Transcript of OnionUnlimited podcast episode 072
ELOHIM IN GENESIS CHAPTER 1 IS PLURAL. This is not the singular “God” we were taught to believe in as Jehovah’s Witnesses. If there is an Absolute Source behind reality, elohim is not it. This is something altogether different.
According to Genesis, the elohim were not from Earth but rather they created Earth. (Genesis 1:1) Or perhaps they recreated Earth from a desolate condition following one of a series of cataclysmic events spanning back millions of years. (Genesis 1:2)
To understand the true meaning behind the Genesis story, we must put aside our previous thoughts that an invisible spirit God created humans with merely attributes like his. The elohim, Genesis informs us, created humans—both male and female—in their “image” and “according to their likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) This is exactly what it says on the tin. The elohim of Genesis were literally like us—physical, humanoid entities. We were literally created in their image and likeness. Thus, there were male and female elohim.—Genesis 1:27.
The elohim were able to procreate. The elohim’s human creation reflects this ability. (Genesis 1:28) The offspring of the elohim were called b’nai elohim, translated “sons of God” in most translations of the Bible. B’nai elohim is translated “sons of the true God” in The New World Translation. (Genesis 6:1)
Note, the word “true” does not appear in the original Hebrew text of Genesis 6:1.
The b’nai elohim are themselves elohim by nature. Elohim is translated as “God” or “gods” in most Bible translations which makes us think in religious terms. This is because the Bible is a religious book and the “God” of the Bible is now associated with religion. But elohim literally means “powerful ones”. Elohim were powerful, physical, humanoid beings, as were their offspring, the b’nai elohim.
The b’nai elohim are said to have procreated with human women. There was no need for them to materialise fleshly bodies to do this for they were already physical beings, like their parents, the elohim. The sons they bore with human women were the “mighty ones of old times, the men of fame.” These were the “Nephalim” who were giants.—Genesis 6:4; Enoch 7:3.
The first three verses of Genesis chapter 2 belong to the same manuscript as chapter 1. Chapter 2 [true] begins at verse 4 and is a retelling of the story, into which the 4th [or 5th] century BC redactors have conspicuously inserted Yahweh numerous times. (Genesis 2:4, 5, 7-9, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22) This obviously forced insertion by Yahweh cultists makes it appear that a singular God, Jehovah, was responsible for creation, but as we have seen this was not the case.
Was there a chief God among the elohim? It would appear so, and his name was El Elyon or “God Most High”. El Elyon was worshipped by Melchizedek, the king-priest of Salem. (Genesis 14:18) Yahweh was one of the elohim, or possibly even one of the b’nai elohim, subordinate to El Elyon and originally worshipped as a “son of El” by the Canaanites. In their earliest history the Israelites worshipped both El Elyon and Yahweh. In later times the two “gods” were conflated into one Almighty God, Jehovah God as Jehovah’s Witnesses now call him.—Genesis 14:22.
El Elyon was not the same as Source. Source was, and still is, the Ultimate Being, eternal, unchanging, the Infinite Deep from whom all things rise and the Divine Matrix in which all Conscious Reality exists, including the Minds of El Elyon, the elohim, Yahweh, the b’nai elohim, and humans.
Do El Elyon, the elohim, and Yahweh still exist today? I would say no. They are now just a past memory in the collective Mind of Source and humankind. But religion keeps their memory alive. These days, religious people worship their God or gods through their religion, through their rituals and idols, and through their priests and leaders. In the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses they worship the “organisation” and their governing body.
The gods themselves have fallen silent. We now have only their self-appointed spokesmen to guide or mislead us. Perhaps the gods are dead—they were never immortal—perhaps they went home whence they came never to return, or maybe they only ever existed in the thoughts and dreams of Source.