God is a Man? Yes, God the Son that is.

Here we will discuss the topic about God being a man. These arguments are by a Muslim on Idjnet called Muhammad.

Is God a man ?

Most Christians due to their dependence on Christian translations and commentaries of the Tenach are unaware of the vast body of scriptural evidence that exists revealing that the God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob is not a man or any other created being . God through out the Tenach makes it quite clear that he's not a created being nor a composite unity of three persons in one as the Christians contend .

Christians never thought of God as being a created man, however unlike what this Muslim claims, God is never used as a single numerical one. Read this verse to see how the Bible clearly shows a trinity.

Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together. Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? [Yahweh] or the LORD loves him; he shall carry out His good pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him, I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful. Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit."

The identity of the speaker is clearly the God of Israel because He calls Himself "the first and last" in verse 12. This title had already been used of Yahweh of Hosts in Isaiah 44:6:

"Thus says [Yahweh], the King of Israel and his Redeemer, [Yahweh] of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.'"

The Hebrew for "I am the first and I am the last" is the same in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12: .... This God is further identified as "the Yahweh of armies" in Isaiah 44:6.

Already we see that this Muslim, whose name just happens to be Muhammad, is refuted already. We see that there are clearly 3 separate beings working in the divine Godhead. Keep this in mind because we will see how this plays along in the rest of this paper.

The divine title "the first and the last" means that He is the first God and the last God because there are no other gods before or after Him. He alone is God. But yet we see that God has more than a numerical one that is called this, so this clearly shows us that God is a unit working together as ONE. There is no other unit like God. Check the dictionary, One is also defined as a unit, which is itself defined as more than one working as ONE.

The speaker in Isa. 48 is further identified by doing things which only God can do such as absolute foreknowledge (vs. 3,5,6), creation (v.13), sovereignty (v. 15), and omnipresence (v. 16).

Who else but the one true God could say:

"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to

another." (Isa. 48:11)

No one should have the slightest difficulty in identifying the speaker as God. The context of the passage and the grammar of the

text are both very clear. But prejudiced anti-Trinitarians must object because the God who is speaking says that He, along with

One of the reasons the Children of Israel to this day don't recognize Jesus as the Messiah or worship him as a "god man" is because the Tenach is filled with examples of God telling the Children of Israel not to worship strange gods or the image of any created thing , whether it be in the heavens or upon the earth it's not to be worshiped . However if they like Muhammad read the scripture closely they could clearly see that God means not to worship other gods, who aren’t the father, son and the holy ghost.

Lets see what God says :

"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, where of he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, WHICH THOUGH HAST NOT KNOWN , and let us serve them;

Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD

your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him." (Deuteronomy 13:1-4 )

Notice the words "which thou hast not known" .... Here God tells the Children of Israel that if a prophet or dreamer arises among them and this prophet or dreamer performs signs and wonders (miracles ) and tells them to worship and serve a god which is foreign to what they know , to what they have been taught concerning God then they are to reject and stone to death that false prophet or dreamer .

However God also shows that Jesus wasn’t a false prophet read:

Isaiah 9:6. "For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counslor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

The word ELOHIM is present in this verse, Mighty God is the name of this person, who is Jesus and if Muhammad tries to downplay the term Mighty God he should read this:

The Bible only uses this term to describe GOD, just look at Isaiah 10:21-

"The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God."

This scripture clearly says that Israel shall return to God. In Jeremiah 32:18-

"Thou shewest loving kindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name."

The same term used for Jesus was used for God- "THE MIGHTY GOD". When you continue down in the passage to 32:20-21-

Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day; And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;

You see that "The MIGHTY GOD" brought the Jews out of the land of Egypt as well as performed the signs and wonders. The evidence presented against Jesus not being God doesn't stand up under close scrutiny because the bible says that "Mighty God", along with the Lord of hosts is the name of God. Only these special names are used for God, which shows that Yes JESUS IS GOD AS WELL AS MAN.

When these words were spoken by God to the Children of Israel they didn't worship a "god man" nor did they believe God was a created being hence if hundreds or thousands of years later some prophet or dreamer arises among them and proclaims :

" worship this man , he is God incarnate ! "

then the children of Israel should respond :

This is a strawman argument presented by brother Muhammad because how could the Jews worship a godman at that time if God didn’t reveal the God man until thousands of years later?!!!!!

" This is not the God of Israel who revelaed him self through the prophets and spoke to them in the desert telling them not to follow other gods which they did not know "

Lets see who was the God that spoke to them in the desert. In fact lets look at the God that spoke to Moses the founder of Judaism. Look at Exodus 3:2-6-

"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God."

The text clearly shows that it was the Angel of Yahweh that appeared at the burning bush. This angel calls HIMSELF the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The scripture also calls the Angel "God". Very interesting because we see clearly again that there is more than one person called Yahweh.

