What are believed to be appearances of God to men are what is referred to as Theophanies. What is not understood is the application of the Hebrew word
elohim commonly translated
God in English.
Elohim is used of angels and occasionally of men. Therefore many instances where elohim is used in the OT are not references to Almighty God but to subordinate elohim. The fact of the matter is no one has seen God at any time - ever (1 John 4:12).
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Theophanies were a problem for the Israelis (which are Jews in this context--the return from captivity). They did not want to make God to seem human. The Sopherim were the scribes who set the text of the Hebrew Bible in order after the return from Babylonian captivity. Because of their exceptional reverence for the inexpressible Name of Yehovah they substituted the name Adonai (LORD) in the place of Yehovah. (That is why the King James Version uses the word LORD in the place of most uses of the name Yehovah (more commonly, Jehovah). That is also why many Jews will write the words LORD and God thus: L__D and G_d.) This same reverence for the NAME of God can be seen as reverence of His PERSON as well.
Since the Jews did not like Theophanies, they also substituted a word for God when He appeared to men. In the Targums, which are the Aramic versions of the Old Testament, the word memra is used in every instance of an appearance of God to men or God speaking to a man. This use of the memra rationalized every appearance of God to man.†Source:
http://www.bibleword.org/memra.htm
The Jewish scribes called Sopherim altered many texts from the Hebrew because of their extreme reverence for the name of God and because they could not reconcile the texts that say God appeared to men because they did not understand the word elohim was used of subordinate spiritbeings such as angels – knowing man cannot see God and live. Assuming elohim referred directly to Almighty God, they substituted elohim for the Aramaic Memra in the Targums, which is roughly the equivalent of the Greek word Logos. They also substituted
YHVH with
Adonai which was then translated
Lord along with each case of YHVH which was translated
LORD in English. Thereby the Hebrew applications and usage is not understood and the truth concerning God's identity and that of His son is obscured (See Bullinger’s Companion Bible Appendices:
30,
32, &
33).
This approach altered the correct understanding of the function of elohim under haElohim or THE God, to a manifestation of God. This is the foundation upon which many false doctrine have their origin including the Oneness teaching also called Modalist Unitarianism, and aspects of Trinitarianism such as describing the Angel of YHVH as a manifestation of God.
Reducing elohim to a manifestation of God as in the use of Memra, in like manner conceals the correct understanding and identification of the pre-existent Messiah as the elohim of Israel, the Captain of the Host of God, the Angel of the Presence, and the subordinate Yahovah who acted as the agent of the Yahovah of Hosts, who is the Most High El.
Logos is also used to reduce the pre-existant Christ to an
ousia or
hypostasis of God rather than the beginning of the creation of God as one of many sons of God and one of several Morning Stars (Revelation 3:14, Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Job 38:7, Revelation 22:16, Isaiah 14:12).
Properly understood, both Memra and Logos refer to the one who became Jesus Christ. He was one subordinate elohim of many (later anointed above his comrades, Psalm 45:6-7) given the authority to represent THE Elohim as the Command or Word of Eloah, and later gave up his spirit-life for all of fallen creation by becoming flesh and dying to pay our debts to the law.
The entire subject deserves considerable study to properly understand the structure and authority of God’s government within the heavenly realm.
This paperand
this one will help considerably.
R7-12
