We continue our discussion with Troy Salinger about the deity of Christ apologists claim that the “memra” of the Aramaic translations of the Old Testament (Targums) is evidence that there was more than one person in Israel’s God.
In this episode Salinger looks at Old Testament passages which are deity of Christ apologists like Dr. Michael Heiser say is evidence that the “word of God” coming to people in the Old Testament was as second divine being. Salinger shows why the claim to be faulty.
The word “memra” is not the Aramaic substitute for the Hebrew word “davar” (word). Salinger explains that the phrase “the word of God came to…” is a not a second divine figure coming to a human, but denotes God speaking to or communicating information to a person. Synonymous phrases like “and Yahweh said to me”, “this is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yawheh”, “the word of Yahweh concerning…” in the biblical text show that the “word of Yahweh came to”
Based on Numbers 12:2, Salinger describes the normal way in which God communicated to the prophets was through visions and dreams.
Timestamps:
02:00 Genesis 15:1 considered
03:38 How God normally spoke to his prophets, through dreams and visions
10:30 1 Samuel 3
11:20 1 Samuel 4
12:30 “The word came to” means verbal communication (often through dream or vision), not a personal being or entity (a “second Yahweh”).
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