The Jewish scriptures states that God is not a Man :

There are many different words for “man” in Hebrew, for brother Muhammad to try and say that God isn’t a man based on the limited scope of English is very fallible since a angel in both Hebrew and Greek is SHOWN IN THE BIBLE AS BEING A MAN. What does that mean, it means that an angel is a man but not a created human man. Muhammad is using the Islamic scope of Jesus was created by God and then trying to apply it to the Hebrew Bible.

"...say to the Prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said,"I am God, I sit at the seat of God, in the midst of the seas!"YET YOU ARE A MAN, AND NOT GOD..." ( Ezekiel 28:2-8: )

"Will you say before him that kills you, "I am God"? BUT YOU ARE A MAN AND NOT GOD ,in the hand of him who kills you.You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised,by the hand of foreigners: for I have spoken it! " ( Ezekiel 28:9-10 )

God makes it quite clear to The Prince of Tyre that he is not God because he is a man . he is in fact saying " Prince of Tyre you say you are God yet your are not G-d BECAUSE YOU ARE A MAN. PRINCE OF TYRE = MAN = NOT GOD .

To the uneducated, this would seem like a good defense but however the Prince of Tyre isn’t Jesus Christ. The Prince of Tyre represent the evil ruler of Tyre as well as Satan who is operating through him. These verses are from the KJV which Mr. Muhammad is using however the NKJV is more accurate and is based on earlier manuscripts of the Bible. I should know since I have the KJV, the NKJV, the NIV, the NLT, the NWT, the HEBREW and GREEK Bible. Read what these verses say in the NKJV a more accurate bible than the KJV.

Ezekiel 28:2- "Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, "I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,' Yet you are a man, and not a god, Though you set your heart as the heart of a god

The term elohim here is correctly translated as “god” and “gods” not God. This is the basic understanding of Jewish scriptures. Also Mr. Muhammad also purposely left out something by mistranslating the verse of Ezekiel 28, this would’ve refuted his argument before he even got started. All translations of the Bible say I am A GOD, not God, as Mr. Muhammad tries to show in his out of context scripture reference. He then goes to the KJV for verses 9-10 to make us think that he got verse 2 from a credible bible. Muslims are very good at lying in trying to refute the Bible. The NASB, the most literal English Translation of the bible also refutes Mr. Muhammad

9"Will you still say, «I am a god,» In the presence of your slayer, Though you are a man and not God, In the hands of those who wound you?

Notice that the scripture literal translated in the NASB shows that this is referring to a god and not GOD.

God says he is not a man nor the "son of man" :

" I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I AM GOD, AND NOT MAN; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city". (Hosea 11:9 )

Christians know that God isn’t a normal created human man but however I thank Mr. Muhammad for showing Hosea since Hosea also shows God as a speaker and then referring to another person as God. The prophet Hosea recorded Yahweh (from verse 2) as saying:

"But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by [Yahweh] their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen." (Hosea 1:7)

If I as the first person promise to do something for you as the second person through a third person, am I not showing that I am not the same as the third person? If grammar means anything, the answer is, "Yes". This is the exact case that we find here. We will leave that up to Mr. Muhammad and other Muslims to explain to us how someone who is first person can be the same as the third person.

When Yahweh as the first person promised to deliver Israel as the second person by a third person called Yahweh, what other conclusion can we logically come to than that there are two persons each called Yahweh!!!

The "classic" commentary on the Minor Prophets was written by E.B. Pusey. He noted that the "Yahweh their God" through whom the deliverance came was none other than the Angel of Yahweh when he "smote in one night 185,000 in the camp of the

Assyrians."( E.B. Pusey's commentary book, The Minor Prophets, was republished in Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1965), Minor Prophets, 1:23.)

"GOD IS NOT A MAN, that he should lie ; NEITHER THE SON OF MAN that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 19:23)

As we seen above, Elohim is plural for God but however El is used here which shows that this is referring to just one person in the Godhead. All the verbs modify El in this verse are singular but however, God is Elohim 3000 times compared to El which is only 300 times. Therefore this El just means one person of the eternal Godhead, while Elohim can refer to all 3, this is strengthened by these upcoming example.

The authors of the Bible used plural words for God. The plural form of El is elohim which is the most frequently used word for "God" in the Bible (i.e., Gen. 1:1).

The word elohim is translated as "gods" over four hundred times in the Bible. That it is a true plural is seen from the fact that it has plural verbs and plural adjectives modifying it. Several examples will suffice to demonstrate this point:

1. In Genesis 20:13a, we read:

And it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father's house...

The divine name is elohim and the verb which modifies it is hit`u (cause to wander) which is the plural form of ta`u. It literally is translated, "When they, i.e., God, caused me to wander from my father's house." You see my friends when you have plural verbs and plural subjects, the sentences shows a plural deity. The translators of the Bible don’t do this because English is an Anglo-Saxon language and it doesn’t hold the same effect as the Hebrew language. Also they know that all true Christians are Trinitarians so there is no use for this.

