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Shabbat Bemidbar
Posted on: May 13, 2013
This is the opening sidra of the book of Numbers. The reason why Numbers is so called is that, at the beginning of the book, Moses numbers the multitude of Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai, a census, yielding a result of 603,550. This excludes Levites, women
and children, since the point of the census is to ascertain the numbers of men eligible for military conscription.
Whereas the Greek and Latin names of this book, Arithmoi and Numeri, also refer to the numbers counted, the Hebrew name Bemidbar means ‘In the wilderness.’ The words Bemidbar Sinai, in the wilderness of Sinai, occur in the first sentence, and Numbers does indeed relate the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness, their battles and rebellions and Moses’ continuing struggle to control and satisfy the mixed multitude of whom he is the reluctant leader.
Tribe by tribe, the Israelite men are counted, Levites excepted, as their role is to maintain the Tabernacle. A chieftain of each tribe is designated to assist Moses and Aaron in the census.
The Israelites camp in tribes, each tribe under their own banner, like the regiment of an army. The disposition of the tribes as they journey forth from their camp has every appearance of being strategic; essentially they are a fighting force.
Censuses in the bible tend to be discouraged. In Mesopotamian and Israelite cultures, they were considered unlucky, and a verse in Exodus prescribes that, when a census is taken of the people of Israel, each person counted has to pay a half shekel tax to avert plague and, as it happens, the number of half shekels contributed by Israelite men over twenty years of age amounted to 603,550 half shekels.
As you’ll see from the haftarah (1 Samuel 2) David’s unauthorised census resulted in a plague. Why was his census unauthorised? Nachmanides, following a midrashic tradition, said it was because David didn’t count to assess his military force but simply to know the size of the nation he ruled.
When Moses counts the number of potential warriors, he counts them l’gulglotam which means by their heads, or by their skulls, a term used elsewhere in connection with polling, or counting persons, for tax or census purposes.
Our English word polling, used in connection with voting in elections, is similarly based on the original meaning of the word poll, as the top of the head. When it comes to the polling booth, where the anonymous individual casts his vote in secret ballot, we have the same
delicacy about naming the voters as persons. The names are on the electoral register – that is how you get to vote – but the vote has a dynamic life of its own, not traceable to the person who voted.
The Israelite warriors, when counted, also become something other than persons. Their individuality is sunk in the collective noun of the fighting force the zva b’Yisroel, the host of Israel, just as the Israeli Defence Force today is called Zva Haganah L’Yisrael. As the
Israelites cross the wilderness, in danger of attack from many hostile tribes, the counting of the heads seems to be a regrettable necessity. By contrast with Moses, David takes a census, in the security of his kingdom and the plague follows. Numbering the population is adangerous activity, not to be embarked on lightly, perhaps because there is a humanitarian risk when one reduces a person to a number.
Moses and Aaron count the Israelites in units according to their tribe and their fathers’ houses. This creates a record of the relative size of the tribes in the second year after the Exodus. The largest tribe is Judah, being more than twice as populous as the smallest tribe,
Manasseh. In fact the three smallest tribes at that time were Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, all Rachel’s tribes rather than Leah’s. This seems to indicate a lower fertility rate in those tribes, unless, even in the wilderness, they had recourse to what Mark Twain called lies, damned lies and statistics.
5773
href=”https://neviimtovim.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ruth_and_naomi_400.jpg”><img src=”https://neviimtovim.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ruth_and_naomi_
Ruth is set in the time of the Judges and, in a non Hebrew bible, is found directly after the book of Judges. A family from Bethlehem goes to live in Moab, because of a famine in their land. The husband and wife are Elimelech and Naomi. Elimelech dies in verse 3 and his two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. In verse 5, the two sons die, not surprisingly, because their names, Mahlon and Killion mean sickness and vanishing, which does not bode well for either of them.
So, as is the case with the American TV series Mad Men, it looks as if the story will be about the men, but it’s really about the women.
The survivors, as is well known, are Naomi and her Moabite daughters-in-law. Learning that the famine has ceased in Judah, Naomi resolves to go home and, speaking affectionately but firmly to Ruth and Orpah, she urges them to return to their families,
where they may, God willing, marry again and have children.
There is a midrashic tradition that Orpah and Ruth were sisters, the daughters of King Eglon of Moab (Ruth Rabbah 2:9) who, in turn (according to the same midrash), was the son of Balak.
The expression ‘the land of Judah’ in verse 7 is not used very often until the division of the kingdom following Solomon’s reign when Judah became the name of a kingdom. Prior to the time of Ruth, this expression occurs only once1and designates the land occupied by the tribe of Judah. It occurs also in David’s narrative, where Judah becomes important, being David’s own tribe and the centre of his eventual kingdom.
Naomi says ‘Turn back’ three times to her daughters-in-law2 corresponding to the discouragement given to prospective converts who present themselves to the Beth Din.3 We can see why Orpah might go, but why does Ruth stay? She is the template for all converts. Why is she so insistent? Is it about Naomi or about the ephemeral Mahlon, or about Torah?
Midrash claims that Orpah becomes the grandmother of Goliath, and depicts her in a negative light, as exceedingly promiscuous. There is no basis for this in the book of Ruth, but midrashic literature often takes a binary approach; if one of a pair is the hero, the other must be the villain. This is especially noticeable in midrashic narratives about Esau and Jacob.
On arrival in Bethlehem, they become the centre of attention for the women. Naomi expresses her bitterness at the way God has treated her, taking her husband and sons, and tells the women to call her Marah – bitter – instead of Naomi, which means pleasant.
The barley harvest is around the time of Pesach. The narrator emphasises Ruth’s foreignness, not only calling her Moaviyah, a Moabite woman, but adding, perhaps tautologically, that she comes from Moab.
The second chapter introduces a new character: Boaz, a relation of Naomi’s late husband. Boaz is a name associated with strength, and, as any freemason will know, is the name of one of the pillars upholding the porch of Solomon’s temple.
Gleaning the harvest from the corners of a landowner’s field was the right of the poor, in accordance with Leviticus:
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.4
It is Ruth who offers to go and glean corn which will be a means of subsistence for herself and Naomi. Naomi’s reply in verse 2 is Go my daughter, lah lechi. This is the feminine of lech lecha, an expression associated with significant events. Naomi calls Ruth biti, my daughter, but we have already seen that she called both Ruth and Orpah her daughters.
How does it happen that Ruth gleans in the field of Boaz, the very person who is related to her father-in-law? The Hebrew is vayyiker mikreyah – ‘it so happened’. Furthermore, Boaz singles out Ruth for attention, but instead of asking ‘Who is this young woman?’ he asks ‘Whose young woman is this?’ To whom does she belong? In Ruth’s particular case, there is no male person to whom she belongs. Husband, father, father-in-law are conspicuously absent. So to whom does Ruth belong?5
The servant’s answer is that she is a girl from Moab. Perhaps the servant’s implicit answer to Boaz’s question is ‘Nobody we know.’
Boaz extends his protection to Ruth, telling her to glean only from his field, and when she asks what she has done to deserve this, Boaz reveals that he knows the story of Ruth and Naomi, and how Ruth left her homeland. His next words are the origin of those traditionally spoken to proselytes:
The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel,under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
Ruth thanks Boaz for treating her kindly, even though she is a foreigner; her exact words being ‘You have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.’
Boaz continues to give her protection and generous opportunities for gleaning. She takes a quantity of barley back to Naomi, who remarks that Boaz is their kinsman and that the situation looks promising.
In the third chapter, Naomi has formulated a plan concerning Ruth and Boaz, who may have obligations to them beyond generosity, namely, the duty of levirate marriage.
The Hebrew for ‘his name should not be blotted out’ is lo yimacheh shemo. The name of Mahlon is interestingly cognate with the verb mem het hé, to blot out.
Naomi’s plan is rather compromising for Ruth. It involves lying down with Boaz in the middle of the night, an action which seems guaranteed to attract his attention.
So what’s the motivation behind Naomi’s cunning plan? Is it Ruth’s happiness, their future security or the fulfillment of the law? And what is Ruth’s motivation in following Naomi’s instructions to the letter?
Ruth goes to the threshing floor where Boaz, who has been drinking, is asleep, uncovers his feet and lies down. It is not certain whether she lies next to him, or, perpendicularly, at his feet. When Boaz wakes, startled, asking who is there, Ruth identifies herself and then says ufarashta kenafecha al amatecha, literally ‘Spread your wing over your handmaiden.’
Note that Boaz has already spoken of Ruth the proselyte as seeking refuge under the wings of the Shechinah. Now she seeks refuge under Boaz’s wing – kanaf – translated as ‘skirt’ in the KJV.
Ruth tells Boaz the reason why she has a claim on his protection: ki goel atah, ‘for you are a redeemer’ or ‘a near kinsman’ or ‘close relative’. The term goel is used in Leviticus in this specific sense of redeeming the property of a relative, so that it remains in the family:
If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem (goel) what his brother has sold.7
Are we looking at a romantic episode, prompted by love or desire or at a halakhic issue, complicated by the fact that Boaz is not Ruth’s brother-in-law, that the property of Elimelech is involved and that Ruth is a convert?
Boaz praises Ruth – in fact he calls her an eshet hayil – much as Judah praised Tamar when she alerted him to his duty towards her as the widow of his sons:
She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.8
We will see from the genealogy at the end of Ruth that Boaz is himself a descendant of Judah and Tamar, through their son Perez.
At this point in the narrative, we do not know that there is an inheritance involved, and Ruth’s approach to Boaz seems to be connected with the law of yibbum, or levirate marriage.
When brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, the dead man’s wife shall not be allowed to marry an outsider. Her husband’s brother must cohabit with her, making her his wife, and thus performing a brother-in-law’s duty to her. The first-born son whom she bears will then perpetuate the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be obliterated from Israel.9
The quandary of Henry VIII was in weighing up this verse against Leviticus:
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.10
If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.11
The continuation of the Deuteronomy text shows that there is some disgrace attached to the man who refuses to marry his brother’s childless widow.
And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’12
There is a great deal of Talmudic and medieval commentary on yibbum and halitzah, which is the loosening of the shoe.
Now, Boaz tells Ruth that she has a kinsman more closely related than himself. This other kinsman must be given the option of performing his duty and Boaz says he will speak with him in the morning. Meanwhile, he asks Ruth to stay the night. Have they slept together? Will they sleep together? Rashi, in his commentary on Ruth, quotes a midrash thus:
Rabbi Judah said: His evil inclination was contending with him, “You are single, and she is single; be intimate with her” ; and he took an oath to his evil inclination, saying ‘As the Lord lives, I will not touch her.13
For the sake of appearances, she left before daylight, so that nobody else would know she had spent the night there. Before she left, Boaz gave her six seahs of barley, to take back to Naomi. This is a large and heavy quantity, a single seah being currently estimated as 7.33 litres. One thinks of Rebecca performing the demanding task of watering Eliezer’s camels.14
When Ruth returns to Naomi, the first thing Naomi says is ‘Who are you, my daughter?’ Ruth answers by telling Naomi everything that has happened and Naomi wisely tells Ruth to wait patiently, as Boaz will attend to the matter that very day.
In Chapter 4, Boaz goes about the business of sounding out the other possible goel. He sees this man at the gate, which was the public area where men of affairs conducted transactions and exchanged news. Curiously, Boaz does not address this man by name; at least, the narrative withholds his name, as Boaz calls him Ploni Almoni. This is the biblical and Talmudic equivalent of John Doe or Joe Bloggs, the designation for an unnamed person. Translations will vary. ‘Friend’ reflects better on Boaz than the KJV ‘Ho such a one!’
