Bible Study Genesis Part 22-Elohim

Genesis has a way of surprising people who were told the Old Testament is dull. We take one “small” verse, Genesis 2:4, and treat it like it matters...because it does. When the text says “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth,” we talk through why that wording feels strange, why we shouldn’t skip it DESPITE that it feels strange, and how a simple, face-value reading can be the most faithful starting point for Bible interpretation.

From there we tackle the kinds of details skeptics love to seize on, like the phrase “in the day.” We explain why that wording doesn’t contradict the six-day creation account, and why ancient idioms often carry the meaning critics pretend they don’t. Along the way, we keep setting a standard for serious Bible study: ask the hard questions, admit what you don’t know, and trust that God isn’t playing games with His Word.

Then the conversation turns to the heart of the passage: for the first time Scripture uses “LORD God,” Jehovah Elohim. We unpack why God’s names matter, how God communicates with people who can’t see or hear Him in normal ways, and why Elohim is both a powerful name for the Creator and a fascinating plural form. That leads to an essential rule for Christian doctrine: Scripture interprets Scripture. When the Bible is clear there is only one God, we reject interpretations that create contradictions and consider what Elohim may reveal about God’s triune nature.

If you care about Genesis, Creation, the names of God, and a practical method for reading hard passages without fear, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who avoids Genesis, and leave a review.

Transcript

Why God’s Word Matters

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold. And we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There's truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Starting Genesis Chapter Two

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Alright, the book of Genesis. So far, it has been a lovely book as we expected. There's a lot to learn here. We've been told, hey, listen, there's the Old Testament, it's boring, there's nothing in there for us. I think we're finding that that's quite a bit different from our experience, what we've been studying so far. We've already gone through the very first chapter in Genesis. We've really just getting started in the second chapter of Genesis. So let's jump right in. Verse 4. We've already done the first three verses. Tonight we're starting with verse four. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Now, this is a bit of an enigmatic verse. Scholars don't seem to agree on what's meant here. In fact, some even ignore it. Now, personally, I don't think it's ever a good idea to just skip over the tough verses. I don't know is a better comment on a verse than saying nothing at all. Now, of course, I sympathize with those that want to hop over the difficult passages. Anytime as a teacher, you have to admit that something that you came across in scripture doesn't make sense to you does not feel like a good way to engender your students' confidence in your abilities. But I think when it comes to the Bible, not knowing how to explain something is not such an uncommon thing. John, are you saying that there are parts of the Bible that you don't understand? I'm saying there are parts of the Bible that lots of people don't understand. And yes, that includes me. Listen, these are eternal things. These are heavenly things, these are divine things, and mortal, earthly, human minds are going to sometimes have trouble making sense of it all. But that doesn't mean we go around them. Actually, we should concentrate even harder on these tough ones. We should double our efforts. We should certainly pray over them and then expect God will help us with our understanding. After all, listen to me. It's just as important to him that we grasp his truth as it is to us. He wants us to know about him. That's why he gave us the Bible. We can trust that he's with us on this voyage of discovery. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. I think the best answer we can give as to what's going on here is to say that this verse serves as a sort of summary of what came before. The writer is telling us that what we just read is a chronicle of where everything came from. Now, the word used here in the English is generations, and it's what caused most of the confusion. But I think it's an appropriate word. Not only is Genesis a book of beginnings, as we said when we started teaching on it, but we're about to see that it's also a record of the important family relationships found in the Bible. Therefore, it's also a book of generations, not just a book of beginnings, but it's also a book of generations. We find throughout Genesis the origins of the Bible's most significant families. Here in this book of Genesis, for example, we find out about the generations of Adam, the generations of Noah, the generations of Shem, the generations of Tarak, etc. Tarak was Abraham's father. He was Abram. That's why the first part of Genesis 2.4 is so interesting and so confusing at the same time. It says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth. Admittedly, it's somewhat difficult for us to see how the word generations can actually apply to non-living things such as the heavens and the earth. And that's what's caused some of the scholarly hesitation. Well, when something seems difficult to understand, the best thing to do is to look at it as simple as possible. At the outset, don't overcomplicate. Now I'm taking time on these things because we're setting the standards for our studying. We're not going to skip over tough verses. We're going to do our best to concentrate on them. And when we do come to some of these more difficult things, we're going to find out what is the most simple explanation rather than overcomplicate things. And you know what? I think that applies to no matter what you're studying, whether it's astrophysics or holy scripture. The Bible says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth, and that's where we should begin. Start there. Take the statement as is and see what we can do with it. At its most literal, this is talking about the origins of the creation of the earth and the things above the earth. So although that may seem like an unusual thing to say, let's just take it on face value. So when it says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth, that's exactly what it means. This is the history of the creation of the heavens and the earth. Just like the Bible lists other generations, here is the list. This is the list, the generations of the heavens and the earth. And we'll leave it that simple. It's that simple. God said these are the generations. Fine, we'll say it's the generations, not try to overcomplicate it and get bogged down.

