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branches ::: Hebrew

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now begins generated list of local instances, definitions, quotes, instances in chapters, wordnet info if available and instances among weblinks


OBJECT INSTANCES [0] - TOPICS - AUTHORS - BOOKS - CHAPTERS - CLASSES - SEE ALSO - SIMILAR TITLES

TOPICS
SEE ALSO


AUTH

BOOKS
General_Principles_of_Kabbalah
Liber_157_-_The_Tao_Teh_King
Modern_Man_in_Search_of_a_Soul
Process_and_Reality
The_Bible
The_Imitation_of_Christ
The_Secret_Doctrine
The_Wit_and_Wisdom_of_Alfred_North_Whitehead
Three_Books_on_Occult_Philosophy

IN CHAPTERS TITLE
The_Letter_to_the_Hebrews

IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME

IN CHAPTERS TEXT
0.00_-_The_Book_of_Lies_Text
01.03_-_Mystic_Poetry
0_1962-12-15
0_1968-03-02
02.02_-_Lines_of_the_Descent_of_Consciousness
02.05_-_Federated_Humanity
04.01_-_The_Divine_Man
04.01_-_The_March_of_Civilisation
04.02_-_A_Chapter_of_Human_Evolution
04.05_-_The_Immortal_Nation
05.09_-_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience
1.00a_-_Introduction
1.00_-_Preface
1.00_-_Preliminary_Remarks
1.01_-_Adam_Kadmon_and_the_Evolution
1.01_-_Historical_Survey
1.01_-_MAPS_OF_EXPERIENCE_-_OBJECT_AND_MEANING
1.02_-_In_the_Beginning
1.02_-_MAPS_OF_MEANING_-_THREE_LEVELS_OF_ANALYSIS
1.02_-_The_Magic_Circle
1.02_-_THE_NATURE_OF_THE_GROUND
1.02_-_The_Pit
1.03_-_PERSONALITY,_SANCTITY,_DIVINE_INCARNATION
1.03_-_Reading
1.03_-_The_Sephiros
1.04_-_Magic_and_Religion
1.04_-_On_blessed_and_ever-memorable_obedience
1.04_-_Religion_and_Occultism
1.04_-_THE_APPEARANCE_OF_ANOMALY_-_CHALLENGE_TO_THE_SHARED_MAP
1.04_-_The_Crossing_of_the_First_Threshold
1.04_-_The_Paths
1.04_-_The_Qabalah__The_Best_Training_for_Memory
1.05_-_2010_and_1956_-_Doomsday?
1.05_-_Adam_Kadmon
1.05_-_Christ,_A_Symbol_of_the_Self
1.05_-_THE_HOSTILE_BROTHERS_-_ARCHETYPES_OF_RESPONSE_TO_THE_UNKNOWN
1.06_-_Being_Human_and_the_Copernican_Principle
1.06_-_The_Literal_Qabalah
1.06_-_The_Three_Schools_of_Magick_1
1.07_-_The_Ego_and_the_Dualities
1.07_-_The_Literal_Qabalah_(continued)
1.08a_-_The_Ladder
1.09_-_Sri_Aurobindo_and_the_Big_Bang
1.09_-_The_Ambivalence_of_the_Fish_Symbol
1.11_-_GOOD_AND_EVIL
1.1.2_-_Commentary
1.12_-_TIME_AND_ETERNITY
1.13_-_Gnostic_Symbols_of_the_Self
1.14_-_Bibliography
1.14_-_The_Secret
1.17_-_Astral_Journey__Example,_How_to_do_it,_How_to_Verify_your_Experience
1.19_-_GOD_IS_NOT_MOCKED
1.21_-_ON_FREE_DEATH
1.24_-_RITUAL,_SYMBOL,_SACRAMENT
1.26_-_On_discernment_of_thoughts,_passions_and_virtues
1.27_-_On_holy_solitude_of_body_and_soul.
1.28_-_On_holy_and_blessed_prayer,_mother_of_virtues,_and_on_the_attitude_of_mind_and_body_in_prayer.
1.31_-_Adonis_in_Cyprus
1.32_-_The_Ritual_of_Adonis
1.35_-_The_Tao_2
1.37_-_Death_-_Fear_-_Magical_Memory
1.39_-_Prophecy
1.43_-_The_Holy_Guardian_Angel_is_not_the_Higher_Self_but_an_Objective_Individual
