Elohim Are Lawmakers And Judges

As I said in part 1 of this ‘Coming Out’ series; it is the men (with their wives and children, if they have any) who have already come out of the world and will lead the rest of Yehovah’s people in their second exodus from Egypt.

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says Yehovah, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As Yehovah lives who brought up Israel’s seed from the land of Egypt.’ But, ‘As Yehovah lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.'” (Jer 23:7-8)

Thou Shall Have No Elohim Existing Before My Face

To understand this coming out process we must firmly grasp, not only in our minds but also in our hearts as well, the importance of being only under Yehovah’s authority. It was right after we came out of Egypt the first time that Yehovah gave us His first 10 commandments; the first being, “You shall have no other Elohim before [besides, but, except] My face!”

Many folks have convinced themselves that they are in compliance with this commandment; but I will submit to you that for the majority of those who “say” that they are Yehovah’s people are, in reality, serving Him mainly with their lips. Do we foolishly think that because we do not have any idols around our homes that we are obedient to this first commandment? Do we confuse elohim with idols? I fear most do, simply because they have not given this topic much thought. It is the second commandment that addresses these idols.

‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, Yehovah your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Deu 5:8-10)

The third commandment is equally perverted and twisted by those who do not know their Elohim. Yehovah warns us that He will not take it lightly [there is an understatement on my part] if we take His name in vain.

‘You shall not take the name of Yehovah your Elohim in vain, for Yehovah will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. (Deu 5:11)

Taking Yehovah’s name in vain has nothing to do with swearing; and EVERYTHING to do with whom we serve! Do we say we are His and carelessly follow the commandments, statutes, judgments and ordinances of other elohim? I hope you are beginning to see that compliance to Yehovah’s first commandment is a prerequisite for the next two. Let’s take a look at Yehovah’s first commandment in the context in which it was given. We had just come out of Egypt under Yehovah’s strong-arm and now He has gathered his people (they are all the men) together.

And Elohim spoke all these words, saying: “I am Yehovah your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other elohim before [besides, except, but] Me. (Exo 20:1-3)

Yehovah’s intent was for Him to be our only Elohim. But let’s clear up just whom an elohim is.

Hebrew is an amazing language. Jeff Benner in his book “Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible” says it is the only language in the world that uses a plural in both a quantitative or qualitative sense;  he explains:

In all modern languages the plural is always quantitative while in Ancient Hebrew a plural can be quantitative or qualitative. For instance the word “trees” refers to more than one tree (quantitative) while in Hebrew the plural word עצים (etsiym – trees) can mean more than one tree (quantitative) or one very large tree (qualitative). An example of this is the word בהמות (behemot or usually transliterated as behemoth in Job 40:15). This word is the plural form of the singular בהמה (behemah), meaning beast, but refers to a very large beast rather than more than one beast. One of the most common uses of the qualitative plural is the word אלהים (elohim) which can be translated as “gods” (quantitative) or as “God” (qualitative).

Jeff Benner later describe the pictographs for אל, el or god.

The pictograph א (aleph) is a picture of an ox head and represents its strength. The ל (lamed) is a picture of a shepherd staff and represents the authority of the shepherd. Combined these two pictographs mean “the strong authority” and can be anyone or thing of strong authority.

The primary use according to Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions describes elohim as lawmakers and judges.

So the beginning of coming out is to understand in the very depths of our souls exactly who is our elohim; the elohim [quantitative] in the land of our birth, or, THE Elohim [qualitative] and creator of all things? But before we answer let us check out the evidence which can be found in most of our pockets, for those documents represent the covenants we have made with the elohim of the earth.

We, Israel, wanted to be like all the other nations, to have other mighty ones to judge us and to go before us and fight our battles; and we asked Samuel to give us a king.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him. “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to Yehovah. And Yehovah said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other elohim—so they are doing to you also. (1Sa 8:4-8)

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. They said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1Sa 8:19-20)

Then Yehovah warned us how, even his choice of a king, one chosen and anointed by Him from among the brethren would treat His people. Yehovah said:

And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen. Some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest. Some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. (1Sa 8:11-17)

How much worse are the kings we choose by majority rule while we are among the Gentiles; kings who are not chosen from among the brethren.

Since that day we (Israel) have played the harlot, the adulterous wife, who made covenants with all the nations; we went to Egypt, then Assyria, then Babylon and still we were not satisfied. Yehovah says we were worse than a harlot in that we paid them! See Ezekiel 16. It was because of our adultery that we have been dispersed among the nations for over 2500 years.

But even now Yehovah is raising up a holy people who will have no other elohim [quantitative] but THE Elohim [qualitative] of Israel. These called out and chosen men are like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron and many more who have come out of their Babylon, their Egypt and now serve only one elohim. They will be set apart by Yehovah and be made the great ones in His kingdom; but for now they appear to be the least of all. These are the men, along with their families, who are being cast out and discredited even among the brethren who only honor Yehovah with their lips. But, the day is coming that Yehovah will raise these men up as his “sent ones”, His shalachim, on the earth; and peoples from every tribe and tongue and nation will stream to them for Yehovah’s protection, provision and instruction in righteousness.

Now is the time to begin to wake up, come out from among them and be holy.

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Yehovah! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. (Isa 51:9)

Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion … Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of Yehovah. For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight. For Yehovah will go before you, and the Elohim of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isa 52:1, 11-12)

In the end it is all going to come down to our covenants, the evidence, which will decide whom we serve and whom we don’t!

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of Elohim with idols? For ye are the temple of the living Elohim. As Elohim hath said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith Yehovah. Touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters”, says Yehovah Almighty. (2Co 6:14-18)

 Part 4 of this “Coming Out of Babylon” series
continues with “Unholy Covenants”

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