Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Genesis

[Depressed]

“Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”

Who’s “us”

[jimwalton]

He is talking to the divine council, which is portrayed in the OT as a structural reality of YHWH's administration of the cosmos. God engages with them and counsels with them (Gn. 1.26; 3.22; 11.7; Isa. 6.8), gives them assignments (Dt. 32.8), and solicits them for ideas (1 Ki. 22.19-22), but He doesn't need them (Isa. 40.12-14). They are not other gods or other divinities, and they are not on an equal par with YHWH ( Ps. 89.6-8), nor do they carry any divine authority.

The "us" is the pluralis majestatis: an address by God Himself to Himself, as we humans sometimes do when we talk to ourselves and say, "Well, what are we going to do about this?"

[MI-6]

This