Deuteronomy 32:8,9

[Thomas S]

Deuteronomy 32:8,9 (NASB)
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. “For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

Reading through this passage, ‘the Most High’ in verse 8 and ‘the Lord’ in verse 9, are they two different beings or the same entity/being. Looking at the Hebrew word ‘the Most High’ is “elyôn” and ‘the Lord’ is ‘Yehova’. So wondering whether “elyôn” and ‘Yehova’ the same being? I do not know Greek, but this is what I found the LXX translation

ὅτε διεμέριζεν ὁ ὕψιστος ἔθνη ὡς διέσπειρεν υἱοὺς Αδαμ ἔστησεν ὅρια ἐθνῶν κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ καὶ ἐγενήθη μερὶς κυρίου λαὸς αὐτοῦ Ιακωβ σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ισραηλ

Could someone who knows Hebrew/Greek can help me to understand this.

[Timothy]

In the LXX, “the Most High” is translated as ὁ ὕψιστος lit. “the highest.” That is, there is none higher. So IMO that must refer to the Father. In vs. 9, “Yahweh” is also the Father, his proper name. The LXX translators did not attempt to transliterate the personal name “Yahweh” as they did with other names. This was out of reverence for God’s name. Even today Jews will not pronounce God’s name out of fear of demoting it. The LXX translators used the common word κύριος “master” in the place of Yahweh in the same way that many English translations use LORD (in all caps) for the sacred name.

[Thomas S]

Thanks Tim.

The reason I asked is, recently watched a video where the person was trying to explain that ‘the Most High’ and ‘Yahweh’ are two different entities. ‘the Most High’ is the only supreme/sovereign God that Jesus Christ revealed in the NT, who is God the Father. According to him, ‘the Most High’ who is God the Father, and when Most High gave the nations their inheritance, ‘Yahweh’ (who is also a divine being) portion was Israel. That’s the reason neither Jesus nor His disciples ever used a name in the NT for supreme/sovereign God. He also mentioned a name is needed only when there is more than one entity for identification. Since there is only one sovereign God, there is no need for a name for the sovereign God. Also the characteristics/behavior of ‘Yahweh’ of OT and God the Father revealed by His Son in NT has drastic contrast. He pictured ‘Yahweh’ of OT as jealous and bloody, as he commanded for war, killing even women/children, his sword is covered with blood/fat, encountered failures etc. i.e like a cruel monarch with a thirst for blood. But God the Father of NT is a loving God who desires all to be saved , rain/shine on the just and unjust. Not sure whether anyone has heard this line of thought.

[Timothy]

Thar sounds very much like Gnosticism, which was a significant heresy in the 2nd century. The Nicolaitans, Cerinthus, and Marcion held that heresy.

[Thomas S]

okay, thanks. So this heresy is being held for centuries.

[Author]

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