1.46_-_Selfishness
1.48_-_Morals_of_AL_-_Hard_to_Accept,_and_Why_nevertheless_we_Must_Concur
1.65_-_Man
1.68_-_The_God-Letters
1961_03_11_-_58
1.anon_-_The_Song_of_Songs
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Horror_at_Red_Hook
1.fua_-_I_shall_grasp_the_souls_skirt_with_my_hand
1.hs_-_Cupbearer,_it_is_morning,_fill_my_cup_with_wine
1.hs_-_Hair_disheveled,_smiling_lips,_sweating_and_tipsy
1.hs_-_If_life_remains,_I_shall_go_back_to_the_tavern
1.ia_-_While_the_suns_eye_rules_my_sight
1.jh_-_Lord,_Where_Shall_I_Find_You?
1.jh_-_O_My_Lord,_Your_dwelling_places_are_lovely
1.jk_-_Endymion_-_Book_IV
1.jk_-_Isabella;_Or,_The_Pot_Of_Basil_-_A_Story_From_Boccaccio
1.jlb_-_Unknown_Street
1.jr_-_What_can_I_do,_Muslims?_I_do_not_know_myself
1.lyb_-_Where_I_wander_--_You!
1.mah_-_I_am_the_One_Whom_I_Love
1.mah_-_I_am_the_One_whom_I_love
1.mah_-_You_glide_between_the_heart_and_its_casing
1.mah_-_Your_spirit_is_mingled_with_mine
1.mbn_-_From_the_beginning,_before_the_world_ever_was_(from_Before_the_World_Ever_Was)
1.mbn_-_Prayers_for_the_Protection_and_Opening_of_the_Heart
1.mbn_-_The_Soul_Speaks_(from_Hymn_on_the_Fate_of_the_Soul)
1.nb_-_A_Poem_for_the_Sefirot_as_a_Wheel_of_Light
1.raa_-_A_Holy_Tabernacle_in_the_Heart_(from_Life_of_the_Future_World)
1.raa_-_And_the_letter_is_longing
1.raa_-_And_YHVH_spoke_to_me_when_I_saw_His_name
1.raa_-_Circles_1_(from_Life_of_the_Future_World)
1.raa_-_Circles_2_(from_Life_of_the_Future_World)
1.raa_-_Circles_3_(from_Life_of_the_Future_World)
1.raa_-_Circles_4_(from_Life_of_the_Future_World)
1.raa_-_Their_mystery_is_(from_Life_of_the_Future_World)
1.rb_-_Holy-Cross_Day
1.rbk_-_Epithalamium
1.rbk_-_He_Shall_be_King!
1.sig_-_Before_I_was,_Thy_mercy_came_to_me
1.sig_-_Come_to_me_at_dawn,_my_beloved,_and_go_with_me
1.sig_-_Ecstasy
1.sig_-_Humble_of_Spirit
1.sig_-_I_look_for_you_early
1.sig_-_I_Sought_Thee_Daily
1.sig_-_Lord_of_the_World
1.sig_-_Rise_and_open_the_door_that_is_shut
1.sig_-_The_Sun
1.sig_-_Thou_art_One
1.sig_-_Thou_art_the_Supreme_Light
1.sig_-_Thou_Livest
1.sig_-_Where_Will_I_Find_You
1.sig_-_Who_can_do_as_Thy_deeds
1.sig_-_Who_could_accomplish_what_youve_accomplished
1.sig_-_You_are_wise_(from_From_Kingdoms_Crown)
1.whitman_-_A_Broadway_Pageant
1.whitman_-_Proud_Music_Of_The_Storm
1.whitman_-_Salut_Au_Monde
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_The_Broad-Axe
1.whitman_-_With_Antecedents
1.ww_-_A_Jewish_Family_In_A_Small_Valley_Opposite_St._Goar,_Upon_The_Rhine
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_IV-_Book_Third-_Despondency
1.ww_-_The_Prioresss_Tale_[from_Chaucer]
1.yby_-_In_Praise_of_God_(from_Avoda)
1.yni_-_Hymn_from_the_Heavens
1.yni_-_The_Celestial_Fire
2.01_-_On_Books
2.06_-_The_Wand
2.07_-_The_Cup
2.08_-_The_Sword
2.11_-_The_Crown
2.11_-_The_Shattering_And_Fall_of_The_Primordial_Kings
2.13_-_On_Psychology
2.3.10_-_The_Subconscient_and_the_Inconscient
