Saturday, December 11, 2010

Angels & Demons 29: Demons as the Communication of False Information


In I John 4:6, the Spirit of Truth is contrasted with the Spirit of Error. The Spirit of Error seems to be connected with false prophets, in I John 4:1. It is clear that the biblical authors believed that God communicated truth, but that there is also the communication of error in the world. I have already equated the terms Spirit, Angel, and Word, in my commentaries. For Kenneth Burke, the relationship between terms that mean roughly the same thing in a certain symbol system is indicated by the use of the equals sign (=). Although Burke correctly teaches that each INDIVIDUAL has his or her own individual symbol system, I think that LANGUAGES WITHIN SPECIFIC MILIEUS approximate Burke’s application in some respects. Therefore, I assert that in the First Century A.D., the Hebrew/Judeo-Christian symbol system contains the following equation: Spirit=Angel=Word. All three terms represent the communication of God, as the Jews and Jewish Christians used the terms. In the New Testament Period, we could also add to this list of equations the following terms: =Bat Qol=prophecy=spiritual gifts (and all of the terms that = spiritual gifts).

While Burke teaches that an equals sign is operative in symbol systems, he teaches that a “vs.” sign is also operative. In other words, while Angel, Spirit, and Word all equal each other, they all also stand in opposition to certain other terms, such as Spirit of Error, Demon, False Prophet, etc. The Spirit of Error is the opposite of the Spirit of Truth, in I John. Likewise, False Prophets are the opposite of Prophets and Spiritual Gifts. Demons are the opposite of Angels. Using Burke’s shorthand, it looks like this: Demons vs. Angels, Spirit of Error vs. Spirit of Truth, and False Prophets vs. Prophets (=Spiritual Gifts). Lest my readers misunderstand, I am not painting a picture of an actual warfare being waged between angelic beings and demonic beings; I am simply pointing out that the list of terms “Spirit=Angel=Word” stand in strict opposition to the list of terms “Spirit of Error=Demon=False Prophet.” The terms in the first group are the opposite of the terms in the second group.

To the list of negative term equations, I add the term “unclean spirit,” since in the synoptic Gospels, Matthew 4:23-25 uses the terminology of demons, while, in a parallel passage, Luke 6:17-19 uses the term “unclean spirit” in place of demon. In another parallel, Matthew 8:28-34 and Luke 8:26-39 use demonic terminology, while Mark 5:1-20 uses the term “unclean spirit” in place of demon. Luke 4:33 even uses the combination: “spirit of an unclean demon.” In Luke 8:2, the term “evil spirit” is used. I, therefore also add the term “evil spirit” to the list of negative term equations. Because Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub--and because Jesus responds to this charge (in Matthew 12:26 and Luke 11:18) with the rhetorical question, “If Satan casts out Satan . . . how then shall his kingdom stand?” and (in Mark 3:23-26) with the rhetorical question, “How can Satan cast out Satan?”--we might also add the terms “Beelzebub” and “Satan” to the list of negative term equations. Mark 19:17-25 refers to a “speechless spirit” and Luke 13:11 refers to a “spirit of weakness”--possibly indicating the type of affliction each spirit visited upon its host. Acts 16:16 reports that a girl had a “spirit of Pytho” (meaning, I suppose, she prophesied using the Delphic oracle?). Paul “cured” her of that.

Using Burke’s system of charting, then, I find the following negative list of equations:

Spirit of Error=
Demon=
False Prophet=
Unclean Spirit=
Evil Spirit=
Beelzebub=
Satan

This negative list is the opposite of (or, according to Burke, “vs.”) the following positive list of equations:

Spirit=
Angel=
Word=
Bat Qol=
Prophecy=
Spiritual Gifts (and all of the terms that = spiritual gifts)

Beginning with I John’s contrast between the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error, one can easily see the primary distinction between Demons and Angels. Angels are the personification of TRUTH communication, while Demons are the personification of FALSEHOOD communication. Clearly, “error” is falsehood communication (or the communication of false information). I John links the Spirit of Error to False Prophets, the human “communicators” of FALSE INFORMATION. However, one need not have a human mediator to be given false information. A snake will do nicely. When Jesus brings the word Satan into the discussion of casting out Demons, he draws to mind the primal account of someone communicating false information—the serpent of Eden. I point out in Angels & Demons 5:

“Johns gospel quotes Jesus (8:44): ‘You have the devil for your father and you wish to practice the desires of your father; . . . he could not stay in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks according to his nature; for he is a liar and the father of liars.’ . . . Jesus is probably referring to Satans role as a tempter. If as the New Testament asserts, the serpent of Genesis is actually Satan, it is clear that he lies. He said, ‘You shall not surely die.’ . . . Revelation calls him the ‘deceiver of all humanity.’”

But, is a snake even necessary? James 1:13-14 seems to effectively eliminate the need for the role of a personified Satan in the temptation process. In his place, James seems to suggest that the process of temptation is conducted entirely within the mental processes of the human who is being tempted:

“Let no one who is tempted say, ‘I am tempted of God,’ for He tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lusts. Then when the passion has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and the sin, when it reaches maturity, produces death.” (Berkeley Version)

Despite what James argues, it seems easier for the human to comprehend his or her own intrapersonal struggles by personifying his or her Id, as Freud names that selfish element in the psyche. As I discuss in Angels & Demons 7, Jewish writers name that element the YETZER HA-RA. So, who or what, in fact, induced Eve to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Was it the Serpent? Was it Satan? Was it Eve’s YETZER HA-RA? Was it her Id? Was it primarily just Eve’s own mental processes? Genesis 3:6 discusses those:

“The woman saw the tree as being good for food, delightful to the eye and a tree desirable to render one wise, so she took of its fruit and ate; she also gave to her husband, who ate with her.” (Berkeley Version)

This account of Eve’s thought processes does not even include the FALSEHOOD communicated by the Serpent (“You shall not surely die”). If one suggests that Eve was Demon-possessed, she is effectively let off the hook. How could God hold Eve accountable for an act that she committed while under the control of a Demon? And yet, this is precisely the type of implication that enters into scenarios in which Demon-possession is discussed. Consider, however, this possibility: the term Demon is used not only to indicate that the person is the recipient of false information, but also the term Demon represents a FALSE ENTITY itself. I will follow that thread in my next commentary.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Angels & Demons 28: Angels as Agents of Divine “Feedback”


In my scholarly capacity, I have frequently served as a referee for articles submitted for publication to scholarly journals. Recently, an article I was refereeing identified a perplexing problem for many believing Christians--unanswered prayer. The article analyzed the issue from the standpoint of contemporary evangelical rhetorical strategies used to defend God for His failure to answer. Although the article neither compared prayer to nor contrasted prayer with advertising in the mass media, a case could be made that there are definite similarities. Mass communication tends to be more unidirectional, as compared with intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, small group communication, and online communication (which are all much more interactive than mass communication). Even public communication (in which one speaker addresses an audience) has a more easily obtained feedback than does mass communication. In public communication, the speaker can, at least, see the nonverbal facial expressions and body language of his or her audience. S/he can hear the applause, gasps, or heckling. In mass communication, on the other hand, the communicator is separated from his or her audience by some “medium”—radio, television, newspaper, magazine, billboard, etc. The communicator cannot “see” how his or her messages are being received. Advertisements in the mass media are impersonal and there are problems associated with discovering whether members of the intended (target) audiences even paid attention to the advertisements, let alone whether they decoded the messages in the same sense in which the advertisers encoded them. Nor do advertisers know whether the persuasion strategies used in the advertisements were successful. Hence, advertisers seek some sort of “feedback” from their target audiences (which those audiences do not typically offer without additional prodding). I submit that to the extent advertisers are unable to secure the desired feedback, they are in much the same boat (in terms of communication feedback) as are Christians who do not sense that their prayers are being answered.

Prayer, for many Christians, is a fairly unidirectional form of communication. As is the case with the target audiences of advertisers, the intended audience (God, in this case) cannot be “seen.” He may be paying attention and may be decoding the messages in the same sense in which those offering the prayers encoded them. Whether the persuasion strategies used in the prayers were successful may sometimes be adduced by whether specific requests were granted, but even then—absent some accompanying message from God--skeptics may easily question whether the granting of requests was accomplished by God or was simply a matter of coincidence. Christians, like advertisers, are desirous for some form of feedback. Unfortunately, while advertisers have developed quantitative and qualitative methods of discovering feedback, Christians face a far more daunting task.

The very words for “angel” in Greek and Hebrew denote a “messenger.” The Hebrew word MALACH (from which we also derive the name of the last book of the Old Testament: Malachi) means “messenger.” A MALACH may be either an angel or a human messenger. The same holds true for the Greek word AGGELOS. One can easily see, for example, the word “angel” in the word “evangelist”—one who is a human messenger of good news. In prior commentaries, I have demonstrated that angels are the personification of God’s creative fiats, His intrapersonal communication, and His own unidirectional messages. I have indicated the role they play in God’s communication network. So, here I offer a few examples of angels representing God’s tangible “feedback.”

Although Mary and Joseph never requested a miraculous birth, according to Luke 1:26-38, the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary to announce her pending pregnancy. Matthew 1:20-23 reports that an unnamed angel also visited Joseph in a dream to verify that Mary’s pregnancy was divine. Since these two angelic visitations, however, were not prompted by a prayer request, they are not to be classified as “feedback.” They are, instead, in the category of God’s own unidirectional messages. Joseph’s angelic message was presented as entirely unidirectional; Mary’s encounter with Gabriel included interaction between Mary and Gabriel, as Mary questioned how the virgin birth would be possible.

While the angelic encounters of Mary and Joseph were classed as God’s own unidirectional messages, the similar encounter between Zachariah (the father of John the Baptist) and an unnamed angel, in Luke 1:11-20, fits the category of “feedback.” In Luke 1:13, the angel says to Zachariah, “Your prayer has been heard.” The old man Zachariah and his old, barren wife Elizabeth are to have a child. This is angelic/divine feedback.

