It is.
But what's even better is aiming to know them well, or at least well enough to avoid making certain mistakes. However, it is much more convenient just to obtain a basic working knowledge of the languages, amass a practical vocabulary, and embark on a crusade - casting light on mysterious issues, debunking those who need debunked, and...
running into problems.
Like the one we'll give some thought to today. Most everyone is familiar with the term "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים) and know it as an Old Testament name for God. Simple enough. What's slightly less known (although it is known) is that Elohim is also used for false gods, such as in Exodus 12:12, Judges 2:3, 2:12 (used both for the true God and the not-so-true gods in the same verse), and 3:3 for example. So, אֱלֹהִים can mean more than just "God". That being the case, who's to say that Genesis 1:1, for example, shouldn't be translated "in the beginning gods created the heavens and the earth" or maybe "in the beginning mysterious cosmic beings created the heavens and the earth" or something else, since אֱלֹהִים is in fact used there?
Well, I know, I know, this is something you have to deal with day after day. No doubt you've lost countless hours of sleep trying resolve this issue and regain some resemblance of phsyco-theological stability. After all, אֱלֹהִים can mean those things, and אֱלֹהִים is used in Genesis 1:1 - so how do I know?
Well, since those arguments appeal to the original Hebrew, let's do the same. We must remember that the text of Scripture is not only composed of a bunch of individual words, but those words are mutually bound and swayed by rules of grammar. Such is the overlooked (or unknown) issue at hand with this matter.
We will begin by remembering that a noun (person, place, thing, idea) can be either singular or plural (e.g. "house" vs. "houses"). Elohim then, being a noun, also falls into one of the two general categories - and we find it to be plural (the "im" ending tells us that much). That's why it can be translated as gods rather than God (in the latter case the plural is honorific, not numerical).
Fair enough. Going on then, there is another aspect of this that is not evident in the English, and it is that verbs too, like nouns, can also be either plural or singular in Hebrew. So basically, a different form of "ran" would be used for "he ran" than what would be used for "they ran", the former being used with a singular noun and the latter with a plural one. Hence, the verbs would match the nouns: singular for singular, and plural for plural. Obviously, we don't bother with that in English, at least not in most cases (note that "r-a-n" was used in both examples above). However, Hebrew does make this distinction...with a few exceptions.
For example, אֱלֹהִים.
When אֱלֹהִים refers to "gods", the verb used along with it will also be plural, matching the number of the noun אֱלֹהִים. For example, Judges 5:8 says "New gods were chosen". אֱלֹהִים is used for "gods", and the verb "chosen" is plural, matching in number and therefore divulging that the true God is not in view here, but false gods are.
On the other hand, Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". אֱלֹהִים is also used here, but the verb "created" is singular in form, not plural. Therefore, the true God is being spoken of, not false deities, prophets, angels, semi-human god-like beings, or whatever else someone might dream up to put there. This nuance is not morphologically clear in English (i.e you can't tell that "created" is singular from the forms of the words in your English Bible), but it is clear in the original language.
That's it. That's the answer. It's just another example of the difference between knowing a Hebrew or Greek vocabulary, and actually knowing Hebrew or Greek. Another significant example of this is the rather unfair but emotionally evocative exaggeration of the Greek word "agape". However, that issue will be reserved for another post at another time.
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It may be observed that a plural adjective/verb can be used with אֱלֹהִים in apparent reference to the true God (as in I Samuel 17:26, 36), but we should be careful to note that in Genesis 1:1 we have a plural/singular relationship, not plural/plural. Thus, it is not dismissed from referring to the true God by the exception to the exception just discussed. (HALOT vol. 1 pg. 53 ignore this, it's for me)
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