Multiple Yahwehs Revealed – Part 2

After your perusing of Part 1 we are now ready for the next installment of our investigation regarding the issue of the possibility of more than one Yahweh in Scriptures.

Picking up from where we left off in Part 1 what we want to do next is to recognize that the true nature of Yahweh eloahim is revealed by the evidence that eloahim is the generic term for a family of ruach beings headed by a supreme eloah named Yahweh.

The subordinates and supernumeraries within this family are in Hebrew often individually referred to as a מלאך (malak), plural מלאכים (malakim), translated into Greek as ἄγγελος (angelos), and into English as “angel.”

A malak is someone you “despatch as a deputy; a messenger,” especially an “ambassador” sent by Yahweh. The word is applied to both ruach beings (angels) and humans, although each case is easily distinguished by its context. Originally, it was an office one holds and not a generic term.

Angels
In early works, the word “malak” or “angel,” when referencing a ruach being, was more restricted in its use and applied only to those who held the office of messenger. In later centuries, the word expanded in scope, becoming almost a generic term, and therefore applied inclusively to all ruach beings except for father Yahweh.

Yet, it is manifest that humans who are called angels are not ruach beings. It is a complex usage of a term which over the centuries collected to itself different meanings held equally at the same time. A good comparison is the term “Jewish.” It can mean either a religion or it can refer to one’s family heritage. Yet not all people practicing Judaism are descended from the ancient Jewish people, and not all descendants of the ancient Jewish nation practice Judaism.

That ruach angels are members of the eloahim is amply demonstrated in a number of ways. First, a passage found in Psalms, which refers to the transformation of the messiah into his human form, reads:

For you have made him a little less than from eloahim, and have crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalms 8:5)

When this passage was quoted as part of a discussion regarding Yahushua the messiah’s preexistence as an eloah being, the Greek of both Hebrews 2:5-9, and the Greek Septuagint (LXX) versions rendered the above Hebrew passage to read:

You did make him a little less than ἀγγέλους (angelous; angels) with glory and honor you have crowned him. (LXX Psalms 8:5)

Sons of Eloahim
Eloahim, therefore, is clearly recognized as a term equivalent to angels. This same understanding comes with the expressions “sons of אלהים (eloahim)” and “sons of האלהים (ha-eloahim; the eloahim) (see Gen. 6:2, 4; Job 1:6).”

In Hebrew thought, if one is the son of something, he is, in fact, generically the same or part of that thing. In Hebrew, to say that someone is “the son of man (adam),” for example, is to acknowledge that person as a human being descended from the first man, Adam.

The expression “sons of the eloahim” or “sons of eloahim,” therefore, is but another way of saying that these beings are part of the eloahim. Job, for example, states that “all the sons of eloahim shouted for joy” when the foundations of the earth were laid (i.e., at a time before any man walked upon the face of the earth) (Job 38:7).

The ancient LXX version translates this verse to read, “all my angels praised me with a loud voice (LXX Job 38:7).” In Job 1:6, and 2:1, the expression “sons of האלהים (the eloahim)” are rendered in the LXX as “angels of theos (the deity).” The expression “sons of האלהים (the eloahim)” is also found in the story from Genesis 6:2-5, with regard to the sons of “the eloahim” who married the daughters of Adam.

As a result, it is of no small consequence that these sons of the eloahim referred to in Genesis 6 are called “many angels of theos (the deity)” in the version of this story as found in Josephus, as “angels of theos” by both the Alexandrian LXX and Philo, “the angels of the sovereign (i.e., Yahweh), who were called Watchers” by the book of Jubilees, “the angels, the children of the heavens,” by  1 Enoch, and as the “angels” who had “fallen away” from the deity within the discussion given by the second century Christian writer Justin Martyr. As a result, biblical scholars like R. A. Stewart conclude that “sons of (the) eloahim ” is but an expression that “means simply angels (New Bible Dict. p. 37).”

