A Little Footnote
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.[a] Deuteronomy 32:8 NIV
Sons of Israel – Michael Heiser, author of The Unseen Realm, noted in a lecture I attended that the Masoretic text of this verse revises the older text found in the Dead Sea scrolls (and attested in the LXX). The Hebrew of the Masoretic text has been changed to read bene’ yisra’el rather than bene’ elohim. The little footnote in the NIV acknowledges this: “Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God.” Heiser made some interesting points about this change. Apparently the suggestion that there are real additional divine beings (sons of God) was too much for the Masoretes, so they changed the Hebrew word. Most English translations follow this change, but since the Dead Sea scrolls antedate the Masoretic text by nearly 1000 years, it is very likely that the original text read “sons of God.” Once again, this time on the Jewish side, we see that theology trumps textual accuracy. Human beings are quite capable of changing what God says through the prophets to match their contemporary agendas. It happens on the Christian side of the coin all the time, and it apparently happens on the Jewish side as well. The Bible must match the theology, not the other way around. When it doesn’t, well, we just change it. If this doesn’t scare you, you aren’t awake.
Virtually all of us rely on translations of the original texts. Of course, we have learned to be cautious of translations because we recognize the inherent bias of the translator. There are some stellar examples in the NIV (e.g., sarx translated as “sinful nature”). So we try our very best to get back to the Greek or Hebrew. But this little example from Deuteronomy raises some serious concerns. Not only is it necessary to be cautious about the translation, it is now necessary to be cautious about the text behind the translation. In this example we see that the Masoretic text—the standard for all translations of the Hebrew Bible—is also flawed. God did not superintend the transmission of the words. Men altered them. And we never knew.
If you thought, as most preachers remind you, that these occasional alterations have “no significant theological value,” then you are not only not awake, you are also easily duped. Consider this one verse. If the text reads “sons of Israel” as we are led to believe, then we find Moses arguing that God set the boundaries for all other people (the nations) according to the sons of Israel. That just doesn’t make any sense at all. How could we ever understand a statement that all the boundaries of the rest of the people of the world are somehow fixed according to the sons of Israel? Of course, substituting yisra’el for elohim removes the serious theological affront to monotheism, but it does so at the price of adding a completely confusing statement to the text.
But the alternative calls into question our entire view of the unseen realm (as Heiser points out). If there really are “sons of God” who are divine beings and if the peoples of the world were divided up according to their spiritual authority, then we will have to revise our idea of monotheism (and so will Jews). We might be able to make a lot more sense of Paul’s “principalities and powers” comment, and a few other important things, but we can do so only at the price of including a lot more beings in the “divine” category than we allow.
Ah, a little footnote. Tucked away at the bottom of the page. But, oh my, what a bombshell! No wonder it needed to be altered.
Topical Index: sons of Israel, sons of God, Deuteronomy 32:8
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Skip
Very interesting . Skip. Our pastor for the past few weeks has been pointing, not to have our opinions formed for us, but we should use the biblical text to find facts. Then he shows us what he thinks, and then what mainstream thinks. Man show sisters they thought for themselves. Romans 1:22..
Job 1:6 has the same phrase, except it also includes the article: benê hā elōhı̂m. And ha śāṭān, Satan, came along with benê hā elōhı̂m.
Yeshua referred to ha satan as “the prince of this world” to whom we can choose to obey (servant). Anything, spirit, person or demon we fear/obey makes us a violator of the First Command because we put someone or something else on the throne besides God – we make them our god. If no one obeyed ha satan and his spiritual forces he would not be a god.
We are the ones who determine who is functioning as a god in creation by putting ourselves under them. We can do it with Twinkies or time: I did it with my husband. We can make ourselves or anything else in our world our god simply by replacing the function of true connection (love) with such a substitute. (This includes all “inordinate affection”, too – anything we hold up as a prophylaxis between ourselves and connection in any dimension or use as an excuse to avoid the vulnerability that is the essential bedrock of trust.)
The Jews made Herod a god; the Romans did the same with Ceasar.
The real God, of course, is distinguished from the false ones because He is God regardless of who is obeying or not. That is an important distinction; to me, any way.
I’m not sure where you found that the Jews made Herod a god. That would certainly be idolatry. The issue it seems to me is the confusion of ontological equality with authority equality. I may have the same authority as the one whom I represent. This happens all the time even in our modern world. But that doesn’t mean I am ontologically the same. If we confuse this distinction, then we end up saying that each time Yeshua acts like the Father, represents the Father, speaks for the Father, he must be ontologically identical with the Father. But as Messiah, no ontological equality is claimed or necessary, as Jewish orthodoxy has pointed out for about 2000 years.