In Acts 10:31, the gentile Cornelius reports being visited by a man in bright clothing (no doubt, an angel) who says, “Cornelius, your prayer was heard and your alms were remembered before God.” The angel directs Cornelius to the house where Simon Peter was staying and Cornelius becomes the first gentile Christian.
Acts Chapter 12 relates an account of Herod persecuting the church. He has the Apostle James executed and, since that act appears to please some Jews, he next proceeds to arrest the Apostle Peter (with a similar result in mind). The church meeting in the house of Mary the mother of John Mark, fearing an impending murder of Peter, prays fervently. The night before Herod planned to bring Peter to judgment, Peter is bound with two chains, sleeping between two soldiers, with more soldiers guarding the door to the prison. An angel comes to Peter, breaks his chains, tells him to get dressed, escorts him past the guards at the prison door, and takes him to the gate in the wall of the city, which opens for them automatically. Once on the street to John Mark’s mother’s house, the angel leaves Peter. Peter proceeds to the house and knocks on the door. He explains what has happened and then flees to another place.

These New Testament accounts of angelic encounters exemplify God’s angelic feedback. Old Testament examples include angels responding to the cry of Abraham’s son Ishmael to preserve him from dying in the wilderness (Genesis 21:17), responding to Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac--telling him not to do so (Genesis 22:11-12), answering the prayer of Manoah, the father of Samson--confirming that he had indeed visited Manoah’s wife with instructions about Samson (Judges 13:8 ff.), answering the prayer of Elijah concerning the threat to his life (1 Kings 19:7), answering the prayers of Isaiah and King Hezekiah to defend Jerusalem (Isaiah 37 and 2 Chronicles 32:21), and of course, answering the prayers of Daniel by protecting him in the lions’ den. Perhaps, the account of the angel confronting Balaam and his donkey, in Numbers 22, is also an example of divine feedback.

Angels are not the only means of feedback used by God in the Bible. Gideon’s fleece, the Urim and Thummim of the high priest, and fire sent from heaven to consume sacrifices are other representative examples of feedback. The point here, however, is that angels are the personification of God’s communication. Feedback is but one aspect of communication.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Angels & Demons 27: The Spirit of Truth and God’s Communication Network


While the New Testament makes no comment on the existence of an Angel of Truth, as presented in Rabbinic writings, John (14:17, 15:26, and 16:13) speaks of the Spirit of Truth, whom John also identifies as the Comforter (14:16, 15:26, and 16:7), and whom John, in turn, equates with the Holy Spirit (14.26). Old Testament writers equate various terms for truth with God, some fifty times. Besides the three references to the Spirit of Truth, John connects truth with the Spirit at least one more time, with God at least four times, and with Jesus at least nine times. The Spirit of Truth shows up again in I John 4:6 where he is contrasted with the Spirit of Error. The Spirit of Error seems to be connected with false prophets, in I John 4:1. (We will return to a discussion of the Spirit of Error in future commentaries on demons.) It is clear that the biblical authors would have real problems with postmodernists who proclaim that there is no truth. They believed that God communicated truth, but that there is also the communication of error in the world.
The role of the Spirit of Truth seems to be a mediating communication role. I point out the following in my commentary “Angels & Demons 23: Angels as the Personification of God’s Word”:

“Jewish scholar G. F. Moore (in Volume I, page 414, of his book Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era) . . . [i]n his chapter entitled, ‘The Word of God: The Spirit,’ . . . states, ‘God's will is made known or effectuated in the world not only through personal agents (ANGELS), but directly by his WORD or by his SPIRIT’ (emphases mine). Here all three terms of Caird's puzzle fit neatly together. If the seven stars represent ‘angels,’ then ‘angels’ are a part of the whole. If the stars ‘represent’ ‘spirits of God,’ then spirits are a part of the whole. If ‘the spirit’ is ‘say[ing]’ things to the churches, then what ‘the spirit says’ (i.e., the ‘word’) is a part of the whole.”

To demonstrate a further equation between the Spirit and Word, I cite Ephesians 6:17. Paul lists among the various pieces of the armor of God “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” The English translation is confusing and seems to indicate that the “sword” is the Word of God. The Greek word for “which,” however is a MASCULINE or NEUTER pronoun. It cannot refer to “sword” because “sword” is a FEMININE noun. “Spirit” is, however, a NEUTER noun and serves easily as the antecedent to “which.” Paul clearly states that the Spirit is the Word of God.

So, what is the difference between the various methods God uses to communicate with men? Sometimes, God speaks directly to a specific human. Sometimes, God places His Holy Spirit inside a prophet, a priest, or a king and that prophet, priest, or king, then, delivers God’s message to other humans. Sometimes, God sends a message to an individual through a dream or vision. Sometimes, God sends a personal agent (or angel) to convey his message. Sometimes, His Word is written down and read to or by others. Sometimes, the message is merely audible. Once one person receives the message, he passes it on via interpersonal communication to others. It all sounds very much like the communication networks studied by organizational communication specialists. On pages 95-98 of my book, Psychotic Entelechy: The Dangers of Spiritual Gifts Theology, I explain the processes:

“Certainly, the Jewish Bible (the Christian Old Testament) accepts the premise that God spoke to and through certain individuals. That God spoke directly to Moses is the fundamental premise upon which Jewish Law is founded. . . . According to tradition, Moses is the essential author of all five books.

Genesis provides a rapid-fire account of more than two thousand years of human history prior to Israel’s four hundred year sojourn in Egypt. Prior to the account of human history, Genesis offers a one-chapter account of the creation of heaven, earth, and the plant and animal kingdoms. Presumably, if Moses authored the creation and human history accounts, he would need some inspiration from God to certify that his account was accurate. Moses’ account has God speaking directly to Adam and Eve, warning them not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Following their Fall, God interrogates them and communicates to them their respective punishments. To their children, God signifies his preference for the animal sacrifices (of Abel) to the vegetable sacrifices (of Cain). Then, God warns Cain not to kill his brother. After Cain murders Abel, God personally interrogates Cain and tells Cain of his punishment. Later, God speaks to Noah, instructing him to build an Ark. After the Flood, God provides Noah and his family a brief list of laws. Then, God does not appear to communicate with humans until he begins to communicate with Abram, whom God renames Abraham.

In the final three-fourths of Genesis, God communicates frequently with Abraham and his family. God makes covenants with Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob, whom God renames Israel. In addition to his son Isaac, Abraham has another son through surrogate marriage with Hagar, the handmaid of his wife Sarah. . . . One of those sons, Joseph, God takes special interest in, communicating with him through dreams. God has a special purpose in mind for Joseph, which takes Joseph to Egypt. His brothers sell him into slavery, but God causes him to rise to leadership in that land. Eventually, God uses Joseph’s position of influence to rescue his father and his brothers’ families from famine in the land of Canaan as they emigrate to Egypt. The entire account of Genesis, if authored by Moses, would require that Moses be inspired by God to be certified historically accurate. Moses’ perspective was four hundred years removed from the most recent historical circumstances he reports on. The suggestion that Joseph may have written some accounts that Moses found in the Egyptian archives would argue for some historiographical accuracy, but none of the first five books make such an assertion.

Exodus begins with the Israelites still in Egypt four hundred years later. Now, the name of Joseph is long-forgotten by the Egyptians and the Israelites have become an enslaved people. God raises up an Israelite named Moses, educates him in Phaeroh’s palace, and eventually speaks to him through a burning bush, commanding him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and back to the Promised Land (of Canaan). God infuses Moses with miraculous powers and, upon his successful campaign to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, God gives Moses the Law on Mount Sinai. The various laws and instructions God gives to Moses are detailed in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These four books pertain to historical issues occurring during the lifetime of Moses. The exception to this observation is the final chapter of Deuteronomy, which discusses the death of Moses. The primary purpose of spiritual gifts theology in the final four books (of Moses) is to certify the accuracy of Moses’ messages concerning the Law. The Law (Torah) comes from God.

After Moses, there is a lesser profusion of spiritual giftedness throughout Jewish history. God speaks to Moses’ successor Joshua throughout his leadership career in retaking the Land of Canaan. He performed miracles through Joshua—such as causing the Walls of Jericho to fall. After Joshua’s death, God inspires and speaks to various judges—Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and others. These judges receive miraculous abilities and counsel from God as they defend and protect Israelites in battle.

Although Moses, following God’s Law, institutes the priesthood, it is not until later that the High Priest becomes the primary vehicle for God to communicate with humans. After the time of the Judges, God speaks to Samuel, as a child, and calls him into the priesthood. God continues to communicate messages to Samuel throughout his career. Samuel, with God’s direction, anoints the first Israelite king, Saul. Then, Samuel, with God’s direction anoints King David to replace Saul. The anointing of Samuel as priest (and the sense in which Samuel’s anointing also made him a prophet) combined with the anointing of David as King (and the sense in which David’s anointing also made him a prophet) introduces a new era in God’s communication with humans. The three anointed (messianic) offices—prophet, priest, and king—become God’s primary mouthpieces for Israel. The Hebrew word meaning ‘anointed one’ is ‘messiah.’ (The Greek word meaning ‘anointed one,’ incidentally, is ‘christ.’)
King David, under inspiration from God, writes many psalms. His son King Solomon, with similar inspiration, writes many proverbs. Later kings and priests are not considered to have equal inspiration. Later prophets, however, become the voice of God to Israel. The prophet Nathan was a contemporary of David. Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are the most famous prophets.

Other prophets whose writings are included in the Bible are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Pharisaic and Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity accept the premise that God spoke through these prophets. Other early Jewish groups such as Sadducees and Samaritans accepted only the inspiration of the Torah. Pharisaic and Rabbinic Judaism believes that God's activity of speaking through prophets, however, ended with the canonical prophets of the Jewish Bible. Ezra the scribe instituted a new way for God to speak to Israel—through reading the Torah aloud to the people. Even though the age of the prophets ended with the canonical Tanach (or Old Testament) for the Jews, Pharisaic and Rabbinic Judaism still allowed for the possibility that God might speak through infants and fools.

