Freethought & Rationalism Archive

stephan huller · 01-28-2012, 04:42 PM

It is interesting that the LXX of Hab 3:4 also avoids translating anything resembling 'hidden power.'

stephan huller · 01-28-2012, 09:05 PM

The Zohar on yesh. The divinity says:

Quote:

Look, I shall now ascend and take my fill of many good things, secret, precious letters from on high, and then I shall come to you, and be your support, and I shall give you two celestial letters to keep, in addition to those that have gone, namely yesh: the celestial yod and the celestial shin (together = yesh) and they will be treasuries, full of good things for you.

The author is clearly channeling Proverbs 8:21.

stephan huller · 01-28-2012, 09:11 PM

Curiously Justin's citation of Proverbs 8:21ff omits the most interesting part of the narrative:

Quote:

The Word of Wisdom, who is Himself this God begotten of the Father of all things, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and the Glory of the Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when He speaks by Solomon the following: ‘If I shall declare to you what happens daily, I shall call to mind events from everlasting, and review them. The Lord made me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He had made the earth, and before He had made the deeps, before the springs of the waters had issued forth, before the mountains had been established. Before all the hills He begets me. God made the country, and the desert, and the highest inhabited places under the sky. When He made ready the heavens, I was along with Him, and when He set up His throne on the winds: when He made the high clouds strong, and the springs of the deep safe, when He made the foundations of the earth, I was with Him arranging. I was that in which He rejoiced; daily and at all times I delighted in His countenance, because He delighted in the finishing of the habitable world, and delighted in the sons of men. Now, therefore, O son, hear me. Blessed is the man who shall listen to me, and the mortal who shall keep my ways, watching daily at my doors, observing the posts of my ingoings. For my outgoings are the outgoings of life, and [my] will has been prepared by the Lord. But they who sin against me, trespass against their own souls; and they who hate me love death.’

And then again elsewhere again:

Quote:

“And now I shall again recite the words which I have spoken in proof of this point. When Scripture says, ‘The Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven,’ the prophetic word indicates that there were two in number: One upon the earth, who, it says, descended to behold the cry of Sodom; Another in heaven, who also is Lord of the Lord on earth, as He is Father and God; the cause of His power and of His being Lord and God. Again, when the Scripture records that God said in the beginning, ‘Behold, Adam has become like one of Us,’ [Gen. iii. 22] this phrase, ‘like one of Us,’ is also indicative of number; and the words do not admit of a figurative meaning, as the sophists endeavour to affix on them, who are able neither to tell nor to understand the truth. And it is written in the book of Wisdom: ‘If I should tell you daily events, I would be mindful to enumerate them from the beginning. The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He formed the earth, and before He made the depths, and before the springs of waters came forth, before the mountains were settled; He begets me before all the hills.’ ” [Prov. viii. 21 ff]. When I repeated these words, I added: “You perceive, my hearers, if you bestow attention, that the Scripture has declared that this Offspring was begotten by the Father before all things created; and that which is begotten is numerically distinct from that which begets, any one will admit.”

The first passage is recorded by the rabbinic tradition as being used by 'heretics' to argue for another 'hidden power' in heaven. Ignatius's citation of Proverbs 8 is odd too:

Quote:

And in another place, “The Lord created Me, the beginning of His ways, for His ways, for His works. Before the world did He found Me, and before all the hills did He beget Me.”

Irenaeus cites the passage correctly but of course omits the offending passage:

Quote:

And again: “The Lord created me the beginning of His ways in His work: He set me up from everlasting, in the beginning, before He made the earth, before He established the depths, and before the fountains of waters gushed forth; before the mountains were made strong, and before all the hills, He brought me forth.” [Prov. viii. 22–25] And again: “When He prepared the heaven, I was with Him, and when He established the fountains of the deep; when He made the foundations of the earth strong, I was with Him preparing [them]. I was He in whom He rejoiced, and throughout all time I was daily glad before His face, when He rejoiced at the completion of the world, and was delighted in the sons of men.” [Prov. viii. 27–31]