30.06_-_The_Poet_and_The_Seer
3.02_-_The_Formulae_of_the_Elemental_Weapons
3.03_-_The_Formula_of_Tetragrammaton
3.04_-_The_Formula_of_ALHIM
3.05_-_SAL
3.05_-_The_Formula_of_I.A.O.
3.07_-_The_Formula_of_the_Holy_Grail
3.12_-_Of_the_Bloody_Sacrifice
3.14_-_Of_the_Consecrations
3.17_-_Of_the_License_to_Depart
3.20_-_Of_the_Eucharist
3.21_-_Of_Black_Magic
4.02_-_GOLD_AND_SPIRIT
4.02_-_Humanity_in_Progress
4.41_-_Chapter_One
5.04_-_THE_POLARITY_OF_ADAM
5.06_-_THE_TRANSFORMATION
7.08_-_Sincerity
7.10_-_Order
APPENDIX_I_-_Curriculum_of_A._A.
BOOK_III._-_The_external_calamities_of_Rome
BOOK_II._--_PART_I._ANTHROPOGENESIS.
BOOK_II._--_PART_III._ADDENDA._SCIENCE_AND_THE_SECRET_DOCTRINE_CONTRASTED
BOOK_II._--_PART_II._THE_ARCHAIC_SYMBOLISM_OF_THE_WORLD-RELIGIONS
BOOK_I._--_PART_I._COSMIC_EVOLUTION
BOOK_I._--_PART_III._SCIENCE_AND_THE_SECRET_DOCTRINE_CONTRASTED
BOOK_I._--_PART_II._THE_EVOLUTION_OF_SYMBOLISM_IN_ITS_APPROXIMATE_ORDER
Book_of_Exodus
Book_of_Genesis
Book_of_Imaginary_Beings_(text)
Book_of_Proverbs
Book_of_Psalms
BOOK_VIII._-_Some_account_of_the_Socratic_and_Platonic_philosophy,_and_a_refutation_of_the_doctrine_of_Apuleius_that_the_demons_should_be_worshipped_as_mediators_between_gods_and_men
BOOK_VII._-_Of_the_select_gods_of_the_civil_theology,_and_that_eternal_life_is_not_obtained_by_worshipping_them
BOOK_V._-_Of_fate,_freewill,_and_God's_prescience,_and_of_the_source_of_the_virtues_of_the_ancient_Romans
BOOK_XIII._-_That_death_is_penal,_and_had_its_origin_in_Adam's_sin
BOOK_XIX._-_A_review_of_the_philosophical_opinions_regarding_the_Supreme_Good,_and_a_comparison_of_these_opinions_with_the_Christian_belief_regarding_happiness
BOOK_X._-_Porphyrys_doctrine_of_redemption
BOOK_XVIII._-_A_parallel_history_of_the_earthly_and_heavenly_cities_from_the_time_of_Abraham_to_the_end_of_the_world
BOOK_XVII._-_The_history_of_the_city_of_God_from_the_times_of_the_prophets_to_Christ
BOOK_XVI._-_The_history_of_the_city_of_God_from_Noah_to_the_time_of_the_kings_of_Israel
BOOK_XV._-_The_progress_of_the_earthly_and_heavenly_cities_traced_by_the_sacred_history
BOOK_XXII._-_Of_the_eternal_happiness_of_the_saints,_the_resurrection_of_the_body,_and_the_miracles_of_the_early_Church
BOOK_XX._-_Of_the_last_judgment,_and_the_declarations_regarding_it_in_the_Old_and_New_Testaments
BS_1_-_Introduction_to_the_Idea_of_God
COSA_-_BOOK_XI
ENNEAD_06.05_-_The_One_and_Identical_Being_is_Everywhere_Present_In_Its_Entirety.345
Gorgias
Liber
Liber_111_-_The_Book_of_Wisdom_-_LIBER_ALEPH_VEL_CXI
Liber_46_-_The_Key_of_the_Mysteries
Phaedo
Symposium_translated_by_B_Jowett
Talks_100-125
The_Act_of_Creation_text
The_Aleph
The_Dwellings_of_the_Philosophers
The_Epistle_of_Paul_to_the_Philippians
the_Eternal_Wisdom
The_Gospel_According_to_John
The_Gospel_According_to_Mark
The_Gospel_According_to_Matthew
The_Letter_to_the_Hebrews
The_Revelation_of_Jesus_Christ_or_the_Apocalypse
The_Theologians
The_Zahir
Timaeus

