The Names of God – Part 3

Elohim

The first name for God in the Bible is Elohim. “In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.”

This is the creator God. The God who made the Universe. But the word is unique in the ancient Semitic languages in that the ending is plural masculine. That is not to say that God is male, as the word is also used as a general term for gods, as it is the plural of El.

What is interesting is the unique use in Hebrew of the plural for a singular God. It does not mean gods when referring to the God of Israel, the word is used mainly with singular verb forms, adjectives and pronouns. There is plurality in the Godhead.

The Cappadocian Fathers in the fourth century have described the two and fro nature of the Trinity of God  as being like a circle dance, a sort of ebbing and flowing of dancers, but it is not just three people dancing: God is the dance itself. We are invited to join in with the dance, to be intimate with the Godhead.

A Prayer:

Holy God. One-in-three, three-in-one.

Thank you for inviting me,
someone who is far from your holiness,
someone with no holiness of my own
except for what you give me,
to join you in the eternal dance.

Amen.