Friday, February 09, 2007

The Most High God

Deuteronomy 32v7-9
Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High [Elyown] gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he [Elyown] set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel [or 'sons of God' in several of the earliest manuscripts]. For the LORD's [Jehovah's] portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. (NIV)
If you read this passage from a modern monotheistic perspective, the meaning of the text is clear; God divided the nations but kept Israel as his own.

However, if you read the passage at face value, with no presuppositions, the meaning is totally different. Here you read of one character 'Elyown', the Most High God, who splits the nations of the world and gives each to one of his (many) sons. 'Jehovah' is only one of those sons and it is he who gets the nation of Israel as his inheritance.

That is the meaning that would have been understood by most readers in the polytheistic times that the words were originally written in.

Archeology has uncovered several ancient artifacts which clearly show that the ancient Canaanites worshipped Jehovah as one of many gods, not as the only God, and combining this text with that evidence suggests that there was believed to be a God even higher than Jehovah - 'Elyown' - the Most High God.

So who do we worship today?

Is 'God the Father' really 'Elyown' and 'God the Son' (Jesus) really 'Jehovah'? What about the other 'sons of God', what happened to them?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope this will help you with the word Hebrew word "elyown". Although it is used to refer to the only true God, Jehovah, the word is also applied to many other persons or things; a basket at Genesis 40:17, Upper Beth-horon at Joshua 16:5, the upper watercourses at 2Chronicles 32:30, the upper gate at 2Kings 15:35, the upper pool at 2Kings 18:17, the upper courtyard at Jeremiah 36:10, the upper story of a building at Ezekial 41:7 and the uppermost dining rooms at Ezekial 42:5. These scriptures show that the word "elyown" denotes position rather than power.

jojo said...

Dude, you gotta get rid of those mormon glasses.