Servant of Christ

Submitted by Sohail (United Kingdom), Dec 14, 2006 at 10:14

Since you couldn't be bothered to give the chapters of the verses you were referring to I could only explain the following:

Genesis 1:1 (KJV) "1 In the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth."

Hebrew has several words for G-d. A common one is the word used here in Genesis 1:1 -- Elohim. The grammatical form of this word is plural, leading missionaries to say that G-d must therefore be plural. What they don't realize is that many Hebrew words have a plural form but a singular meaning -- for example water (myim), heaven (shamyim), life (chaiim), and face (panim) to mention a few. "Yesh l'yilda panim yafot" means the girl has a pretty face. Using the missionary logic, one would say something like that the poor girl is two faced.

Genesis 1:26 (KJV) "26 And G-d said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion"

The assertion here is that because the verb is in plural form, it indicates that G-d is plural. This reasoning seems extreme to me. A Jewish Rabbi said that G-d is talking to the angels, and enlisting their cooperation in the creation of humans, which seems much simpler.

I am surprised any missionary would use this, since it states the oneness of G-d. However, some, (I don't know how many) retranslate it to: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our G-d, the LORD is a compound unity." This sounds sort of funny, but they are literally trying to change the meaning of the word "ehad" from "one" to "compound unity".

By this logic, three minus two would equal a compound unity, and dance instructors would give their students the beat by counting "compound unity, two three." The number 21 (esreem v ehad) would be twenty plus a compound unity.

Biblical Hebrew is the same. For example:

• Kings 2 Chapter 24: 18 "Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-one years in Jerusalem." This is the most difficult because to say that the 'one' here means a compound unity would require the 'twenty' to be the same. You Christian missionaries would have to invent a whole new system of numbers

Proverbs 30: (KJV) 2 Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. 3 I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. 4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

You Christians seize on the word "son," saying that since the fourth verse describes things only G-d can do, this 'son' must be Jesus.

The full context is different. The writer, modestly proclaiming his own ignorance, asks who can do all of these wonderful things. In effect, he says, "I am ignorant and do not know what man can do this. Can you identify him for me? Can you identify his family?" Of course, no one can do these things except G-d. Asking for the name of a family member is somewhat comparable to the modern phrase "You and what army?" to indicate something which someone cannot do. The writer is emphasizing that humans can not match the abilities of the divine. It is a rhetorical question, sarcastic in nature, and has no answer. That is the point.

Note just two verses later: "6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." To say the chapter refers to Jesus is indeed an addition.

The most thing is to remember the following verse:

19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

Sohail

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