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exercised by the Achaemenid regime. Elsewhere in Ezra,
is associated with the
temple, both when it was about to be rebuilt (5:2, 13) and as a finished edifice,
consecrated for divine worship (6:16).
In the only verse in the Book of Jeremiah that was written in Aramaic (10:11), the
word
appears in plural form to describe “gods” that had not participated in the
creation of the universe. Although such false “gods” were being worshiped by pagan
nations (and perhaps worshiped by some of the Hebrews who were in exile in
Babylonia), these deities would ultimately perish because they were not eternal in nature.
In the Book of Daniel,
was used both of heathen “gods” and the one true “God”
of heaven. The Chaldean priests told Nebuchadnezzar: “And it is a rare thing that the
king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods,
whose dwelling is not with flesh” (Dan. 2:11). The Chaldeans referred to such “gods”
when reporting that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to participate in idol
worship on the plain of Dura (Dan. 3:12). The “gods” were enumerated by Daniel when
he condemned Nebuchadnezzar’s neglect of the worship of Israel’s one true “God” (Dan.
5:23). In Dan. 3:25, the word refers to a divine being or messenger sent to protect the
three Hebrews (Dan. 3:28). In Dan. 4:8-9, 18; and 5:11, the phrase “the spirit of the holy
gods” appears (
KJV
,
RSV
,
NEB
,
NIV
). Elsewhere the references to
are to the living
“God” whom Daniel worshiped.
(433), “god.” This Hebrew name for “God” corresponds to the Aramaic
and the Ugaritic (or, if denoting a goddess, ). The origin of the term is unknown, and
it is used rarely in Scripture as a designation of deity. Indeed, its distribution throughout
the various books of the Bible is curiously uneven.
,
occurs 40 times in the Book of
Job between 3:4 and 40:2, while in the remainder of the Old Testament it is used no more
than 15 times.
Certain scholars regard the word as being a singular version of the common plural
form
, a plural of majesty.
,
is commonly thought to be vocative in nature,
meaning “O God.” But it is not clear why a special form for the vocative in an address to
God should be needed, since the plural
is frequently translated as a vocative
when the worshiper is speaking directly to God, as in Ps. 79:1. There is an obvious
general linguistic relationship between
and
but determining its precise
nature is difficult.
The word
is predominant in poetry rather than prose literature, and this is
especially true of the Book of Job. Some scholars have suggested that the author of Job
deliberately chose a description for godhead that avoided the historical associations found
in a phrase such as “the God of Bethel” (Gen. 31:13) or “God of Israel” (Exod. 24:10).
But even the Book of Job is by no means historically neutral, since places and peoples are
mentioned in introducing the narrative (cf. Job 1:1, 15, 17). Perhaps the author
considered
a suitable term for poetry and used it accordingly with consistency.
This is also apparently the case in Ps. 18:31, where
is found instead of , as in the
parallel passage of 2 Sam. 22:32.
,
also appears as a term for God in Ps. 50:22;