PRIMARY CLASS

Language
SIMILAR TITLES
Hebrew

DEFINITIONS


TERMS STARTING WITH

Hebrew alphabet, or by the simple device of

Hebrew amulet inscribed with the hexagon of

Hebrew amulet inscribed with the hexagon of Solomon and Shaddai (a name for God). 276

Hebrew Amulets. See Schrire.

Hebrew Amulets.\

Hebrew Book of Enoch, The. See 3 Enoch.

Hebrew call Abalim, that is, great angels, mighty

Hebrew characters and invoked for protection

Hebrew characters on the 1st pentacle of the

Hebrew characters on the 3rd pentacle of the

Hebrew characters on the 5th pentacle of the

Hebrew charm ( kamea ) for warding off evil. [Rf.

Hebrew Congregation, 1949.

Hebrew Gabriel.

Hebrew ::: (Heb. To Cross Over). The Israelite nation and language.

Hebrew, is derived from “mephiz” meaning

Hebrew king. Paul, in II Corinthians 6:15, asks

Hebrew king personally by Raphael. The ring,

Hebrew Myths. See Graves.

Hebrew Myths.]

Hebrew name for the Greek Apollyon, “angel of

Hebrew, the word spirit or ghost is of the feminine

Hebrew: Warsaw, 1881. In English: MS. No. 3826,

Hebrew: Warsaw, 1881; in English: Ms. No. 3826,

hebrewess ::: n. --> An Israelitish woman.

hebrew ::: n. --> An appellative of Abraham or of one of his descendants, esp. in the line of Jacob; an Israelite; a Jew.
The language of the Hebrews; -- one of the Semitic family of languages. ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hebrews; as, the Hebrew language or



TERMS ANYWHERE

Aarea (Tahitian) Red soil from which, in Tahitian legends, the first men were made; similar to the red earth of Hebrew Adamic man and the Norse mud giant.

Aaron (Hebrew) ’Aharon [from the verbal root ’āhar to be enlightened, illuminated] The enlightened; reputedly the first high priest of the Hebrews (Exodus). As elder brother and the first initiate of Moses, Aaron “heads the line, or Hierarchy, of the initiated Nabim, or Seers” (TG 1-2). Benei ’Aharon (children of Aaron) are priests.

