People often ask about the names and titles of the Divine, such as Elohim, Yahweh, God Almighty, El Shaddai, God, and others. Clearly, this is a vast and profound subject, which my words are inadequate to completely describe. Certainly, man cannot fully comprehend the Deity who is our God. [Romans 11:33] That having been said, it is appropriate to explain some of the names of ‘God’. 
What follows is intended to increase your understanding of the Divine. Some parts will be familiar, while other aspects will be new. You may be thrilled to know some of it, as it affirms things you already believe or sense to be true. You may feel uncomfortable or confused by other information. In any case, I urge you to take time to ponder, and be as the saints of ancient Berea: receive the word with an open mind…and search the Scriptures yourself…to see whether these things are so. [Acts 17:11]
 
• Elohim / God

Elohim is the most broad and generic Hebrew word for ‘God’. Most of the time, when we see the individual word ‘God’ in scripture, the Hebrew word from which it is translated is ‘Elohim’.
Elohim is made of five letters: aleph-lamed-hay-yod-mem. Elohim is a word that is gender-mixed. It is a compound of both masculine and feminine components. The beginning of the word is Eloah. [In Aramaic and other Semitic languages, Eloah is sometimes written as Eloi or Elat.]
El [Strong’s 410] or Elah [Strong’s 426] are the masculine singular words that we translate into English as God. Eloah is the feminine singular form of El.
When Eloah appears as an individual word, it can be translated as God, but it is translated literally as Goddess, because of the gender designation of the -oah suffix. The individual word Eloah [Strong’s 433] appears 57 times in the ‘Old Testament’, mainly in Job. [Job is the book of the Bible that was written before any others. The Torah, including Genesis, was revealed to Moses centuries after Job lived.] The second half of Elohim, the suffix ‘-im’ or ‘-him’, is masculine. This masculine suffix makes the word plural and also gender-mixed. [Although Elohim is simultaneously both male and female, it is a traditional convention of translators to use male pronouns when referring to Elohim.]
Elohim is also a plural word. This fact has perplexed many theologians. In one sense, the word Elohim is like the English words ‘deer’ and ‘sheep’ – the same word is used to designate one as well as many. In another regard, Elohim is comparable to English words such as ‘team’, ‘family’, ‘forest’, or ‘flock’ – a singular word that designates a plurality. A few verses in Genesis illustrate the plurality of Elohim. “And God [Elohim] said, Let us make man in our image…male and female.” [Genesis 1:26-27] In Genesis 11:7, Elohim said,  “Let us go down and confound their language.”
Although there are no capital letters in Hebrew, the equivalent in the English language for ‘elohim’ is ‘gods’. Examples of this are found in Genesis 3:5, Psalm 82:6, and Alma 12:31 (9:51). Elohim with a capital letter applies to God/dess.
 Our ancient brother Abinadi proclaimed that God [Elohim] became the Father and the Son. [Mosiah 15:1-4 (8:28-31)] This is an exceptionally profound statement. Elohim went through a process of “becoming the Father and the Son”. Elohim, the majestic plural unity with multiple attributes, divided into different roles. Elohim is the sum of the attributes of God.
Elohim is One – with many attributes. The Hebrew word echad means ‘one’, and it also means ‘unity’ or ‘united’. Now that we have established a foundation for understanding Elohim, we can begin to understand the other attributes of God.

 • Yahweh / LORD

Yahweh is the Name of God the Father, as well as the image of the Father. Yahweh is made of four letters yod-he-vav-hey, YHWH. In the King James translation of the Bible, Yahweh has been translated as “LORD” – with all letters in upper case. It appears over 6000 times in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament.
For centuries, because of ecclesiastical traditions, translators were unwilling to use the actual Name of God, and they deliberately concealed it. However, the Scriptures promise that in the Last Days, the Elect will know the Name of their God. “My people shall know My Name.” [Isaiah 52:6; 3 Nephi 20:39 (9:77)]
Yahweh is the personal name of the Father aspect of Elohim. Yahweh roughly means: “I Am”, “I Exist”, or “I Cause to Be”. Although Yahweh is masculine, the Name has both masculine and feminine aspects. The letters that spell Yahweh represent both male and female attributes. Yod and vav represent masculine elements of seed and transmission. The two hey letters represent the female principles of reception and nurturing. The four letters of the word YHWH are male-female-male-female, which typifies the Father, the Spirit, the Son, and the Bride.
At creation, God “created man in the likeness of Elohim…male and female”. [Genesis 1:27, 5:2]. Notice that Elohim “called their name Adam”. [Genesis 5:2]  The word for ‘earth’ and the word for ‘I resemble’ are the same in Hebrew, with the only difference being pronunciation. Yahweh Elohim created man from the adamah – earth. And man resembled [adameh] Yahweh Elohim. One of the ways in which humans resemble Yahweh Elohim is in having both male and female attributes and traits.

 • Adonai / Lord

 When the word “Lord” appears as a mixture of upper and lower case in the King James Bible, the original Hebrew word from which it has been translated is either Adonai or Ba’al.  The words adonai and adon mean lord or master. Ba’al means lord, master, owner or husband.
 The title “Lord God” most often has been translated from Yahweh Adonai.

