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A Reassessment of Biblical Elohim. By JOEL BURNETT. SBL Dissertation Series, vol. 183. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 2001. Pp. xv + 172. $39.95.
Burnett undertakes what he believes is a necessary reassessment of the biblical term "Elohim" in the light of contemporary scholarship. He divides his observations equally between ancient Near Eastern and biblical sources. His most notable initial conclusion is that the term Elohim is best understood as a "concretized abstract plural" and not as a "plural of majesty," "plural of intensity," or "plural of excellence," as it has been variously defined in the past. As such, the term might be translated "deity" or "divinity" in noun form, or as "divine" in adjectival form, and it may be attributed to God, gods, or human beings. Burnett evaluates Late Bronze Age and Iron Age texts in Akkadian, Phoenician, Punic, and Aramaic. Among others, he considers the Karatepe, Bar-Rakib, and Deir 'Alla inscriptions, as well as the Ahiqar narrative and excerpts from Egyptian papyri, to observe the usage of words such as ildnu, 'lm, dingermesh, and dinger.dinger. He concludes that a "concretized abstract plural" for "god" developed first among Canaanites and subsequently spread to Mesopotamia, and it is manifest as Elohim in the Israelite tradition.
In the Bible Elohim is a common noun with a flexible range of meaning, which can be a generic reference to God, gods, or the divine, and it can be a substitute for a particular divine name, such as Yahweh. It denotes the unique status of the...