I was just thinking about Elohim last night, and as far as the Bible is concerned there are three uses of it, which are determined by the context of the surrounding verses.
Elohim = a title of Yahweh as God, and deity of existence: IE: The one true god.
Elohim = judges, magistrates, the civic, and theocratic rulers of Israel.
Elohim = gods, the plural form of eloah; like when Israel in the desert asked Aaron to make them elohim to worship - "Make us gods to worship".
As far as why Elohim "The Majestic Plural" is used for God who is one entity, I asked God about this in prayer and this thought came up which you may take as you will.
"God manifests his presence in many ways, even though he is One"
There is one God, and many ways in which he has appeared in the true sense of his presence; basically, he appears in many ways, but not in the way that Baha'i and alot of new-age people like to teach. He didn't come in Buddha, or other religion's patriarchs. As far as human incarnation Jesus alone is the only begotten son of God, and he alone is
The Image (in and by his own root nature) of the invisible God, and he alone God is incarnate.
But, that aside; Elohim to me seems to speak of the one God appearing through plural means. He has appeared as a burning bush, the Angel of the Lord, a pillar of fire and cloud, his shekinah glory, as the Son of Man in Ezekiel's vision, and before Daniel, and before his friends in the furnace, his presence on the Ark of the Covenant, the still small voice, the Holy Spirit, Jesus the image of God, the smoke pot and the flaming torch in the covenant with Abraham, the hand who wrote on the wall in Babylon, etc.
All of these are plural, multiple, different, and unique ways in which the God has appeared to us; The capstone and most glorious of these being in, through, and as Jesus Christ the Messiah.
Atleast, that is what I got when I asked about the plural use of Elohim to describe the one God.
