Masculine and Feminine

One thing I want to make clear to my readers is that most of the names for God contain both masculine and feminine aspects. Now many scholars will put forth that God possesses these traits not because He is either male or female, but because He is neither and both. That God possesses the traits of both genders for no seemingly better explanation other than He is God. 

Now before I continue, let me make this perfectly clear. Male and female are not opposites. This conflicts with our modern western teaching that concludes that they are. Let me clarify. Light and dark come close the being opposites, apart from the fact that darkness is the absence of light, but darkness cannot exist without light. Positive and negative are also close representations of opposites, positive charges are caused by the absence of electrons, which bear a negative charge.  Good and evil are close representations of opposites as well, in that evil is really an absence of good.  The word opposite means two forces or things that are opposed. A common trend you will find in all opposites is that they are set against each other and an increase in one has a corresponding decrease in the other. 

But male and female are not opposites. Masculinity is not the absence of femininity, nor is femininity an absence of masculinity. Neither gender has any inherit negativity, nor is one more good than the other. What masculine and feminine are is better attributed to separate parts of a whole. They are complimentary, not opposites. An increase in one does not equal a decrease in the other.  Both male and female are good. I think a few passages of scripture can illustrate the meaning. 

“Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.  For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.”

1st Corinthians 11:11-12

“And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Matthew 19:4-6

When man and woman become united, they become more than two individuals. The different attributes of the two genders are not meant to compete, they are meant to compliment. This is just as true here on earth as it is in Heaven. It goes well beyond the physical merging of the body. Men and women must learn how to be united mentally and spiritually as well. They must learn how to put aside their selfish interests and seek to serve one another. When they learn how to do this, they become greater than the sum of their parts. 

My point in this is to break down a mental barrier in which men and women are separate. They are intended to be joined and united. Together they form the whole. This simple truth is found in the scriptures and is repeated over and over again. God exists in plural. Often Christians refer to a Heavenly Father, it ought to occur naturally that there is a Heavenly Mother as well. And it ought to be plainly evident that the combination of a Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother collectively forms God. They are referred to as one and yet pluraly because they always act as one. 

YHVH

This brings us to the Hebrew name YHVH יהוה. Stripped of its vowels, its exact pronunciation is unknown.   But what is known is that the name itself has powerful meaning. 

Let us begin by examining the letters themselves. Let's start with the Hebrew letter Yod י. Firstly Yod represents the source of creation. Secondly the shape of Yod is also present in every Hebrew letter, symbolizing that it is always present in everything. The Yod also represents power of God, a Crown, and that everything comes from God. It is also symbolic of truth, since truth is present in everything. Interestingly enough, but very importantly, it represents humility. In fact humility is really its defining quality.  Also when used as a prefix, it denotes masculinity. 

Next we have the letter Hey ה. Hey is used twice and it represents creation. It represents light. When a word ends in Hey, it adds a feminine quality in that it represents reproduction and bearing fruit. It also represents a nurturing aspect. 

Then we have the letter Vav ו.   Vav acts a a symbol for man or mankind. It is also symbolic of a connection.  When placed between other letters it often strengthens the connections between those letters and emphasizes their meanings. 

So these concepts when put together form a very powerful meaning. It is representative of the all present, humble God of truth, creator of mankind. But the final Hey adds an important meaning. It adds a FEMININE quality and a nurturing quality. It's added value, again looking at the binding Vav, represents the bond between God and man, not as a vague distant creator, but as an intimate and loving parent. 

This feminine aspect is very important, but I do not wish to cover that just yet. This name begins with a masculine prefix and ends with a feminine form.

Jehovah

Now let us examine Jehovah. Jehovah is an interesting name. One of the first interesting points I will make is that it actually comes from a translational error. The error comes in two stages. 

The first stage comes from what I believe is a misunderstanding on the second of the Ten Commandments which reads:

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

Exodus 20:7

Many have interpreted this to mean that men are not permitted to say the name of God because it is too sacred to be uttered by mortal lips, and that by men speaking His name, they would take his name in vain. While this is an interesting interpretation, I believe it to be a serious distraction from what the Lord really intended. 

I believe that what God really meant is that He desires men to treat sacred things as sacred, and not to treat them lightly. This would include all the things that are considered to be of God such as: marriage, ordinances, scripture, etc. I also believe it includes authority. These matters I have previously discussed in my articles on the Ten Commandments. 

