Re: An Early Trinity

George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Tue, 14 Sep 1999 17:36:00 -0400

ArvesonPT@nswccd.navy.mil wrote:
>
> I know the Jews would vehemently dispute this; but I only meant
> to say that it is suggestive, just as are many other passages
> in the OT. I recall that even Moses Maimonides noted the triple
> repetition of the Name in the Shema, which is sung every week
> in every synagogue:
> "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echud."
> (Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; Deut. 6:4)
>
> Also, it has been pointed out that Echud (One) is a 'unified one'
> as opposed to Yachid, 'a single isolated one'.
>
> I just think that these, like many other OT passages, are blossoms
> that bloomed in the NT.

There are certainly OT passages which _in the light of the NT_ suggest
incarnational & thus trinitarian motifs - e.g., Zech.12:10 (where the Hebrew reads "they
shall look on me whom they have pierced"). I find something like this much more
significant than any numerical hints of plurality &c. The basis for all Christian
trinitarian thought is the incarnation & cross. Without that, any supposed hints of
plurality in God are of no value.
& it is essential to emphasize that this is all a result of reading the OT in
light of the new. It's a complete mistake to suggest to Jews that they should be able
to find suggestions of the Trinity in OT passages read on their own terms.

George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/