In the midst of all this COVID-19 craziness, the Sunday school Tull and I attend has decided to start a series on the names of God. They even managed to get us a book on the topic, which is definitely fun. 🙂 I doubt that I’ll write a post about each one exactly in sequence, but it is a fun topic, so I thought I’d share my thoughts as they come up.

The author of the book, Ann Spangler, decided to write about the names of God in the order they appear in the Bible. This, unsurprisingly, led to her book beginning with the name of God used in Genesis 1, or Elohim. To the Canaanites it meant “gods,” as in the multiple Canaanite gods. However, in the Hebrew, it was used to mean THE God: the supreme creator, over everything.

So, how does Elohim first appear?

There are three elements that continually repeat in Genesis 1:

1. God speaks something into being
2. God declares his new creation is good
3. Time passes

When I’m first learning how to make a new type of thing, I don’t understand the process well. I don’t have a firm idea of the results. However, after I’ve done a new type of craft for a while, I understand it intimately. If you asked, I could tell you all the steps, exactly how each piece fits together, and what would happen if you altered something. If you wanted to try, I could give you instructions. In essence, I could speak an item into being.

When reading Genesis 1, I imagine that on a much, much, MUCH larger scale: God literally describing the universe into existence. From minuscule preons to the laws of physics, he is envisioning the inner workings of an entire universe and balancing them together.

If you’ve ever created something, then you know how immensely satisfying it is to be able to say, “I made that,” or “I’m proud of what I’ve done.” Funnily enough, that’s exactly what Elohim notes, over and over again, in Genesis 1: and God saw that it was good. Our response to making something is natural; one that we get from our Father.

Last, whether you believe that the “days” mentioned in Genesis 1 were literal days or not, I think it’s fair to say that the multiple days is denoting the passage of time. In other words, Elohim cares enough about what he’s making to spend time on it. The universe, and everything in it, wasn’t fabricated on a whim. He puts in the most valuable resource we humans have: time.

Thus, my take away from the name Elohim is a creator who personally knows his creation, takes pride in his work, and cares about what he makes.