>>>Well here is where I plus a whole host of able scholars disagree with

>>>you. El or Elohim means “the strong one” and “the covenant-keeping

>>>one”. The “im” suffix is, as you know, plural. It does refer to the

>>>Trinity …

>

>>What I do read in scriptural commentaries and language aids is that

>>the same word is used in some contexts as an honorific for “the one

>>true God”, and in other contexts as the simple plural “gods”. You have

>>to look at the context (something you seem remarkably reluctant to

>>do). In context, there is no doubt that *elohim* in Psalm 138:1 means

>>”gods”.

>

>Well I’m quite emphatic that it doesn’t. I’ve also heard this Psalm

>expounded and exegeted by an expert in Hebrew with more than fifty

>years of study and usage of the language. He says you’re wrong. I say

>you’re wrong, and I think we will leave it at that because we are not

>getting anywhere. As for my “reluctance” to look at the context, that

>is quite untrue. I have already gone to some lengths to explain what

>the Psalm is about.

FWIW. You are wrong! Your “expert” in Hebrew is wrong. Nigel is quite

correct as so are 3,300-odd years of Jewish learning and tradition.

Question: If El-him is plural as you say it does, then why did the

writer of the Torah demand emphatically that G-d is One and Only One?

Would this not have caused rather severe contortions of faith to say

one thing and mean another? Bare in mind that the trinity has never

existed in a Judaism and in fact, it is seen as idolatry.
>I notice that you didn’t explain why there are so many usages of the

>word Elohim for God. The passage I mentioned in Genesis was not

>referring to gods, it was referring to God. Are you going to now deny

>that there is such a fact as the Trinity? On the other hand, if you

>say that it is referring to God you have the problem of explaining why

>it means one thing in one place and something else in another!
El-him according to ALL the Rabbis, means great in strength and

judgement. The only time El-him is used in Scripture is when a

reference is made to BOTH these characteristics of ONE G-d at a time

of control of nature such as the splitting of the Red Sea and at a

time of punishment such as when a plague was decreed. El-him is never

used as an expression of G-dly compassion or love.
The trinity has never had any place in Judaism, but one Rabbi I heard

did say that he thought the Jewish “trinity” could be man. woman and

G-d together as partners in the fulfillment of His creation. This

raised many an eyebrow, but it did tie in with the Jewish belief that

a child has three parents; mother, father and G-d. The mother and

father give the physical qualities of the child, whilst G-d gives the

soul.
Les Brown.