What happened to El Elyon and his sons?

[VeritasLuxMea]

Deut 32:7-8:

Remember the days of old,
consider the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High[a] apportioned the nations,
when he divided humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the gods;

So El Elyon gave Israel to Yahweh (the God of the Jews) and the other nations to his other sons (Yahweh’s brothers).

If Yahweh is now the Christian God, and Jesus is his son, then what happened to God’s Father/Jesus’ Grandfather (El Elyon)? And what became of God’s brothers (Jesus’ Uncles)? Did they die sometime? Become angels?

 

[MyGuardianAngel]

Well that isnt a catholic view of things by a longshot, we are monotheists. Also when they said Lands were divided by number of Gods my opinion is that they are talking about different religions dividing the first nations

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

Well that isnt a catholic view of things by a longshot, we are monotheists.

I figured as much, but then, it does make things very interesting to me, because it sorta alters the way I look at God (Yahweh)'s personal relationship with Israel.

This particular writer, at least, seems to believe that although Yahweh is indeed the God of Israel, all the peoples of the world in fact share a common God - God most high. That is an interesting precursor to Christianity… at least in my view.

 

[farpinho]

bible.cc/deuteronomy/32-8.htm

 

[DaveBj]

Don’t have time this morning to do the whole documentation thing, but El Elyon, Elohim, El Shaddai, and others are all names given by Semitic-language-speaking people to the Deity who gave his own name as Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh ("I Am That I Am) to Hebrew-speaking Moses. Moses’ people then changed that name to Y[a]HV[e]H, possibly meaning “He Is.”

Bottom line – it’s all the same God.

 

[Mintaka]

I want to know how the heck this guy is getting “the number of gods/God” (elohim) out of a passage that clearly says “the number of sons of Israel” (bene Yisrael).

I mean, it doesn’t even look or sound vaguely similar. There’s no possible pun or wordplay. It’s just plain inaccurate.

 

[farpinho]

There are some translations that state “sons of God”, or “Gods” instead of sons of Israel… we have to know what the original Hebrew and manuscript variants say… anyone?

 

[mercytruth]

There are some translations that state “sons of God”, or “Gods” instead of sons of Israel… we have to know what the original Hebrew and manuscript variants say… anyone?

This is probably one of the most disputed passages of the Tanakh. The Dead Sea Scrolls translates Deut.32:8 as ‘sons of El’, or ‘Elohim’. (God),

The Greek Septuagint which was translated into Greek by Hebrew translators, translates this verse as, ‘angels of God’.

The Hebbrew Masoretic text which is later than either of these, translates this verse as the ‘children of Israel’.

Some early church fathers interpreted the Septuagint version to mean that there are fallen angelic beings who have dominion over the nations, while Yahweh is over Israel.

Since El Elyon (the Most High) seems to be differentiated from Yahweh, there are some who think that this contradicts monotheism. Eventhough, we know that the Most High is also known as Yahweh.

Gen. 31 does say there are two beings called Yahweh.

“The LORD (Yahweh) rained down fire and brimstone from the LORD (Yahweh) out of heaven.”

If fallen angels do have dominion over other nations through idolatry, and Yahweh is the God of Israel, then this scripture tends to support the “angels of God”, or “sons of God” translation.

In addition, one can not consider Deut 32:8 without considering Ps.82, along with the fact that Jesus quoted from this Psalm in John 10 when he said, “is it not written that ye are gods?”

Which is an apparent reference that the human judges of Israel in Deuteronomy are called
‘gods’…while Psalm 82 may at the same time be referring to a heavenly council of ‘gods’,
or possibly fallen angels who were given some sort of authority over nations. This concept can be found in other Psalms. Paul’s reference of ‘wrestling against principalities and powers’ may be a reference to this concept.

It is certainly a scripture that deserves some attention.

God’s peace be with you

micah