Boaz has Ploni Almoni and the elders seated at the gate and explains the following: Naomi has returned from Moab and is selling a piece of land which she inherited from her husband Elimelech. Ploni Almoni has first refusal, but, if he doesn’t want to buy the land, Boaz will
do so. However, Ploni is willing to buy. Boaz then explains that, if he buys the property, he also acquires Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Elimelech’s son, in order to maintain the name of the dead in connection with his inheritance. Ploni now withdraws from the
purchase.
What is Ploni’s motivation? The targum suggests that he was already married, which seems a very good reason, but his direct speech is ‘I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance.’ The suggestion is that he considers marriage to a Moabite transgressive, which seems to be the implication of the verse in Deuteronomy which states:
No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD.15
Rashi finds this reasoning faulty, commenting:
He should have interpreted: ‘an Ammonite, but not an Ammonitess; a Moabite, but not a Moabitess.’ Yet he said, ‘lest I mar my heritage.’
In fact Rashi believed this error was the reason why the man’s real name was obliterated from the text.
We saw that, according to Deuteronomy 25, a man who refuses to marry his brother’s widow has his shoe loosed in a ritual called halitzah, the ceremonial release from levirate marriage. Rashi explains that what occurs here, which does not correspond precisely to
halitzah, is an act of acquisition. There are of course other views – Rabbi Louis Jacobs, for example, wrote:
Halitzah appears in the biblical book of Ruth in which Boaz, a close relative of Naomi, agrees to marry Ruth and act as redeemer for Mahlon, her dead husband. He may only do so after a closer relative than Boaz formally relinquishes the right of redemption by removing his sandal and handing it to Boaz.16
Boaz confirms before the witnesses that he has bought the inheritance of Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion from Naomi, including Ruth, whom he will marry to raise the name of the dead on their inheritance.
The witnesses express their blessing, and say ‘May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.’ Not only are is there a similarity between the union of Judah and Tamar and that of Boaz and Ruth, but also, Boaz, as we will see, is a descendant of
Perez.
Boaz marries Ruth and they have a son. One might expect the people to say this is a son for Mahlon, which would be the form in a levirate marriage. In fact the women say ‘There is a son born to Naomi.’ This does not indicate that Naomi was the biological mother of the child.
The nursing17 of the child by Naomi does not mean that Naomi had breast milk, as omenet can mean foster mother.
Most important is that a redeemer has been found for the entire family of Elimelech, the dead and the living.
The child Obed becomes the father of Jesse who was the father of David. Boaz’s descent from Perez is attested in the final verse of the book. Thus David is a descendant of Judah on one side and, on the other, of Moab. This would be extremely controversial if the book of
Ruth was written in the post-exilic time18 of Ezra and Nehemiah who actively opposed the intermarriage19 of Israelites with Canaanites, Ammonites, Moabites and all the neighbouring peoples. There is a case for considering that the book of Ruth is a subversive anti-Ezra document, supporting intermarriage and making polemical use of David’s putative descent from Ruth.
Vayechi
Posted on: November 27, 2012
Genesis 47:28 – 48:22
Jacob died at the age of 147. His last seventeen years were spent in Egypt, numerically equal to the seventeen years Joseph lived in Canaan, before his brothers sold him into slavery.
Midrashic and modern number crunchers have found reasons why Jacob didn’t attain the age of Isaac, 180, or Abraham, 175. This usually involves subtracting 17 from 147 to obtain 130, Jacob’s age when he complained to Pharaoh that his years had been few and difficult. After that, it goes beyond GCSE maths, and I won’t touch it.
Jacob makes Joseph swear that his remains will be taken for burial to the cave of the patriarchs in Machpelah, today’s Hebron. As the end of Jacob’s life is drawing near, Joseph takes his boys Ephraim and Manasseh to visit their grandfather.
Jacob tells Joseph that Ephraim and Manasseh will be like his sons Reuben and Simeon; this is a formula of adoption by which these two younger descendants gain equality with the two eldest. Jacob refers to the grief he suffered when Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Perhaps his adoption of these two grandsons of Rachel is a way of elevating the influence of her descendants among the more numerous descendants of Leah.
When Ephraim and Manasseh approach Jacob, or Israel as he is called in this verse, he asks ‘Who are these?’ Like his father Isaac in old age, Jacob is barely able to see. Like Isaac, Jacob gives precedence to the younger child, crossing his hands so that his right hand rests on Ephraim and his left on Manasseh, Joseph’s first born. Jacob had taken advantage of Isaac’s blindness to gain the blessing due to Esau and now, for different reasons, he again subverts the custom of primogeniture. Joseph thinks this is a mistake, resulting from blindness or senility but we, who have read Genesis, know this is invariably the way: Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Reuben and now Manasseh are displaced by younger brothers, a theme which will be reflected later on in the kingship of David and Solomon.
Jacob answers that he knows Manasseh is the elder, but Ephraim will be greater. Some people think this story is a retrospective explanation of the fact that Ephraim became the largest tribe of the northern kingdom.
Jacob blesses both the boys in a beautiful poem, asking God who has been Jacob’s shepherd throughout his difficult life to bless the children, multiply their descendants, and identify them as the family of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.
He assures Joseph that God will bring him back to the land of their fathers and expresses his intention to bequeath to Joseph, in preference to his brothers, the land which Jacob took from the Amorites, with his sword and with his bow. What is this inheritance which Jacob seized by force of arms, to give to Joseph? The word shechem means shoulder and there is an ambiguity as to whether shechem here refers figuratively to the portion Joseph is to inherit, or to the place Shechem, which, according to tradition, is the location of Joseph’s tomb.
The verse becomes curiouser and curiouser when we remember that Jacob, who was not a fighter, rebuked his sons Simeon and Levi for attacking the city of Shechem, and there is no mention, in the Torah, of Jacob’s military exploit against the Amorites or any Canaanite tribe.
Nevertheless, there is an account of Jacob’s wars with the Amorites and others, in a text called the Book of Jubilees. This is a reworking of Genesis, comparable to the reworking of biblical texts in midrash. Those who put a date to Jubilees tend to estimate that it originates around the Maccabean period, beginning about 165 BCE. Here are a few verses relevant to our sidra.
Jacob sent his sons to pasture their sheep, and his servants with them to the pastures of Shechem.
And the seven kings of the Amorites assembled themselves together against them, to slay them, hiding themselves under the trees, and to take their cattle as a prey…
And [Jacob] arose from his house, he and his three sons and all the servants of his father, and his own servants, and he went against them with six thousand men, who carried swords.
And he slew them in the pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the edge of the sword… and he recovered his herds.
This later work develops the idea of a militaristic Jacob, quite unlike the plain man, dwelling in tents, whom we know from Genesis. The last verse of our Torah reading fits in perfectly with the story in Jubilees, so perhaps Jubilees draws on an earlier, now lost tradition about the wars of Jacob.
Even without this warlike aspect, Jacob is an infinitely complex character: passionate, deceitful, astute, loving, long-suffering, pessimistic and devout. It is as if we get to know him more than we know the other patriarchs, and it is his name, Israel, which is our name.
Soul Searching
Posted on: September 23, 2012
Notes for a discussion on Yom Kippur 5773
CG Jung
‘The soul is Yours and the body is Your creation…’ (Machzor p326)
הנשמה לך והגוף פעלך חוסה על עמלך
Many of our prayers refer to the soul: nefesh or neshamah in Hebrew. Are body and soul distinguishable? What is the relationship of nefesh to neurons? How do the prayers of Yom Kippur connect with modern views of human thought?
One of the reasons why I chose this subject is that I think there is an interesting gap between the words we speak when we read the liturgy, and what we believe; for instance there is a great deal of soul talk on Yom Kippur, as in all religious services, but perhaps what we know or believe about the physicality of mind, thought and the emotions is at variance with the way we pray, however sincerely. I would like to know if you think there is that variance between the language of prayer and of belief, and if so, how do we mind the gap?
In philosophy since the twentieth century, the traditional idea of the soul being something apart from the body, no longer prevails. The mind is regarded as incarnate, the activity of the brain. The body is animate, experiencing emotion through hormones and neurons. Particular regions of the brain are associated with sensations, memories, emotions and there are contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions.
The neuroscientist Antonio Damasio believes that decision-making and even perceptions are affected by feelings, which are set off by neural and chemical bodily signaling. He uses the term ‘somatic marker’ to describe the kind of gut reaction which often determines our actions.
Emotions, are defined by Damasio as changes in both body and brain states. Physiological changes occur in the body and are relayed to the brain where they are transformed into an emotion that informs the individual’s choice, along with the memory of past experiences. Damasio regards the emotions as adaptive and consistent with evolution.
The truly embodied mind… does not relinquish its most refined levels of operation, those constituting its soul and spirit. From my perspective, it is just that soul and spirit, with all their dignity and human scale, are now complex and unique states of an organism. Perhaps the most indispensable thing we can do as human beings…is remind ourselves and others of our complexity, fragility, finiteness and uniqueness. And this is of course the difficult job, is it not: to move the spirit from its nowhere pedestal to a somewhere place, while preserving its dignity and importance; to recognize its humble origin and vulnerability, yet still call upon its guidance. (Descartes’ Error by Antonio Damasio 1994 p252)
In1999, Tim Radford, the Science Editor of The Guardian chaired a discussion at Westminster Central Hall with Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker. The topic of the discussion was the question: Is Science killing the Soul? Neither Dawkins nor Pinker believed in the soul as a ghost in the machine, that is to say, separate from the body, but both believed in feelings, sensitivity, creativity and imagination.
Steven Pinker says that we are accustomed to making inferences about other people’s thoughts when we perceive their behaviour, choices and responses. In primitive religions, people observed storms, floods or drought and inferred from them the displeasure of their gods, or God. Although Pinker believes that these inferences were mistaken he sees them as having a positive evolutionary value. Societies created bonding ceremonies or rituals which reinforced their shared beliefs and religious gatherings created a sense of kinship beyond the blood ties of the immediate family. He also maintains that religion has the function of ameliorating existential anxieties about death and suffering.
Pinker connects belief in immortal souls with the human ability to impute invisible minds to other people.
The responses we attribute to God are often based on scripture, from which we can form definite ideas about what God wants from us.
He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
There is a view that three Hebrew words for the soul have distinct meanings, representing different aspects or levels of the soul.
Nefesh is used in the bible much more often than the word neshamah. Perhaps as a result of biblical usage, it is also the most frequent word for soul in our prayer books, although the neshamah is mentioned in the Shabbat and festival prayer Nishmat kol hai (which means the soul of all life) and the morning prayer Neshamah shenatata bi tehorah hi, which emphasizes the purity of the neshamah.
In the bible, neshamah is often breath, or spirit.
The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. (Proverbs 20:27)
Neshamah is used also of God’s breath, in Job 32:8
But it is the spirit in man (ruach hi b’enosh), the breath of the Almighty (nishmat Shaddai), that makes him understand.
The Spirit of God (ruach El) has made me, and the breath of the Almighty (nishmat Shaddai) gives me life. (Job 33:4)
In the biblical account, God formed man from the dust of the earth and blew into his nostrils nishmat hayyim, the breath of life so that Adam, the man becomes a nefesh hayyah, a living being.
In one of many midrashim on the creation of Adam, one of the sages says that neshamah and nefesh are the same, because the word hayyim, life applies to both, but other sages differentiate, saying that nefesh is the blood and neshamah the breath.