Back to you. 🙂
Separate issue, although still germane.
The question is specifically: what makes a god a god?
Laurita I suspect you are referring to Acts 12:22 “The voice of a god and not of a man” describing Herod. This statement by the people who come from Tyre and Sidon according to verse 20 indicates that they are Greeks not Jews.
Clarification is always good, Thanks.
I guess my question is, what makes a god a god?
Laurita good question. The word god can be nebulous. I do notice in Acts 14:12 another occasion where Greeks call humans by deity names. There Zeus and Hermes are involved. The Greeks have no problem with the idea that god can be a man, very easy for them to adopt idea of Jesus as the god-man. This is not Paul’s teaching.. he and Barnabbus tear their clothes. Notice in the story that even the priest of Zeus was prepared to sacrifice to them.
But my question is still unanswered. This is one of those things you start out just assuming that you know, but I can see that I am going to have to start over. It starts here for me. I am really asking a question! Related to that one is, what makes divinity divine? I find myself no longer sure. Thank you once again.
For me the word divine simply means heavenly. So angels would be called divine beings in addition to God. But angels are not themselves God even though they speak for Him as agents. A missionary to Asia once told me it was tricky finding a word for God in the local language. They used the word for boss and put high in front. Similar to Hebrew idea of mighty one el. They also used allah which relates to Eloha in Hebrew. And here I thought allah was the name of God to Muslims.actually it is a title meaning God. I think deity is a better word for God than divine.
So divine does not mean “worthy of worship”, because we do not worship heavenly angels, I think I get that. That would make the transfigurated humans divine, too, would it not?
Did the disciples think that Moses and Elijah were divine, or did they think they were worthy of worship, even, on the Mount of Transfiguration? What were they thinking?
What makes a god a god? I am about to die to know, here!
Hey Laurita, you speak a lot about form vs. function, and the difference that exists in regards to that in Greek vs. Hebrew. You’ve already got the answer staring you in the face, you just haven’t applied it to this context. In the a.m. I’ll share some things for your consideration that may help, or not. ? I’m just unsure at this time whether I should discuss it with you privately or on this site. Trying to consider all involved and affected. Just to give you something to think about, is the true God validated by His “character”, (form, what we see Him as) or what He has stated in regards to how His creation works (function)?
Furiously stewing and chewing and stomping and waiting, Robert!
I am clearly in kindergarten here, and I am quite sure it shows! I am having to start all over and still feel I am crawling in a lot of places I thought i was running pretty well before Skip totally upset my apple cart.
Were Moses and Elijah resurrected literally or did they appear in a vision? I believe the latter. Yeshua said Tell no man the vision you have seen. For me the key is not about Moses and Elijah coming back to earth briefly but the meaning of the dream. YESHUA WORKS HAND IN GLOVE TO CONYINUE THE MINISTRY OF BOTH Law and Prophets
I agree that Moses and Elijah must have appeared to represent those two aspects.
I have wondered often, though, about the fact that part (perhaps the bulk of the part) of that interview happened when the supposed visionaries were knocked out unconscious. Was it a vision, during that time too, then? It seemed to me that the disciples woke up just as it was wrapping up. Yeshua was visibly strengthened after that encounter. He needed something (and got it) from that experience. Was it ‘just’ a vision to Him, too?
My own take on this event was that it was a powerful and important shared vision. The disciples involved as well as Yeshua took great encouragement from it. Of course there would be some who subscribe to a physical resurrection of Moses and Elijah, or perhaps dropping by from heaven. If a movie camera was running I wonder what would have been on the tape. I am not a cynic.. Yeshua himself called it a vision.
Lauita
You ask, What makes god a god?
If Elohim means God, then how is the word Elohim used?
It is often used with YHWH to mean the true God but it is often used to mean a false god or gods, and a few times it is used to mean a human judge, or some kind of Lord, or a mighty and powerful something. See some examples below.
Exo 7:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh
I think it is better to understand Moses as being a Judge of Pharaoh instead of a god to Pharaoh. (That confuses our belief in one God.)
Thousands of times the Bible states, YHWH your Elohim. Maybe it is good to think of that phrase not as YHWH your God, but rather, YHWH your JUDGE, (the Powerful One Who Judges you) (according to His Law.) That is what an Elohim is.
Other examples and uses.
Exo 9:28 Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty (elohim) thunderings and hail;
Exo 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges (elohim);
Exo 22:8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, (elohim)
Exo 22:9 . . . the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; (elohim) and whom the judges (elohim) shall condemn,
1Sa 14:15 . . . they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great (elohim) trembling.