Pharisaic and Rabbinic Judaism also taught that God could speak through a Bat Qol (or ‘mysterious voice’). This type of communication is claimed by the early Christians on a few occasions. When Jesus was baptized, a voice from Heaven said: ‘This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17 NIV). When Jesus was transfigured, his disciples were startled by a bright cloud. A voice from the cloud said: ‘This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him’ (Matthew 17:5 NIV) When Saul of Tarsus (who later became the Apostle Paul) was confronted on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by a light from heaven and heard a voice saying: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ Saul asks who is speaking and the voice responds: ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting . . . . Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do’ (Acts 9:5-6 NIV).

Christianity also believes that God continued to speak through the visitation of angels (as when Gabriel announced John’s and Jesus’ births) and through prophets and prophetesses such as Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:25-38) and especially through John the Baptist who lived at the time of Jesus. Christianity also teaches that God spoke through those (such as apostles and prophets) who had received spiritual gifts in the first generation of the church.”

Monday, October 25, 2010

Angels & Demons 26: The Angel of Truth (and the Spirit of Truth)


There is no “Angel of Truth” mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, neither “truth” in Psalm 85 nor “truth” in Daniel 8 is called an angel. Rabbi Simon, however, possibly interpreted Daniel 8:12 and Psalm 85:10-13 as referring to a Fallen Angel Story, featuring the Angel of Truth. When Psalm 85:11 reports “Truth springs forth from the earth,” Rabbi Simon assumes that (the Angel of) Truth had previously been cast to the earth. In Daniel 8:12, he finds corroboration of his assumption. Daniel had seen a vision of a he-goat (interpreted as the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great) who grew great and powerful. This he-goat had one prominent horn (Alexander) that eventually broke off (indicating Alexander’s death) and was replaced with four horns (the four divisions of the Greek Empire after Alexander-- the one of Seleucus (Asia), Ptolemy (Egypt), Lysimachus (Thrace), and Cassander (Macedonia, including Greece). From one of these four horns (Seleucus), a small horn (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) emerged, that attacked Jerusalem, abolished the daily sacrifice and profaned the temple. It is this small horn (not God) who, as Daniel reports in 8:12, “cast truth to the earth.” This is clearly not a Fallen Angel Story in the Old Testament; it is socio-political commentary. However, it may well be a Fallen Angel Story in Rabbi Simon’s interpretation.

One indication that Rabbi Simon's story is a Fallen Angel Story is the severity of the punishment of other angels who opposed man’s creation. The account of groups of angels being “burnt” because of their opposition to the creation of man can be found in Sanhedrin 38b. By comparison, having Truth “cast to the Earth” (or thrown out of Heaven) would be closer to the severity of the punishment of the other angels who opposed man’s creation. The exception to this severe punishment, however, is the other angel in this story who opposed man’s creation on the basis of his quarrelsome nature—the Angel of Peace. He apparently receives no punishment at all.

The idea of “casting” an angel down is immediately reminiscent of the fallen angel theme. The exact term for “casting down” (SHALAK) used by the rabbi in the account (as borrowed from Daniel 8:12) is employed in the Fallen Angel Stories in the Hebrew “version” of I Enoch (Kahana I.29-91). In 10.4, regarding the punishment of Azazel, the angel Raphael is instructed to “CAST him DOWN to darkness, and make an opening to the desert which is in Dudael, and CAST him DOWN thither.” In verse 6, we continue: “On the day of the great judgment, he will be CAST DOWN to the midst of the fire. Chapter 21 relates Enoch’s journey to a place of chaos where he saw the fallen angels (stars) in bonds. Enoch asks in verse 4: “And for what reason were they CAST DOWN here?” This chapter may be the basis for I Peter’s homiletic aggadah, if the Enoch-related Nestle-Aland textual suggestion on I Peter 3:19 is accepted. Chapter 88 (verses 1 and 3) of the Hebrew Enoch also relates the casting of the fallen angels (stars) into the abyss. As verse 3 puts it, “He caused them to be CAST DOWN to the abyss of the Earth.”

In trying to accumulate evidence regarding the usage of the form ERTZAH (to the earth/ground), as it relates to Fallen Angel Stories, we face two major complications. First, in all likelihood, the form as used in Daniel 8:12 denoted a casting “to the ground.” To illustrate, I cite the “Hebrew text” of Apocalypsis Mosis (Kahana I.1-18) chapter 27, verse 5: “And the angels fell TO THE GROUND and prostrated themselves to the Lord.” This refers to the worship of God by his angels, and therefore, demands the translation “to the ground.”

While I think it is clear that the original meaning of the Daniel 8:12 passage is “to the ground,” the purpose of the Jewish practice of “midrash” is often to give a new twist to the meaning of a given text. In the Rabbinic midrash, Rabbi Simon chooses a different term to express where his “Angel of Truth” was cast. The term LA-ARETZ (to the earth) can more easily accommodate a fallen angel interpretation.

The second complication in this “to the earth/to the ground” discussion is that the two accounts of fallen angels that seem to parallel most closely the terminology in this midrash are not available in the Hebrew text. The (Latin) Books of Adam and Eve 12.1 and 16.1 relate that the devil (and the devil and his angels) were respectively “cast out in the earth” and “hurled on the earth.” Unfortunately, this is a Latin text for which we lack any Hebrew parallel/original. This passage in the Books of Adam and Eve also lacks any close parallels in the Apocalypsis Mosis. The other account which seems to parallel the terminology of the Angel of Truth midrash is the fall of the devil and his angels in Revelation 12:9b: “He was cast TO THE EARTH and his angels were cast out with him.” In both the Angel of Truth midrash and the Fall of the Devil in Revelation, we have angels who were cast TO THE EARTH. Nevertheless, there is no Hebrew text of the Revelation passage with which to compare the Angel of Truth story.

There is no “Angel of Truth” mentioned in the Old Testament, nor is there an Angel of Truth in the New Testament. There is, however, a Spirit of Truth in the New Testament—in John 16:13--also known as the Comforter. We will consider the terminology “Spirit of Truth” in the next commentary.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Angels & Demons 25: Angels as the Personification of God’s Intrapersonal Communication


Four commentaries ago, I discussed my final Fallen Angel Story. Bereshit Rabbah 8.5 provides an account of the Angel of Truth, who was cast to earth because his conclusion regarding the wisdom of creating man conflicted with God’s. It appeared to some rabbis that the Angel of Truth temporarily became a “fallen angel” because of his opposition to the creation of man. The Bereshit Rabbah account is based on Psalm 85:11-12a. A combat between Mercy and Truth, and Righteousness and Peace is presented as an argument over the creation of man:

“Mercy says, ‘Let him be created; for he does merciful things.’ Truth says, ‘Let him not be created; for he is all lies.’ Righteousness says, ‘Let him be created; for he does righteous things.’ Peace says, ‘Do not let him be created; he is all quarrel.’”

Each contestant in the matter could easily produce evidence to substantiate his claim. Mankind is, of course, merciful-yet-false, righteous-yet-quarrelsome. The Angel of Truth was not lying here; he was being truthful.

Not all rabbis agree, by the way, that this is a Fallen Angel Story. The common interpretation understands Truth as having been cast to the “ground,” rather than to the “Earth.” The Hebrew word is translated either way. On the other hand, Ginzberg apparently took the passage to mean “Earth,” for he states (in I.53): “God cast the Angel of Truth down from heaven to earth . . . .” It is, nevertheless, likely that Rabbi Simon was as intent to give meaning to the difficult Daniel 8:12 and Psalm 85:12a passages in an ethics-centered homily (recall my discussion of “homiletic aggadah” in Angels & Demons 10: The Fallen Angels of Jude and 2nd Peter) as he was to create a “new” theology. The term translated “will arise” is generally used with reference to plants, which sprout or spring up or grow up from the earth (ground), according to major Hebrew dictionaries. The term translated “from the earth” offers no help in deciding the issue. It can be translated either “from the Earth” or “from the ground.”

In my next commentary, I shall offer an extended critique of the issue of whether the fall of the Angel of Truth was indeed a Fallen Angel Story. For now, I suggest that this story affords an excellent perspective to see how Jewish angelology depicts angels as the personification of God’s intrapersonal communication.

For those not familiar with the term “intrapersonal communication,” it is the equivalent of talking to (even arguing with) oneself. The Jewish psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that a constant conflict is occurring in the human psyche between a pleasure-principle Freud calls the Id and a morality principle Freud calls the Super-ego. A third force in the psyche—the Ego—mediates between the other two frequently opposing forces. This is bedrock “intrapersonal communication.” If “INTERpersonal communication” is communication between two persons, then “INTRApersonal communication” is communication within one individual person.

As I discuss on pages 75-76 of my book Disneology: Religious Rhetoric at Walt Disney World, humans may be said to be the image of God in the sense that they have free will, as God does. For a human, this free will stems from having the option to listen to his or her two inclinations: the good inclination and the evil inclination. These two inclinations are not far removed from Freud’s notions of the Id and the Super-ego. Humans (by exercising their Ego) are free to choose between and moderate alternatives. Similarly, God, as he decided to make man into His image, may be pictured as listening to the arguments of an (inner) Angel of Truth, an Angel of Mercy, an Angel of Righteousness, and an Angel of Peace. All of these angels had legitimate arguments, but despite the contrary arguments of Truth and Peace, God chose to create man.

Angels, of course, were unnecessary in order for God to have gone through His decision-making process. One might just as easily depict God as considering in His own mind the pros and cons of creating man. Yet, this concept of angels—as personifying the various considerations that may have occurred INTRAPERSONALLY in God’s own mind—allows humans to understand all sides of an issue God resolved using his own free will.

