A
popular proof text for the Trinity is Genesis 1:1,
בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים
ואת הארץ
1 In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
They say
this implies the Trinity because the word for “God” here is “אלהים” (pronounced
Elohim), אלהים is a plural
form.
But they
forget Exodus 7:1,
ויאמר יהוה אל־משׁה ראה נתתיך
אלהים לפרעה ואהרן אחיך יהיה נביאך
1 And
the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy
brother shall be thy prophet.
The word
here translated as “god” is also אלהים (Elohim).
Logically, it is impossible to say אלהים (Elohim) always means Trinity, unless you
believe Moses was a Trinity.
More
importantly, is this verse talking about the nature of God? No, the theme of this verse is the origin of
the world. Trinitarians try to use this
verse to tell us how to interpret the verses that say God is one. However, proper exegesis demands that we use
verses that are clearly talking about the nature of God to determine how to
interpret verses that aren’t addressing the nature of God, such as this
one. When Trinitarian try to use this
verse about the origin of the world to try to determine how to interpret the
verses that say the nature of God is that He is one, they are doing the exact
opposite of proper exegesis.
Following this text is
Genesis 1:26,
ויאמר אלהים נעשׂה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו וירדו בדגת הים ובעוף
השׁמים ובבהמה ובכל־הארץ ובכל־הרמשׂ הרמשׂ על־הארץ
26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
Genesis 11: 7 is
similar,
הבה נרדה ונבלה שׁם שׂפתם אשׁר לא ישׁמעו אישׁ שׂפת רעהו
7 Go to, let us go
down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one
another's speech.
Again, we must ask, are these verses talking about the
nature of God? No, they aren’t. They are talking about God’s interaction with
humans. Therefore, it is not proper
exegesis to use these verses to determine how we interpret the verses that say
God is one.
Hebrew scholars have often understood this as the
majestic plural or royal we. This means
that someone in great authority is often referenced using the plural.
Also, note that the actions in the verses after God
speaks are all done in the singular. God
speaks using “we”, but only one being acts.
Some Jews interpret this as God speaking to his heavenly court, then
doing the actions himself. Here is a
Biblical example of that kind of talking.
2 Samuel 16:20
ויאמר אבשׁלום אל־אחיתפל הבו לכם עצה מה־נעשׂה
20 Then
said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
Here Absalom talks to his advisors and says, “what we
shall do”, but he is the only one who acts.
I just gave an undeniable, Biblical example of this in
the paragraph above where Moses is referred to as Elohim, a plural form, even
though Moses is only one person. Royal
proclamations have often used this. For
another example in Semitic language religious texts, look in the Quran. Believing in multiple gods is the worst sin
in Islam, but the Quran constantly uses “We” when quoting God.
Another
text commonly used is
Isaiah
7:14.
לכן יתן אדני הוא לכם אות הנה העלמה הרה וילדת בן וקראת שׁמו עמנו אל
17 Therefore the Lord
himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel.
This verse is quoted in
Matthew 1:21-23.
τέξεται δὲ υἱὸν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦν· αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus: for he shall
save his people from their sins.
Τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον γέγονεν ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ᾿Εμμανουήλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον, μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός.
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with us.
Trinitarians
will often interpret this as a prophecy about Jesus being God in the
flesh. It only seems this way because
Christians rarely read the context of this verse. Let’s look at verses 1-17 to get the context.
ויהי בימי אחז בן־יותם בן־עזיהו מלך יהודה עלה
רצין מלך־ארם ופקח בן־רמליהו מלך־ישׂראל ירושׁלם למלחמה עליה ולא יכל להלחם עליה׃
1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of
Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and
Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war
against it, but could not prevail against it.
