Elohim

**Elohim**, also known as **God**, **the LORD**, **God Almighty**, **Elohay**, **JEHOVAH**, and **God of Jeshurun**, is the first figure mentioned in the *Bible* and also the creator of the universe.

## Description

In the beginning, Elohim created the Heavens and the Earth, and while the Earth was without form, Elohim created Light and separated it from the Darkness, calling the Light "Day" and the Darkness "Night". After Day and Night were established, so were evening and morning, resulting in the first day. On the second day, Elohim created a vault called "sky" to separate the waters from the water. On the third day, Elohim allowed the water under the sky to gather into one place, allowing the ground to be dry, He then called the dry "land" and the gathered waters "sea". Elohim then made it so the land to grow vegetation and plants to flourish, allowing fruits to grow on the trees. On the fourth day, Elohim created all of the lights in the night sky, many of which are normal stars, and two of which being greater lights- a greater light to govern the Day and a lesser light to govern the Night; the Sun and Moon respectively. On the fifth day, Elohim created the creatures of the sea and all of the winged birds of the sky, making it so the water teamed with all living creatures and so the birds could fly in the sky. Elohim the blessed these creatures and told them to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the seas and increase the amount of birds on Earth.

On the sixth day, Elohim created the living creatures and wild animals according to their kind, allowing them to live on land. Elohim then said "Let us make mankind in our image," creating mankind in His own image. He then gave all the living creatures the plants and fruits for them to consume. And finally, on the seventh day, Elohim had finished His work, He saw all that He had created, in all it's vast array. He then rested on this day, blessing that day and making it holy in the process.

From this point on Elohim rarely takes place in the events of His creation, seemingly being replaced with Yahweh for the rest of the *Bible*. This has made researching this entity incredibly difficult, as the term God, and therefore Elohim, is used multiple times outside of the context of it being His name (the term Elohim can be used as either the name of the individual, or just used as a term for deities). In the *Book of Genesis*, He walked alongside Enoch and took him directly to heaven alive, told Noah to make an ark for the coming flood, created the rainbow as a covenant between Him and all living creatures of the land, ordered circumcision in order to keep said covenant, destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, told Abraham to sacrifice his son (Isaac) in the region of Moriah, wrestled with Jacob, helped Jacob in his journey towards Bethel, and lead Jacob back to his son Joseph in Egypt.

By the *Book of Exodus*, Elohim started to appear less and less, researching Him becomes more difficult as Yahweh starts being referred to as God in the third person and vise versa. Elohim gave the midwives of Egypt houses as a reward for being faithful, lead the Israelites towards the Red Sea, and wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger seemingly alongside Yahweh.

In the *Book of Leviticus*, Elohim is only mentioned once, and it is by way of reminding others who established the covenant between flesh and spirit. In the *Book of Numbers*, Elohim came unto Balaam, and persuaded him into not placing a curse on the Israelites. The next night, Elohim told Balaam to go with the servants of Balak, but for some reason got mad when Balaam followed those exact orders.

In the *Book of Judges*, to prove that He would save Israel by the hand of Gideon, He caused rain to occur to wet the ground but not moisten a piece of fleece. Elohim never appears in either of the *Books of Samuel*, only being mentioned, such as being the one who changed the heart of Saul. In the first *Book of Kings*, Elohim appears to Solomon in a dream so that Solomon could ask Him to make Solomon a better ruler to govern over His people, Elohim then fulfilled his requests and Solomon woke up. In the same book, Elohim gave Solomon an adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, because Solomon kept worshiping other gods than Yahweh or Elohim.

In the first *Book of Chronicles*, Elohim helped the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh fight against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab because His name was cried during the battle, and the battle became Elohim's. In the same book, a song was played to Elohim by all of Israel before Yahweh smote them, helped David take back the ark of God from the Philistines, helped the Levites while they were carrying the ark of the covenant, smote Israel for King David's command, sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, and blessed Obed-Edom.

Elohim has shown a more merciful behavior, at least when compared to Yahweh, His best example being when he forgave Abimelech for the sin of adultery, since Abimelech didn't know the woman he slept with, Sarah, was married. Other examples include leading Hagar to a well of water after He heard her son Ishmael crying and gave the Egyptian midwives families (or houses depending on the translation). It is said that Elohim doesn't lie because He is not human, nor does He ever change His mind since He is not a son of man, any promise He makes He shall also fulfill. Despite this, Elohim has gotten angry at His subjects before, whether or not it was justifiable anger is up to the interpreter.

