The Second Commandment According to Laban
It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ Genesis 31:29 NASB
Power – In his book, The Exodus You Almost Passed Over, David Fohrman points out that this verse employs the word el, translated “power.” Fohrman’s argument is that no one translates this word as a name of God in this verse, but El is the shortened name of Elohim and is universally recognized as a name of God. Why don’t translators render this Hebrew verse as “It is in my god to do you harm”? The answer is obvious. Context tells us that Laben employs el as “power,” not “god.” Fohrman’s strategy is to lay aside our penchant for reading el as a divine name and pay attention to how the word is used. He then applied this logic to the second commandment.
The second commandment states: “Thou shalt not have [allegiance to] any other elohim before Me.” Just plug in our working definition of elohim, and suddenly it all starts to make sense: the text adjures us not to have allegiance to other “powers” besides God.[1]
This is quite an important suggestion. It undermines Michael Heiser’s exegesis that the use of elohim in the second commandment vouches for the existence of other divine beings, lesser gods of the divine counsel. In fact, Heiser’s book depends on reading this text and many others as if the word elohim always means “gods.”[2] Fohrman concludes, “In short, el or elohim may describe God, but it does not uniquely describe God. Elohim can just as easily denote any force believed to be powerful, even if it is not divine.”[3]
Why is this so important? Because this little insight demonstrates that the meaning of a word is found in how the word is used, not in a dictionary definition or a theological construct. In order to know what any particular Hebrew word (or any other word, for that matter) means, we must know how the speaker uses the word. One striking example of how far afield even lexicons can go is the meaning of the Hebrew word ish, almost universally translated as “man.” But Rabbi David Stein demonstrates that ish does not usually mean “man” as an adult male. “Most often, it seems to be a term of affiliation; that is, the noun denotes relationship either to a group or to another party.”[4]
Now let’s apply this to some contemporary exegetical problems. What does the word “son” mean in the apostolic writings? It means how it is used, not how it is shaped into a theological category. What about “saved,” or “grace,” or “obey”? How are these terms used? What would happen if we based our theological abstractions on the way the original authors used the words rather than on the logical and philosophical arguments of the Church fathers?
How does Paul use the word nomos? Don’t tell me what Augustine or Luther thought about “law.” Tell me how Paul uses the word (and discover there are at least nine different meanings).
How does Yeshua use the word “kingdom”? Do you know?
And what about “love”? How are the various Hebrew and Greek terms used? Do you think you know what “love” means? Maybe you need to take another look.
Topical Index: el, elohim, use, meaning, Fohrman, Heiser, Stein, Genesis 31:29
[1] David Fohrman, The Exodus You Almost Passed Over, p. 47.
[2] Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm
[3] Fohrman, p. 48.
[4] David Stein, “The Noun ish in Biblical Hebrew,” The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_78.pdf
So much to learn! I know nothing! No wonder the Word warns that not many should be teachers. Scary!
To what or whom does Genesis 1:1 refer. How would you translate Elohim in that verse?
Hi Daniel,
Just making an attempt to your question-
Skip- ” this little insight demonstrates that the meaning of a word is found in how the word is used, not in a dictionary definition or a theological construct. In order to know what any particular Hebrew word (or any other word, for that matter) means, we must know how the speaker uses the word.”
Elohim in Gen 1:1 refers to The Mighty One (EL) who created the heavens and the earth. That can only mean one thing- GOD Almighty, Creator Himself, not simply any power, nor force.
Hope that helps?
Shalom!
Shifting paradigms is difficult even when you want to and you are trying to make that transition. I would say even for someone not all that ‘indoctrinated’ it is still difficult. We are steeped in Greek culture in our western world. And wouldn’t you say some of our learning is by osmosis.
I think Skip would agree that Elohim can also simply mean “judge(s)”. So, with regard to yesterday’s TW, when Ruth said to Naomi, your Elohim shall be my Elohim, she may simply be stating that, your judges shall be my judges, and not the commonly translated, your God(s) shall be my God(s).
But this then, has implications. The story, appropriately, occurs in the period of the Judges. Therefore, when Ruth moved to the land of the tribe of Judah from the land of Moab, she was just conceding that she would now be subject to the judges of Judah instead of the judges located in Moab.
Consequently, there is a belief that Ruth did not necessarily have a different God than Naomi even though she is often called a Moabite. This may be just a geographical description. Northern Moab was conquered under Moses (Deut 2) and occupied by the tribe of Rueben. (Moses died and was buried in northern Moab, having seen the rest of the Promised Land, including the plains of Moab from Mount Nebo. Deut. 34)
Ruth may well have been a Reubenite. (How else would the kinsman redeemer rules apply to her?)
Hebrew words for love: raya, ahava and dod.
Greek Eros and agape.
There are two more in Greek: storge and philia
Dan… my Lord speaks to your Lord is also often used. May this imply insights being shared rather than gods or Rabbis or judges being the external control measure. Keeping the locus of control for each one the Christ in us…
I want to hear more about Yeshua’s use of the word kingdom!
Best one Matt 6:33 then the others. Like a seed planted… watered…. leaf…. stem …. full ear…. just the beginning as only when the seeds fall in the earth do the multiply… Be the fruit others need and the kingdom will spread even faster.
” Tell me how Paul uses the word nomos”
Yes and please tell me that while the Hebrew Bible refers to the Commandments as “aseret ha’dvarim”, sayings, words, statements or ten things and Hebrew speaking people have never heard of this “harsh law” that people are referring to ( Grammar of God- Aviya Kushner). WHY was the word “law” used at all, also by Paul?
Paul didn’t use the word “law.” He used the Greek nomos with all its complexity and umbrella of meanings. We have translated this Greek word with the far less complex and wooden “law,” probably because of Luther’s theology rather than Paul’s complexity. I wrote a lot about this some time ago. Just like shuv with its 17 different meanings in Jeremiah, nomos must be understood in a case-by case way.
“but El is the shortened name of Elohim and is universally recognized as a name of God.”
I did not know this. I thought El/Elohim was a recognized “title”/”office” for Him, not another name.
“Heiser’s book depends on reading this text and many others as if the word elohim “always” means ‘gods’.”
While I haven’t read his book, I have heard him teach and I remember him saying that sometimes it means other things as the context requires. Now I’ll have to go read his book because I thought there was a “divine council”.