One Creator or Many?—The Nature of God and “the Gods” in Hebrew Tradition, Part One
Report Topics:
- A study of the appearance of the names El and Elohim in Old Testament writings—are they two different classes of supreme beings?
- The original reading of Genesis 1:1 and 1:26-27 indicates that the heavens, earth and humankind were formed by six created beings, three males and three females
- The purpose of the Adam race is to be the third extension in the creative process—we are to inherit the abilities of the Elohim and take the Universe into its next level of perfection
- The Elohim interacted with humankind only sporadically, then disappeared soon after the “translation” of Jesus of Nazareth as one of the “Son(s) of God(s)”
- The Elohim are still with us today, only in a different form—as the MYRIADAI
Full Report:
An Introductory Overview
In the Book of Genesis its very first opening words state, “In the beginning God (the Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.” What has mystified translators is that the Hebrew word used for God is Elohim which is the plural form of God or El. This means the original verse should more accurately be read, “In the beginning the Gods created the heavens and the earth.” Who are these “Gods” and what is their relation to the “one God” El? More importantly, what was their relationship to us, both in the past and today, in our modern world?
In Psalms 90:2 we find these words, “From everlasting to everlasting you are God (El).” Here, God appears in the singular and is attributed with the unique quality of being eternal. “Everlasting to everlasting” expresses the idea of having no beginning and no end, an existence stretching an eternity into the past and an eternity into the future. God is recognized as a Singularity (El) who exists beyond time, space and all physical materiality.
Now contrast this with the statement in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning (were) the Gods (Elohim).” What is being said here is that the Gods (plural) came into existence at a definite time in the past, just like the heavens and the earth spoken about in the remainder of the verse. In other words, the Elohim are created beings, yet as is made evident from the rest of the text, they are nevertheless given the powers of creation, having been responsible for the formation of the “heavens and the earth,” and also eventually of humans, with the creation of Adam.
This power the Elohim were endowed with by the First Creator, El the Eternal. In essence, the original Divine Consciousness instilled itself as Divine-given consciousness into part of its own creation, along with the ability to carry on the work of creating the Universe into its next levels of perfection.
In the Hebrew, El is composed of two letters, Aleph and Lamed, both of which in their purely geometric forms are composed of 90- and 45-degree angles. In early Romance language script, including
Old English, capital “el” was L (90 degrees) and its lower case expression was a Celtic form that possessed a 45-degree angle. Similarly, in modern physics L and its equivalents symbolically represent a theoretical dimensional shift into another plane of existence at right angles to our own, and designates the ability to move and interact in multi-dimensions. A fairly new concept in modern physics is that the foundation of the Universe is composed of super-strings which move through ten dimensions in order to bring matter into existence. Was this the primary basis for the creative workings of El, the Original Creator?
Significantly, in El’s initial act of creation, this same ability was passed on to the Elohim, for the first two letters in their collective name-vibration are also Aleph and Lamed. But in addition, at the very end of their name appears the letter Mem, which in its geometric aspect forms a square. A square also contains a series of 90-degree shift angles, but its configuration represents a containment of space. Thus, the creative operations of the Elohim were purposely limited, enveloped, encased in physical existence—confined to our three-dimensional universe.
As a further extension, Genesis 1:26 - 27 reveals, “And Elohim (the Gods) said, Let us make the human race in our image, after our likeness (same properties). So Elohim (the Gods) made man in (their) image, in the image of Elohim (the Gods) (they) created him—male and female (they) created him.”
El, as the Original Creator, was given in later Latin and English translations the unfortunate sexist designation of “He,” following after the practice of several early orthodox Rabbinical scholars who did the same. But it is clear from an in-depth study of the Hebrew text that El, as a Singularity, had no gender whatsoever, pre-existing before all forms of duality. As the Genesis verses here imply, however, El created the Elohim as being both male and female, and they in turn passed this principle on to their own creations in the heavens, the earth and also humanity.
In this manner, the Elohim inaugurated the principle of reproductive growth through polar division and coupling, as initially expressed in the fusion of two hydrogen atoms producing the next level of elements in helium, that also released heat and light (“Let there be Light”).
