Israel and Humanity - Traces of the knowledge of God among the Gentiles

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II.

Traces of the knowledge of God among the Gentiles.

The universal double Dudan God of the Bible appears in the dual conception of the world's creation and humanity, as also in the fact that, according to the book of Genesis, the true God was, for a longer or shorter, adored by all men. But after introduction of polytheism, the true knowledge of God has not disappeared so completely from the Gentiles than he traces remained and that is what the Bible explicitly recognizes.

While the narrowness of the first geographical backgrounds, prejudices, antipathies national pride that Israel could inspire its location, everything should aim to limit Jewish-only knowledge of the true God to them, the truth the light of the pure religion to the Gentiles instead of idolatry or unbelief and with them the error and moral darkness. If he has not been so, it is obvious that the idea of universal God is part of the Jewish faith, and so can be separated. Let us follow the footsteps of the knowledge of God outside of Israel, according to the evidence we provide the Scriptures. We see that Lot, speaking to his sons who were pagans, speaks of the Lord (Tetragrammaton): "The Lord said he will destroy the city [1] "When God appears in a dream to Abimelech, this one called the name of Adonai:" Adonai, would you kill even a righteous nation? [2] "and yet is so fundamentally polytheistic Abimelech that Abraham, the apostle of monotheism, feels the need to use it with language that appears to be a denial of his beliefs by speaking of gods and their conduct her: "I thought there was probably no [3] fear of gods (Elohim) in this country ... When (the) gods (Elohim) caused me to wander away from the house of my father .... [4] "What is it that Abimelech monotheism and polytheism side expressions of Abraham? The roles are reversed they? Paganism and Judaism are all a step towards each other, to reconcile this conception which, as we shall see, one of the best part of the Gentiles: a Supreme God and lesser gods below him. But the difference between believing Jews and Gentiles of that lies in the fact that Israel saw in so many of these lesser gods divine attributes, aspects of which only one God was worshiped, while among the heathen, worship was provided for those with various forms under which it envisaged the Deity. We later find a similar contrast between Christianity and Kabbalah Hebrew which he is very fair to say that Christian doctrine is Release in the double sense of the word, first because it ' Kabbalah is really who gave birth, and also because it has significantly departed from the teachings she had received. In fact, Christianity in the doctrine of the Trinity has transformed into different people what was that for the Kabbalists of the divine attributes.

Jewish monotheism was known among the Gentiles in the sense that seems to specifically respond better to the ideal of religion coming to the Aryan peoples, that of a Pan-monotheism, because the system of one supreme God and forces Subordinate deities is nothing else than that. The true knowledge of God as reflected in the words of Abimelech was not lost on commentators: "What was, asked with surprise Mr. Cahen, the religion of the king who hates adultery and which the true God is communicated in a dream? The true knowledge of God she was widespread in the lands of Canaan? Is it for this reason that God calls Abraham to go there? [5] The answer to this last question is entirely in the fertilization of the monotheistic faith by contact with Gentiles, as we have said previously.

In another passage from Genesis, a pagan, Laban said to another pagan, Eliezer: "Come, blessed of the Lord (Tetragrammaton)! [6] why you would stay outside? "[7]. And later Laban and Bethuel cried together: "It's the Lord that the thing comes, we have nothing to say" [8]

Jethro's words are very remarkable: "Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and the hand of Pharaoh ... Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods "[9] can see, it is true, this confession of faith, a result of the teachings of Moses or simply the recognition of God as the Tetragrammaton national God of the Hebrews. But if we consider the role that the Bible truly exceptional assigns the stepfather of Moses, since it makes him a close adviser of the latter and the inspiration of its laws, it is unlikely that such consideration is given a single idolater, a priest of the false gods. It must necessarily admit that Jethro had come to recognize that the supreme God whom he adored now, was the God of Israel and that this nation was intended for high office in the world.

Still, the two greatest figures of Judaism, Abraham and Moses, were found in intimate contact with two pagan priests, Abraham receives the blessing of Melchizedek, and Moses married Jethro's daughter and accepting the spiritual guidance latter. In both cases, the Gentiles, or, rather, the humanity that gives the priestly investiture Israel.

