Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

James:

While I am loathe to get into a theological argument, the strict
linguistic meaning of "one" in Hebrew is an argument neither for nor
against the trinitarian understanding of God. I agree with you that
the argument that 'echad' refers to a compound one is not supportable,
but the concept that God is a compound one is not based on this word,
rather on many other verses in both Tanakh and New Testament.

Karl W. Randolph.

On 8/24/06, someone angel <unkangel AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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). .........
>
>   Sincerely,
> James