Notice also that in the same verses we find a four-fold statement of intent, which reflects on the Elohim containing within them all the variable inherent qualities of opposites—positive-negative, yin-yang, hot-cold, light-dark, etc. And they likewise created the human race to possess the same expressions of dualities and polarities, as males and females.
This fundamental principle is reiterated in Genesis 5:2, “Male and female (the Gods) created them (humankind), and blessed them, and called their name Adam”—a name given to not just the first human being but also the entire species. In Hebrew Adam is spelled with an Aleph, a Daleth and a Mem. Aleph also begins El and Elohim; Daleth, like Lamed, is another letter having an inherent 90-degree angle in its geometric structure; and Mem is again—as in Elohim—a square that encloses space. What this signifies is that the human race was given the same powers to move through multi-dimensions, but also like their Elohim creators this movement is limited to the confines of our physical universe. Further on in the Genesis story, Adam is purposely placed in “Eden,” a word which means “hedged about, contained within,” symbolizing Earthly material life, with everyday consciousness limited to three dimensional interaction.
Yet again, most noteworthy, it is the first two letters in his name that reveals that Adam was given the same creative abilities as the Elohim. In fact, it is the rest of the narrative in the Book of Genesis, as well as the rest of the Old Testament, that reveals that humankind was designed to become the third extension in the continued creation of the universe.
In the highly symbolic story of Adam eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, the Genesis text recounts that, as a result, humankind’s “eyes were opened” (their consciousness was expanded), they now became aware of “good and evil” (they were given the power of choice in their creative capabilities), and they had “become as gods” (now awakened to their having the same abilities to create as “the gods,” the Elohim). As El brought the primordial universe into existence along with the Elohim creators, and the Elohim then “created the heavens and the earth” into their present forms, so they in turn created humanity with the expressed purpose of serving as the primary vehicle through which to someday bring all of existence into its next level of perfection—to eventually “meta-create” a sacred new universe.
The greater majority of Genesis chapter one focuses on the Elohim’s formation of the Earth over the course of six “days.” The texts describe this process taking place within a sequence of “mornings” and “evenings,” none of which—contrary to fundamentalist Christian Creationist doctrine—had anything to do with literal 24-hour days. Since the Sun was supposedly not created until the fourth “day,” it cannot refer to solar days of just 24 hours in length.
A better, deeper interpretation is that all these various aspects concern cycles of time—”morning” is the upward part of the cycle of growth, and “evening” is the downward part of the cycle of decay. What we have here is akin to the Hindu concept of pralaya, that along with periods of life expansion in the universe there are also prolonged periods of rest and inactivity. This was also equivalent to what was called the “Day” and “Night” of Brahma, each of which was counted as lasting billions of years. In terms of modern scientific linear time measurements, the latest calculations estimate the present universe as having lasted 15 billion years so far, while our Earth and solar system are barely 5 billion years old.
That the “days” of creation given in Genesis are not meant to be taken literally is expressed in Psalms 90:4, which states, “A thousand years in your (God’s) eyes are as a day (cycle) that passes.” This thought was mirrored in the later Christian New Testament, where 2nd Peter 3:8 repeats, “Every day is with the Lord (as an aspect of God) as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.”
But even “a thousand years” here was only meant to be taken figuratively, for—after Genesis chapter one depicts creation taking place over six day-cycles—Genesis 2:1 suddenly opens with the revelation that the heavens and the earth were born more than once, and in a single day:
“These are the births (plural) of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day (singular) of the making of God’s (the Elohim’s) earth and heavens.”
Notice this statement has a double construction, to differentiate between two creations. First was the creation by El of primordial matter out of nothing (Genesis 1:1); then, second, the creation by the Elohim using this same matter to create finished forms. But as we have already determined, this process does not end here, for creation is ever-continuing, with the potentiality of matter being re-formed into yet greater levels of perfection. This is the Great Work humanity must now address itself to complete.