There is therefore one God, who by the Word and Wisdom created and arranged all things; but this is the Creator (Demiurge) who has granted this world to the human race, and who, as regards His greatness, is indeed unknown to all who have been made by Him (for no man has searched out His height, either among the ancients who have gone to their rest, or any of those who are now alive); but as regards His love, He is always known through Him by whose means He ordained all things. Now this is His Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, who in the last times was made a man among men, that He might join the end to the beginning, that is, man to God. Wherefore the prophets, receiving the prophetic gift from the same Word, announced His advent according to the flesh, by which the blending and communion of God and man took place according to the good pleasure of the Father, the Word of God foretelling from the beginning that God should be seen by men, and hold converse with them upon earth, should confer with them, and should be present with His own creation, saving it, and becoming capable of being perceived by it, and freeing us from the hands of all that hate us, that is, from every spirit of wickedness; and causing us to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all our days,40754075 Luke i. 71, 75. in order that man, having embraced the Spirit of God, might pass into the glory of the Father.[Irenaeus AH 4.20]

I found the footnote to the citation of Proverbs 8:22 - 25 quite interesting too:

Quote:

This is one of the favourite Messianic quotations of the Fathers, and is considered as the base of the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel.

Really? Here is the passage when taken as a whole in Hebrew:

Quote:

I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That I may cause those that love me to inherit yesh; and I will fill their treasures. The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth

stephan huller · 01-28-2012, 09:38 PM

David Runia says that Philo's Proverbs 8;22 differed from the existing LXX which reads

κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ

http://books.google.com/books?id=cq8...andria&f=false

Philo's recognized allusions to Prov 8;22

Quote:

If, therefore, each of these things, the outward sense and the mind, receive the honour which I have been describing, then it follows of necessity that I, who use them both, must derive advantage from them. But if, carrying your language away a long distance from the mind and from the outward sense, you think your father, that is to say, the world which produced you, and your mother, wisdom, by means of which the universe was completed, worthy of honour, you yourself shall be well treated; for neither does God, who is full of everything, nor sublime and perfect knowledge, want anything. So that he who is inclined to pay proper attention to them, benefits not those who receive his attentions and who are in no need of anything, but himself most exceedingly. [Worse Attacks the Better 54]

At all events we shall speak with justice, if we say that the Creator of the universe is also the father of his creation; and that the mother was the knowledge of the Creator with whom God uniting, not as a man unites, became the father of creation. And this knowledge having received the seed of God, when the day of her travail arrived, brought forth her only and well-beloved son, perceptible by the external senses, namely this world. Accordingly wisdom is represented by some one of the beings of the divine company as speaking of herself in this manner: "God created me as the first of his works, and before the beginning of time did he establish me." For it was necessary that all the things which came under the head of the creation must be younger than the mother and nurse of the whole universe. [On Drunkeness 31]

Moreover, wisdom is a thing not only more ancient than my own birth, but even than the creation of the universal world; nor is it lawful nor possible for any one to decide in such a matter but God alone, and those who love wisdom with guilelessness, and sincerity and truth; [On the Virtues 61]

stephan huller · 01-29-2012, 12:07 AM

Yesh passages we can suspect were viewed as references to the Logos:

Quote:

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said Surely the LORD is here (יֵ֣שׁ) in this place and I knew it not [Gen 28:16]

The specific form יֵ֣שׁ יְהוָ֔ה is used throughout the early mystical tradition. This must have been a 'Jesus' passage (i.e. one which the Alexandrian tradition saw 'Jesus' present in. Jacob immediately after citing Gen 28 in Dialogue says

Quote:

When I had spoken these words, I continued: “Permit me, further, to show you from the book of Exodus how this same One, who is both Angel, and God, and Lord, and man, and who appeared in human form to Abraham and Isaac, appeared in a flame of fire from the bush, and conversed with Moses.” [Dial. 59]

Philo speaks typically of this same passage:

Quote:

"For," says the scripture, "Jacob awoke and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not;" and it would have been better, I should have said; not to know it, than to fancy that God existed in any place, he whom himself contains all things in a circle.

XXXII. (1.184) Very naturally, therefore, was Jacob afraid, and said in a spirit of admiration, "how dreadful is this place" (Gen. 28:16). For, in truth, of all the topics or places in natural philosophy, the most formidable is that in which it is inquired where the living God is, and whether in short he is in any place at all. Since some persons affirm that everything which exists occupies some place or other, and others assign each thing a different place, either in the world or out of the world, in some space between the different bodies of the universe. Others again affirm that the uncreated God resembles no created being whatever, but that he is superior to everything, so that the very swiftest conception is outstripped by him, and confesses that it is very far inferior to the comprehension of him; (1.185) wherefore it speedily cries out, This is not what I expected, because the Lord is in the place; for he surrounds everything, but in truth and reason he is not surrounded by anything.

