Adonai and Adoni (Psalm 110:1)

Adonai and Adoni (Psalm 110:1)

(The link above is the same as the article below under the same title. The article appears in the website of Restoration Fellowship founded by Sir Anthony Buzzard in 1981. I first came across the work of Restoration Fellowship about fifteen years ago and have addressed some of their material. I encourage you to read it before your read my own comments. gt)

those who struggle

The discussion and question concerning deity is old. I am mindful that those who differ between one another concerning their understanding of deity love God. As such the struggle which each one experiences is a true characteristic of those who seek and love God. They follow in the footsteps of Jacob who was renamed Israel meaning one who struggles with God.

a shared misunderstanding

There is a problem shared in common between self-described unitarians and self-described trinitarians. If they see it and are aware of it I would not be surprised and I can understand why they would prefer to keep silent about it. What they share in common is that they both mistakenly make a mathematical numeric quantification of the term one as in "the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4) as though this clarified anything or enhanced the understanding of the saints in Christ concerning deity. It is an understatement that the Deuteronomy 6 is a testament of the unity and harmony of the revelation of the will of God spelled out for the children of Israel for the ages to come. Simply, what God said was to be obeyed, what Moses said God said was to be obeyed, what the prophets said God said was to be obeyed, what Jesus said was of the the Father was to be obeyed, what the apostles said was of the Holy Spirit was to be obeyed, and what the saints in Christ read from the written revelation of the word of God is to be obeyed. However, this is not the focus of this article. Rather my reason for stating this at the beginning is to corroborate how men, even with the best of intentions, wander into obscurity so as to make their point.

the proofs

The first point which is striking about the article is the proofs presented for the argument. The author cites the Pharisees favorably and their understanding of Psalm 110:1 as being in reference to the Messiah. The author neglects any mention of the question posed by Jesus to the scribes concerning their long accepted and disingenuous interpretation of that verse. Later he refers to the number of commentaries unfavorably which misstate the facts about Psalm 110:1. The author himself stakes his own argument concerning Adonai and Adoni from the Hebrew. This is as needless as it is an obscurity for those who seek and love God. Designating and exalting the passage as the Bible's supreme proof text is hardly anymore a teaching point than to make the negative assertion that the Messiah is not God.

YHWH and elohim

Here is a brief explanation for the rendering of the terms adonai and adoni. The former is rendered in English as LORD (all caps) and the latter as Lord. The former is rendered LORD from the English transliteration of YHWH. The latter is rendered Lord from the English transliteration of elohim. There are, to be sure, other renderings such as Hashem, GOD (see Isaiah 48:16) with their respective explanations or Lord GOD for adoni YHWH. My purpose here is not to present an exhaustive list of these or how many times these appear in the scriptures. Much of this difficulty (which I do not believe, thanks be to the divine providence of God, amounts to anything significant) has its roots in the Jewish mistaken notion of piety concerning the name of God. They ceased to say and to write the name of God. I have often noted God did not restrain Moses and Aaron from calling out his name to the pagan, unbelieving Pharaoh. Clearly, Pharaoh heard it when he retorted, "Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?"

This is my own uninformed, uneducated guess as to how the two terms adonai and adoni made their way in the translation of the Hebrew scriptures. The transliteration of adoni from אֲדֹ נָי (see Strong's 136) and it's grammatically conceived complementary form adonai were concocted by the children of Israel. It reflects their attempt to grapple and understand, not so much elohim which they readily understood to be used of any and all pagan gods, but YHWH in close proximity with elohim as in the Shema, well, that was a different matter. Of course, just like today so, too, then single word definitions in isolation did little or nothing to enhance the understanding of the LORD who is one, who was the God of the children of Israel. This travesty lives on today. These terms are purveyed with the net result (whether or not it is intended) than to obscure and deny deity. These terms, contrary to what is often stated, were hardly necessary to distinguish the God of Israel from pagan gods. These terms are titles like mister, master, but God identified himself to Moses (such as has been handed down through the ages by the translators) as YHWH, or I AM WHAT I AM BECOMING.

the testimony of seraphim

There is, as it happens, a text in the scriptures which I believe puts in perspective the interplay between these two terms. The text may have the potential of being an irritant to upset some on their understanding, convictions and opinions. The passage is Isaiah 6 in the English NASB [1] and the Hebrew/English [2]. I have heard it. You have probably heard it, too. Isaiah, the explanation goes, merely thought he saw the LORD, but Isaiah was mistaken. Isaiah saw the Lord. This sounds good. It plays well.