Ababel (Arabic) [cf Hebrew ’āb father] The Father Tree or mystic Tree of Life in the Koran, that sends forth new branches and leaves at every rebirth of the kerkes or phoenix, up to seven times seven or 49 times — “an allusion to the forth-nine ‘Manus,’ the Seven Rounds, and the seven times seven human cycles in each Round on each globe” (SD 2:617).

Abacus (Latin) [from Greek abax slab from Hebrew ’abaq dust] Anciently a sand-strewn board or table used for writing, geometrical figures, etc.; a counting-board on which sums were worked with counters on the board or beads in vertical grooves; and also a calculating device consisting of balls strung on wires set in a frame.

Abaddon (Hebrew) ’Abaddōn [from the verbal root ’ābad to perish, be cut off] Destruction, abyss; the region of the dead, synonym of She’ol in the Old Testament. Equivalent to the Greek apollyon (destruction, laying waste — Rev 9:11). Thus Abaddon, Apollyon, Hades, and Orcus all signify the underworld — the kama-loka or region of disintegrating “shells,” human or other.

Abathur (Gnostic) [from Hebrew ’āb father] In the Nazarene or Bardesanian system, the father of the Demiurgus or architect of the visible universe. In the Codex Nazaraeus, Abathur opens a gate, walks to the dark water (chaos), and looks down into it. The darkness reflects his image, and a son is formed who becomes the Logos or Demiurge, Ptahil or Fetahil. After Ptahil finishes his work he reascends to his father.

Abbadon: The Hebrew name of the “bottomless pit,” the place of the lost in Sheol; the abyss of hell.

Ab (Hebrew) ’Āb [from the verbal root ’ābab to blossom, bear fruit] Father, hence founder, forefather, ancestor; by extension, teacher or counselor. Originally a Babylonian name.

Abel (Hebrew) Hebel [from the verbal root hābal, to breathe, blow, be vain, transitory] The second son of Adam and Eve, a “keeper of sheep,” slain by his brother Cain (Genesis 4). According to Blavatsky, Cain and Abel represent the third root-races or the “Separating Hermaphrodite,” who produce the fourth root-race, Seth-Enos. Abel (Hebel) is the female counterpart of the male Cain, and Adam is the collective name for man and woman. Abel is “the first natural woman, and sheds the Virgin blood,” during the separation of the sexes (SD 2:388); the “ ‘murdering’ is blood-shedding, but not taking life” (SD 2:273n; also 2:127, 134).

Abib (Hebrew) ’Ābīb [from the verbal root ’abab to be fresh, green; to blossom, bear fruit] Ear or sprout (of grain); first month of the Hebrew sacred year, equivalent to March-April and beginning with the new moon. Hodesh ha-’abib was the “month of green corn”; later, after the exile, called Nisan during which the vernal equinox was celebrated.

Abir (Hebrew) ’Ābīr, ’Abbīr [from the verbal root ’ābar to be strong] As an adjective, durable, strong; as a noun, protector, hero. Cognate in thought with kabbir (cf kabiri, kabeiroi) and geber (cf gibborim), all generally signifying power, might, strength, although each has its distinct connotation.

  A body of mystical Jewish teachings based on an interpretation of hidden meanings in the Hebrew Scriptures. Among its central doctrines are, all creation is an emanation from the Deity and the soul exists from eternity. 2. Any secret or occult doctrine or science. 3.”Esoteric system of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures based on the assumption that every word, letter, number, and accent in them has an occult meaning. The system, oral at first, claimed great antiquity, but was really the product of the Middle Ages, arising in the 7th century and lasting into the 18th. It was popular chiefly among Jews, but spread to Christians as well. (Col. Enc). Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works

Abraham (Hebrew) ’Abrāhām Traditionally the founder of the Hebrew and South-Arabian peoples, whose original name was Abram. “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee” (Genesis 17:5). Blavatsky holds that Abraham “belongs to the universal mythology. Most likely he is but one of the numerous aliases of Zeruan (Saturn), the king of the golden age, who is also called the old man (emblem of time)” (IU 2:216). Such figures are described in various ways: as historical characters, as mythoi, and as rulers of sidereal and terrestrial powers to be interpreted astronomically and cosmically.

