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It is claimed that Almighty is a Trinity of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit in one God. What does the book of Judges tell us about Almighty God and the Trinity? Is the Trinity in the historical book of Judges? Surprisingly, there is a wealth of information in the Old Testament book of Judges that can help us to answer these questions.

THE BAALS

“The sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served [worshipped, marginal reading] the Baals” (Judges 2:11 LSB). Notice that they served/worshipped “the Baals“. We can’t help but note the similarities between “the Baals” and the Trinity. “The title ‘Baal,’ meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master’, belonged to a large number of Canaanite, Phoenician, and Syrian deities, including especially the storm god Hadad Baal, widely revered as lord of the earth” (NAB note). Each locality often had its own version of “Baal”, such as “Baal-berith” and “Baal-zebub” (Judges 8:33; 9:4; 2 Kings 1:2,3,6). Similarly, Trinitarians have their “God the Son” and “God the Holy Spirit”, in addition to the Biblical “God the Father”, all the while claiming they’re only one God. Trinitarians have largely eliminated God’s name “Yahweh” from their biased Bible translations, in lieu of the substitute generic titles “LORD” and “GOD”. What is especially interesting about Judges 2:11 is that most translations render the Hebrew as, ” . . . did what is evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals”. In other words, they ‘did what is evil in the eyes of the LORD, and served the Lord [Baal]’, which does make good sense. In their speech and writings, LORD & GOD are the terms usually used to describe Yahweh, and sometimes they even call Yahweh Jesus or Christ, all of which bears similarity to ancient pagan Baal worship. The sad thing is, they’ve sacrificed truth on the altar of their ‘false doctrine’ (1 Timothy 1:3).

SAVIORS

“Yahweh raised up a savior . . . Othniel” (Judges 3:9 LSB). 

“Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud” (Judges 3:15 LSB). Almighty God is shown to be the ultimate Savior in the Bible, but his saving power flows to humans through the Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Titus 3:4-6). Trinitarians claim that Jesus being called “savior” means he’s Almighty God. In this way they show that they’re ignorant of the fact that some men are also called saviors in the Old Testament, using the same Hebrew word Mohshia that is used of Yahweh at Isaiah 43:11. 

Therefore, being called savior doesn’t make some God.

THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH IS NOT JESUS, BUT REPRESENTS YAHWEH

Trinitarians sometimes claim that “the angel of Yahweh” was Jesus, the Son of God, or their so-called “God the Son“. However, Hebrews 1:7 proves that Jesus, the Son of God, is not an “angel”. Trinitarians also claim that Jesus, the Son of God, is Yahweh God himself. However, since “no one has ever seen God (1 John 4:12 NIV; Exodus 33:20), “the angel of Yahweh” could not be Yahweh. Notice now two accounts in Judges illustrating this:

“Then the angel of Yahweh came . . . Gideon was beating out wheat . . . the angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, ‘Yahweh is with you . . . ‘ Then Yahweh turned to him and said to him, ‘Go in this strength of yours . . . ‘ But he said to Him, ‘O [Yahweh (original reading)], with what shall I save Israel? . . . ‘ But Yahweh said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you . . . ‘ And the angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat . . . ‘ Then the angel of Yahweh put out the end of the staff . . . Then the angel of Yahweh went away . . . And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh, so he said, ‘Alas, O Lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.’ And Yahweh said to him, ‘Peace to you. Do not fear, you shall not die” (Judges 6:11,12,14-16,20-23 LSB). We can see from this account about Gideon speaking  to, and seeing, “the angel of Yahweh”, “the angel of God”, who had materialized. These descriptions are  used interchangeably with “Yahweh”, and indicate that the angel is representing Yahweh, but is not Yahweh himself. 

“Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that it was the angel of Yahweh. So Manoah said to his wife, ‘We will surely die, for we have seen God.’ But his wife said to him, ‘If Yahweh had desired to put us to death, he would not have accepted a burnt offering . . . ‘” (Judges 13:21-23 LSB). Manoah said they had “seen God”, but they actually saw a materialized angel representing Yahweh God, who is called “the angel of Yahweh” eight times in the context (Judges 13:9,13,15-18,20-21). We can easily see this from Judges 13:20, “the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar” (LSB), as he dematerialized back into the spirit world. 

YAHWEH EMBEDDED IN A NAME

Trinitarians claim that Jesus being given the title-name “Emmanuel”, meaning “God is with us”, means that Jesus is Almighty God (Matthew 1:23). God’s angel said the child Jesus that was to be born would be called “Emmanuel” – meaning, “God is with us”, but that does not mean Jesus is God. Why? The meanings of many Jewish names include “Yahweh” or “God.” For example:

“Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and named it ‘Yahweh is Peace’ (Judges 6:24 LSB). Gideon named the altar that he had built, “Yahweh is Peace”, but that altar obviously wasn’t Yahweh.

 As we can easily see, the name of Yahweh embedded within a place-name, obviously doesn’t mean that place is Yahweh. This helps us to understand that one of Jesus’ title names, Immanuel, or Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), doesn’t mean he’s God.

Without Jesus being God, there is no Trinity in Judges.

ELOHIM

“Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God has taken possession of before us, we will possess it” (Judges 11:24 LSB). This scripture kills the Trinitarian assertion that “Elohim” means the Trinity (Genesis 1:1,26). Why? The Hebrew word “elohim”, which used twice in Judges 11:24, is translated “God,” which is the plural of “El,” so it is asserted that “Elohim” stands for the Trinity when it applies to Yahweh. Since, however, the Hebrew “Elohim” is also used for excellence or majesty, and, in the Bible, often is used for the Almighty God, Yahweh. However, Trinitarians seem to be oblivious to the fact that singular pagan gods, such as Chemosh, described as “Chemosh your god [Elohim]” (above), are referred to in the Hebrew text with the title “Elohim”. So the use of “Elohim” does not guarantee that the “God” referred to is plural. The Biblical Almighty God is a singular God, according to the Bible. Notice: “Yahweh is our God. Yahweh in one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4 LSB).  The Hebrew word for “one” used in Dt 6:4 is “echad”, the numeral “one”. Jesus quoted this by saying, “YAHWEH OUR GOD IS ONE YAHWEH” (Mark 12:29 LSB margin). The Greek word for “one” used here is “heis”, the numeral “one”. “God is only one” (Galatians 3:20 NASB). “There is no God but one . . . for us there is but one God” (1 Corinthians 8:4,6). Even if “Elohim” had been used in its plural sense to apply to Yahweh in Judges 11:24, there is nothing to indicate a threesome. Thus, Trinitarians simply imagine the Triune God right into the Biblical text. and never stop to really think it through. There isn’t even one single aspect of the Trinity dogma in this context, i.e., nothing about three being God, or Almighty, or eternal, or equal, or of three being of one “substance”, “essence”, or “being”, etc. There’s simply nothing in the text to even hint at three of anything.

Without three persons in one God, there is no Trinity in Judges.

THE SPIRIT OF YAHWEH IS NOT A PERSON

“The woman gave birth to a son . . . Samson, and the child grew up and Yahweh blessed him, And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir in him” (Judges 13:25 LSB). “A young lion came roaring toward him, And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him mightily, so that he tore it as one tears a young goat” (Judges 14:6 LSB). “The Spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon” (Judges 6:34 LSB). Trinitarians claim the holy Spirit is the “third person” of their Triune God. However, these descriptions of “the spirit of the LORD” (Judges 6:34; 13:25; 14:6) ‘clothing’, ‘stirring’, and ‘coming upon’ Yahweh God’s servants are not indicative of a person, but of God’s “power” coming upon Samson to accomplish supernatural feats (Acts 1:8).

Without any personhood of  “the Spirit of Yahweh”, “Yahweh’s Spirit”, there is no Trinity of God in Judges!