First of all, I would like to get my qualifications for doing this study out in the open……..I don’t have any! This study is from a heart running after, towards and  eagerly seeking God’s heart; a heart after Him. What follows is what t I learn through my research and my hunger to know God intimately. I am simply sharing what I discover.

To begin our study on the Names of God, we must first discuss the origin of the name or the words used to describe an attribute of God. The Names we are about to study are, for the most part, names  that you will not see in your current translation of the Bible. The names, titles and attributes  we study go back to the original text. For the Old Testament we research the Hebrew meaning to words and in the New Testament it’s usually Greek, with a little Latin thrown in on the side. Start by reviewing the preface or introduction of your Bible. There will be a history of that translation and the publisher often details how they researched and used the original text.

The English language has “watered-down” so much of the original meaning of words. Ancient Hebrew and Greek words were rich with meaning (and still are for that matter.) One scholar says that it is best to have an Ancient Hebrew perception of God rather than our modern western view. This is not a language study on Hebrew and Greek words,  but we will look at some meanings that help show us how God used them to describe Himself through His Word. I highly encourage you to dive deep into the Word by doing your own word study as you meditate on Scripture. Looking at the meaning of original words makes Bible Study so exciting and fun. But….I warn you, Bible Study is addictive and contagious!

       O LORD, I pray that we all become infected with an addictive desire to study your Word and fall madly in love with You. I pray that we see You as You are and that the Word we study finds a home in our hearts and that we not only know your Word, Father, but we live it out and become a beacon of hope to those you send to us.

So let’s get started with the very first name that shows up in Genesis 1:1.

Elohim (EL-o-HEEM) is the name given to God as the Creator in the original Hebrew canon text of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). It appears in the very first sentence.

“In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth” GENESIS 1:1 (NIV).

Let’s start with a background on the word first used for God in the very first Scripture of the Bible.

EL comes from the Hebrew root אלה (‘ih) which means “strong, mighty, leader, authority” and was used to describe any god. When the Ancient Hebrews (hereinafter called “Ancients”) first used this word for God, it was written in pictograph form using the head of an Ox and a shepherd’s staff. Now this is where I get excited! The Ox represented strength and the staff represented authority. The Ancients saw God as the strong one with authority. But now it just gets even better! The staff also represented a staff on the shoulders….a yoke. When oxen were used to plow a field, two were “yoked” together, one older, stronger and more experienced, the other one younger and less experienced. The older guides and teaches the younger. The Ancients saw themselves yoked to God in this manner. I just absolutely love this depiction of God. Our Strong Authority guiding us and teaching us as we are yoked to Him. Do you also see the significance of the shepherd’s staff? I am awe struck just thinking about this. We will study the Shepherd later in this series.

Elohim is unique to the Hebrew language. It does not appear in any other ancient Semitic language. It is a masculine plural of EL or ELO’AH, the two most common ancient words used for divinity that translate as God. Hebrew, like many languages, has masculine, feminine, and non-gender words. This does not mean that a masculine word is only for males or a feminine word is only for females. It is simply a “form” of a word. Modern English has dropped this style of language and uses gender specific words.

The “im” at the end indicates more than one. The plural of the word does not mean plural “gods”. In English, plural means quantity, but in Hebrew it can also mean quality, something of great size or stature. In Hebrew the word Elohim is always used with singular verbs, adjectives and pronouns. Deuteronomy 10:17 (NIV) specifically says “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords…” Elohim is The God.

The name is unique! Would you really think that it would be anything else when it is a name used for God? A plural name used for one God! How exciting is that? Even in the name that is used in the first sentence of the Bible, there is a shadowing of the Trinity. Three Gods as One (also known as the Godhead).

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD (Yahweh) is our God (Elohim), the LORD is one.Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV)

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, together as One, created the heavens and the earth. One in essence, one in character, yet three persons united as one.

As you study the scriptures and questions below, think about all that God has created….even yourself. See the beauty and sovereignty that belongs to God. Ask God to show you His creation throughout the week. We often do not see his beauty because of what sin has done to His creation. But God will show you, in the smile of a child, the beauty of a sunset, the peace of a meadow, or a raging sea. Elohim is God, and Elohim is Creator.