And this thing which is demonstrated and visible, this world perceptible by the outward senses, is nothing else but the house of God, the abode of one of the powers of the true God, in accordance with which he is good; (1.186) and he calls this world an abode, and he has also pronounced it with great truth to be the gate of heaven [Dreams Book 1]

Clement certainly thinks that Jesus was present in this narrative:

Quote:

Who, then, has the power of leading in and out? Is it not the Instructor? This was He who appeared to Abraham, and said to him, “I am thy God, be accepted before Me;” [Gen. xvii. 1, 2] and in a way most befitting an instructor, forms him into a faithful child, saying, “And be blameless; and I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed.” There is the communication of the Instructor’s friendship. And He most manifestly appears as Jacob’s instructor. He says accordingly to him, “Lo, I am with thee, to keep thee in all the way in which thou shalt go; and I will bring thee back into this land: for I will not leave thee till I do what I have told thee.” [Genesis 28:15]

stephan huller · 01-29-2012, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Yesh (יֶשׁ) the power of my hand to do you hurt but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight saying Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad [Gen 31:29]

Quote:

And Esau said I have (יֶשׁ) enough my brother keep that thou hast unto thyself [Gen 33:9]

Quote:

And Joseph found grace in his sight and he served him and he made him overseer over his house and all that he had (יֶשׁ) he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had (יֶשׁ) that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had (יֶשׁ) in the house and in the field [Gen 39:4]

While yesh is an adverb in classical Hebrew it becomes a noun in the medieval period.

stephan huller · 01-29-2012, 01:00 AM

Philo's interest in identifying 'place' as the Logos:

XI. (1.61) We have now, then, explained what Charran is, and why he who left the well of the oath came thither. We must now consider the third point which comes next in order, namely, what the place is to which this man came; for it is said, "He met him in the Place."{10}{#ge 28:11.} (1.62) Now place is considered in three ways: firstly, as a situation filled by a body; secondly, as a divine word which God himself has filled wholly and entirely with incorporeal powers; for says the scripture, "I have seen the place in which the God of Israel Stood,"{11}{#ex 24:10.} in which alone he permitted his prophet to perform sacrifice to him, forbidding him to do so in other places. For he is ordered to go up into the place which the Lord God shall choose, and there to sacrifice burnt offerings and sacrifices for salvation, and to bring other victims also without spot. (1.63) According to the third signification, God himself is called a place, from the fact of his surrounding the universe, and being surrounded himself by nothing whatever, and from the fact of his being the refuge of all persons, and since he himself is his own district, containing himself and resembling himself alone. (1.64) I, indeed, am not a place, but I am in a place, and every existing being is so in a similar manner. So that which is surrounded differs from that which surrounds it; but the Deity, being surrounded by nothing, is necessarily itself its own place. And there is an evidence in support of my view of the matter in the following sacred oracle delivered with respect to Abraham: "He came unto the place of which the Lord God had told him: and having looked up with his eyes, he saw the place afar Off."{12}{#ge 22:4.} (1.65) Tell me, now, did he who had come to the place see it afar off? Or perhaps it is but an identical expression for two different things, one of which is the divine world, and the other, God, who existed before the world. (1.66) But he who was conducted by wisdom comes to the former place, having found that the main part and end of propitiation is the divine word, in which he who is fixed does not as yet attain to such a height as to penetrate to the essence of God, but sees him afar off; or, rather, I should say, he is not able even to behold him afar off, but he only discerns this fact, that God is at a distance from every creature, and that any comprehension of him is removed to a great distance from all human intellect. (1.67) Perhaps, however, the historian, by this allegorical form of expression, does not here mean by his expression, "place," the Cause of all things; but the idea which he intends to convey may be something of this sort; --he came to the place, and looking up with his eyes he saw the very place to which he had come, which was a very long way from the God who may not be named nor spoken of, and who is in every way incomprehensible.

