Deuteronomy 32:39 is often cited as proof that no one else can be legitimately be a god (mighty one) except Jehovah.
"Gods" above is ELOHIM indefinite in the Hebrew, evidently being used in a plural sense. Obviously, in Deuteronomy 32:39, Jehovah is not referring to the angelic host, who are ELOHIM in Psalm 8:5. Nor is it excluding Moses from being ELOHIM before Pharoah. (Exodus 7:1) In context, God is probably referring to the false gods mentioned in verses 16,17,21. The idols of the nations have no might in them at all, thus they are not actually gods. These are those that are called "gods" as Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 8:1-6 and Galatians 4:8. None of these "gods" are with Jehovah.
If one, however, should apply Supreme Being to ELOHIM in Deuteronomy 32:29, there is indeed definitely no other Supreme Being with Jehovah. The angels, although ELOHIM, are not Supreme in their being, nor is Jehovah's firstborn son Supreme in his being. Some like to point out that in Deuteronomy 32:39, "gods" has the small letter "g", not the capital letter "G", and thus that it is not being used in the sense of Supreme Beings. The point evidently is that GOD applied to Jesus cannot be used in the sense of a small letter "g". In reality, this is irrelevant.
Ancient Hebrew does not distinguish between "Gods" and "gods", since it did not have the capitalization that we usually use in English and which is common in most languages today. While the Hebrew and Greek do not show such a difference, we can agree that in English translators should use the lower "g" when it is not speaking of Jehovah, the God of the Messiah, or else they should render it with some form of might, power or strength. We believe that since Jesus is not the "one God" of whom are all (1 Corinthian 8:6), that any application of the words for "God/god" to Jesus should be with a lower "g", or else with some form of "might, power or strength". Translators do this in many cases, but usually fail to do so when it comes to Jesus, because of the preconceived concept that Jesus is the Supreme Being. Nevertheless, in Deuteronomy 32:39, ELOHIM could be referring Supreme Beings, or it could be referring the idol gods of the nations.
Regardless, Deuteronomy 32:39 cannot mean that forms of EL, including forms of ELOHIM, cannot be used of others than Jehovah or false gods, since the Bible does make use of forms EL in many ways other than designating Supreme Being or false gods. There is nothing in Deuteronomy 32:39 that forbids the usage of the Hebrew and Greek words often translated as "God/god" of others, including Jesus, in a sense of might or power without meaning the Supreme Mighty One. This we have shown in our study on The Hebraic Usage of the Titles for "God" as well as several other studies.
The phrase "I am he" is often connected with John 8:58 or one of the scriptures where Jesus uses the Greek phrase EGO EIMI, which can mean "I am he. In Deuteronomy 32:39, Jehovah does not use EHJEH of Exodus 3:14, and he is not speaking of his name. The Hebrew has no corresponding verb for "am", but a verb is called for in most languages. Thus, the Christianized LXX uses the Greek verb usually referred to as EIMI. This is not a use of the Holy Name; Jehovah was simply declaring Himself to be the Supreme Being.
See also our resource page for links to some of our studies related to "Ehjeh and I am"
Comments
Post a Comment