2. In Genesis 35:7 we read literally, "They, i.e., God, revealed themselves to him."

The verb niglu (revealed) is the plural form of gla and modifies elohim (God). If we see the word They, which is plural here, then obviously there isn’t just a single numerical ONE God. But a unit which covers more than one who is working as ONE.

3. The word elohim in Exodus 21:6; 22:7-8, 27-28 refers to the "judges" of Israel. It is impossible to deny the composite nature of these judges.

This same word Elohim, which is plural is used at a ratio of 10:1 for God. What does that say? It clearly says that God is a Plural being who is the ONLY GOD in existence.

4. In Deuteronomy 4:7 we read: ...

The word qrovim (coming near) in Deut. 4:7 is a plural form of the word qarav and modifies elohim.

5. In Joshua 24:19 the word qdoshim ("holy") is a plural adjective which modifies elohim and literally translated, "God, i.e., the Holy Ones."

6. David said in Psalm 58:11 (v.12 in Heb.):

Surely there is a God who judges on earth!

David used the verb shephmim "judges" in its plural form. A literal translation would be, "They, i.e., God, who judges the earth." Besides the plural noun elohim and all its plural modifiers, the authors of the Bible used other plural nouns as well:

1. The second most popular name for God in the Old Testament is Adonai (i.e., "Lord") which is a plural noun. Thus, the two most frequently used names for God elohim and adonai in the Hebrew Bible are both plural nouns. This is not what we would expect if God were a Unitarian. But it is exactly what we would expect to see if God was multi-personal.

2. Job 35:10 refers to God as the "Makers" of mankind. The word `sa (Makers) is a plural participle of `asah.

3. In Psalm 149:2, we read:

Let Israel be glad in his Maker; Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King.

David uses the masculine plural b`osay "Makers" to refer to the God of Israel. What Unitarian would ever speak of God as his "Makers"? Only Trinitarians do this. Which again refutes Mr. Muhammad’s claim about the Tenach not teaching the Plurality of God and the Trinity.

4. Ecclesiastes 12:1 tells us ... ("Remember now your Creators"). The word ... ("Creators") “bara” is a masculine plural participle.

5. Isaiah 54:5 speaks of God as the "Makers" of Israel. The word "Makers" in the Hebrew is ... which is a plural

participle.

The Trinitarian has no problem whatsoever understanding how God can be described in the Bible as both the "Maker" and

"Makers" of the universe at the same time because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were are involved in the work of creation. But the Unitarian is hard put to explain why the Bible speaks of a plurality of Creators. Maybe Mr. Muhammad and all to other Muslims can provide us with a good explanation. What do we see from these examples, dealing with Numbers 23:19, it is referring to God the Father, since we clearly see in the literal translation of the Hebrew text that God is often than not spoken about in the plural.

"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for HE IS NOT A MAN, that he should repent." (1st Samuel 15:29)

We know that Israel isn’t a man but a nation but as we seen from above, and will continue to see below, there was a member of the Godhead who was a man.

Jesus uses the expression "Son of Man" 81 times in the Christian Scriptures and Christians believe Jesus was "god incarnate man" .God Forbid ! or as the Muslims say "Astagfer'Allah"

Jesus was called THE SON OF GOD AS WELL AS THE SON OF MAN, not “A” son of God nor “A” son of man. Which Numbers 23:19 talks about. The definite article “THE” sets apart a person place or thing. It shows that this person place or thing is unique and is different from everything else. Notice that Jesus used the term THE Son of Man not A son of Man. As shown from these examples:

Matthew 26:1-2, "When Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, 'You know that after twodays the Passover is coming, and THE SON OF MAN will be delivered up to be crucified."

Mark 8:31, "He began to teach them that THE SON OF MAN must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

Mark 9:31, "For He was teaching His disciples and saying to them, 'THE SON OF MAN will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and when He is killed, after three days He will rise."

Mr. Muhammad nor any other Muslim can find anywhere in the Bible where someone else is called THE SON OF MAN. There is a big difference in “A” and “The” only if Muslims pick up a dictionary and read.

"Jesus of Nazareth, a "MAN APPROVED BY God" among you by miracle and wonders and signs,WHICH G-D DID BY HIM in the midst of you" (Acts 2:22)

The author of Acts 2:22 in the Christian scriptures refers to Jesus as a " man approved by God" .

Based upon the passages cited earlier from the Tenach that clearly state God is not a man nor the

son of man we must conclude Jesus ( a man) is not God .

Apparently Mr. Muhammad is trying to think that I forgot about this idea, I answered this longtime ago on “What did the Bible truly say about Jesus”. Note my dear reader, Muslims are the greatest liars on earth, they love to ask you questions and then ignore the answers and try and post the same material again to try and claim that you never answered it. Read verses 34-35:

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "`The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

This is reference to Psalms 110:1. In order for Jesus to be David’s lord and sitting at the right hand of God Jesus had to be preexistent and wasn’t just a normal human man. Read what Jesus said about himself.