In the early Greek translation of the Hebrew bible (LXX), nefesh is usually translated as psyche (anima in Latin), and ruach, or the biblically rarer neshamah, as pneuma (spiritus in Latin, as in ‘inspire and expire), which is closer in meaning to breathing than to thinking. The spirit of God is also called pneuma/spiritus.
There are many rabbinic traditions concerning the separate existence of the soul – that it pre-exists the body, is independent of the body and that the dead converse among themselves. After the time of the Talmud, the early medieval philosopher Saadia Gaon, who was head of the Sura Yeshiva in Babylon took the view that the soul is created at the same time as the body and that the body has the potential to become purified by obedience to the commandments. He believed that the soul gives the body its faculties of cognition, reason and will power, and the body is simply the means by which the soul achieves its goal At the moment of death, a blazing angel arrives with sword drawn, and his appearance shocks the soul so severely that it is separated from the physical body. Pure souls are rewarded with a blissful afterlife while wicked souls are punished.
About a century later, the Andalusian poet Solomon Ibn Gabirol, some of whose poetry is in our machzor, expressed the view that the human soul reflects the World Soul, which emanates from God.
Maimonides wrote that the knowledge of God and adherence to the mitzvot gives human beings an immaterial, spiritual nature which endows the soul with immortality.
In the seventeenth century, Spinoza took the view that everything which exists is part of the soul of God, that evil is merely the absence of the good and that the way to attain immortality is through scientific and philosophical knowledge.
In the eighteenth century, R. Hayyim of Volozhin wrote a treatise called Nefesh ha Hayyim, in which he reasoned that God created humanity as the sum of all that went before so that each human being includes in his or her makeup something of everything whose creation preceded his or her own. This view sounds as if it could be developed in a way compatible with evolution. Each human being is a microcosm, representative of the multiplicity to be found in God’s creation. I wonder if this could be compatible with Professor Brian Cox’s poetic explanation of the physical composition of the human body – that it is, in a sense, made of stars.
This human being, says R Hayyim, is linked with God through a three-part soul made up of nefesh attached to ruach above it, while ruach is attached to neshamah above it. Yet the ultimate root of these three intertwined souls rests in God, the neshamah of the neshamah. In this way the lowest level of God’s own soul, as it were, can be said to lie within each separate human being, animating him or her.
A Jewish neurologist called Daniel Drubach writes about the plasticity of the brain, meaning that there is a bilateral relationship between brain and behaviour. An individual’s actions impact and “shape” the self, and the self, in turn, impacts and shapes behaviour. He quotes the Jewish philosopher Moses Hayyim Luzzato, who wrote, in the eighteenth century:
The outer action awakens the inner attitude. And the outer action being certainly more subject to man’s control than the inner attitude, if he avails himself of that which is in his control, he will in time acquire that which is beyond his control. Thus one becomes or changes through means of doing.
Path of the Upright, Moses Hayyim Luzzato
Going back to an earlier source, Drubach also quotes Maimonides, as follows:
We tell the wrathful man to train himself to feel no reaction even if he is beaten or cursed. He should follow this course of behaviour for a long time, until the anger is uprooted from his heart. Also, in his prescription of how to reach the “middle road” of all temperaments: How should one train oneself to follow these temperaments to the extent that they become a permanent fixture of his personality? One should perform, repeat, and perform a third time the acts which conform to the middle road temperament.
Drubach points out that the repetition of a motor sequence will lead to a change in the brain substrate for that sequence. He regards this neurobiological view as compatible with the views of the Judaic sages who believed that patterns of behaviour shape the self.
The prayer that we started with refers to the body as well as the soul; both are considered to be God’s work.
‘The soul is Yours and the body is Your creation; have pity on Your work.’
הנשמה לך והגוף פעלך חוסה על עמלך
When, shortly, we read Jonah, the haftarah for the Yom Kippur minchah service, we will see that these words hus (pity) and amal (created work) occur in close juxtaposition. God reminds Jonah of his pity for the gourd which withered, and which Jonah had not laboured to produce. Should not God have pity on Nineveh, full of human life?
3 Enoch (Sefer Hekhalot)
Posted on: June 12, 2012
The angel Metatron, whom we shall meet in 3 Enoch, does not appear in the Ethiopic 1 Enoch (which we looked at last month) nor in 2 Enoch which exists only in Slavonic manuscripts, dating from the 14th century to the 18th. 3 Enoch is a Hebrew text, an example of the mystical Merkavah traditions which seem to have originated in the Mishnaic period. The putative author is Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, a contemporary of Rabbi Akiva, but attribution to an author from antiquity is the style of Pseudepigrapha. Views on the date of 3 Enoch are: a) Gaonic, ie 7th to 9th century on the grounds that 3 Enoch shows Islamic influences which did not yet circulate in the Talmudic age, b) 1st to 3rd century due to some resemblances to the Talmudic tractate Hagigah, and linguistic affinities with the Babylonian Talmud, c) 5th – 6th century based on a survey of the development of Merkavah mysticism between the first and tenth centuries, d) 10th – 15th century. The controversial late dating is from Milik who perceived Latin and Arabic influences. James Charlesworth gives an overview of the reasoning behind these opinions, dismissing Milik’s arguments, especially Milik’s assumption that it was written in western Europe. Charlesworth is sure the provenance is Palestinian or Babylonian and not post-Talmudic:
…Though 3 Enoch contains some very old conditions and stands in direct line with developments which had begun in the Maccabean era, a date for its final redaction in the fifth or the sixth century AD [sic] cannot be far from the truth.8
Charlesworth points out that the the tractate Hagigah in the Babylonian Talmud attests aspects of mysticism which appear in 3 Enoch; particularly the mystical ascent to heaven of Rabbi Akiva, Ben Zoma, Ben Azzai and Elisha ben Abuyah.9
Metatron
Peter Schäfer has recently added to the discussion about the possible sources and meanings of the name Metatron. In Greek, Metathronios means ‘behind the throne’ or ‘next to the throne.’ In Latin, a metator was an officer in the Roman army acting as some sort of administrator or guide, and Schäfer points out that metator appears as a loanword in rabbinic literature. Odeberg suggests that the name Metatron might derive from the Persian name Mithras. Gershom Scholem, author of defining works in the mid-twentieth century on the subject of Jewish mysticism, rejected these theories about the etymology of Metatron. There is a view that the name Metatron, like many other celestial names, is a made-up name chosen for sound rather than meaning. Scholem, writing in 1946, said:
The fact is that all these etymologies are so much guess-work and their studied rationality leads nowhere. There is no such word as metathronios in Greek, and it is extremely unlikely that Jews should have produced or invented such a Greek phrase. In the Talmudic literature, the word thronos is never used in the place of its Hebrew equivalent.11
The Content
3 Enoch is also known as Sefer Hekhalot or Ma’aseh Merkavah – The Book of Palaces or the Works of the Chariot. There is a reference as early as the Mishnah to the Ma’aseh Bereshit and the Ma’aseh Merkavah:
The Account of Creation may not be expounded before two or more persons, nor the Chariot before even one, unless he is a scholar who understands of his own knowledge.12
Rabbi Ishmael ascends to heaven to view the chariot. He passes into the seventh heaven where he sees HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Rabbi Ishmael asks God to protect him from certain angels who would cast him out of heaven. God summons the angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, who leads Ishmael into the Divine Presence, permitting a mortal to approach the chariot because,as he explains, Ishmael is an Israelite and a priestly descendant of Aaron. Metatron tells Ishmael that he has seventy names but that God calls him ‘Youth’. He identifies himself as Enoch the son of Jared who was brought up to heaven where he became a ruler among the ministering angels. The other angels object to Enoch’s elevation and the Holy One tells them that this was the only righteous mortal amongst the generation of the flood. Enoch ascends from earth on the wings of the Shechinah, and God bestows on him supernal qualities of wisdom, Torah, mercy and splendour. God reveals to him the secrets of creation and the natural world and adorns him with a robe, a crown on which are inscribed the letters by which the world was created, and a title: ‘The lesser [hakatan] YHWH’.14 The title sounds somewhat shocking, suggesting Gnosticism or polytheism, but the name ofGod is included in the names of many persons in Tanakh whose names have theophoric suffixes, and the majority of the angels bear names which end in ‘El’. Whereas the name of God is, on the one hand, so holy that only the Cohen Hagadol can utter it, in the holy of holies onYom Kippur, on the other hand, forms of El, Yah and even Adonai are incorporated into personal names. Metatron tells Ishmael the names of the angelic princes who guide the world, eighteen names all ending in ‘el’ and that all these prostrated themselves before himself, Metatron. The Talmud relates that Elisha ben Abuyah, the apostate, entered Paradise and saw Metatron sitting down. The rabbis explain that Metatron was allowed to sit because of his function as the Heavenly Scribe, writing down the deeds of Israel. Elishah ben Abuyah therefore assumed Metatron was a deity and said heretically, “There are indeed two powers in heaven!” 15
At first Metatron sat on a throne at the door of the seventh palace and judged the lesser angels, until he was seen by Elisha ben Abuyah, the apostate, who said ‘There are indeed two powers in heaven.’ The angel Anapiel came at the command of the Holy One, struck Metatron with sixty fiery lashes and ordered him to stand.16
Metatron tells Rabbi Ishmael the names of the princes of the seven heavens – only Michael and Gabriel are known from Tanakh – and the seventy-two princes of kingdoms. He describes four heavenly creatures facing the four winds. These resemble the creatures in Ezekiel’s chariot vision.17 Four Watchers reside above the whole celestial assembly.
The Holy One, blessed be He, does nothing in his world without first taking counsel with them; then He acts, as it is written ‘Such is the sentence proclaimed by the Watchers, the verdict announced by the holy ones.’18
Although this sounds as if it would be heretical, it resembles a text from the Babylonian Talmud:
Why were these [two thrones] necessary? To teach R. Johanan’s dictum; viz.: The Holy One, blessed be He, does nothing without consulting His Heavenly Court, for it is written, The matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the Holy Ones. Now, that is satisfactory for all [the other verses], but how explain Till thrones were placed? One [throne] was for Himself and one for David.19
The Watchers and the Holy Ones have their source in Daniel 4:14 and the thrones in Daniel 7:9. Rashi, in commenting on Exodus 23:21, identifies as Metatron the angel of whom God says ‘…My name is in him’ and points out that the numerical value of Metatron is equal to that of El Shaddai (the Almighty): 314.
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.20
We can see that 3 Enoch is by no means estranged from rabbinic tradition, Metatron being attested in the Talmud and later in Rashi’s commentary. Metatron tells Rabbi Ishmael:
When the Holy One, blessed be He, sits on the throne of judgment, Justice stands at His right hand, Mercy at His left, and Truth stands directly facing Him.22
At the heavenly court, angels of peace, mercy and destruction stand near the Holy One who is seated on the throne of judgment; seraphim and ophanim surround the throne, which is born up by holy creatures and, beneath the holy creatures, flow seven rivers of fire. Metatron describes to Rabbi Ishmael of the myriads of angels. some of whom say ‘Holy’ and some say ‘Blessed.’