 • El Shaddai 

 The English title “God Almighty” is translated from the Hebrew El Shaddai [Strong’s 7706]. The El prefix means “God”. Shaddai means “breasts”, based upon the root word shad, meaning “breast”. Obviously, El Shaddai is a phrase that describes the feminine attribute of Deity: God[dess] with Breasts.
 In Exodus 6:3, Yahweh declared to Moses that He had related to the patriarchs  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob only as El Shaddai – and not as Yahweh.
 El Shaddai, like Eloah, appears most frequently in the book of Job. In the 8th and 29th chapters of Job 38, the womb of God is mentioned.

• Wisdom

Another way in which the feminine attribute of God is manifest is ‘Wisdom’. In Hebrew, the word is Hochmah. Wisdom  [Strong’s 2451, 2452, and 2454] is not only a noun that means ‘good judgment’ or ‘knowledge’; it is used in the Scriptures as a personification of Eloah. In Greek, Wisdom is Sophia. Wisdom was not only present at creation, but also participated. [Proverbs 3:19, 8:22-30; Wisdom 8:1-7, 9:9-11]
 Jesus said: “Wisdom is proven by Her children.” [Luke 7:35]

 • Holy Spirit

 The Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Elohim, like Wisdom, is another way of describing a feminine attribute of Elohim. The Hebrew word ruach is also feminine. Ruach ha kodesh, or the Holy Spirit, is a feminine portion of the One God.
 In Genesis 1:2, it was the feminine Spirit of God, Ruach Elohim, which moved across the deep. The Holy Spirit is the feminine sense of Divinity. 

 • Mighty One of Jacob / Mighty God of Jacob

 The Hebrew word that is translated as “Mighty One” in this instance is abi’ir [Strong’s 46] or abir [Strong’s 47], which literally means ‘bull’. Figuratively, it means strong or mighty.
 The title “Bull of Jacob” appears in the Hebrew original of Genesis 49:24; Psalm 132:2, 5; and in Isaiah 1:24, 49:26, and 60:16.
 This is an example of a purely masculine attribute of Elohim.
 

 • Messiah /Yahshua

 The Messiah’s name is Yahshua, meaning ‘the salvation of Yah’. Messiah is the physical embodiment of Elohim. The bodily form of Elohim is the Messiah. [Colossians 2:9]
Yahshua [commonly known as Jesus] is male. He is the Son.
By and through Him creation was accomplished. [Colossians 1:16-17]
He is the Captain of our Salvation. [Hebrews 2:10] The Messiah is our Kinsman-Redeemer. [Hebrews 2:11-12] Yahshua is the Mediator of the Covenant. [Hebrews 8:6] It is only through the atonement made by Elohim, in the person of Yahshua, that redemption comes. [Mosiah 13:28 (8:5)]
Having faith in, and making a covenant with God in Flesh is the only way through which a person may inherit a place within the Kingdom of Heaven.  [John 10:1-11]

 • The Angel of Yahweh

 The Angel of the LORD was the manifestation of Yahweh in the form of a man, prior to being born of Miriam [Mary]. This was usually a physical manifestation. Examples include the physical appearance to Abraham that is recorded in the 18th chapter of Genesis, Jacob’s wrestle in the 32nd chapter of Genesis, the 5th chapter of Joshua, and the appearance to Samson’s parents found in the 13th chapter of Judges.
 In the Nephite Record, an example of Messiah appearing in the form of a man, prior to His birth, is the appearance to the Brother of Jared. There, the Messiah appeared in “the body of (His) spirit”. [Ether 3:16 (1:81)]
 The Angel of Yahweh is consistently identified as God in physical form. The physical manifestation of Elohim is the Messiah. 

 • The Bride

 The Bride is synonymous with the Church, the Elect, the Assembly, etc. The Bride is feminine [even though there are many men in the Church]. The Bride has the same origin as Messiah, as He is their Brother. The Messiah and the Bride have precisely the same origin.
 “For whom He [the Father] did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He [the Son] might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  [Romans 8:29] “For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one [origin], for which cause He [the Messiah] is not ashamed to call them [His true followers] brethren.” [Hebrews 2:11] “Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” [Hebrews 2:17]
 The spirits [neshamah] of the Elect were with Elohim in the beginning, and will return to Elohim when the days of this life end. [Ecclesiastes 12:7; Helaman 14:17 (5:71)]
The Bride will become one with Elohim, just as the Father and Son [and Spirit] are One. [John 17:21] They will become “like Him”. [1 John 3:2; Moroni 7:48 (7:53)]
Psalm 82:1 says that Elohim “standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods.” Who is this “congregation of the mighty”? Who are the “gods” of whom the psalmist wrote? Elohim said, “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.” [Psalm 82:6; John 10:34-36] The ‘gods’ [elohim] to whom these passages refer are the Bride of the Lamb.

David Bruce Clark
Lion of God Ministries
PO Box 33
Oak Grove MO 64075
Website : http://www.lionofgod.com
Email : david@lionofgod.com