Elohim describes a transcendent God who is distant from man. Although existing high in the heavens, Elohim is, nevertheless, very much concerned with the general providence of mankind. The name YHWH, expresses the closeness or immanence of a God who is intimately involved in relationships with man and who provides both individual and national providence.

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A single Deity being both immanent and transcendent would have been a radically new concept in the ancient world. In our own times, we have no difficulty in oscillating between these two perceptions of God because of our familiarity with both. However, people in the ancient world would have had difficulty in conceptualizing the notion that the same God who created the universe was also interested in developing relationships with man. Pagan gods had specific functions within nature, such as controlling fertility and storms, but they never communicated with individuals, other than perhaps with a king.5

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The Torah does not harmonize these contradictory aspects of God but expresses them through the two names YHWH and Elohim. This means that the names of God are not an incidental aspect of the Torah but an integral part of its structure. I go further than this in postulating that much of the Torah is about the relationship between man and the two aspects of God YHWH and Elohim. Even the halachic aspects of the Torah are a means of fostering a relationship with God.

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This approach differs from that of R’ Joseph B. Soloveitchik described in his influential essay “The Lonely Man of Faith,” and his idea that the two creation stories describe two different aspects of man.6

 

An approach that bears similarities to mine is that of R’ Mordechai Breuer (1921-2007). R’ Breuer emphasized the value of peshat, and the widespread adoption of peshat in the Zionist yeshiva world may well be attributed to his efforts, this being particularly the case for Yeshivat Har Etzion and Herzog College. However, R’ Breuer’s main contribution to biblical studies is his system of shitat hebehinot, often referred to as "the approach of perspectives” within the Torah.7

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R’ Breuer argued that the Torah is a divine work, but written with multiple, sometimes conflicting perspectives. Each “perspective” represents a true and valid divine viewpoint. His starting point was analyses of the Documentary Hypothesis. However, rather than seeing the text as a compilation of various authors with differing agendas, he saw these different passages as reflecting a multilayered truth and a deliberate component of divine revelation.

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The difference in my approach is that my focus is solely on the names of God from the outset without reference to the Documentary Hypothesis.

 

Let us now focus down on these two names:

 

The name of God Elohim

 

The name Elohim is a name devised by man and has the meaning of “a force within nature.”8 The ending of the word Elohim with the letters “im” signifies that this name is in the plural. This is because God created and controls multiple powers within nature. Nevertheless, the verb attached to Elohim is usually in the singular, although there are a few exceptions.9

 

Elohim is also used in the Bible as a general term for “the Deity,” as well as a general name for judges, since they function as representatives of Elohim in providing justice.10 This name is also found in idiomatic expressions such as Elohe Yisroel, meaning God of Israel, and it may be declined with personal suffixes, such as Elohekha (your God) and Elohav (his God).

 

As well as being a general term for deity in the Semitic language, El was also the name of a supreme Canaanite god.

 

Elohim is the creator God in the first chapter of Genesis, and the universe He created has order, design and purpose. He is a distant and transcendent God. He is decisive, in that the laws of nature are immutable. In contrast to YHWH, He never changes His mind.

 

Despite existing beyond the universe, Elohim is not remote from the universe He created and is much concerned with the general providence of His universe and the general providence of mankind. This is very different from the Aristotelian concept of God as the Prime Mover who created the world, gave it a push, and then left it to its own devices. Within later Jewish thought is the idea that the universe would cease to exist without God’s continual input.

 

Elohim is the God of all humanity, in that the universe was created for all mankind and not for the adherents of one religion or nation. The universal aspect of Elohim is evident in a number of places in the Pentateuch. For example, Noah blesses his son Shem in the name of YHWH, but his son Japheth by the name Elohim (Genesis 9:26-27). Shem is the progenitor of the Semites, while Japheth is the progenitor of the Greek nations.

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It is illuminating to follow the consistency of ideas and literary expressions underlying the names of God within the Pentateuch. Hence, in the first creation account when Elohim is relating to the progenitors of all mankind we read:

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Elohim blessed them [male and female] and Elohim said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, the bird of the sky and every living thing that moves on the earth (ibid 1:28).

 

That man should procreate and populate the earth is not at all obvious. Even nowadays there are couples who limit their procreation because of their fear of nuclear annihilation, the problems associated with climate change, and the possibility of world starvation. If not for our trust in technology and diplomacy to overcome these problems, humankind could well come to the conclusion that procreation is a losing proposition. Such fears were very prevalent in the ancient world, since, as will be explained in the essay on Noah, humans had a very pessimistic attitude regarding the future of the world they lived in.

