Hebraic Perspectives and the Gospel, part 106.
My previous post considers Jesus’ definition of “elohim” rather than Michael Heiser’s definition, which says elohim are beings PROPERLY RESIDING quote unquote, in the supernatural realm.
Instead…these beings are “those to whom the word of YHWH came.” The reason WHY Jesus’ definition is superior to Michael Heiser’s definition? It has to do with a commentary I read from a fellow layman, Troy Salinger’s blog:
He instinctively says that Jews saw God and men and Jesus in terms of FUNCTION rather than ontology, and this last in a wayward…philosophical outline. Wow, Jesus’ own description then is RIGHT THERE giving us the FUNCTION of elohim, in God’s Grand Schemata? I’d say so.
This might just be the WAYWARDNESS of the Nicene Progression! Describing JESUS as “same ousia” (ontology) as his God! INSTEAD, the Text describes Jesus as…BEING or EXISTING at the right hand, LOCATIVELY next…to God. CLOSE unto, spatially said. Is locativeness IN SPACE the same as…FUNCTION? Yes…actually. The CLOSER you are to GOD, the closer you are to His SHEKINAH in Judaism. This MEANS THAT for the Jew…elohim who are NOT GOD are still…closer to their God in heaven. Being FUNCTIONALLY knowing and enacting their God’s…commands or Word.
Is not the immediate implication then…that the ones CLOSER to God will HEAR His Word? His commands, the DOMINANT meaning of Memra or Word in Semitic definition? Is this not the meaning of MALAKS, which constitute the DOMINANT idea of…angels in heaven, FUNCTIONALLY speaking?
What Heiser then MISSES and MISSED in grand outline then…is because of his JESUS-IS-DIVINE/INCARNATED presupposition. Which then GLOSSES exactly what Jesus was conveying in Jn 10. In a SENSE Heiser had this wrong…from his own DISSERTATION or PHD hypostasis defense. Jesus was not defending his GODHOOD.
Jesus was defending his ELOHIMHOOD. IN THE SAME MANNER as…the FUNCTION of the elohim in heaven and the universe…who serve God, who are NOT by the way…Gods, capital “g.”
When I read Troy’s blog I too instinctively consider what a JEW would instinctively and immediately consider. Is…the OBJECTIVE definition of elohim possibly…Heiser’s DISTINCT from Jesus’ own? Was Jesus’ definition then COMPREHENSIVE as empirical describers would describe things? ACCURATE and COMPLETELY true?
On a FUNCTIONAL level, yes…completely, true in the UTILITARIAN sense. What is practical. What is commonsensically, FUNCTIONALLY true. By the way…Heiser does not have the HUMAN OPTION right…for elohim since he only defines HUMANS as elohim in the sense of…”the disemBODIED dead.” This cannot be right for Jesus…as…our RESURRECTED Messiah. He is not JUST a disembodied spirit. His misinterpretation of Psalm 45 whereby the human coronated KING is called in the vocative, “the G(g)od” or “Oh, G(g)od,” and Ex 7:1 whereby God MAKES Moses “elohim to Pharoah.”
What were Moses and Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration…functionally DOING there? The function of ALL elohim NOT GOD, in…the FUNCTIONAL sense. Which is…to serve God (excepting EVIL elohim). And…what is…A COUNCIL then in Hebraic View? Two or more GATHERED TOGETHER doing something…important to God Himself? Am I speaking like a Jewish LAWYER now? Order in the COURT then, folks.
Heiser says there is NO CONTEXT for any Divine Council in the OT. For humans, that is. I just mentioned one in the ENN TEE, forks, I mean folks. What were Jesus and Elijah and Moses DOING on the Mount? God’s will? And…was this…a Divine Council or not?
And...what is the essential DIFFERENCE then...between GODhood, and ELOHIMhood? Ermm...how about this? Every JEW under this SUN knows THAT sirs and madams. Elohim in the heavens number in the...MANY. But...only YHWH Elohim is...God Almighty. Call this HENOtheism or...MONOlatry. But it is actually, the JEWISH brand, of monotheism. So are Jews for Jesus REAL JEWS? By their TRINITARIAN Paradigm?
Not by God's FUNCTIONAL Self-definition. What is...that? The Shema, what else? Our FIRST Command of all? This is Shema: YHWH our Elohim, YHWH one. You shall Love YHWH Elohim with all of your heart soul and might.