March 30 - The Many Names of God

1. The English words for Deity, God, Gods, gods, Jehova, Lord, LORD, etc, come from three basic Hebrew words (Elohim, Jehova, Adonai). The English word choice depends upon the context of the sentence. In many cases it simply is not known which specific God is being dealt with. 
2. Deuteronomy 10:9 is a good example of the frequent repetition of various names for Deity. What is the point of this repetition? Anytime a word is repeated is for emphasis (Verily, Verily / Wo,wo / Lord of Lords, etc). The point of the repetition in this verse is simply to say "The True God"... Which true God? It doesn't matter, because as we learned from the word Ma'lak, anyone who is a messenger of God will deliver the same message.
3. Genesis 22:12 - There are two words used before verbs that NEGATE the verb : אַל־ and לֹו. The first use means "Not right now", and the second means "Not EVER". The "Not Ever" form is the one used with regard to the Ten Commandments. In this verse, the messenger of the Lord told Abraham not to lift his hand (to slay) using the "Not right now" form, because a ram was about to become the sacrifice. 
4. Sometimes literary license is needed in translation, due to idiomic expressions, or cases where there are no similar words in English. This license can introduce doctrinal/theological bias. The ram is significant to Christians because it becomes a symbol of the Savior's sacrifice in saving Isaac. To the Jews, who don't believe in Jesus as the Messiah, this command to not slay Issac is interpreted as the divine direction not to perform human sacrifice. Bruce Satterfield's argument then is "Why did they use the 'don't kill right now' form of the negation word?", surely the Lord would use the "Not Ever" form if that were the case.
5. The sacrificed ram following the test of Abraham sealed the Abrahamic Covenant.