If we envision every “word” God utters as creating an angel, what is to prohibit us from envisioning every “thought” God thinks as being personified by an angel?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Angels & Demons 24: Angels as the Personification of God’s Creative Fiats


On pages 74-75 of my book, Disneology: Religious Rhetoric at Walt Disney World, I describe the difference between the two types of “words/Words” used by God, according to Kenneth Burke:

“Even though, theoretically, God, like humans, uses symbols or words, he uses two types of words. Burke calls the first type--words he uses in creating the world: (capitalized) ‘Word.’ If God speaks a ‘Word,’ that Word has ‘omnipotence’ (or, at least, the total power necessary to complete its task). In Genesis 1:3, God speaks a Word (‘And God said, ‘Let there be light’’). The very Word he speaks has the ‘omnipotence’ to produce light. Psalms 33:9 confirms the power of this (capitalized) Word: ‘He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and [the universe] stood fast.’ The Word of God has tremendous power. Isaiah 55:11 goes so far as to suggest that God’s Word is infallible--it cannot fail: ‘So is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’

How, then, can God give a command (word) to Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and have that word fail to achieve its purpose? How is it possible that after the command from God was issued, Adam and Eve ate anyway? The second type of word God uses is (lower-case) ‘word.’ Burke offers theological distinctions between ‘word’ and ‘Word.’ This (lower-case) ‘word’ has much less power to affect humans. Burke identifies the basis upon which he distinguishes between the two types of words--the negative. . . . Burke, however, is most interested in what he calls the hortatory negative, the negative of command, as with the ‘Thou shalt not’s’ of the Ten Commandments.

Clearly implied in any ‘Thou shalt not’ is the element of free will or choice. We do not tell anyone ‘Thou shalt not’ do something it is impossible to not do. It does no good to tell a baby not to cry. We do not tell people not to digest the food in their intestines. We do not tell someone not to let his or her heart beat, hair or fingernails grow, or kidneys work. We do not use such hortatory negatives because people have no choice in such matters. On the other hand, if we tell people, ‘Thou shalt not kill, lie, steal, rape, commit adultery, or slander,’ it is clear that humans have free will or choice in such matters. They may choose either to kill or to not kill. They may choose to lie or to tell the truth. They may choose to steal or to refrain from stealing, to rape or refrain from raping, to commit adultery or to refrain from committing adultery, to slander or not to slander. Having this distinction in mind, I should point out that, although God’s utterance is presented as ‘Word’ in the case of the creative fiat (‘Let there be light!’), God’s utterance might be understood as ‘word’ in the case of the Ten Commandments. In the first instance, there is no implicit free will attributed to that which is created. In the second instance, humans to whom the Ten Commandments are directed are implicitly credited with free will.”

One of the reasons angels were considered by Jewish teachers to be incapable of sinning is that they were considered to be generated by God’s use of “Word” (capitalized). When Ginzberg (in V:21) states, "Out of every word uttered by God angels are created," he is picturing angels as the personification of God’s creative fiats. He presents these angels, not as the free moral agents humans are, but as the commissioned forces that are charged with making certain that God’s Words are infallibly fulfilled. One might view such angels as more like robots than humans. They do not have the (human free-will) options of deciding NOT to fulfill God’s commands. When God says, “Let there be light,” an Angel of Light (Gabriel?) is created who infallibly produces light. When God says, “Let there be a firmament (or separation) dividing the waters above the earth from the waters on the earth,” an Angel of the Firmament (Hlm Hml) is created who infallibly produces that separation. When God says, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation,” an Angel of Plants (Sachluph) is created to fulfill God’s command. There are angels of the Sun, the Moon, the Planets, and the Stars. There are angels of the fish, the fowl, the tame beasts, and the wild beasts.

On page 25 of his Dictionary of Angels, Gustav Davidson writes:

“There were 7 [angels of Creation] in the beginning (i.e., at the time of Creation) . . . who set down the events of the ‘first days.’ The 7 angels of creation usually given are Orifiel, Anael, Zachariel, Samael (before this angel rebelled, and fell), Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael. The Book of Enoch reports that the angels of Creation reside in the 6th Heaven.”

Although Davidson reports that Samael rebelled and fell (in the Book of Enoch), Jewish angelology could not ultimately accept the premise that an angel could do anything counter to his explicit instructions from God. Angels were nothing more than personified spirit forces that were charged with carrying out the terms of God’s creative fiats. As Isaiah 55:11 reports: ‘So is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’ To put this in Burkean terms, God has a (capitalized) Word, that may be personified as an angel, whose sole task and capability is to effect the result commanded in God’s creative fiat.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Angels & Demons 23: Angels as the Personification of God’s Word


The best way to understand the concept of angels is to view them as “the personification of God’s words.” For those who wonder why a professor of “communication” is writing commentaries on angels and demons, here is the connection. Angels and demons are religious ways of discussing “communication.” When God spoke “light” into existence, He effectively created an Angel of Light. When He implicitly “tested” man’s free will by giving him a command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He effectively created a “testing” angel. Once man sinned and God “cursed” him with “death,” He effectively created a Death Angel, etc.

On page 47 of his Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, G. B. Caird seems to suggest that there is confusion in the book of Revelation over whether the “seven stars” are “angels” or “spirits”:

“It is important . . . to notice that the seven stars do not mean in this letter [to Sardis] what they meant in the letter to Ephesus. There they were the angels of the churches, here they are the sevenfold Spirit of God; and since the Spirit, in speaking to the churches, addresses the angels of the churches, the two are clearly not to be identified. The one symbol does double service.”

Keep in mind: Caird’s terminology of the "sevenfold Spirit of God" is his own interpretation (an attempt, I think, to find evidence of the doctrine of Trinity in Revelation). John defines the seven stars as the seven spirits of God in the letter to Sardis, whereas they were "angels" of the seven churches, earlier. Furthermore, also present in the letters to the seven churches is John’s recurring comment about the "spirit . . . say[ing]" things "to the churches." John is not confused; he is a master craftsman. John is using synecdoche—figurative language employing the use of the whole for a part or a part for the whole, the container for the thing contained, and various parts of a whole that can stand for each other. For John, angel, spirit, and word are all “parts” of the same “whole”—the communication of God. In a sense, an “angel” is the same thing as a “spirit,” which is the same thing as a “word.”

Jewish scholar G. F. Moore (in Volume I, page 414, of his book Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era) links the three terms (of Caird's "seven stars" confusion) together quite easily. In his chapter entitled, "The Word of God: The Spirit," Moore states, "God's will is made known or effectuated in the world not only through personal agents (ANGELS), but directly by his WORD or by his SPIRIT" (emphases mine). Here all three terms of Caird's puzzle fit neatly together. If the seven stars represent "angels," then "angels" are a part of the whole. If the stars "represent" "spirits of God," then spirits are a part of the whole. If "the spirit" is "say[ing]" things to the churches, then what "the spirit says" (i.e., the “word”) is a part of the whole.

For John, as for other Jews of his generation, a concept of a whole from which parts spring up and to which they return is the concept of the Nehar di-Nur (the "stream of fire"). Louis Ginzberg (in V:21) states: "Thus there are angels who spring up daily out of the stream Dinur (='stream of fire'; comp. Dan. 7.10); they praise God, and then disappear. Out of every word uttered by God angels are created." Ginzberg says (in V:37) that the Rabbis further connected this stream with at least one STAR: "The stream of fire in which the SUN bathes, is identical with the Nehar di-Nur." An easy connection would be to see other heavenly lights, such as "stars," bathing in and arising out of the stream of fire, as well.

John is familiar with the "stream of fire." He does not mention this stream, but he describes a "lake of fire" into which the Devil and his angels are thrown. Not only is John familiar with the "stream of fire," he even adds a twist to the concept: A “stream” keeps on flowing, but a "lake" is the end of the line. Water flows into a lake, but does not flow out. According to Ginzberg (in V:125), later Jewish writers speak of souls passing through the river of fire where "the wicked" are "judged." Whether these Jewish writers originated the idea of a river of fiery judgment or picked up on John's "lake of fire" is uncertain, but their concept does seem to demonstrate the ease with which fiery judgment and the stream of fire may be connected.

Having discussed the various Fallen Angel Stories in previous commentaries, I am now shifting my focus to a discussion of the nature of angels, in general, rather than just the “fallen” variety. In future commentaries, I will discuss the ways in which angels are the personification of God’s word.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Angels & Demons 22: Recap of the Fallen Angel Stories


For twenty-two commentaries, now, I have been discussing Fallen Angel Stories. You, my readers, may have become lost in all the variations of these stories, so I offer this internal summary of the various Fallen Angel Stories. In the Old Testament, there were no fallen angels. Right after the Old Testament, hundreds of Fallen Angel Stories emerged. Then, by the New Testament, the fallen angels have almost completely disappeared again! In light of the flood of literature on fallen angels from the period between the Old and New Testaments, the obvious disqualification of the bulk of the fallen angel material from the official/codified scriptures of Christianity, Judaism, and the literature surrounding them is striking. If you have not encountered some of these stories, prior to now, you may take that as evidence that the stories were rejected for one reason or another. Here is a recap of the various fallen angel stories that developed between the Old Testament and New Testament periods:

1. FALLEN ANGELS WHO SINNED BY BRINGING CULTURE TO MANKIND. According to I Enoch 54:5, iron chains were being prepared for the host of Azazel. This host will be thrown into the abyss, with jagged stones. I Enoch 65:6-7 speaks of the angel’s secrets that were passed on to humans, including sorcery, incantations, and working with melted metals such as silver, lead, and tin. In other words, the fallen angels taught mankind to make tools and use fire. They brought culture to mankind. This story developed from Greek legends of Prometheus who was punished by Zeus for the same behavior. This story is rejected by the New Testament period.

