a small Hebrew bit (with a side of theology)

[cellio]

Sunday night at one point Johan asked me about the fact that one of the names of God in the torah is a plural form. We were talking about creation and I said that the verb is singular (bara), but that didn't provide a fully-satisfactory answer.

Since then, though, I had a small revelation while studying Hebrew: there are other words that appear plural but aren't really, like mayim (water). More specifically, the ones I've encountered so far are collective nouns.

I don't know yet if that's a general rule, nor if every use of that name of God takes a singular verb, but the idea of a collective God, representing all of the various divine aspects bundled up together, is kind of interesting.

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

A tad Christian triune, though. :-)

[cellio]

They took the idea from us and then mutated it.

There is one God (not three), but Judaism has long distinguished between the Shechina and the king and the judge and the source of compassion and... I gather that the kabbalists did a lot with this, but I don't know much about that.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Back when I believed, I thought of it more as "God as Swiss Army Knife". If you know what I mean. (I'm not being facetious.)

[cellio]

Yes, I agree -- God isn't a composite of several gods; rather he is one being with several faces (not literally) or aspects. But that little corkscrew bit on the knife does not stand alone.

[madfilkentist]

I don't have a Bible handy, but there's also a place in Genesis where God says that if Adam eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he will be "like one of us."

I suspect this represents a carryover from earlier polytheistic thinking.

[kfitzwarin.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's interesting. (As in, must think about that more when I'm not at work and trying to do work interesting). Thanks.

[ellipticcurve.livejournal.com]

Are you sure they're collective nouns rather than non-countable nouns? (English has the countable/non-countable distinction, but only (I think) with fewer/less.)

[siderea]

Ever read L'Engel's A Wind In The Door? The one in which one of the characters is "a seraphim"?

אלקים

[(Anonymous)]

You'll notice that in the parts of Genesis where G-d is creating, the Torah uses the word אלקים. It's essentially G-d in the capacity of ruler over all the various facets of nature. It is indeed a collective noun, which I guess is why ברא is used and not ברים. That's the explanation I got :)

Hope that helps.

- Inkhorn