“Generations” And Verse Placement

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Now, one may question, a question we may want to ponder is why this verse is placed here. Anywhere else that the Bible speaks about the generations of any other family, the statement that reads, These are the generations of, is placed before the list of the members of that generation or the history of that family. Genesis 6, 9, these are the generations of Noah, and then comes the history of that family. Genesis 11, 10, these are the generations of Shem. And then comes the history of that family. Genesis 25, 12, these are the generations of Ishmael, and then comes Ishmael's family history. This is the typical and common way the book of Genesis handles these things. But that's not how Genesis 2.4 reads. But let me tell you, there are no hard and fast rules. We can't eliminate this just because it may be a little bit different from the others. Here's the statement. It's placed at the end of the list. Remember, the the list actually happens in chapter one, and then chapter two says, all the generations of the heaven and the earth, and it's introduced one by one. And then the statement, these are the generations, appears. So it lists everything, and then at the end it says, These are the generations. In every other situation in the Bible, the statement serves as a sort of heading or an introduction. Here it looks like a post script or summary. Now, why is that? You ready for my answer? I don't know. Some scholars maintain that somehow this statement was moved from the beginning of chapter one and placed here purposely. Again, I'm trying to get you to place flesh and blood on the authors of these books. I want you to get into their minds. I want you to think about this as being as real as any letter somebody wrote to you or a book somebody wrote. I want you to think about these people as real human beings because they were. This is what everyone says, that somehow it was this statement was moved. They're saying that the original author followed the typical pattern and placed the statement that's now contained in verse 4 of chapter 2. Originally, it was at the beginning of the book. They're saying this theory says what's now Genesis 2.4 was actually Genesis 1.1. That's the theory. But then sometime later, someone moved it. And again, as is the theory. Now, why would someone move it? Well, the assumption is that the one who did this, the one who moved this statement, did so in order that the Bible could begin with the sentence in the beginning, as we know it does today, instead of these are the generations, etc. Perhaps they thought in the beginning would be a more dramatic opening statement, more appropriate for the start of such an important chronicle, sets the mood better. Others say that the move was to affect a silkier connection between these first two major divisions of the book of Genesis. Now, in my opinion, the thought that the statement was moved for any reason doesn't make any sense. But if you held a gun to my head and make me decide, I would say that I support the first theory we discussed. I think the way things are now in this section are the way they've always been. No one moved anything. I think that the writer purposely wanted to summarize the previous section of the creation of the heavens and the earth before moving on to talk about the actual reason for creation, which was to provide a place for mankind to reside and flourish. The statement seems to make a very useful punctuation mark, effectively separating two prime topics. That's what I believe is going on here. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Another reason why we cover what may seem like tedious, unnecessary things is I want you to get used to and unafraid of asking these sorts of questions. There is an answer. It's not that the Bible is just a mishmash, it's not random placement of words and sentences. I want you to get used to asking questions. Why is that statement in chapter four? I don't understand it. Maybe you'll learn something else. That's how you learn. One more prickly thing to point out in this verse before we get to the really important part.