ויגד לבית דוד לאמר נחה ארם על־אפרים וינע לבבו
ולבב עמו כנוע עצי־יער מפני־רוח׃
2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria
is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his
people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
ויאמר יהוה אל־ישׁעיהו צא־נא לקראת אחז אתה
ושׁאר ישׁוב בנך אל־קצה תעלת הברכה העליונה אל־מסלת שׂדה כובס׃
3 Then said the Lord
unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the
end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;
ויאמר יהוה אל־ישׁעיהו צא־נא
לקראת אחז אתה ושׁאר ישׁוב בנך אל־קצה תעלת הברכה העליונה אל־מסלת שׂדה כובס
4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear
not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for
the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
יען כי־יעץ עליך ארם רעה אפרים ובן־רמליהו לאמר׃
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah,
have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
נעלה ביהודה ונקיצנה ונבקענה אלינו ונמליך מלך
בתוכה את בן־טבאל׃
6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us
make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son
of Tabeal:
כה אמר אדני יהוה לא תקום ולא תהיה׃
7 Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
כי ראשׁ ארם דמשׂק וראשׁ דמשׂק רצין ובעוד
שׁשׁים וחמשׁ שׁנה יחת אפרים מעם׃
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of
Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be
broken, that it be not a people.
וראשׁ אפרים שׁמרון וראשׁ שׁמרון בן־רמליהו אם
לא תאמינו כי לא תאמנו׃
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head
of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be
established.
ויוסף יהוה דבר אל־אחז לאמר׃
10 Moreover the Lord
spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
שׁאל־לך אות מעם יהוה אלהיך העמק שׁאלה או הגבה למעלה׃
11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height
above.
ויאמר אחז לא־אשׁאל ולא־אנסה את־יהוה׃
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I
tempt the Lord.
ויאמר שׁמעו־נא בית דוד המעט מכם הלאות אנשׁים
כי תלאו גם את־אלהי׃
13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it
a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
לכן יתן אדני הוא לכם אות הנה העלמה הרה וילדת
בן וקראת שׁמו עמנו אל׃
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel.
חמאה ודבשׁ יאכל לדעתו מאוס ברע ובחור בטוב׃
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know
to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
כי בטרם ידע הנער מאס ברע ובחר בטוב תעזב האדמה
אשׁר אתה קץ מפני שׁני מלכיה׃
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the
evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of
both her kings.
יביא יהוה עליך ועל־עמך ועל־בית אביך ימים אשׁר לא־באו למיום סור־אפרים מעל
יהודה את מלך אשׁור׃
17 The Lord
shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days
that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the
king of Assyria.
When you
read the larger context, it is obvious that verse 14 wasn’t originally talking
about Jesus at all, but was talking about a baby born during the days of King
Ahaz as a sign that God would fulfill His promise to Ahaz. It says that the alliance against him would
be broken before the child is old enough to know to “refuse the evil, and choose the good”. You should also know that the word translated
as “virgin” in verse 14 is עַלְמָ֗ה (almah), which literally means “young
woman”, but is often used in the Old Testament to refer to virgins. This is not saying that the original
“Imanmanuel” was born to a virgin.
Matthew interpreted it
as having a secondary fulfillment in Jesus, who was born to a virgin. And it makes sense, looking back, to see an
allusion to Jesus in this verse.
However, the original Immanuel this prophecy was referring to was born
during the days of King Ahaz. Nobody
believes this child was God in the flesh, so the name “Immanuel” is not a sign
of deity.
Another
one of the strongest Trinitarian texts is
Isaiah
9:6,
כי־ילד ילד־לנו בן נתן־לנו ותהי המשׂרה על־שׁכמו ויקרא שׁמו פלא יועץ אל גבור אביעד
שׂר־שׁלום
"For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
The key
phrases here are “mighty God” and “everlasting Father.”
The
Hebrew for “mighty God” is אל גבור
(el gibbor). This is a very interesting
phrase in that Trinitarians translate it as “mighty God”, but the Jews and
non-Trinitarians translate it more along the lines of “mighty hero” or “mighty
heroes.” This phrase also appears in the
original Hebrew of
Ezekiel
32:21,
ידברו־לו אלי גבורים מתוך שׁאול
את־עזריו ירדו שׁכבו הערלים חללי־חרב
"The
strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them
that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the
sword."
The
Hebrew that is translated here as “strong among the mighty” is אלי גבורים (eli gibbowrim), which is the plural form
of el gibbor. Obviously, you cannot
claim that Ezekiel 32: 21 should read “mighty gods,” since that would be pure
pagan pantheism.
