Freethought & Rationalism Archive

stephan huller · 02-07-2013, 10:26 PM

Chili · 02-07-2013, 10:28 PM

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Originally Posted by stephan huller

Maybe I get too carried away. But I have been going back to the original point of the thread and see this:

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the yoke was a cross piece of wood, which is fastened to the forehead of the ox

http://books.google.com/books?id=CRd...20oxen&f=false

That comes from the protestant library. That guy has got blue jeans on so that is very recent.

Maybe they are trying to tell you something.

stephan huller · 02-07-2013, 10:38 PM

More ζυγός references in Clement. ζυγός can also mean 'balance.'

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Deceitful balances are abomination before God; but a just balance is acceptable to Him. Proverbs 11:1 (ζυγὰ δόλια βδέλυγμα ἔναντι θεοῦ, στάθμιον δὲ δίκαιον δεκτὸν αὐτῷ). Thence Pythagoras exhorts not to step over the balance (ἐντεῦθεν ζυγὸν μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν); and the profession of heresies is called deceitful righteousness; and the tongue of the unjust shall be destroyed, but the mouth of the righteous drops wisdom. Proverbs 10:31 [Strom 2.18]

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And it prohibits an ox and ass to be yoked in the plough together; Deuteronomy 22:10 pointing perhaps to the want of agreement in the case of the animals; and at the same time teaching not to wrong any one belonging to another race, and bring him under the yoke, when there is no other cause to allege than difference of race, which is no cause at all, being neither wickedness nor the effect of wickedness. To me the allegory also seems to signify that the husbandry of the Word is not to be assigned equally to the clean and the unclean, the believer and the unbeliever; for the ox is clean, but the ass has been reckoned among the unclean animals. But the benignant Word, abounding in humanity, teaches that neither is it right to cut down cultivated trees, or to cut down the grain before the harvest, for mischiefs sake; nor that cultivated fruit is to be destroyed at all— either the fruit of the soil or that of the soul: for it does not permit the enemy's country to be laid waste.[ibid]

Here it is the crossbar on the lyre (see above):

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But to those, who are able rightly to understand salvation, I know not what will appear dearer than the gravity of the Law, and Reverence, which is its daughter. For when one is said to pitch too high, as also the Lord says, with reference to certain; so that some of those whose desires are towards Him may not sing out of pitch and tune, I do not understand it as pitching too high in reality, but only as spoken with reference to such as will not take up the divine yoke (τὸν θεῖον ζυγόν). For to those, who are unstrung and feeble, what is medium seems too high; and to those, who are unrighteous, what befalls them seems severe justice.

Here it is both cross and the yoke of horses (and above all related to Matthew 11:29, 30) notice the word 'Chrestos':

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All these the fear inspired by the law,— leading as a pædagogue to Christ, trained so as to manifest their piety by their blood. God stood in the congregation of the gods; He judges in the midst of the gods. Who are they? Those that are superior to Pleasure, who rise above the passions, who know what they do— the Gnostics, who are greater than the world. I said, You are Gods; and all sons of the Highest. To whom speaks the Lord? To those who reject as far as possible all that is of man. And the apostle says, For you are not any longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Romans 8:9 And again he says, Though in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3 For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 1 Corinthians 15:50 Lo, you shall die like men, the Spirit has said, confuting us.

We must then exercise ourselves in taking care about those things which fall under the power of the passions, fleeing like those who are truly philosophers such articles of food as excite lust, and dissolute licentiousness in chambering and luxury; and the sensations that tend to luxury, which are a solid reward to others, must no longer be so to us. For God's greatest gift is self-restraint. For He Himself has said, I will neyer leave you, nor forsake you, Hebrews 13:5 as having judged you worthy according to the true election. Thus, then, while we attempt piously to advance, we shall have put on us the mild yoke of the Lord (ὁ χρηστὸς τοῦ κυρίου ζυγός) from faith to faith, one charioteer driving each of us onward to salvation, that the meet fruit of beatitude may be won. Exercise is according to Hippocrates of Cos, not only the health of the body, but of the soul— fearlessness of labours— a ravenous appetite for food.

The yoke of oxen:

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According to the opinion of the Stoics, marriage and the rearing of children are a thing indifferent; and according to the Peripatetics, a good. In a word, these, following out their dogmas in words, became enslaved to pleasures; some using concubines, some mistresses, and the most youths. And that wise quaternion in the garden with a mistress, honoured pleasure by their acts. Those, then, will not escape the curse of yoking (τὴν Βουζύγιον) an ass with an ox, who, judging certain things not to suit them, command others to do them, or the reverse. This Scripture has briefly showed, when it says, What you hate you shall not do to another.

