Freethought & Rationalism Archive

stephan huller · 04-30-2013, 09:56 AM

There is a well established tradition in both mystical Judaism and Christianity that the sixth letter of the alphabet is 'the Son' or 'Prince' (= son of the King) of God. The oldest testimony is found in Irenaeus's Against Heresies with respect to the Marcians and their belief that Jesus was the Episemon:

Quote:

For Iesous is a name arithmetically symbolical, consisting of six letters, and is known by all those that belong to the called. (AH 1.14.4)

The tradition is passed on to Sabbas (or Pseudo-Sabbas) the founder of the Mar Saba monastery in his On the Letters of the Alphabet a fifth century text preserved in Greek and Coptic and recently translated by Alcock at the blogs of Roger Pearse and Alin Suciu. As wikipedia notes from Brandt's German translation:

Quote:

At a later point in the text, this idea is further connected to the interpretation of all three extra-alphabetic numeral signs of Greek ("Episemon" for 6, Koppa for 90, and Sampi for 900) as symbols of the Holy Trinity, i.e. Christ, the Holy Ghost and God the Father respectively

In the ninth century kabbalistic text the Bahir a similar idea is found as well as the Zohar http://books.google.com/books?id=yGs...ed=0CDAQ6AEwAA which has since become the foundation of modern Kabbalah:

No less a figure of orthodoxy as Irenaeus confusedly acknowledges that the name of Jesus (ysu) is an acronym for 'the Lord' (= y) of 'heaven' (= s) 'and earth' (= u):

Quote:

Moreover, Jesus, which is a word belonging to the proper tongue of the Hebrews, contains, as the learned among them declare, two letters and a half, and signifies that Lord who contains heaven and earth; for Jesus in the ancient Hebrew language means "heaven," while again "earth" is expressed by the words sura usser. The word, therefore, which contains heaven and earth is just Jesus. Their explanation, then, of the Episemon is false, and their numerical calculation is also manifestly overthrown. (AH 2.24.2)

stephan huller · 04-30-2013, 08:27 PM

Of course the real mystery is where Irenaeus gets his "Lord of heaven and earth." The Masoretic is Lord God of earth and heaven. The LXX is "God of heaven and earth." What text was Irenaeus using? I can't find יְהוָ֥ה שָׁמַ֥יִם וָאָֽרֶץ anywhere in any text at any time. Odd.

stephan huller · 04-30-2013, 09:21 PM

The Samaritan is closest Lord God of heaven and earth but is that close enough to be Irenaeus's text?

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04-30-2013, 08:27 PM	#2
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Of course the real mystery is where Irenaeus gets his "Lord of heaven and earth." The Masoretic is Lord God of earth and heaven. The LXX is "God of heaven and earth." What text was Irenaeus using? I can't find יְהוָ֥ה שָׁמַ֥יִם וָאָֽרֶץ anywhere in any text at any time. Odd.

04-30-2013, 09:21 PM	#3
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	The Samaritan is closest Lord God of heaven and earth but is that close enough to be Irenaeus's text?

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