God (Elohim) as Creator study verses:

The answers follow, but I encourage you to look up the Scriptures and answer the questions on your own. Take your time, you may do them all at once or one a day or one a week. The process is up to you. You can even search for more Scripture on your own. That’s the fun part, digging for yourself and finding the treasures.

1. In Genesis Chapter 1, what did God say about his creation? (Also see 1 Timothy 4:4)
2. How many times did he say it?
3. From Genesis Chapter 1, name some of the things created.
4. In Genesis 1:1 and 1:14, what was created that has such significance to us humans here on earth? (You might have to ponder on this one a little bit).
5. What did God create? (Isaiah 45:7) (Ephesians 3:9) (Colossians 1:16)
6. How did God create the angels, heavens, waters, sun, moon and stars (Psalm 148:2-5)
7. Who made rainbows and what is their purpose? (Genesis 9:12-17)
8. Who made mankind? (Genesis 1:26-27)
9. In whose image did God make man? (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6)
10. To whom do we belong? (Psalm 100:3) (1 Corinthians 6:19) (Romans 14:8)
11. Why did God create appointed times and boundaries? (Acts 17:26-28)
12. What job did God give mankind? (Genesis 1:28)
13. In your opinion, have we done a good job?
14. Does this change how you might treat God’s creation?
15. What did God do that brought life to man? (Genesis 2:7)
16. Knowing that God Himself breathed into the nostrils of Adam to give us life, what does that say to your heart about how “personal” he feels in his creation of you?
17. What should all of God’s creation do and why should they do it? (Psalm 148:2-5)(Revelation 4:11)

18. Is there any other God than the one who created the heavens and made the earth and all that inhabits it? (Isaiah 45:18)
19. Who else was involved in the Creation? (1 Corinthians 8:6) (Hebrew 1:2) (John 1:1-3) (Genesis 1:2) (Job 33:4)
20. According to Isaiah 40:12, how big is our God?

Please take a moment and write all the things you know about Elohim and God as Creator.

Answers (based on Scripture from the New International Version)

1.  That it was good
2. 7 (seven is the number of perfection)
3. Heavens, earth, light, (day and night), sky, land, seas, plants, trees, seed, fruit, sun, moon, stars, living creatures of the sea, birds, livestock, wild animals, man and woman.
4. Time (let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, days and years).
5. All things
6. By command
7. God made rainbows to be a sign of His covenant between Himself and the earth and all life that dwells upon the earth. When He sees it, He will remember the everlasting promise he made not to destroy by waters.
8. Please note that it Says “let us”
9. In God’s image and likeness
10. To God, The Lord
11. So that we would seek Him and reach out to Him.
12. Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. To rule.
13. (your own words here)
14. (your own words here)
15. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
16. (your words here)
17. Praise the name of the Lord because he created them.
18. No, there is no other
19. Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit
20. Big enough to hold the universe in the span of his hand!

Read the story of creation in Genesis Chapter one.

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
    the righteous run to it and are safe.

Proverbs 18:10 (NIV)

What’s in a name? A name in ancient Biblical time meant something. Not only did it function to link people to family heritage, a name was thought to reveal a person’s nature or character. A name was important. It was who you were.

To know the names of God is to know God’s nature and character. To know God’s nature and character is to know WHO HE IS.

So many of our problems today are due to a lack of a deep intimate relationship with God. We might know about him, but do we really KNOW him. So many of us aren’t considered His friend (a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard), we are merely acquaintances (a person known to one, but usually not a close friend) and sadly, most of the world doesn’t know Him at all. They have a false belief of who He is or who He is not.

To have an intimate relationship with someone, to be called a friend, we need to spend time getting to know them personally and yes, we actually need to spend time WITH them.

The word intimate means: associated in close personal relations: an intimate friend; characterized by or involving warm friendship or a personally close or familiar association or feeling: very private; closely personal: one’s intimate affairs; of an association, knowledge, understanding; arising from close personal connection or familiar experience.