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It is appropriate, therefore, that in the Noah story after the destruction of the world, Elohim again emphasizes the desirability of humanity populating the earth, and we find almost identical wording regarding procreation as in the creation account:

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And Elohim blessed Noah and his sons, and He said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the land (ibid 9:1).

 

To obviate all future concerns that mankind may have, Elohim proceeds to make a covenant with Noah and all future humanity that there shall “never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:15). A covenant is a formal way of making a promise to another party. The sign of this covenant will be a rainbow, created by Elohim and that linked heaven and earth.

 

The name of God YHWH

 

The name YHWH was not bestowed upon God by man, but was relayed by God to the Israelites via Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15). In contrast to Elohim, YHWH is an immanent God Who relates to man and woman on an individual level. He is therefore the God of individual providence.

 

To maintain this relationship man needs to maintain moral behavior. Therefore, YHWH chose the seed of Shem to bring morality and the attributes of His name into this world. YHWH also revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush as the personal God of the Jewish forefathers and the God Who will become the national God of the Israelite people.

 

The meaning of the name YHWH was made known to Moses as a function of the tenses of the verb “to be:”

And He said: “For I shall be (eheyeh) with you — and this is the sign for you that I have sent you. When you take the people out of Egypt, you shall worship Elohim on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12).

 

Moses has a question for God:

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Moses said to Elohim: “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them: ‘The God of your forefathers has sent me to you, and they say to me what is His name? What shall I say to them?’ Elohim answered Moses: “I Shall Be What I Shall Be (eheyeh asher eheyeh).”’ And He said: “So shall you say to the Children of Israel: ‘I Shall Be (eheyeh) has sent me to you.’”

 

Elohim said further to Moses:

 

“‘So shall you say to the Children of Israel; YHWH the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My remembrance from generation to generation” (Exodus 3:13-15).  

 

The most literal explanation of the name YHWH is that its meaning relates directly to the previous sentence, where God explains that His name conveys the meaning of “I shall be with” Moses in his mission and provide him with individual providence.

 

YHWH will also provide the people with national providence that will persist forever:

 

This is My name forever, and this is My remembrance from generation to generation (Exodus 3:15).

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Other explanations of this name have also been proposed that have significant philosophical implications and these are discussed in reference 11.11

 

The name YHWH first appears in the Torah in the first sentence of the second creation story, although in combination with the name Elohim:

 

These are the generations (i.e., products) of the heaven and the earth when they were created, on the day that YHWH Elohim (God God) made earth and heaven (Genesis 2:4).

 

This double appellation for God is unusual in Hebrew. It is not as noticeable in English since the two names are usually translated as “the Lord God.” In Hebrew, however, it sounds just as it is written - God God. This combination occurs in only one other place in the Torah.12 All explanations as to why these two names are found together entail adding extra words to the sentence, such as “YHWH [who is the same God as] Elohim [used in the previous chapter]” or “YHWH [who is] the Deity.”13

 

However, a question can be asked regarding this explanation. If the phrase “YHWH Elohim” is no more than an introduction to YHWH in terms of the name Elohim mentioned in the first chapter, or expresses no more than that YHWH is the Deity, why is this combination of names continued through chapters 2 and 3?  Would not the opening sentence have sufficed?

 

A suggestion I make is that God relates to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden on two different levels. On one level, they are two individuals who, until they are ejected from the Garden of Eden, have a personal relationship with YHWH. On the other, they are also representative of the entire human race. This will be particularly relevant when it comes to their punishment or fate. This is also the concern of Elohim. However, once they are ejected from the Garden of Eden, God relates to Adam and Eve and their descendants via either His attribute of YHWH or Elohim depending on the circumstances.

 

As the God of individual providence, YHWH relates to man in a more personal way than does Elohim, even to the extent of changing His direction for mankind. This is very evident from two consecutive sections in the story of Noah. The first is a YHWH passage, while the passage immediately following is an Elohim passage:

 

And YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And YHWH regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And YHWH said: “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, to creeping things, and the birds of the air; for I regret having made them.” And Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH (Genesis 6:6-8).

