20. Bereshit — Abarbanel on the Torah, Section 20
El, Eloah, and Elohim — The Names of Divine Power
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His Name is also called El, meaning the One of absolute capacity in His influence, as it is said: “To whom then will you liken El?” (Isaiah 40:18); “You are the El who works wonders” (Psalms 77:15), meaning: You are the One who influences with such great power that You can alter the natural order in wondrous ways. Accordingly, the phrase El Elohim is equivalent to Elohei ha-Elohim (“God of gods”), and “Who is like You among the elim” (Exodus 15:11) means “There is none like You among those called elim.” For the terms El and Elohim, when applied to the Blessed One, signify the One who influences and brings forth with great and mighty power.
As for the statement, “For all the gods of the nations are idols” (Psalms 96:5), this is of a different kind. For elilim (idols) is not of the same sense as elim (gods) or El, denoting divinity, as I explained. Rather, elilim and elil come from the language of absence and nothingness, as in: “You are all physicians of no value (rofei elil)” (Job 13:4); “a worthless shepherd” (ro‘eh elil, Zechariah 11:17); “a divination of lies” (kesem ve-elil, Ezekiel 21:29). All these signify sheer negation: they have no power at all.
And because these two sacred Names—Y-H-V-H and Elohim—signify His essence and His influence, prophecy or divine speech is attributed only to one of these two Names, as I noted in the first property. For prophecy is His influence, flowing forth from His essence. And the interchange between these two Names in the text, as I noted in the second property, reflects His two aspects which, in Him, are one. Likewise, as I noted in the third property, no other Name is ever placed before Elohim, just as no other Name precedes the Tetragrammaton. These two glorious Names precede all the others in rank and holiness, for they refer directly to His essence and His influence, which are prior to all and have no antecedent.
So too, as I noted in the fourth property, when an attribute is attached to the Tetragrammaton, it is attached only by means of Elohim or El: “The Lord, El merciful and gracious” (Exodus 34:6); “The Lord, Elohei Tzevaot” (Psalms 59:6); “The Lord, Elohei Yisrael” (Exodus 5:1). Other names are never joined directly, for they are applied to Him only in relation to His actions, and since the root of those actions is His divine influence, they are joined only through Elohim or El, which indicate influence.
The special Name Y-H-V-H is not associated with any particular action, but designates His essence and being. Therefore it cannot be joined to one of the Names of action, such as the names of divinity, so as to become one compound name.
And because His influence flows forth from His essence, therefore sometimes the Tetragrammaton is vocalized with the vowels of Elohim and read accordingly—as I noted in the fifth property—for His essence is the source of all influence. But Elohim is never vocalized with the vowels of the Tetragrammaton, because even though we can apprehend His influence, we cannot apprehend His essence. Moreover, the Name Elohim can be applied metaphorically to others, whereas the Tetragrammaton is never borrowed or shared with any other1.
And you should also know regarding this, that since the Tetragrammaton is the very essence of holiness and its infinite perfection, and the Name El signifies Him as the One who bestows influence, therefore, when the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to sanctify this divine Name with great sanctity, He joined to it half of the Tetragrammaton—half of its letters—in order to increase the sanctity of that Name. For the complete Tetragrammaton could never be joined to another Name, for two reasons2.
The first: The special Name Y-H-V-H is not associated with any particular action, but designates His essence and being. Therefore it cannot be joined to one of the Names of action, such as the names of divinity, so as to become one compound name.
The second: The other divine Names, even with their added sanctity, are applied metaphorically to others, in accordance with their actions. Therefore it would not be proper to join to them the complete Tetragrammaton, which is unique to Him alone and never applied to another. Only half of it may be joined, a half that does not carry the full sanctity of the complete Name.
Thus, when joined with the Name El, which denotes the One who bestows influence in His power, the letters yod and heh (half of the Tetragrammaton) form Elohai or Elohim—apart from the final mem of Elohim, which is added to remove the sense of the construct form. At times, to the Name El are added the letters vav and heh (the other half of the Tetragrammaton), and then it is said Eloah.
Therefore, these three—El, Eloah, and Elohim—are the roots of all the divine Names. Without addition: El; with one addition: Eloah; with another addition: Elohim. All the other divine Names are included within these, and their variations are according to the appellations, as I explained in the second principle.
For this reason, the Names Elohim (אלהים) and Elohai (אלהי) are always written without the vav. For they already contain the letters yod and heh (יה), which are half of the Tetragrammaton, and it would not be fitting to add to them more letters of the sacred Name beyond this. By contrast, in the Name Eloah (אלוה), a vav had to be explicitly added so that the letters vav and heh, the other half of the Tetragrammaton, would be joined to the Name El. But in Elohai (אלהי) and Elohecha (אלהיך), most occurrences are written without the vav, for they already contain the yod and heh (יה), half of the Tetragrammaton, and it would not be proper to add beyond that3.
From all this it becomes clear that the Name Elohim is not borrowed for Him, blessed be He, from some other usage, but that its primary designation is for Him Himself, as the One who bestows and possesses absolute power. And the Name Elohim, as Ibn Ezra wrote, is a descriptive title, not an essential name.
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In Jewish practice, the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) is never pronounced as written. Often, especially in contexts of judgment, the Name is written יהוה but vocalized with the vowels of Elohim (אלהים), and thus read aloud as Elohim. This reflects the idea that God’s essence (the Tetragrammaton) is the source of His influence (Elohim). The reverse, however, never occurs: Elohim is never given the vowels of the Tetragrammaton, since human beings can apprehend God’s influence in the world but not His essence. Abarbanel adds that Elohim may be applied metaphorically to others (angels, judges, or even false gods), but the Tetragrammaton is unique to God and never shared.
Abarbanel explains that the Names Eloah and Elohim arise from the root El (אל, “the Mighty One”) joined with half of the Tetragrammaton (יה or וה). This adds sanctity to the name while preserving the uniqueness of the full four-letter Name, which refers to God’s essence and is never shared. Full union is avoided for two reasons: the Tetragrammaton signifies God’s essence, not His actions, and unlike Elohim or El, it is never applied metaphorically to any other being.
Only two exceptions are found, both in Psalms: Psalms 143:10 (“for You are my God”) and Psalms 145:1 (“I will exalt You, my God the King”), where the form is written full with a אלוהי :ו. The Masorah marks these as deliberate exceptions with “their own reason.” Abarbanel cites them as proof that the variations in spelling are intentional, not random.