Yahweh and Elohim: Yahweh is Not Omniscient

Yahweh and Elohim Part 3

This is part 3 of a multipart series.

The modern Abrahamic religions tend to portray their God as an all-knowing, all-powerful god who is righteous and good. The evil in the world is posited to have another source – either due to Satan’s influence, or to the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Even eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This view of a single omniscient, omnipotent God probably developed in Judaism around the 7th century BC. But the text of the Old Testament, originally composed before this time, is often at odds with this portrayal.

In this post, we will look at a couple of examples where Yahweh appears to not be in the know.

Sodom and Gomorrah

Most of us will be familiar with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yahweh destroys these cities because of the sinfulness of the people living there. He does not explicitly say what the sins of these people are, but it is commonly understood that their offense is homosexuality. It’s a fascinating story that you can read in its entirety in Genesis chapters 18 and 19. I’m going to focus in on a couple of verses from early in the story that help set it up, Genesis 18:20-21:

And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah, how great! Their offense is very grave. Let Me go down and see whether as the outcry that has come to Me they have dealt destruction, and if not, I shall know.”

To be honest, the Robert Alter translation is a little confusing here. The NIV reads, “I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

Obviously, if Yahweh really was omniscient, he wouldn’t have to “go down and see” what the people in these towns were up to.

Taking Census

There are four occurrences (by my reckoning) of Yahweh commanding Moses to take a census of the people of Israel. Two are in Numbers, in chapters 1 and 26. The counts of the various tribes in these two censuses are different, but the totals are eerily close. The first census counts 603,550, and the second, 601,730.

The obvious question here is, if Yahweh is omniscient, why would he need to command Moses to take a census? Wouldn’t he already know how many Israelites there are? You might argue that Moses wanted to do a census, and he was using the command of Yahweh as an excuse. This is quite plausible, but even if it were true, the people of Israel wouldn’t be buying it if they believed that Yahweh was all-knowing. So in the least, this is evidence that the idea that Yahweh was omniscient is a later development.

One confusing example of Yahweh demanding a census is in 2 Samuel 24. Apparently, he did so because he was angry with the people of Israel. It’s not explained why Yahweh got angry in the first place. 2 Samuel 24:1:

And once more the wrath of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”

(Interestingly, in the retelling of this story in 2 Chronicles 21, it was Satan – the Adversary – that incites David to take the census.) It’s not really clear at this point why taking a census would be an act of retribution against Israel, and it only gets more confusing. After taking the census, David feels regret for doing so, and apologizes to Yahweh, even though it was him who asked for the census in the first place. 2 Samuel 24:10:

And David was smitten with remorse afterward for having counted the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have offended greatly in what I have done. And now, LORD, remit the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish.”

Yahweh gives David three choices: three years of famine, three months of military defeats, or three days of plague. David doesn’t answer directly, so Yahweh sends a plague upon the people of Israel because of the census, killing 72,000 Israelites, or more than 1 out of 20.

Ignoring the fact that Yahweh is punishing the people for something he himself commanded, it’s not really clear why taking a census would risk a calamity such as a famine or a plague. Some scholars say that performing such a count shows a mistrust in Yahweh’s almighty power, because Yahweh will provide what is needed regardless of the numbers. I don’t find this very convincing, because it assumes an all-powerful god, which we will talk about in the next installment. In his commentary on Exodus 30:12, Robert Alter claims that “it was a belief common to Israel and to the Mesopotamian cultures that it was dangerous for humans to be counted. Perhaps it was felt that assigning individuals in a mass an exact number set them up as vulnerable targets for malefic forces.” Unfortunately, he does not cite any sources for this.

The third instance of Yahweh commanding a census is found in Exodus 30. There is a reference to censuses leading to plagues here as well. Exodus 30:11-12:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “When you count heads for the Israelites according to their numbers, every man shall give ransom for his life to the LORD when they are counted, that there be no scourge among them when they are counted.”

What Alter translates as “scourge” here,נֶ֖גֶף (ne·ḡep̄), is commonly translated as “plague”. One reason for conducting a census would be to collect taxes, and Yahweh seems to be using the threat of a plague here as an excuse to do so. Exodus 30:13:

“This shall each who undergoes the count give: half a shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary – twenty gerahs to the shekel – half a shekel, a donation to the LORD. Whosoever undergoes the count from twenty years old and up shall give the LORD’s donation. The rich man shall not give more and the poor man shall not give less than half a shekel to atone for their lives.”

So much for progressive taxation! Offering up an atonement to Yahweh for performing a census can also be found in Numbers 31:48-54.

Of course, the other major reason to conduct a census is to determine how many troops you can muster. This is reflected in the above quote, when Yahweh instructs Moses to only count people 20 years old and older. Counting troops is made explicit in the two censuses Yahweh commands in Numbers. Numbers 1:2-3:

“Count the heads of all the community of the Israelites by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male by their heads. From twenty years old and up, everyone who goes out in the army of Israel, you shall reckon them by their battalions, you and Aaron.”

Nearly identical language is found in Numbers 26:2. Counting troops is an important activity for Yahweh, who is clearly a god of war, and the Old Testament – at least as far as I have gotten so far, through then end of Samuel 2 – is filled with battles and wars with the neighboring peoples and their gods. But again, if Yahweh was indeed omniscient, then he would not need Moses to count the troops.

In the Garden of Eden

I’m going to finish up this post with an example from the story of the Garden of Eden. Here, Adam and Eve have both just eaten the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They realize their nakedness, and when they hear Yahweh coming, they hide in the bushes. Genesis 3:9-12:

And the LORD God called to the human and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard Your sound in the garden and I was afraid, for I was naked, and I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? From the tree I commanded you not to eat have you eaten?”

If Yahweh was all-knowing, wouldn’t he know where Adam and Eve were? Why does he need to ask, “Where are you?” And why does he need to ask if they have eaten the fruit? Are these rhetorical questions? The “Where are you?” does not seem like a rhetorical question at all. Asking if they have eaten the fruit is plausibly a rhetorical question, but the leadup question, “Who told you that you were naked?” feels to me like Yahweh is just figuring out for himself what has happened.

You can believe in an all-knowing god, or God, if you like. It seems like a fairly reasonably thing to do. But conflating such a god with Yahweh, the god of the Old Testament, seems to surely be a mistake. In the next installment, we’ll see that Yahweh is also not omnipotent. Although an incredibly powerful figure by human standards, his power has limits. After this, we will get to probably the most important part of this series, and argue that Yahweh is not, by any means, a benevolent god.