It is possible that Elohim isn't as all powerful as most religions would like to believe. Some examples of His lack of omnipotence or omniscience would be when He had to "remember" something (meaning He had the capacity to forget), and when he lost against in a wrestling match against Jacob. Despite this, it is known that He holds power greater than anything else in heaven, which is why He renders judgement among the Divine Council.

Elohim has almost never been described physically. At multiple points in *Exodus*, "the finger of God [Elohim]" is mentioned, and at another point Moses saw Elohim with pavement under His feet that was like lapis llazuli, as bright as the blue sky. This means that Elohim had a physical form that is able to be seen, and that this form has hands and feet.

## Appearances

### Genesis

* Chapter 1
* Chapter 2
* Chapter 5
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 7
* Chapter 8
* Chapter 9
* Chapter 17
* Chapter 19
* Chapter 20
* Chapter 21
* Chapter 22
* Chapter 25
* Chapter 30
* Chapter 31
* Chapter 32
* Chapter 35
* Chapter 46

### Exodus

* Chapter 1
* Chapter 2
* Chapter 3
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 13
* Chapter 19
* Chapter 20
* Chapter 24
* Chapter 32

### Numbers

* Chapter 22
* Chapter 23
* Chapter 24

### Deuteronomy

* Chapter 1
* Chapter 4
* Chapter 9
* Chapter 21
* Chapter 25
* Chapter 32

### Judges

* Chapter 4
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 7
* Chapter 8
* Chapter 9
* Chapter 13
* Chapter 15
* Chapter 16

### 2 Samuel

* Chapter 6
* Chapter 15
* Chapter 21

### 1 Kings

* Chapter 3
* Chapter 4
* Chapter 10
* Chapter 21

### 1 Chronicles

* Chapter 5
* Chapter 13
* Chapter 14
* Chapter 15
* Chapter 16
* Chapter 21
* Chapter 25
* Chapter 26

## Extra Information

* The Hebrew term Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) means "gods" or "goddesses".

## References

1. ↑ Elohim Creating Adam by William Blake. *Wikimedia Commons*
2. ↑ His Name is Elohay
3. ↑ Exodus 6:2-3 KJV
4. ↑ Deuteronomy 33:26-27 NIV
5. ↑ Genesis 1:1-23 NIV
6. ↑ Genesis 1:24-31 NIV
7. ↑ Genesis 2:1-2 NIV
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Strong's H430 - 'ĕlōhîm. *Blue Letter Bible*
9. ↑ Genesis 5:22-24 NIV
10. ↑ Genesis 6:13-16 NIV
11. ↑ Genesis 9:12-16 NIV
12. ↑ Genesis 17:9-10 NIV
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Genesis 19:28-29 NIV
14. ↑ Genesis 22:1-2 NIV
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Genesis 32:24-30 NIV
16. ↑ Genesis 35:1-5 NIV
17. ↑ Genesis 46:2-5 NIV
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Exodus 1:17-21 KJV
19. ↑ Exodus 13:17-18 NIV
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Exodus 31:18 NIV
21. ↑ Exodus 32:16 NIV
22. ↑ Leviticus 2:13 NIV
23. ↑ Numbers 22:9-12 NIV
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Numbers 22:20-22 NIV
25. ↑ Judges 6:36-40 NIV
26. ↑ 1 Samuel 10:9 NIV
27. ↑ 1 Kings 3:5-15 NIV
28. ↑ 1 Kings 11:23 NIV
29. ↑ 1 Chronicles 5:18-22 NIV
30. ↑ 1 Chronicles 13:8-12 NIV
31. ↑ 1 Chronicles 14:14-17 NIV
32. ↑ 1 Chronicles 15:26 NIV
33. ↑ 1 Chronicles 21:7 NIV
34. ↑ 1 Chronicles 21:15 NIV
35. ↑ 1 Chronicles 26:5 NIV
36. ↑ Genesis 20:3-7 NIV
37. ↑ Genesis 21:16-20 NIV
38. ↑ Exodus 1:17-21 NIV
39. ↑ Numbers 23:19 NIV
40. ↑ Genesis 8:1 NIV
41. ↑ Exodus 2:24 NIV
42. ↑ Psalms 82:1 NIV
43. ↑ Deuteronomy 4:32-34 NIV
44. ↑ Exodus 8:19 NIV
45. ↑ Exodus 24:10-11 NIV