God Is A Man

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I

insightc

Guest
#2
And the righteous take it by force. I would rather be meek than forceful, but if God wants his children to be forceful at the time of need, then His will be done. :D
 
Feb 23, 2011
1,708
13
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#3
3 The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name. (Exodus 15:3)
No offense, but I'm guessing you don't know the Hebrew language.

Man in Exodus 15:3 is Ish (H376), which means a male individual, as opposed to mankind. It is NOT adham (H120), which is mankind. It can mean male, husband, mate, possesor of manliness, soldier, inhabitant, citizen, person, someone, anyone, each, every. It usually refers to individuals, and the basic idea being conveyed by the word is maleness, masculinity, virility. Its root is enosh (G582), which means the same, but is utilized when depicting weakness, and indicates someone who is specifically mortal.

Such expressions as "man of war", "man of blood", "man of the earth" are a favorite way in Hebrew to attribute a quality to someone. It's not literal.

Though I never posted on your last thread, I've looked at each rendering from scripture you gave. There's nothing substantial to even hint that the various references mean God is a man. Only a casual modern English reading would suggest such a conclusion.

If I said of a group of like-minded co-workers, "Birds of a feather flock together.", it doesn't mean they are literal avian with plumage.

God [is] a Spirit. -John 4:24

:)
 
M

Mark777

Guest
#4
No offense, but I'm guessing you don't know the Hebrew language.

Man in Exodus 15:3 is Ish (H376), which means a male individual, as opposed to mankind. It is NOT adham (H120), which is mankind. It can mean male, husband, mate, possesor of manliness, soldier, inhabitant, citizen, person, someone, anyone, each, every. It usually refers to individuals, and the basic idea being conveyed by the word is maleness, masculinity, virility. Its root is enosh (G582), which means the same, but is utilized when depicting weakness, and indicates someone who is specifically mortal.

Such expressions as "man of war", "man of blood", "man of the earth" are a favorite way in Hebrew to attribute a quality to someone. It's not literal.

Though I never posted on your last thread, I've looked at each rendering from scripture you gave. There's nothing substantial to even hint that the various references mean God is a man. Only a casual modern English reading would suggest such a conclusion.

If I said of a group of like-minded co-workers, "Birds of a feather flock together.", it doesn't mean they are literal avian with plumage.

God [is] a Spirit. -John 4:24

:)

Well put. In addition, Ex 15:3 is part of a song and as such is poetic language designed to evoke an image of God as a warrior, not reveal He is a man. That would be stretching the purpose of the verse far beyond breaking point.
 
W

wwjd_kilden

Guest
#5
God is not human (apart from Jesus, let's not start that discussion here)
God is eternal
God is spirit
God is love

I'm gonna be so bold as to claim God is neither male nor female
 
Aug 1, 2009
349
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#6
"The Lord is a man (ish) of war; The Lord is His name." -Exodus 15:3
The Hebrew word used for man here is ish (H376), as was mentioned.

but also scripture says...

"...For I am God, and not man (ish), The Holy One in your midst..." - Hosea 11:9
The Hebrew word used here is also ish (H376).

So one scripture says God is a man of war...the other one says He's not a man. Ish can be translated as different words, so what's the correct translation??

Philipians 2:6-8 gives us a peek into how these verses above should be translated:
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Philipians shows us that Jesus before He came to earth was in the form of God. Well what did that form look like? It didn't look like a man, because it goes on to show that Jesus took on the form of a man and was found in appearance as a man.

So to follow all that through...
"God is not a man", is a correct translation of Hosea 11:9

So, Exodus 15:3 can't be saying God is an actual man, because that would run contrary to scripture. In the context you see God guarding Israel as a husband would. Maybe Husband of war would be a better translation communicating that God can be trusted to fight for Israel as a husband would. Exodus 15:13 really sells that translation and imagery to me and would be a translation that doesn't run contrary to the other scripures.
 
A

AnandaHya

Guest
#7
L

Loloy

Guest
#8
If a God can be identified as a male...

Does it mean that God has a gender?
 
M

Mark777

Guest
#9
If a God can be identified as a male...

Does it mean that God has a gender?
I don't think there is anything in Scripture to suggest that God is a sexual being. (Never heard of a Mrs. God.) Having said that, He is always refered to by a masculine pronoun and it is written that man is "the image and glory of God: but woman is the glory of man." 1 Cor 11:7 (That is not a put down to the ladies...man is not independent of woman.) Perhaps refering to God in the masculine is a headship thing.