Fact check: Is the word "Elohim" plural or singular?
Is Elohim plural or singular?
The word translated in English as “God” in the Old Testament, in Hebrew, is Elohim אֱלהִים
Some people say “Elohim” is a plural word, and that means that the Bible is talking about many gods, or even aliens in spaceships, etc., not just one God.
Yes Elohim is a plural word, but…
It is true that Elohim אֱלהִים is a plural word
The suffix “-im” in Hebrew usually means the word is plural - of course some words in English have an ‘s’ ending and are yet singular - such as radius - other English words - such as sheep - are the same in singular and in plural. However the -im plural is often used to indicate a person of authority in the Bible, much as the royal ‘we’ in English is used by the Queen. (Hebrew examples in the footnotes below1) The surrounding grammar and context is what tells us the word is singular.
Just as Elohim אֱלהִים in the Bible, when it is about the one God, is treated as though it is singular in those sentences, by having a singular verb, for instance.
In Genesis 1:1 we have “In the beginning God created” - God is plural but Bara (created) is singular.
In the beginning (Bereshit) created( Bara) ←→ God (Elohim)
Elohim (pl) Bara (sing.) Bereshit
The Bible itself tells us that Elohim (God) is one
What kind of clinches this argument, though, is Deuteronomy 6:4 →
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד
Hear O Israel, Yahwe our Elohim is one. (echad) (Deuteronomy 6:4)
אֶחָד (echad) meaning one.
Not many. Elohim is one God.
I think this rules out gods, and aliens in spaceships2.
Echad, of course, refers to a composite unity of more than one thing, however….
Echad can refer to a composite unity. God is one, (echad) just as husband and wife are one (echad) (Genesis 2:4): to Yeshua, and for any person who knows that Yeshua is Lord (Adonai), God is a composite unity: Father Son and Holy Spirit.
Just as in this verse echad is a composite unity3:
Therefore shall a husband leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one (echad) flesh (Genesis 2:4)
עַל־כֵּן יַעֲזָב־אִישׁ אֶת־אָבִיו וְאֶת־אִמּוֹוְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד
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The noun Elohim has the following meanings according to context (in brackets number of times it occurs in the Old Testament with this meaning): divine (1), divine being (1), exceedingly (1), God (2326), god (45), God's (14), goddess (2), godly (1), gods (204), great (2), judges (3), mighty (2), rulers (1), shrine* (1).
REFERENCES:
https://torahclass.com/audio-bible-in-hebrew/
Check it for yourself:
http://www.qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament/genesis/1.html
http://www.qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament/deuteronomy/6.html
http://www.qbible.com/hebrew-old-testament/genesis/2.html
https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/75030/isn-t-elohim-in-bible-plural-in-all-cases
https://bible.ca/trinity/trinity-oneness-unity-yachid-vs-echad.htm
From https://bible.ca/trinity/trinity-oneness-unity-yachid-vs-echad.htm : Abraham’s servant speaks of his master in the plural in Genesis 24 (ʾadonim, literally, “lords”), Joseph speaks of his master Potiphar in the plural in Genesis 39, and David the king is spoken of as “lords” in 1 Kings 1:11. In Exodus 21, to translate literally and incorrectly, the law speaks of a slave and his masters (ʾadonim, referring to just one master), in Isaiah 19:4, the prophet tells Israel that God will hand them over to a cruel lord (Hebrew, ʾadonim qasheh, a plural noun with a singular adjective), and Isaiah 1:3 tells us that a donkey knows the feeding crib of its masters (baʾalim, referring to just one person; cf. the first half of the verse in which reference is made to an ox’s owner—in the singular).
The article about echad also goes into more detail about the use of ‘-im’ plural to describe singular people of authority. https://bible.ca/trinity/trinity-oneness-unity-yachid-vs-echad.htm
For an extended article about the issue of (sometimes) composite unity echad versus a single unity see this excellent article, that goes through the reasons for believing that the Torah points to God as a composite unity (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) — https://bible.ca/trinity/trinity-oneness-unity-yachid-vs-echad.htm