XII. (1.68) These things, then, being defined as a necessary preliminary, when the practiser of virtue comes to Charran, the outward sense, he does not "meet" the place, nor that place either which is filled by a mortal body; for all those who are born of the dust, and who occupy any place whatever, and who do of necessity fill some position, partake of that; nor the third and most excellent kind of place, of which it was scarcely possible for that man to form an idea who made his abode at the well which was entitled the "well of the oath," where the self-taught race, Isaac, abides, who never abandons his faith in God and his invisible comprehension of him, but who keeps to the intermediate divine word, which affords him the best suggestions, and teaches him everything which is suitable to the times. (1.69) For God, not condescending to come down to the external senses, sends his own words or angels for the sake of giving assistance to those who love virtue. But they attend like physicians to the disease of the soul, and apply themselves to heal them, offering sacred recommendations like sacred laws, and inviting men to practice the duties inculcated by them, and, like the trainers of wrestlers, implanting in their pupils strength, and power, and irresistible vigour. (1.70) Very properly, therefore, when he has arrived at the external sense, he is represented no longer as meeting God, but only the divine word, just as his grandfather Abraham, the model of wisdom, did; for the scripture tells us, "The Lord departed when he had finished conversing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his Place."{13}{#ge 18:33.} From which expression it is inferred, that he also met with the sacred words from which God, the father of the universe, had previously departed, no longer displaying visions from himself but only those which proceed from his subordinate powers. (1.71) And it is with exceeding beauty and propriety that it is said, not that he came to the place, but that he met the place: for to come is voluntary, but to meet is very often involuntary; so that the divine Word appearing on a sudden, supplies an unexpected joy, greater than could have been hoped, inasmuch as it is about to travel in company with the solitary soul; for Moses also "brings forward the people to a meeting with God,"{14} {#Ex 19:17.} well knowing that he comes invisibly towards those souls who have a longing to meet with him.

XIII. (1.72) And he subsequently alleges a reason why he "met the place;" for, says he, "the sun was Set."{15}{#ge 28:11.} Not meaning the sun which appears to us, but the most brilliant and radiant light of the invisible and Almighty God. When this light shines upon the mind, the inferior beams of words (that is of angels) set. And much more are all the places perceptible by the external senses overshadowed; but when he departs in a different direction, then they all rise and shine. (1.73) And do not wonder if, according to the rules of allegorical description, the sun is likened to the Father and Governor of the universe; for in reality nothing is like unto God; but those things which by the vain opinion of men are thought to be so, are only two things, one invisible and the other visible; the soul being the invisible thing, and the sun the visible one. (1.74) Now he has shown the similitude of the soul in another passage, where he says, "God made man, in the image of God created he him." And again, in the law enacted against homicides, he says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed in requital for that blood, because in the image of God did I make Him."{16}{#ge 9:6.} But the likeness of the sun he only indicates by symbols. (1.75) And it is easy otherwise by means of argument to perceive this, since God is the first light, "For the Lord is my light and my Saviour,"{17}{#ps 26:1.} is the language of the Psalms; and not only the light, but he is also the archetypal pattern of every other light, or rather he is more ancient and more sublime than even the archetypal model, though he is spoken of as the model; for the real model was his own most perfect word, the light, and he himself is like to no created thing. (1.76) Since, as the sun divides day and night, so also does Moses say that God divided the light from the darkness; for "God made a division between the light and between the Darkness."{18}{#ge 1:4.} And besides all this, as the sun, when he arises, discovers hidden things, so also does God, who created all things, not only bring them all to light, but he has even created what before had no existence, not being their only maker, but also their founder. [On Dreams]

stephan huller · 01-29-2012, 01:08 AM

Here are the original Hebrew passages referenced by Philo:

And he came to a place and tarried there (שָׁם֙) all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep [Gen 28:11]

http://books.google.com/books?id=pOc...0logos&f=false

stephan huller · 01-29-2012, 01:25 AM

I think I have started to figured out why 'there' can be identified as a reference to divinity with both יש and שם. Without the diacritic markers שם can be read as a noun (= name) or and adverb (= there). As such שם is so obviously identifiable as a divine reference (i.e. השם). I can't believe I didn't see that before.

tanya · 01-29-2012, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephan huller

Now we see in Epiphanius a notion that some of the Ebionites believed in Elxai (= the hidden power).
...
Now notice what happens when we look to Habakkuk 3:4:

Quote:

God came from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His glory covered the heavens
and his praise filled the earth.
His splendor was like the sunrise;
rays flashed from his hand,
where his power was hidden

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephan huller

.... or as the Jewish mystics read the sentence 'Yesh his hidden power')
.....
the God who manifested himself through Jesus was NOT unknown to the Jewish scriptures.

