Phoebe quoted Isa 44 in one of her postings a few days ago trying to explain there is one God.
I’m going to address the real meaning of Isa 44
*First it helps to check Strongs and then to have a little back ground in Jewish beliefs at the time and try not to apply your own beliefs over the top of what is actually there. What they believe today is not what they worshiped and believed at the time of Isaiah.
When Isaiah was writing Israel had not yet fallen completely into apostasy but they were on the way. They still had their two God system, there was El and there was Yahweh. Yahweh was mediator between Israel and El. You can see this true worship lingered until 400 bc when Malachi accuses them of worshiping the daughter of a strange god.
“ But ye are departed out of the way; …Have we not all one father? hath not one God/El created us? …Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord/Yahweh which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.”
There was a small sect of Jews who still worshiped the two beings at the time of Jesus,
“ Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God/El; thou art the King of Israel/Yahweh” John 1
These are the Jews which chose to follow Jesus, they were looking for him.
Paul on the other hand belonged to the Pharisees point of view, they did not know or worship the Father El. In John 8 Jesus has an argument with them and says
19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
They had merged the Father and the Son into a “strange god” and no longer worshiped the true and living Elohim(s). After Paul’s vision his whole concept of God changed;
“ And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, …” Acts 9
Isaiah never intended to say there was not another God and Father beyond Yahweh, he just assumes you already know that.
In Isa 5 he separates the two;
16 But the Lord/Yahweh of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God/El that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
Jesus called the Father “the Holy Father”.
The problem lies in that over the thousands of years the meaning of the word El has become blurred. Sometimes it can mean any god, sometimes it does referred to Yahweh, he was the God of Israel. Some times 'elohiym (s) should be read as singular because of a singular noun in the passage but sometimes it should be read plural as in Ex 3
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of the Gods, even to Horeb.”
However the original meaning was El the Father God of the Canaanite peoples. The Canaanite people were descendants of Noah and had the original truth taught to them until they fell into apostasy. Shem was still walking around when Abraham was born and must have taught his children as much as they would listen the true nature of God.
El created in Gen 1-2 all the host of Heaven and Earth before they were in the earth, thus he bears the title of Father of spirits, see Heb 12. The Lord God or Yahweh/Jesus created man from the dust of the earth in Gen 2.
El over time became an idolatrous figure and his true position as our Father as expressed by Malachi became lost.
In Isa 12 there is this;
2 Behold, God/El is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
That means he’s thinking of two Gods which are both his salvation.
In Isa 43 he refers to the mediator position which Yahweh has;
25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
Plead to whom if there is no other God?
In Isa 45 he after declaring
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
(note he did not say He created the host, they were created by the Father)
He stops short of taking all the glory to himself ;
18 For thus saith the Lord/Yahweh that created the heavens; God/ Elohim himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord/Yahweh; and there is none else.
In Isa 64 here is another reference
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God/Elohim, beside thee (singular noun), what he (meaning Yahweh)hath prepared for him that waiteth for him(Yahweh).
5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee (meaning El) in thy ways:
They were waiting as the apostles in John 1 for the coming of their Messiah/ Yahweh. Yahweh would be the Messiah he would return mankind to the presences of El.
So we can clearly see that Isaiah understood that there were two different Gods El and Yahweh.
*Now one must understand what Israel thought the title ‘Lord of Host’ meant. In Gen 2 it explains that El created all of the host of heaven and earth before they were in the earth and before they grew. In Ps 89 it says none can compare to Yahweh in the congregation of the Sons of El, the Holy Ones.
In Ps 86 it says “Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.”
Later both in Ps 45 and Heb 1 it explains Yahweh was anointed God by his God and was placed above his “fellows”. Yahweh is Lord of Host or commander of the sons of God. This is what Isa 44 is explaining
Isa 44
6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Meaning; of the host of heaven and earth he was the first, the firstborn .
and the last or only one of the host called/ anointed as God, the word God there is 'elohiym and is plural, there are no other Gods amongst the host as Ps 86 says.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
The word ancient is `owlam meaning eternal, he appoints or ordains the eternal people or those host. So they can’t be equal to him. He among them alone has been anointed God.
8-9 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Are there Gods beside me? yea, there is no tsuwr/rock; I know not any. They that make a graven image are all of them vanity….
It is my contention that the beginning of paganism was the worship of these other sons of El who were placed as care givers over the different nations.
Deut 32
7 ¶Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the son of El.
9 For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
In Israelite lore there were 70 of these sons of El which were placed over the various nations. Yahweh’s portion was Jacob but also he was the Lord of Host, commander of all the others.
We see this concept in Job 1 where the sons of God come to report to Yahweh. Yahweh was in charge and they reported to him as the mediator between mankind and El.
Like Lucifer these sons demanded to be worshipped and thus paganism was born, it was part of the war in heaven.
Yahweh goes on to warn them;
9 ¶They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
* Now back to “the rock” . In 2 Sam 22 David writes a poem from which I’ve pulled out a few passages;
“And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
The God of my rock; in him will I trust: …
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God:…
The Lord thundered from heaven, and the 'elyown uttered his voice….
For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
32 For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God?…
The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.”
Yahweh/Jesus is the God of Israel yet he has a God and Father.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
