GOBLET (gohlOt), (Heb. ag-gawn.), a trough or receptacle for washing garments; thus any laver, basin, bowl (Cant. vii:2; comp. Exod. xxiv:6,"basin;" Is. xxii:24, "cup"). In form and material the goblet was probably like those found in the Egyptian ruins, of silver, gold, bronze, por celain and sometimes of wood.
GOD (god).
1. Names of God. The two principal Hebrew names of the Supreme Being (St. Jerome and the Rabbit's enumerate ten, but they belong rather to his attributes) used in the Scriptures are 7,47, yeh ho-vene. Jehovah, and Elohim.
Dr. Havernick proposes the reading Jahveh, instead of "4"„ Jehovah, meaning 'the existing one,' while lie derives Elohim from an ancient Hebrew root, t;')N, id, now unused and thinks that the plural is used merely to indicate the ance and super-richness existing in the Divine Being.
(1) Use of Names in Pentateuch. Both names, he admirably' proves, are used by, Moses discriminately, in strict conformity with the the ological idea he wished to express in the immedi ate context; and, pursuing the Pentateuch nearly line by line, it is astonishing to sec that Moses never uses any of the names at mere random or arbitrarily, but is throughout consistent in the application of the respective terms. (See GENESIS.) E10/1iM is the abstract expression for absolute Doily apart from the special notions of unity, holiness, substance, etc. It is more a philosoph ical than devotional term, and corresponds with our term Deity, in the same way as state or gov ernment is abstractedly, expressive of a king or monarch. Jehovah, however, he considers to be the revealed Elohim, the Manifest, Only, Per sonal, and Holy Elohini: Elohim is the Creator, Jehovah the Redeemer, etc.
(2) Later Writers. To Elohim, in the later writers, we usually find affixed the adjective Ve'D, elm-yinz', 'the living' ( Jer. x:to ; Dan. vi:2o, 26; Acts XiV:15; 2 Col% vi:z6), probably in con tradistinction to idols, which might be con founded in some cases with the true '..;od, the linguistical difference in the Hebrew existing only in the plural, the former being called Elilim instead of Elohini (Lev. xix:14; xxvi:t; Hab.
18). In the Anglo Saxon, God means good.
2. The Name Defined. "The true and genuine idea of God in general is this—a perfect conscious understanding being (or mind), exist ing of itself from eternity, and the cause of all other things.
"The true and proper idea of God, in its most contracted form, is this—a being absolutely per fect ; for this is that alone to which necessary ex istence is essential, and of which it is demon strable." "I define God thus--an essence or being, fully and absolutely perfect. I say fully and abso lutely perfect, in contradistinction to such perfec tion as is not full and absolute, but the perfec tion of this or that species or kind of finite be ings, suppose a lion, horse, or tree. But to be fully and absolutely perfect, is to be at least, as perfect as the apprehension of a man can conceive without a contradiction." (Cudworth, Intel& Syst.) 3. The KnoWledge of God. As to man's knowledge of God two questions have been the subjects of much controversy: the first relating to the possibility of true knowledge of the Divine Being, the second the source or method of such knowledge.
(1) Can God Be Known? The Scriptures de clare that God is incomprehensible (see Job xi:7; xxi :14 ; xxxvi :26 ; Ps. lxxvii:14; Rom. xi :33)• Perfect or complete knowledge of God is not at tainable by man. But equally true it is that the scriptures represent God as revealing hiinself to man, and that a sufficient' though limited measure of true knowledge of God is put within the reach of human beings. The important distinction to be maintained at this point is that between partial and perfect knowledge. We cannot comprehend God, and yet we can truly apprehend or know him. Our blessedness, our eternal life even, is in such knowledge (see Matt. xii:28; John xvii:3; Rom. 1:19, 20; Eph. i:17; COI. 1.10; John v:2o). (Barnes, Bib. Dia.) (2) Regarding the Source of Knowledge of God, whether innate or acquired, Locke's argu ments are of great value.