The name of Jethro reminds us that Balaam, because one and one tradition says, and Job lived in Pharaoh's court. The influence of these two friendly is therefore connected to Egypt which is, in the words of the Bible, the "crucible of iron" which was worked Judaism. But no one can deny that the name of the God of Israel was familiar to Balaam. "I could not anything great or small," he replied to the messengers of Balak, against the order of the Lord (Tetragrammaton), my God "[10] Not only calls the Lord his God, but the idea he form is so pure and sublime that has ever been victorious against its definition to those who were inclined to take literally the biblical anthropomorphisms. "God is not a man [11] lie, nor a son of man to repent. What he said will do does not it? What he said, did he carry it? "[12] The divine immutability implies that proclaims so high a conception of the nature of God that excludes a fortiori the needs and feelings all humans that the Bible in many places seems to attribute to God. Having inserted the words of Balaam proves that in the eyes of these words the sacred writer expressed a blameless doctrine that does not contradict the passages anthropomorphic wisely interpreted. In addition, the cult of Balaam which requires seven altars, seven bulls and seven rams [13] reveals an exact knowledge of where patriarchal and Mosaic observances, or at least such compliance with them, it is important to recognize their common origin.

This cult that Balaam address Avaya [14] forces us to ask whether the Tetragrammaton was known outside Israel. We have no difficulty in admitting that the name is found in its contracted form in many proper names Phoenician or Canaanite. Rashi in his commentary on the words of the Kaddish : "His great name be blessed! [15] said that if these words are in Aramaic, is that they refer to the Tetragrammaton, which is itself Aramaic. Scientists have recognized this as Burnouf origin and Babylonian inscriptions have appeared to confirm their deductions. Certainly the language of the patriarchs was Aramaic and Hebrew, has long since become the national language of the Jews, Isaiah is called by the language of Canaan [16] The Kabbalists say that, as Bathsheba had belonged to Uriah the Hittite, before becoming the wife of David, even the Hebrew language, before becoming the sacred language must belong to the people most impious. This is another example of how Israel assimilates the loans he made to paganism and Judaism that this ascent is everywhere, [17] in the life and history and by which lower levels things ascend to higher tiers. Other scholars, like Laud, Hartmann, Colenso argued that the cult of Avaya, found by the Israelites in Canaan, was one of the autumn sun and after having shared this cult for some time, the Hebrew people eventually merging it with the national god El Shaddai . The existence of other media, names more or less similar as the Ve-jovi found in Etruria, the Ju-piter of the Romans, the < i> Joh </i> of the Egyptians, which meant the moon, can not be derived from the language of a people also profoundly polytheistic a name meaning as logically monotheistic, but what is certain in hypothesis of these authors is the knowledge of the name in question also that among the Hebrews.

The rabbis said that although the response of Pharaoh to Moses and Aaron: "Who is the Lord (Tetragrammaton), that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? [18] "proves that the God of Israel was then known in Egypt by the name of Elohim and not under Avaya, but we see another sovereign country, Necho, to distinguish exactly the particular value of these two names, when after Jochaz dethroned king of Judah, he put in his, his brother Eliakim up changing his name to Jehoiakim [19]

Greek writers also know Jaoui or Jao . "Jao, Diodorus of Sicily, is the god of the Jews." It is likely that the author, reflecting the Tetragrammaton, followed the custom of the pagans, who, as they spoke of things Jewish, they usually gave the names of their own religious vocabulary that best represents the Hebrew words. Thus Plutarch example, because a simple analogy ceremonial, has called the God of the Jews by the name of Dionysus. One should also remember that the first three letters of Tetragrammaton are precisely the Jao Diodorus of Sicily, and if the word does not appear in Scripture as an appellation detached, we know that However, in the composition between several names, as Jeojakim that we cited earlier, Jeoachaz, Jeonadab etc.. [20] Finally , one of the most interesting texts is that of the oracle of Apollo at Claros collected by Macrobius and from which Jao is designated as the greatest of all gods, the supreme deity The sun god considered under four sides which are the four seasons. Here is the text of question: "Those who understand mysteries to hide things inaccessible. But if you have little capacity and little understanding, considers Jao is the head of all gods. In winter, Hades at the beginning of spring, Zeus in summer, Helios and in the fall, the tender Jao < i> ".

There is therefore no surprise to the opinion of R. Joseph d'Orleans, in his commentary on the Pentateuch, said that if there are three names of God in the form of <i> Schema is to not give rise to claims of the Gentiles because "if we had simply said: Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one, every nation would claimed he was his own god, while in adding: Our God, we show that it is the God of Israel [21] "

Let us now, according to the Bible, traces of this August name among the Gentiles.

