Power in the NameSample

HE IS ELOHIM

It’s going back a few years now, but there was great delight in my small Hebrew class as we started translating the opening chapter of Genesis. We’d done the hard yards of learning technicalities within the language, and very basic vocab – and finally we were off and away reading our very first text (very slowly, mind you). And the third word we read in the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1? Elohim.

Elohim is a name of God that describes His deity, or, that He is God. In the context of this verse, it displays His majesty and power to create all things. Throughout Scripture, the common Hebrew names El, Eloah, and Elohim appear more than 2,500 times. In contrast, the name Yahweh appears more than 6,800 times – but we don’t encounter this name until Genesis 2.

Elohim has always been, and yet at this point in history, He speaks for the first time. It is right for us to read in wonder as, through His voice, He brings light to the universe, and creates all things. This name reminds us that our God not only owns everything, but He is in control of it all. We owe Him our everything because of all that He has done for us, giving us breath and life every day.

Not only this, but God is personal. Often through the Scriptures (including in Genesis 2), the Hebrew uses the name Yahweh Elohim (LORD God). This shows us that our God is the creator and that He loves us deeply. He is not a God who set the world spinning and removed Himself from the situation. What a delight that we worship a God who knows us by name, created in His image.

Written by SAM ROBINSON