2024.03.19 07:00 - Elohim is plural?

The Guardian for this meeting was Riddle Sideways. The comments are by Riddle Sideways.

Riddle Sideways: Thank you Listener Master
Riddle Sideways: Good Morning leaping Adams ㋡
Adams Rubble: Good morning Riddle :)
Riddle Sideways: not watched you jumping down the lane in long time
Adams Rubble: I haven't been leaping much but it is the first day of Spring :)

Adams Rubble: although it is cold in NJ
Adams Rubble: relatively cold
Adams Rubble: after a few warm days
Riddle Sideways: looking at small print on calendar, so it is
Adams Rubble: surprised your cat did not tell you this morning
Riddle Sideways: hmm, we have the warm days now
Riddle Sideways: cat is lazy today
Adams Rubble: hmm, such suprising cat behavior :)
Riddle Sideways: Kitty did not even get up an come to the office today

Adams Rubble: hello Agatha :)
Agatha Macbeth: G'day ♥
Riddle Sideways: howdee Aggers
Agatha Macbeth: How's things?
Riddle Sideways: are you on one of those not lay down cushions?
Agatha Macbeth: Sadly not
Agatha Macbeth: There only seems to be one
Agatha Macbeth: Strange
Agatha Macbeth: Think it's next to the bunny
Riddle Sideways: maybe ask Adams nicely to switch
Agatha Macbeth: I don't think she's on it
Riddle Sideways: try it
Adams Rubble: go to the cushion i was on
Agatha Macbeth: This one
Adams Rubble: also the one I was on
Agatha Macbeth: It appears to be unique
Agatha Macbeth: Really?
Agatha Macbeth: Let's see
Riddle Sideways: ha
Agatha Macbeth: So there are two!
Agatha Macbeth: Thanks Adams
Adams Rubble: ")
Adams Rubble: :)
Agatha Macbeth: Seek and ye shall find
Riddle Sideways: find and ye can stop seeking
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed
Adams Rubble: desire not and there is no need to seek :)
Riddle Sideways: never noticed each cushion has a different name
Agatha Macbeth: Personalised

Agatha Macbeth: Are we still posting these sessions?
Riddle Sideways: there might be some issues with the wiki again
Agatha Macbeth: Last time I looked they didn't seem to be up to date
Agatha Macbeth: Oh again?
Agatha Macbeth: We need to sit on Boxy
Riddle Sideways: I can get on by going around the security dialogs
   --BELL--
Agatha Macbeth: Odd, cos it seems to work for me
Riddle Sideways: (need a March page) someday
Adams Rubble: no March -page???
Agatha Macbeth: Ah there is that too
Adams Rubble: thought I did one
Agatha Macbeth: Lemme look
Riddle Sideways: the session poster has fallen way behind
Riddle Sideways: have 4 in editing tabs
Riddle Sideways: am having terrible distraction disease lately
Agatha Macbeth: Yes we need a March
Riddle Sideways: hard to do anything for an hour withou... is that a butterfl
Adams Rubble: I am having difficulty doing anything on Wiki
Adams Rubble: I'll send a note to Boxy
Riddle Sideways: thanks, I'll save them offline until working

Riddle Sideways: now, back to the topic
Riddle Sideways: whoops was none
Agatha Macbeth: We have a topic?
Agatha Macbeth: Oh
Agatha Macbeth: Thought it was odd :p
Riddle Sideways: Remembering that Boxy had a Topic box and then a ring at the old pavioion

Adams Rubble: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12 NIV

Agatha Macbeth: Yes!
Riddle Sideways: ah, good topic
Agatha Macbeth: Along with a few other things

Adams Rubble: Create in me a lev tahor, O Elohim; and renew a ruach nekhon (steadfast spirit [i.e., regeneration Ezek 36:26; Yn 3:3,6]) within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Ruach Hakodesh from me. Restore unto me the sasson of Thy salvation; and uphold me with a ruach nedivah (a willing spirit; see Jer 31:31-34). Psalm 51:10-12 OJB (Orthodix Jewish Bible)

Agatha Macbeth: Elohim is plural isn't it?
Adams Rubble: is it Agatha?
Agatha Macbeth: Believe so
Agatha Macbeth: As in Bene ha Elohim
Adams Rubble: the term Elohim takes on the understanding of God in the singular under Persian hegemony and becomes prominent as a divine title for the head God and synonym for Yahweh under Achemenid rule in the Southern Levant.
Agatha Macbeth: Which is strange, considering thee's only supposed to be one God :p
Agatha Macbeth: Ah

Riddle Sideways: brb, construction guys
Agatha Macbeth: Wear a hard hat

Adams Rubble: Elohim, (Hebrew: God), the God of Israel in the Old Testament. A plural of majesty, the term Elohim—though sometimes used for other deities, such as the Moabite god Chemosh, the Sidonian goddess Astarte, and also for other majestic beings such as angels, kings, judges (the Old Testament shofeṭim), and the Messiah—is usually employed in the Old Testament for the one and only God of Israel, whose personal name was revealed to Moses as YHWH, or Yahweh (q.v.). When referring to Yahweh, elohim very often is accompanied by the article ha-, to mean, in combination, “the God,” and sometimes with a further identification Elohim ḥayyim, meaning “the living God.” Though Elohim is plural in form, it is understood in the singular sense. Thus, in Genesis the words, “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth,” Elohim is monotheistic in connotation, though its grammatical structure seems polytheistic. The Israelites probably borrowed the Canaanite plural noun Elohim and made it
Adams Rubble: singular in meaning in their cultic practices and theological reflections.