As we
saw earlier, having God in someone’s name does not indicate deity. Here are some other examples of Biblical
names that refer to God.
Eli – My
God
Jotham –
The Perfect God
Daniel –
God is My Judge
Let’s
look at the larger context of this verse to see who it is primarily talking
about.
Isaiah
9:2-7.
העם ההלכים בחשׁך ראו אור גדול ישׁבי בארץ צלמות
אור נגה עליהם׃
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a
great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath
the light shined.
הרבית הגוי לא הגדלת השׂמחה שׂמחו לפניך כשׂמחת
בקציר כאשׁר יגילו בחלקם שׁלל׃
3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased
the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men
rejoice when they divide the spoil.
כי את־על סבלו ואת מטה שׁכמו שׁבט הנגשׂ בו החתת
כיום מדין׃
4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and
the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
כי כל־סאון סאן ברעשׁ ושׂמלה מגוללה בדמים והיתה
לשׂרפה מאכלת אשׁ׃
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused
noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of
fire.
כי־ילד ילד־לנו בן נתן־לנו ותהי המשׂרה על־שׁכמו
ויקרא שׁמו פלא יועץ אל גבור אביעד שׂר־שׁלום׃
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.
לםרבה המשׂרה ולשׁלום אין־קץ על־כסא דוד ועל־ממלכתו להכין אתה ולסעדה במשׁפט ובצדקה
מעתה ועד־עולם קנאת יהוה צבאות תעשׂה־זאת
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there
shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for
ever. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this.
There
are two very important clues here. The
first is in verse 5 where it says that God would deliver His people like in the
days of Midian, when Midian oppressed Israel and the warriors of Midian were
then confused with noise and burning fire.
The second is that verse 7 refers to this child’s actions as the “zeal
of the LORD of hosts”.
In
Judges 6-8 we have the remarkable story of Gideon. The army of Midian had taken over Israel and
Israel cried out to God for help. God
sent Gideon to deliver Israel from this foreign invasion. Initially, Gideon raised an army of 10,000
men. God told him it was too many
because God wanted it to be clear that it was God, not Israel, who would defeat
Midian. Under God’s instruction, the
army was whittled down to 300 men.
Gideon gave
his 300 men trumpets and torches hidden in pitchers. They surrounded the Midian army at
night. Then they broke the pitchers,
exposing the torches, blew the trumpets and shouted. The Midianites were confused by the noise and
panicked and ran. Gideon and his tiny
army pursued them killing over 120,000 Midianites in the process.
In
recap, Israel was being oppressed by an invading army. God miraculously defeated the much larger
enemy. And the enemy was confused with
the noise and fire, perfectly matching Isaiah 9:5. Isaiah 9:2-5 said that the events surrounding
the promised child in verse 6 will be similar to the events in Gideon’s day.
Now
let’s look at the second clue. The
phrase “zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform
this” is very unique in the Bible. It
only also appears in 2 Kings and another chapter in Isaiah. They are parallel accounts of the same
event. Let’s look at the account in
Isaiah.
Isaiah
37:15-38
ויתפלל חזקיהו אל־יהוה לאמר
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
יהוה צבאות אלהי ישׂראל ישׁב
הכרבים אתה־הוא האלהים לבדך לכל ממלכות הארץ אתה עשׂית את־השׁמים ואת־הארץ
16 O Lord
of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God,
even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and
earth.
הטה יהוה אזנך ושׁמע פקח יהוה עינך וראה ושׁמע את כל־דברי סנחריב אשׁר שׁלח לחרף
אלהים חי
17 Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which
hath sent to reproach the living God.
אמנם יהוה החריבו מלכי אשׁור את־כל־הארצות ואת־ארצם
18 Of a truth, Lord,
the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
ונתן את־אלהיהם באשׁ כי לא אלהים
המה כי אם־מעשׂה ידי־אדם עץ ואבן ויאבדום
19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they
were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have
destroyed them.
ועתה יהוה אלהינו הושׁיענו מידו
וידעו כל־ממלכות הארץ כי־אתה יהוה לבדך
20 Now therefore, O Lord
our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that thou art the Lord, even thou
only.
