The Many Names Of God

By James Donahue

The writers of the ancient Hebrew text that became the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, worshipped multiple gods and had a variety of names for them. This was common among early civilizations.

What is unique about the Tanakh is that as the writings were absorbed into the canon that eventually became the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, the various Hebrew names of god were altered so they implied reference to a single, all-powerful creator god. Yet various Hebrew names can still be found in the King James Bible if you hunt for them.

There is an argument that the original names may have been a reference to different gods, not all of them pointing to a singular or monotheistic belief system. At the time the text was written, the Hebrews were polytheistic. And contrary to popular Christian belief, a man named Moses did not write the five books of the Taroh. There is serious doubt if Moses even existed.

Hebrew scholars tell us that each name was a different way of referring to god, but they all mean the same thing. For example, they claim Elohim, the so-called creator of the world and living creatures on it simply means “The Creator.” Yet old Hebrew text belies this claim. That word, Elohim, is a reference to many gods, not just one god.

The old text primarily uses the word El to mean God. Elohim is explained as a plural form of the word Eloah, or a peculiar derivative of El. A thorough study of that single name suggests that it implies to God Almighty, or a subject of dread.

Other Hebrew names for God: El Elyon, or “The God Most High;” El Roi, “God Who Sees;” El Shaddai, “The All-Sufficient One;” Adonai, “Lord, Master;” Yahweh, “Lord;” and El Olam, “The Everlasting God.” There are numerous other derivatives of the root words El and Jehovah.

It is interesting to note that a Jewish Rabbi named Yehuda Berg recently published a book in which he declares there exist 72 names of God. The number 72 is an interesting figure in esoteric circles. There were said to have been 72 Goetia Spirits dealt with by King Solomon, who the legend says, used them to gain his fortune. It has been said that each spirit can be identified by a particular tone, or sound.

Berg maintains that he has knowledge of 72 three-letter combinations of ancient sacred letters that become “energy fields,” or visual mantras that can be activated spiritually rather than vocally.

He says that all one need do is look at the letters and receive enormous spiritual power.

That the ancient civilizations worshipped a variety of “gods” supports the theory of human origins from alien intervention. Some say an alien race lived among us, manipulated the DNA of Earth primates, and may have gone so far as to teach us basic skills of social living. This may have been how the common myth of gods from the stars was born.

This same myth is found in the Greek and Egyptian stories as well as ancient Mesopotamian manuscripts. In the Americas, the stories of the Taiowa that came among the Hopi in the Southwest, and the many gods of the Aztecs, including Quetzcoatl, also point to possible ancient visitors from space.