Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Philip" <phil-eng AT ighmail.com>]

Thanks Rolf,

1. I am particularly interested in your statement,

     "In some Qumran writings )LHYM refers to the angels as well."

     Do you have any specific quotations in mind to back up the point?


2.  Also, I take your point that "The reference of angels as "gods" in the
Tanakh neither indicate
     polytheism nor henotheism..."

but to clarify the discussion further, I think that limiting the discussion
to Hebrew and Greek terminology such as "elohim",  "malak", "aggelous",
"theos", "theoi", etc with quotations may 'lucidify' things a bit???

I say this because for example, it appears that some may read "elohim" as
God whereas other may read "elohim" as gods, angels, etc for the same
quotation.



-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of furuli AT online.no
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 7:11 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] elohim versus aggelous, Psalm 8:6[5] MT verses LXX


Dear Philip,

The word )LHYM  is  a generic count-noun, and its reference must be
construed from the context. In addition to Peter's references (and
fine discussion) I would like to point out that the writer of Hebrews
(2:7) in the NT quoted Psalm 8:6 and applied it to the angels. In
some Qumran writings )LHYM refers to the angels as well.

The reference of angels as "gods" in the Tanakh neither indicate
polytheism nor henotheism, because they are not in line of worship.
The angels are said to be sons of YHWH, and therefore they have the
same nature as their father.  In a world with different kinds of
Christian dogma it can seem strange that creatures can be referred to
as "gods" beside The God, but evidently this was not strange to the
Hebrew mind.


Best regards

Rolf Furuli









>

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