LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 359

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS

As this quotation makes evident, the church fathers were not unaware
that in the narrative of the Scriptures and in the language of the church’s
worship God is consistently portrayed as masculine. Today the claim is
frequently advanced that this masculine rendering of God in the Bible is a
function of the patriarchal culture in which the Scriptures were written.
Biblical language, it is said, reflects cultural realities and biases which we,
given the new realities of our own cultural egalitarianism, are free to
replace through the use of “gender neutral” language. Such an analysis of
the biblical language, however, does not take with adequate seriousness
the uniqueness of Israel in the midst of the nations. The peoples sur-
rounding ancient Israel and the believers of the New Testament common-
ly possessed female as well as male deities. Rather than reflect the reli-
gious language of the broader culture, the language of the Bible was in
considerable contrast to the language and understanding of surrounding
peoples. Had the biblical authors thought of God in feminine terms (as in
surrounding cultures), we would expect that there would be some equi-
librium of use between masculine and feminine language concerning God.
In fact, however, that is not the case."

2. The Names of God. In both the Old and New Testaments the Scrip-
tures make consistent and pervasive use of masculine tenninology and
imagery when speaking about God. Within the Old Testament the proper
name of God is YHWH (7t™). More than any other designation of God,
this name names the God of Israel over against the false gods and god-
desses of the surrounding pagan peoples. Most specifically, the name
YHWH is associated with the mission of Moses to redeem Israel from
Egypt through the Exodus and the giving of the Law. YHWH is the
covenant name of God.

YHWH is the revealed name of God. It is the name God himself made
known to Moses. Noteworthy is the phrase “I am YHWH” (77* *38) in
which God names himself (e.g., Exod. 6:8; 12:12; Lev. 18:5, 6, 21; Isa. 43:15)."
However, the basic narrative for the name YHWH is Exod. 3:13-15. These

* The claim 1s sometimes made that because God is intrinsically “beyond” gender dis-
tinction, the use of feminine and masculine imagery in the Bible possesses equal weight and
sigmuficance, despite the clear preponderance of the masculine. We should remember, how-
ever, that the Gad who in his eternal nature is transcendent to all gender distinctions is the
God who is unknown and unknowable. God renders himself known and knowable in his
revelation which 1s canonically witnessed in the words of Scripture and fulfilled in the incar-
nate Son of the Father, the man Jesus.

“The passages listed here are typical of the emphatic use of the phrase “lam YH WH.”
Important is the repetition of the phrase in the Holiness Code (e.g., Lev. 18:5, 6, 21: 19:12, 14,
16, 18, 28, 30, 32, 37). For a full listing of the occurrences of this phrase, see Francis Brown,
S. R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs, eds., A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), 219, The Septuagint tended to translate YHWH with “the
Lord” (6 0p.os), and this usage has come over into many English translations, However,
this rendering obscures the fact that YH WH is God's revealed name.

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Elohim is used in the singular sense to refer to the God of Israel. YHWH is
the Elohim, “the God” of Israel, and is the only true Elohim. Therefore, there
is the frequent occurrence of the phrase “the Lord, your God” (YHWH,
your Elohim; see, e.g., Deut. 5:6, 8). Important, too, is a passage like Deut.
4:35: “{t] he Lord is God (literally: YHWH, he is Elohim); there is no other
besides him” (see also Deut. 4:39; 7:9; 1 Kings 8:60; 18:39; 2 Chron. 33:13).'4

As in the case of YHWH, the grammatical forms occurring with Elohim
are exclusively masculine. Nowhere do adjectives and verbal construc-
tions in the feminine appear in conjunction with the divine names of
Israel’s God. This is indicative of the fact that the scriptural portrayal of
God is consistently masculine. However, one might argue that the gram-
matical gender of the divine names YH WH, Adonai, and Elohim would nat-
urally demand corresponding grammatical gender in modifying adjectives
and verb forms. Such an objection, however, would not hold in the case of
pronouns. In neither the Old Testament nor in the New Testament is God ever
referred to by a feminine pronoun. This is important, for the character of a
Pronoun is to point to its referent. A pronoun specifies and identifies. Fre-
quently in the Old Testament the third singular masculine personal pro-
noun “he” (#97) and the second singular masculine personal pronoun
“you/thou” ("238) are used of God. Some examples of this usage follow:

Deut. 4:35:

... that vou might know that the Lord (YHWH) [he] (Rt) is God (Elohim).
Deut. 7:9:

Know therefore that the Lord your God [he] (R17) is God.
1 Kings 18:39:

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said,
“The Lord, he (835) is God; the Lord, he (17) is God.”

‘5 1 Kings 18:36-37:

Elijah the prophet came near and said .. ., “Answer me, O Lord,
answer me, so this people may know that thou ( ), O Lord, art God, and
that thou (7TR) hast tumed their hearts back.”

Ps. 102:12 (Hebrew, v. 13):
But thou (Tr), O Lord, art enthroned for ever; thy name endures to all

“ An important account in determuning that YH WH is the true and only Elohint is that
of Ehjah and the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-35). In the confrontation Baal is shown to be
no Elohim at ail, while YHWH is demonstrated to be the true Elohim. Indeed, the name Eb-
jab means “my El (my God) is YHWH.”