John 5:17-18 –

“But Jesus answered them, My father has been working until now, and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was HIS FATHER, making himself EQUAL WITH GOD.” Literally, “His own Father”-Greek- patera idion. It is clear that the Jews understood that Jesus was claiming to be God.’” (NKJV, footnote, pg 843, Scoffield, 1989).

Therefore Mr. Muhammad can’t charge us with claiming to promote Jesus to God since Jesus did it himself.

The Children of Israel were and still are to this day an "iconoclastic" people, i.e. they forbid the making of images of any living thing - due to the fact it is prohibited by the Commandments .

Lets see what the Tenach says about "Images" in relationship to worship :

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." (Exodus 20:4-6)

"Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female", (Deuteronomy 4:16)

Mr. Muhammad seems to be confused because this clearly talks about idols, notice the word “graven image” this always refer to wooden or stone images, much like the Kaaba of Islam. For us to accept this argument we would have to think that Jesus was a stone or wooden idol. Muslims should be real careful because this can be used against them.

"Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee." (Deuteronomy 4:23)

"Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth " (Deuteronomy 5:8 )

Once again note the word GRAVEN IMAGE, Jesus wasn’t a stone idol or some deity made with human hands so Mr. Muhammad is attacking a strawman argument.

"Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host,

the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all;

and the host of heaven worshippeth thee" (Nehemiah 9:6)

Now read this:

Proverbs 30:4- Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!

We see that God establishes the ends of the earth and that he also has a son (singular) not sons which shows why Jesus is called God’s (only begotten) Son.

"Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 26:1)

According to the Tenach God's "Image " is nothing like anything "in the heavens above or in the earth beneath" - i.e. nothing that the human mind can conceive. Jesus, on the other hand, was, according to Christian belief, 100% God and 100% man - and a "man" is something that has an image of a created thing.

According to the Tenach a graven image is made by people and refers to stone and wooden idols, not human beings so apparently Mr. Muhammad must think that a stone images is the same as a human being!!!

Again All of these points exclude the possibility of Jesus ( a man ) being God. The possibility of the alleged "Incarnation" of God is eliminated by the Tenach itself. It's really as simple as that.

Wrong again we saw above that God does have a son, which refutes everything Mr. Muhammad claims. How does he know about the Tenach when he probably has never read it in his life!!!

Here are some passages that express God's lordship and uniqueness :

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is One LORD:" (Deuteronomy 6:4)

"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior." (Isaiah 43:10-11)

"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." (Deuteronomy 4:39)

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)

"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:"

(Exodus 34:14)

"That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:6)

"For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he

hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is

none else." (Isaiah 45:18.)

Read:

Now if Unitarians wrote the Bible like Muslims, and some Jews claim, then the word for "one" in Hebrew would reflect just one absolute and solitary person.

Out of all of the words for "one", the only word that would prove beyond a doubt that God is just an absolute "one" would be yachid. If this word is applied to God (Elohim) in the O.T., then this would be a death sentence for the Trinitarian believers. The word "yachid" means an absolute or solitary one. (Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles Briggs, "A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament"; Oxford, Clarendon, 1966 pg. 402). This word is never applied to God because "Elohim conveys both the unity of the one God, and yet allows for the plurality of Divine Persons as expressed in the historical Christian doctrine of the Trinity. It is unique to monotheistic Israel and is not found in the language of any of her polytheistic, Semitic neighbors (Jack B. Scott, S.V. "elohim", in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 vols:, Chicago, Moody Press, 1980, 1:44).

In Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, Echad "STRESSES UNITY, WHILE RECOGNIZING DIVERSITY WITHIN THAT ONENESS" (Herbert Wolf, S.V. "echad", Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 1:30).

When we turn to the Old Testament, what do we find? The writers of the Old Testament never applied yachid to God. God is never described as a solitary person. If this is the case why do Unitarians, especially Muslims try to tell Christians that it's an error believing on the Trinity when the Hebrew Text, that they use in their defense so much, shows God in the compound and not the single entity? Some Christian Apologists contend that one of the Hebrew words used for God "El'ohim" denotes plurality, therefore God is a Trinity and Jesus is God .

The 2nd chapter of this article titled "God's agent " will discuss the fact Moses , Abraham and Judges were sometimes called "Elohim" and so were Angels who were acting as emissaries or God's representatives to the children of Israel . But for now we will discuss the general usage of the word "Elohim" and how it's used in the Tenach.

The Hebrew word "Elohim" when applied to God is usually in the plural to denote a sense of majesty, dignity, power or excellence, and is accompanied by the verb, adjective and pronoun in the singular.

Elohim isn’t a plural of majesty like Mr. Muhammad claims lets look at his comments in more detail

In "The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia", Vol II, p.1265, comments :

"It is characteristic of Hebrew that extension, magnitude and dignity, as well as actual multiplicity, are expressed by the plural. It is not reasonable therefore, to assume that plurality of form indicates

primitive Semitic polytheism. On the contrary historic Hebrew is unquestionably and uniformly monotheistic."

