The Gender of God in Ancient Israel

Part of the series, Relating to God
With Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages
How did the biblical authors, and other Israelites, view the gender of God? Did they perceive God to be male? Did any of them perceive God as female? To answer this question, we examine both several biblical texts as well as archaeological evidence.
Source sheet: www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploa...
This session was generously sponsored by Linda and Ronald F Daitz and by Yale Asbell, JTS trustee
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[@chodeshadar18]

It would be helpful if post-production, you could add some animated arrows pointing out the elements he's talking about!

[@Donteatacowman]

I've heard that the plural "let us" was referring to Asherah and hashem together (in the source that was originally separate from the second creation story). I am not 100% convinced, but the "in God's own image" would then make sense for the "male and female." Of course, if the language does say that only a single being - hashem - did the creating, then maybe this is irrelevant. Of course, I appreciate the Talmudic interpretations that make Adam out to be dual-gendered etc.

[@alchemistsanonymous6558]

Informative. 👍

[@yellowmeerkat97]

Could you post a link to the source-sheet?
Thank you.

[@JTSVid]

www.jtsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ben-Sommer-5-2-22.pdf

[@miriamgonzalezsiegel6478]

.