Deification

Some thoughts arising from a conversation with Toby Sumpter, Doug Jones and Gabe Telling.

Moses is the first human god ( elohim ) in Scripture, the first man to grow up to the fuller image of Yahweh.  He is god in relation to his mouth, his brother Aaron (Exodus 4:16) and also to Pharaoh (7:1).   Elohim implies power, and Moses is going to be god to Pharaoh throughout the plague sequence, using the rod of Yahweh to destroy Egypt.  Being God also means coming to the rescue: Yahweh comes to Israel’s aid while they’re in bondage, and Moses the god is his agent in that rescue.

As Toby pointed out, Psalm 82 makes the same point: The gods are mere men because they fail to rescue the weak, needy, and fatherless.  The gods who rule Israel (Exodus 21:6; 22:7-8) are supposed to do the same.  Yahweh sets the pattern, but Moses is the model human god, the ruler and deliverer that all Israel’s judges are to mimic.  Jesus quotes Psalm 82 to the same effect; He has just delivered a man blind from birth, and the Jews want to stone Him.  Jesus protests that He has done good works, and the Jews say that they are stoning Him for claiming to be God.  Jesus answers by quoting Psalm 82.  Jesus has proven Himself to be a god by leading a man from darkness to light, from Egypt to the promised land, just as Psalm 82 says (John 10:31-39).

Moses continues to be elohim after the exodus.

While he’s on Sinai, the people of Israel become restless and make a golden calf.  The calf is an idol, but fundamentally it’s a replacement for Moses, not for Yahweh.  The Hebrews know they need a god to lead them, and they choose the calf rather than Moses.  When Moses comes down from the mountain, however, his face is “horned” (Exodus 34:29-30), proving that he is the true calf, the chosen god who will lead Israel.  He’s the god who constructs the tabernacle, as Yahweh had constructed the tabernacle of the creation at the beginning.

Moses is one of the gods of the old world, the world under the “elementary principles.”  Yahweh spoke to Israel, but spoke not directly in His own person but through his god Moses.  (This gets replicated in Moses’ dealings with Pharaoh: Moses the god doesn’t speak directly to Pharaoh but speaks through his prophet Aaron.)  Israel was in the slavery of childhood under the god Moses, a god who is “by nature not god” (cf. Galatians 4:8).  Once God has spoken in His own person, the gods have to retreat.

Deification traditionally has meant the process by which human beings come to share humanly in divine attributes, in the immutability, glory, and eternity of God.  That is a biblical doctrine, and it is compatible with the theme of deification as found in Exodus.  But Exodus and other OT passages highlight dimensions of deification that are not emphasized in the tradition.  Exodus gives us a much more activist, a much more political doctrine of deification than the tradition.  Moses is god because he reflects Yahweh’s shining glory, but also because he enacts Yahweh’s compassionate justice in delivering Israel from bondage.

In Christ, all believers are now gods.  All will share in His resurrection glory, power, immortality; all will share in and manifest the divine image.  Being gods, believers are also called to deliver the oppressed and let the prisoner go free.