This doesn’t prove that there is a plural of Majesty it is telling us that the Plural expressed forms of God are still in line with monotheism, which ironically agrees with the Trinity belief. By trying to disprove the Trinity, Mr. Muhammad just refuted his whole argument.

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary p. 331 Eerdmans Publishers, p. 331 edited by Allen C. Myers, William B. comments :

"As a name or designation of the God of Israel, the term is understood as a plural of majesty or an

intensive plural, indicating the fullness of the supreme (or only) God ... the canonical intent is clearly monotheistic, even where the accompanying verbs or adjectives are grammatically plural (e.g. Gen.

20:13, Exod. 22:9 [Mt 8])"

There is just one problem with this, The Plural of Majesty is just a suggestion and not a fact read all this information on the plural of Majesty:

The only problem with this argument is that there was no plural of majesty in the Hebrew language during biblical times. Rabbi

Tzvi Nassi, a lecturer in Hebrew at Oxford University, explains:

Every one who is acquainted with the rudiments of the Hebrew and Chaldee languages, must know that God, in the holy Writings, very often spoke of Himself in the plural. The passages are numerous, in which, instead of a grammatical agreement between the subject and predicate, we meet with a construction, which some modern grammarians, who possess more of the so-called philosophical than of the real knowledge of the Oriental languages, call a pluralis excellentiae. This helps them out of every apparent difficulty. Such a pluralis excellentiae was, however, a thing unknown to Moses and the prophets. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, David, and all the other kings, throughout TeNaKh (the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa) speak in the singular, and not as modern kings in the plural. They do not say we, but I, command; as in Gen. xli. 41; Dan. iii. 29; Ezra i. 2, etc.( Tzvi Nassi, The Great Mystery (Jerusalem: Yanetz, 1970), 6.)

Sometimes God refers to himself in the plural "we" or "us" when he addresses Moses , his heavenly hosts , or the Children of Israel . Yet God does not always speak in the first person plural. In Gen 2:18 for example :

"Then the Lord God said , "It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make a helper fit for him"

When Kings or Queens make a proclamation , they say "We, the Queen of England...". Monarchs through out the world have always addressed themselves before their subjects using what is known as the "PLURALIS EXCELLENTIAE" (Plural of Excellence) or "MAIESTATIS" (of Majesty)

There is one problem with this usage, if you go and look in the grammar books that deal with the plural of Majesty, you will see that the the subjects must always agree, For example the plural of majesty is ALWAYS “WE” AND “US”, OR “OUR”. The plural of Majesty never has the word “I” speak for us, etc. Mr. Muhammad nor the people he copied his outdated information from can’t even show you one example of this. Infact the plural of Majesty is a century old hoax. Read:

During the nineteenth century debates between Unitarians and Trinitarians, the principle of pluralis majestaticus was revealed to be a hoax popularized by the famous Jewish scholar Gesenius. It became clear that he used it as a ruse de guerre against Christianity.

The fundamental error resided in the attempt to take a modern monarchical idiosyncrasy and read it back into an ancient text when such an idiosyncrasy was unknown at that time. Richard Davies in 1891 pointed out, "Indeed, this royal style is unknown in Scripture."( Richard Davies, Doctrine of the Trinity (New York: Cranston & Stowe, 1891), 227.

One must ask Mr. Muhammad this question, since when is a English usage correct for a Semitic language?

In Semitic usage, it is customary for one in authority to speak of himself in the plural. For example in 2nd Samuel 16:19-21 :

"...Hushai said to Absalom, "No, the one chosen by the Lord, by these people, and by all the men of

Israel--his I will be, and I will remain with him. Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not

serve the son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you." Absalom said to Ahithophel, "GIVE US your advice. What should WE DO?" Ahithophel answered, "Lie with your father's concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father's nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened."

This is false when one reads the context with these verses, which Mr. Muhammad seems to try and hide, since he is obviously a liar. Read verses 17-23:

17 Absalom asked Hushai, "Is this the love you show your friend? Why didn't you go with your friend?"

18 Hushai said to Absalom, "No, the one chosen by the LORD, by these people, and by all the men of Israel--his I will be, and I will remain with him.

19 Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not serve the son? Just as I served your father, so I will serve you."

20 Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give us your advice. What should we do?"

21 Ahithophel answered, "Lie with your father's concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father's nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened."

22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.

23 Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel's advice.

When we read this passage with some content we see that US refers to ABSALOM AND HUSHAI!!! Both of these two were there talking to each other before Absalom began to talk with Ahithophel!! Notice how verse 23 says that THEY pitched a tent for Absalom. This shows that Absalom and Hushai were the “THEY” who pitched the tent as well as the “US” who needed the advice. Also notice how Absalom before speaking to Ahithophel said “I” and not “WE”, which refutes the plural of Majesty because it always refers to “US” and “WE” and “OUR” etc.

