Troublesome Topic: AGAINST A NARROW USE OF THE TERM ELOHIM

Early in the book Unseen Real, Heiser provides as one of his guiding principle the statement that “Sons of Elohim” always refers to divine beings, never to humans (page 24 & 27). I think he gets this from other religions because he sure cannot find such a clear statement in the Bible. Most Bible scholars see human leaders, such as judges, magistrates, or righteous ones, as a viable meaning for the phrase “sons of Elohim”. In fact that is the preferred meaning in some cases. It is self-serving and deceptive for Heiser to rule that option out from the start.

He also discounts any interpretation in which the single word “Elohim” is rendered as some kind of human leader; he has predetermined that such an interpretation is impossible.

While such limiting statements are convenient helpers in the presentation of his cause, they are unnecessary and dishonest. The term “Elohim” simply means “mighty ones”. Therefore, it is no surprise that it is used in the Old Testament in a few different ways. It is also obvious that God is the mightiest of all the mighty ones. But Heiser is trying so hard to force his alternative worldview onto the Bible that he refused to even consider a human possibility for verses of the Bible that cannot refer to the Creator God and therefore, must refer to something else.

Heiser not only disagrees with all the other Hebrew scholars I know, he says they cannot possibly be right regarding this word “Elohim. It is one thing to say, “I think they are all wrong,” it is another to say, “They cannot possibly be right.”

Heiser also says Elohim is a “place of residence” term (page 29). By this he is saying that only those residing in the heavens can qualify for the term. By doing so he has once again limited the possibilities and forced certain passages to lean the direction that he wants them to go. But I see no bases for this in Scripture; I think he gets this from the same place he gets most things, from pagan religions.

VERSES THAT SHOW DIFFERENT USES OF THE WORD ELOHIM

There are other uses of Elohim that do not refer to the God of Creation but to angels, holy ones, mighty one, or judges. Here are a few of them:

Ex 21:6

Ex 22:8-9       

Ex 4:16           

Ps 8:5             

Job5:1             

Job 15:15

Zech 14:5

However, none of them require an interpretation of a council of gods. The reality is that there are several verses in the Old Testament where the word “Elohim” or the phrase “sons of Elohim”, fits most naturally with humans. Some examples are Genesis 6:2 & 4, Exodus chapters 18, 21 and 22, and all of Psalm 82.

The next lesson is called EXODUS 18-22 HUMAN JUDGES AND ELOHIM.