2. AN EVIL GOD WHO IS EQUAL TO AND WHO WARS AGAINST OUR GOD. Persian religion developed the concept of an Evil God who was constantly at war with a Good God. There is no picture in the Old Testament of a Satan who could rival God. The Hebrew word “SATAN” means “adversary” or “prosecuting attorney.” That’s all Satan was in the Book of Job. He certainly had not “fallen” from Heaven by then. Job 1:6 has Satan joining the angels in presenting themselves before God. He petitions God for permission to “test” Job. He certainly does not demand anything of God. This story is rejected by the New Testament period.

3. ANGELS WHO SINNED BY MARRYING HUMAN WOMEN. Whoever the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 are, they are not raping the “daughters of men” or having sex with them outside the bonds of marriage. They are “marrying” them. Since this is the most significant version of the Fallen Angel Story in the Greek period, the possibility of angels having sex with humans is at issue. Jesus and the rabbis seem to suggest that it is impossible. Leo Jung explains: “That divine beings, even gods, have sexual intercourse with women was a well-known view, nay, a creed of Hellenistic religion.” We can safely assume that Greek culture had a reasonable effect on the fallen angel theme from its very outset. To be sure, many of our sources discussing the fallen angels are even written in the Greek language. This story is rejected by the New Testament period.

4. LUCIFER, AND HIS ANGELS, WHO REBELLED BY TRYING TO BE EQUAL TO GOD AND WAS CAST TO EARTH. It is clear that Lucifer (from Isaiah 14:12) is a man: “They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the MAN that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?” Verses 18-20, furthermore, point out that Lucifer is a “king”: “All the kings of the nations, [even] all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou . . . shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, [and] slain thy people.” We confirm this identification of Lucifer as the “king of Babylon” in the 4th verse of chapter 14: “That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon.” What follows, including the Lucifer passage in the middle of this chapter, is all a proverb denouncing the king of Babylon. This story is rejected by the New Testament period.

5. ANGELS (OTHER THAN LUCIFER) WHO REBELLED AGAINST GOD. After the New Testament period, (the Christian) Justin Martyr, somewhere around 150 A.D., described Trypho (a Jew) as becoming irate concerning the suggestion that Fallen Angels fell through the sin of “rebellion.” Trypho appears to reject the notion that angels could sin at all as being “blasphemous!” I believe Justin was mistaken and that Trypho the Jew was correct in this instance. The New Testament supports Trypho more than it does Justin. Martin Hengel, in his book Judentum und Hellenismus, pages 347-348, says that the analogy to the Clash of the Titans of Greek mythology lies close to the Fallen Angel Story. The motif of lesser gods rebelling against Zeus is the basis for the “Clash of the Titans” in Greek mythology. Therefore, the motif of angels rebelling against God made a good deal of sense to Jews who were living in the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great and his successors (between the Old and New Testaments). This story is rejected by the New Testament period.

6. ANGELS WHO SINNED BY JUDGING UNFAIRLY. In Psalm 82, God speaks to certain judges (calling them “gods” and “sons of the Most High”). He accuses them of judging unjustly and favoring the wicked. He tells them that they shall all “die as men and fall as one of the princes.” Jesus, however, is quoted in John 10:33-36 as clearly implying that the term “sons of the Most High” (from Psalm 82:6) refers to “human judges.” These human judges are called “gods/ELOHIM” in both Psalm 82:6 and Exodus 22:28. Jesus was making the point that it was not blasphemous for him to be called “god” or “son of God,” if even human judges could be called “gods” and “sons of the Most High.” Even though Haag argues that the passages in which “sons of God” are most prominent in the Old Testament (Job, Genesis 6, and Psalm 82) presuppose some sort of heavenly council in which God seeks input from other heavenly beings (such as angels), the Septuagint is only willing to explicitly apply that interpretation to Job. The rabbis rejected the notion that Psalm 82 referred to angels, as did John 10:33-36.

7. ANGELS WHO SINNED BY REFUSING TO WORSHIP ADAM. In the book The Lives of Adam and Eve, The Devil is presented as an angel who was cast out of Heaven because of his refusal to bow down and worship Adam. He was expected to worship Adam because Adam was the “image of God” (Genesis 1:26). Later human cultures would make “graven images” of their gods and worship those images, so the author of The Life of Adam and Eve thought it logical that angels would have been expected to worship the (living) image of the one true God—Adam. According to this source, when the Devil’s angels, over whom he was placed, heard of the Devil’s refusal to honor Adam by bowing down, they also refused. While the authors of the books of Revelation and Hebrews in the New Testament appear to be familiar with this story, they use only its logic for demonstrating that angels should bow down and worship Jesus—the Second Adam.

8. THE DEVIL WHO SINNED BY MURDERING AND LYING (AS A FALLEN ANGEL). Jesus, in John 8:37-44, says: “You have the devil for your father and you wish to practice the desires of your father; he was a slayer of men from the beginning, and he could not stay in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks according to his nature; for he is a liar and the father of liars.” Jesus was probably referring to the devil’s roles as tempter/tester and executioner. Hebrews 2:14 speaks of Jesus as neutralizing the one who wields the power of death, namely the devil. The first time the term Satan appears in the Bible is in the Book of Job, where Satan not only tests Job but also KILLS his wife and children. God restricts his power so that he cannot KILL Job himself, because Job is righteous. For those of us who are not as righteous as Job, Satan does indeed pose the threat of death. But, is this killing of humans a sin? Is Satan breaking the Law by killing men? Not if we deserve it. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned. Even though Revelation calls the devil the “deceiver of all humanity,” one wonders if his deceit simply amounts to something like putting a False statement in a True-False test. Yes, it is a lie, but the student is being TESTED to see if s/he recognizes it as such.

9. (SINLESS) ANGELS WHO ATTEMPTED TO MARRY A HUMAN GIRL, BUT WERE OUTWITTED BY THE GIRL. According to this story, when the angels descended to Earth, they propositioned a certain virgin. They wanted to “marry” her. Wise young lady that she was, she tricked them. She promised to agree to their proposition on one condition: they must give her their wings. Upon receiving the wings, and prior to the consummation of the sexual union, she flapped her wings and flew away to God’s throne. Either she was made into the constellation Virgo or the constellation Virgo was named for her. While the rabbis allowed this story to be taught, the New Testament makes no reference to it.

10. (SINLESS) GUARDIAN ANGELS (PRINCES) WHO ASCENDED, THEN DESCENDED, JACOB’S LADDER. The Jewish concept of the guardian angels of various nations ascending and descending on Jacob’s ladder ends with the angel of the nation of Israel ascending the ladder, but never descending. This is the story of the ascending and descending national guardian angels (also called “princes”) of history’s world empires. The rabbis allowed this story to be taught. The New Testament comes close to accepting this story in Revelation, with Michael (traditionally understood to be the national guardian angel of Israel) defeating Satan (with the blood of the Lamb) and casting him to earth. Perhaps, this story also figures into the curious comment attributed to Jesus by John (in John 1:51): “Truly, I assure you all, you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

11. A (SINLESS) ANGEL OF TRUTH WHO DISAGREED WITH THE CREATION OF MAN AND WAS CAST TO THE EARTH. The Angel of Truth temporarily became a “fallen angel” because of his opposition to the creation of man. The biblical text that serves as the basis for the Bereshit Rabbah 8.5 account is Psalm 85:11-12a: “Mercy and Truth met each other; Righteousness and Peace kissed each other. Truth will arise from the Earth.” According to H. Freedman, however, the rabbinic account “interprets ‘met’ in the sense of ‘fought,’ and derives ‘NASHAḲU [kissed]’ from ‘NESHEḲ [arms]’, rendering: ‘have taken arms against each other.’” This combat between Mercy and Truth, and Righteousness and Peace, is then presented as an argument over the creation of man: “Mercy says, ‘Let him be created; for he does merciful things.’ Truth says, ‘Let him not be created; for he is all lies.’ Righteousness says, ‘Let him be created; for he does righteous things.’ Peace says, ‘Do not let him be created; he is all quarrel.’ What did the Holy One—blessed be He—do? He took Truth and cast him down to the Earth. This is that which is written: ‘And it cast Truth down to the Earth’ (Daniel 8.12). The angels who attend before the Holy One—blessed be He—said, ‘Lord of the worlds, why are you spurning [the rank of] your worthy Truth? Let Truth rise up from the Earth.’ This is that which is written: ‘Truth will arise from the earth’ (Psalm 85.12a).” I conclude, however, that “opposition to man” was not necessarily considered a sin. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to return to God’s Throne.

12. SATAN (AND HIS ANGELS) WHO FELL BECAUSE SATAN’S JOB WAS ELIMINATED. According to Revelation, Satan lost his first job—that of “accuser of the brothers”—due to the “Blood” of Jesus. Revelation, therefore, places the Fall of Satan somewhere around 30 AD. The Hebrew word “SATAN” means “prosecuting attorney.” Prosecuting attorney was Satan’s FIRST job. There is no need for a prosecutor, if all of the accused have been “pardoned.” While John the writer of Revelation is familiar with virtually all of the Fallen Angel Stories, he seems to reject them all in favor of a progressive “outmoding of Satan’s jobs” approach. The first job to go was that of accuser/prosecuting attorney. The loss of this job resulted in Satan being cast to earth because there was no longer a job for him “in Heaven.” No longer did Satan’s job(s) require him to be in the presence of God. Before whom else would Satan have accused and prosecuted the brothers? God is the ultimate Judge. Satan needed to be in His presence to present the prosecution’s case against the brothers. There is no sin in this task, but it is certainly a task God and “the brothers” were happy to see ended.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Angels & Demons 21: One Final (Sinless) Fallen Angel Story


In my two previous commentaries, I discussed the fall of angels who were involved in the rise and fall of world empires. According to Revelation, Satan (a.k.a., the Dragon) is the one who raises the world empires. After his Fall from Heaven, he fought (and lost) a few earthly battles, culminating with the Fall of the Roman Empire. Then, he was chained for 1000 years and thrown into the Abyss. During this time (The Dark Ages?), he was not permitted to raise up world empires. According to Rabbinic sources, (the angels of) the empires who ASCENDED (Jacob’s Ladder) and were in power also DESCENDED or FELL from power as, for example, Rome fell. This perspective on angels may, therefore, be considered a Fallen Angel Story. The primary source for this Fallen Angel Story appears to be Rabbi Meir, a third generation Tanna (from the first or second century AD), who served as Hakam (speaker) of the academy of Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel II. The details of the number of rungs ascended by each guardian angel is probably not traceable to Meir, according to Hermann Strack, so I will not follow that tangent.

