Let us take a look at one of the foundational
passages for Biblical monotheism. Moses met Yahweh on Mount Sinai and
exclaimed, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Dt 6:4).
Traditionally this has been understood to mean that God is alone, as in there
are no other gods. Some scholars though have recognized that this is not a
declaration of monotheism but henotheism, which is the belief and worship in
one supreme God but yet acknowledging the existence of other gods. Either way,
this Scripture is what set the Israelites apart from the surrounding cultures.
They believed in many gods. Either way, this Scripture is what set the
Israelites apart from the surrounding cultures. They believed in many gods,
whereas the Hebrew national Deity was not only the God of the entire cosmos,
but no other divinities existed at all. If "one" meant
"alone," as the traditional reading goes, this verse could [be]
interpreted in a couple of ways. Either Moses met only Yahweh on Mount Sinai,
or Yahweh told him that there were no other gods in the heavenly realm. The
first does not necessarily exclude others, while the latter does. But,
everything hinges on what exactly Moses said.
Observe that the passages does not say Elohim
(God) is one, but rather Yahweh (LORD) is one. Usually, the personal name of
someone is for obvious reasons not in the plural. There cannot be two
Yahweh[s], unlike the word Elohim, which can designate "gods." If
Moses aimed to convey that there was only one God, it would have been worded,
"there is one God - Yahweh is God." But, the sentence in Deuteronomy
is literally the opposite, "Yahweh our God - Yahweh (is) one" (The
Hebrew can leave out the word “is” so that is not strange). In order to figure
out what this means, we have to look more at the word for "one," in Hebrew
אחד and in transliteration 'ehad.
Though 'ehad
has been mostly understood to mean "alone," the Hebrew word usually
used for "alone" is another word, בד transliterated as bad.
This hints at another meaning for the word "one" rather than
"alone." The word 'ehad is
not only the cardinal number "one" but can also mean
"first." The intention of the passage may not have been that Yahweh
was alone, but a proclamation that He was the First: the Creator of everything
and everyone. Though Melchizedek blessed Abraham by El Elyon, "God Most
High, maker of heaven and earth" we must remember that when Moses led the
Israelites out of Egypt, he had to first learn about the Hebrew God (Gn 14:9).
He did not know His name, and it was emphasized repeatedly that Yahweh was the
God of his forefathers. Yahweh was Moses' rightful God since he was ethnically
a Hebrew (Ex 3:6, 15; 6:2-3). Having lived in Egypt all his life, Moses
seemingly needed to learn that his forefathers' God, El Shadday, now known as
Yahweh, was not only his rightful ancestral God, but the Creator of everything
and everyone. If Yahweh told Moses that He was the "first," the
emphasis could have been that, as the Creator of all, Yahweh was the only one to worship. What follows this
famous line in Deuteronomy 6:4 is the command, that "you shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
might" (Dt 6:5) The motive for the proclamation that Yahweh is
"one" was to decree a complete and exclusive worship of only Him.
This Scripture does not automatically mean any other deities do not exist; only
that others are secondary, created by
God and not to be venerated. Yahweh
wants full loyalty and His people's whole heart. As the creator of all Life, He
has the right to ask this. However, you look at all this, the Bible points to
an original singularity, which is Yahweh.
The sense of Deuteronomy 6:4 referring to
Yahweh being the first, without denying the existence of other “gods,” is also
encoded in the first commandment given to Moses. It says, “You shall have no
other gods before me” (Ex 20:3. See also Dt 5:7). “Before” can also be
translated as “besides,” and bother statements announce that you must pray put
Yahweh first (This in and of itself can be understood to assert that other gods
exists otherwise there is no one else for Yahweh to be placed before, i.e.
placed first. Scripture also repeatedly makes the point that false gods, in the
form of manmade objects, are not real). This is why it was controversial for
the Jews that Jesus would be seated at the right hand of God in heaven. But, as
God’s Son, this is the place that Jesus announced to be his, and it was
Scriptural. Any authority Jesus had was given to him by Yahweh. But, to
preserve monotheism, with this perceived theological dilemma, the church
fathers arrived at [the] idea of the all-male Trinity.
When Satan asked Jesus to fall down and
worship him in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus responded, “Begone,
Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only
shall you serve’” (Mt 4:10) Jesus’ answer testifies to Yahweh being the only
One to worship. The Devil himself is not human, but a being from the spiritual
realm. In this spiritual realm sense he can be understood as “a god.” Not a
good god, and not the Creator of the universe, nevertheless a form of deity
above frail flesh (Furthermore, if Dt 6:4 indeed meant “one” it flies against
the Trinitarian concept. One, as in Yahweh being one single personality is
incompatible with three persons in one substance).
The meaning of the Hebrew word “god,” in
transliteration El, is not only a
reference to God, as in Yahweh. It can mean a supernatural being, a minor
god/deity, or someone divine with limited powers as well. Though we often look
at other religions as heretical, due to believing in many gods, Christianity
supports the belief in angels and a devil with his own demons. The Hebrew
meaning of “angel” is “messenger,” which serve as a go-between God and humans.
An angel and a minor god are both categorized as supernatural and have a
limited power and knowledge. The difference is angels are described as all
good, servants and messengers of God. Demons are all evil, deceivers, tempters,
attackers, and serve Satan. Ancient pagan gods, on the other hand, were more
like humans, having both good and bad traits. Nevertheless, angels and demons
in the New Testament fall in a spiritual category between God and humans. This
spiritual hierarchy is identified in the Bible. For this reason, these
spiritual beings could theoretically be called minor “gods.” (Marianne Widmaln,
Our Mother: The Holy Spirit [Sutton,
Ala.: Relevant Publishers, 2019], 191-94; the book is an expansion of the
author’s article, “God’s Wife,” published in Noel Freedman’s “The Biblical
Historian: Journal of the Biblical Colloquium West” at the University of San
Diego, 2005.)