When the time comes to say ‘Holy,’ a storm wind first goes out from the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, and falls on the camps of the Shekhinah, and a great storm arises among the, as it is written, ‘Now a storm of the Lord breaks, a tempest whirls.’23 Thereupon, a thousand thousand of them become sparks, a thousand thousand firebrands, athousand thousand glowing coals, a thousand thousand flames, a thousand thousand males, a thousand thousand females, a thousand thousand winds, a thousand thousand blazing fires, a thousand thousand flames, athousand thousand sparks, a thousand thousand hashmalim24 of light, until they accept the yoke of the kingdom of the High and Exalted One who created them all, in dread, in fear, in awe, with shuddering, quaking, anguish, terror and trembling. Then they return to their original state. Thus the fear of their King is kept before them every hour, so that they should set their hearts to recite the song every hour, as it is written, ‘One called to another and said.’25
The author of 3 Enoch depicts the angels singing the Kedushah, as recited in the Amidah, based on the verse in Isaiah 6:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”26
When the ministering angels recite the Kedushah, the cherubim, ophanim, seraphim, holy creatures and sparks of light respond: Baruch Shem cavod malchuto le olam va ed. Metatron shows Rabbi Ishmael the letters by which the world was created, the waters above the firmament, thunder, lightning, snow, hailstones; he then shows him the souls of those who have been created and returned as well as the righteous souls who have not yet been created. This predetermined view of the righteousness of the soul can be found also in Midrash and Talmud:
With the supreme King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be He, sat the souls of the righteous with whom He took counsel before creating the world.27 Thou hast created Paradise and thou hast created Gehinnom: thou hast created righteous men and thou hast created wicked men, and who can prevent thee?28
Metatron shows R Ishmael the souls of the wicked and the ‘intermediate’ (benoniyyim) in Sheol, where the intermediate souls are purified. He shows him the souls of the Patriarchs, interceding for humanity and all the generations, from Adam all the way through to the Messiah son of Joseph and the Messiah son of David, the battles which Gog and Magog will fight with Israel, and the generations of the future, both Israelite and gentile, till the end of time.29 He also shows R Ishmael the spirits (ruchan) of the stars which also glorify God, the proof text being: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.30 When God sees that there is no righteousness in the world, and no remaining righteous intercessors, He will remember His own attribute of mercy and deliver Israel for His own sake. Then the Messiah will appear and bring Israel up to Jerusalem.31
Moreover, the kingdom of Israel, gathered from the four quarters of the world, shall eat with the Messiah, and the gentiles shall eat with them, as it is written, The Lord bares His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God (Isaiah 52:10); and it also says, The Lord alone is his guide, with Him is no alien god (Deuteronomy 32:12); and it says The Lord will be King over all the world (Zechariah 14:9).32
Peter Schäfer finds that the majority of midrashim concerning Metatron are Babylonian, or in later Palestinian works such as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Numbers Rabbah, both containing material later than the seventh century. An Introduction to Talmud and Midrash by Strack and Stemberger33 is a definitive work for offering the date and provenance of a very large number of midrashim, minor as well as major. The first edition, published in 1887, was the work ofHL Strack (1848-1922) , a Christian scholar of Judaism, and it is here revised and updated by Gunter Stemburger, born 1940. Stemberger cites Hugo Odeberg’s opinion that 3 Enoch or Sefer Hekhalot dates to the late third century, mentions Josef Milik’s much later estimate of thirteenth century and the rebuttal of Milik by Philip Alexander, who thinks fifth or sixth century CE most likely. Stemberger includes it in the genre of aggadic works known as Merkavah or Hekhalot texts, which appear to have diverse authors and redactors, and many textual additions, so that it is hardly possible to date them precisely, but contemporary scholars tend to consider them roughly contemporary with the Talmudic period.
Gillian Lazarus June 2012<a href=”https://neviimtovim.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/
Who Was Enoch?
Posted on: May 19, 2012
Enoch appears in the antediluvian genealogies of Genesis 5:
18 When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch.
19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.
26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters.
27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son
29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
There is another Enoch, or another account of Enoch in Genesis 4, where he is a son of Cain:
16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in thelandofNod, east ofEden.
17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
19 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
The Enoch whose name is given to three pseudepigraphic books is the Enoch of Genesis 5, who walks with God and, mysteriously, vanishes.
The first Book of Enoch is a pentateuchal work, the five books being: the Book of the Watchers, the Similitudes, the Book of Heavenly Luminaries, the Dream Visions and the Epistle of Enoch. It exists only in Ethiopic – the south Semitic Ge’ez language – but Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch were found at Qumran.[1]Some scholars believe that the original language was Hebrew, others that, like Daniel, it was composed partly in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic. It is usually dated between the third century BCE and the first century CE, during the later period of the secondTemple. Charlesworth describes it as a composite work, with the earliest passages dating from pre-Maccabean times and the latest dating as late a 64 BCE, which is the beginning of the Roman occupation.
The presence of fragments of 1 Enoch at Qumran makes it probable that the work originated inJudea. Professor Gabriele Boccaccini of theUniversityofMichiganbelieves that the Enochic community was the same sect as the Essenes of theDead Sea. It is quoted in the New Testament, in the Epistle of Jude.
The existing Ethiopic text was translated by scribes of the EthiopicChurch, and there are several references to it in early Patristic literature.[2]After the fourth century CE, it was dropped from Christian use, perhaps because Jerome, who translated the bible into Latin, denied its canonicity, although its influence continued uninterrupted inEthiopia.
Charlesworth says:
…1 Enoch is as dependent upon the Old Testament as it is influential on the New Testament and later extracanonical literature. During the exilic and post-exilic periods, apocalyptic became a major trend in Jewish thought. It was inherited by Christianity and remains an element in it to the present. Apocalyptic is both prophetic and revelatory; in apocalyptic literature we find, on the one hand, moral indignation about the present world, and, on the other, the foreboding predictions of eschatalogical events and the ultimate destiny of the world.[3]
The second Book of Enoch, in Old Slavonic, is usually dated to the first century CE.
The third Book of Enoch, a Kabbalistic text in Hebrew is believed to be written in the fifth century CE.
I propose that we defer our study of the second and third books to our next two sessions.
The Content of 1 Enoch
Book I
Enoch discloses a vision which he received from the angels. At a certain time in the future, God will emerge from heaven and march on Mount Sinai.[4]This will be accompanied by geological catastrophes, arousing fear in both mortals and Watchers (the Enochic term for fallen angels, fathers of the Nephilim, the fallen ones of Genesis 6:4). God will then proceed to judge both the righteous, who will be blessed, and the wicked, who will be destroyed.
Enoch speaks about the marriages between the fallen angels and mortal women, referred to in Genesis 6:1-4. He names the leading fallen angel as Semyaz as well as naming other ‘chiefs of tens’ among them. Notable among the fallen angels is Azazel (known to us through the Yom Kippur scapegoat liturgy) who taught the people arts of metallurgy, jewellery making, cosmetics and alchemy. Other angels taught magic – particularly using plants – and astrology. The people were not edified by the knowledge imparted to them by the angels, as it only served to increase their dissipated behaviour.
This is the period just before the flood when the wickedness of humanity causes God to repent that He created it,[5]but, in the Enochian version, it is the angels Michael, Surafel and Gabriel who bring these matters to God’s attention.[6] God tells Michael that he should make known to the Watchers and those defiled by them that they will be destroyed while the survivors will become righteous and the earth cleansed from sin and suffering.[7]
The fallen angels beg Enoch to intercede for them and he writes down their prayers for forgiveness. He then goes to the foot of mount Hermon and recites the prayers, until he falls asleep. While sleeping, he has a vision which he afterwards recounts to the Watchers.[8]
In the vision, Enoch ascends to heaven until he comes into the presence of God. God says ‘Do not fear Enoch righteous man, scribe of righteousness; come near to me and hear my voice.’[9] God tells Enoch to say to the Watchers: ‘You were once in heaven, but not all the mysteries of heaven are open to you, and you know the rejected mysteries.’[10](See text of 1 Enoch 16.)
Enoch is then taken on a tour of the earth where he is enabled to see the four winds, the inside of mountains, souls carried by clouds and the path of angels. He is shown a desolate plateau which is the prison for fallen stars and the angel Uriel tells him that the Watchers will be detained there.[11] He learns the names of the archangels – . Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel and Remiel.[12]He is shown Jerusalem, the tree of life and the tree of judgment, strange beasts and finally the three open gates of heaven which he views from the ends of the earth.[13]
Book II
This is called the Book of the Similitudes, or the Book of Parables. The tone is highly mystical, with descriptions of angels and the secrets of the cosmos. We also find the personification of abstract qualities such as Righteousness and Wisdom, which is familiar to us through the prophetic writings and Wisdom books of the Tanakh.
There is an account of the Son of Man, an expression (c’var Enosh) which occurs in the vision of Daniel chapter 7 as ‘one like a son of man’. In 1 Enoch 48, the concept is developed in a way which resembles the Johannine Logos, as a divine being existing before the creation of the world, as well as the Son of Man themes in the synoptic gospels. It has been suggested[14]but not widely accepted that 1 Enoch 48 is a later Christian addition (See text 1 Enoch 48) but, as the scholarly consensus is that Enoch predates the NT, it is possible that Enoch is one of the influences on themes developed in the NT.
There is a biennial conference called the Enoch Seminar, where scholars of Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins meet to discuss topics of common interest. At the third Enoch Seminar in 2005, focused on Enoch 48: the Son of Man text.
Enoch 51 affirms that Sheol will ‘return all the deposits which she has received’ and the risen dead will be judged by ‘the Elect One’ who ‘stands before the Lord of Spirits’[15]. The concept of the Elect One in Enoch suggests a very un-Jewish dualism. Kings and potentates are to be cast into the abyss by the angels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Phanuel.[16]It is interesting that those judged guilty are the earthly powerful elite.
Enoch speaks of the role of the angels in the world of politics, when the Parthians and Medes will go to war against Israel, but ultimately turn on each other and be destroyed.[17]Gabriele Boccaccini points out that this reference to the Parthians and Medes ‘…anchors us to a specific event that occured in 40 BCE’[18], namely an attempted invasion ofJerusalem by the Parthians, who resisted the advance of the Romans from the west.
The angels then show Enoch the mysteries of nature and the monsters Leviathan and Behemoth. He sees angels hoisting ropes, which they use to make measurements.[19]What are they measuring?
These are the measurements that shall be given to faith and which shall strengthen righteousness. And these measurements shall reveal all the secrets of the depths of the earth, those who have been destroyed in the desert, those who have been devoured by wild beasts, and those who have been eaten by the fish of the sea. So that they all return and find hope in the day of the Elect One. For there is no one who perishes before the Lord of the Spirits, and no one who should perish.[20]
Kings and governors will come before God on the day of judgment, and experience pain like a women in labour, a simile often used by the three major prophets, and once by Micah in the minor prophets.
Enoch’s grandson Noah is shown the wickedness of men and the imminence of the deluge.[21]Enoch tells Noah that he will be saved and his desendants flourish on earth. The next parashot are visions given to Noah. The angels Michael and Raphael nsme the fallen angels, who corrupted mankind, teaching them warfare and misleading Eve.[22]
Enoch ascends to heaven where he sees hosts of angels, seraphim, cherubim and ophanim, and is brought into the presence of the Antecedent of Time, described similarly to the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7.[23]Enoch utters blessings and an angel says to him:
You, son of man, who art born in righteousness and upon whom righteousness has dwelt, the righteousness of the Antecedent of Time will not forsake you.[24]
Book III
The third part of 1 Enoch is The Book of Heavenly Luminaries.
The angel Uriel shows Enoch the celestial bodies. There are gates through which the sun rises and sets for periods of thirty days, and when the sun reaches the sixth gate, the day becomes longer than the night.[25]The author of these passages has made close astronomical and meteorological observations and draws interesting inferences.
