chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1307&context=auss
"
The Plural of Majesty Is a Late Convention of Speech
Although some modern writers – Jewish, Christian, and otherwise – can be cited in favor of the existence of such a figure of speech during the period of Biblical composition,
2 and who also see it as explaining the divine use of the plural pronouns found in Genesis and Isaiah, other sources (and more careful scholarship) can just as easily be cited saying otherwise, pointing out that: 1) there are no unequivocal examples of the plural of majesty ever being employed in the Ancient Near East in the B.C. period that coincides with the writings of the Old Testament; and 2) even if there were
bona fide instances, there is no example that such a figure of speech existed in Jewish culture of the relevant time period(s) or that it was ever employed by the Biblical authors. For example, Professor Tayler Lewis (LL.D), a classical and Biblical scholar, after mentioning several different interpretations on offer, said the following about the plural of majesty:
Of all these views the
pluralis majestaticus has the least support. It is foreign to the
usus loquendi of the earliest language; it is degrading instead of honoring to Deity, and Aben Ezra shows that the few seeming examples brought from the Hebrew Scriptures, such as Num. xxii. 6; Dan. ii. 36, do not bear it out – the latter, moreover, being an Aramaic mode of speech. If we depart at all from the patristic view of an allusion to a plurality of idea in the Deity [i.e. the Trinity], the next best is that of Maimonides ...
3
Another case in point is Emil Rödiger (
*) who was professor for oriental languages at the University of Halle and the student of the well-known German Orientalist and Biblical Critic, H. F. W. Gesenius, who is credited with inaugurating the scientific approach to Semitic Philology. After the death of Gesenius, Rödiger was appointed editor for the next editions of
Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar. In this capacity, he also added the following footnote that is frequently quoted:
Jewish grammarians call such plurals...
plur. virium or
virtutum; later grammarians call them
plur. excellentiae,
magnitudinis, or
plur. maiestaticus. This last name may have been suggested by the "we" used by kings when speaking of themselves (cf. already I Macc. 10:19, 11:31); and the plural used by God in Genesis 1:26, and 11:7, Isaiah 6:8 has been incorrectly explained in this way. It is, however, either
communicative…, or according to others, an indication of
the fullness of power and might…; but it is best explained as a plural of
self-deliberation. The use of the plural as a form of respectful address is quite foreign to Hebrew.
4 (Emphasis in original; to access online, see
here)
Eminent Old Testament scholar Claus Westermann, who was a professor at the University of Heidelberg from 1958-1978, said:
The plural of majesty does not occur in Hebrew ..., so this older explanation has been completely abandoned today; ...
5
And for a final example, professor of the Old Testament, Gerhard F. Hasel of Andrews University, stated:
... there are no certain examples of plurals of majesty with either verbs or pronouns ... the verb used in Gn 1:26 (
‘āśāh) is never used with a plural of majesty. There is no linguistic or grammatical basis upon which the ‘us’ can be considered to be a plural of majesty.
6
The Plural of Majesty is an Innovative and Ad Hoc Explanation
Consistent with the fact that this convention of speech originated later and is foreign to the writings of the Old Testament, it is evident that this explanation of the passages held no favor among the Jews until sometime after the advent and spread of Christianity. Not only did this explanation appear
de novo or from the blue, which shouldn’t have been the case if there was a well-known rule of Hebrew grammar that governed this kind of use of plural pronouns, but it shows that the real motivation for this position was to cut off a particularly powerful line of reasoning that was otherwise open to Christians.
"
https://www.answering-islam.org/authors/rogers/plural_majesty.html
