What is the difference between yahweh and elohim

Unfortunately, this practice has continued to this day in most English translations. It would seem that modern translators are a bit embarrassed by the fact that the God of the universe was once the local god of a few tribes who roamed the deserts south of modern Israel herding sheep and goats.

Originally, Yahweh was the name of a tribal god, perhaps first of the Midianites or possibly of the Kenites which may have been a related clan and later of the Hebrews. According to the story recounted in Exodus, Moses or Moshe —the son of Hebrew slaves—is raised in the court of Pharaoh.

As a young man, he kills an Egyptian overseer who was beating a Hebrew slave and then flees to the land of Midian to avoid prosecution.

The location of Midian is not known for sure, but it was most likely located near the Gulf of Aqaba, which separates the Arabian and Sinai peninsulas. There Moses meets Jethro, a man from the Kenite clan who serves as a priest in Midian. At this point, the writer of the Exodus story tries to integrate several different traditions about God into a single cohesive unity.

While herding sheep near the mountain, Moses encounters Yahweh in a burning bush. We are told that just prior to settling near Shechem, Jacob wrestled with a man who he first thought might be an angel, but whom he eventually believes to be God El.

Some scholars who have examined archeological sites in Israel believe that the biblical story of the exodus of twelve Hebrew tribes from Egypt is not very historical. Later Hebrew history shows a natural division among the tribes, evidenced in the split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah after the reign of Solomon. A case has been made that the southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah may have been captive in Egypt, but that the northern tribes probably emerged from Semitic tribes already dwelling in northern Israel at the time of the exodus.

These peoples gradually merged into a single culture where their religious ideas and traditions were blended. It was the northern tribes who had the El tradition, while the southern tribes had the Yahweh tradition. Throughout the centuries these traditions were merged, but not always completely or smoothly. The Hebrew Bible often reveals the competition between the two Gods. A good example is the two different creation stories in the first three chapters of Genesis which we will discuss in greater detail later.

Another example is the story of Noah found in Genesis, in chapters six through nine. The story switches between the two names for God in alternate paragraphs. Chapter six of Genesis describes the specifications for the ark and the animals to be gathered as given by Elohim:. And Elohim saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth.

Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive.

Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them. Genesis In chapter seven of Genesis, the story continues with a bit of repetition by Yahweh. However, unlike Elohim he is not content with just two of every kind of animal and bird, but wants seven pairs of each animal.

Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth.

For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. Let us return to the conversation of Moses with God at Sinai. Exodus This is why mountains were often chosen as sites for construction of altars and temples for worship. In the ancient history of the Israelites, Yahweh was initially viewed as a tribal war god, a deity of liberation and conquest—leading the Hebrew slaves out of captivity in Egypt and enabling them to conquer the land of Canaan.

As the Israelite culture became more settled over time and a national identity was formed, Yahweh took on additional roles—envisioned as a lawgiver, ruler, and judge over the people. Eventually, Yahweh became more than a tribal or national God. The early monotheism of the Hebrew people did not claim that there was only one God; rather it claimed that their God was superior to all the others.

In the newly acquired role of high god, Yahweh became the creator of heaven and earth, supplanting the role previously held by El, the Canaanite high god. The Canaanite El was sometimes referred to as Toru El the bull god , identifying him with that ancient symbol of strength, power, and virility. The worship of a sacred bull was common in many cultures throughout the ancient world. In the book of Exodus, we are told that Aaron, the brother of Moses, fashioned a golden calf as a physical representation of Yahweh, which mirrored the sacred image of El.

Although the attributes of El were gradually assimilated into the traditions of the Hebrew people, the Exodus story tells of the complete rejection of any symbolic image to represent Yahweh. The first two of the Ten Commandments recognize the ongoing problem of integrating other religious traditions into the developing Hebrew story.

You shall have no other gods [elohim] before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them. It is interesting to note that one of the chief consorts of El was the Semitic mother goddess Asherah sometimes called Elat , the feminine form of El.

He was also known as the primary god in an assembly of gods that gathered on Mount Zaphon. As one reads the Hebrew Bible, the worship of Asherah and Baal is a recurring problem in the enforcement of monotheism and the Yahweh cult.

Meanwhile, the tradition of El becomes merged with Yahweh as the supreme God who is the lawgiver and ruler of the Hebrew people and the creator of the universe. Our basic introduction to Yahweh and El as two variants of a supernatural theistic God is found in the first pages of the Bible beginning with the stories of Genesis. There are two very different creation stories in the first three chapters of Genesis, although many Christians are unaware of the different tales.

They come from two independent sources who were writing hundreds of years apart in ancient Israel. Starting in the second chapter of Genesis, J writes that Yahweh shaped a male human being from the clay of the earth and breathed life into his nostrils.

Genesis — The man adam in Hebrew is created from the earth adamah. When his creation is finished, Yahweh strolls through the garden in the evening breeze. Yahweh converses with the new creatures and gives them a few rules. Later, when Yahweh, in anger at their disobedience, expels Adam and Eve from the garden, Yahweh fashions clothing for them out of animal skins. This biblical God, who walks on earth, talks to his creations, and works with his hands, is clearly a human being writ large.