וישׁלח ישׁעיהו בן־אמוץ אל־חזקיהו לאמר כה־אמר יהוה אלהי ישׂראל אשׁר התפללת אלי
אל־סנחריב מלך אשׁור
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah,
saying, Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
זה הדבר אשׁר־דבר יהוה עליו בזה לך לעגה לך בתולת בת־ציון אחריך ראשׁ הניעה בת
ירושׁלם
22 This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn;
the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
את־מי חרפת וגדפת ועל־מי הרימותה קול ותשׂא מרום עיניך אל־קדושׁ ישׂראל
23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
even against the Holy One of Israel.
ביד עבדיך חרפת אדני ותאמר ברב רכבי אני עליתי מרום הרים ירכתי לבנון ואכרת קומת
ארזיו מבחר ברשׁיו ואבוא מרום קצו יער כרמלו
24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord,
and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of
the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars
thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of
his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
אני קרתי ושׁתיתי מים ואחרב בכף־פעמי כל יארי מצור
25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole
of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
הלוא־שׁמעת למרחוק אותה עשׂיתי מימי קדם ויצרתיה עתה הבאתיה ותהי להשׁאות גלים
נצים ערים בצרות
26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it;
and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass,
that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
וישׁביהן קצרי־יד חתו ובשׁו היו
עשׂב שׂדה וירק דשׁא חציר גגות ושׁדמה לפני קמה
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power,
they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as
the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be
grown up.
ושׁבתך וצאתך ובואך ידעתי ואת התרגזך אלי
28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy
coming in, and thy rage against me.
יען התרגזך אלי ושׁאננך עלה באזני
ושׂמתי חחי באפך ומתגי בשׂפתיך והשׁיבתיך בדרך אשׁר־באת בה
29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is
come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle
in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
וזה־לך האות אכול השׁנה ספיח ובשׁנה השׁנית שׁחיס ובשׁנה
השׁלישׁית זרעו וקצרו ונטעו כרמים ואכול פרים
30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat
this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth
of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and
eat the fruit thereof.
ויספה פליטת בית־יהודה הנשׁארה שׁרשׁ למטה ועשׂה פרי למעלה
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of
Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
כי מירושׁלם תצא שׁארית
ופליטה מהר ציון קנאת יהוה צבאות תעשׂה־זאת
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant,
and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
לכן כה־אמר יהוה אל־מלך
אשׁור לא יבוא אל־העיר הזאת ולא־יורה שׁם חץ ולא־יקדמנה מגן ולא־ישׁפך עליה סללה
33 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into
this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast
a bank against it.
בדרך אשׁר־בא בה ישׁוב ואל־העיר הזאת לא יבוא נאם־יהוה
34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he
return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
וגנותי על־העיר הזאת להושׁיעה למעני ולמען דוד עבדי
35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine
own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
ויצא מלאך יהוה ויכה
במחנה אשׁור מאה ושׁמנים וחמשׁה אלף וישׁכימו בבקר והנה כלם פגרים מתים
36 Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a
hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
ויסע וילך וישׁב סנחריב מלך־אשׁור
וישׁב בנינוה
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went
and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
ויהי הוא משׁתחוה בית נסרך אלהיו ואדרמלך ושׂראצר בניו הכהו בחרב והמה נמלטו ארץ
אררט וימלך אסר־חדן בנו תחתיו
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the
house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with
the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son
reigned in his stead.
Here we have an event where God miraculously defeats a much larger
invading army, similar to the days of Midian.
And Isaiah identifies this miracle with the same “zeal of the LORD of
hosts” in Isaiah 9:6.
Thus the context of the book of Isaiah identifies the child in Isaiah
9:6 as Hezekiah. Matthew saw a
foreshadowing of the Messiah in this text, and I agree with him. However, this doesn’t change the fact that
the passage originally prophesied about Hezekiah, who was not God in the
flesh. Therefore, it makes no sense to
assume that the secondary fulfillment of this passage is indicating that the
Messiah would be God incarnate.
