wife's place with him, the subjection of the creatures, and so on. These words, Elohim and Jehovah, are never confused in Scripture... God is God as such; Jehovah is One who enters into relationship with His people and with men.
Summary
- Power. Elohim shares a root with El and Eloah, and the shared idea is might — power that creates, power that conquers, power that leaves every rival "god" exposed as no god at all.
- Plural. The form is plural while the God is one; some read it as a plural of majesty expressing His perfections, others as an early hint of Father, Son and Spirit. Commentators differ.
- Persons. The clue that keeps the second reading alive is grammatical: a plural noun with a singular verb in Genesis 1:1, followed by "Let us make man in our image."
- Representatives. Angels and judges are also called elohim, because they stood in God's place and acted for Him — a title of honour that made their failure all the more serious.
- Personal. Elohim is God as God, the Creator every person must answer to; Jehovah is the name of relationship. Genesis 1 gives the first, Genesis 2 joins both — the Creator is the God who draws near.