These angels, like father Yahweh, are described as ruach (spirit, energy) in substance (Ps. 104:4; see Heb. 1:7), male in gender (see Gen. 19:1-8), human-like in appearance (see Dan. 7:13), and, as long as they remain with father Yahweh in the third heavens, they are unable to die (Luke 20:36).

They are said to be at present “greater in power and might” than humans (2 Pet. 2:11), and hold this world (but not the world to come) in subjection (Heb. 2:5-7).

Angels are also restricted from marriage with humans or among themselves (Mark 12:25), being married within the eloahim family to father Yahweh (in the same sense that the Assembly is married to Yahushua the messiah, being part of his greater body) (Rev. 21:9; Eph. 5:23).

Classes of Angels
Angels are subdivided into classes. The most powerful are the archangels (chief angels) (see Jude 1:9; 1Thes.4:16), also described as שרפים (sheraphim; English “seraphim” and “seraphs”) and כרבים (kerubim; English “cherubim” and “cherubs”); beneath them are watchers, whose job it is to observe human activity (see Ps. 91:11; Matt. 18:10; Dan. 4:13).

Interestingly, the LXX does not translate the term עיר (ayr; watcher) as angel but as watcher (see LXX Dan. 4:13, 17), reflecting the early view that the watchers were a separate office from those called angels. Later, in the book of Jubilees, they were defined as a class of angels.

The office of watchers includes angels who are assigned to children and report their treatment back to father Yahweh (Matt. 18:10). Angels also ordain matters to and communicate with mankind (see Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19). Others are ministering angels, acting as public servants in the government of Yahweh (see Heb. 1:14; Matt. 4:11; Mark 1:13).

Scriptures also speak of “principalities and powers in heavenly places (Eph. 3:10),” referring to them as heavenly “angels and authorities and powers (1 Pet. 3:22),” thus showing various political positions among the ruach beings.

Demons
In the Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament documents, some of these angels are classified as demons, a Greek word meaning “gods.” They are called שדים (shedim; destroyers) and שעירים (sheirim; violent ones) in the Hebrew text (Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:17).

According to 1 Corinthians, with support from the book of Revelation, sacrifices made to idols by the nations are, in fact, sacrifices to these demons. These demons are not only the originators of cults but are the gods standing behind false religions (1 Cor. 10:18-21).

For that reason, in 1 Chronicles and Psalms we read that “all the eloahi of the peoples (var. “nations”) are worthless idols (1 Chron. 16:26; Ps. 96:5),” while in the LXX these two passages were translated to mean “all the deities of the nations are idols” and “all the deities of the nations are demons.” To avoid this error of building a religion based upon angels, we are advised by the apostle Saul not to follow any cult of the angels (Col. 2:18).

The body of these sinning angels or demons are grouped under the term ha-satan (the satan). These demons, who are also called “unclean ruach beings (spirits),” represent ruach beings of the eloahim who broke from their sacred duties and oaths and, as a result, were subsequently divorced from the unity of the Yahweh eloahim family.

Yahweh Among the Eloahim
Father Yahweh is not an angel (for angels are messengers sent by a superior), but he is the chief member of the eloahim family. The book of Psalms for example, not only reveals the great number of these eloahim beings in the single eloahim family but records the fact that Yahweh dwells among them.

The chariots of eloahim (LXX “the deity”) are an abundance of thousands repeated, and Yahweh is among them. (Psalms 68:17)

The King James Version, the Scofield Reference Edition, and other versions have translated the first part of this verse  to read, “The Chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.” Scofield also admits in his footnotes that this passage deals with the angels.

That adonai Yahweh eloahi, the el in the collective sense, is the headship among the eloahim is also verified by Joshua 22:22, when it twice states, “The el (mighty one) of eloahim (LXX “deity”) is Yahweh.” In Psalms 86:8 we read:

None is like you among eloahim (LXX “the deities”), adonai, and nothing is like your works.