Achish, king of Gath, made an oath to David in the terms used by a faithful Jew: "The Lord is alive! you are a human right, etc.. I Sam [22] ". Later we see Huram king of Tyre and friend of Solomon said in his letter to him: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth [23] ". The God of Israel is here recognized as the universal God, further evidence that these two characters do not seem incompatible with pagan expressed here. Whatever the degree of authenticity that we want to give Chronicles We just have to set this text, first that the idea of the God of Israel and its relations with humanity, which prevailed in ancient Judaism has the character of universality that we affirm and, secondly that this idea was not entirely foreign to the Gentiles.

Not just the God of Israel was known in the Gentile world, but the Bible we report the existence of a legitimate priesthood [24] of this universal God. She describes Melchizedek as "priest of God Most High" Genesis [25]. The city of Salem with the pontiff was the King is probably Jerusalem, also called Salem in the Psalms. Note that the kings of the Holy City has always held the title of Melchizedek or Adonisédek and the ruler of the future Jerusalem will be called, "said Jeremiah Sidkénou-Adonai (the Lord our righteousness) [26]. Is it not remarkable that the center of worship of the true God was established in Jerusalem had once ruled the cult of Melchizedek? The choice of this city as a religious center and Israeli policy, the seat of Jewish monotheism set in place previously held by the worship of the Gentiles, and that without the founder of Mosaic or its editors sacred writings, what that They are, moreover, have felt no reluctance, what argument in favor of Jewish universalism!

And what is this "God Almighty" that Melchizedek is the priest? Without a doubt it is that Abraham loves in this instance is that of Moses who tells the story, the God of Israel that the writers of all time designated by the same name. So does it seem that Moses called the God of intentionally and Gentiles in this passage from Deuteronomy: "When the Most High [27] gave the nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the boundaries of peoples according to the number of children of Israel [28] "? Similarly in Psalm LXXXII, 6: "I said you are gods, you're all son of the Most High [29]".

The dignity with which Melchizedek is covered is so high and legitimate Abraham, however, honored the divine revelations and acknowledges that it offers the tithe to the priest which he receives the blessing. We see that, according to the rabbis, Abraham has even received Melchizedek, as we said above, the priestly consecration. And certainly, which deserved better then the universal priesthood and one who placed the dignity of humanity above the particular glory of his race!

The patriarchs themselves were not afraid to speak the oracles of the Gentiles, as is the case for Rebecca, which in [30] an environment exclusively pagan went, "consult the Lord [31] ". And if the patriarchs pay tribute to these oracles in the consultant, Moses guarantee the truthfulness, when he adds the following verse: "And the Lord said: Two nations, etc.. . Besides, from what the Bible tells Abimelech, Laban, Pharaoh, etc.. We thugs we formally admitted that the pagans were the object of divine manifestations and seers of Israel announced the end of time, visions and revelations are common to all mankind: "After this I will pour my spirit upon all flesh [32]", which shows that for Judaism, Universalism foreshadowed by the origins of humanity is the ultimate goal to which it aspires.

References

  1. Genesis xix, 14.
  2. Ibid, XX, 4.
  3. Page 102
  4. Ibid, XX, 11, 13. התעו The verb is plural.
  5. Bible, trans., Vol. I, p.54
  6. Page 103
  7. Genesis XXIV, 31.
  8. Ibid. XXXIV, 50.
  9. Exodus, xviii, 10, 11.
  10. Numbers xxii, 18.
  11. Page 104
  12. Numbers, XXIII, 1.
  13. Ibid. Xxxiii, 19.
  14. The author, after the religious requirement not to pronounce the true name of God and the custom of the rabbis of the Talmud indicates Avaya (derived from the verb be ), the tetragrammaton name of God - YKVK - that according to the vowels of the Masoretic text, most often one reads Adonai sometimes Elohim , that the free criticism bed </i> nnnnnn </i> or otherwise, and that is usually translated LORD or even Lord. (Editor's note).
  15. יהא שמה רבה מברך
  16. Chap. XIX, V, 18.
  17. Page 105
  18. Exodus, V. 2.
  19. II Chronicles, XXXVI, 4.
  20. Page 106
  21. It is in this portion of verse 4 of the sixth chapter. Deuteronomy is now, as we know, the profession of Jewish faith.
  22. XXIX, 6
  23. II Chron. Ii, 12.
  24. Page 107
  25. Jeremiah, XXIII, 6.
  26. Literally: when Elion - עליון - gave.
  27. Deuteronomy, XXXII, 8
  28. Literally: Son of Elion, ובני עליון כלכם
  29. Page 108
  30. Genesis xxv, 22.
  31. Joel II, 28