Names of God: El, Elohim

Names of God • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

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Introduction

One of the most common names for God in the OT outside of Yahweh is ‘El’. This is a generic term that means ‘God’, and along with its plural form ‘Elohim’ it is found most often in Genesis and Job (the two of the oldest books of the Old Testament). It’s so generic in fact, it can refer to other gods, angels (or heavenly beings), and even humans in some cases.

Just like Yahweh, El is often attached to other adjectives to give a clearer description of God. But it’s usage also goes beyond the name for God and is used in to describe relationships to God. This most often appears in names, like IsraEL, ELijah, DaniEL, ect. Anytime you see an ‘el’ in a name, the name likely means something ‘of God’.

Probably the most common variation of ‘El’ is ‘El Shaddai’. It’s usually translated as ‘God Almighty’.

Who is El(ohim)?

The LORD is simply known as ‘God’, or El to most the patriarchs. In particular, when talking to Moses, the Lord says that he was known in particular as El Shaddai (God Almighty) in Exodus 6:3 “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.”

This is also the most common name of God found in the story of Job, which makes sense because Job is probably the oldest book in the OT.

What this tells us is that up until the Exodus, God deliberately kept his identity ‘vague’. He progressively revealed himself further throughout history, with his identity becoming more and more clear by culminating in his full revelation in Jesus Christ.

So what exactly does ‘El’ connotate when referring to God? It could have several understandings, but the common themes are this:

Strength

Power

Supreme Excellence & Greatness

El speaks of God as a the great doer and producer. He is completely ‘other’. He is behind and beyond creation. Whatever is made, done, kept, or destroyed is his doing. We see this expressed in the Song of Moses which praises God for his victory over the Egyptians (Exodus 15).

God as El is separate from creation in passages such as Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

God as El is separate from humanity in Hosea 11:9 “I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”

It’s worth mentioning that there was also an ancient Caananite god also named El. He was considered the king of the gods and leader of the Canaanite pantheon. Together with Baal, and Baal’s wife Ashetoreth, we see these gods/goddesses throughout the OT - in particular, the Israelites often abandoned Yahweh to worship them.

The characteristics of this god - creator of creatures, father of mankind, ‘builder of things built’, are similar to Yahweh, but Scripture makes clear that Yahweh is a different and much more superior ‘El’.

The last thing to point out here is the plural form of El, which is Elohim. This is by far the most common usage of ‘El’ in the Bible. If El means ‘god’ Elohim means ‘gods’. So why would the One God be referred to the plural sense?

We see this as early as Genesis 1 and 2 when God (Elohim) creates everything. We see this most clearly in English when God says in Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””

It’s really easy to see God’s triune nature on display here - one God, but revealed in the plural. This might be true, and at the very least it’s not contradictory - God is triune, and so he is both singular and plural! But the earliest writers of Scripture would not have understood God in a triune sense.

Instead, God being referred to as ‘Elohim’ is an emphasis on intensity. By calling him Elohim instead of just El, Scripture is showcasing the power of God.

A loose analogy to this is calling someone by both their first and middle names. It adds more oomph and seriousness. It was one thing for my mom to call me ‘Gregory’, but to call me ‘Gregory Michael’ meant things were serious (and usually got my attention!)

In a similar way, referring to the singular God as Elohim (plural), “God makes himself known by this name as the Lord of intense and extensive glory and richness as he exercises his preeminence and power in the created cosmos. Hence, when the Scripture speaks of creation, it states, “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth” (Gn 1:1)

God is called Elohim a whopping 35 times in the first two chapters of Genesis, and over 2500 times in the Bible!

Psalm 68 uses Elohim 26 times as an example of the Psalmists praising God as the majestic ruler who has demonstrated his omnipotence (all-emcompassing power) throughout life.

Variations of El

Besides the basic El and Elohim, Scripture gives different variations of this understanding of God. These include:

Eloah

El Elyon

El Shaddai

El Olam

El Gibbor

El Roi

The first is Eloah, and this name is used primarily in Job (41 times). But it’s used throughout the OT to distinguish God as the only true and living One who is to be adored and worshipped.

Isaiah 44:8 “Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.””

2 Samuel 22:32 ““For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?”

Deuteronomy 32:15-17 ““But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.”

A similar variant is found in Ezra and Daniel called ‘Elah’, which describes God as one who is to be feared. This ‘respectful fear’ ought to lead us to worship Him. I think we see this concept in the descriptions of Jesus Christ throughout the Gospels and Revelation.

The second variant of El that we see is El Elyon, which is translated as ‘God Most High’.

Genesis 14:18 “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)”

Psalms 57:2 “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”

Psalms 78:56 “Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,”

Numbers 24:16 “the oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with his eyes uncovered:”

Psalms 83:18 “that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.”

As the ‘Most High’, the name tells us that God is above every other thing. He is not ‘below’ anything or anyone. He is incomparable in every way. He is the Exalted One. He is the ruler of all things because He is above all things.

It reminds of how Paul describes Jesus in Philippians 2:9-10 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”

The third variant we see is El Shaddai, and this is the one most people are familiar with. It is usually translated as ‘God Almighty’.

The meaning of this name isn’t totally clear, but it seems to be ‘the one who is sufficient’. When the OT was translated into Greek, the translators translated El Shaddai as ‘All ruler or Sovereign One’. From this we get ‘God Almighty’ in English.

From all the passages that use this name for God, we get the understanding that God is the all-powerful One, totally self-sufficient, absolute ruler of all, transcedent, sovereign and more.

Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,”

Genesis 35:11 “And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.”

Genesis 48:3 “And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,”

Exodus 6:3 “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.”

Isaiah 13:6 “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!” (Shaddai may come from root meaning ‘to overpower, to deal violently, or to devestate.)

Ezekiel 1:24 “And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings.”

Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.”

Ruth 1:21 “I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?””

El Olam refers to God as everlasting and the Eternal One who transcends time and space.

Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

Isaiah 40:28 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”

Isaiah 26:4 “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

Jeremiah 10:10 “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.”

El Gibbor speaks of God’s power and might. When used alone, ‘Gibbor’ refers to powerful men, but by adding ‘El’ to it, it exclusively refers to God.

Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.”

Jeremiah 32:18 “You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts,” (Notice God is called El and Yahweh Sabaoth in this verse.)

This name is also used to refer to the Messiah (Jesus) in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Finally, we have El Roi, which is only used one time in all of Scripture: Genesis 16:13 “So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.””

The ‘she’ here is Hagar, who ran away into the desert with her son Ishmael after Sarah runs her off.

This idea of God being the ‘God who sees’, tells us that no matter the life situations we find ourselves in, God still sees us where we are, and He looks after us and cares for us.

This idea is taken furthered in passages like Psalm 139:1-2 “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.” Where God sees and knows everything about everything and everyone. This tells us that God is omniscient (all-knowing).

Conclusion

When it comes to the names of God, ‘El’ may be the most basic and generic, but it’s only the beginning for a broad understanding of the many aspects of God’s nature. As with the other names we’ve studied, the complete nature of God that is revealed in Elohim is fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Therefore, everything we know about God as El, we can also apply to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Primary Source:

Gerard Van Groningen, “God, Names Of,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 881–882.