However there are some significant explanations, not from the Pharisees or commentators, but from the text itself and by _ the seraphim. The prophet opens his account of that glorious occasion by informing the reader in verse 1 that he saw the Lord sitting on his throne. This use of the term Lord, as the author of the article explains, is limited to human superiors and masters, not to God. But it is the testimony of the seraphim who clarify for readers and doubters and the uncertain that Isaiah saw the LORD. The seraphim address, refer to and praise the being whom Isaiah saw as Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah, then, takes note of this praise from the seraphim and he exclaims, . . . my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Isaiah, human that he is and perhaps as a gesture of humility and respect in the presence of the LORD, reverts to referring to the being whom his eyes behold as Lord in verse 8, and again, in verse 11.

whom Isaiah saw

There is yet another commentary, not from the Pharisees or commentators, but from the scripture itself. The words cited by the apostle John resonate with Isaiah 6:9, 10 and 53:1 and he adds that These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of Him (John 12:41). Within the framework of the words of Isaiah cited by the apostle John are two things. One is Jesus (verse 36) and the other is the unbelief the same as the unbelief of Israel towards the LORD in Isaiah 6. Here is a two-fold quiz question to check your understanding between Isaiah 6 and John 12 with respect to the question of deity, as in the LORD God.

1. According to the scriptures in Isaiah 6 whom did Isaiah see?

2. According to the scriptures in John 12 whom did Isaiah see?

Please note that I have neither interjected terms such as Messiah or Jesus nor where these do not appear in the scripture. It is a common practice to interject names and titles in the zeal to rush to capture the minds and hearts of men even if they do not understand. I trust the reader can see the point which I have presented is not merely to denounce the article in the negative or to make accusations against anyone and assertions that are not present in the text of scripture. Lastly, the point which I have presented is what the reader can readily read for themselves in the English language from the Old to the New Testament. It's focus does not revolve around single word definitions in isolation in their original language, or a single supreme proof text,  but in the breadth of scripture.

_______________________________________________________________________

Adonai and Adoni (Psalm 110:1)

The Bible’s supreme proof text for telling the difference between the One God and the Messiah who is not God

     This verse was referred to the Messiah by the Pharisees and by Jesus. It tells us that the relationship between God and Jesus is that of Deity and non-Deity. The Messiah is called adoni (my lord) and in every one of its 195 occurrences adoni (my lord) means a superior who is not God. Adonai on the other hand refers exclusively to the One God in all of its 449 occurrences. Adonai is the title of Deity and adoni never designates Deity.

If the Messiah were called Adonai this would introduce “two Gods” into the Bible and would be polytheism. Psalm 110:1 should guard us all against supposing that there are two who are God. In fact the Messiah is the supreme human being and agent of the One God. Psalm 110:1 is the Bible’s master text for defining the Son of God in relation to the One God, his Father.

Why is it that a number of commentaries misstate the facts about Psalm 110:1? They assert that the word for the Messiah in Psalm 110:1 is adonai. It is not. These commentaries seem to obscure a classic text defining God in relation to His Son. The Hebrew text assigns to the Messiah the title adoni which invariably distinguishes the one addressed from the Deity. The Messiah is the supreme human lord. He is not the Lord God (cp. I Tim. 2:5; I Cor. 8:4-6; Mark 12:28ff).

 Why is the Messiah called adoni (my lord) and never adonai (my Lord God)?

 “Adonai and Adoni are variations of Masoretic pointing to distinguish divine reference from human.”

Adonai is referred to God but Adoni to human superiors.

Adoni — ref. to men: my lord, my master [see Ps. 110:1]  

Adonai — ref. to God…Lord (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, under adon [= lord]).

 “The form ADONI (‘my lord’), a royal title (I Sam. 29:8), is to be carefully distinguished from the divine title ADONAI (‘my Lord’) used of Yahweh.” “ADONAI — the special plural form [the divine title] distinguishes it from adonai  [with short vowel] = my lords” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Lord,” p. 157).

 “Lord in the OT is used to translate ADONAI when applied to the Divine Being. The [Hebrew] word…has a suffix [with special pointing] presumably for the sake of distinction…between divine and human appellative”(Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, “Lord,” Vol. 3, p. 137).

 “Hebrew Adonai exclusively denotes the God of Israel. It is attested about 450 times in the OT…Adoni [is] addressed to human beings (Gen. 44:7, Num. 32:25, II Kings 2:19 [etc.]). We have to assume that the word adonai received its special form to distinguish it from the secular use of adon [i.e., adoni]. The reason why [God is addressed] as adonai, [with long vowel] instead of the normal adon, adoni or adonai [with short vowel] may have been to distinguish Yahweh from other gods and from human lords” (Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, p. 531).

 “The lengthening of the ā on Adonai [the Lord God] may be traced to the concern of the Masoretes to mark the word as sacred by a small external sign” (Theological Dictionary of the OT, “Adon,” p. 63 and Theological Dictionary of the NT, III, 1060ff. n.109).

 “The form ‘to my lord,’ l’adoni, is never used in the OT as a divine reference…the generally accepted fact that the masoretic pointing distinguishes divine references (adonai) from human references (adoni)” (Wigram,The Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the OT, p. 22) (Herbert Bateman, “Psalm 110:1 and the NT,” Bibliothecra Sacra, Oct.-Dec., 1992, p. 438).