What is clear, however, is that the Fallen Angels of this account were SINLESS, just as were virtually all other fallen angels of the New Testament period. The question of sin does not even enter the account of the descending princes/guardian angels. The vision is to be interpreted as a prophetic account of world history. The descent of the princes is not understood to be related to any moral impropriety on the part of the angels. Even if the nations which the various guardian angels represented did themselves (the nations) behave immorally, their princes were not considered sinful by association. Otherwise, Israel’s own prince would have been indicted often.
On the contrary, Midrash Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah 2.1, in an account attributed to Rabbi Eleazar the Modiite (2nd generation Tanna), the guardian angels are very much part of the divine economy (though playing a near-satanic role), and are accusing and defending men, not cognizant of any need to defend themselves. A translation of that text follows:

“The time will come regarding the princes of the nations of the world, in the future to come, that they will enter to accuse Israel before the Holy One—blessed be He. And they say, ‘Lord of the World, these (the heathen) certainly worshipped idols and these (the Israelites) certainly worshipped idols; these (the heathen) uncovered nudities and these (the Israelites) uncovered nudities; these (the heathen) shed blood and these (the Israelites) shed blood. For what reason do these (the heathen) go to hell (Gehinnom), but these (the Israelites) do not go down?’”

These national guardian angels are often hostile to Israel, a trait that makes them similar to the angels of Truth and Peace in the final Fallen Angel Story of this period, which I shall now recite. Bereshit Rabbah 8.5 provides an account of an angel who was cast to earth because his conclusion regarding the wisdom of creating man conflicted with God’s. The account of groups of angels being “consumed” because of their opposition to the creation of man can be found in other locations (see Ginsberg, Legends of the Jews, V, 69). Here, however, the Angel of Truth temporarily became a “fallen angel” because of his opposition to the creation of man. The biblical text that serves as the basis for the Bereshit Rabbah 8.5 account is Psalm 85:11-12a:

“Mercy and Truth met each other; Righteousness and Peace kissed each other. Truth will arise from the Earth.”

According to H. Freedman, however, the rabbinic account “interprets ‘met’ in the sense of ‘fought,’ and derives ‘NASHAḲU [kissed]’ from ‘NESHEḲ [arms]’, rendering: ‘have taken arms against each other.’” This combat between Mercy and Truth, and Righteousness and Peace, is then presented as an argument over the creation of man:

“Mercy says, ‘Let him be created; for he does merciful things.’ Truth says, ‘Let him not be created; for he is all lies.’ Righteousness says, ‘Let him be created; for he does righteous things.’ Peace says, ‘Do not let him be created; he is all quarrel.’ What did the Holy One—blessed be He—do? He took Truth and cast him down to the Earth. This is that which is written: ‘And it cast Truth down to the Earth’ (Daniel 8.12). The angels who attend before the Holy One—blessed be He—said, ‘Lord of the worlds, why are you spurning [the rank of] your worthy Truth? Let Truth rise up from the Earth.’ This is that which is written: ‘Truth will arise from the earth’ (Psalm 85.12a).”

The ambivalent character of mankind provides the material for this angelic debate. Obviously, each contestant in the matter could easily produce evidence to substantiate his claim. Mankind is, of course, merciful-yet-false, righteous-yet-quarrelsome. The Angel of Truth was not lying here; he was being truthful. He has not broken any of the biblical commandments. Neither is he presented as a “rebel” against God. He is not even arguing with God (even though his conclusion is in disagreement with God’s)—he is arguing (battling?) with other angels. His ultimate opponent, however, is neither God nor angels; he is opposed to “man.” He does not favor the creation of man.

The concept of angelic-human rivalry is not at all uncommon in our period. I have already mentioned (in previous commentaries) Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 88b-89a, Midrash Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah 8.11, Mdrash Tehillim 8.74, and Pesikta Rabbati ch. 25, p. 128a, which all have some concern with the angels’ opposition to mankind’s receiving the Law/Torah. In Midrash Agadat Bereshit (Buber edition, Introduction, p. 38), Yalkut (I, p. 44), and Chronicles of Jerahmeel (p. 53)— parallels of the BHM account, in which the young girl tricked the angels into giving her their wings—the angels’ motive for descending to earth was to prove their superiority to man (their rival). Additionally, the Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 38b speaks of hosts of angels who were “consumed” because of their opposition to the creation of Adam. Peter Schȁfer wrote an entire book on the rivalry between angels and humans, Rivalitȁt zwischen Engeln und Menschen, published by Gruyter, in 1975. I commented in my Angels & Demons 18 commentary that Satan also has a rivalry with man:

“Although Satan is certainly considered the adversary of mankind in the New Testament, nowhere is he presented as the adversary of God. I Peter 5:8 warns the readers: ‘Be on guard! Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’ Nevertheless, I Peter calls him YOUR adversary, not the adversary of God. Revelation 12:10 calls him the ‘accuser’ of the ‘brothers,’ but does not paint him as a challenger to God. Instead, he seems to be doing exactly what God allows him to do: He ‘accuses them before our God, day and night.’”

In addition to Revelation’s presentation of Satan’s Fall as linked to his enmity toward man, rabbinic literature presents the Fall of Satan (also known as Sammael) as the result of his enmity toward man. In Midrash Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chapters 13-14, Sammael fell because of his conspiracy against Adam in which he misled Adam to sin. Jewish scholar Louis Ginzberg (in Legends of the Jews, V, 85) believes this “corresponds to Revelation 12:9,” as do I. The Koran also agrees, to a certain extent. In Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation of The Holy Qur-an (Volume I, pp. 24ff., there is an angelic debate concerning the advisability of creating man, Iblīs’s (the Devil’s) refusal to bow down to Adam, and Satan’s causing the couple to slip from the Garden.

Returning to the “Angel of Truth” story, however, I conclude that “opposition to man” was not necessarily considered a sin. It is evidently quite unsatisfactory to God, since the Angel of Truth was cast down to earth for his opinion. But, if this is a Fallen Angel Story, we find that in the resolution of the story, Truth “arises from the Earth.” Apparently, then, this angel—like the angels who gave up their wings to the young girl—was not guilty of any sins. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to return to God’s Throne.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Angels & Demons 20: Jacob’s Ladder, with the Guardian Angels of Each Nation—Rising and Falling


Jacob’s Ladder figured into the Sinless Fallen Angel Story I mentioned earlier in my commentaries—in which the righteous young maiden tricked the angels into giving her their wings and teaching her to pronounce the unpronounceable name of God. She flew away to Heaven and they were left on the earth—UNTIL they found Jacob’s Ladder and climbed back into Heaven. Jacob’s Ladder now, once again, figures into a Fallen Angel Story. This story is related to my previous commentary in which Satan (as the Raiser of World Empires) is chained in the Abyss for 1000 years, “so that HE MIGHT NO LONGER LEAD THE NATIONS ASTRAY until the 1000 years are ended.” Here, however, the angels do not actually “fall”; instead, they just “descend.”

John the author of Revelation is, of course, familiar with the Jewish concept of the guardian angels of each nation—ascending and descending on Jacob’s ladder—and he even agrees with the end of the Jewish story. The story ends with the angel of a certain nation ascending the ladder, but never descending. This is the story of the ascending and descending national guardian angels (also called “princes”) of history’s world empires. Piska 23.2 of Pesikta de-Rab Kahana [hereafter, PRK] provides the following interpretation of the Jacob’s Ladder account from Genesis 28:12:

“Rabbi Berechiah, with Rabbi Ḥelbo, the son of Rabbi Simeon, the son of Yosina, in the name of Rabbi Meir, said: ‘It teaches that the Holy One—Blessed be He—caused Jacob, our Father, to see the prince of Babel (Babylon) ascending and descending, (then the prince) of Media ascending and descending, then (the prince) of Yavan (Greece) ascending and descending, then (the prince) of Edom (Rome) ascending and descending. The Holy One—Blessed be He—said to him (Jacob), ‘Jacob, you are ascending, too.’ In that hour, Jacob, our Father, was afraid, and he said, ‘Would you say that just like what happened to these—a descending—will also happen to me—a descending?’ The Holy One—Blessed be He—said to him, ‘You will not come down, Israel (Jeremiah 30:10). If you go up, there will never be a descent for you.’ But he did not believe, and he did not ascend.”

Clearly, this passage hints at an eternal kingdom by Israel, following upon the fall of Rome. John, in Revelation, paints virtually the same picture. In John’s account, however, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah does, indeed, “conquer” (5:5), ascend to reign over the earth (5:10), stand on Mount Zion (14:1), with his 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel (7:4-8), leading the New Jerusalem (21:2) to power. And, he shall reign forever and ever (22:5), John predicts.

A parallel of the PRK account is Leviticus Rabbah 29:2. This version attributes the story again to R. Berechiah (5th generation Amora) and R. Ḥelbo (4th generation Amora) and ultimately to R. Meir (3rd generation Tanna), in agreement with the PRK passage. It identifies Rabbi Simeon ben Menasya (4th generation Tanna) as the secondary source of the story, thus varying from PRK which mentions a Simeon ben Yosina as the father of R. Ḥelbo.