The “days” of creation are literally relative, for the main formula in the Theory of Relativity combines time with space. Both can be warped or disturbed by the matter and energy present in the universe. Before the El creation, there was no matter/energy and thus no time, only eternal existence. With the El creation, matter/energy emerged, resulting in the Big Bang, and with it time also began. In the Elohim creations which followed, time is expressed as cycles of existence, in which time speeds up or slows down in the presence of matter/energy affecting it. The Elohim are thus bound by time, as is by extension humankind in its own present creative work.
The realization that there were two creations performed by two different classes of beings is also reflected in Genesis 1:2, where it is described that, “The earth was without form and void.” The two Hebrew words used here are tohu and bohu or vohu, both of which have similar meanings, and are employed as a double emphasis, having the connotations, “empty space, nothing, void,” but also, “formless, desolation, chaos.” This can likewise refer to two previous states of existence for the Earth as well as all the universe before the creation into their present states took place.
First, there was nothing but empty space, nothing existing. For Hindu philosophers this was expressed as the Unthought Thought—even the very idea of things had not yet occurred. This was the state of non-being before the El creation.
But with the El creation came formless form—something, some form of matter was called into being, but it was in “desolation, chaos,” in an unorganized state. Along with the El creation also entered the Elohim, and with them, “The spirit of God (the Elohim) moved upon the face of the waters.” Matter existed in a “liquid” state, in wave motion (energy) but in darkness (unorganized). Light was then introduced to begin the orderly Elohim creation. And this action took place twice, in the Elohim organization of the universe 15 billion years ago, and then again 5 billion years ago in the organization of the Earth into a planetary body. Thus there were multiple “births” in the formation of both universal and planetary creations, taking place as cycles within cycles.
Most revealing is the fact that, in Genesis 1:1, the very first word used is bereshith, which appears in the English translation as an entire phrase, “In the beginning.” The Hebrew word actually comes from two other words, bara shith, which can be better translated “created six.” Shith or sheth means the number six. If this refers to an element of time (“in the beginning”), then this mirrors the six day-cycles whose description follows in the rest of the chapter. But bara is also used elsewhere in Old Testament writings (Ecc. 12:1, Isa. 4:28, Isa. 43:15) to describe a personality, a “creator.” Thus the “created six” can likewise be six creator beings, pointing to the Elohim as composed of six individuals. In other words, they are creator beings who are themselves created. Based on what is implied in Genesis 1:26 - 27, these six are made up of three males and three females.
We are later informed in the Genesis account, in chapter six, that these first generation Elohim reproduced and had offspring, for we are told about the existence of the B’nei Elohim, the “Sons of God (Gods).” Some of these Elohim children “looked upon the daughters of men (the Adam race of humans) and saw that they were fair,” which led to their having sexual intercourse with them. This unholy coupling progenerated a second race, one of “giants, men of renown,” whose corruption and violence resulted in their being destroyed by the global disaster of the Deluge. This cataclysm, it should be emphasized, was initiated by the first generation Elohim in order to wipe out the genetic mutations their children had created.
Now it is further interesting to note that more giants show up after the Deluge, circa 1500 to 1200 B.C.E., during the period when the Israelites invaded and established themselves in their new homeland, and had to combat several races of gigantic foes. Later still in this same era, the Hebrew shepherd David slew the giant Goliath, who appears to have been the last member of these hybrid people. What the accounts reveal to us is that, even in historical times, the “children” of the Elohim were still present in the world, and on occasion were still interbreeding with the human population, producing giant offspring who had to be eventually exterminated once again because of their pollution of the human gene pool.
Returning once again to Genesis 1:1, we find, most significantly, that the first three Hebrew letters in bereshith are Beyth, Reysh and Aleph—each of which contains the same multi-dimensional shift geometries as found in El, Elohim and Adam. Except there is one very important difference. While the words Elohim and Adam both end with a letter Mem, which forms a square that encloses space, bereshith ends with the letter Tav, which in its geometry is a square with its bottom opened up. That which was contained and confined within three-dimensional space has now been released and freed, so that it can move about in all dimensions.