And neither does [the sun] diminish…nor take rest but continue to run day and night. As for the intensity of its light, it is sevenfold brighter than that of the moon; nevertheless the sun and the moon are equal in regard to their respective sizes.[26]
The author’s idea that both the sun and moon ride on chariots driven by the wind invokes the image of Apollo’s chariot.
Uriel instructs Enoch to return to earth for a year so that he can teach his son Methuselah everything he has learned, and in the second year, Enoch will be taken away. Enoch tells Methuselah about the heavenly luminaries, which determine the seasons and the festivals and names the angels, or ‘captains’, to whom God delegates responsibility for the days, months and seasons.
Book IV
Enoch communicates his visions to his son Methuselah. In the first vision, he sees the earth being destroyed, and prays to God not to destroy life on earth.
The second vision takes the form of an allegory of the history from antediluvian times (text of Enoch 85) to the time of the Maccabees. The time of composition may be close to the time that the book of Daniel was written and, certainly, much of the imagery of 1 Enoch resembles the imagery of the apocalyptic passages in Daniel.
In Enoch’s dream vision, animals represent human beings (a form of allegory used by Pseudo Philo in Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum ) and colours represent attributes.
Translators of Enoch, GH Schodde (1854 -1917) and RH Charles (1855 – 1931) interpreted the components of the allegory as follows:
| White | Moral purity |
| Black | sin |
| Red | Blood or bloodshed |
| White bull | Adam |
| Heifer | Eve |
| Red calf | Abel |
| Black calf | Cain |
| White calf | Seth |
| White bull | Noah |
| White bull | Shem |
| Red bull | Ham |
| Black bull | Japheth |
| Lord of the sheep | Hashem |
| Fallen star | Samyaza or Azazel |
| Elephants | Giants |
| Camels | Nephilim |
| Asses | Elioud |
| Sheep | The faithful |
| Rams | Leaders |
| Herds | Tribes ofIsrael |
| Wild Asses | Ishmael and descendants |
| Wild boars | Esau and his descendants |
| Bears (Hyenas/Wolves in Ethiopic) | Egyptians |
| Dogs | Philistines |
| Hyena | Assyrians |
| Ravens | Seleucids |
| Kites | Ptolomeys |
| Eagles | Macedonians |
| Foxes | Ammonites and Moabites |
Book V
Enoch gathers Methuselah and his brothers and addresses them, exhorting them to love righteousness alone. He tells them that violence and plague will break out on the earth.
A great chastisement shall come from heaven upon all these,
And the holy Lord will come forth with wrath and chastisement
To execute judgement on earth.
In those days violence shall be cut off from its roots,
And the roots of unrighteousness together with deceit,
And they shall be destroyed from under heaven.
And all the idols of the heathen shall be abandoned,
And the towers burned with fire,
And they shall be removed from the whole earth.[27]
Section 93 is called the Apocalypse of Weeks where Enoch speaks of ‘ten weeks’ which represent the history of the world, where seven weeks represent the past and three the future, culminating in a criminal, apostate generation, which will be destroyed while those who die in righteousness will live and rejoice:
Their spirits shall not perish , not their memorial from before the face of the Great One unto all the generations of the world.[28]
Enoch tells his children that the righteous should not be afraid when they see the wicked flourish, there will retribution for the wicked and rejoicing for the righteous.
Finally, when Enoch finishes his speech, there is a narrative concerning Methuselah and his son Lamech whose wife gave birth to a son of angelic beauty.[29]Lamech begged Methuselah to go to Enoch, now dwelling among the angels, to learn the meaning of this strange portent of the celestial child.
Enoch explains to Methuselah about the coming deluge, and how Lamech’s child and his family will be saved, alone of all mankind. Methuselah names his grandson Noah, ‘for he will comfort the earth after its destruction.’[30]
The book concludes with the assurance that the righteous will be recompensed for their suffering on earth, and that ‘they shall be resplendant for ages that cannot be numbered’.[31]
Conclusion
Much of 1 Enoch is recognizable to those familiar with the Tanakh, especially Genesis, the prophets and Daniel. It contains terminology familiar to readers of the New Testament, and is believed to date from the intertestamental period, which suggests the possibility of an Enochic influence on the gospels.
It is in the the third book of Enoch, a Hebrew work attributed pseudepigraphically to the tannaitic Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, that Enoch is transformed into the angel Metatron. In the first book of Enoch, he ascends to the heavens and is guided by angels who reveal secrets of heaven and earth, but it is not suggested that he is transfigured into an angel.
I suggest that we look at the second and third books of Enoch at our meetings in June and July (2012).
[1] James H Charlesworth, Pseudepigrapha vol 1, p 6
[2] Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, Clement ofAlexandria.
[3] Charlesworth vol 1 p9
[4] 1 Enoch 1
[5] Genesis 6:5-7
1 Enoch 9
ibid
[8] 1 Enoch 13
[9] 1 Enoch 15
ibid
[11] 1 Enoch 19
1 Enoch 20
1 Enoch 35 and 36
[14] 1976, by Josef Milik, who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls
[15] 1 Enoch 49:2
Enoch 54
[17] Enoch 56:5-8
Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man, Gabriele Boccaccini, Eerdmans 2007
[19] Enoch 61
[20] ibid vv 4-6
[21] Enoch 65
Enoch 69
[23] Enoch 71
[24] ibid v14
[25] Enoch 72:14
[26] ibid v37
[27] 1 Enoch 91:7-9
[28] 103:4
[29] 1 Enoch 106
[30] ibid 107:3
[31] ibid 108
And his name was called…
Posted on: March 25, 2012
When babies are given names in the bible, the name is chosen to reflect the situation of the birth, sometimes as a comment on the parents’ predicament, sometimes an acknowledgement of God’s role in the birth or the general situation, and sometimes prophetically, as an expectation of what the named child will become.
A Who’s Who of the Hebrew bible will explain the meaning of any name, and very often, as with the characters invented by Charles Dickens, the name expresses some characteristic of the person.
In the modern world, a child’s given name may indicate many things: nationality, religion and class for example. They reflect social trends, media and celebrity culture. The influence of celebrity names is determined by other factors besides the popularity of the celebrity. For some reason, more Marilyns than Elvises were born in the 1950s; perhaps more Nevilles than Winstons in the 1940s. Even certain patterns of sound can become popular trends: consider that Aidan, Jayden and Kayden were amongst the top boys’ names in the UK in 2011, Ella, Bella (an allusion to the Twilight series of fiction) and Ellie for girls. Surnames such as Howard and Harrison become popularized as given names. Why were so many Jewish boys in the 1940s given the Welsh name Melvyn?
Cain and Abel
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man (קניתי איש) with the help of the LORD.”
And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
Cain’s name is from the verb ק נ ה, to acquire, buy, get. It has two strong consonants in common with ק נ א, to be jealous, conceptually linked with possession or acquisition. God’s relationship with Israel is expressed as קנה at the Song at the Sea: … till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
The naming of Abel is not accounted for in the Genesis narrative, but הבל is usually translated as vanity, especially in its context in Ecclesiastes, suggesting something transitory and insignificant. In our morning prayer service we say: Ki hacol havel levad haneshamah hatehorah – Everything is trivial except the pure soul.
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Genesis 4:25
ותקרא את־שמו שת כי שת־לי אלהים זרע אחר תחת הבל
Noah
When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief (זה ינחמנו) from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
The names Nahum or Nahman would have fitted the etymology of yenachamenu, and the name of Noah looks as if it comes from נ וּ ח, to rest, as in ותּנח התּבה …and the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
Ishmael’s name, connected with shema, comes from the same source as Simeon, chosen later by Leah for her second son. Note that the name Samuel is spelled with an aleph rather than an ayin, so is not linked to the concept of hearing in the same way.
The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”
The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened (כי שמע יי) to your affliction.
The source of the name Isaac is well known, based on a pun made by Sarah:
Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh (כל השמע יצחק־לי) over me.”
More puzzling is the naming of Esau:
The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau.
Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel (בעקב), so his name was called Jacob.
Esau is described as admoni, ruddy, and seir, hairy, which explains his names Edom and Seir, but what does Esav mean? The letters ayin sin vav spell the word that means ‘do’, third person or imperative plural, as in, for example עשו להם ציצית, ‘make themselves fringes’. Does the fact that Esau is a hunter have any bearing on a name which might be connected with ‘doing’?
Jacob’s sons are all given significant names, which reflect the circumstances of their birth. Leah in particular names her sons with pious allusions to God who responded to her prayers.
And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction (ראה יי בעניי); for now my husband will love me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated (שמע יי כי שנוּאה), he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me (ילוה אישי), because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise (אודה) the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah.
Rachel, in naming the children of Bilhah her handmaid, reveals her competitive feelings about her sister and Leah responds similarly when Zilpah gives birth:
And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, “God has judged me (דנני), and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.
Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister (נפתוּלי אלהים נפתלתי עם אחתי) and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” (בא גד) so she called his name Gad. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, “Happy am I! (באשרי) For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
The sisters then quarrel, haggling over the valuable mandrakes found by Reuben. Rachel bargains with Leah by promising access to Jacob, and the fertile Leah gives birth to another son:
Leah said, “God has given me my reward (סכרי) because I gave my maid to my husband”; so she named him Issachar.19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honour me (יזבּלני אישי), because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun. Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
Rachel’s two sons’ names are poignantly descriptive of Rachel experience:
Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add (יסף) to me another son!”And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;but his father called him Benjamin.
On ‘Thought for the Day’ last Friday (23 March 2012), Rabbi Lord Sacks referred to the Egyptian etymology of the name Moses, a suffix meaning ‘child’, as in Ramses, child of Ra, while acknowledging that the Hebrew etymology gives Moses another meaning:
When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him (משיתהו) out of the water.”
Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”, and the name of the other, Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”.
Regarding Moses’ two sons, we know very little other than their names and the strange circumstances of Gershom’s circumcision. We can find the names of their descendants, however, in 1 Chronicles 23.
The naming of Samuel is interesting as his name should mean something like ‘Name and God’, Shem v’ El. Hannah makes an association with שאל, to ask, which seems to belong less to Samuel than to his protegé Saul.
And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him (שאלתיו) from the LORD.”
The unnamed widow of Phinehas, Eli’s son, alludes to the loss of the Holy Ark, which is seized by the Philistines:
And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” (גלה כבוד מישראל)
Solomon, unusually, is given two names, the second, Jedidiah, at the instigation of the prophet Nathan. Robert Alter suggests that Jedidiah, meaning ‘beloved of God’ indicates Nathan’s identification with Bathsheba’s cause, as will become apparent when he supports Solomon later, against his older brother Adonijah, as the successor to David.
Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.
Isaac was also called yedid, the son whom Abraham loved.
Sometimes the etymology is approximate, or based on a transposition of consonants, as in the case of a descendant of Judah called Jabez, based on the word B’azav, ‘in pain’. When the adult Jabez prays to God to enlarge his territory, he adds the words: levilti azbi, ‘that it may not pain me’ and God answers his prayer.
Jabez was more honourable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain (כי ילדתי בעצב).”
Some names allude to disasters which have befallen the person naming the child:
And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house (כי ברעה היתה בביתו).
We have seen that Hosea’s wife bore children whose names suggested God’s abandonment of Israel. Conversely Job’s daughters have names which mean daylight, perfume and reversal of fortune:
And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.
