Towards, unto, into and in Theos

The term Homograph is constructed from two Greek words meaning ‘the same’ and ‘writing’. As a word it is not present in the Greek New Testament but is used in the English language to describe a word that is made up of the same letters but may not necessarily either be pronounced the same or mean the same thing. We are going to use homograph to describe a word that is spelt with the same letters and has a relation with other words spelt the same.

A premise to the trajectory of this blog is that one of the terms, incorrectly, translated ‘God’ in the Hebrew Old Testament (‘el אל) is an identical spelling (that is, a homograph) to the Hebrew word for ‘to’ or ‘unto’ (‘el אל). Furthermore, that this fact is pertinent to understanding the meaning of one of the titles by which the creator has decided to call himself by. This argument relies on accepting that there is a relationship of meaning between scriptural homographs. In this case that relationship is to say that there is a directional sense embedded in the meaning of this particular title for the creator (‘el אל) and that this goes to the heart of a particular and profound aspect of his identity. This being the case it would be wise to show that there is room in the word to grasp the significance of homographic relationships.

Homographs, as we mentioned above, are when two words are identical in the letters that they present, in this case the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This can be because they present the same 2 or 3 letter stem or they present the same in a constructed form.

In the first category we can look at the homograph שבע (sheba’) 

This occurs as the verb ‘to swear’ and as the number ‘seven’. They occur together in Genesis 21 where ‘Abraham swears an oath with ‘Abimelek concerning a well. ‘Abraham sets seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves and ‘Abimelek asks what they mean.

‘And he said, for these seven ewe lambs shall you take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba’ because there they sware both of them’ (Gen.21.30,31)

I have highlighted the relevant words – seven and sware – to show how they correspond. The fact that the two terms are linked in meaning is evident to ‘Abraham too as he explicitly connects them. That is, there are seven ewe lambs as a sign that he was swearing this oath with ‘Abimelek.

In the same verse (31) we also have the use of the term ‘there’ (שם) which is homographic with the verb ‘to set/place’ and the word for ‘name’. Interestingly this verb to set or place is an equivalent of the New Testament Greek word from which the title Theos (θεος) comes. That is, that at the heart of the meaning of Theos (θεος) is the idea of a set place.

Again these terms occur in close proximity with one another and are, therefore, clearly linked.

‘But unto the place which Yahweh your ‘elohym shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, unto his habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come’ (Deuteronomy 12.5)

As you can see in the Hebrew text, as in the English, the 3 homographs are put together – ‘to put’, ‘his name’ and ‘there’ with a further ‘there’ at the conclusion of the verse (all highlighted).

So, there is a place which he shall choose and he requires his people to seek it out and to come unto it, presuming therefore that when they come unto it he is there.

Furthermore, as a matter of interest which will be highly relevant in the coming argument the word ‘unto’ (אל) occurs both in its full form and in its truncated form (ל) in this verse (Deut.12.5). In a sense we shall see that this verse is a perfect summing up of the argument of this blog. That is, that there is a journey to take unto a final settled destination and that the process and final destination are summed up in the idea of the name (of Yahweh) and the journey in the title ‘el (אל) and the destination in the title Theos (θεος).

The third of our homographic examples is the Hebrew word עם and its constructed form עמך. In the first form the word means ‘with’ or ‘people’ and in the second ‘with you’ or ‘your people’ where ‘you’ is in the singular (in the KJV thee/thy).

An example where the two seem to come together is in Deuteronomy 32:

‘Rejoice, you nations with his people’ (Deut.32.43)

This is then quoted up into Romans:

‘Rejoice you nations with his people’ (Rom.15.10)

In the first passage the word ‘with’ is not present in the Hebrew text but the homographic ‘people’ is. In the New Testament quotation the words ‘with’ and ‘people’ are both present in the text. The spirit of Theos instructing us that the sense of ‘with’ is included in the word ‘people’. This shows that in certain circumstances the homograph can hold more than just one of the meanings at the same time.

With you/thee occurs, for example, in Yehoshua’ 1:

‘There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life: as I was with Mosheh so I will be with you: I will not fail you or forsake you. (Yehoshua’ 1.5)

In the following verse there is also a strong context of Yahweh creating a ‘people’ firstly through the work of Mosheh and now through Yehoshua’ as he takes them into the land and divides it into an inheritance for them. The sense of Yahweh promising to be (in the future) with Yehoshua’ as he was (in the past tense) with Mosheh is important, the verb ‘to be’ in the future tense being critical here as it is critical in Exodus 3 where ‘I will be’ is the basis for the revealing of the name of Yahweh to Mosheh and the people being created by him. Here the ‘I will be’ is about taking the people forward through the person of Yehoshua’ whose name means ‘he shall save’ and is identical to Iesous’ name in the New Testament (see Math. 1.21).

A similar pattern is evident in Judges where Gide’on is called by Yahweh to smite the people of Midyan:

‘And Yahweh said unto him, Surely I will be with you and you shall smite Midyan as one man’ (Judges 6.16)

The context again is of Gide’on saving the people of Yahweh. Yahweh is using Gide’on as one man leading and saving his people. This is done with the use of the relatively rare construction used both in Yehoshua’ 1 and Exodus 3 – ‘I will be’ – with the notion of him being with the representative man for the purpose of saving him and his people. Again, we see an example of homographs used in the close context of understanding the name both of Yahweh (the father) and Yehoshua’/Iesous (the son)

The use of ‘your/thy people’ occurs in the book of Ruth:

‘And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave you nor to return from following after you for where you go I shall go, where you lodge I shall lodge, your people are my people and your ‘elohym my ‘elohym.’ (Ruth 1.16)

We can note here that people are juxtaposed with ‘elohym. This juxtaposition of people and ‘elohym is used repeatedly in the books of Yeremyahu and Yehezq’el where it is combined with the form of the verb ‘to be’ used in Yehoshua’ 1. Thus:

‘I will be to them for ‘elohym and they shall be to me for a people.’ (Yehez.37.27)

In the “I will be with thee”, homographically interpretable as “I will be thy people” it is as though the former quotation from Yehezq’el has been contracted down into one phrase. In the elongated quotation the truncated form of ‘el (אל), that is ל, is repeatedly used and translated ‘to’ and ‘for’. Thus, ‘I will be to them for ‘elohym and they shall be to me for a people.’ The idea of being, as in becoming and taking on an identity, is seen as occurring at a future time when the identities of ‘elohym and people are intertwined, are so ‘one unto another’ that they are one. Thus the promise of, at the same time, being with thee (Mosheh and then Yehoshua’) are indistinguishable from ‘elohym being the people. So, Yahweh being with these shepherds of Yisra’el is a precursor for him being the people and them being him. The being and becoming the identity of Yahweh which happens to the shepherd first then happens to the flock subsequently because the shepherd, having first become ‘elohym, then teaches them how to become ‘elohym too. As this process is certain to occur it is as though the people are in the shepherd as he stands before Yahweh to receive his teaching.