186 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII. 



manifestation upon earth : similar ideas had been 

 handed down from a very early period, and having 

 been imparted to the immediate descendants of 

 Noah, and the patriarchs, may have reached the 

 Egyptians through that channel, and have been 

 j)reserved and embodied in their religious system. 

 And this appears to be confirmed by the fact of our 

 finding the creative ipowevy whilst in operation upon 

 matter, represented by Moses as a Trinity, and not 

 under the name indicative of unity until after that 

 action had ceased. For the name given to the 

 Deity by the divine legislator, when engaged in the 

 creation of material objects, is not Ihoah *, ('* who 

 is, and will be,") but Elohim t, *'the Gods;" 

 and tliis plural expression is used until the seventh 

 day, when the creation was completed. t 



That the name Elohim is not intended to refer 

 really to a plurality of Gods §, is shown by the use 



* Written by us Jehovah, and translated in our version " the Lord, 

 or, when combined with Elohim, " the Lord God." Clemens says, 

 " arap Kai to rsTpnypa^t^oi' oi'o^n to uvutikoj' (niHS) " irtpiiKUVTO o\g 

 Hovoiq rav alvTOV \3a(Jtiiov 7]i', Kfytrai tf laov, b f^itQtp^n]VtvtTcn 6 mv kui 6 

 fcrofitroc." Strom, lib. v. p. 240. INIany are of opinion that the PhcEnician 

 leuo, the Greek laio, Iukxoc, or Iw^aKyog, and Javo, whence Jovis (the 

 ancient name of Jupiter), Janus, Diana, and others are derived from 

 this name. Vide Hofman's Lexicon. 



-j- That this word Elohim exactly answers to our word Gods, as ap- 

 plied to all Gods generally, is evident from Exodus, xxii. 20., and other 

 parts of Scripture. 



J It has been supposed that the Deity then returned to his unity 

 under the name of Ihoah, and under that of Ihoah-Elohim he appears 

 in connection with Man as an intellectual being : man as a material 

 animal having been already noticed, " n)ale and female," among the 

 creations of the first chapter of Genesis (ver. 27.), where the Deity only 

 occurs as Elohim ; and being mentioned in the next as an intellectual 

 being, when God for the first time has the name of Ihoah added lo the 

 previous Elohim, under which he appeared as the creati\ e power. 



§ Some have thought to trace in tiiis an analogy to the notion of 

 Plato, mentioned at the end of this chapter. 



