On the use or absence of the article with t2"'n?X, see Quarry (Genesis, p. 270 sq.), who, after an elabo- rate examination of the subject, sums up the results as the following: "The dispelling of the supposition that any essential difference existed, at least in the earlier books, between Elohim with and without the article — any difference at all, but such as the exigen- cies of each occasion with respect to sense or grammar would have made in the case of any common appella- tive ; the illustration of the use of the article with par- ticles and prejiositions, elucidating many passages of Scripture, and explaining man}' seeming causes of perplexit}' ; and tiie establishment of an important characteristic difference as regards the usage in the case of Elohim with or without the article, between the earlier and later books of the sacred canon." See Article (ix Grammar).
IF. The attributes ascribcd,to God by INIoses are sys- tematically enumerated in Exod. xxxiv, G, 7, though we find in isolated passages in the Pentateuch and
elsewhere additional properties specified, which bear more directly upon the dogmas and princiides of re- ligion, .such as, e. g. that he is not the author of sin (Gen. i, 31), although since the fall man is prone to sin (Gen. vi, o; viii, 21, etc.). But, as it was the avowed design of Moses to teach the Jews the unity of God in opposition to the polj'thcism of the other na- tions with whom they were to come in contact, he dwelt particularly and most prominently on that point, which he hardl}' ever omitted when he had an oppor- tunity of bringing forward the attributes of God (Deut. vi, 4; X, 17; iv, 30; ix, IG, etc.; Numb, xvi, 22; xxxiii, 19, etc. ; Exod. xv, 11 ; xxxiv, G, 7, etc.).
In the prophets and other sacred writers of the Old Testament these attributes are still more fully devel- oped and explained by the declarations that God is the first and the last (Isa. xliv, G) ; that he changes not (Hab. iii, G) ; that the earth and heaven shall per- ish, but he shall endure (Psa. cii, 2G) — a distinct allu- sion to the last doomsday — and that he is omnipresent (Prov. XV, 3 ; Job xxxiv, 22, etc.).
In the New Testament also we find the attributes of God systematically classified (Rev. v, 12, and vii, 12), while the peculiar tenets of Christianity embrace, if not a further, still a more developed idea, as pre- sented by the apostles and the primitive teachers of the Church (compare Semisch's Justin Martj'r, ii, 151 sq., translated b}' J. E. Eyland, 1843).
The expression "to see God" (Job xix, 26; xlii, 5; Isa. xxxviii, 11) sometimes signifies merely to expe- rience his help ; but in the Old-Testament Scriptures it more usuallj' denotes the approach of death (Gen. xxxii, 30 ; Judg. vi, 23 ; xiii, 22 ; Isa. vi, 5). See Death.
The term C^ri'^N""?, " son of God," applies to kings (Psa. ii, 7 : Ixxxii, 6, 27). The usual notion of the ancients that the ro}'al dignity was derived from God may here be traced to its source : hence the Homeric ctoyhnjg [SamXivQ. This notion, entertained by the Oriental nations with regard to kings, made tlie latter style themselves ffods (Psa. Ixxxii, G). D'H'^X "^Ifa, "sons of God," in the plural, implies inferior gods, angels (Gen. vi, 2 ; Job i, 6) ; as also faithful adhe- rents, worshippers of God (Deut. xiv, 1 ; Psa. Lxxiii, 15; Prov. xiv, 2G). C'^HPN w""X, "man of God," is sometimes applied to an angel (Judg. xiii, 6, 8), as also to a prophet (1 Sam. ii, 27 ; ix, G ; 1 Kings xiii, 1).
When, in the jMiddle Ages, scholastic theology be- gan to speculate on the divine attributes as the basis of sj'stematic and dogmatic Christianity, the Jev,-s, it appears, did not wish to remain behind on that head, and, collecting a few passages from the Old Testament, and more especially from Isa. xi, 2, and 1 Chron. xxi.x, 11, where the divine attributes are more amply devel- oped and enumerated, the}' strung tiiem together in a sort of cabbalistic tree, but in reality representing a human figure.— Kitto, s. v. See Cabbala.
III. Tlie Scriptures contain frequent notices of false f/ods as objects of idolatrous worship: 1. By the Ilehretcs. Those were of two kinds: n. Adoration of other beings than Jehovah, held as divine (Ehrlen, De diis et deab. Gentil. in S. S. memoratis. Argent. 1750; Leusden, De idoUs V. T. in his Philolog. IJehr. mixt. p. 291 sq. ; Kal- kar, Udsigt over den idolatr. Cultus som omtafes i bibeln, Odense, 1838 sq.). Such false deities (which are gen- erally identified with their images, Deut. iv, 28 sq. ; Psa. cxv, 4 sq. ; cxxxv, 15 sq. ; 2 Mace, ii, 2 ; comp. also C^-iJ", idols, in passages like 1 Sam. xxxi, 9; Hos. iv, 17) are called C^b'^bs, nothings (perhaps a play upon S^tn'SN), in the JeAvish Church phraseologj' (Lev. xix, 4 ; xxvi, 1 ; comp. Hab. ii, 18), or Q""!;!;!!, breaths, i. e. vanities (Jer. ii, 5; viii, 19; xiv, 22), XV^ i52n, utter vanities (Jon. ii, 9 ; comp. ra fidraia, Acts xiv, 15), f^^J^p":;, abominations (1 Kings xi, 5;