Abraxas, Abrasax (Gnostic) Mystical term used by the Gnostics to indicate the supreme entity of our cosmic hierarchy or its manifestation in the human being which they called the Christos. Abraxas has the value of 365, based on numerical equivalents of the Greek alphabet. Because 365 represents the cycle of one revolution of our planet around the sun, they held that in Abraxas were mystically contained the full number of families of entities composing a hierarchy. These entities received from their supreme illuminator, Abraxas, the streams of life and inspiration governing their existence. Thus in a sense Abraxas is the cosmic Oversoul, the creative or Third Logos, Brahma. The Basilidean Gnostics taught that from this supreme God was created nous (mind). Abraxas also was identified with the Hebrew ’Adonai, the Egyptian Horus, and the Hindu Prajapati.

Acher (Hebrew) ’Aḥēr In an allegory in the Talmud (Hag 14b), one of four tanna’im (teachers) to enter the Garden of Delight, i.e., to seek initiation into the sacred science. His real name was ’Elisha‘ ben ’Abuyah. A famous Talmudic scholar before he “failed” the initiation, he became an apostate and was called Aher (stranger). Of the four that entered, Ben Asai looked — and died; Ben Zoma looked — and lost his reason; Aher made ravages in the plantation; and Aqiba, who had entered in peace, left in peace (Kab 67-8).

acrostic ::: n. --> A composition, usually in verse, in which the first or the last letters of the lines, or certain other letters, taken in order, form a name, word, phrase, or motto.
A Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as Psalm cxix.). See Abecedarian.
Alt. of Acrostical


Ad-ah (Hebrew) ‘Ādāh [from ‘ādāh to pass over, march along, continue, advance in perpetuity] Progress in time and space; eternal change. Adopted by Blavatsky to designate the races of early mankind — the first root-race of our globe and, by analogy, the first great subrace of our present fifth root-race — both being referred to as the “sons of Ad-ah” (SD 2:203).

Adam-Adammi (Hebrew) ’Ādām ’Adāmī [’ādam mankind + ’adāmī fortress] Used by Chwolsohn in his Nabathean Agriculture and regarded by Blavatsky as “a generic compound name as old as languages are” (SD 2:452). Adam-Adami, like Adam, was not a man but a race, specifically the “dark Race” which was “the first to fall into generation” in contradistinction with Sarku, or the light Race, which remained pure much longer (SD 2:5). “Adam-Adami is a personation of the dual Adam: of the paradigmic Adam-Kadmon, the creator, and of the lower Adam, the terrestrial . . .” (SD 2:456). See also ADAM; ’ADAM QADMON.

Adam (Hebrew) ’Ādām [from ’ādām to be red, ruddy] Used in Genesis for man, original mankind; the Qabbalah enumerates four Adams. The Archetypal or Heavenly Man (’Adam Qadmon) is the prototype for the second, androgyne Adam. From these two emanates the third Adam, preterrestrial and innocent, though still further removed from the divine prototype Adam Qadmon. The fourth Adam is “the Third Adam as he was after the Fall,” the terrestrial Adam of the Garden of Eden, our earthly sexual humanity (Qabbalah Myer 418).

’Adam ‘Illa’ah (Hebrew) ’Ādām ‘Illā’āh [from ’ādām mankind + ‘ālāh to ascend, rise] Superior Adam; in the Qabbalah the spiritual Adam as contrasted with the terrestrial Adam; equivalent to ’Adam Qadmon (the Heavenly Adam): cosmic man, cosmic spirit.

Adam Kadmon: Hebrew for primeval man. The Kabalistic name representing humanity, the “Heavenly Man,” prior to falling into sin.

