Who exactly are Elohim?

[Albalida]

According to A History of God by Karen Armstrong, the Jewish religion had its roots in pagan polytheism. An "elohim" was merely the worshipper's favorite god, like the Ishta Devata of the Hindus or the Patron/Patroness of Western pagan religions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnnWbkMlbg

In the ancient Canaanite beliefs, "elohim" was the word used to refer to their pantheon of gods. They would be the children of El (also called Elyon - Most High, or El Elyon - God Most High), and the sons of El would make up the divine council (sort of like the Olympian concept).

If you know where to look in the Bible, you can still find remnants of these leftover polytheistic beliefs. One such example is Psalms 82.

Psalm 82
1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the gods:
2 “How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The gods know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “I said, ‘You are gods;
you are all sons of Elyon.’
7 But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like one of the princes.”
8 Rise up, gods, and judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

Here the sons of El would be gathered for a meeting of the divine council, essentially getting chewed out. In their beliefs, each of the sons of El had been given an area and peoples to rule over, but apparently they had been doing a bad job of it. This division of mankind survives in scripture as well, through the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9
8 When Elyon gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of El.
9 For Yahweh’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.

(note the inheritance mentioned in both at the ends of both scriptures pasted here)

In Genesis, the Table of Nations lists 70 nations as having come about as humanity moved on and repopulated after the flood (this number is 72 in the Septuagint, but that is believed to be a mistake, with a name duplicate).

Why that "70" figure is interesting though is because El was believed to have 70 sons in the Canaanite beliefs. So if El had 70 sons, and mankind was divided up by the number of sons of El, than it makes sense for the Table of Nations to list 70 nations, and that there would be references to the nations being an inheritance. These aren't the only remnants scattered about, but you can only find them if you know what to look for, and if you refer to the Hebrew text (rather than English translation).

[CrystalSong]

How fascinating, thank you for this!

Originally Posted by simcau

In the ancient Canaanite beliefs, "elohim" was the word used to refer to their pantheon of gods. They would be the children of El (also called Elyon - Most High, or El Elyon - God Most High), and the sons of El would make up the divine council (sort of like the Olympian concept).

If you know where to look in the Bible, you can still find remnants of these leftover polytheistic beliefs. One such example is Psalms 82.

Psalm 82
1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the gods:
2 “How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The gods know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “I said, ‘You are gods;
you are all sons of Elyon.’
7 But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like one of the princes.”
8 Rise up, gods, and judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

Here the sons of El would be gathered for a meeting of the divine council, essentially getting chewed out. In their beliefs, each of the sons of El had been given an area and peoples to rule over, but apparently they had been doing a bad job of it. This division of mankind survives in scripture as well, through the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9
8 When Elyon gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of El.
9 For Yahweh’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.

(note the inheritance mentioned in both at the ends of both scriptures pasted here)

In Genesis, the Table of Nations lists 70 nations as having come about as humanity moved on and repopulated after the flood (this number is 72 in the Septuagint, but that is believed to be a mistake, with a name duplicate).

Why that "70" figure is interesting though is because El was believed to have 70 sons in the Canaanite beliefs. So if El had 70 sons, and mankind was divided up by the number of sons of El, than it makes sense for the Table of Nations to list 70 nations, and that there would be references to the nations being an inheritance. These aren't the only remnants scattered about, but you can only find them if you know what to look for, and if you refer to the Hebrew text (rather than English translation).

Originally Posted by jordank

Hello
I want to know who exactly are Elohim? I have heard that are very evolved.

The source for the Elohim is Sumerian

"The term used often in the Old Testament (and other texts outside of it as in the Muslim Allah = Elah) for the Lord. This is an incorrect usage, as the term is plural and means ‘Shining Ones’.

We can see this plurality in the text from Genesis 1:26: ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ And again in Genesis 6:2 ‘The sons of god saw the daughters of men that they were fair..’ This term ‘sons of god’ is literally ‘sons of gods’ and comes from ben ha-elohim, ‘sons of the shining ones’.

The term in fact seems to have spread around the globe with man in his very language.

• The Sumerian EL means simply bright or shining
• the Old Irish Aillil means shining
• Old Cornish EL means shining
• Elf means shining - hence Elves as tall/mysterious angelic beings
• Inca Illa is bright or to shine
• Babylonian Ellu is to shine,

...to name just a few that have sprung up worldwide from the same Sumerian source.



It's also the source for the word 'ang-el' (who shine) and is included in some of the names of the angels, like Gabri-el, Azaz-el. The Shining Ones are mentioned in most religions across the planet. There's also a couple of books about them, Graham Hancock for one did a lot of research on then and their influence is very extensive. Alternative Genesis has a more objective translation - http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/genesis.php

Originally Posted by Greenslade

• Elf means shining - hence Elves as tall/mysterious angelic beings

Just a slight correction Greenslade.
The English word "elf" is the modern form of Old English "aelf" which referred to many types of supernatural creatures including goblins, sprites and incubi.
While its original root may be from the Sumerian for bright, sprites were thought tiny, not tall, and incubi were dark beings, not bright.

[loopylucid]

I know nothing about this topic but finding the info coming through very interesting :) Learn something new everyday huh :)
Loopy :)