** Elohim is neither “3″ nor male.

How many forms of Elohim?

“Elohim,” usually translated into English as “God,” is a plural word.  It is a catch-all term for all of the manifestations of the Deity that appear here on earth.  There are demonstrably, from scripture, far more than 3 emanations of Elohim, and some of them are feminine.

Let us begin with Moshe.

Exo 33:17  And the YHWH said unto Moses: ‘I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name.’

Exo 33:18  And he said: ‘Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory.’

Exo 33:19  And He said: ‘I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of the YHWH before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’

Exo 33:20  And He said: ‘Thou canst not see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.’

Exo 33:21 And the YHWH said: ‘Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock.

Exo 33:22  And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand until I have passed by.

Exo 33:23  And I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back; but My face shall not be seen.’

Look at the basic story.  Moses is standing there having a conversation with YHWH, and asks to see SOMETHING GREATER THAN YHWH, namely Elohim’s  KAVOD.

YHWH tells Moses that is a terrible idea, because most people who see the KAVOD die.

Does seeing YHWH cause anyone to die?  Let’s see:

Moshe didn’t die. Neither did Avraham.

In Genesis chapter 18, Avraham stood under a tree and talked with YHWH, according to the text.  He didn’t die, and he didn’t glow, either.

Exo 24:9  Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel;

Exo 24:10  and they saw the Elohim of Israel; and there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone, and the like of the very heaven for clearness.

Exo 24:11  And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand; and they beheld Elohim, and did eat and drink.

Exo 24:12  And YHWH said unto Moses: ‘Come up to Me into the mount and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.’

So Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and the Seventy Elders of Israel saw YHWH Tzeva’ot.  They didn’t die, and they didn’t glow, either.

The prophets saw YHWH in His throne in Heaven, and didn’t die, and didn’t glow.

In Revelation, John, like the prophets before him, sees YHWH in His throne room in Heaven, and the lamb, Yeshua, is there at the same time.  Nobody dies.  Nobody glows.

This shows that Elohim can multi-task, too.  He can be in more than one place at a time, and be in more than one form at a time, too. We can see this plainly here – at least five forms of Elohim interacting with creation during John’s vision – the Ain Sof above and beyond all creation, YHWH the Father, Yeshua the lamb, and the Ruach HaKodesh within John himself, and Binah (wisdom, feminine!), not to mention the Shekinah (feminine!) of the Heavenly Temple, and so on.

In fact, there are numerous manifestations of Elohim, as described in the Tanakh alone (not counting extra-biblical works).    These are the forms as we can determine them from scripture.  You will notice that they are not all male, and there are more than three:

First and Foremost is the Ain Sof (the great eternal – has no gender), also called Kavod HaKodesh, which is PURE MIND, and PURE POWER, which HAS NO BODY, and exists independent of space and time – outside of it, in fact.  This is the highest “concept” of Elohim, the Deity in Reality, and is so Holy and so Pure that it is DEATH for one of us to even get a glimpse of this power directly (ie from the “front” or coming toward you, as YHWH told Moshe).  In the Tanakh, people who encounter YHWH or the Angel of YHWH often fear that they will die because they have seen Elohim – because they confuse the Ain Sof with Elohim’s earthly manifestations, which are not deadly to behold.  The Kavod, however, is deadly and is pure holiness and is far above human emotions and human motivations.  Just getting a glimpse of the “back parts”  - ie the receding image of the Ain Sof’s Kavod as it passed by and moved farther away – caused Moshe to glow and he had to veil his face because of it, so as not to freak people out when they saw him.

The Ain Sof was at first all there was everywhere in existence – but it withdrew from an area to create  a void.  By withdrawing, a place where there could be free will, including sin and uncleanness, could then exist.  (Obviously these things cannot exist in the Deity’s actual presence.)  Then “Elohim” was projected into the void, to engender creation.  To understand this, imagine that the Ain Sof is a person sitting at the computer – now imagine “Elohim” as the Ain Sof’s virtual reality in the computer world.  The Ain Sof directs, Elohim carries out the directions here in our space/time continuum.