Names which reveal character or destiny from birth seem to belong more to the realm of literature than that of history. It is common for historical personages to be called ‘the Great,’ ‘the Terrible’, ‘Epiphanes’, ‘Longshanks’, ‘Milk-snatcher’ etc, but these are soubriquets, based on deeds or appearance.
The question arising from biblical names concerns their prophetic character. Does the parent know que sera, or are they simply expressing their hopes and fears about the future? Perhaps the etymology is added, with historical hindsight, as an explanation of the named character.
Some biblical names are meaningful in the absence of any infancy narrative; an instance of this would be David, whose name, ‘beloved’, is highly significant. Another is Saul, the ‘asked-for’ king.
The absence of any clearly discernible meaning in a biblical name seems to argue in favour of the historicity of the person in question.
Purim Spiel 5772
Posted on: March 8, 2012
- In: Purim
- Leave a Comment
Performed with Powerpoint, music and pictures, at Sha’arei Tsedek North London Synagogue on 7 March 2012
ESTHER CHAPTER ONE
From Ahasuerus (king.ahasuerus@shushan.org.pe)
To medes@media.com; satraps@persia.co.pe; princes@ethiopia.co.et; raj@hodu.co.in;
Cc achaemenids@shushan.org.pe
SUBJECT Invitation
Ahasuerus King of Persia requests the pleasure of your company at a banquet to be held at Shushan the Castle.
‘We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart,’ to quote our court poet.
WACS (wives and concubines) will be welcome at a banquet given by Queen Vashti in Her Majesty’s private boutique.
The most royal and gracious
Ahasuerus
Dress: informal blue/purple linen
RSVP info@shushan.org.pe
*
From Ahasuerus (king.ahasuerus@shushan.org.pe)
To Memucan@satraps.com; et cetera
SUBJECT Vashti the Queen
Having REALLY MERRY time with courtiers and satraps – one prince came all the way from India on an ELEPHANT LOL!!!
It will be our pleasure for you to fetch Queen Vashti PRONTO, so that these guys can see her in the flesh. Eat your heart out, Menelaus!
The most royal and gracious sovereign
Ahasuerus
PS Tell her to wear her crown!!!
*
SMS
No way King A! Am having gr8 time in harem with unux, 2BZ2 meet ur geeky friends. C u (much) l8er, VashT
*
From: Memucan Memucan@yesucan.com
To: King Ahasuerus (king.ahasuerus@shushan.org.pe)
SUBJECT Vashti the Queen
Your Majesty
Queen Vashti has wronged not only your royal person but all the husbands in your empire. She has shown the kind of disrespect that leads inevitably to a breakdown in family values and the subversion of identity. I urge you to divorce Vashti at once and replace her with another, better than she.
BTW thanks for the awesome banquet.
Your devoted servant
Memucan (Prince)
*
MEMO
ATTN Princes of Persia and Media
From: Prince Memucan
Re: the person formerly known as queen Vashti
HM King Ahasuerus is divorcing Vashti. She will cease to be Queen forthwith and is not to be referred to as HRH.
Make it known in your own households that every woman is to be subservient to her husband. This is an unalterable decree of the Medes and the Persians and is available in the following languages: Akkadian, Aramaic, Coptic, Elamite, Greek, Hebrew, Klingon, Parsi, Sanskrit, Sumerian and Welsh.
*
CHAPTER 2
Classified
Inexperienced and obedient maiden required by royal male. Must have stunning good looks and an agreeable disposition. Must be amenable to new experiences and say yes to everything.
Apply to hegaitheeunuch@shushan.org.pe
No mingers
*
15th Samiyama
Dear Hegai
My foster daughter Hadassah (also known as Esther) has all the virtues required in your advertisement which appeared in the Star of Shushan on 14th Samiyamas. She is also virtuous, obedient and speaks five languages (Elamite, Aramaic, Hebrew, Elvish and Esperanto). She has just two desires: the well-being of His Gracious Majesty King Ahasuerus, and world peace.
Yours sincerely
Mordecai ben Jair
*
SMS
Hi uncle Mordecai am well treated at Palace – free myrrh and all u can eat!! – and have kept QT re Jewish Gen and whole exile schtick. Got King to autograph my chador. Worst case scenario can sell it on ebay. Esther xx
*
My dear Esther
Just want you to know I’m very proud of you. I’m sure you’ll make the best of your new role, and remember, because this is important, don’t mention the J word, at least not until I say so. Have been networking with some of the eunuchs, who keep me up to date with court gossip (They tell me those nebekhs Bigthan and Teresh are looking for a grievance lawyer).
With love from your affectionate
Uncle Mordecai
*
From estherthequeen@royalapartments.org.pe
To king.ahasuerus@shushan.org.pe
Bcc: mordecaibenjair@benjamites.com
SUBJECT: Conspiracy
My most dear and gracious husband and king, Ahasuerus of Persia and Media,
It pains me to tell you that I have been informed of a plot against your royal person. This has been discovered by your trusted servant Mordecai ben Jair who works in the Accounts Department. He has heard that your chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh seek your life as a reprisal for their failure to make promotion to Grade 6. Bigthan also asserts that he is owed overtime for serving wine at your most recent banquet, which he says is not within his remit.
Mordecai begs you to take steps against these evildoers and thwart their conspiracy, to which petition I add my own signature
Esther
*
From king.ahasuerus@shushan.org.pe
To Memucan@yesucan.com
SUBJECT FW: Conspiracy
Memucan, deal with this ASAP and get it written up in the Book of Chronicles (not that anybody reads those bubbemeisers).
The most Royal etc
Ahasuerus
*
CHAPTER THREE
MEMO
ATTN princes, satraps, chamberlains courtiers and hoi polloi
From: Haman
Re: Haman
All the Kings’ servants are to prostrate themselves in the presence of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite. That includes the princes. No one is exempt. Especially not the accountants.
*
Shushan_cushion Carcas
@Bizzetha What do you make of fact that Mordecai the Jew won’t bow down to #Haman?
2 hours ago
Bizzworks Bizzetha
@Shushan_cushion@Abagtha Someone should have a word with #Mordecai as Haman is getting well miffed. Please RT
1 hour ago
Abagtha Abagtha
@Bizzworks@Cheeseeater Why is #Mordecai trending on twitter? Is this the dude from accounts who won’t bow to #Haman? Do we want him to bow?
25 minutes ago
Cheeseeater Harbona
@Abagtha Of course we want him to bow. And scrape. Got to keep #Haman happy. Tell #Mordecai he has to prostrate himself like rest of us. RT
18 minutes ago
Abagtha Abagtha
@Cheeseeater Prostate?
15 minutes ago
Cheeseeater Harbona
@Abagtha Prostrate. Keep up
14 minutes ago
Bizzworks Bizzetha
@Abagtha. #Mordecai is only trending in Shushan. Doubt that he’s trending in Halicarnassus for example
10 minutes ago
Abagtha Abagtha
@Bizzworks Is anything trending in Halicarnassus?
7 minutes ago
Bizzworks Bizzetha
@Abagtha No way. Nothing ever happens there, place is like a tomb
5 minutes ago
Bizzworks Bizzetha
@Shushan_cushion@Abagtha Someone should have a word with #Mordecai as Haman is getting well miffed. Please RT
Retweeted by Shushan_cushion
*
STAR OF SHUSHAN ¼ silver talent
13 Hadukannaš
12th year of King Ahasuerus
MORDECAI WON’T KOWTOW IN HAMAN BOW ROW
Chief Minister Haman is furious that palace accountant Mordecai ben Jair, 46, still refuses to bow down to him. Haman, 52, has demanded that all the King’s servants prostrate themselves before him. ‘I won’t kowtow’ says Ben Jair, whose Jewish grandparents were carried away from Judah in the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
Haman was not available for an interview but a source close to the Minister has revealed that he has an audience with the King today.
STUDENT UNREST HALTS CHARIOTS IN THERMOPYLAE
Disgruntled Spartan students prevented traffic crossing the pass at Thermopylae yesterday during an anti-Persian demonstration. Several windows were broken in Argos, as rioters laid their hands upon
the spoil.
Banished Vashti sells Sushi from sea shore in Shushan
Disgraced queen Vashti has opened a fashionable Sushi restaurant in West Shushan, offering fresh fish from the Caspian Sea. ‘I find my new business both profitable and empowering,’ Vashti tells our reporter. See page 5 for our exclusive interview.
*
RECORD OF A MEETING BETWEEN HM KING AHASUERUS AND CHIEF MINISTER HAMAN
13 Nisan 12th year of the reign of King Ahasuerus
HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
Present: HM King Ahasuerus, Chief Minister Haman, Zethar the Scribe
Haman reported that there is a certain people scattered through all the provinces of the kingdom who do not keep the King’s laws and should therefore be destroyed.
The Minister then explained that he had cast pur, that is to say lots, and found that the 13th day of the month of Adar would be an auspicious time for the destruction of these people.
HM the King then removed his ring and said ‘Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, I give you this ring as a seal of my confidence in you. Deal with these people in any way which seems good to you.’
It was agreed that letters to this effect would be posted to the satraps of all the provinces, all the letters to be sealed by the King’s ring.
HM the King said ‘Does that mean I have to sit on the photocopier?’
The decree is to be published instantly in Shushan the Castle.
Recorded by Zethar the Scribe
CHAPTER FOUR
SMS
Uncle M am sending u clothes as hear u tore urs and r wearing sackcloth. Sorry ur :(. Am sending my servant Hatach the unuk 2 c u Esther xx
From Hatach@chamberlains.org.pe
To estherthequeen@royalapartments.org.pe
SUBJECT: Mr M Ben Jair
Your Royal Highness Queen Esther
I visited Mordecai Ben Jair according to your command. He asks me to tell you that Haman the Agagite is plotting the extermination of all the Jews in the Persian Empire (see attachment). He requests very strenuously that you approach the King and ask him to spare your people.
Yours respectfully
Hatach the chamberlain
SMS
Uncle M u know no1 may approach KA unless summoned. He has not called me and if I do what u say he will probably have me killed!!!
E xx
*
SMS
Esther, do not think u will s cape just bcos ur in the palace. If u hold ur pce deliverance will come from an other ¼. Who knows if u have not come to royal est8 4 just such a time as this? M x
*
SMS
Am fasting 3 days. Please have all Jews in Shushan do same. Then I will c king and if I die I die. E
*
CHAPTER FIVE
Bizzetha the Chamberlain
Breaking news: Queen Esther approached His Majesty’s inner court without being summoned. Whoops!
52 minutes ago
2 people like this
View all 11 comments
Abagtha: Pourquoi ‘whoops’?
48 minutes ago
Bizzetha: Because it’s a capital offence, that’s why whoops. Luckily for her, she still has her head.
45 minutes ago
1 person likes this
Harbona: I heard she wants to give a banquet for HM and Haman
30 minutes ago
Abagtha: What’s HM? Is it short for Haman?
28 minutes ago
Bizzetha: His Majesty
25 minutes ago
Harbona: I also heard about the banquet. Haman must be well pleased.
15 minutes ago
1 person dislikes this
Bizzetha: It’s a great honour for him. Can’t understand why he still complains about Mordecai not bowing. He must be a goblet half empty person.
11 minutes ago
Abagtha: Which goblet is that?
9 minutes ago
Bizzetha: It’s a notional goblet.
5 minutes ago
Abagtha: You can get them in Argos.