....
the original text of Justin identified the entire passage in Habakkuk as having foreknowledge of the Transfiguration. That was Justin's original point and his argument was certainly that the god who manifested himself on the mountain was the 'hidden power' or what was formerly the hiding of his power (hebion uzzoh) in previous ages. Justin only took exception with the notion with a fringe group of heretics who apparently thought that nothing in the OT had any foreknowledge of what was to come.

...

Look at the way Philo cites the passage - “and there” = the Logos. In Hebrew this is sham. There have been books and articles written about Philo's identification of “place” (= “there”) as the logos. No one has ever made the connection with yesh. Too few Jews with any real knowledge of their tradition reading Philo. The difficulty of course is how do you connect yesh with sham. They both mean 'there' but still.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Curwin

The Hebrew word yesh has a number of meanings. According to Milon Morfix it can mean:

there is, there are ; one must, it is necessary to ; one may, it may; some, sometimes, it may be that

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Letter Bible

Shammah is derived from the Hebrew word sham, which can be translated as "there."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezekiel 48:35

It shall be eighteen thousand reeds round about: and the name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.

Many questions:

1. Are we then to understand that "Yesh" corresponds to "Elxai", since you have identified both as representing "hidden power"?

2. How can "sham" represent "hidden power", since, as Ezekiel makes plain, Yahweh is unconcealed power?

3. How does any of this discussion relate to "the mystery of 'Ebion' "?

4. How does your reference to

Quote:

Philo's interest in identifying 'place' as the Logos:

clarify anything about (1) 'Ebion', or (2) early Christianity? Do you intend to suggest that Philo has written something relevant to either topic?

confused as only sewer vermin can be....

:huh:

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01-28-2012, 04:42 PM	#21
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	It is interesting that the LXX of Hab 3:4 also avoids translating anything resembling 'hidden power.'