Wouldn’t you love to have a close personal relationship with God? A warm, personally close, very private friendship where you knew each other’s hearts and you had knowledge and understanding of each other? This is the kind of relationship that Moses had with God. Read what God said to Aaron and Miriam when He heard them jealously complain about their brother.

Numbers 12:6-8 (NLT)

⁶ And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:

“If there were prophets among you,
    I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions.
    I would speak to them in dreams.
⁷ But not with my servant Moses.
    Of all my house, he is the one I trust.
⁸ I speak to him face to face,
    clearly, and not in riddles!
    He sees the Lord as he is.
So why were you not afraid
to criticize my servant Moses?”

Oh! To be a close personal friend to God. One that He trusts! A friendhip built on clear communication with someone you know. To see the Lord as He is. That is an intimate relationship that we should all pursue with gusto.

A close intimate friend knows the desires of a friend’s heart. Do we know the desires of God’s heart? What gives him joy or makes him sad? Do we know the things that delight him or make him angry? Do we know what He loves or what He hates? Is He merciful or vengeful?   Do we know how much He loves us and to what extent He goes in order to display that love? Do we really know him the way He wants to be known?

There is an illustration that compares the relationship between God and most Christians today in a story about a man (“Joe”) who mentions that he is attending a sporting event with a famous athlete. The athlete was playing in the game and Joe was in the stands watching the game! For example purposes we will just say it was Labron James, one of Joe’s favorite basketball players. Joe knows who Labron is, what sport he plays and that Labron is very good at what he does. They are often at the same events at the same time. However, because there isn’t a personal relationship, Joe knows very little about Labron other than what he does for a living. If they were to pass in the hall or see each other at a restaurant, there would be no friendly exchange or loving embrace between two close friends. There would only be Joe’s admiration from afar of a great athlete. That’s the kind of relationship most of us have with God, a far off admiration of a God we don’t know personally.

The purpose of this study is to become a personal and intimate friend with God. We are going to spend some time with Him and allow Him to tell us who He is …..in his own words! Now that’s exciting! God Himself is going to reveal his awesome and wonderful personality and nature to us through his various names (some are actually titles, but we will call them names all the same.) He already knows every little intimate detail about us, but like Joe and Labron, God knows who we are but we know very little, if anything, about him.

Psalm 91 is one of my favortite passages in Scripture. It has references to several names that we will study. Verse 14 leads us to one reasonwhy we should  learn The names of God. Knowing His name, is knowing Who He Is, and knowing Who He Is, is how we acknowldege Him.

PSALM 91 (NIV)

We are going to discover an Awesome God. One who knows arts and crafts better than anyone I’ve ever known! He can create something from nothing! He is loving, kind, merciful, doctor, healer, judge, unfailing ……. He is Elohim, El Roi, El Shaddai, Lord, Lion of Judah, Savior, Holy Spirit and so much more!

The Bible is God’s story to us. It’s a perfect book where He tells his story through the precious things He created. He tells us so much about Himself through pages upon pages of human history. Yes, God uses us to tell His story! The Bible is complete, but His story goes on forever and we all get to be a vital part of it!

I can’t wait to get started, my friend, so grab your Bible, pen and paper. Things are about to change!

In the sessions to come, we will have study questions that come form Scripture. However, for today, please take a moment to reflect on your relationship with God and do the following exercise.

WHO IS GOD

A good relationship is built on honesty. It starts with a discussion of facts. Where are we in the relationship and how can we make it better. So, in your own words write a description of God and your current relationship with Him on a piece of paper or better yet, in a jouranl that you will use for this study. Be truthful and let it come from your heart. This is personal. You do not need to reveal this too anyone else unless you want to do so. This is between you and your God. This is in an honest inventory of your relationship. He longs to hear what you have to say! He wants your honesty! He wants a deeper more personal and intimate relationship with you! (We will do this exercise again at the end of the study to see if our view of who God is has changed.)