Pythagoras's quote about balance again:

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Now Pythagoras made an epitome of the statements on righteousness in Moses, when he said, Do not step over the balance (ζυγὸν μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν); that is, do not transgress equality in distribution, honouring justice so.

Which friends to friends for ever, binds,
To cities, cities— to allies, allies,
For equality is what is right for men;
But less to greater ever hostile grows,
And days of hate begin,

as is said with poetic grace.

Wherefore the Lord says, Take My yoke, for it is gentle and light (ἄρατε τὸν ζυγόν μου· φησίν, ὅτι χρηστός ἐστι καὶ ἀβαρής). Matthew 11:29-30 And on the disciples, striving for the pre-eminence, He enjoins equality with simplicity, saying that they must become as little children. Matthew 18:3 Likewise also the apostle writes, that no one in Christ is bond or free, or Greek or Jew. For the creation in Christ Jesus is new, is equality, free of strife— not grasping— just. For envy, and jealousy, and bitterness, stand without the divine choir.

Yoke and oxen:

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As, then, the people was precious to the Lord, so also is the entire holy people; he also who is converted from the Gentiles, who was prophesied under the name of proselyte, along with the Jew. For rightly the Scripture says, that the ox and the bear shall come together. Isaiah 11:7 For the Jew is designated by the ox, from the animal under the yoke being reckoned clean (ὑπὸ ζυγὸν καθαροῦ κριθέντος ζῴου), according to the law; for the ox both parts the hoof and chews the cud. And the Gentile is designated by the bear, which is an unclean and wild beast. And this animal brings forth a shapeless lump of flesh, which it shapes into the likeness of a beast solely by its tongue. For he who is convened from among the Gentiles is formed from a beastlike life to gentleness by the word; and, when once tamed, is made clean, just as the ox.

stephan huller · 02-07-2013, 11:18 PM

As balance:

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He will judge, He says, a man according to his works, Sirach 16:12 — a good balance (ἀγαθοῦ ζυγοῦ), even God having made known to us the face of righteousness in the person of Jesus, by whom also, as by even scales, we know God. [Paed 1.8]

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But the inculpatory and dehortatory forms of speech have been already shown us; and we must now handle the persuasive and the laudatory, and, as on a beam, balance (ζυγοῦ) the equal scales of justice. The exhortation to what is useful (χρῆται), the Instructor employs by Solomon, to the following effect: I exhort you, O men; and I utter my voice to the sons of men. Hear me; for I will speak of excellent things; Proverbs 8:4, 6 and so on. [ibid 1.10]

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And blessed is he, He says by David, who has not sinned; and he shall be as the tree planted near the channels of the waters, which will yield its fruit in its season, and his leaf shall not wither (by this He made an allusion to the resurrection); and whatsoever he shall do shall prosper with him. Such He wishes us to be, that we may be blessed. Again, showing the opposite scale of the balance (ζυγοῦ) of justice, He says, But not so the ungodly— not so; but as the dust which the wind sweeps away from the face of the earth. [ibid]

yoke:

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A horse is guided by a bit, and a bull is guided by a yoke (ζυγῷ), and a wild beast is caught in a noose. But man is transformed by the Word, by whom wild beasts are tamed, and fishes caught, and birds drawn down. He it is, in truth, who fashions the bit for the horse, the yoke (ζυγόν) for the bull, the noose for the wild beast, the rod for the fish, the snare for the bird. [3.12]

stephan huller · 02-07-2013, 11:34 PM

Crosspiece of a Lyre:

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The grasshopper sprang on the neck of the instrument (ζυγῷ), and sang on it as on a branch; and the minstrel, adapting his strain to the grasshopper's song, made up for the want of the missing string. [Exh 1.1]

Yoke:

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To me, therefore, that Thracian Orpheus, that Theban, and that Methymnæan,— men, and yet unworthy of the name—seem to have been deceivers, who, under the pretence of poetry corrupting human life, possessed by a spirit of artful sorcery for purposes of destruction, celebrating crimes in their orgies, and making human woes the materials of religious worship, were the first to entice men to idols; nay, to build up the stupidity of the nations with blocks of wood and stone,— that is, statues and images—subjecting to the yoke of extremest bondage the truly noble freedom of those who lived as free citizens under heaven by their songs and incantations. But not such is my song, which has come to loose, and that speedily, the bitter bondage of tyrannizing demons; and leading us back to the mild and loving yoke (ζυγὸν) of piety, recalls to heaven those that had been cast prostrate to the earth.