Anthropomorphic gods were the norm in the ancient world. They were full of human emotion, were easily angered, and were capable of capricious acts of violence toward human beings.

For instance, J tells us later in Genesis that Yahweh, disgusted with the direction his creation had taken, destroyed most earthly creatures in a massive genocidal and speciecidal flood.

Genesis, chapters 7 and 8. Nearly 2, years ago, a wandering Greek philosopher and poet, Xenophanes of Colophon c. He wrote that if horses and oxen had hands and could draw pictures, their gods would look remarkably like horses and oxen. An anthropomorphic likeness is probably the first thing that most people envision when they think about God.

Whether it is an angry old man or a kindly grandfather, this is the image of God from our childhood, and for many, it carries into adulthood as well. This image of an almighty God goes hand-in-hand with an equally ancient worldview of a three-tiered universe—heaven above, the earth in the middle, and the dwelling place of the dead below. In this creation story, however, God begins with a two-tiered world: the heavens in a domed layer above and the earth in a flat layer below.

The dwelling place of the dead which lies under the earth, alternately known as Sheol, Hades, and Hell, evolved later in Jewish thought. So Elohim made the dome and separated the waters which were under the dome from the waters which were above the dome.

And it was so. Elohim called the dry land Earth and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. A few verses later, God creates a variety of lights which he places in the heavenly dome—a greater light to rule the day and a lesser one to rule the night. Finally, God scatters a multitude of stars on the surface of the dome to twinkle at night. Ancient civilizations believed that there were two primary bodies of water, one in the sky and one on the earth, and that something structural—a dome or firmament—was necessary to keep the water of the heavens which fell as rain separated from the waters of the earth rivers, lakes and seas.

Further, this dome was the structural support required for the movement of the sun, moon and stars above the earth. In early Mesopotamian thought, the earth was portrayed as a flat disk floating in a vast ocean. Reference Only. No Number. No Delimiter — Square — [15]. Parens — Abbreviate Books. Use SBL Abbrev. En dash Hyphen. None — Jhn KJV.

Square — [Jhn KJV]. Parens — Jhn KJV. Quotes Around Verses. Remove Square Brackets. Sort Canonically. Free Bible Courses Visit. Help Quick Nav Advanced Options. Cite Share Print. Search Results in Other Versions. BLB Searches. Search the Bible. LexiConc [? Advanced Options Exact Match. Theological FAQs [? Multi-Verse Retrieval x. En dash not Hyphen. Let's Connect x. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Daily Devotionals x.

Daily Bible Reading Plans x. Recently Popular Pages x. Recently Popular Media x. We find in the first two chapters of Genesis, two different names for God- Elohim and Yahweh. In Genesis chapter 1 God is exclusively referred to by the name Elohim. However from Genesis , to the remainder of chapter two, He is called the compound name Yahweh-Elohim. Why are there two different names for God?

Does this mean the account refers to two separate gods or are there two different authors writing two separate, contradictory accounts of creation? Only One God Exists First we need to emphasize that the Scripture is unified in its teaching that there is only one God who exists. The Bible says: Hear, O Israel! Deuteronomy Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me Isaiah Genesis And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … male and female created He them.

John 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God , even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born , not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

God is called our Father Mat. Jesus, who is also God, is presently the only spirit composed Son Mat. His Church is described as our Mother Gal. We are called His children Rom. In other words, His sons and daughters 2 Cor. We are to be brothers of Christ, who is the Firstborn Rom.

He called those who do the will of God, brothers , sisters , and mothers Mark The terms begotten 1 Peter and born John are employed, referring to Christians. Ephesians 14 For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named ,. This blog post is an excerpt from chapter 2. Terri Hall on November 19, at pm. Sam Kneller on December 2, at pm. God… Two spirits. God's Spirit and the spirit in Humans - The Explanation - […] of the waters as the Bible starts its narrative.

A secondary stage is heaven. The producer of this production is God. Their background and history are presented elsewhere and later in the story. What am I? Why am I on Earth? Discover This…. Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Search for:. Choose Your Language English.

The Explanation Blog. What is the Amazing Meaning? Genesis Space — Expanding Finity 2. Atmospheric Cocoon 3. Planet Water 4. Our Earth 5. The Flora Pivot 6.

Animal Ability 7. Human Life 8. Bodies Alive 9. Space — Cluttered? Atmosphere — Pristine? Water — Pure? Land — Fertile? Flora — Blossom, Wilt?

Fauna — Protected? Human Life — Fulfilling? Human Body — Healthy? Singularity of Humans 2. How Humans Function 3. How Humans Socialize 4. How Humans Rule 5. Into Theology 2. Sacred Books 3. Biblical Hebrew 4. Characters: God, Humans, Serpent 5. Goals: God, Humans, Serpent 6. Genesis 1. Genesis — Bara 8. Creation of Humans 2. Spirit and spirit 5. Garden of Eden 2.

Creation of Woman 3.