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  • From: someone angel <unkangel AT yahoo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Oneness VS Trinity
  • Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:00:53 -0700 (PDT)

Hello Sir!

Echad (one)
It is customary for some Binitarians and most evangelical Trinitarians
(especially Messianics) to propose that the Hebrew word for one, the numeral
one (echad), is really “compound one.” This is a clever device which confuses
logical thought. Echad occurs some 960 times in the Hebrew Bible, and it is
the numeral “one.” It is a numeral adjective when it modifies a noun. “One
day,” “one person,” etc. Echad is the ordinary cardinal number, “one.” Eleven
in Hebrew is ten and one. Abraham “was only one,” said Ezekiel 33:24 (NASU),
“only one man” (NIV).
Just as the famous Armstrongian phrase “uniplural” does not appear in the
Webster’s (thus it represents the DIY grammatical venture on which Worldwide
theology was done in respect to defining God), “compound one” as a definition
of echad is also not recognized in standard texts describing the grammar of
the Hebrew language. It is an invented grammatical category which confuses
and divides.
The Hebrew word for one operates as does the word “one” in English. You can
have one thing, one person. And of course the noun modified by echad may be
collective, one family, one people, one flesh, as a single unit composed of
two — Adam and Eve, in that case. But to say that “one” carries the meaning
of “compound one” is misleading in the extreme. The basic meaning of echad
given by the lexicons is “one single,” even the indefinite article “a.”
Sometimes “the only one,” or even “unique” is the proper translation of
echad.
Suppose now we say that “one” implies more than one. We could prove our
point like this: In the phrase “one tripod,” is it not obvious that one
really implies three? Does not one dozen mean that one is really 12? Or one
million? Is one equivalent to a million? Does this not suggest the plurality
of “one”? What about “one quartet” or “one duplex”? To carry this madness to
an extreme, we could argue that in the phrase “one zebra,” the word one
really means “black and white.”
What is happening here? We are being asked to believe that in the phrase
“the Lord our God is one Lord,” that “one” is “compound.” That “Lord” is more
than one Lord, perhaps two or perhaps three. We are being lured into a
complete falsehood that “one” implies plurality. We are asked to believe this
on the basis of a tiny fraction of the appearances of echad when it modifies
a compound noun (the vast majority of the occurrences of echad when it does
not modify a compound noun are left unmentioned). Even when “one” modifies a
compound noun — one family, one cluster — the word “one” retains its meaning
as “one single…” There is no such thing as “compound one” as a definition of
echad.
This procedure is to confuse the numeral adjective “one” with the noun it
modifies. It is to “bleed” the meaning of a compound noun back into the
numeral. This will take the unwary by surprise. Thus “one flesh” is supposed
to mean that one can mean more than one. The point, obviously, is that
“flesh” as a combination of Adam and Eve does have a collective, family
sense. But one is still one: “one flesh and not two fleshes.” “One cluster
(singular) of grapes” does not in any way illustrate a plural meaning for the
word “one.” “Cluster” has indeed a collective, plural sense. But one is still
one: “one cluster” and not “two clusters.” Just imagine if at the check-out
the clerk announces that your one dollar purchase is really “compound one.”
You could become bankrupt.
So then, Yahweh, the personal name of the One God, occurs some 6,800 times.
In no case does it have a plural verb, or adjective. And never is a plural
pronoun put in its place. Pronouns are most useful grammatical markers, since
they tell us about the nouns they stand for. The very fact that the God who
is Yahweh speaks of Himself as “I” and “Me” and is referred to as “You”
(singular) and “He” and “Him” thousands upon thousands of times should
convince all Bible readers of the singularity of God. The fact that God
further speaks of Himself in every exclusive fashion known to language —“by
myself,” “all alone” etc., — only adds to this proof. “There is none besides
Me,” “none before Me” and “none after Me.” “I alone am Elohim, and Yahweh.”
“I created the heavens and the earth by Myself; none was with Me.”
A Sample of the Use of echad (one)
Genesis 42:13: “Joseph’s brothers said, ‘We are 12 brothers, sons of one
(echad) man, in the land of Canaan. The youngest is this day with our father
and one (echad) is not.’” Verse 16: “Send one (echad) of you.” Verse 19: “Let
one (echad) of your brothers…” Verse 27: “One (echad) of them opened his
sack.” Verse 32: “One (echad) is not.” Verse 33: “One (echad) of your
brothers.” There are well over 900 other examples in the OT.
What is illogical to the extreme is the lengths men will go to in support
of a tradition that is not based on the apostles and the prophets. Jesus said
many are called but few are chosen, which should give all Trinitarians reason
to pause and rethink their position. Especially since Jesus equated eternal
life with knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ who God sent.
You see Sir, you are appealing to men with your Theological Wordbook of the
Old Testament. You are also denigrating the very people who speak a language
you don't and that people are the Jews. What many assume is illogical to any
thinking man who does not put his intellect on hold to defend redefining the
rules of grammar made up by men when it is convenient to do so. And the men
who redefined the rules of grammar are the same men who teach that Mary was
immaculately conceived, was a perpetual virgin, that the Pope is God's
mouthpiece, and etc. Now you can deny that Origen came up with the doctrine
of the Trinity but to do so is to deny historical truth.
What no trinitarian has done is explain the plain language meaning of the
Scriptures I posted. What they have failed to explain is why no NT author
refers to Jesus as God or God the Son.
And BTW, Jesus and His apostles spoke Aramaic not Greek and to ignore this
historical fact only shows that trinitarians have put their faith in the
traditions of men not God's inerrent and infallible word. The foundation of
Christianity is Judaism and its strict monotheism not the cleverly devised
myths developed by Greeks who used Greek philosophy to interpret who God and
Jesus are not, and they are not part of a triune Godhead.

Sincerely,
James



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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew "If-and" construction and the Book of Mormon
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Dear Joel,

>>
> Astute observation Harold. I believe it was Mark Twain who commented
> that if "And it came to pass" were removed from the Book of Mormon it
> would be reduced to the Pamphlet of Mormon.


HH: Interesting.

>
> But I believe the argument of Skousen is that Smith as an illiterate
> farm boy could not have known these things.


HH: But Smith lived in the northeast, where there were a lot of educated
people. He lived in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania. He lived near
the town of Palmyra, New York.

> Regardless of this
> specific argument that does remain true. Smith produced a 500+ page
> book covering many important theological issues and quite a complex
> narrative when he was in his early 20's in just over 60 days of
> dictation.


HH: No, it was two-and-a-half years of dictation. The following is worth
reading:

http://lds-mormon.com/jsmith.shtml

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


>
>





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