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When we look at how many of the Hebrew translations translate Gen. 1:5, we see it is with the ECHAD CARDINAL “ONE” but it is actually implied by the KJV, et. al., as an ORDINAL “ONE”. Why? In Gen. 1:8 the Hebrew “Shni” gets translated as the ordinal SECOND. Therefore, this grammatically forces the antecedent non-definite Echad of Gen. 5:1 to take on the implied ORDINAL “ONE” – First... Therefore, Deut. 6:4... Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)
This then brings into question respective of Deut. 6:4 and Mk. 12:29 whether the numerical number ONE is to be understood as a CARDINAL ONE or a ORDINAL ONE (hence FIRST).
Isaiah 44:6 (KJV) Isaiah 48:12 (KJV)
In the Book of Revelations this title gets applied to the risen Lord Yeshua Jesus... Revelation 1:11 (KJV)
In Mk. 12:29 Jesus repeats Deut. 6:4 but the "ONE" in this particular passage is used as a "noun" in the Greek (heis) whereas the Hebrew ECHAD is used as an "adjective". Nonetheless, this Hebrew ECHAD and Greek HEIS should both be understood as a ORDINAL "ONE/first" (sequence) rather than the celebrated Jewish CARDINAL "ONE" (a quantity). We see this same Greek "heis" used in Rev. 6:1, Matt. 14:19, and Jn. 8:9, which are each translated as "ONE" but actually they imply a ORDINAL "ONE/first" (sequence). Revelation 6:1-7 (KJV)
John 8:9 (KJV)
Please look at Gen. 1:5 & 2:11 and Rev. 6:1 & 17:10 – these are each clearly used as the Hebrew “echad” and the Greek “heis” respectively as in Deut. 6:4 and Mk. 12:29.
Genesis 1:5 (KJV)
Genesis 2:11 (KJV)
Revelation 6:1 (KJV)
Revelation 17:10 (KJV)
John 8:9 (KJV)
They are both translated as ONE but each can be translated directly as “ORDINAL” FIRST or as an “ORDINAL” ONE as suggested for Deut. 6:4.
Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)
Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)
Going forwards,
in Ps. 110:1 and Josh. 5:14 we have the Hebrew “adoni” and NOT “adonai”
for the second Lord. Whereas BDB declares on pg. 11 that the Hebrew
“adoni” of Josh. 5:14 is a THEOPHANIC angel. Hence, a
Theophany...
Colossians
2:18 (KJV)
Revelation
19:10 (KJV)
Luke 4:7-8 (KJV)
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Therefore, the first LORD is YHWH and the second Lord is “adoni” DEITY – thus, two DEITIES.
Thus, we must not look at Deut. 6:4 and the Hebrew ECHAD
“ONE” as CARDINAL but rather ORDINAL. Hence, FIRST.
To this end, there is also something else glaring that must equally be
noticed regarding the “OUR God” in the above phrase. Why
would God make a commandment and declare
Hear, O Israel; The Lord
our God is one Lord:
instead of saying “Thy God/Your God” as in Deut. 6:1-2 & 5.
It is quite obvious that the speaker of this great commandment included
himself in the said OUR God – of course the speaker on
behalf of God here was Moses.
Although, seeing that Moses was only the speaker/medium of this great
commandment – Jesus nonetheless repeats this same “OUR God” as the speaker
Himself in Mk. 12:29. Thus, including Himself as well. You
will notice Jesus did not say “Thy God/Your God” when He easily
could have, but rather OUR God – hence, including Himself.
This
seems to follow Jesus’ declaration of Mk. 10:18 where Jesus draws a clear
distinction between Himself and God His Father.
Mark 10:18
(KJV)
Therefore, Deut. 6:4 is not intended to suggest that God YHWH is
absolutely a CARDINAL quantity of numerical ONE but rather He as
YHWH is the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD – GOOD GOD, etc., and is above ALL other
Gods. Hence, He is the FIRST and the last.
We see
this same personage distinction between God the Father – God the Son – God
the Holy Spirit made by Jesus Himself. God the FATHER (YHWH) is the
“supreme” of the three personages – hence, ordinal ONE and not merely
cardinal quantity ONE.
