The
divine name Elohim according to the Rabbis shows the middath Din,
the attribute of judgment, whereas the Divine Name YHWH, the middath
Rahamim, the attribute of mercy. The earliest example of this stated as a
rule of Sifre, 27: “Every place where YHWH is said this (means) the
attribute of mercy; every place where Elohim is said, this implies the
attribute of justice.” In Midrash on Psalms, Ps. 56, 3 on Ps. 56:11 this rule
is ascribed to R. Nehorai whom A. Marmorstein, [The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of
God, London, Oxford University Press, 1927-1937] I, p. 47 identifies with
R. Meir. However Philo Judaeus had held just the opposite. Theos = Elohim
the good, the God of love and benevolence; Kurios = Adonai for YHWH
and expresses God’s Lordship, as Ruler and Judge. Cf. Marmorstein, p. 43,
following Dähne, Geachichtliche Darstellung der jud. Alex. Religions:
Philosophie, Halle, 1834, p. 231f. Mek. 37a cited by Marmorstein, ibid.,
I, p. 45, says: “God (El) the God (Elohim) of my father, He
treated me with the middath rahamim the attribute or measure of mercy.”
Whence do we know that El denotes the attribute of mercy? From Ps. 22:1,
“My God (Eli), My God (Eli), why have You forsaken me?”; Num.
12:13, “Hear God (El) and He has given us light.” It would appear that
at the time the Fourth Gospel was written YHWH represents the attribute
of judgment, and Elohim love and benevolence. This being so, and if
Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is LORD ( = YHWH), this is very important and
would explain the claim made in Jn. 5:22: “Neither does the Father (cf. v. 18,
i.e. Theos) judge any man, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” It
has often been observed that Jesus in the Fourth Gospel does not do his healing
miracles out of pity (as in the Synoptics). On the other hand, Theos ( =
El) in the Fourth Gospel so loved the world (Jn. 3:16) that He gave His
only begotten Son, etc. It is also surely very important that Ps. 22:1 is cited
in Mek. 37a as a proof that the attribute of mercy is intended when the name El
occurs. It is presumably possible that because the Fourth Gospel identifies
with Jesus with Yahweh as Judge, that by the mid-second century that 2 Middoth
ascribed to YHWH and Elohim respectively were reversed. In this
connexion it may be significant that R. Abika did not allow R. Ishmael’s
interpretation (Mek. 79a, T. B. Sanh. 66a, Soferim 4:5) of Elohim in Ex.
22:28 (Heb. 27) as judges and insisted on it being translated as God; cf. Marmorstein,
ibid., I, p. 14. This however may not be so much due to his being
unwilling to associate the attribute of judgment with Elohim as because
of his keen support of anthropomorphism. However R. Akib’as interpretation may
be hinted at in Jn. 10:34, 35. Justin, Dial., ch. 124, interprets Elohim
Ps. 82:6 as gods, but understanding it as pointing to what all men are
potentially (as Adam was) “gods” and have power to become sons of the Highest (
= El Elyon). But if they reject acknowledging Christ as God, they die like
Adam. (John Bowman, The Fourth Gospel and the Jews: A Study in R. Akiba,
Esther and the Gospel of John [Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series 8;
Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 1975], 362-63 n. 152)
As Bowman referenced Justin
Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 124, here is the text:
And
when I saw that they were perturbed because I said that we are the sons of God,
I anticipated their questioning, and said, "Listen, sirs, how the Holy
Ghost speaks of this people, saying that they are all sons of the Highest; and
how this very Christ will be present in their assembly, rendering judgment to
all men. The words are spoken by David, and are, according to your version of
them, thus: ‘God standeth in the congregation of gods; He judgeth among the
gods. How long do ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?
Judge for the orphan and the poor, and do justice to the humble and needy.
Deliver the needy, and save the poor out of the hand of the wicked. They know
not, neither have they understood; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations
of the earth shall be shaken. I said, Ye are gods, and are all children of the
Most High. But ye die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God!
judge the earth, for Thou shalt inherit all nations.' But in the version of the
Seventy it is written, ‘Behold, ye die like men, and fall like one of the
princes,' in order to manifest the disobedience of men,--I mean of Adam and
Eve,--and the fall of one of the princes, i.e., of him who was called the
serpent, who fell with a great overthrow, because he deceived Eve. But as my
discourse is not intended to touch on this point, but to prove to you that the
Holy Ghost reproaches men because they were made like God, free from suffering
and death, provided that they kept His commandments, and were deemed deserving
of the name of His sons, and yet they, becoming like Adam and Eve, work out
death for themselves; let the interpretation of the Psalm be held just as you
wish, yet thereby it is demonstrated that all men are deemed worthy of becoming
"gods," and of having power to become sons of the Highest; and shall
be each by himself judged and condemned like Adam and Eve. Now I have proved at
length that Christ is called God. (ANF 1:261-62)
