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Pastimes : Religion on SI -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IN_GOD_I_TRUST who wrote (1215)	9/28/1998 1:35:00 PM
From: Raymond James Norris	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1542

Tell me, who is the WE? "Never did We send a Messenger or a Prophet before you..." Steve, In the Qur'an, God uses the royal "We." “We” is an Arabic and Hebrew plural of respect Arabs are not blind. They can tell the difference between one and many. This is simply the nature of the Arabic language. This is how an Arab displays respect and humility. Even when speaking of one's wife, a Muslim in many Arab countries usually does not mention her by name. Neither does he say “she” or “her” but rather “they” and “them.” This is also a form of respect for our wives, mothers and sisters. This system is not restricted to the Arabs alone. The Arabs are a Semitic tribe, and their Semitic cousins, the Jews, also use the same system to refer to God. In the Old Testament, the Jews refer to God as “Elohiym” {el-o-heem}. “Elohiym” is the plural form of “‘elowahh” {el-o'-ah}, which means “god.” We will notice that the Jews also do not pray to a “Trinity,” even though their book refers to God in the plural form. This is the way the Semitic languages of Arabic and Hebrew work. In the Eerdmans Bible Dictionary we read the following explanation of the word “Elohiym”: “As a name or designation of the God of Israel, the term is understood as a plural of majesty or an intensive plural, indicating the fullness of the supreme (or only) God ... the canonical intent is clearly monotheistic, even where the accompanying verbs or adjectives are grammatically plural (e.g. Gen. 20:13, Exod. 22:9 [Mt 8])” Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, edited by Allen C. Myers, William B. Eerdmans Publishers, p. 331 Peace be unto you, Norris