1
Corinthians 15:28 (KJV) Therefore, Deut. 6:4 and Mk. 12:29 can be summed up as follows regarding the ORDINAL "ONE": GOD IS the FATHER GOD - the FIRST of ALL GODS!!! 1 Corinthians 8:6 (KJV)
Thus, we have God the Father - God the Son - God the Holy Spirit...Hence, the God TRINITY. PLEASE consider that when Moses by the inspiration of Yahweh (Elohim) penned Deut. 6:4, in the beloved Torah, in the eons of the past, there was NO such Hebrew linguistic nor grammatical instrument known as the “majestic plural” – this grammatical instrument saw its origination much later in human history. At this point, if you would be so gracious as to be patient with me…I would like to briefly address the following concern and supposition regarding your thesis of the ONE G-d. We believe in ONE G-d. (Deut. 6:4). To this end, when we analytically look at Deut. 6:4 we see that the Hebrew word ELEINU (H259) is used as a PLURAL meaning “Our Gods”. "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah/Yahweh [singular] our Gods [plural - ELEINU] is Jehovah/Yahweh ECHAD [Echad - united]. The Hebrew actually states "our Gods" (plural). For example, the Hebrew word for God used in The Hebrew is Elohim, and Elohim ends with the masculine plural suffix "-ים" (IM). Therefore, the Hebrew plural for "our Gods" is ELEINU, which is from ELOHIM - the plural of ELOAH. To this end, as the suffix IM is the Hebrew plural used in words like Seraphim, and Cherubim, so is INU the plural possessive pronoun-suffix denoting things which belong to us, i.e. our ABTH’INU (our Fathers) in Numbers 20:15, AUNTH’INU (our Iniquities) in Isa. 53:5, MOSH’INU in Isa. 26:12 (our Deed/Works), and CHTATH’INU in 1 Sam. 12:19 (our Sins), etc. Therefore, Deuteronomy 6:4 does indeed actually state, "Jehovah our Gods." Going forward, let us analyze the Hebrew word, ECHAD, in relation to Deut. 6:4 above, "Jehovah our Gods is Jehovah ECHAD." Thus, it is indeed correct to translate Deut. 6:4 as, "Jehovah our Gods is ONE Jehovah," only as long as we understand that ECHAD is to mean "one" - Altogether or in Unity, but most certainly not ONE as an absolute singular numerical digit one. Thus, ECHAD, means to Unify or Altogether, as ONE or in UNITY. This usage of ECHAD, used as a Collective UNITY, is found HUNDREDS of TIMES throughout the OT. Thus, its most common use and meaning are well established. However, the Hebrew language has an alternative word for "one," as well, which is YACHID (the feminine, YACHIDA) and does not occur very often in the OT – twelve times to be exact, but is specifically used whenever an ONLY/Individual One or Single Entity/Unit is implied, as whenever in Gen. 22:2 & 12, Isaac is called Abraham's "only son," and in Jdgs. 11:34, Jephthah's daughter - his "only daughter." Nonetheless, even this word, can and does, sometimes mean a kind of Group of One, although more loosely inferred than is ECHAD. To this end, the word YACHIDA, has its main emphasis respective of a SINGULAR entity – one and only one…and most likely would have been the word of choice relevant to Deuteronomy 6:4, if the absolute numerical singularity of ONE had been intended. Moreover, this YACHID numerical singularity of use is amplified for the Christian, with respect to Zech. 12:10-14, with the reference used of the Messiah, and where it remarkably confirms what is being suggested in this above thesis…it is the numerical singular Hebrew ONE - YACHID. Thus, in Zech. 12:14, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they mourn for Him as one mourneth for His ONLY Son, and shall be in bitterness for His firstborn." In addition, see Zech. 14:9, where twice in one single passage the collective unit, ECHAD, is used of Jehovah as being a compound or collective "one." "And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that day there shall be ONE Jehovah, and His Name ONE." Meanwhile, PLEASE take considerable note of ECHAD and the plural ELEINU (our Gods) as reasonably translated in Deuteronomy 6:4. As such, in the THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES of JEWISH FAITH, which is meant to be the standard guide for all Jews, why did the Jewish scholars who created it, substitute the ECHAD in Deuteronomy 6, to the alternate word, YACHID? These men were without any doubt Hebrew language scholars and knew very well what they were doing. Why then? I would surmise, these men were well aware of the difference between ECHAD (a PLURAL UNITY) and the other word YACHID, which denotes a SINGULAR ENTITY. Therefore, ECHAD literally means Unity or Collective Unity, hence Altogether. So, why then was ECHAD changed to YACHID in the THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES of JEWISH FAITH? You decide. Likewise, in Isaiah 9:6 the KJV translators reciprocated the Hebrew word meaning of "abiod" #5703 to "everlasting Father" when in reality the actual translation is, as stated the reciprocal - "Father of everlasting"... Thus, the former is the adjective-noun while the latter is the correct noun-noun. Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
In summary, without question, this very intentional switch, from ECHAD to YACHID by these Jewish framers, has dramatically impacted Jewish thought respective to our Jehovah [plural Gods]. To reiterate once again regarding ECHAD… Thus, when a Compound "one" is intended to be understood, ECHAD is the word of choice. For example, in Gen. 1:5, ECHAD is used to express the Oneness of Evening and Morning in One Day… "There was evening and there was morning, ONE day"; Likewise, the DUALITY of the ONENESS in Marriage, as cited in Gen. 2:24, "They two shall be ONE- FLESH." Moreover, it denotes a multi-unit in Genesis 11:6, "Behold, they are ONE people," as well as several times in Exodus 26, "And thou shalt make fifty clasps of brass and put the clasps into the loops and couple the tent together that it may be ONE." Nonetheless, ECHAD is repeatedly the OT word of choice, used in such phrases as "ONE Cluster of Grapes" (Numbers 13:23), "ONE Company" (1 Samuel 13:17), "One Troop" (2 Samuel 2:25), "ONE Tribe" (1 Kings 11:13), "ONE Nation" (1 Chronicles 17:21), et al. Meanwhile, the Hebrew ECHAD can also denote other translations in the Hebrew Scriptures and as such we must be open to reading the Shema with an open mind about what echad actually denotes. What are our options? What makes most contextual sense, within the Bible? The LORD is first. |
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