John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – Episode 9, Two Yahwehs

“…and the Word was with God…” (John 1:1b)

Can God be with God?  John’s assertion is strongly hinted at in the Old Testament, especially in the appearances of the Angel or Messenger of Yahweh.

Nowhere is this more clear than in Genesis 18 and 19. Abraham is visited by three men:

And Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. (Genesis 18:1–3)

One of the three “men” is Yahweh, the other two, we learn soon, are angels. Abraham seems to recognize that Yahweh is visiting him, and he addresses Yahweh as Lord, in the Hebrew, adonai (lord, master). When Yahweh tells Abraham that He is going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham questions if He will destroy these communities if they have righteous people in them and Yahweh says that even if they have 10 righteous people in them He will not destroy them. But the only righteous among them are Lot and his family, less than 10. So Yahweh sends the two angels to evacuate Lot and his family from Sodom before the coming judgment, and Yahweh goes and stands overlooking these two cities and brings judgment.

Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. Yahweh said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of Yahweh by doing righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” Then Yahweh said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” (Genesis 18:16–21)

And Yahweh went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. (Genesis 18:33)

Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of heaven. (Genesis 19:24)

There is the Yahweh who has visited Abraham, the Yahweh who has been accompanied by two angels, all of them appearing in human form, come to judge the twin cities of the plain. And there is Yahweh in heaven. Yahweh on earth rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from Yahweh in heaven. His investigation is complete, Lot rescued from the city, and Yahweh on earth authorizes sulfur and fire from Yahweh in heaven.

It seems there is a Yahweh who interacts with people on earth and a Yahweh who is in heaven, the former personage usually designated the Angel or Messenger of Yahweh (or, as in Genesis 31:9-13, the Angel of God). Two Yahwehs.  God with God.