Even though the Hebrew word "Elohim" is plural in form, it can be singular in meaning. as in Judges

13:21-22 where one angel is seen but is referred to as "'Elohim" in the Hebrew text :

I am so glad that Mr. Muhammad was foolish enough to bring up this passage because here is where it gets interesting. Read Judges 13:3-23-

3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

4 Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

5 For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.

7 And He said to me, "Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death."'

8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, "O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born."

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, "Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!"

11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, "Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am."

12 Manoah said, "Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy's rule of life, and his work?"

In explaining the first half of this passage, we see that THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH (LORD) appeared to the woman. This same Angel appeared to Moses in Exodus and he calls himself the GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB. Notice that the woman calls THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB (THE ANGEL OF THE LORD) a man!!!! Also notice that in Numbers 23:19 it doesn’t say that Yahweh is not a man but EL which just refers to just one person on the Godhead. No other angel in the entire bible is called THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH or THE ANGEL OF GOD! The definite article “the” differentiates him from “a”!! Also this angel was the only angel to ever call himself THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB, unlike any other angel. The scriptures in this passage also shows that this is God because look at verse 8 and 9. Here we see that Manoah prayed to Yahweh (LORD) to send the Angel of God, then in verse 9 we see that GOD LISTENED TO THE VOICEOF MANOARH AND THE ANGL OF GOD CAME TO THE WOMAN!!! In the bible God always differentiates when he sends someone else. But we don’t see at all about God sending someone else (a regular angel) but we see that this Angel of Yahweh (also known as the Angel of God) listened and then came. Note how the text shows that this was God who listened without showing that God sent a regular angel. Also note the words “I AM” mentioned here also, this is the same words that this angel spoke to Moses!!

13 So the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.

14 She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe."

15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You."

16 And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD." (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.)

17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?"

18 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?"

19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on

20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!"

23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time."

Now lets look at the second half closely. We see that the Angel of Yahweh is talking to Manoah, then he tells them to offer a burnt offering. Note: it was to be offered only to the LORD or Yahweh. In the Hebrew Bible we see that Manoah didn’t know that He was the Angel of Yahweh, which shows that this Angel of Yahweh and Yahweh are both the same person!!! If they weren’t then why mention this matter when the Bible already showed that this Angel was the Angel of God? In verse 21 we see that Manoah recognized this Angel as the Angel of Yahweh because of his actions on the altar. Manoah said that WE HAVE SEEN GOD. Note Mr. Muhammad’s comments on this:

"But the angel ( Elohim ) of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah

knew that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. "

In his next comment Mr. Muhammad says that Elohim has a broad meaning which is true however, look at what Manoah’s wife said “IF THE LORD (YAHWEH) HAD DESIRED TO KILL US, HE WOULD NOT HAVE ACCEPTED A BURNT OFFERING…!! The only being who was there and who accepted the offering was the ANGEL OF YAHWEH, who is called YAHWEH, (THE PERSONAL NAME OF GOD HIMSELF) AS WELL AS BEING CALLED A MAN!!!! THIS SAME BEING APPEARED TO MOSES AND CALLED HIMSELF “THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB”!!! To show you proof from the Quran that this was God that appeared and not just a normal angel read this:

Surah

2.53 And remember We gave Moses the Scripture and the Criterion (Between right and wrong): There was a chance for you to be guided aright.

2.87 We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!

5.44 It was We who revealed the Torah (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the prophets who bowed (as in Islám) to Allah's will, by the rabbis and the doctors of law: for to them was entrusted the protection of Allah's book, and they were witnesses thereto: therefore fear not men, but fear Me, and sell not My signs for a miserable price. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are unbelievers.

4.164 Of some messengers We have already told thee the story; of others We have not;- and to Moses Allah spoke direct;-

Very interesting, even the Quran shows that God appeared directly to Moses, but yet in this scripture of Exodus 3:2-6

We see that God WAS THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH!!! Read this about the Angel of Yahweh:

ANGEL OF THE LORD-An oft-recurring phrase in the O.T., usually referring to a deity and yet distinguished from Jehovah. ("Handy Dictionary of the Bible"-by Merrill C. Tenney, 1965, pg. 9)

Angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord, sometimes the angel of 'God' or 'my' (or 'his') angel; is represented in scripture as a HEAVENLY being sent by God to deal with men as his personal agent and spokesman. In many passages he is virtually identified with God and speaks not merely in the name of God, BUT AS GOD IN THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR...He is not recognized at once in Jdg. 13:3ff, and is not even visible to Balaam (Nu. 22:22ff); but mostly when appearing to men he is recognized as a DIVINE BEING, even though in human form, and is addressed as God (Gn. 16:13,etc.). (Tyndale, "New Bible Dictionary" 2nd Edition, 1982 [there were at least 3 editors of this book with Ph.d's]).

