Rembrandt (1606–1669) Sacrifice of Isaac (Wikimedia)
Usually I try to present the ideas in these podcasts so that anyone can understand. However, this time if you cannot read Scripture except in translation and you have not learned to use an interlinear or computer Bible to get beyond that handicap, this podcast may be less accessible.
It deals with the naming of God, in one of the most challenging and difficult stories in the Bible, the near-sacrifice (or binding) of Isaac.
An unheard of second warning, in this podcast I don’t reach any conclusions, I either leave that to you, or you will have to wait till I am inspired to make a follow-up ‘cast 😉
Tags: abraham, akeda, binding of isaac, Gen 22, isaac, sacrifice of isaac
I am glad to see someone point this out. I asked about these variants in Qohelet at a local SBL meeting here last year – no response. I have noticed the same in the Jonah story this week. The last chapter of Jonah has this usage – Yhwh – Yhwh God – the God – God – Yhwh. and the earlier chapters use the God in certain contexts – I rendered it ‘this God’. There is more to this than just different traditions. H)LHYM is frequent in Qohelet and occurs in Job 1-2. But three times in the psalms:
87:3 ???? ??????????
90:1 ????????? ???????? ????? ??????????
not sure about these two – maybe a consequence of construct – applying the definite to the city and to the man
136:2 ?????? ???????? ??????????
the last one is clear
You have looked at this more than I have at this stage… I wonder about “this God” with a normal singular word that would be a common sense of the “article” but ‘elohim is plural in form and in some places actually plural… I wish I knew of some extra-biblical cognate usage to compare 🙂
I’m sure you are right about these Psalms.
In Gen 22 there is no such easy explanation, which together with the use of straight ‘elohim by the angel and the change to Yhwh makes it all the more interesting 🙂
Aagh, I must get this blog fixed so it displays Unicode.
Hi the podcast was interesting i think naming is very imporatnt. This is something that easter civilisations understand. It is not something that is though about much in the west. Genesis 22:1-22, I dont think it’s horrible at all especially with hindsight. Good tells us that death is not the end, and this was a test of Abrahams commitment to God. Also “the God” is clearly reference to YHWH who has created the Angels and the Messiah included. thanks for the podcats