Because men believed that speaking the name of God was a transgression of law,  they would usually substitute a different word when reading the scriptures aloud. The most common word used is Adonai. So to remind readers to say Adonai, the scribes would inscribe the vowel symbols for Adonai on the name of God YHVH יְהֹוָה.   

This is where the second error in translation occurs. German translators tried to convert the Hebrew texts into German, but their lack of knowledge on the history of the word caused them to translate it and pronounce it with the incorrect vowel sounds. Thus YHVH becomes Yehovah. In the German they use the letter J to make the phonetic sounds for "ye", so their translation gets pronounced Jehovah in English. 

Now it is not fully known how YHVH is actually supposed to be pronounced. But just going with the four basic consonants, it tells a great deal about the name and what it means. 

Adonai

Next we will examine Adonai. Adonai אֲדֹנָי is a plural form of the word Adon אָדוֹן which means lord or master. 'Ad' אד means to gather, and in this word denotes a sense of ownership.  So a literal translation of Adon is 'my lord' or 'my master'. So this means Adonai translates as 'my lords'.

Closely related is the Hebrew 'eden' אדן which basically means foundation. This connection would strongly support that the Lord is "the Lord that can be relied upon".  It represents a strength. 

Again, biblical scholars insist that even though this word is plural in form, that it refers to a singular God. Now why the contradiction between what the scriptures clearly say and what the scholars say?  The answer to this question is really all too simple. It is because modern theologians are trying to make the scriptures conform to modern theology, rather than trying to make modern theology conform to the ancient teachings. Man has gotten into a nasty habit of trying to justify his own beliefs rather than trying to understand the truth. So even though the truth is plainly written in the ancient Hebrew texts, often man has to overlay his own traditions and interpretations.

Elohim

Let us start with one of the ancient Hebrew words for God. The first word we will examine is Elohim (אֱלֹהִים). To understand Elohim, we must break it down and look at its components. 

An interesting thing about Ancient Hebrew is that it is a very complex language with specific religious meaning built into the syllables and letters.  As few things to also remember when examining Hebrew is that you read from right to left and that ancient Hebrew did not have vowels, so when examining Hebrew we have to remind ourselves that often the original text may have used different vowels than what has been currently attributed. 

The first component of Elohim is the Hebrew 'El'  אל, which means God or diety and is synonymous to might and strength as well as leadership. The next component is 'hay' or 'oh' ה, which denotes goodness, grace, mercy, and also a feminine quality. The final part is 'im' ים which denotes  a masculine plural quality. So embedded in this Hebrew word for God are some interesting and descriptive qualities. It describes a being that is powerful, possesses authority, goodness, righteousness, virtue, mercy, justice, strength, femininity, and masculinity. 

Many biblical scholars will insist that the plural form doesn't mean anything because the word is used in a singular sense, or they will call it a plural of majesty, a way of referring to a singular as a plural to signify importance. But I believe the ancient scholars and scribes said what they meant and meant what they said. If the Hebrew God was a singular bring as the modern scholars insist, they could have called Him 'El' or 'Eloah'. That would denote Him as a singular being. In fact this is how the Muslim "Allah" came to be. 

On an additional note, I believe this representation of God as both masculine and feminine is important in its own right, and I will get to that in an upcoming article. 

The Plural God

I cannot continue to explain our relationship with God without explaining and clarifying a common concept in Christianity. This concept does apply to Judaism as well, but what follows is going to help clarify a common Christian misconception about God. 

In the Christian faith, it is most often taught, that Jesus Christ is God, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) are just different aspects of the same personage. That God himself came down and took mortal form as the Savior. But is this really the case?  Is this really what the scriptures teach?

In my last post I explained that we are God's children and He desires us to become like Him. Now immediately thus concept may come as a shock to many. That's because this view or statement may come across as a challenge to God's authority. After all, in the Bible it states:

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Exodus 20:1-3

So how can the idea of becoming like God be reconciled with this commandment?  The answer comes in the context combined with a better understanding of the ancient Hebrew religion. The ancient Hebrew religion is not to be confused with modern Judaism. 

