Let us repeat what Rev. Tony Costa claimed, “It is a categorical fallacy to compare biblical Hebrew with modern usage of languages and their idioms. The ancient Hebrews had no concept of a plurality of majesty.”

The Theological Workbook of the Old Testament says,

This word [elohim], which is generally viewed as the plural of eloah [Strong's #433], is found far more frequently in Scripture than either el or eloah for the true God. The plural ending is usually described as a plural of majesty and not intended as a true plural when used of God. This is seen in the fact that the noun elohim is consistently used with singular verb forms and with adjectives and pronouns in the singular. [4]

The New International Version Study Bible tells us,

“God created. The Hebrew noun Elohim is plural but the verb is singular, a normal usage in the OT when reference is to the one true God. This use of the plural expresses intensification rather than number and has been called the plural of majesty, or of potentiality.” [5]

Mercer Dictionary of the Bible states,

“The plural Elohim is used frequently, a phenomenon sometimes called the majestic plural. Although the form is plural the one referred to or who is speaking is singular.” [6]

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states,

“The Divine name (’Elohim) most frequently used in the Old Testament, a plural form of Eloah, which appears only in poetical books (34 of the 57 times in Job alone). The form Elohim, when used of the God of Israel, is a plural of majesty, signifying the one God who embodies in Himself all the qualities of divinity, and is almost always accompanied by singular verbs and adjectives.” [7]

HarperCollins’ Bible Dictionary says,

“Elohim is one of the three common generic names for God in the OT, occuring almost 2600 times. The term is a plural, probably of El or Eloah, hebrew words for “god”, and on occassions means “gods” (e.g. Exod. 20:3). Most often it is a plural of majesty for israel’s “God” (e.g. , Gen. 1:1) and thus is translated in the singular.” [8]

In fact many other scholars agree with the above [9].

Rev. Tony Costa claimed that, “This notion arose much later out of the monarchial system in Western Europe.” Even if we were to concede for the sake of argument that the concept does not exist in Hebrew he would still be wrong since Richard Toporoski at least traces it back to Diocletion in 284-305.[10] However, despite Rev. Tony Costa’s misgivings the concept can actually be traced back to the Jewish scripture as we have seen in the discussions on the proof texts adduced and the statements of the scholars.

Nevertheless the euridite Hebrew scholar Wilhelm Gesenius tells us categorically,

That the language has entirely rejected the idea of numerical plurality in אֱלֹהִים‎ (whenever it denotes one God), is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute (cf. § 132 h), e.g. אֱלֹהִים צַדִּיק‎ Ps 7:10, &c. [11]

Thus Elohim can only mean one, singular deity(with no multiplicity). Let us continue to look at a few more cases for the occurences of the masculine plural ending to solidify our position further by God’s will.