Nonsense!
The very name of God is plural in the OT. אלהים (Elohim) has the masculine plural ending "im" does it not? Ever wonder why?
Gen 1:26 says:
ויאמר אלהים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness"
God = אלהים (Elohim)
said = אמר (Amar) in the singular
But
make = עשה (asah) is in the plural and "in our image" and "after our likeness" בצלמנו כדמותנו (betsalmenu, kidmutenu) have the 1st person plural suffix נו(nu).
Note the mixture of singular and plural. God is a singularity that is also a plurality. This the God presented in the Hebrew Bible. אלהים (Elohim) plural is אחד (echad) singular.
More examples can be adduced. The doctrine of the Trinity is in both the OT and the NT but is clearly denied in the Quran. Thus the Quran is not a revelation from God.
Recently I heard a bible teacher state that the suffix “IM” indicated a plurality of ‘THREE or more’ in Hebrew. I did some searching and it looks like “IM” does / may indicate a ‘plurality of THREE or more’. This number division between singular, double, and plurality of three or more is not unique to Hebrew, other languages of the region and era share this trait. I had previously misunderstood plurality to meant a simple plurality of TWO or more. The following is far from being definitive on the subject, but interesting none the less.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heritagebbc.com/archive3/0237.html
We have two numbers in English language: singular, meaning one; plural, two or more. In the Hebrew, however, we have three numbers: singular, meaning one; dual, equaling two; plural, denoting three or more. Thus, “Elohim” is a plural noun — three or more.
I found the following book from 1903 on google books that might support the bible teacher’ statements. The book was written by a President of the University of Chicago and praised by Prof T.K. Cheyne at Oxford -- "No better books, introductory to Hebrew, exist".
"Elements of Hebrew - An inductive method" By William Rainey Harper.
Section XII, Nouns, Ch 121 The Formation of Cases
Pg 138
The Hebrew has two genders, masculine and feminine; and three numbers, - singular, dual and plural.
…
1. The masculine singular has no particular indication, ...
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Pg 139
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5. The dual, used chiefly of objects which go in pairs, is indicated by the endings,
a. XXX (ayim) in the Absolute state.
b. XXX (e) in the Constructive state.
…
4. The masuline plural is indicated by the endings,
a. XXX (im) in the Absolute state (sect 123.1)
b. XXX(e) in the Construct state (sect 123.2)
Note.-Many masculine nouns have plurals in oth, and many femine nouns have plurals in im.
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[NOTE: I could not duplicate all the hebrew characters accurately so I used either a generic X or a close alpha character as poor substitutes.]
Peace - May each of you see Yeshua soon.
-Trumpets At Eventide