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]The Divine Plural in Early Genesis
The first four chapters of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible are interesting for many reasons. In these chapters the ancient editors have stitched together two even more ancient written sources — the Yahwist and Priestly — to give an account of the creation of the world and humankind. The saga of Earth’s first people and their dealings with God are masterfully presented to set the stage for the later patriarchs and the coming of Israel as a covenant people. Genesis chapters one through four are, therefore, a fertile ground for critical study of the Hebrew Bible; redaction, form, source, literary, etc. all forms of Biblical criticism can be applied to these early chapters. However, one peculiar facet of early Genesis stands out even to the casual reader of the Hebrew Bible: twice — Gen 1:26 and Gen 3:22 — the singular, monotheistic god of the Hebrews is referenced using the plural pronoun us. This “divine plural” is the source of much scholarly discourse.
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