’Adam Qadmon (Hebrew) ’Ādām Qadmōn [’ādām mankind + qadmōn to be before, precede] Primordial man, Adam Primus; in the Qabbalah macrocosmic man in contrast to the earthly Adam, the microcosm. Often called the Heavenly Man because symbolically he is the Sephirothal Tree of Life, each of the Sephiroth having its correspondence with a part of the body, the head being Kether (Crown), and the feet standing for Malchuth (Kingdom). ’Adam Qadmon corresponds mystically to the Hindu Purusha: both are generalizing terms used to represent the cosmic Logos or hierarch of their respective hierarchies.

’Adam Ri’shon (Hebrew) ’Ādām Ri’shōn [’ādām mankind + ri’shōn first, primeval, original] The first Adam, Adam Primus; used in Job (15:7): “Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?” Blavatsky says that “Adam Rishoon is the lunar Spirit (Jehovah, in a sense, or the Pitris) and his three Sons — Ka-yin [Cain], Habel [Abel], and Seth — represent the three races” of mankind (SD 2:397). See also ’ADAM QADMON

adar ::: n. --> The twelfth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical year, and the sixth of the civil. It corresponded nearly with March.

Ad-i Name given by the Aryans to “the first speaking race of mankind” in the fourth round (SD 2:452). The root ad is prominent in many ancient words: Sanskrit adi (first, primeval); Hebrew ’Adon (lord), ’Adonim (angels or planetary lords) — “the first spiritual and ethereal sons of the earth” (ibid.). The Sons of Adi (sons of the first) are often called Sons of the Fire-Mist (TG 6).

Adonai (Hebrew) ’Adonāi [from ’ādōn lord] My Lords; through usage, Lord, a plural of excellence. Originally a sort of appeal or prayer to the hierarchical spiritual powers of the earth planetary chain, and more particularly of the planetary spirit of the earth itself; later it became a mere substitute for the unutterable name of God, usually for Tetragrammaton (YHVH).

Adonai: Hebrew word, meaning The Lord, used by Jews in speech and in writing instead of the name Jehovah, the mystic name of the God of Israel, which must not be pronounced.

Adon (Hebrew) ’Ādōn plural ’ādonīm [from ’ādan to fix, determine] Commander, lord, master, ruler; “The Adonim and Adonai . . . which the Jews applied to their Jehovah and angels . . . were simply the first spiritual and ethereal sons of the earth; and the god Adonis, who in his many variations stood for the ‘First Lord’ ” (SD 2:452). Used by Blavatsky also to signify the celestial or angelic hierarchy of the Codex Nazaraeus (IU 1:301).

Adonis [from Hebrew ’ādōn lord] Title of the Babylonian god Tammuz, whose cult was imported into Asiatic Greece. A beautiful youth beloved of Aphrodite, he was killed by a boar. Aphrodite was so grief-stricken that the gods of the lower world allowed him to spend half of every year with her on earth. His death and resurrection were symbolized in annual festivals.

adonist ::: n. --> One who maintains that points of the Hebrew word translated "Jehovah" are really the vowel points of the word "Adonai." See Jehovist.

Aebel-Zivo (Gnostic) Employed by the Nazarene Gnostics in the Codex Nazaraeus, equivalent to the Hebrew Metatron, Shaddai in one of its forms, the angel Gabriel, and the Legatus (ambassador) who is sent by the Lord of Celsitude as the first messenger of light. A manifestation of the divinity in man, a conscious union of the personal man with his inner god, as in the case of an avatara like Jesus, or an illuminated leader like Moses (IU 2:154).

Agla: The combination of the first letters of four Hebrew words meaning “Thou art forever mighty, O Lord.” Used as a magic word to exorcise demons and evil spirits.