In another Psalm we read:

For a great el is Yahweh and a great king above all eloahim (LXX “deities”). (Psalms 95:3)

In both 1 Chronicles and Psalms they tell us, “Yahweh is great, and to be much praised, and he is to be respected above all eloahim  (LXX “deities”) (1Chron. 16:25; Ps. 96:4).” Psalms 97:7, also distinguishes the status of Yahweh from the vast majority of the eloahim when it gives:

All eloahim (LXX “angels”) bow down before him (Yahweh). (Psalms 97:7)

In this instance, “all eloahim” cannot include carved idols and other human inventions, for such things are not living or capable of any action. They cannot bow down to anyone. But “all eloahim” certainly would include the demons who, as we have stated above, stand behind the idols and many of the false religious practices in the world.

As such, “all eloahim” can only refer to those living beings who are actually capable of bowing down before Yahweh (including both the righteous and wicked angels). It was “all eloahim (LXX “all my angels”)” who shouted for joy at the foundation of the earth (Job 38:7).

Father Yahweh Supreme
The ultimate leadership or head of the true eloahim (i.e., all of the eloah beings who remain loyal and in unity with father Yahweh) is father Yahweh. The Hebrew term אב (ab) means “father” in the sense of being “a progenitor, ancestor . . . an originator” and “a head, chief, or ruler” of the tribe.

Yahweh is the creator and father of both the ruach angels and adam (mankind). For example, in Hebrews 12:9, he is called “the father of ruach (spirit) beings” (i.e., the angels). In 1 Corinthians we read:

For even if indeed there are those called deities (eloahim), whether in the heavens or on the earth, as there are many deities (eloahi) and many sovereigns (adonai), but to us there is one deity (eloah), the father, out of whom are all things. (1 Cor. 8:5-6)

Malachi, meanwhile, argues, “Is there not one father to us all? Has not one el created us (Mal. 2:10)?” Mark 12:32, states, “There is one deity, and there is none other.” At the same time Isaiah points out, “You, Yahweh, are our father, our redeemer, from olam (the world-age) is your name (Isa. 9:6).”

Father Yahweh is described by the apostle Saul as, “one deity and father of all, who is over all (Eph. 4:6).” By saying “all” he has included the angels as well as men. The prophet Isaiah also notes that the messiah “is the counselor of el, the valiant warrior OF THE PERPETUAL FATHER, the prince of peace (Isa. 9:6).”

Father Yahweh, as we have already indicated above, is also known in Aramaic as אלהא עליא (eloaha alia; the most high eloaha) (Dan. 3:26),” and in Hebrew as אל עליך (el alyun; the most high el) (Gen. 14:18-22),” and יהוה עליוך  (Yahweh alyun; the most high Yahweh) (Ps. 7:17, 47:2).”

By saying “most high” these passages also indicated that, at minimum, there is at least one other, if not more, el called Yahweh who is not as high.

We will address this issue as we proceed. For now, we merely need to point out that all of the loyal eloahim (angels) of the heavens, as well as all those on the earth among men who are loyal to Yahweh, carry father Yahweh’s name as their cognomen.

Paul writes:

For this cause I bow my knees to THE FATHER of our sovereign, Yahushua the messiah, FROM WHOM the whole family in the heavens and upon the earth is named. (Eph. 3:14-15)

Summation of Part 2
So far, this is what we have uncovered:

The evidence proves that “the eloahim” is a family of eloah (ruach) beings led by their perpetual father, also called “the most high eloah,” “most high el,” and the “most high Yahweh.” All those angels subject and joined to him in the eloahim are his sons—the sons of eloahim.

Those demons who have forsaken their first estate and who wish to be venerated as deities are themselves no longer part of the true eloahim, the cult of angels being forbidden (Col. 2:18).

Therefore, since the angels are unable to save anyone, and those desiring to lead their own cult have separated themselves from the unity of the true eloahim, they are called “not eloahim,” that is, false eloahim (Jer. 2:11; Isa. 37:19; 1 Cor. 10:19-21).

Time to take another break everyone.

When you’re ready just proceed onward to our final installment of this series, “Yahweh or Yahwehs? – Part 3.” This is where all the evidence will come together which will define the concept of “Yahweh eloahim” and allow us to determine if in fact there is more than one Yahweh found in Scriptures.