Variations for the Names of God in the Old
Testament

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Question
How do you explain the variation in the names for God in the Pentateuch?
Answer
It's interesting, people sometimes say, well, Elohim and Yahweh represent, you know, they must have come from different times, different eras. But K.A. Kitchen, decades ago, pointed out that we have Egyptian inscriptions that have multiple names for the same deity, and obviously, the inscription wasn't redacted or added to at a later time. I mean, you know, Amun-Re, maybe those names might come from different eras of history, but by the time you get the inscription, it's all used together and there's no reason to treat Yahweh and Elohim in a different way.

Answer by Dr. Craig S. Keener

Dr. Craig S. Keener is the F.M. and Ada Thompson Chair of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.