 

The difference in God’s reaction in the next Elohim passage is very evident, although both relate to the same situation:

 

These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked (hithalech) with Elohim. And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yaphet. And the earth had become corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with corruption. And Elohim looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And Elohim said to Noah: “The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with corruption through them; and, behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood (Genesis 6:9-14).

 

An answer to this is that the relationship between man and God has to be two-way. Were YHWH to be non-responsive, then we are living in a deterministic world. Requests to YHWH in prayer would be pointless since the outcome would be already determined. God would also never have the opportunity to demonstrate His attributes of righteousness and tzedakah and thereby be a model for human behavior.

 

Nevertheless, this does lead to the question. God knows the future. How could He not know that man would take the wrong path in the generation of Noah?

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Rashi answers this question with an analogy from a midrash in which a gentile asks Rabbi Yehoshua this very question:

 

Do you not admit that the Holy One, Blessed is He foresees the future?” . . . Rabbi Yehoshua said to him. . .  “Even though it was revealed before Him that their destiny was to sin and to suffer destruction, He did not refrain from creating them because of the righteous who are destined to arise from among them.14

 

Nevertheless, R’ Yehoshua’s reply does not quite answer the question as to why the text is written in a way that implies that God does not know the future.

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There could be another answer. This is that God really does not know the future. Man has free will and YHWH can never know exactly how a person will choose. He may know what a person is likely to decide based on that person’s character and previous choices. He knows in what direction mankind is tending. He can also engineer the future. But He does not have complete foreknowledge. This approach is not generally accepted by Jewish sages, but has been raised by a number of Jewish philosophers.15 To my mind, it is the explanation most compatible with the text.

 

 

The names of God and the development of a tribal nation

 

Concomitantly with the Israelites becoming a tribal nation in Egypt is a changing relationship with God. Jacob was well aware of the protection provided to him by YHWH, but knowledge of YHWH seems to have been lost, or at least sublimated, by his family. Joseph speaks often about God, but it is invariably about Elohim. It is likely that his conception of God was as a Deity molding the fate of the Israelite people among the nations, rather than as a God providing him with direct providence.

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Nevertheless, the text makes it clear that YHWH was active behind the scenes. This is evident when Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph and Joseph’s rejection of her advances lands him in prison:

 

And it was after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said: “Lie with me.” But he refused: He said to his master’s wife “ . . . How then can I perpetrate this great evil; I will have sinned against Elohim?”. . . . Then Joseph’s master took him and placed him in the prison. . . . The prison warden did not scrutinize anything that was in his custody, because YHWH was with him [Joseph]; and whatever he would do YHWH would make successful (ibid 39:7-23).

 

The Israelites in Egypt also seemed to have had no awareness of YHWH. Hence, when they cry out to God because of their oppression, their prayers are directed to Elohim:

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And it happened during those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the Children of Israel groaned because of the work and they cried out. Their cry because of the work went up to Elohim. And Elohim heard their moaning and Elohim remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And Elohim saw the Children of Israel and Elohim knew (Exodus 2:23-25).

 

The first time that the name YHWH is mentioned in the Book of Exodus is at the burning bush when YHWH reveals Himself to Moses:

 

An angel of YHWH appeared to him [Moses] in flames of fire from within the bush . . . (Exodus 3:2).

 

From this point on, the focus of the Torah will change to an almost exclusive involvement of YHWH with the fate of the Israelite people.

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In conclusion, there are two directions within Judaism. These are the particularistic or tribal aspect and also its universal mission, with the Jewish people being priests to all humanity. These missions are reflected in the two names of God. The story of Noah is the first time in the Torah that these two concepts are bound together as a single story. They then separate again as two independent accounts in the life of Abraham. This is because Abraham was both the forefather of the Jewish people and the spiritual mentor to the world at large. The name of God YHWH was lost or not recognized among the descendants of Jacob, but will be revealed again to the Israelites in Egypt through the agency of Moses.

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There is an issue, though, that cannot be ignored. What is the significance of there being two creation stories and two stories embedded within the Noah account? How can there be two versions of the same facts? This issue will be discussed in the next chapter.

 

References:

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1. Rashi to Genesis 1:1. He bases his comment on Genesis Rabbah 12:15: “At the beginning of creation, God intended to create the world with the attribute of judgment (middat ha-din). But seeing that the world could not endure it, He preceded it with the attribute of mercy (middat ha-rachamim), and partnered it with judgment.” Other sources are Genesis Rabbah 14:1, Exodus Rabbah 30:13 and Pesikta Rabbati 40.

