When the author of the story talks about "us" he is talking about the gods.
The book of Job is supposed to be the oldest writing in the Bible. There is only one God in Job. The angels are called sons of God and council around in God's presence. But there is only
ONE Almighty God in this oldest book of the Bible,
Job.
Now, let's briefly come to Genesis. Though God uses the plural pronoun when the act of creating man is discussed, the singular pronoun is used in the actual act.
"And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ..." (Gen. 1:26a)
Here we read the plural indicators
"Us" and
"Our". Yet in the next verse it is the singular
"God" who actually does the creating of man in
"His" image.
"An God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him,; male and female He created them." (v.27)
The Scripture did not say
"And the [GODS plural] created man in [THEIR plural] image."
We see something rather mysterious about God in Genesis chapter 1. This same scheme is repeated a few other times. For example in the building of the tower of Babel:
"Come, let Us go down and there confound their language ... so Jehovah scattered them ..."
Here the plural pronoun
"Us" accompanied with a singular
"Jehovah" or YHWH performs the actual action of confounding.
Then again in Isaiah's calling as a prophet:
[b]"Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us ?" (Isa. 6:8)
The singular pronoun
"I" is spoken by the Lord. Yet He say
"Who will go for Us [plural]".
Something mysterious about the nature of God is seen in these utterances. Now we come back to Genesis 1. God is multi-une. He is triune. His operation of dispensing His life into man requires that He be triune. But objection is likely to be raised by some who do not see the unity of the revelation of the Scripture. So, I'll hold off elaborating this for awhile.
Now, who else could God be talking about when He says
"Let Us make man in Our image"?
I have contemplated this a great deal. The only other possible candidates would be the angels or cherubim (some kind of angelic creature mentioned in Genesis). This would lead to an understanding that God was saying to His other created beings:
Paraphrased - "You angels and I, God the Creator, share the same image and likeness. Now let US, you angels, cherubims, and Myself, create man in OUR image and according to OUR likeness."
The problem here is firstly that no angels or other creatures of God's creation are ever said to co-creators. They are never spoken of as agents of creation or active in that process.
God created the creation and asks the rhetorical question
"Who was with Me?"
"I am Jehovah who makes all things, Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spread out the earth (Who was with Me?)... " (Isa. 44:24)
In another place God assures us the He does not know of any other Gods in existence:
"And you are My witnesses, Is there a God besides Me? Or is there any [other] Rock? I do not know of [any]. " (Isa. 44:8)
In the older writing then Genesis, the book of
Job, the angelic
"sons of God" are seen rejoicing in God's act of creation. But there is no hint that they accompanied God in the action. They only celebrate what the Creator has done:
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ... When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy ?" (See Job 38:4-7)
Notice it is
"when I [singular] laid the foundations of the earth ...". It is not
"when [we plural] laid the foundations ..."
The Creator is God alone. But what about
"Our image" ? Is there some indication that God shares His image with the angels ?
I don't want to answer this question too fast. But I could start the consideration by asking anyone to put forth a verse saying definitely that the angels share with God the image and likeness of YHWH.
Is such a concept put forth anywhere in the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible ? To answer this I don't think it requires that we know exactly what the image and / or likeness of God means. All we need is a definite passage stating that the angels share with God His image and likeness. I can't think of any such passage.
I'll stop this post here for now.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.