The Elohim

The scribes of both the Aramaic and Hebrew Bibles often use the first person plural to describe God, as in Genesis 1:26: "Let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness." Rashi explains this plural form for God by saying that God speaks in the name of his "family," the celestial beings (the Elohim). "Man, being in the image of the celestial beings, could make the Elohim jealous. God took care to consult them. And when God judges the kings of the earth, He, in the same way, takes counsel with his 'family.'"

According to Rashi, the "upper" world is made up of a celestial host, the angels, sitting on the right and left hand of God, who is seated on His throne. The divine family is a mirror image of Pharaoh and his assembly. The expression "on the right (or the left) hand of the king" was included in the titles of the nobility of ancient Egypt. Ay held the title of "fan bearer seated at the right hand of the king, responsible for all his majesty's horses, true scribe of the king, father of God."1 For important decisions, Pharaoh had to seek the counsel of the nobles seated around him. He also had to consult the gods, those celestial beings with whom he communicated. The upper world was multiple, in the image of ancient Egypt.

In the expression "as one among us," the Bible reveals Ay's (Adonay's) membership in the Elohim, the pharaohs of Egypt.

Once Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, earth's population began to increase. By the time of Noah, there were many attractive human women. "When mankind began to increase in population on earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of the Elohim saw that the women were beautiful. And they married those of them that they wanted" (Hebrew Bible, Genesis 6:1-2).

Rashi offers this explanation about the beings that appear in these verses:

The sons of the Elohim: children of princes and judges. Another explanation of the Midrash [Hebrew commentary on the Bible]. They were heavenly beings, accomplishing a divine mission. They were also mixing with the women. In any case, the word Elohim always carries with it the sense of supremacy. It is thus that God said to Moses: "Thou shalt be for Aaron one of the Elohim" (Exodus 4:16). Or again, "Behold, I shall cause you to be one of the Elohim for Pharaoh. " (Exodus 7:1)

The commentary gives us a better glimpse of the priests of ancient Egypt. The pharaohs succeeded one another in the course of the different dynasties, and each one had numerous wives and children. They assured the futures of the princes by assigning them functions in the government, the army, and, above all, the priesthood. The priests of Akhet-Aten and the prominent citizens and functionaries formed the people of the Elohim2 (sons of the gods). These were the children of all the pharaohs of the past, who were seen as the gods of Egypt. They belonged to the secular pharaonic royalty (the heavenly beings). Describing the Egyptian nobility in general, and of Akhet-Aten in particular, Cyril Aldred states:

In Egypt, the aristocrats often had direct ties with the sovereign. They were the "children of the court, " descendants and relatives more or less close to the pharaohs, through the pharaohs' secondary wives. And they played an important role in the government, as for example, Yuya, the commandant of chariots under Thutmose IV, or Ay, chief of cavalry under Akhenaten.3

The true meaning, then, of the word Elohim is the pharaohs of Egypt. It is thus that the first verse of the Bible meets the Pyramid Texts, proclaiming loud and clear that the king of Egypt is a cosmic being, called upon to mount the celestial ladder or stairs, to sit on a shining throne, nourished by heavenly fruit and reigning over a celestial world.

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and afterward too, when the sons of the Elohim mixed with the daughters of men. And those daughters bore children to them. They were the ancient heroes and men of renown" (Hebrew Bible, Genesis 6:4).

Although the Hellenists translated nephilim as "giants," the sense of the verse was contested by Fabre d'Olivet:

The simplest things are always those the scholars see least. They go searching into the beyond, with infinite pains, neglecting the truth right under their noses. The savants had the Latin word nobilis, under their eyes, which carries the same root as the Hebrew Nephilim... and which has to be seen in the Nephilians of Moses, not as giants or men of colossal height, but the grandees, distinguished, illustrious men. In short, the nobles.4

This explanation, based on semantics, permits us to reinforce the sense of "sons of the Elohim" as those belonging to the pharaonic nobility, ambitious and proud of its past. The new nobility, mentioned by those Egyptologists who are specialists in the Amarnian reform, represented the majority of the population of Akhet-Aten, both in the government and the clergy. The power, thus constituted, rapidly disquieted the old Theban nobility, which had to find an ally in the person of the Divine Father Ay.

In monotheism, God has several names. This resembles the ancient Egyptian tradition of regrouping the names of all the pharaohs, representative of the supreme god. In brief, "Pharaoh is God"5 = "Pharaoh is the gods" "In the beginning the gods [the Elohim, all the pharaohs of Egypt] created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Since Pharaoh never dies, he is a plural being, representing all the gods. He is also a singular being, personifying the oneness of god. This is the origin of monotheism: unity comes from plurality, e pluribus unum.

Cyril Aldred6 notes that Akhenaten had forbidden the use in sacred writing of the plural for the word "God," in order to highlight its oneness unambiguously. Rashi adds information on this subject: "God (the Elohim) was/were revealed to him (Genesis 35:7). Since the word Elohim is plural, the verb used here is plural. It often happens that the word God and Lord are in the plural."

The Bible uses the singular and the plural to designate God in accord with the theological concepts of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

For Yahwe is the great God of Gods, Lord of the Elohim [Eloheh Aelohim, Adone Adonim], mighty and awesome. He is impartial and does not take bribes. He defends the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. (Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy 10:17-18; the words of Moses to the people of Israel)

The plural Elohim, written in the first verse of the Bible, reveals the origin of monotheism. The Elohim are the many pharaohs, the fathers of Egypt.

Notes

1.  Claude Vandersleyen, Egypt and the Valley of the Nile, Vol. 2. Nouvelle Clio, 1995, p. 479.

2.  Deuteronomy 14:1, "You are the sons of Yahwe, your God (Elohekhem)."

3.  Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten, King of Egypt. Le Seuil, 1997, p. 136.

4.  Fabre d'Olivet, La langue hebraique restituee. L'Age d'Homme-Delphica, 1991, p. 180.

5.  Christian Jacq, La tradition primordiale de l'Egypte ancienne selon les texts des pyramides. Grasset & Fasquelle, 1998. p. 101.

6.  Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten, p. 271.