Agatha Macbeth: So it came from the Persians
Adams Rubble: Interesting Agatha
Agatha Macbeth: :)
Agatha Macbeth: I try to be interesting
Agatha Macbeth: (Usually fail)
   --BELL--
Adams Rubble: I think of this prayer more of an intention than invoking outside guidance
Adams Rubble: If God is everything, then a plural would be appropriate
Agatha Macbeth: Weren't the Persians dualist? They had Ahuramazd and Angra Mainyu
Agatha Macbeth: believed the cosmos was a battleground between the two
Agatha Macbeth: Or was that Mani?
Agatha Macbeth: I get confused
Agatha Macbeth: But the Dead Sea Scrolls do speak of the Sons of light and the Sons of Darkness, so yes
Agatha Macbeth: The Persians only ruled Judea for a couple of hundred years i think...Cyrus and all that
Agatha Macbeth: Then along came Alexander

Riddle Sideways: back, and missing good topic
Agatha Macbeth: What are they building Rid?
Adams Rubble: I managed to build a March page
Agatha Macbeth: Yay
Riddle Sideways: the back outside stairs and decks
Adams Rubble: on the wiki
Riddle Sideways: were all rotten
Agatha Macbeth: Oh dear
Agatha Macbeth: Your house is made of wood?
Riddle Sideways: thanks, will try to add content
Agatha Macbeth: Thanks Adams (again)
Riddle Sideways: yes, made of redwood
Agatha Macbeth: Ah the Redwood Republic!
Riddle Sideways: major expensive
Agatha Macbeth: NorCal is famous for that I think?

Adams Rubble: I think the passage from Psalm 51 is non-dualistic. Seeks to lessen the distance between oneself and all of the world
Agatha Macbeth nods
Adams Rubble: God in the sense of all
Agatha Macbeth: 'Don't say we' as Zen would say :)
Adams Rubble: create a pure heart that is open to all
Agatha Macbeth: I miss Zen
Agatha Macbeth: Still have his ducks on my wall
Riddle Sideways: am still anti-pronoun
Agatha Macbeth: There is no I :p
Riddle Sideways: that week of 'we' topic made it stick
Agatha Macbeth: Aye
   --BELL--

Riddle Sideways: This last week had Pi Day, the Ides of March and St. Patties in it.
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe we should beware
Agatha Macbeth: Et tu Brute
Adams Rubble: and St.gertrude made an appearance on FB
Agatha Macbeth: Blimey
Riddle Sideways: so prayers are best said
Agatha Macbeth: Along with a gospel choir singing hallelujah
Riddle Sideways: good to take that pause
Riddle Sideways: don't understand the St. Gertrude the Great referrance on FB
Agatha Macbeth: :P
Adams Rubble: her day is also March 17
Riddle Sideways: oh
Agatha Macbeth: She's a saint who moves with the times
Adams Rubble: and she is the patron saint of cats, a FB favorite topic
Agatha Macbeth: Actually it's also Joseph of Arimeathea's day, so quite popular
Adams Rubble: crowded day
Agatha Macbeth: Maybe they had more saints than days
Riddle Sideways: the calendar on the wall is missing some of those
Agatha Macbeth: You need a more saintly calendar
Adams Rubble: billions and billions
Agatha Macbeth: A neptunian calendar is what's needed
Agatha Macbeth: About 700 days :p
Agatha Macbeth: Can't recall how long a neptune year is now
Agatha Macbeth: Must be gettin old
Riddle Sideways: Thought there was an 'All Saints Day' to cover them all
Adams Rubble: there is an all saints day :)
Agatha Macbeth: When is it?
Adams Rubble: November 1
Agatha Macbeth: Aha!
Adams Rubble: after all hallows eve
Agatha Macbeth: Day of the Dead :p
Agatha Macbeth: And three days after my birthday
Riddle Sideways: Happy early birthday
Adams Rubble: Happy birthday a little early
Agatha Macbeth: Snap
Agatha Macbeth: Only seven months

Riddle Sideways: btw - a Neptune year is 60,190 earth days (165 earth years) if you care.
Agatha Macbeth: What?
Agatha Macbeth: OMG
   --BELL--
Adams Rubble: thanks, I'll be able to sleep better tonight
Agatha Macbeth: Plenty of saints to go at there
Riddle Sideways: Oh when the Saints ...
Agatha Macbeth ponders neptunian saints
Riddle Sideways: and their prayers
Adams Rubble: Thank you both for the session today :)
Agatha Macbeth: Thank you ♥
Adams Rubble: May you have a great week
Riddle Sideways: Thank you All
Agatha Macbeth: I'll try
Adams Rubble: bye for now
Agatha Macbeth: Be well
Agatha Macbeth: Good luck with rebuilding
Riddle Sideways: I just am paying for it this time
Agatha Macbeth: So you didn't last time? :p
Riddle Sideways: last time I helped
Agatha Macbeth: Oh
Agatha Macbeth: Must be noisy
Riddle Sideways: what???? could not hear ya
Agatha Macbeth: Oh hush
Agatha Macbeth pokes you
Riddle Sideways: thanks
Agatha Macbeth: Bye the noo