So any “judge” is a god? Are we supposed to worship gods? Or just revere them? Are we supposed to refrain from making them? Does the Command to not make any gods mean that we are not to seek judges over us? This helps some, but I am still confused about application!
1Co 8:5 For even if there are so-called gods (theos) whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords (kurios)
Being an elohim, theos or kurios is nothing unique. There are many lesser and greater gods but being a god does not make one a Creator. There is only one elohim with the name YHWH Who is the only one we worship. We do not make FALSE elohim but we obey those legitimately placed over us, even by YHWH Himself. Who do we obey? We are in a tough spot. In this world (society) but not of this world (society), in the flesh but of the spirit.
I wonder what Genesis 6:2 and 6:4 say, as they both have sons of God but with no footnotes to refer you back to the LXX or Dead Sea Scrolls. These verses are used by some to say that these are the fallen angels.
Daniel Ch. 10 refers to the Prince of Persia in connection with ‘spiritual warfare’ and also the Prince of Greece…also the book of Enoch mentions the origins of the Watchers (aka Sons of God???). Archie Wright’s Ph.D. thesis was about the origin of evil spirits…fascinating stuff!
Hi Skip. Very interesting. This comes on the heels of a fascinating book I stumbled across by Carl Gallups entitled Gods & Thrones. He develops the idea of sons of God in a lot more detail from the biblical text and should be read by every believer in my opinion. Many thanks for your willingness to tackle topics like this that verge on the heretical in order to get to the truth.
Seems like there is a ‘spirit’ in the air that is blowing the sands of ancient deceptions….following this thread.
Or perhaps, The Spirit is blowing the sands to expose the ancient deceptions for what they are. The deceptions have been here all along, they’ve just been repackaged in a new set of clothes. Humanism, evolution, political correctness, and on it goes.
Didn’t I just read where the Pope wants to change the part of the Lords prayer where it says “do not lead us into temptation”
Reading past the headlines, the Pope believes that God doesn’t tempt man and that the wording needs to be changed to reflect that. The Hebrew Matthew reads “do not bring us into the hands of a test”, bearing the truth of God’s testing as Scripture shows. The book “A Prayer to Our Father” by Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson presents a worthy point of view regarding this distinction.
John Crossan posits a 1st century interpretation of “the temptation of violent resistance to Rome’s violent domination. It asks God to deliver us from that evil action or that evil one. It is in other words about avoiding violence even or especially when undertaken to hallow God’s name, to establish God’s kingdom, and thereby to fulfill God’s will “as in heaven so on earth.”
Context, context, context.
I guess the question is, what’s he want to change it to?
The pope says it shouldn’t be lead us into temptation. We fall into temptation. God doesn’t push us, he says. The homey example Father James Martin (He’s a Jesuit priest, editor at large of America Magazine and author of the book “Jesus: A Pilgrimage.”) came up with a few days ago was, if you’re crossing the street – you’re a child crossing the street with your parent. You would say to your parent, “protect me from the traffic” – you know, the oncoming traffic. You would never say, do not lead me into the traffic.
“It is not He that pushes me into temptation and then sees how I fall,” the pontiff said, NPR reported. “A father does not do this. A father quickly helps those who are provoked into Satan’s temptation.” He apparently said, additionally, that the “temptation” phrase is a translation from the Latin Vulgate in the 4th century.
French Catholics on Sunday accepted a new translation of the “Our Father,” which now states, “do not let us fall into temptation.”
Skip actually addresses this (as well as the rest of the prayer) in his Matthew teaching which I highly recommend
When considering this issue, one must take Matthew 4:1 into account (and Job).
The bottom line is that the Greek in Matthew 6:13 is pretty clear, and the translations we have are just fine. Dr. Daniel B. Wallace wrote about this just yesterday:
danielbwallace dot com/2017/12/12/pope-francis-the-lords-prayer-and-bible-translation/
But, then see third comment by Marco Antonio.
Thank you, Craig! That article is exceptional and very thought-provoking.
You’re welcome!
Due to the fact that there seems to be several Pams on this site ( were probably all about the same age as a side note) . Some do not use last names, hope it doesn’t confuse things.
Allegorically speaking the sons on Israel were the forerunners for the twelve apostles in all ways. Benjamin represents Paul’s calling the last process before deliverance. Please note just my interpretation on apostolic indoctrination…
Maybe we should look at what the sons of Israel represented to find out what the boundaries were as within these we are called or guided through the gates into our tasking in Christ…
Could the implicit divine beings be humans?