A Reassessment of Biblical Elohim.

• Author: Gnuse, Robert Karl
• Position: Book Review

A Reassessment of Biblical Elohim. By JOEL BURNETT. SBL Dissertation Series, vol. 183. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 2001. Pp. xv + 172. $39.95.

Burnett undertakes what he believes is a necessary reassessment of the biblical term "Elohim" in the light of contemporary scholarship. He divides his observations equally between ancient Near Eastern and biblical sources. His most notable initial conclusion is that the term Elohim is best understood as a "concretized abstract plural" and not as a "plural of majesty," "plural of intensity," or "plural of excellence," as it has been variously defined in the past. As such, the term might be translated "deity" or "divinity" in noun form, or as "divine" in adjectival form, and it may be attributed to God, gods, or human beings. Burnett evaluates Late Bronze Age and Iron Age texts in Akkadian, Phoenician, Punic, and Aramaic. Among others, he considers the Karatepe, Bar-Rakib, and Deir 'Alla inscriptions, as well as the Ahiqar narrative and excerpts from Egyptian papyri, to observe the usage of words such as ilanu, [contains]lm, dinger.mesh, and dinger.dinger. He concludes that a "concretized abstract plural" for " god" developed first among Canannites and subsequently spread to Mesopotamia, and it is manifest as Elohim in the Israelite tradition.

In the Bible Elohim is a common noun with a flexible range of meaning, which can be a generic reference to God, gods, or the divine, and it can be a substitute for a particular divine name, such as Yahweh. It denotes the unique Status of the national deity of the northern state of Israel, or a deity who stands in special relationship to individuals, groups, territories, or nations, and especially, the personal deity of the patriarchal ancestors. Burnett suggests that biblical spokespersons, including those of the Elohist tradition in the Pentateuch, the Elijah cycle, and Hosea used Elohim to denote Yahweh and were intent upon leading their audience to make the connection that the historical Elohim whom they worshipped was Yahweh and none other. If so, then the use of this term by these traditions indicates a first step in the development of monotheism in the pre-exilic era.

Under this over-arching thesis Burnett then presents a number of other specific theories, which may or may not appear convincing to readers. First, he maintains that Jeroboam's use of Elohim in reference to the bulls in 1 Kings 12 was neither a plural reference to two bulls nor a polytheistic...