For centuries the angel of the Lord has been known as God, but yet separate from him as well as having the ability to appear in human form. Nowhere in the Bible (Old or New Testament) has any angel or any prophet spoke the God's words as their own without using phrases like "thus said the lord." The only one who did this was God and Christ.

An angel is a messenger that is sent by God (i.e. Gabriel or Michael). Angels have never identified themselves as God nor have they claimed God's words as their own. An angel is a divine man, not a human created man. In contrast, the Angel of the

Lord is a special case. Now if God said that he won’t share his glory with no other, then this angel from Yahweh was simply God also, since you didn't hear any warning talking against him in the Old Testament. Which is ironic because all false deities and worship had warnings from God. Now getting back to the matter at hand. If we see that Allah spoke to Moses directly (the only place this happened was at the burning bush) as the Quran claims then this clearly shows that Allah is a man, which refutes everything in the Quran about Allah not having partners, since this Angel of Yahweh who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was clearly a separate being from Yahweh the Father!!! If Mr. Muhammad along with the illiterate Prophet of Hajj Allah could read then he would’ve never made this glaring mistake!!! Now here is the good part, in verse 17, Manoah asked the Angel of Yahweh his name. And the angel revealed it to him. He said his name was WONDERFUL!!!!

18 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?"

Compare this,

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

In verse 18 of Judges 13 we see that the ANGEL OF YAWHEH (WHO WAS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB) revealed his name to Manoah!!! This word for Wonderful in Judges 13:18 is “Pil'iy” and it’s first definition is 1.wonderful, incomprehensible, extraordinary. The word for Wonderful in Isaiah 9:6 is “Pele'” which is the Noun form of the Adjective in Judges 13:18!!!! Both are from the same word verb form “Pala'” The defintion of Pele is also Wondeful!!! In Judges 13:18, the Angel of Yahweh told Manoah that his name is secret, the other meaning of this word “Piliy but yet by telling him that his name was secret he was actually telling him his NAME!!! In Isaiah 9:6, all Christians and orthodox Muslims know that this verse refers to Jesus the Messiah. This shows that Jesus was the Angel of Yahweh who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which spoke to Moses and led the Hebrews before is incarnation!! So by rejecting Jesus as God both Muslim and Jews are rejecting the one that their own religions try to talk about!!!

Further, the Hebrew word "Elohim" had a broad meaning and was sometimes even used when referring to false gods . (unlike another Hebrew word that was used specifically for God but never uttered due to its sacredness "YHWH" ) For example :

1 Samuel 5:7 (Dagon - was not a Trinity and yet is called "Elohim");

What Mr. Muhammad seems to not realize was that Elohim is plural when referring to God, and is just a generic term in referring to other false Gods in the case of Dagon, this deity was a god in 3 of the same cultures, Assyria, the Hittites along with the Phonecians. Although being idenfied as Dagan he had different characteristics in those cultures, so the term elohim would be good to apply to him since this covers all of his god deity forms in this ancient cultures. Normally false gods are more than one deity (meaning that they are different versions of the same deity) therefore elohim which is plural is the best way to count all of them.

1 Kings 11:5 ("goddess" Ashtoreth - was not a Trinity and yet she is called "Elohim");

Ashtoreth was Allat, Ishtar along with countless other goddesses at the same time so true she wasn’t a trinity but more like a whole pantheon to herself, which shows why elohim, which is plural would be used.

Daniel 1:2 ( Marduk was not a Trinity and yet is called "Elohim").

Men and judges were also called "Elohim " :

* Abraham is called (Elohim)

Marduk, was Baal, Hadad as well as the forerunner of Allah, so elohim, which is plural would also be necessary since it is obvious that this deity is a variety of false gods, even at the same time in many different cultures. Also Christians and Jews already know that elohim means judges, but the content determines the meaning of the word. No judge was ever called Yahweh either like the Angel of Yahweh!! Until Mr. Muhammad can find us one in the bible that is then he has no case.

"I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead." The Hittites replied to Abraham,"Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince (Elohim ) among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead." (Genesis 23:4-6)

This is another erroneous claim by Mr. Muhammad because prince isn’t Elohim and never was Elohim. Prince is “Nasiy'” and its definition is 1.one lifted up, chief, prince, captain, leader & 2.rising mist, vapour. This is another bogus claim that is found on a lot of Islamic sites which lie and distort the truth about the bible.

Moses is called (Elohim) in Exodus 7:1.

"Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you "like" God ( Elohim ) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet."

The word "like" in the Christian English translation of Exodus 7:1 is a mistranslation . The word "like" isn't in the Hebrew Text . It actually reads :

" ... I have made you God ( Elohim ) to Pharaoh ..."

This issue will be discussed in the 2nd chapter of this article titled " God's agents " .

Judges in Exodus 21:6 are also called (Elohim.)