4 minutes ago
Recent activity
Haman seems to be hell bent on destr… on Harbona’s wall
Bizzetha and Memucan are now friends
Bizzetha has unfriended Vashti, Bigthan and Teresh
SMS
Haman pls call in at B&Q on ur way home and get a gallows 50 qbits high. Arrange with the king to have Mordecai hanged b4 u go 2 the banquet, that will show him. Luv from ur clever wife Zeresh
SMS
Dear Z Am in B&Q now trying to find sales assistant. H
From King Ahasuerus
To Zethar et cetera
SUBJECT Records of the Chronicles
Be advised that I have been reading the records in the book of Chronicles and wish to show gratitude to Mordecai the Jew who uncovered a heinous plot against my life. The wrongdoers were punished but Mordecai has not yet been rewarded.
Another thing: tell the court physician to bring me further supplies of a sleeping potion – I think he calls it mandrazepam – as I have run out.
Your most royal and gracious sovereign
Ahasuerus
*
STAR OF SHUSHAN
¼ silver talent
19 Hadukannaš
12th year of King Ahasuerus
AGAGITE GOES GAGA AT MORDECAI HONOUR SAGA
Chief Minister Haman the Agagite is said to be fuming as King Ahasuerus honoured Mordecai ben Jair today with a horseback procession. Ben Jair, 43, was mounted on the king’s horse and dressed in royal apparel while Haman, 54, led him through the streets of Shushan. Sources close to Haman have revealed that the minister was expecting to be honoured himself and has long held a grudge against Mordecai. Straight after the parade, he was seen hurrying home with his head covered. Haman’s wife Zeresh, an attractive brunette, 49, said: ‘If Mordecai is of Jewish origin, Haman will not prevail against him’. Zeresh’s name has been linked with that of Hocham, one of Haman’s advisors. They were seen last night at one of Shushan’s liveliest venues, ‘The Purple Turtledove’, sharing a goblet of wine with two straws and a papyrus umbrella.
MORDECAI FINDS SUPPORT ABROAD Sha’arei Tsedek, a poor community in the land of the Britons, called on King Ahashuerus to respect the rights of Persian Jews. Their leader, Rav Eimer, seen here addressing a meeting of Mordecai’s supporters warned of the dangers of Amalekite anti-semitism.’
Foreign news: Ezra lambasts Jerusalemites for taking Moabite wives. See page 12
*
CHAPTER SEVEN
Wonderful banquet Esther babe, Californian Pinot has lively bouquet with notes of vanilla. Tell me what u want and I’ll give it 2 u, even if it’s ½ my kingdom LOL!!! King A
*
Majesty I ask only 4 my life and the lives of my people 4 we are sold 2b destroyed. QE xx
*
Say what? Who dunnit? KA
*
An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. QE xx
*
Omg that makes me cross. Am going outside 4 a smoke. KA
*
Help! Haman being inappropri8 invading my personal space. Yuk! QE xx
*
?? Will he force the queen b4 my face??!!
*
From Harbona
To King Ahasuerus
SUBJECT Gallows
Your Royal Highness
It may interest you to know that Haman owns a gallows fifty cubits high, on which he intended to hang Mordecai. As Mordecai is Your Majesty’s valued advisor, and it seems a shame to waste a good gallows, you may wish to have Haman hanged in his place. (It is in Haman’s garden, next to the shed, just past the garden gnomes.)
Your ever-so-humble servant
Harbona
*
From King Ahasuerus
To Harbona
SUBJECT Gallows
See to it.
Ahasuerus
*
From Harbona
To King Ahasuerus
SUBJECT Gallows
Haman son of Hammedatha sleeps with the fishes.
*
From King Ahasuerus
To Harbona
SUBJECT Gallows
I’m not interested in his private life. Just kill him.
Ahasuerus
*
CHAPTER EIGHT
Dear husband, King Ahasuerus
Uncle Mordecai and I are very grateful for the kind gift of your ring which you took off Haman to give Uncle Mordecai. I am sure he will enjoy wearing it. Thank you also for the generous gift of Haman’s house. It is wonderfully spacious and the garden is charming (I have donated the gnomes to a charity which provides for the gnomeless).
If you will forgive one further demand on your goodwill, I request that you reverse the letters devised by Haman authorising the destruction of the Jews in all the provinces of the Empire.
I do not wish to be importunate, but this means a great deal to me. I was encouraged by the way you held out your sceptre to me last night, which led me to believe that you were pleased to see me.
With gratitude and big hugs xoxox
Esther
*
MEMO
Attn: Scribes
From: His Majesty King Ahasuerus
Re: the Jews
Concerning the Jews
Letters are to be sent to all satraps, governors and princes of the provinces that the Jews are permitted to defend themselves against anyone who attacks them. This is a decree of state. Horses to be sourced from royal stables for maximum speed. No camels, as speed is of the essence. Anyone using a camel to transport a royal decree will be clamped.
Ahasuerus
PS Mordecai to be kitted out by court tailors in blue and white with purple cape and gold crown (not as big as my crown).
*
CHAPTER NINE
STAR OF SHUSHAN ½ silver talent
13th Miyakannaš
13th year of King Ahasuerus
500 DIE IN SHUSHAN AS AGAGITE COUP FAILS
The Jews of Shushan took up the sword today to defend themselves against supporters of the late minister Haman the Agagite. Among the dead are believed to be the ten sons of Haman: Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Viagra.
Dalphon was a graduate of the London School of Economics, where he had achieved an upper second in Political Science. Poratha was a major shareholder in the company Nabatean Consolidated Olives. Shares in NCO are down by 4%.
Parmashta had been linked romantically with Princess Rhodogune, who is now betrothed to the Armenian satrap Orontes. Rhodogune, an attractive redhead, 22, told our interviewer ‘Even though everything was over between us, I’ll never forget Smashmashta…Parthamster…whatever’.
Memucan the Chamberlain has suggested that Jewish reprisals in Shushan have been disproportionate. The Star of Shushan can reveal Mordecai’s comment, exclusive to our reporter: ‘We had some very old scores to settle with the Agagites. It was necessary to blot out the memory of Amalek.’
SUSHI QUEEN OPENS PIZZA PARLOUR IN PERSEPOLIS
Vashti, CEO of the successful Sushi Queen chain of restaurants, and former wife of King Ahasuerus, has diversified into Etruscan cuisine with her new restaurant ‘Parsi Pizzas’. Let’s hope the Parsi pizzas surpass the Shushan sushi!
.
From Mordecai (Mbjair.privycouncil@shushan.org.pe)
To Board of Deputies of Persian Jews (bod@provinces.org.pe);
Sanhedrin (posterity@yavneh.co.il)
Cc Judah ha Nasi (tannaim@mishnah.co.il)
Bcc Queen Esther (estherthequeen@royalapartments.org.pe)
SUBJECT Purim
As the wicked Haman was foiled in his attempt to exterminate the Jews of the Persian Empire, we enjoin upon all the Jews in the empire and in posterity to keep 14th Adar every year as a festival (14th and 15th if you live in a walled city – you know who you are), from generation to generation, so that the memory of these days shall not perish.
*
From Queen Esther
To Board of Deputies of Persian Jews
Sanhedrin
Cc Judah ha Nasi
Bcc Mordecai
SUBJECT Purim
Hi everyone
I know we haven’t met but I’m the Queen here in Shushan, which isn’t bad going for an exiled Jewish orphan, even if I say it myself LOL!! Anyway I want a book written about these events and I hope there won’t be any argument about its place in the Bible (Rabbi Judah please note!). Don’t forget to mention that Uncle Mordecai and I are from the tribe of Benjamin because I’m not totally happy with the way we Benjamites are depicted in some parts of Judges and Samuel and I think people should know that we finished off Haman and the Agagites and Amalekites ONCE AND FOR ALL. This is very good news for all of us as it spells the END for anti-semitism! 🙂
Xoxox
Esther
CHAPTER TEN
Twitter
Harbona: Mordecai’s become the most powerful man in Shushan. The Chosen People always get themselves chosen for positions of power.
30 minutes ago
Bizzetha: Typical! What about all the Persians who get passed over for promotion?
25 minutes ago
Harbona: Yeah it’s the Jewish lobby, they control everything at Court.
22 minutes ago
Abagtha: I think Mordecai’s all right, he’s a dude. He lent me his dvd of ‘300’, ROTFL comedy where 300 Greek guys beat Persian army AS IF!!
10 minutes ago
Star of Shushan
Macedonians protest as Mordecai introduces VAT on Thracian slaves.
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Judges, Midwives and Bastards
Posted on: February 28, 2012
Gideon, Jephthah and connected themes
Repetitions in the book of Judges are by no means editorial oversights; the repeated phrases and themes serve a polemical purpose, to let the reader know that the children of Israel are drawn to the idolatry of their neighbours, that this results in domination by the neighbours, but that God elects a righteous military leader to deliver Israel from the hands of the enemy.
The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD
This expression is repeated in the book of Judges, each time as an opening to an episode where Israel is rescued from an oppressor by the actions of a judge, who is more like an army general than an adjudicator. Every tribe of Israel is represented by a judge. The oppressor varies – the Midianites for Gideon, Canaanites for Deborah, Moabites for Ehud, and so on.
Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.
Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.
Israel is delivered from Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, by Othniel, nephew of Caleb.
Ehud delivers Israel from the Moabites and their king Eglon.
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD after Ehud died.
Deborah and Barak, with help from Jael deliver Israel from the Canaanites.
Jephthah delivers Israel from the Ammonites and Philistines.
Samson saves Israel from the Philistines.
The fact that the judges each represent a tribe of Israel, including the two half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, gives the impression that Judges is a political and diplomatic document, designed to strengthen the ties between tribes and territories.
Although the stories in Judges are introduced by the same formula and have a similar structure, they do not duplicate each other. It is rather more the book of Genesis that is duplicated in Judges. We have already seen how Judges 19, where the guest’s concubine is given up to be raped by local Benjamites, mirrors the way Lot’s visitors are menaced by the local men of Sodom. In both stories, women are offered to the aggressors to protect the male guests from assault. In both cases, transgressive sex occurs, incest in Genesis 19 , rape in Judges.
The circumstances in which an angel visits Gideon are similar to those in which Abraham and Sarah are visited by angels.
Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth (אלה)at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.
Like Abraham, Gideon makes haste to prepare a meal for his heavenly guests.
So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.
And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Terebinth trees appear at other significant moments in Genesis and 1 Samuel.
Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree.
As this is the only mention of Rebecca’s nurse Deborah, it may be worth mentioning that the more famous Deborah, who appears in Judges 4 and 5, also has a tree:
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
And she would sit under the palm tree (תמר) of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim.
The author Gary Greenberg writes:
The bible makes reference to two separate women named Deborah. One was the nurse to Abraham’s son Isaac and the other was, in the much later period of the Judges, a military leader referred to as “a mother in Israel”. Both seem to have mythic images and both are identified with a particular Tree of Weeping.
The Egyptian goddess Neith has a reputation as both a military figure and as a mother goddess and nurse, characteristics that caused the Greeks to identify her with the goddess Athena. In Hebrew, Deborah means “Bee” and that symbol is closely identified with Neith. A Temple to Neith was called “House of the Bee”, and the Bee was the symbol of kingship in Lower Egypt.
There is also a terebinth association for Samuel and Saul, at the beginning of their ill-fated relationship. After Samuel has anointed Saul, he gives him these directions for his journey home:
Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.
Saul’s response to Samuel the seer is similar to Gideon’s response to the angel:
Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’
A fire consumes the meal Gideon has prepared, responding to his request for a sign that he is in the presence of God. Abraham’s visitors eat and then announce the miracle that Sarah will have a child.