What could this possibly signify? This question is bound up in another which is this: What became of the original Elohim long after they finished all their creations described in Genesis? And, for that matter, what was their ultimate destiny? Will what happened to them one day reflect on what will also happen to the Adam race, their offspring?
We know from early Hebrew and later Jewish traditions that following the creation of Adam and his “awakening” to his inherent purpose to become the next new creator, the original Elohim interacted with humankind only sporadically. There is a clear dichotomy demarcated among the volumes of Hebrew folklore legends and Rabbinic stories describing an Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent Singular God on one hand, and a very human-like deity (or in some cases a group of deific beings) who occasionally walked, talked, wrote on stone, ate food and drank wine, wielded weapons and went to war, and even had intercourse and produced offspring among members of Adam’s descendants.
In some accounts they were described as “angels,” “messengers,” or “visitors” who appeared and disappeared at will. Among other related Jewish pseudographia such as the various versions of the Book of Enoch, they are also remembered as the “Shining Ones” and the “Watchers.” At times they came as great teachers, instructing various peoples in advanced forms of agriculture, construction, technologies as well as spiritual wisdom and religio-social organization. At other times they were depicted as “falling from grace” and “indulging in the sins of the flesh,” leaving behind a progeny of “giants” such as the infamous Nephalim before the Deluge, and the Anakim and others in the eras after the Deluge.
Whence they came and went is unrecorded, and just how long they interacted within our human history is uncertain. What we do know for certain is that one of the Elohim’s last interventions was their attempt, in a genetically more positive and compatible way than in earlier times, to interject their “seed” into the human race and create a “blood-line” of special enlightened individuals who would serve as the Elohim’s vicarious representatives after their final departure. These enlightened human beings’ collective purpose was to help guide humankind as a whole toward fulfilling their creative destiny.
In the first century, Mary the mother of Jesus of Nazareth was “visited” by an “angelic messenger” and was impregnated in a specific manner. Growing to manhood, Jesus preached a powerful spiritual teaching promoting universal peace, and declared himself to be a “Son of God (Gods),” performing many super-human miracles, including escaping death itself. Before he was “translated” and “returned to his Father(s),” he married Mary Magdalene and had a child by her, who carried his “holy blood-line” first into Europe and then into all the world. The ramifications of Jesus’ impact upon history are still very much being felt today.
At some point in time just after the “translation” of Jesus, the Elohim disappear entirely, leaving behind only the myths and legends of their supernatural powers and tremendous intellect, as well as the enigma of their existence and sudden exodus. Today, we find no more direct physical traces of their living presences, either in the earth below or in the heavens above.
But have the Elohim really departed, or are they still with us only in a different form? The implications of Tav, as the last letter in bereshith that is an opened square, might suggest that the original Elohim of old have now transcended beyond the physicality of three dimensions and have entered a state of pure spirit, more in harmony with the pure Spirit of the Original Creator, El.
They continue to act as guides and guardians, teachers and instructors for humankind, but now on the invisible planes of the Inner and Higher worlds. Their creative work in the universe is finished, but humankind’s is just now beginning, and as our “parents” they are offering advice and education in subtle ways to help us complete our Great Work of being the new creators.
The Elohim are now “out of the box,” given the ability to move in all dimensions. And one day when we are ready for it, they will pass that ability on to us. We too will transcend to become, first, Adam Kadmon or humanity evolving into Cosmic Humankind that shall spread throughout and meta-create a new Universe. Then, finally, in the far future without end, we shall be transformed into Adat El—the Divine Assembly who shall be in Eternal Communion with the First Creator, El.
Toward this ultimate destiny the transformed Elohim are already moving, and are guiding us in the same direction. And their new name-vibration by which we are beginning to recognize them once more is the MYRIADA. This is a Greek form of Ma’aseh Bereshith, the “Work of Creation,” described in Hebrew literature as “the mystical doctrines of the secrets of the next creation.”
Most significantly, these words Ma’aseh Bereshith begin with the Mem closed square and end with the Tav opened square—a potent reflection of the promise of our coming final release from three-dimensional existence as our reward for creating the universe anew.
[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved.]