01-29-2012, 01:00 AM	#27
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Philo's interest in identifying 'place' as the Logos: XI. (1.61) We have now, then, explained what Charran is, and why he who left the well of the oath came thither. We must now consider the third point which comes next in order, namely, what the place is to which this man came; for it is said, "He met him in the Place."{10}{#ge 28:11.} (1.62) Now place is considered in three ways: firstly, as a situation filled by a body; secondly, as a divine word which God himself has filled wholly and entirely with incorporeal powers; for says the scripture, "I have seen the place in which the God of Israel Stood,"{11}{#ex 24:10.} in which alone he permitted his prophet to perform sacrifice to him, forbidding him to do so in other places. For he is ordered to go up into the place which the Lord God shall choose, and there to sacrifice burnt offerings and sacrifices for salvation, and to bring other victims also without spot. (1.63) According to the third signification, God himself is called a place, from the fact of his surrounding the universe, and being surrounded himself by nothing whatever, and from the fact of his being the refuge of all persons, and since he himself is his own district, containing himself and resembling himself alone. (1.64) I, indeed, am not a place, but I am in a place, and every existing being is so in a similar manner. So that which is surrounded differs from that which surrounds it; but the Deity, being surrounded by nothing, is necessarily itself its own place. And there is an evidence in support of my view of the matter in the following sacred oracle delivered with respect to Abraham: "He came unto the place of which the Lord God had told him: and having looked up with his eyes, he saw the place afar Off."{12}{#ge 22:4.} (1.65) Tell me, now, did he who had come to the place see it afar off? Or perhaps it is but an identical expression for two different things, one of which is the divine world, and the other, God, who existed before the world. (1.66) But he who was conducted by wisdom comes to the former place, having found that the main part and end of propitiation is the divine word, in which he who is fixed does not as yet attain to such a height as to penetrate to the essence of God, but sees him afar off; or, rather, I should say, he is not able even to behold him afar off, but he only discerns this fact, that God is at a distance from every creature, and that any comprehension of him is removed to a great distance from all human intellect. (1.67) Perhaps, however, the historian, by this allegorical form of expression, does not here mean by his expression, "place," the Cause of all things; but the idea which he intends to convey may be something of this sort; --he came to the place, and looking up with his eyes he saw the very place to which he had come, which was a very long way from the God who may not be named nor spoken of, and who is in every way incomprehensible. XII. (1.68) These things, then, being defined as a necessary preliminary, when the practiser of virtue comes to Charran, the outward sense, he does not "meet" the place, nor that place either which is filled by a mortal body; for all those who are born of the dust, and who occupy any place whatever, and who do of necessity fill some position, partake of that; nor the third and most excellent kind of place, of which it was scarcely possible for that man to form an idea who made his abode at the well which was entitled the "well of the oath," where the self-taught race, Isaac, abides, who never abandons his faith in God and his invisible comprehension of him, but who keeps to the intermediate divine word, which affords him the best suggestions, and teaches him everything which is suitable to the times. (1.69) For God, not condescending to come down to the external senses, sends his own words or angels for the sake of giving assistance to those who love virtue. But they attend like physicians to the disease of the soul, and apply themselves to heal them, offering sacred recommendations like sacred laws, and inviting men to practice the duties inculcated by them, and, like the trainers of wrestlers, implanting in their pupils strength, and power, and irresistible vigour. (1.70) Very properly, therefore, when he has arrived at the external sense, he is represented no longer as meeting God, but only the divine word, just as his grandfather Abraham, the model of wisdom, did; for the scripture tells us, "The Lord departed when he had finished conversing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his Place."{13}{#ge 18:33.} From which expression it is inferred, that he also met with the sacred words from which God, the father of the universe, had previously departed, no longer displaying visions from himself but only those which proceed from his subordinate powers. (1.71) And it is with exceeding beauty and propriety that it is said, not that he came to the place, but that he met the place: for to come is voluntary, but to meet is very often involuntary; so that the divine Word appearing on a sudden, supplies an unexpected joy, greater than could have been hoped, inasmuch as it is about to travel in company with the solitary soul; for Moses also "brings forward the people to a meeting with God,"{14} {#Ex 19:17.} well knowing that he comes invisibly towards those souls who have a longing to meet with him. XIII. (1.72) And he subsequently alleges a reason why he "met the place;" for, says he, "the sun was Set."{15}{#ge 28:11.} Not meaning the sun which appears to us, but the most brilliant and radiant light of the invisible and Almighty God. When this light shines upon the mind, the inferior beams of words (that is of angels) set. And much more are all the places perceptible by the external senses overshadowed; but when he departs in a different direction, then they all rise and shine. (1.73) And do not wonder if, according to the rules of allegorical description, the sun is likened to the Father and Governor of the universe; for in reality nothing is like unto God; but those things which by the vain opinion of men are thought to be so, are only two things, one invisible and the other visible; the soul being the invisible thing, and the sun the visible one. (1.74) Now he has shown the similitude of the soul in another passage, where he says, "God made man, in the image of God created he him." And again, in the law enacted against homicides, he says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed in requital for that blood, because in the image of God did I make Him."{16}{#ge 9:6.} But the likeness of the sun he only indicates by symbols. (1.75) And it is easy otherwise by means of argument to perceive this, since God is the first light, "For the Lord is my light and my Saviour,"{17}{#ps 26:1.} is the language of the Psalms; and not only the light, but he is also the archetypal pattern of every other light, or rather he is more ancient and more sublime than even the archetypal model, though he is spoken of as the model; for the real model was his own most perfect word, the light, and he himself is like to no created thing. (1.76) Since, as the sun divides day and night, so also does Moses say that God divided the light from the darkness; for "God made a division between the light and between the Darkness."{18}{#ge 1:4.} And besides all this, as the sun, when he arises, discovers hidden things, so also does God, who created all things, not only bring them all to light, but he has even created what before had no existence, not being their only maker, but also their founder. [On Dreams]

01-29-2012, 01:08 AM	#28
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Here are the original Hebrew passages referenced by Philo: And he came to a place and tarried there (שָׁם֙) all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep [Gen 28:11] http://books.google.com/books?id=pOc...0logos&f=false

01-29-2012, 01:25 AM	#29
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	I think I have started to figured out why 'there' can be identified as a reference to divinity with both יש and שם. Without the diacritic markers שם can be read as a noun (= name) or and adverb (= there). As such שם is so obviously identifiable as a divine reference (i.e. השם). I can't believe I didn't see that before.

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