With both Abraham and Gideon, a conversation with an angel or angels becomes a conversation with God. When Gideon realizes that his visitor is an angel, his words resemble those of Jacob, after wrestling with an angel:
Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.’
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’
It is interesting that Deuteronomy tells us: There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, bearing in mind that the Patriarch Jacob and the Judge Gideon experienced a face to face encounter with a celestial being.
Local altars
The sacrificial altar was centralised from the time of the First Temple, with Jeroboam’s rival altar at Bethel regarded as transgressive, and local shrines as idolatrous. Building altars is acceptable, even commendable, in the books prior to Kings.
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD.
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.
Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace.
And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.
Then [Samuel] would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the LORD.
And Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar that he built to the LORD.
And David built there [the threshing floor of Araunah] an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the LORD, making offerings with it before the LORD. So he finished the house.
It is of course Solomon who centralizes the altar, but this is anticipated by David’s altar on the threshing floor of Araunah, the site of the Temple.
Call the Midwife: prophetic midwives in the bible.
Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”
*
When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labour, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
*
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
*
Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
Now gods, stand up for bastards! King Lear, I. ii.
The term mamzer occurs only twice in the bible (the other usage, in Zechariah 9:6, is the prophet’s anti-Philistine rhetoric) firstly in the stringent legislation of Deuteronomy:
No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
The union of a man with his concubine was considered legitimate. Therefore one would not consider the following to be bastards: Ishmael, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. Abraham’s sons by Keturah – Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah – also were legitimate as Abraham married Keturah.
Both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.
Deuteronomy 23:3 therefore alludes to the mamzerut of Ammonites and Moabites.
Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz
Amalek, while not a bastard, has the status of being a concubine’s child, perhaps of lower rank than the child of a wife.
In the case of Gideon, particular attention is drawn to the son of his Shechemite concubine:
Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.
Like Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester in King Lear, Abimelech is no good. Consider also who, of the Karamazov brothers, goes so far as to kill his despicable father.
With the connivance of his Shechemite relations, Abimelech kills all of his seventy brothers but one, Jotham, who survives. The Shechemites then turn on Abimelech, who suppresses them with great ruthlessness, setting fire to their stronghold, the Tower of Shechem.
However retribution comes quickly:
And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.'” And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
Like Sisera and Holofernes, Abimelech dies of a head injury inflicted by a woman.
Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior.
Jephthah was cast out and disinherited by his legitimate brothers, and acquired a retinue of ‘worthless men’. When the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead called him back to be their leader. Jephthah prays to God for victory, but makes a foolish vow:
And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand.
In one of his many discreditable acts as king, David appeases the troublesome Gibeonites by handing over the sons and grandsons of Saul, to certain death. Rizpah was Saul’s concubine, her name linked also to Abner’s.
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite; he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them perished together.
It would seem that there is no reason to doubt the legitimacy of Merab’s sons, unless we remember that Merab was originally betrothed to David and then given to another man. As a betrothal was legally binding, there is some doubt about the legitimacy of Merab’s children.
In the case of Hosea, who is commanded to have yaldei zenunim, children of whoredom, the paradox is that, if they are his offspring by his wife Gomer, then they are children of the marriage and not of whoredom. Gomer was a prostitute and the children are given names at God’s command with the meaning that God will abandon them.
The book of Hosea concludes on a note of reconciliation and forgiveness, as God tells Hosea:
I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.
There is no such reconciliation between the Duke of Gloucester and his bastard son, but King Lear, unlike the bible, is all about unforgiving fathers.
Neviim Tovim, blogs by Gillian Gould Lazarus 
The Witch of Endor
Posted by: Gillian Gould Lazarus on: August 6, 2012
1 Samuel 28: 3-25
This strange episode is full of drama, mystery and tragedy. Perhaps Saul’s story was in Shakespeare’s mind when he let Macbeth fall under the influence of the witches.
The state of play at the beginning of 1 Samuel 28 is as follows:
Saul is disheartened by the threat of the Philistines, who are mustering their forces for war against Israel. Samuel has died and Saul is no longer able to obtain prophetic counsel regarding the inevitable military engagement. More than that he has lost a father figure, however harsh and critical that father figure may have been.
Saul is pious in his observance of Torah and has banished witchcraft from the land, in obedience to Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:3, Leviticus 20:6 and Leviticus 20:27.
However, Saul now seeks a sorceress, because God does not answer him through the legitimate means of prophecy – dreams, Urim and Tummim and prophets. Unlike David, Saul has no dialogue with God. David is in continual conversation with God, in his Psalms and also in his supplications; it is as if God accompanies David in his daily affairs. Saul never addresses God in this way, and reaches out to God only by using Samuel as an intermediary, even using the expression ‘Your God’ when he speaks to Samuel. 1 The loss of Samuel is therefore all the more devastating for Saul, as the lines of communication with God are now closed to him.
The Urim and Tummim are a divining function of the priestly breastplate. Sumerian literature makes reference to the Tablets of Destinies, objects performing divination in Mesopotamian culture. The priestly passages in the Pentateuch refer to the priests operating Urim and Tummim, but in the post-exilic books, they are conspicuous only by their absence:
The silence of the Urim and Tummim at Saul’s time of need may be attributed to his massacre of the priests of Nob who had sheltered David; following this violence against the priesthood, the Urim and Tummin no longer respond to his enquiries.
Saul instructs his servants to find him a Baalat Ov – literally, mistress of ghosts. The Mishnah tells us that, although it is against the halakhah to consult a necromancer, the client, unlike the necromancer himself, is not liable to be executed.3 The Baalat Ov therefore potentially has more to lose than the king.
Saul disguises himself for the visit to Endor, with different clothes. Significant moments in Saul’s kingship have involved the changing or tearing of clothes, always with a negative connotation. He offers David his own armour for the fight with Goliath, unconsciously anticipating the passing of the kingdom from himself to David.4 When he tears Samuel’s cloak accidentally, Samuel says:
When pursued by Saul, David finds Saul off his guard in a cave and cuts off the corner of Saul’s robe.6
Saul’s son Jonathan takes off his garments, in effect the royal garments of the heir presumptive, and makes a gift of them to David:
Now, Saul sheds his kingly garments for the last time. A midrash says that he divested himself of royalty, reading the sin in vayithappes as a shin, to make the point that, in disguising himself, he made himself free (hofshi) of the kingdom.8 He sets out by night, heading north to Endor in the region of the Jezreel Valley. He is accompanied by two servants, named as Abner and Amasa in Vayyikra Rabbah, where Saul is commended in following the Abrahamic precedent of taking two servants with him.9 Louis Ginzberg in ‘Legends of the Jews’ cites a tradition10 that the witch was Abner’s mother.
Disguised as a commoner, Saul tells the witch of Endor to conjure up a ghost. The woman replies that she is afraid to do so, since King Saul has abolished witchcraft and she fears for her life. Saul assures her ‘As the Lord lives, no blame will befall you through this thing.’
Rabbi Levi, cited in Vayyikra Rabbah, sees the irony of Saul invoking God when he is about to break the law:
The woman then asks who is to be summoned and Saul tells her ‘Bring up Samuel.’ What follows is startling – not only because the ghost of Samuel appears, but because the witch screams when she sees him. And she says at once ‘Why did you deceive me, for you are Saul?’ What has happened to make her recognize Saul?
Vayyikra Rabbah has an explanation: ghosts materialize upside down – except in the presence of a king. The witch tells Saul ‘An old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a cloak.’ This is Samuel’s meil, a cloak which he always wears, even from childhood when his mother Hannah made him a cloak, and just such a cloak was torn by Saul in 1 Samuel 15. In Hebrew, old man is ish zaken, but the Septuagint has a different translation: ‘An upright man (andra orthion) ascending out of the earth.’
Besides seeing Samuel, the witch sees elohim ascending: the spirits of elders accompanying Samuel. In Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, a Latin rewriting of the book of Samuel by a Jewish author Pseudo-Philo, first century CE and therefore contemporary with Philo of Alexandria, Samuel says to the witch: ‘It is not you that have brought me up, but the precept which God spoke to me while I yet lived.’12 Perhaps we should understand that the witch is a charlatan who is taken by surprise when a ghost really appears, like the medium played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film ‘Ghost.’
As Saul asks the witch what she sees, we may infer that Saul himself does not see the ghost. Vayyikra Rabbah explains:
When Saul hears that the ghost is wrapped in a cloak, he knows that this is Samuel and bows down on the ground.
Samuel’s opening words, expressing characteristic displeasure, are the only biblical instance of speech from beyond the grave. ‘Why have you disturbed me?’ is an understated translation of lamah hirgaztani, ‘Why have you caused me to shake?’ The midrashic rabbis attributed Samuel’s shaking to a fear that he had been roused for the day of judgment, noting that even the holy man and seer, Samuel, regards divine judgment with fear and trembling.
This idea of the afterlife fits Daniel’s description in which the dead sleep, and are woken at the appointed time:
Saul immediately tells Samuel of his problems: the battling Philistines, the estrangement of God and the silence of prophecy. As in Samuel’s lifetime, Saul relies on Samuel, his curmudgeonly mentor. He does not refer to the Urim and Thummim; their priestly connotation may remind Samuel of Saul’s massacre of the priests at Nob.
Samuel’s brusque reply begins with a play on Saul’s name: ‘Lamah tishaleni? Why do you ask?’ Saul’s name of course means ‘asked’ from shin aleph lamed. He is the asked-for king of 1 Samuel 8, whom Samuel provides against his better judgment. Samuel now tells Saul that God has torn the kingdom away from him (a repetition of Samuel’s words in 1 Samuel 15:28) and given it to his adversary, David. Brutally explicit, Samuel drives home the point that this is all Saul’s fault, due to his disobedience over the herem against the Amalekites. Worse still, he prophesies defeat in the forthcoming battle in which Saul and his sons will be slain. The seer who brought royalty to Saul now tells him of his impending death.
Saul prostrates himself or faints, full length on the ground (and we know that he was an exceptionally tall man15) due to fear and physical weakness caused by fasting. If you read the earlier chapters, you will see how fasting has already figured significantly in the lives of Saul and his son Jonathan16 and David.17
The witch now shows a kindly, maternal side and begs Saul to eat. When he refuses, she and his two servants insist until he gets up from the ground and sits on the bed. She then makes him a dinner of veal and flatbread which he and his servants eat, before departing in the darkness of the night.
The most detailed midrash on the Endor episode is an exegesis on the parashah Emor, which begins:
In this midrash Moses is shown a vision of Saul and his sons, falling in the battle on Mount Gilboa. Moses protests: ‘Ribbono shel Olam, is this the honour due to your children, that the first king you place over them should fall by the sword?’19
The midrash therefore links the narrative of the witch of Endor to the exegesis of the opening verse of Emor.
It should be noted that the verse immediately prior in the Torah, namely the last verse of the parashah Kedoshim, is:
Gillian Lazarus 6 August 2012
footnotes
1 Samuel 15:21
Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65
Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:7
1 Samuel 17:38-39
1 Samuel 15:28
1 Samuel 24:4
1 Samuel 18:4
Leviticus Rabbah 26:7
Leviticus Rabbah 26:7
Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 33
Leviticus Rabbah 26:7
Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 64:7
Leviticus Rabbah 26:7
Daniel 12:2
1 Samuel 10:43
ibid 14:24-28; 20:34
ibid 21:4
Leviticus 21:1
Leviticus Rabbah 26:7
Leviticus 20:27