What “In The Day” Means

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This statement about in the day has caused some people to get a bit twisted up. The problem, according to the critic, is that it says the day, but scripture clearly says it took six days to create the heavens and the earth. Yes, people do let little things like this bother them. There are those who will seize any opportunity to find fault with Scripture. Well, the phrase the day is simply referring in a general sense to the time period of creation. I mean, we currently use the exact same verbal construct on a regular basis. In my day, we respected our parents. Back in the day, we would love to roller skate on Friday nights. Now, when those types of things are said, do you challenge the utterer, the one who made those statements by asking them to clarify, hey, buddy, what do you mean the day? Are you telling me you only went roller skating one time in your whole life? Of course you wouldn't say that. No one would. Why would you? Everyone knows what the statement means. It's not an uncommon way to reference a slice of time, right? Same thing here. There's no inconsistency. The writer is not now saying that creation took only one day. The meaning of the day is nothing but an artful reference to the time period of creation. Okay? So those two relatively minor points aside, let's read Genesis 2.4 again because there's actually something not so minor I would like to discuss. Genesis 2.4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Why God Reveals Himself By Names

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For the first time in Scripture, we are introduced to one of the most important concepts of the whole history of God's relationship to man. Here, God introduces Himself as the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim in the Hebrew. Now let me warn you, we're going to park here for a bit, at least two weeks, maybe more. We need to be clear of the type, we need to be clear of the type of God we're dealing with. And this naming convention God is introducing is vital to our ability to grasp thus just that. That's what I get for reading ahead in my notes before I've said those things. The naming convention that God is introducing is very important for us to know what kind of God we're going to be dealing with. And that's why we're spending some time on this topic of names. You see, the relationship we have with God is like no other in a very crucial way. Communication. And that presents a bit of a challenge. None of the, shall I call them, conventional methods of sharing information are available to us in this interaction we have with our Lord. We can't speak to Him in the way we're used to. We can't hear from Him in the way we're used to. We can't even exchange visual cues like facial expressions or body language. We're in a relationship with someone who is silent, invisible, and not accessible in any of the customary ways we enjoy in all of our other relationships. And in addition to all of that, you and I are incapable of overcoming those difficulties. So we have to rely on the other party to make up for this deficiency. And let's face it, this is really only challenging for one party. That's us. God doesn't have any problem, but he is, of course, aware of the issues we have. And in his omniscience and omnipotence, he has masterfully devised alternatives that work, in fact, better than any of the other communication methods we have with all the others in our life. Though we can't see him, though we can't hear him, somehow he is able to convey to us the essential information that we need in order to do what he requires of us, as well as what we need to do to keep this relationship productive. Because let's face it, that's the whole purpose of your life to produce for him, to glorify him. And so his methods of communicating with us are rather unique. For instance, he speaks to us through his spirit, he speaks to us through our prayers, he speaks to us through our praise and worship. And of course, he speaks to us through his word. He has left us a record of his dealings with the race of mankind. And in that record, he's also told us why he's dealing with the race of mankind. And therein he's also left us a list of things he expects out of us. And here's the point that I have for this section. I know it's taken me a little while to get here, but here we are. One of the most important ways our God speaks to us is through the names he gives himself in his word. And that's why Genesis 2, 4 is so significant. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Here, God is introducing for the first time one of the unique ways which he has chosen to speak to us. For the first time, he calls himself the Lord God. And by doing so, he's leaving us a message. Just one verse before, and all of the other references he's made to this point, he's restricted his name to just God. Now, let me just point out this was before he started interacting with mankind. He just referred to himself as God. But now that mankind is here, he is now Lord God. Elohim in the Hebrew. Now we've seen Elohim already. That's what is meant by God. Elohim. We've seen that many times already.

