In the Hebrew Bible, Elohim often takes singular verbs when it means Israel’s God.
It often means Israel’s God with a singular verb.
Several passages mention golden idols worshipped by various people, contrary to the worship of the God of Israel (e.g., Isaiah 31:7).
The Canaanites were a group of ancient people who lived in the land of Canaan, an area which according to the Bible encompassed parts of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
The evidence for this comes from inscriptions and artifacts dating back to around 1050 BCE, found in the region of ancient Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon and parts of Syria and Israel).
Moreover, thou shalt say to the children of Israel: Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
Associations I keep careful: Canaanite and Phoenician milieu around Israel; Ammonite attachment via 1 Kings 11; condemned practice in Judah centered on Hinnom and Topheth.
Use in Ancient Times: In ancient periods, particularly during the time of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the valley had various uses.
These practices were abhorred by the prophets and were seen as a grave sin against the God of Israel.
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
Numbers 21:21-31 tells of Israel's conflict with Sihon, king of the Amorites.
In Joshua 10:5-6 and 10:12-14, the five Amorite kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon join forces against Gibeon, whose people had made peace with Israel.
In Amos 2:9-10, God reminds Israel that he destroyed the Amorites, who were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, before Israel took the land of Canaan.
The Challenge: David heard Goliath's challenge and was offended by his defiance against the God of Israel.
Aftermath: David's triumph over Goliath brought him great fame and marked the beginning of his rise to become the King of Israel.
Israel’s first king, Saul, fought a serpent in his first battle against Nahash (Hebrew “serpent”), king of the Ammonites, and here David faced his own serpent.
It says, "The Horites also dwelt in Seir formerly, but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them."
The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.
This fits wider themes in the Bible, such as fulfilled prophecy, the continuing of an important family line, or the progress of God’s plan for Israel or humankind.
Housing the Covenant: Holds the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, representing the covenant between God and Israel (Deuteronomy 10:1-5).
And the chest in which the Philistines sent the gift to the God of Israel was placed alongside the Ark, as it is stated: “And put the golden devices which you are restoring to Him for a guilt-offering in a chest by the side of it, and send it away that it may go” (I Samuel 6:8).
Yahweh is one such Elohim, overseeing only the family of Jacob (the Sons of Israel), while others like Chemosh ruled groups such as the Moabites.
"And Elohim said moreover to Moses, 'Thus shall you say to the children of Israel Elohim: YHWH Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you.
16“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
18“The elders of Israel will listen to you.
Yahweh is the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, named by the four consonants YHWH, the tetragrammaton (literally “four letters”).
He is the national god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Egyptian attestations of a name close to YHWH among southern nomads (Astour’s yhwꜣ; Van Der Toorn on fourteenth-century Edomite-Midianite worship before Israel) sit on the same southern map.
He rises as national god of Israel and Judah.
Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and related “desert portion” readings place Israel as YHWH’s allotted people under Elyon.
Over every nation he appointed a ruler, but Israel is the Lord’s own portion.
He is the Lord whose portion is Israel, rising inside a wider divine landscape.
Meaning: the national God of Israel can be read as a fused Enki-Enlil figure in paleo-contact research, set against Baal / Enlil as storm rival.
Before Saul, Israel covenants with the Great Spirit E-O-Ih.
The God of Israel named by the tetragrammaton YHWH, and the national god of Israel and Judah.
It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them.
Later, Israel’s spies name them beside the sons of Anak.
Meaning: the conquest narrative frames Israel as facing terrifying “giant” peoples.
It also ties into the gathering of Israel and the role of the Americas at the end of days.
And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kirjath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who dwells between the cherubim, where His name is proclaimed.
22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.
A midrash states that when Pharaoh pursued Israel at the Red Sea, God took a cherub from the wheels of His throne and flew to the spot, for God inspects the heavenly worlds while sitting on a cherub.
When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
20 This is the living creature I saw under the God of Israel by the River Chebar, and I knew they were cherubim.
Government officials such as Israel's former head of space security, Haim Eshed, like former Canadian minister of national defense Paul Hellyer before him, Eshed has declared that a "Galactic Federation" not only exists but has rejected our membership because we just aren't ready.
His descendants are listed with significant individuals and groups, like Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, and others, leading down to Abraham and his descendants, which include Isaac and Jacob (Israel).
The story may reflect real tension between Israel and Canaan.
It may have served a political or theological purpose in Israel’s early history.
Archaeological evidence indicates that the mineral has been mined and smelted to obtain copper at Timna Valley in Israel for more than 3,000 years.