What is God? What is Adam? Male, female, or plural? What is the Family? Male, female, or plural?

Statement of belief: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV)

Updated 5927± 03 20 2023 [2007-06-06]

Is God a plural being, a male being, or a female being?

What can we learn re this question out of Genesis Chapters One and Two?

Abstract:

Considering carefully the Hebrew grammar as used in Genesis 1 and 2 it becomes very clear to me that the entity being created consists of one male and one female, and that this dual entity is being treated as one singular unit characterized by the male singular. In other words each family of God, i.e. the foundation of every family of God, consists of, and is created as, one male and one female.

They are one, yet they are two. The one carries the name of the male, i.e. the male characteristic dominates even while the feminine characteristics may be more visible and more audible.

:Gen 1:27

ויברא¹²⁵⁴ אלהים⁴³⁰ את⁸⁵³ האדם¹²⁰ בצלמו⁶⁷⁵⁴ בצלם⁶⁷⁵⁴ אלהים⁴³⁰ ברא¹²⁵⁴ אתו⁸⁵³ זכר²¹⁴⁵ ונקבה⁵³⁴⁷ ברא¹²⁵⁴ אתם׃⁸⁵³

Gen 1:27 TLT+ So created¹²⁵⁴ Powers^430, ⁽⁸⁵³⁾ man¹²⁰ in his own image,⁶⁷⁵⁴ in the image⁶⁷⁵⁴ of Powers⁴³⁰ created he¹²⁵⁴ him;⁸⁵³ male²¹⁴⁵ and female⁵³⁴⁷created he¹²⁵⁴ them.⁸⁵³

Gen 1:27 TLT+ So created¹²⁵⁴ [Family] Powers^430, ⁽⁸⁵³⁾ man¹²⁰ in his own image,⁶⁷⁵⁴ in the image⁶⁷⁵⁴ of [Family] Powers⁴³⁰ created he¹²⁵⁴ it;⁸⁵³ male²¹⁴⁵ and female⁵³⁴⁷created he¹²⁵⁴ them.⁸⁵³

Notice:

1. It is important to understand that in the Hebrew language and grammar any plural entity consisting of at least one masculine part takes on the masculine gender. If only feminine parts are present then, and then only, does the entity take the feminine gender.

2. In the above verse we find one very important consideration based upon the grammar being used: The word Elohim, translated God, is a masculine plural word and entity, yet the remaining words in the verse is using the masculine singular in reference to said masculine plural word.

3. The only way I can make 100% sense of this language is by recognizing that the author wishes to emphasize, and point out, that God, the masculine plural entity, is here referencing the fundamental family unit, i.e. a masculine plural entity recognized as a singular unit, which is being replicated and mirrored in the created entity, which is nothing other than the foundation for yet another family consisting of male and female. Nevertheless, one must never forget that the Creator is always greater than the created thing, and most certainly so also in this setting.

Compare Genesis Gen 2:24: Therefore^{5921, 3651} shall a man³⁷⁶ leave⁵⁸⁰⁰ ⁽⁸⁵³⁾ his father¹ and his mother,⁵¹⁷ and shall cleave¹⁶⁹² unto his wife:⁸⁰² and they shall be¹⁹⁶¹ one²⁵⁹ flesh.¹³²⁰

Notice also that in Genesis 1:26 the word “עשׂה”, to form, is used rather than “בּרא”, to create out of nothing:

Gen 1:26 ויאמר⁵⁵⁹ אלהים⁴³⁰ נעשׂה⁶²¹³ אדם¹²⁰ בצלמנו⁶⁷⁵⁴

Gen 1:26 And God⁴³⁰ said,⁵⁵⁹ Let us make⁶²¹³ man¹²⁰ in our image,⁶⁷⁵⁴ after our likeness:¹⁸²³

Isn’t this language reminiscent of, and consistent with, how children are being formed by means of an act of their parents?

What exactly is the “rib” referenced in Genesis 2:21-22?

Notice:

Two different Hebrew words for “rib:”

The Hebrew word translated “rib” in verse 21, H4480, is a different word than the word in verse 22, H6763!

H4480: For H4482; properly a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses.

H4482: From an unused rot meaning to apportion; a part; hence a musical chord (as parted into strings).

H6763: From H6760; a rib (as curved), literally (of the body) or figuratively (of a door, that is, leaf); hence a side, literally (of a person) or figuratively (of an object or the sky, that is, quarter); arcitecturally a timber (especially floor or ceiling) or plank (single or collectively, that is, a flooring).

H6760: A primitive root; probably to curve; used only as denominative from H6763, to limp (as if one sided)

Common traditional interpretations:

Using the English word rib and thinking of Adam as one male the most direct understanding of this text is in terms of a surgical procedure combined with a mystical creative act in which the rib bone is transformed into a woman.

Another common interpretation of this passage is in terms of the original Adam being a hermaphrodite type being that is later being separated into two new halves, one male and one female, the “rib” then being thought of e.g. in terms of “an angular vault,” such as the female reproductive organ is.

However, both of the above interpretations are man made constructions without much correspondence to that which we can learn from a direct comparison between the Scriptures and the corresponding created beings in God’s nature, or isn’t that so?

Suggestions for a more natural interpretation:

What if we think of the rib instead in terms of the vault of an intra uterine sac, or even as on of the two DNA strands? Wouldn’t these latter applications be much more in accordance with nature and with God’s creation as we actually know it - and without the superimposition of the type of actions that men sometimes do perform? That is, we could think of the male and female being created as two twins within one common uterine sac of their mother. Or, we could think of them in terms of the DNA of one male whose DNA is being divided into two new DNA genomes, one remaining male, the other being modified by duplicating the X chromosome and removing the Y chromosome.

Isn’t this last application of these two verses just a little more down to earth and natural while doing a little less violence to either the text or natural phenomena as we understand them today?

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