The word “Amora,” incidentally, refers to a Jewish academy leader/scholar who lived and wrote from 219-500 AD. The word “Tanna” refers to a Jewish academy leader/scholar who lived and wrote from 10-220 AD. Therefore, the Tannaim (plural of Tanna) lived closer in time to the New Testament period than did the Amoraim (plural of Amora). Rabbi Meir, for example, lived between 120 and 165 AD. Nevertheless, the rabbis claim that they are simply passing on information that they received from their teachers, so the teachings are understood to have been generated earlier in history than the recording of the teachings.

The Leviticus Rabbah passage is a more abbreviated form of the story. It omits the directive from God for Jacob to ascend and also Jacob’s resulting fright. This time, Jacob addresses God as “Lord of the Worlds,” and proceeds to express his concern about a similar descent for himself. The language used agrees (nearly verbatim) with PRK. God, in reply, again quotes Jeremiah 30:10, but drops the direct address (“Israel”). The conclusion is phrased as follows:

“‘Once you ascend, there will be no descent for you!’ Nevertheless, he was fearful, and did not ascend.”

In another parallel, Midrash Tehillim 78,347 supplies the number of rungs each of the princes climbed, and attributes these details also to Rabbi Meir, as quoted by Rabbi Berechiah, Rabbi Levi (3rd generation Amora), and still another Simeon—Simeon ben Jose (4th generation Tanna). PRK 23.2a provides those same details, but in a midrash belonging to Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥman (3rd generation Amora), paralleled also in Leviticus Rabbah 29:2.

In a similar vein, Bereshit Rabbah 68end refers to the princes of the four empires who ascended and descended and relates this Ladder vision to Nebuchadnezzar’s “image” vision (Daniel 2:31-45). According to the Nebuchadnezzar’s “image” vision, after the fifth kingdom (beginning with the Babylonian Empire) falls, God will establish an eternal kingdom that will never fall.

It is striking that Jewish scholars of the First to Fifth Centuries after the birth of Jesus who continued a tradition that suggests a plan of God to establish an eternal kingdom with a Jewish leader at the helm following the fall of the Roman Empire, failed to recognize that such a kingdom was developing. With the Roman Empire effectively “Christianized” by Constantine, shortly after 300 AD, this tiny sect, led by a Jewish teacher (Jesus)—a child of Israel—was finally catapulted to a position of international repute. It was not until the Renaissance of a thousand years later that Greco-Roman literature would begin to rebound from a situation in which Judeo-Christian literature and thought dominated much of the world. One can almost envision the scene of Jacob’s Ladder:

“The Holy One—Blessed be He—said to him (Jacob), ‘Jacob, you are ascending, too.’ In that hour, Jacob, our Father, was afraid, and he said, ‘Would you say that just like what happened to these—a descending—will also happen to me—a descending?’ The Holy One—Blessed be He—said to him, ‘You will not come down, Israel’ (Jeremiah 30:10). If you go up, there will never be a descent for you.’”

Friday, August 20, 2010

Angels & Demons 19: Satan Temporarily Laid Off (From 2nd Job)


According to Revelation, Satan lost his first job—that of “accuser of the brothers”—due to the “Blood” of Jesus. Revelation, therefore, places the Fall of Satan somewhere around 30 AD. The Hebrew word “SATAN” means “prosecuting attorney.” Prosecuting attorney was Satan’s FIRST job. There is no need for a prosecutor, if all of the accused have been “pardoned.” While John the writer of Revelation is familiar with virtually all of the Fallen Angel Stories I have been discussing—angels sin, angels marry human women, angels bring culture to mankind, angels rebel against God, angels refuse to worship Adam, etc.—he seems to reject them all in favor of a progressive “outmoding of Satan’s jobs” approach. The first job to go was that of accuser/prosecuting attorney. The loss of this job resulted in Satan being cast to earth because there was no longer a job for him “in Heaven.” No longer did Satan’s job(s) require him to be in the presence of God. Before whom else would Satan have accused and prosecuted the brothers? God is the ultimate Judge. Satan needed to be in His presence to present the prosecution’s case against the brothers. There is no sin in this task, but it is certainly a task God and “the brothers” were happy to see ended. Yet, Satan has other jobs: tempter, executioner, and raiser of world empires. There has never been a time in human history in which Satan’s jobs as tempter and executioner were put on hold. The end of those two jobs will eventually occur, according to Revelation, when Death and Hades are cast into the Lake of Fire. There was a time, however, in which Satan’s 2nd job--as the raiser of world empires--was temporarily withdrawn.

John predicted the temporary elimination of Satan’s 2nd job in Revelation 20:1-3:

“And I saw an angel descending from Heaven, holding in his hand the key to the Abyss and a gigantic chain. He overpowered the Dragon—the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan—and bound him for 1000 years. He hurled him into the Abyss, which he closed and sealed above him, so that HE MIGHT NO LONGER LEAD THE NATIONS ASTRAY until the 1000 years are ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.”

We know that the point of Satan’s being bound for 1000 years is to see that the NATIONS are no longer led astray, because John repeats the rationale in 20:7 & 8:

“When the 1000 years have ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out TO LEAD ASTRAY THE NATIONS in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—to muster them FOR BATTLE.”

Going along with John’s concept of an end to the world empires who affect God’s people is the concept that each NATION/world-empire has its own guardian angel who rises, then falls. This teaching is strong in Rabbinic literature. I will discuss the Rabbinic sources of this teaching in future commentaries. There is insufficient room in this commentary to address them.

I mentioned in my commentary “Angels and Demons #4” the great world empires that had affected the Jewish nation:

The BABYLONIAN Empire 627-539 B.C. (King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon carried the Jews away into captivity in 567 B.C. The prophet Daniel and his friends—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—were among the young men who were captured. Daniel predicted the eventual Fall of Babylon to the Persian King Cyrus.)

The MEDO-PERSIAN Empire 539-323 B.C. (Jewish princess Esther becomes the Queen of Persia from 492 to 460 B.C. Around 400 B.C., under the rule of Persia, the last two books of the Bible were written—Ezra and Nehemiah—as these two men reestablished the Jewish religion in Jerusalem.)

The GREEK Empire 323-146 B.C. (In a period entirely between the Old and New Testaments, the Greek religious influence was strong. This is called the Hellenistic period. During this time, the Maccabees mounted a successful Jewish revolt against Greece and Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiled the Jerusalem Temple with Greek religious practices and forbade the practice of the Jewish religion.)

The ROMAN Empire (146) B.C.-476 A.D. (While the Romans conquered Greece in 146 B.C., they really did not become an “Empire” until their first “Emperor” Augustus Caesar in 27 B.C. Augustus was the Emperor during whose reign Jesus was born. Christians will certainly remember the decree that went forth from Augustus Caesar. Augustus was most likely the First Head of the seven-headed Beast of Revelation.)

John seems to be predicting that (with the Fall of the Roman Empire) there would be a 1000 year period during which time there would be a relative absence of world empires affecting the people of God.

John is not alone in predicting this period of freedom from the domination of world empires. As Daniel had predicted the Fall of Babylon to Persia, he can be understood to be predicting the succeeding empires and their falls. The conclusion of Daniel’s prophecies is invariably a period dominated by God and his servants. Daniel 7:13-18 speaks of “One coming with the clouds . . . like a son of man” to whom was given” a universal “kingdom for ever and ever.” Isaiah 11 describes this period of peace in such terminology as lambs lying down with lions, leopards, wolves, cattle, bears, and oxen. Isaiah 2:2-5 describes the period:

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all NATIONS shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the NATIONS, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; NATION shall not lift up sword against NATION, neither shall they learn war anymore” (NIV).

The prediction from Isaiah “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation” may well be what John had in mind when he wrote of Satan “no longer lead[ing] the nations astray.” I see in John’s interpretation of the messianic reign, as presented by Isaiah and Daniel, the following elements:

• The temporary period will last 1000 years.
• It will be a time of relative peace in the sense that major “national” conflicts will not occur (nation will not rise against nation).
• A universal kingdom shall be led by a “son of man,” a representative of the Lord.
• Instead of studying war, many people will study the ways of the God of Jacob.

You can imagine how I was impressed, then, when my professor of Greek Lyric Poetry at Indiana University, Willis Barnstone, made a comment in class, nearly 40 years ago, to the effect that for a thousand years, secular Greek and Roman literature was systematically destroyed and that Christian literature was the only thing that was preserved. If one desired to study anything, the only thing available to him/her was Christian literature. Barnstone was referring to the Dark Ages—the period from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. His comments were in line with a quotation attributed to him on Wikiquote concerning Sappho, a Greek poet from the sixth and seventh centuries BC. The Barnestone/Wikiquote calls her a “prolific and much acclaimed writer, she is credited with either seven or nine long books of poetry, but over a thousand years of neglect and hostility destroyed most of her work” (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sappho). Barnstone appeared to me to be unhappy that Christians had destroyed so much of Greco-Roman civilization during this thousand years. Yet, it occurred to me that Barnstone had just identified a 1000 year period in which there was a time of relative peace-in the sense that major “national” conflicts did not occur—and during which many people studied the ways of the God of Jacob. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam were all Abrahamic religions that flourished during this period and became the three largest religions in the world.