Part of the context of this commandment that is given is that these ancient Hebrews were being brought out of Egypt. They had spent several centuries living among the Egyptians and as such had assimilated much of the Egyptian culture. Part of this assimilation included a mixing of Hebrew and Egyptian beliefs. This mixing produces a false god or gods. Think of it as an ancient political correctness, a way that the Hebrews and Egyptians could come up with an acceptable compromise. This mixing however produces a new god that is not very much like the  God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Many of the Hebrews made a practice of worshipping both their own God and the Egyptian gods, and this was not an acceptable practice. Also many Hebrews were taking the attributes of the Egyptian gods and mingling them with their own beliefs. So when God instituted the lower law that the Hebrews were required to obey, it included this commandment to worship only God, and not the gods of other religions.

That being said, this commandment neither teaches nor implies the monotheism that has come to dominate both Judaism and Christianity today. Now this may seem like a bold statement that contradicts what the scriptures say. But I wish to teach and show by the scriptures themselves that this concept was actually what the ancient Hebrews believed, and that the ancient belief was correct.  In my coming articles I am going to delve into the various names for God and show some powerful and deep meanings that are embodied into the letters and words themselves. 

God the Father

A common question often posed by both believers and unbelievers alike is this. "In this world we have so much pain and suffering. There are wars, famine, disease, abuse, poverty, etc. If God were real and was a loving God, why would He permit His creation to suffer so?"  Atheists and agnostics use this question to try to prove that God does not exist or that He is somehow detached from His creation. Those who claim to be believers ask this question when they see suffering either in their own lives or in the lives of others. 

And this is a good question to be asked. Now often many preachers give an explanation that God must want something better for us. That He has a plan and is in charge and that we just have to accept that and go with it. That we just have to endure. This explanation does have some truth in it, but it also comes across as a big "I don't know". And for those struggling with this question, "I don't know" isn't a very comforting answer. 

Now I won't claim to know everything or have all the answers, but I will tell you this. There is an answer to this question and the answer ought to give us a great deal of faith and hope. The answer hinges upon a concept that tells us who we actually are and why we are here on this earth. It hinges upon what God desires for us in our lives. The answer may offend some, and to those it offends, I ask that you take the question up in prayer and ask God to teach you the truth. This concept gives us a small glimpse into our true potential. But we have to approach it with humility and an open heart and mind. 

Who are you?  Do you really know?  The Judeo-Christian bible teaches us that we are God's creation. That God decided to create an earth and that He created man and placed Him on this earth. I am not going to disagree with this so far as it is scriptural, but I will state that the version that predominates the Judeo-Christian teaching is only a small part of the truth. I won't go into the full details here today, but I will state this: this earth was created to provide a mortal experience for God's CHILDREN.

When I say God's children, that means something more than simply God's creation. This means that He desires us to become like He is. How does this relate to my subject?  Well, in the simplest terms I can explain, this mortal experience is specifically designed to give us the opportunity we need to develop our characters to become more like God. This life is designed to help us become better people. 

I must emphasize the word opportunity because we are rational intelligent beings, just like God, and as such we must exercise our ability to make choices based upon the circumstances that surround us. This earth creates an ideal environment where we can experience a wide variety of circumstances. And in those situations we can make choices, and every choice has a naturally occurring consequence. When we see a child in need of food, or love; a family struggling to make ends meet, we have an opportunity to awaken the divine heritage within us, and do as God would do. 

A good way to explain this is learning to perform a job in the workplace. You can learn somewhat by observing others work, and you could learn some by reading about the theory, but you will never learn to be proficient at that job in this way. But when the master steps back and let's the apprentice do the work, then the apprentice gains the hands on experience. When we learn by doing we learn far better than we could ever learn by simply observing. 

This world provides ample opportunity for us to do as God would do and learn by real experience. Sure God could feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, heal the sick, give rest to the weary, comfort those that are sad, etc. but He would rather that we have the opportunity to learn to do these things for others. He would rather that we learn to bless those around us. If He did the work for us without our being engaged in the process, we won't learn the lesson. Since learning is why we are here, then it would be very unloving of Him to spare us those experiences. If He created and maintained this world as a Utopia, we would not be able to learn the lessons of love and compassion. We wouldn't be able to learn from difficulties and struggles. And if we can't learn those things, then we would never be able to become like God. 

“Jesus said: If those who lead you say unto you: Behold, the Kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of the heaven will be before you. If they say unto you: It is in the sea, then the fish will be before you. But the Kingdom is within you, and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then shall you be known, and you shall know that you are the sons of the living Father. But if ye do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty.”

Thomas 1:3