the Berasit Hebrew Dictionary

אלהים

The word 'elohim' is made by adding the suffix 'im' onto the root word 'el', or more accurately, its variation 'eleh'.

The suffix im always indicates a plural, and therefore a group. In a handful of cases the “grouping” itself is the salient feature and the word ending in 'im' is in fact a numerative device, either a specific number, or a general amount (for example “dozens”). Aside from these distinctly numeric cases, the suffix is generally applied to not merely a group of any random objects, but a group of living beings. These beings are sometimes animals and sometimes humans.

In the case of humans, we see the root appearing on words indicating a certain profession or specific skill. It also appears in instances indicating what we might think of as “race” or “nationality”, normally indicating where this group of people are from and by extension what culture they are part of.

Even in the case of animals, the plurality indicated by 'im' tends to be in reference to some behavioral characteristic of said animals. For example, deer are referred to as “panting for the water” and goats are referred to for their characteristic surefootedness on the mountain cliffs. These characteristics seem to indicate some level of well-suitedness or perhaps it could be argued, some specific type of applied intelligence.

Thus like most words with the suffix, 'im', the Elohim are most assuredly a group, and most likely a group of entities having a form of intelligence. The 'im' suffix brings with it an implication of a certain specific culture, skills, and origin.

Based on the root word אל el which means “to”, and with the im suffix applied we can see that the literal meaning of Elohim is “The To Ones”.

Applying a more grammatical structure to this literal meaning, one may reasonably infer an interpretation of “The Ones Who Came To Here”. This may be the only sensible way to interpret “the to ones”.

As far as where they may have come from, pure etymology will not yield many clues. Other contextual clues are abundant however, and will be integrated into our understanding of the Elohim, as our journey continues. Primarily though, in order to gain any real insight as to the characteristics of these “people” (using the term loosely), we must examine the structural relationships between the Elohim and other groups mentioned contemporarily and within the same context (groups such as the Shemim) as well as their relationship with the Aretz(Earth) and certain significant events that frame and define these relationships.

Defining these relationships is a major theme of the scriptures, and is in fact the topic of the opening scene of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 seeks to define an initial definition, to be fleshed out later. And that initial definition reads as follows:

בּראשית בּרא אלהים את שמים את ארץ

(Barashit bara Elohim et Shemim et Aretz)

The established division(barashit) divided(bara) between The Elohim and The Shemim and Aretz.

In this opening line of the Bible, the Elohim are defined in terms of their relationship with the Shemim and Aretz, and the bara(division) between them.

Of course, there is the possible that the root word is actually אלה (eleh) rather than the shorter root el. In this case, based on the root meaning “these”, we come to 'elohim' meaning “the These Ones” or simply “These people”. In other words. The main characters. In this usage, there is an interesting implication. Referring to the main characters of the story in such a way amounts to the addition of a layer of abstraction. Rather than giving them a name or even a description, we simply call them “they” but with their own word that is reserved only for them. Another way to do the same thing would be to simply capitalize or bold the word THEY or THEM whenever they are referred to. In many ways this is similar to the process that did actually occur later as a second layering of this same phenomenon, when Elohim became translated as “God” and Jehovah became translated as “the lord”. In all three of these cases, the same thing is occurring. The reference to the actual character(s) is being replaced by a more generic term.

A third possibility exists, though its implications are complex and beyond the scope of this project. The word eleh can also be interpreted as referring to a type of hardwood tree. We only mention it here for the sake of thoroughness. Perhaps this exploration will find its way into one of our contributors side projects.

This page is part of a series - see im backlinks for a dynamic list

see also eloh, eleh

LexID = 90410