One could actually say that the Satanic job of raising world empires was temporarily eliminated for a thousand years. Nevertheless, with the Renaissance came a rebirth in interest in Greco-Roman culture. With the Renaissance came a rebirth in NATIONALISTIC spirit, and as John predicted, THE NATIONS in the four corners of the Earth have once again mustered FOR BATTLE.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Angels & Demons 18: God Commanded Angels to Worship Jesus, but Not Adam


In my two previous commentaries, I considered the pseudepigraphal Book of Adam and Eve, in which angels were expected to worship Adam, because he was the “image of God.” Satan and his angels supposedly “sinned” because they refused to worship Adam, thus rebelling against the will of God. There was never, however, any “law” or “command” given to angels that they must worship Adam. The New Testament is consistent with the writings of the Jewish rabbis in the period following the New Testament, in this regard. Although Satan is certainly considered the adversary of mankind in the New Testament, nowhere is he presented as the adversary of God. I Peter 5:8 warns the readers: “Be on guard! Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Nevertheless, I Peter calls him YOUR adversary, not the adversary of God. Revelation 12:10 calls him the “accuser” of the “brothers,” but does not paint him as a challenger to God. Instead, he seems to be doing exactly what God allows him to do: He “accuses them before our God, day and night.”

That is, until God has a justification for ending the accusing and casting “Satan out of his presence. Jesus’ blood secured forgiveness for those whom Satan was accusing: “And they overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life unto death.” Unlike Adam, who disbelieved God’s warning, rebelled against God, and thus lost his life, Jesus and his followers (the martyrs) believed God, voluntarily gave up their lives, and defeated Satan, their accuser. Adam, although he was made in the “image of God,” never fulfilled the role. It remained for one of Adam’s offspring or “seed” (Genesis 3:15) to perfect the role of the true “image of God.”

Here is what the Jewish rabbis had to say about Adam-worship. Kohelet Rabbah 6.10 offers a parable of a king and a governor who were riding together. The people wanted to address the king with respect, but did not know which of the two men was king. The king therefore pushed the governor out of the chariot. Therefore, the people knew they should pay respect to him, rather than to the governor. Kohelet Rabbah was offering this as a parable pertaining to the question of whether angels should worship God or God’s image (Adam): “At the time when the Holy One—Blessed be He—created the first man, the ministering angels were mistaken in him and they wanted to pronounce before him, ‘Holy!’ What did the Holy One—Blessed be He—do? He caused a sleep to fall upon him. And [the angels] recognized that he was man. And [God] said to [Adam], ‘For dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return’” (Genesis 3:19). This story also occurs in Bereshit Rabbah 8:10, where it is attributed to Rabbi Hoshaya. Bernard Bamberger, in Fallen Angels, page 94, says that this account “seems to be directed against this [Adam-worshipping] . . . legend.” Bamberger states: “This tale rules out the notion that the angels had to worship Adam.”

Of course, one will not find anywhere in the writings of the Jewish rabbis a suggestion that God commanded angels to worship Jesus! Jewish rabbis did not believe Jesus was the Christ. But, even Moslems (who DO believe that Jesus was the Christ) are unwilling to make him the object of worship. Both Jews and Moslems reject the doctrine of Trinity. My Jewish major professor of Hebrew at Indiana University, Henry Fischel, pointed out to me that NOWHERE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT DOES THE WORD “TRINITY” OCCUR. What both Jews and Moslems may find interesting, however, is that the Book of Revelation does NOT RELY ON ANY DOCTRINE OF TRINITY to make Jesus worthy of worship. Revelation chapter 4 describes the scene in Heaven in which all the universe (including angels) worshipped the ONE Lord God Almighty, pronouncing the very word Kohelet Rabbah and Bereshit Rabbah employ in worship: “Holy!” Then, in chapter 5 of Revelation, the Lamb is also deemed worthy of worship (but not by using the word “Holy!”). This is a stunning development. Now, in a sense similar to the (incorrect) pseudepigraphal Book of Adam and Eve, someone besides God is declared worthy of worship by the angels. But, the Lamb is not presented there as a divine being. He is seated “at the right hand” of the One seated on the throne (5:1). He is presented as the “conquerer” (5:5). His conquest is associated with the shedding of his “blood” (5:9). Like God, he is “worthy” to receive praise (5:13). But, throughout the book of Revelation, although the word “almighty” is used several times to refer to the One God, it is never applied to Jesus. I comment, on page 120 of my book Revelation: The Human Drama:

Jesus is “known as ‘the first and the last, the beginning and the end,’ in 3:14; he is called ‘the [beginning] of the creation of God.’ (Similarly, 1:5 calls him the ‘first-born . . . from the dead.’) In 22:13, John provides another formula describing Jesus as [beginning and end]: ‘I am the alpha and the omega.’ Jesus, as ‘the Lamb who was slain’ (5:6,12) would serve as the archetype for John's concept of human . . . perfection. . . . Jesus as the . . . ‘Lamb who was slain’ can stand . . . for all perfect conquerors (martyrs). Hence, . . . he represents the proper response to Rome for every Christian. Jesus is never referred to as pantokratôr (the Almighty) or as the one ‘who was and who is and who is coming.’ However, John connects the phrase ‘ [the first and the last]’ with Jesus in language about his being ‘dead’ and now being ‘alive’ (a similar notion) in 1:17-18 and 2:8.

. . . Not unexpectedly, ‘God’ is also linked with such perfectionist language. In 21:6, apparently God is the self-designated ‘alpha and the omega, the [beginning] and the [end].’ And in 1:8, the phrase just quoted is applied to God along with another equal phrase: ‘who was and who is and who is coming,’ plus ‘the Almighty.’ Likewise, 1:4 identifies God as the one ‘who was and who is and who is coming.’ 4:8 and 11:17 repeat this identification of God and include [almighty.] Other verses which identify God as [almighty] include 15.3, 16:7,14, 19:6,15, and 21:22.”

While these parallels indicate a close resemblance between God and Jesus, so does the terminology “the image of God” as it is applied to Adam. If John were trying to advance a picture of the Trinity, it seems strange that he does not include an extra chapter dedicated to worshipping the Holy Spirit. There are only TWO in Revelation who are worthy of worship--not three. I am reminded of the fact that Revelation does not promote the doctrine of Trinity every time I sing the song “Holy! Holy! Holy!” The lyrics of the song surely come from Revelation 4 and 5, and yet they offer the conclusion: “God in three persons, Blessed Trinity.” This is not found in Revelation.

Any Jew or Moslem who objects to the Doctrine of Trinity need not be offended by the approach of the Book of Revelation. Certainly, Jesus is worshipped by angels (and all other creatures), as is God. But the logic of why Jesus is so worshipped seems not to be related to a doctrine of Jesus’ divinity. It seems closer to the view that the “image of God” should be worshipped. Adam did not fully fit the bill for deserving worship, because Adam sinned and brought death upon mankind. Jesus—Adam’s seed—more clearly fits the bill, because he did not sin and yet shed his blood to nullify the role of Satan in heaven. Satan was cast out because his job as accuser had been outmoded. Jesus' blood defeated the Satan/accuser.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Angels & Demons 17: “The Life of Adam and Eve”- (Satan Refuses to Worship God’s Image)


In my previous commentary, I promised to supply the excerpt from the pseud- epigraphal work in which the Devil is cast out of Heaven for refusing to worship Adam. The following is Wells’ translation of the Latin text, The Books of Adam and Eve 12-17, taken from The Apocryphy and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, edited by R. H. Charles, Volume II: Pseudepigrapha (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), p. 137:

XII 1) And with a heavy sigh, the devil spake: “O Adam! All my hostility, envy, and sorrow is for thee, since it is for thee that I have been expelled from my glory, which I possessed in the heavens in the midst of the angels and for thee I was cast out in the earth.” 2) Adam answered, “What dost thou tell me? What have I done to thee or what is my fault against thee? 3) Seeing that thou hast received no harm or injury from us, why dost thou pursue us?”

XIII 1) The devil replied, “Adam, what dost thou tell me? It is for thy sake that I have been hurled from that place. 2) When thou wast formed, I was hurled out of the presence of God and banished from the company of the angels. When God blew into thee the breath of life and thy face and likeness was made in the image of God, Michael also brought thee and made (us) worship thee in the sight of God; and God the Lord spake: ‘Here is Adam. I have made thee in our image and likeness.’

XIV 1) And Michael went out and called all the angels saying: ‘Worship the image of God as the Lord God hath commanded.’ 2) And Michael himself worshiped first; then he called me and said: ‘Worship the image of God the Lord.’ 3) And I answered, ‘I have no (need) to worship Adam.’ And since Michael kept urging me to worship, I said to him, ‘Why dost thou urge me? I will not worship an inferior and younger being (than I). I am his senior in the creation, before he was made was I already made. It is his duty to worship me.

XV 1) When the angels, who were under me, heard this, they refused to worship him. 2) And Michael saith, ‘Worship the image of God, but if thou wilt not worship him, the Lord God will be wrath with thee.’ 3) And I said, ‘If He be wrath with me, I will set my seat above the stars of heaven and will be like the Highest.’

XVI 1) And God the Lord was wrath with me and banished me and my angels from our glory; and on thy account were we expelled from our abodes into this world and hurled on the earth. 2) And straightaway we were overcome with grief, since we had been spoiled of so great glory. 3) And we were grieved when we saw thee in such joy and luxury. 4) And with guile I cheated thy wife and caused thee to be expelled through her (doing) from thy joy and luxury, as I have been driven out of my glory.”

XVII 1) When Adam heard the devil say this, he cried out and wept and spake: “O Lord my God, my life is in thy hands. Banish this Adversary far from me, who seeketh to destroy my soul, and give me his glory which he himself hath lost.” 2) And at that moment, the devil vanished before him. 3) But Adam endured in his penance, standing for forty days (on end) in the water of Jordan.

For purposes of comparison, I supply my translation of Revelation 12:7-13. I drew the comparison and contrast in my previous commentary.

And war came to pass in heaven; Michael and his angels had to war with the dragon. And the dragon waged war, also his angels, but they did not prevail, nor was there found a place for them in heaven, any longer. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, who is called Devil and Satan, who misleads the whole inhabitable (world). He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying: “Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and of His Christ, because the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, is cast out. And they overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life unto death. Because of this, Rejoice! Heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe! (upon) the earth and the sea, for the Devil came down to you, having great fury, knowing that he has a short time.” And when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he pursued the woman who brought forth the male.