stephan huller · 02-08-2013, 06:28 AM

The Didache references the concept - ὅλον τδν ζυγον τόν Κυρίου 'the entire yoke of the Lord' - "For if you can bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect" Now if you think about it, Jesus was attached to the Cross - something which looks like a 'yoke' and this was interpreted by the founders of Christianity as being symbolic of 'completing the Law.' Now consider something earliest sayings about 'the yoke of the Law' like this statement from the Mishnah:

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Ha-Kanah said: He that takes upon himself the yoke of the Law, from him shall be taken away the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly care; but he that throws off the yoke of the Law, upon him shall be laid the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly cares.

It is very easy to see how the crucifixion was interpreted as representing 'freedom from the Law' given the general similarity between a 'yoke' and a cross.

stephan huller · 02-08-2013, 07:03 AM

Indeed very instructive in this regard is the statement in the Song of Songs 1.10:

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"How beautiful is their neck for bearing the yoke of Thy statutes; and it shall be upon them like the yoke on the neck of the ox that plougheth in the field, and provideth food for himself and his master."

One could see in some way that the crucifixion was interpreted as 'taking off the yoke' and being nailed or crucified to the very same Law.

stephan huller · 02-08-2013, 07:23 AM

In fact, when I think about it - one can almost see how the earliest Christians would have seen the Cross as a yoke taken upright and pointing upward toward heaven.

I think the symbolism would have come naturally for anyone in antiquity because almost no one was very far removed from primitive agriculture and the cross-shaped yoke. I don't think anyone has realized this before.

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"Thus, then, while we attempt piously to advance, we shall have put on us the mild yoke of the Lord (ὁ χρηστὸς τοῦ κυρίου ζυγός) from faith to faith, one charioteer driving each of us onward to salvation, that the meet fruit of beatitude may be won" [Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book 5]

The obvious corollary from this is that the cross was certainly 'crucifix shaped' (there was a time I was sure that Justin's reference meant it was X shaped; but the yoke symbolism only works if we assume a T-shaped cross). That's why we do research - to prove ourselves wrong.

Chili · 02-08-2013, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephan huller

It is very easy to see how the crucifixion was interpreted as representing 'freedom from the Law' given the general similarity between a 'yoke' and a cross.

No, the cross is freedom from the law: Gal. 5:1-4. "It was for liberty that Christ freed us. So stand firm, and do not take on the yoke of slavery a second time! Pay close attentition to me, Paul, when I tell you that if you have your-selves circumcised, Christ will be of no use to you! I point out to you once more to all who receive circumcision that they are bound by the law in it's entirety. Any of you who who seek justification in the law have servered yourself from Christ and fallen from God's favor."

Simple! and notice the urgency of Paul here, to show that it is the common error of ALL self proclaimed Christians without exception.

And never go to Matthew for good advice. My burden is easy, my burden is light is the yoke of slavery as saved sinner . . . now for 2000 years like a wild fire still burning away from an unlimited source from Plato's 6th Epistle, I think it was, that we call heaven without the sinner-yoke, but who really cares.

Chili · 02-08-2013, 08:11 AM

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Originally Posted by stephan huller

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Ha-Kanah said: He that takes upon himself the yoke of the Law, from him shall be taken away the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly care; but he that throws off the yoke of the Law, upon him shall be laid the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly cares.

It is very easy to see how the crucifixion was interpreted as representing 'freedom from the Law' given the general similarity between a 'yoke' and a cross.

Correct, and that includes freedom from religion. The yoke of the kingdom here is also known as the silent ache of heaven wherein we 'bleed' not to receive, but to give to humanity at large, and is worldly only insofar as non-political.

Politics is about eristic sophistry by look-alikes which so is the enemy of the 'seer' like Ha-Kana here.

So whereas knowedge frees: eidetic vision will return to and consummate hyletic vision. It cannot help it do that by way of understanding (which is why the baptized were baptizing more that the Baptist).

Beyond this also noetic vision will return to and consummates eidetic vision because trees are seen walking like men to be our equal at this end, and hence the transubstantiation imagery now becomes reality.

For Plato it was the 5th Interpretation that you may be familiar with, wherein not shiners are deserving of our respct, but shine itself . . . and a slave to beauty we become that Paul called 'slave of Christ,' who so is without history.

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02-07-2013, 10:26 PM	#21
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337

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