Elohim And The Plural Name

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Elohim is the name God especially uses when he's referring to his power and in this case his creative power. And let me say, Elohim is a name well suited for that. Elohim, first of all, is a plural word. Now I can't remember if we've covered this already in our study of Genesis or not. So if we have, you're gonna hear it again. If not, you're gonna love this. Now, as we said, the name Elohim is in the plural. Can you imagine if I called myself John's? Or this, or there's Catherine's over there, Barbara's, Julie's. God says, I'm Elohim. That's plural. That alone could take us a month to talk about. God is using a plural pronoun to describe himself, to identify himself, not just describe himself. He is doing that, but he's identifying himself with a plural pronoun. Doesn't that sound weird? How many times have I already said that? That just sounds weird. Now, if you and I didn't already know our Bible, we might make the mistake, as so many Bible ignorant people do, of assuming that more than one God was to be worshipped. That more than one God created the universe because Elohim, you could translate it gods. If we didn't know better, we would think he was referring to more than one God. But as I said, we know that the Bible says otherwise. The Bible is very clear on this point. For example, Isaiah 44, 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Listen to this, and beside me there is no God. How about Deuteronomy 4.39? Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath. There is none else. How about 1 Corinthians 8, 6? But to us there is but one God, the Father of whom are all things and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by him. Because we know the Bible says these things, we must therefore assume God is saying something else about himself when he uses this plural pronoun Elohim. When God is using this word Elohim as his name, we must know he can't be talking about more than one God. He couldn't be using the plural in any sense that we're used to, right? If he did, then he'd be contradicting himself. And let me tell you something. That is your key to gaining a full understanding of Scripture. If you come across something in God's word that doesn't make sense to you, then the best way, the only way to resolve it is to refer to other parts of Scripture. Scripture interprets and clarifies Scripture. If you're told something about the Bible, if someone tells you something about the Bible, if they tell you a part of the Bible means something that contradicts all other parts of Scripture on that topic, then you can, in fact, you must reject that interpretation. Many people come across this plural noun Elohim and use their own intellect while at the same time ignoring scripture to come to the conclusion that somehow there was more than one God who was responsible for creation. Well, believing such a thing is to deny all of the rest of the Bible. Therefore, we should never interpret a passage of scripture to mean something that is in direct opposition to what's said elsewhere. You got it? So I will restate our current premise. God must have meant something different when he used the plural form of the noun that means Almighty. He could not have meant that there were other gods besides himself, because that wouldn't be true. God is not one to lie, his own word says. He told us there was no other God beside himself, therefore, we must look for some other explanation. But you may ask, why would God confuse us so? Well, I don't believe God is trying to confuse anyone. Listen to me, he puts this intriguing bit of information starting in Genesis 2 and then throughout the rest of the Bible, because he wants us to realize something very important about himself. Yes, he knows this is going to be difficult for us to understand, but it's too important for him to skip over. And listen to me, he's challenging us to think like he thinks, not the way the rest of the world thinks. Though there's so much more to say on this, we're going to have to leave it at that for now because I actually want to concentrate on something

Scripture Interprets Scripture And Trinity

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else. Now, let me just state my point. The reason why God uses a plural pronoun when referring to himself is because he wants you to know that he has a very unique quality. With this plural pronoun, and from what he's told us in the rest of Scripture, God is revealing that he is what we can call a triune God. You've heard that before, haven't you? Maybe I've said it to you. I assume you've heard of the Trinity. Almost all Christians have. Not everyone believes it, but everyone knows about it. But in case you don't, let me explain. The Trinity, the triune God means there are, this is this somebody called it logical nonsense. The triune God means there are three persons in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, we really don't have time to talk about this. It's complicated, and it would take us too far off our chosen track. Now, if you're interested, we do have some in-depth teaching on this particular topic, a lesson or two maybe, dedicated to it somewhere on our online pages. Just contact us and we'll point you in the right direct direction. Today is not the day for me to try to lay down the case for the Trinity. Besides, I don't think any of you really need to be convinced of the truth thereof. Although the concept is hard to make human logical sense out of it, most of us accept it as it is. We don't need proof, which is good because proof with something like this is very difficult to come by. But if anything comes close to proving that God sees himself as a trinity, it's right here in this plural personal pronoun, Elohim, the one he uses to identify himself. Despite the fact that God insists there are no gods before him, he uses a plural pronoun as a name for himself. He gave it to himself. He is one, he's telling us, but plural. He is three in one, he is a tri-unity, a trinity. And just so you know, God uses that plural personal pronoun quite a bit in scripture. He seems intent on referring to himself that way. Someone says that that name occurs 2,600 times in the Bible. I didn't count it. Somebody else did. They say it occurs 2,600 times in the Bible. That's a lot. Can't we say then it must be one of his favorite names? He's got a lot to tell us through that name, don't you think? I gotta tell you, we've already seen it quite a few times, as I've already said. We've seen it quite a few times in the first chapter and a little bit here in the second, the portions of Genesis we've covered so far. Elohim is a wonderful name for a creator because it actually means mighty or almighty or strong. Of course, creating a universe, an entire universe complete with living beings could not have been done by anyone with less of a name or character than Elohim. Elohim is a name that speaks loudly of God's ability to not only produce things, but to keep them going. And then managing all the rest of what's going on at the same time. He is indeed Elohim, the mighty triune creator God. So that's Elohim. It's an incredible and powerful name that God gave himself.

Next Steps And How To Connect

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But why all this talk about names? Well, that's where we'll pick it up next time.

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