As mentioned earlier, all learned Jews and Christians know that elohim was used for Moses, but term here is rendered as a judge. Moses nor the Judges in Exodus were called Yahweh!!! I don’t know why Muslims still try to use this claim especially in cases like this, the content determines the meaning. Mr. Muhammad’s reasoning is very characteristic of unlearned people of the scripture.

"Then his master must take him before the judges (Elohim ) He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life."

The Ancient Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures known as the "Septuagint" translates "'Elohim" as "ho-Theos" (i.e. the God). "ho-Theos" is singular .

The Christian argument that the Jewish Scriptures supports the Christian Trinity is an erroneous assumption .

As we seen above, this claim holds absolutely no weight when one goes beyond the surface. The Jewish scriptures support the Trinity 100%. However there was no need to have God fully reveal himself due to the fact that the Jews were still struggling to rid themselves of other false deities that crept in. God even mentions in the Bible a few times that he didn’t fully reveal himself to earlier generations so if Mr. Muhammad actually sit down and read the bible he wouldn’t repeat these neophyte questions.

(It's good to have a Hebrew Key Study Bible or Hebrew concordance in order to get passed any bad English translations . The reason this Article uses the Christian KJV is due to the fact many Christians don't recognize any other translation of the Hebrew Bible . Nevertheless mistranslation are common in the KJV and this booklet will try its best to single out these mistranslations . The most accurate translation in our opinion is the JPS version and the best Christian translation of the Hebrew text is the RSV .alothough even the RSV has some problems also. )

This again is the argument of a neophyte since any sane learned Christian knows that the RSV bible isn’t the best traslation of the Hebrew text, the NKJV, the NSRV and the NASB, and even the NIV in some instances, exceed the RSV bible!!! I should know since I have about 10 bibles including the Hebrew and Greek text along with Hebrew concordances, dictionaries, Greek dictionaries, etc. Also may Christians recognize other translations of the Bible. Mr. Muhammad must to have forgotten this since modern Day Muslims use this silly argument of “too many bible versions” to say that Christians corrupted the Bible when infact English wasn’t even the language the Bible was revealed in!!!

God's Agent

The Role of an Agent in Judaism

When a person is sent by a higher authority to represent them ,this person is referred to as being that higher authority. An example of this would be an agent or emissary of a king who has been sent to

represent the king. This principle is absolutely necessary to understand. For instance when God

sends an angel on a mission that angel will be referred to as God .

This is highly false because in Exodus 6:2-3 we see that the Angel of Yahweh was referred to as God himself and that Yahweh is only the name of God.

God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am Yahweh (YHVH) and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty; BUT BY MY NAME, YAHWEH, I did not make myself known to them." Exodus 6:2-3

Notice that God mentions his own personal name specifically and then he says that he didn’t make himself known to earlier generations like he did with Moses, which clearly shows us that God more openly reveals himself over time, which explains whey the Trinity is more openly taught in the N.T. due to the fact that it was God’s final revelation to men!!!

In Genesis 18 when Abraham intercedes for Sodom with the angels they are referred to as the Lord.

Some Christians say this was an appearance of Jesus before his birth,yet the Tenach doesn't support this interpretation . One must always return to the foundational document .The text clearly states they

are angels-messengers not a human being ( man ) or the "Messiah" .

This is great support because LORD is Yahweh In Hebrew and the other 2 men are mentioned as Lord which is adona, which refers to men!!!! What has clearly been understood is that YAHWEH along with 2 angels appeared to Abraham. Apparently Mr. Muhammad thinks that Christians are so stupid and that they will accept this argument, when all we have to do is study the Hebrew text itself.

In Exodus 11:4, 12:12 and 13 it states that God will execute the plague of the Firstborn. However, In Exodus 12:23 it states the Destroyer (angel of death) will not enter the house. Could this angel be G-d ? Absolutely not !. When G-d sends someone on a mission that person is referred to as being the Lord. Yet the Jews clearly understood it was not God "incarnate".

That isn’t difficult to understand. Mr. Muhammad is confusing LORD “Yahweh” with “adona” which makes it easy to refute his claim. Of course the Jews wouldn’t think that this is God incarnate since this angel of Death isn’t called Yahweh, like the Angel of Yahweh who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The following excerpts from ancient rabbinical writings will bear this out :

"One must not call himself by the name of a mortal king, Caesar or Augustus, for if one assumed his

name he would be executed (for treason); yet God called Moses by His own name, as it says:

Behold, I have made thee God unto Pharaoh. God

said to Moses: 'The wicked Pharaoh has made himself out to be a god, as it says: My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself (Ezek. XXIX, 3); let him, therefore see thee and say: "This is God"' (Midrash Rabbah Exodus VIII.)

Now you know why the Midrash isn’t inspired by God like the O.T. Since God says in the Bible BY MY NAME YAHWEH, not Elohim, etc. Apparently this Jew seems to mix up God’s name. Any Jew or Christian would take the O.T. over the Midrash.