Eclectic Topics in no Particular Order
Various Topics Discussed
/>
Someone asked if there are not places in the Torah where two or more gods are spoken about? The example given was B’reshit / Genesis 35:1:
“G-d said to Jacob, 'Set out and go up to Beth El. Remain there and make an altar to the G-d who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.'” Of course there is only one G-d! The idea that there are two or more gods is ridiculous. The Torah tells us time and time and time again that there is only one real G-d. “So said the L-rd. . . the ONE who formed you from the womb, “I (singular) am the L-rd . . .Who spread out the earth ALONE (לְבַדִּ֔י).” Yeshayahu / IIsaiah 44:24, and we are told G-d is one (D'varim / Deuteronomy 6:4). But now see – it is I! I am the only One! There are no (other) gods with me! (Deuteronomy 32:39). Over and over and over again we are told that G-d is ONE, alone, by Himself – SINGULAR. The Torah is also replete with false gods people worshiped (Ba’al, Moloch) and sadly people still pray to false gods to this very day.
Why is G-d repeating His name? Two reasons:
The Talmud tells us (Sotah3a) that when the Torah repeats something it is specifically to TEACH us something. “Every passage in the Torah that was stated and repeated, was repeated only for the novel element introduced therein.” What is the novel element in this verse? Why is G-d repeating His name? G-d is teaching Jacob and us a lesson: when you make an altar make it ONLY to the one true G-d, not to any false gods. This is one reason it is so critical to not rely on translations but to learn both Hebrew and Torah. If you read this passage in Hebrew you would have known there is no possibility of two gods. The very FIRST word in verse one would eliminate any possibility of “two gods” to someone reading the verse. The very first word is וַיֹּאמֶר / vayomer. Vayomer is SINGULAR. Singular as in “one G-d.” In B'reshit / Genesis 35:1 we have the singular "vayomer elohim" (“and G-d said”)—not vayom'ru (the plural inflection “and they said”). Singular! Alone. One G-d. There are over eleven hundred instances of the word elohim governing an explicitly singular verb-inflexion when speaking of G-d. This is a very good example of how translations can be very misleading!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
|