Israel and Humanity - An examination of some texts establishing the doctrine Isaiah and Daniel

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§ 2.

ISAIAH AND DANIEL.

We find in Isaiah a passage reminiscent of Exodus quoted: "In those days the LORD will punish the army of the sky above and the kings of the earth beneath" [1]. What this army on high (צבא המרום) that God punishes the same time it hits the kings of the earth, otherwise sarim president in the sky over the destinies of that govern the sovereign people in this world? The next verse confirms this interpretation, he announced [2] to bare the humiliation of the sun and moon, the two main objects of worship of pagan antiquity: "The moon will be covered with shame and the sun of confusion, because the Lord Sabaoth will reign on Mount Zion and Jerusalem resplendent glory in the presence of his former "[3]. The text of Isaiah shows therefore the one hand, the existence of sarim , principalities celestial attendants in the government of nations and the crowd loved his cult astrolatric and, secondly, the supreme court of the one God who punishes both these angelic powers and the people entrusted to their care.

Two other passages of the book are no less instructive in this regard: "Avaya is mounted on a swift cloud, he comes to Egypt, and the false gods [4] of Egypt tremble before him and the heart of the Egyptians faints [5] As the first shots are of divine vengeance for the gods and the people who love them is then struck in turn. Chapter XXXIV <super> th </super> we see the grandiose image describes the punishment of El ohieme : "The whole army of heaven shall be dissolved, the heavens are rolled up like a scroll and their whole army falls, as falls the leaf of the vine, like the tomb of the fig. For My sword is satiated in heaven "[6]. This text can be compared to that of Psalms that spoke in very clear terms of lowering of angels or sarim : "I said, 'You are El- ohieme , you're all son of Elion, but you shall die like men, you fall like any of sarim "[7]

The book of Daniel is certainly the richest in terms of explicit sarim , but the evidence we have already provided the pre-existence of this doctrine can not believe, as some critics would, it is a novelty in this work, a foreign import. The subject of the book, which deals with the rise and fall of empires, sufficiently explains the development given to the theory at hand. While we do not deny that for the evolution of religious ideas through the action of laws and events set [8] by Divine Providence, we support only developments that, like organic beings leaves intact the individuality.

Here are the remains in question. In Chapter X <super> th </super> the angel said to Daniel: "The sar of the Persian kingdom resisted me for twenty-one days, but here, Michael, the One of the main sarim , came to my rescue and I remained there with the kings of Persia "[9]. And a few verses later the same angel continued: "Do you know why I came to you? Now I return to fight sar of Persia, and left me, sar of Greece will come. But I want you to know what is written in the book of truth: Nobody comes to my aid against these, except Michael, your sar . And me, the first year of Darius the Mede, I was with him for help and support "[10]. And Chapter XII <super> th </super> we read: "By that time Michael will arise, the great sar , the defender of your people" [11]

All sarim by entering the scene as well-known characters fighting each other and therefore contracted alliances, What if the fighting symbol of the struggle of forces of opposite principles, the ancient Greek philosophy regarded as one of the universal laws of life? We can approach these texts from Daniel, who talk of conflict of jurisdiction between sarim , other passages of Scripture, the Book of Kings, for example where Micah about the expedition cons Ramoth in Gilead, said he saw the Lord sitting on his throne and "all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right and left" [12]. A discussion having arisen between the heavenly spirits on how to seduce Ahab, they said, the text says "one one way and another said" [13]. The prologue to the book of Job: "The El-ohieme bene came one day appear before Avaya, and Satan came also among them" [14] and the beginning of LXXXII <super> th </super> Psalm: "God (El- ohieme ) stands in the divine assembly [15] He judges among the El- ohieme , also offer striking analogies with these texts. [16] Perhaps these quotes do they make more intelligible the various passages cited in a previous chapter, where God, speaking in the plural, seems deliberate and seek cooperation: "Let us make man in our image ... Here the man is become as one of us ... Come go down and there confuse their language ... "

The rabbis, by studying these verses are often given an interpretation which confirms our view in the gods, angels or sarim , the divine attributes personified. So they tell us about the first of these passages, that Charity and Truth consulted on whether to create Adam answered, the first: it is created! and second: it is not the point! [17]. So abstract nouns, proper attributes made up of names of angels, which justifies us to consider the struggles between sarim recounted in the book of Daniel as part antagonistic ideas and forces and we will have the opportunity to explain further.


References

  1. Isaiah, xxiv, 21.
  2. Page 246
  3. Ibid., to. 23.
  4. אלילי מצרים
  5. Isaiah, XIX, 1.
  6. Ibid., XXXIV, 4-5
  7. PS., LXXXII, 6-7
  8. Page 247
  9. Daniel X, 13-14.
  10. Ibid., 20-21, XI, 1.
  11. Ibid., XII, 1.
  12. I Kings, xxi, 19.
  13. Ibid. Towards. 20.
  14. Job., I, 6.
  15. בעדת א - ל
  16. Page 248
  17. חסד אומר יברא אמת אל יברא