'3 See also Num. 23:19, Deut. 4:39: 32:6; 1 Kings 8:60; 18:24; 2 Chron. 33:13; fsa. 45:18.

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verses are part of the burning bush account in which God commissions
Moses to redeem Israel from Egypt (Exod. 3:14:17). When Moses inquires
after God’s name, God replies: "I AM WHOIAM.... Say this to the peo-
ple of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to vou’... . Say this to the people of Israel,
‘The LORD, the God of your fathers . . . has sent me to you.’” * Although
there remain different opinions about the meaning of YHWH, the gram-
matical form of this personal name of God appears to be a third-person
singular masculine verb in the imperfect. In any case, all terminology
attending this name is masculine. For example, the verb forms which are
used with YHWHi are consistently in the masculine form: “I AM has sent
me (Exod. 3:14: “377C); ‘The Lord has sent me” (3:15: *2'70); ? “The Lord
has appeared to me” (3:16: 77); ‘The Lord has met with us” (3:18: 77P2),"

The same linguistic features occur in the narrative of the giving of the
Law on Mount Sinai (Exod. 20:1 ff.). God declares himself to be YHWH: “1
am the Lord (7: *228) vour God” (20:2). Again, all verbal forms attend-
ing the name of God are masculine. For example, Exod. 20:5-6 reads: “For
1 the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting (72) "' the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children... , but showing ("=> teadfast love to thou-
sands... .” What obtains in these two narratives is true of the entire
Hebrew Scriptures: nowhere is a feminine verb form governed by YHWH.

The evidence is the same in regard to other designations for God.
Adonai ("my Lord,” *77®), often used as a circumlocution for God’s name,
is a noun in the masculine gender. It often appears in apposition to
YHWH, as in the phrase “my Lord, YHWH” or “YHWH, my Lord” (see
Gen. 15:2, 8; Ps. 68:21). The designation Elohim (C77), along with the
short form E] (8), appears to have been a generic Semitic name for deity.
Masculine plural in form, Elohim can refer to the many gods of paganism,
such as in Jethro’s declaration that the Lord (YHWH) is greater than all
gods (Elohim, Exod. 18:11; also Exod. 12:12; 20:3; Deut. 10:17). Moreover, in
the singular sense Elohim can refer to the specific god or goddess of a pagan
people.”* But in the overwhelming number of cases in the Old Testament,

*In God’s naming of himself, there is a progression of forms, from “1 AM WHO I AM”
(RAT TW to “PAM? (TW to “the Lord® (“77). For a thorough discussion of the
name YHWH. sve David N. Freedman, ", YHWH,” Theologwal Dictionary of the Old Testa-
ment. ed. G. Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, trans. David Green (Grand Rapids; Wm. B.
Eerdmans, 1986), 4:500-521

* The Hebrew torm of the verb in Exed. 3:14, 15 is Qal perfect, third person masculine
singular

© The Hebrew form of the verbs in Exod. 3:16, 18 is Niphal perfect, thied person
masculine singular

¥ Qal partiaple, masculine singular

= Qal participle, masculine singular, See also the masculine verbs in Exod. 20:7, 11,
248, 12.

© Dagon (1 Sam. 5:7); Chemosh (udg. 11:24); Baal (1 Kings 18:24); Ishtar (1 Kings
11:5,33),

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Ps. 63:1 (Hebrew, v. 2):
O God, thou (TX) art my God, I seek thee; my soul thirsts for thee

Isa. 63:16:

For thou (“HIR) art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and
Israel does not acknowledge us; thou (773), O Lord, art our Father, our
Redeemer from of old is thy name."

Common as well are the strong identifying phrases “You are he” (W™ "W78)
and especially “J am he” (#37 *38). Examples of these phrases follow:

2 Sam 7:28: .

And now, O Lord God, Thou art God (=°A87 81> Tek (literally: thou art

he the Got }), and thy words are true.

2 Kings 19:15:

And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of

Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone

(OTR TART eT Cya [iterally: thou art he. the God, thou alone }) of all the

earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.”

Jer. 14:22:

Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or

can the heavens give showers? Art thou not he (W°7 778), O Lord our

God?!”

Deut. 32:39:

See now that L coer fam fe (80 "RR IR), and there is no god beside me.

Isa. 41:4:

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the begin-

ning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; fam he (#7 *28).

Isa. 52:6:

Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall

know that it is | (87 “28 [literally: | am he ]) who speak, here am L.'*

This usage of the personal pronoun corresponds to the use of the pos-
sessive pronoun, and of the personal pronoun as object of prepositions. In
Hebrew these are expressed by way of suffixes. For example, lachem (C27)
means “for you” (“you” here is plural), with the pronominal suffix C>
being the second person masculine plural. Within the Old Testament such
suffixes, when referring to God, invariably are masculine.'? For example,

* See also Exod. 19-23, } Kings 18:36; 2 Kings 19:19; 1 Chron. 17:25, 27; Ps, 44:3; 102:14, 27;
Isa. 37-16; 64:8; Jer. 149.

1 See also 1 Chron. 17:26; Neh. 9:7; Pas, 44:5; 102:28; Isa. 37:16
1 Gee also Isa. 43:4), 11, 13, 15, 25; 45:18; 46:4; 48:12; 51:12.
* The second person plural feminine suffix would be chen, "=.

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