THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN - Tyndale House

70 TYNDALE BULLETIN
III. THE IMAGE OF GOD: PHILOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
We must look afresh at the precise way in which the image
doctrine is expressed, and consider whether the usual translation
of the text is justifiable.
I. It is clear that the key term is םֶלֶצ ‘image’; the word תּ ומּד
‘likeness’ has an explanatory significance but is not essential to
the concept, for it does not need to be repeated after 'in his
image', 'in the, image of God'. 80 It cannot be denied that the
most natural meaning for the phrase םיִהֹלֶא םֶלֶצְּב
is 'in the
image of God', that is, that God has an image, and that man is
created in conformity with this image. The beth in םֶלֶצְּב
is then
a beth of the norm, 81 and the word is to be translated 'according
(to the pattern, or model, of our image'. Such an image would
normally, speaking from the point of view of Ancient Near
Eastern thought, be conceived of as (a) a physical form, but we
can also examine the possibility that the image is to be understood
metaphorically as (b) a spiritual quality or character.
(a) Has God an 'image', then, in this sense, according to the
Old Testament? 82 There is no denying that God is recurrently
spoken of in the Old Testament as if He were a man: parts of
the human body, such as hands, eyes, ears, were attributed to
Him, as also physical actions such as laughing, smelling,
whistling; He was also spoken of as feeling the emotions of
hatred, anger, joy, regret. 83 Such anthropomorphisms cannot
easily be dismissed as merely metaphors, 84 since everywhere else
in the Ancient Near East these terms were understood to be
literally true of the gods, and it is difficult to believe that Israel
would have run the risk to faith of using such terminology if
she had believed that Yahweh was pure spirit, without parts
or passions. Nevertheless, it is significant that the anthropomorphisms
used of Yahweh in the Old Testament do not
enable us to construct an identi-kit picture of Yahweh’s physical
appearance, 85 as is the case, for example, with Greek deities
80
Cf. also Gn. 9:6, where םלצ alone is used. On 5:1, see below, n. 117.
81
So e.g. H. Gunkel, Genesis 111; W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament
II 122 n. 6.
82
'Israel conceived even Jahweh himself as having human form' (G. von Rad,
Old Testament Theology II 145); so also L. Koehler, TZ 4 (1948) 19.
83
Cf. W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament I 211.
84
As is done by H. H. Rowley, The Faith of Israel 75.
85
Even Dn. 7:9 is somewhat reticent (H. Wildberger, TZ 21 (1965) 248
n. 15). If W. Herrmann (‘Gedanken zur Geschichte des altorientalischen Beschreibungsliedes',
ZAW 75 (1963) 176-197) is correct in identifying the existence in