Wednesday, August 15, 2018

The God of The Bible is both Masculine and Feminine.

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
In The Hebrew these two statements about the Creation of Mankind are not listed together for no reason, they explain each other.  Man was created Male and Female because they were created in the Image of God.  And the first two verses of Genesis 5 reaffirm these facts about Adam's creation.

In Hebrew one common way to make a word or name grammatically feminine is to have them end with a Heh or a Teth.  Some names however end with a Heh but aren't considered Feminine for various reasons.  Among these are two forms of the word El (god) Elah and Eloah, both are used of YHWH.  Elohim being plural is frequently pointed out, but it's technically the plural of Eloah not merely of El.  Though -im is technically considered a Masculine plural while ending with a -th would be the Feminine plural, -im is used however when the plural includes both male and female.

The name YHWH (I pronounce it Yahuah) itself ends with a Heh, as does the shortened form Yah, as does Ehyeh (I Am).  Yeshuah is a Hebrew word commonly translated Salvation that is acknowledged by scholars and the Strongs Concordance as being grammatically Feminine, it's the spelling of Yeshua (Jesus) with a Heh added at the end, it ends the same way as Yahuah.

Some want to primarily make The Holy Spirit the feminine aspect of The Trinity, because the Hebrew word for Spirit is itself Grammatically Feminine, and also because of the Sophia connection I talked about in Greek Words viewed as being Gnostic.  But in my view that does not make the Masculine and Feminine equation of the Trinity even enough.

Hebrew Strongs Number 801 is a feminine form of the word for Fire that is actually spelled the same as the Hebrew word for Woman/Wife, it is used exclusively of the Fire on the Brazen Altar of the Tabernacle.

Here is an Article about El Shaddai possibly referring to a Feminine Attribute of God.
 https://scribalishess.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/el-shaddai-and-the-gender-of-god/

The "Desire of Nations" in Haggai 2:7 is generally agreed by Christians to be Jesus, the word translated "Desire" there is Grammatically Feminine.  And it's the same with "Desire of Women" in Daniel 11:37 if like Chris White an Chuck Missler you view that as a Messianic Title.

If like me you've come to support a Mount of Olives Crucifixion Model.  That involves seeing The Red Heifer as a type of Jesus, and the Red Heifer was required to be Female (as were all Trespass offerings and certain Sin offerings).  That is apparent even in the KJV English, "Heifer" tends to be used of female Cows not Bulls.

Typologically I've argued that the Bride not the Groom represents Jesus in the Song of Solomon, and that the type of Jesus in Psalm 45 was a Woman as well.  And I've also talked about Venus being a Star of Bethlehem candidate.

It's also interesting how the Hebrew word translated "Mercy Seat" is really the Feminine form of the Hebrew word for Atonement, Kapporeth.

Jesus's body was definitely assigned Male at Birth according to Luke's account of His Circumcision and Mary's time of purification being 40 days (it would have been 80 for a female).  And Jesus seems to have presented as Male, or was assumed to be doing so, during His ministry.  But the modern conceptions of a Bi-Gender, Non-Binary or Gender Fluid identity hadn't become fully understood yet.

What I'm saying is on a Spiritual Level Jesus was both Genders, Jesus too is called The Image of God by Paul.  He took the Sins of all Mankind upon himself on the Cross including Sins committed by and against Women, Transgender, Intersex and Non-Binary human beings.  The Church is The Body of Christ, and it contains both Masculine and Feminine, because within it there is neither Male or Female.

If you support Aramaic Primacy for the new Testament, the key Logos verses in John's Gospel say Miltha for Logos in the Peshita.  Miltha is a grammatically feminine noun but is refereed to in these verses with masculine pronouns creating a contradiction of normal Aramaic Grammar.
http://www.peshitta.org/bethgazza/Mystery%20of%20Miltha.htm

I'm not sure if the Memra equated with the Dabar of YHWH in some Aramaic Targums is Grammatically Feminine, but it looks like it could be.  Logos and Dabar are both grammatically masculine, but the feminine form of Dabar does appear in the Hebrew Scriptures as a personal name, Deborah.  And a Feminine form of Logos, Logia, is used a few times in The New Testament, translated "oracles" (even though it doesn't appear to be plural in the Greek) in the KJV of Acts 7:38, Romans 3:2 and 1 Peter 4:11.

Every time you see "Oracle" in the KJV of the Old Testament it is a form of Dabar, mostly the Dbiyr, a term associated with the Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple, but in II Samuel 16:23 it's Dabar in a weird form I don't get.

I should note that the English word "Oracle" is kind of thought of as inherently feminine due to it's association with the classical Oracle at Delphi and the Sybils. For example when talking about Japanese/Anime culture we might use it of how Mikos used to be Prophetesses but not of any males who foretold the future or spoke for a Kami.  So maybe the KJV translators, or translators of earlier English Bibles the KJV followed the lead of, felt there was something Feminine about how Dabar was used in these verses.  After all three out of four uses of some form of "oracle" in the New Testament were for Logia, (the exception Hebrew 5:12 was Logion).

Update September 23rd 2019:  I can't believe I forgot about the parable of the Lost Coin from Luke 15:8-10.  This parable is a companion to the Lost Sheep and Prodigal Son parables, where it is a Woman in the role of the Good Shepherded and The Father.

Update March 2020: I disagree with much of what InspiringPhilosophy says about God and Gender in "Israel's Revolutionary Monotheism".  But this ScreenCap is helpful.
Hosea 14:8 is about wordplay in the Hebrew "aniti wa'ashurennus".  Anat is also a from of the word for answer which the KJV sometimes translated "heard".

2 comments:

  1. This type of knowledge seems unknowable really, especially as TRUTH. Grammatical feminine and masculine do not always define male and female as we know them.

    As for gender related issues... Clearly there is only male and female as is testified to in the Genesis account and the Lord Jesus mentioned it too in the gospels.

    All the nowadays references to gender identification are not in the scriptures WHICH ARE TRUE. I think Satan is having a bag day with such things... sadly enough.

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    Replies
    1. God made Humanity as a whole Male and Female. That doesn't rule quote that for individuals how that manifests will not always fit into a simple Binary.

      And because of The Fall it is certainly possible one's Identity to match their Biology. Biblically we are more then just our Flesh, we are also Soul and Spirit. If people can be born blind like they many in Genesis 9 then they can certainly be assigned the wrong Gender.

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