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© 2018 by Michael Carasik, except for translations from Tanakh, by permission of the Jewish Publication Society. http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/jps/9780827609396/

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/biblical-hebrew-learning-a-sacred-language.html

Torah Talk for Va-etchanan 5778 Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11 Deut. 5:19 [in some editions this is v. 22] The LORD spoke those words—those and no more—to your whole congregation at the mountain, with a mighty voice out of the fire and the dense clouds. He inscribed them on two tablets of stone, which He gave to me. 20 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, you came up to me, all your tribal heads and elders, 21 and said, “The LORD our God has just shown us His majestic Presence, and we have heard His voice out of the fire; we have seen this day that man may live though God has spoken to him. 22 Let us not die, then, for this fearsome fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, we shall die. 23 For what mortal ever heard the voice of the living God speak out of the fire, as we did, and lived? 24 You go closer and hear all that the LORD our God says, and then you tell us everything that the LORD our God tells you, and we will willingly do it.”

:yIj`R¥yÅw …wnäOmD;k v¢EaDh_JKwø;tIm rªE;bådVm My˝ˆ¥yAj My°IhølTa · lwøq o∞AmDv r∞RvSa r&DcD;b_lDk y∞Im y∞I;k Tzvi Sinensky, “Hillel’s Living God” [Lehrhaus]

Scholars have explored a wide range of questions concerning the enigmatic rabbinic dictum elu ve-elu divrei Elokim hayyim, these and these are the words of the living God (Eruvin 13b, Gitin 6b). [1] This term confers legitimacy upon conflicting rabbinic viewpoints. I want to pose a different problem: the phraseology of elu ve-elu divrei Elokim hayyim appears to comprise one word too many. Had the phrase run elu ve-elu divrei Elokim, “these and these are the words of God,” the idiom would have been complete. Why add the seemingly superfluous hayyim, the “living” God? What does this word add to the equation, and what light does it shed on the elu ve-elu doctrine?

[1] I have chosen to translate “the words of the living God” rather than “the living words of God” for two reasons. As we shall see, this interpretation finds support in the Biblical verses that use the term “Kel hay” or “Elokim hayyim” without the accompanying word “divrei.” Based on these precedents, the word “hayyim” appears to modify “Elokim” and not “divrei.”

http://www.thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/2017/6/9/hillels-living-god




IBN EZRA: The voice of the l iving God. The adjective matches the plural

grammatical form of the noun elohim, “God,” rather than its singular meaning; see my comment to Gen. 1:1. Calling Him “living” here is meant, in my opinion, to differentiate Him from the host of heaven. For the latter, though divine, cannot move independently.

NAHMANIDES: The voice of the l iving God. Ibn Ezra explains that “living” is meant to differentiate God from the “host of heaven.” It could be, though, that the point of calling Him here the “living” God is to say that one who hears the voice of God, with whom is the source of all life, would cleave to his foundation and cease to live a life of the flesh. The similar-sounding expressions in Josh. 3:10 and Dan. 12:7 in fact carry a different meaning than the phrase used here. Alexander Rofé, “David Overcomes Goliath (1 Samuel 17),” Henoch 37 (2015): 66-100 (at 88)

Our conclusion thus far – that the story of David and Goliath was written during the Second Commonwealth, probably in the late Persian period – can help us to understand the theological concepts embedded in it. These concepts, once clarified, seem most likely to have originated in late biblical times. Time after time, David denounces “the uncircumcised Philistine…who has taunted the armies of the living God” – Myˆ¥yAj MyIhølTa (vv.26, 36). What is the theological significance of the term, “living God”? Even within the context, it is clear that the words are meant to contrast with “the uncircumcised Philistine”, thus they suggest that the gods of this enemy are not “living”, but “dead”. This would be the purpose of vs. 46, where David asserts that his victory will prove that “there is a God to Israel”. What though, is the historical setting in which this concept prevails?

The terms yAj MyIhølTa, Myˆ¥yAj MyIhølTa, and yAj lEa occur infrequently, in a variety of contexts. Not all of them can be easily dated. This is the case, for instance, in Josh 3:10 and Ps 42:3 which contain yAj lEa. On the other hand, the promise in Hos 2:1 that Israel will in the future be called yAj lEa y´nV;b is included in a patently late addition to Hosea’s words (2:1-3). As for yAj MyIhølTa, it appears in the prayer of Hezekiah, 2 Kgs 19:16 = Isa 37:17, which can plausibly be dated to the mid-6th century BCE. One notes that here the living God of Israel is set in contrast to the no-gods of the nations (2 Kgs 19:18= Isa 37:19).

The kindred term Myˆ¥yAj MyIhølTa is manifestly late. It occurs in recent additions and texts in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Deut 5:23 – “For what mortal ever heard the voice of the living God speak out of the fire, as we did, and lived” – clearly contradicts the sense of the whole passage and should be considered as interpolated together with v. 21b. The same applies to Deut 4:33, 36 where the same hand of 5:21b, 23 was at work. Their common purpose was to emphasize that the revelation at Horeb had been a unique event. Therefore, at 4:33 one must accept the evidence of two MTMSS, the LXX, SP, Targum PsJ and Neophyti and read Myˆ¥yAj MyIhølTa lwøq. The “living God” of Deuteronomy belongs to the phraseology of a late interpolator. Jeffrey Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPS Torah Commentary) 23. the l iving God The demonstration of God’s power has made the people conscious of His character as “the living God.” This epithet expresses God’s effectiveness in contrast to the lifelessness of false gods. The epithet is used similarly before another demonstration of God’s power, the crossing of the Jordan on dry land, when Joshua announces: “By this you shall know that a living God is among you.”




Appendix (Vayera 5776) Gen. 31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor” — their ancestral deities — “judge [ …wâfVÚpVvˆy] between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. Gen. 35:7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared [ …wl ◊gˆn] unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. E. A. Speiser, Genesis (Anchor Bible) So when Heaven caused me to wander Literally “God.” The accompanying verb is in the plural, which is grammatically permissable, but not customary with Elohim “God”; cf. 1:26, 11:7, 35:7, 2 Sam 7:23. Here the construction may hint independently at a related but broader connotation, something like our Heaven, Fate, Providence.

Gen. 35:7 There he built an altar and named the site El-bethel, for it was there that God had revealed Himself to him [My$IhølTa`Dh ‹wyDlEa …wôl ◊gˆn] when he was fleeing from his brother. 2Sam. 7:23 And who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth, whom God went and redeemed as His people [M%DoVl w°øl_twíø;dVpIl MyIhølTa_…wákVlDh], winning renown for Himself and doing great and marvelous deeds for them and for Your land — [driving out] nations and their gods before Your people, whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt. Robert Alter, Genesis the gods made me a wanderer Conventional translation procedure renders this as “God,” or “Heaven,” but Abraham, after all, is addressing a pagan who knows nothing of this strange new idea of monotheism, and it is perfectly appropriate that he should choose his words accordingly, settling on a designation of the deity that ambiguously straddles polytheism and monotheism.

KIMHI: Abraham certainly used elohim here as “God,” but he made the verb plural because he knew his listeners believed in “the gods.” Nonetheless, we do sometimes find “God” used with the plural; see the Hebrew of “He is a holy God” (Josh 24:19); “Let Israel rejoice in its maker” (Ps 149:2); “God, my Maker” (Job 35:10). Josh. 24:19 You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God [a…wóh My™IvOdVq My¶IhølTa]. Psa. 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in its maker [wy¡DcOoV;b] Job 35:10 But none says, “Where is my God, my Maker [y¡DcOo A;hwâølTa h´¥yAaœ]

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