Elohim, as the combination of all manifested forms of the Ain Sof, is in actually YHWH, Yeshua, the Ruach HaKodesh, etc. combined.  Elohim is the Ain Sof projected into the void of creation, a toned-down form that can exist here without the pure holiness destroying everything it comes in contact with.   Otherwise, to look upon the face of Elohim really would mean death.  As it is, the sages identified 10 “attributes” of Elohim.  (These were later confirmed by quantum mechanics as 10 “dimensions” or levels of reality.)  He can manifest as one of them or all of them or any combination in between at a time.  These are called “Sefirot” by the sages.   We have not seen and do not know about every possible manifestation of Elohim.  We only have knowledge of a few.

The “Image” described in Genesis by which Elohim created man has 7 of these 10 sefirot.  Of course, man’s attributes are merely weak imitations of Elohim’s, and we have to work diligently to strengthen our righteous characteristics, our “yetzer tov” (good inclination).  The other three sefirot are “crowns” that can be obtained by a person if they repent of sin and have a covenant relationship with Elohim.   During the resurrection, we are told we shall “be like” Yeshua – this means our righteous attributes will be strengthened and made like his.

Elohim manifests as various specific emanations.  The highest known to us is YHWH Tzeva’ot, the Father, who its on the throne in heaven, which is also a created place, though it is a higher plane of existence, and in a mystical way a mirror image of earth, with its own Temple and Courtyard.  YHWH is the manifestation of all 10 aspects of Elohim’s “character” or “attributes” called sefirot.  He has a physical body (after all, He had lunch with Avram) and an awesome unmistakable appearance, can be seen and talked to.   We know Heaven is a created place because Heaven is ABSOLUTELY NOT the place outside of space and time where the Ain Sof exists.  Sin and rebellion exist in heaven, where HaSatan decided he wanted to occupy the throne himself, and convinced a third of the angels to rebel with him. He is still there, accusing believers day and night (see Revelation) – his very presence a contamination and an uncleanness.   He will be cast out at the midpoint of the Tribulation, but as of now he and his angels are still there, in sin and rebellion. (See also Job)  So we can see that Heaven is absolutely not the holy and pure place outside of space and time.  It is instead a created place into which Elohim projects a form of himself into in order to interact with the angels and other created beings.

And speaking of created beings…  Prior to revealing the name of YHWH to Moshe, Elohim declares that the name “El Shaddai” was the name the Patriarchs used.  [Those of sensitive disposition might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph at this point.  Everybody who is willing to be intellectual honest about history can continue.]  The fact is that the Hebrew root “sh-d-y” is a plural dual, it is feminine and it means “breasts.”  (sh-d-h is the singular “breast.”)  The most ancient form that Elohim manifested to the world was female.  The pagan descendants of Adam then made idols of this form of Elohim, which is why archaeological digs of the ancient Mesopotamia area are all full of little female idols instead of male ones, which appear later in the archaeological record.   You can see pictures of the earliest idols in art history books, too.  They are most decidedly female.  This was mankind’s first understanding of Elohim, as a Female Deity that withdrew from an area to create a void – a womb in which our space/time continuum was made.  Mankind then corrupted this manifestation of Elohim into their local “fertility goddess,” and as a result Elohim chose not to manifest in that form at later times.

The “Angel” of YHWH, which sometimes morphs into a visit with YHWH Tzeva’ot Himself, appears to people on earth in a physical form of awe – (though apparently to be a more “user friendly” version on YHWH).  This form speaks to people not quite of the spiritual caliber of Moshe and Avraham (Sampson’s parents, for example).  Called the Metatron in Kabbalistic writings, it is the “Voice” of Elohim.  Here we must understand the term “angel” as its root meaning of “messenger.”  The created beings we call angels are separate beings from the Voice of YHWH.