2. TB Rosh Hashona 17b

3. Lecture 2, The Divine Names in The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch by Umberto Cassuto, p18, Shalem Press, Jerusalem and New York, 2006.  Also, The Names of God in The Koren Siddur with Introduction, Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks. p xiv, Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2009.

4. Lecture 3, More about the Divine Names in The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch by Umberto Cassuto, p32, Shalem Press, Jerusalem and New York 2006.

5. In the Noah story, God speaks freely to Noah. However, in the very similar Gilgamesh myth, the god Ea can only communicate with Upnapishtim about building an ark by speaking to the brick wall of his reed hut. See “Gilgamesh Tablet XI” in Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley, 110. Oxford University Press, Revised edition 2000.

6. http://www.traditiononline.org/news/converted/Volume%207/No.%202/The%20Lonely%20Man.pdf.

7. Mordechai Breuer. The Aspects Theory of Rav Mordechai Breuer. [In Hebrew]. Edited by Yosef Ofer. Alon Shvut. Tevunot, 2012. Also, Introduction. Breuer’s Shitat HaBehinot (Aspects Theory) in “In the Beginnings. Discovering the Two Worldviews Hidden within Genesis 1-11, p12, Gefen, Jerusalem.2023 and Rabbi Mordechai Breuer in “Great Biblical Commentators. Biographies, Methodologies and Contributions” by Avigail Rock. Maggid Books, 2023, p417.

8. Kuzari IV:1. This explanation also partially follows that of Nachmanides, as documented in his interpretation to Genesis. 1:1. Also, The Names of God in The Koren Siddur with Introduction, Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks. p xiv, Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2009.

9. An example is Genesis 20:13 where the verb for “caused” is in the plural. “And so it was, when Elohim caused me [i.e., Abraham] to wander from my father’s house, I said to her. .” Rashi comments on this phrase and points out other examples in the Bible where the accompanying verb is in the plural. He feels that it has no particular significance. However, a plural verb may also be used for emphasis as the majestic form of God. An example is Genesis 1:20 when God says “Let us make man.” A midrashic explanation for this is that God consulted with the administering angels.

10. Examples are "then his master shall bring him to God [Elohim], and shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall bore through his ear with the awl, and he shall serve him forever" (Exodus 21:6) and: "If the thief is not found, then the householder shall come near to God [Elohim] that he had not laid his hand on his neighbor's property. For every item of liability, whether an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or a garment, or for any lost item about which he says: 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before God [Elohim]. Whomever God [Elohim] condemns shall pay double to his neighbor" (Exodus 22:7-9).

11. Consistent with the explanation given is that of Rashi who interprets “ehyeh asher ehyeh” as: "I will be with them in this suffering, as I will be with them in future oppressions." Ibn Ezra also interprets “ehyeh” as a statement of God's eternal nature and reliability and reflecting His ongoing presence. Thus, God saying: "I will be with you" is both a promise and reassurance. He also notes that the future tense in Hebrew can imply the aspect of certainty and not just time. Sforno reads it as “I will be, as I will be” — meaning God will reveal Himself in ways appropriate to the needs of the people and according to their level. Each generation may experience God differently, but God is constant in His essence. By contrast, Maimonides, in his Guide for the Perplexed (Part I, Ch. 63), sees “ehyeh” as a metaphysical declaration of existence. The phrase means “the One who necessarily exists.” God is pure being and is independent of all else. Nachmanides connects “ehyeh” to God's attribute of eternity and changelessness, and expressing God’s being across all time. It hence reflects the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), which also derives from the same root of to be.

12. An example is Exodus 9:30. Elohim in this instance may well be translated as the Deity.

13. See Rashi to Genesis 2:5. Rashi explains the name Elohim as being the ruler and judge over everything.

14. Rashi’s commentary to Genesis 6.6.

15. Most Jewish philosophers agree that God has foreknowledge of people’s freewill choices before they are made. Nevertheless, there are orthodox philosophers, namely the Ralbag (Gersonides) and the Shlah who limit God’s foreknowledge. For a thorough review of this topic see “The Problem of Foreknowledge” in Illuminating Jewish Thought. Exploration of Freewill, the Afterlife, and the Messianic Era by Rabbi Natanel Wiederblank, p67-176. Maggid Books, 2018.