Yeshua, the Son, will occupy the physical throne in Jerusalem , a mirror image of heaven where YHWH the Father sits.  Yeshua appeared as a nice, kind, nurturing, toned down version of YHWH – emanating 7 of the 10 Sefirot, because he has removed his “glory,” that is, the top three sefirot called the “Crown” in order to humble himself and manifest on earth in human flesh.   Yeshua wass the suffering servant, and did pray to YHWH to receive instructions and support, since without the “crown” he was separated from the Ain Sof by those top 3 layers of reality.  He will receive His crown in the future, and his resurrected form will come to the physical earth to reign in a physical kingdom.  (By receiving the “Crown” this emanation is apparently elevated to the status of YHWH, since now it has all 10 sefirot.  That’s why it says in the Tanakh that “in that day, YHWH will be one and His name one.”)  In his human flesh, Yeshua, having only 7 sefirot during his earthly incarnation, was far removed from the Ain Sof and had to be, because he had to deal with unclean people and sinners frequently, and because even in the millennial kingdom there will be sin and rebellion – which the Ain Sof absolutely can’t stand to be around, since it is pure holiness.  We know some of the mortal inhabitants of the MK rebel after 1000 years when HaSatan is released to entice them.  So the MK is not the perfect New Heaven and New Earth where no sin or impurity exists.  (This should be obvious.)

The Shekinah (a feminine word sometimes translated as “presence”) of YHWH inhabited the Temple over the Mercy Seat, the name of the lid on the Ark of the Covenant (and the Shekinah may have also been the pillar of fire and cloud that traveled with the Israelites and rested over the Tabernacle).  The Shekinah was very holy.  Impurity could not come near her, but the high priest didn’t glow when he went in to see her – though he could die if he did anything wrong in her presence or touched her.  (Since there is no record of a high priest dying in the Holy of Holies we can presume none ever did.  However, a servant of David reached out to touch the Ark as it was being transported to Jerusalem, and he died instantly.)  You can see the Shekinah in visions, just like Ezekiel did when she left the Temple before it was destroyed.  She will return in the future to the Holy of Holies, and will provide so much light that the sun and moon will not be necessary for Jerusalem at that time.  It will still probably be fatal to touch her, though.

Binah (a feminine word) or “wisdom” is a manifestation of Elohim that was present at creation, according to Proverbs.  We can ask Elohim for “Binah” and she will come dwell with us – even in our sinful state.   We know that Binah is not the same as the Ruach HaKodesh because a person can be very Spirit filled and loving and be an inspiring servant to the whole congregation – but still not be the sharpest tack in the box.

Finally, there is the Ruach HaKodesh, which is a nice, nurturing, toned down version of the Shekinah, Elohim’s “presence.”   Unlike the Shekinah, it is invisible.  Is pure mind and power, but on a far lesser scale than the Ain Sof – and it can inhabit physical bodies, inside us.  Its job is to be our “seal” of the future redemption and resurrection and to remind us of the things we have learned in the Bible (it writes the Torah on our hearts, after all).  We are advised not to grieve it by sinning, because it can get angry.   Also unlike the Shekinah, which fries anything or anyone unworthy to be in its presence, the Ruach HaKodesh can and does stay with us, though, even when we sin or are unclean, patiently telling us to repent.

And one other note: the plural term “Elohim,” sometimes shorted to “El” or enlarged to “El Elyon,” is still a term that describes the Deity, the combination of all manifestations, the Echad or “One” that is the totality of all, from the Ain Sof right down to the Ruach HaKodesh.  So there we have it – many names, different functions and attributes, all the known forms of the Deity.  

The false trinitarian theology completely ignores Elohim’s feminine forms, and ignores Elohim in His Highest Form, the pure mind and pure power with no physical existence far outside and above both heaven and earth, space and time.  Looking directly at this highest most pure manifestation of Elohim causes instant death, because no human creatures can survive that much holiness.  Yet people can, did and do physically see YHWH, El Shaddai, the Voice (angel) of YHWH, Yeshua, the Shekinah – and the unseen Binah and Ruach HaKodesh can even inhabit your unclean and sinful body, though they are grieved to do so.    These numerous manifestations and emanations of Elohim have different functions and appear in different situations, and can be as near to us as inside our heads and hearts and yet as remote from us as completely outside the space-time continuum of the universe. Far more than three, Elohim can be any and all of the above emanations simultaneously, all at once.

Amazing, isn’t it!