’Ahar (Hebrew) ’Aḥar After, behind, later in time; used by some Qabbalistic writers as a name for the hierarchies of gods. Over these, the Jews said that Jehovah — the Achad (’Ehad) — was the supreme God. See also ’AHATH; ’AHER

’Ahath (Hebrew) ’Aḥath The femine form of the cardinal numberal one, signifying at times single, alone, sole; applied to the feminine aspect of the Logos or head of a hierarchy. In Hebrew occultism ’ahath or achath represents, together with the masculine form achod (’ehad) “the collective aggregate, or totality, of the principal Creators or Architects of this visible universe” (SD 1:129). Incorrectly applied to the Sephiroth-’elohim as Sephiroth, since these last are only vehicles or manifestations of the Logos. Achath-Achod (’ahath-’ehad) corresponds to the Sanskrit adi (first, primeval) or eka (One), meaning crown or hyparxis, and therefore the originant or cosmic hierarch, which divides into the many when its spiritual and substantial energies stream downwards into the planes of illusion and matter — which indeed these energies themselves compose. See also ’AHATH-RUAH-’ELOHIM-HAYYIM; ’EHAD

’Ahath-Ruah-’Elohim-Hayyim (Hebrew) ’Aḥath-Rūaḥ-’Elohīm-Ḥayyīm One soul, gods, lives; the Ancient of the Ancient (the cosmic originant, the hierarch of a cosmic hierarchy) which, being the source of the universe rolled out from within its own divine essence, thus becomes the universe itself; the Ancient of Days — not human days but cosmic manvantaras — or the Ancient of the Ancient is the soul (ruah), which thus expresses itself through the hierarchies of gods (’elohim) and the innumerable minor hierarchies of lives (hayyim) of which the universe as an organism is built.

’Aher (Hebrew) ’Aḥēr To be after, behind, secondary, another; the plural ’aherim, especially when used in conjunction with ’elohim, means “other or strange gods,” which were supposed to be merely idols. As the Hebrew scriptures themselves show, the ancient Hebrews never at any time denied the existence of the gods of other peoples, but being utterly and strongly tribalistic, their own god Jehovah was to them supreme. Their tribal god is the regent of the planet Saturn, who was their planetary hierarch, and consequently, to them, the supreme god — the god over all other gods. Had the Jews been born as a people under the regent of some other planet, the hierarchical regent of this other planet would then have been in their opinion the supreme god.

AHIH (Hebrew) A Qabbalistic form of the tetragrammaton, representing the Macroprosopus, in contradistinction to IHVH (Jehovah), representing Microprosopus. It is connected exoterically with ‘eyeh (absolute Be-ness) and with “I am that I am.” (BCW 8:142, 147)

’Ahor (Hebrew) ’Āḥōr The hinder part, back; in the Qabbalah used in contradistinction to ’anpin, (face; a Chaldean word also spelled ’anaph, in Hebrew ’appayim, as of Macroprosopus).

Ahu (Sanskrit) Ahu [probably from paro’ṃhu beyond the range of sight] Invisible, unknown, secret, mysterious; Blavatsky equates it with the Sanskrit eka (one) and Hebrew echod, that which begins an emanation-series from the Unknowable (SD 1:113).

Aish (Hebrew) ’Īsh Man; the name Jesus was said by Blavatsky to have been derived aish (BCW 9:228n). Regarding the symbology of the crucifixion, Blavatsky remarks that “the early compilers of the Christian Mysteries were well versed in Esoteric philosophy and the Hebrew occult metrology, and used it dexterously. Thus they took the word aish . . . and used it in conjunction with that of Shanah ‘lunar year,’ so mystically connected with the name of Jehovah, the supposed ‘father’ of Jesus, and embosomed the mystic idea in an astronomical value and formula” (SD 2:561).

Akasa(Sanskrit) ::: The word means "brilliant," "shining," "luminous." The fifth kosmic element, the fifth essenceor "quintessence," called Aether by the ancient Stoics; but it is not the ether of science. The ether ofscience is merely one of its lower elements. In the Brahmanical scriptures akasa is used for what thenorthern Buddhists call svabhavat, more mystically Adi-buddhi -- "primeval buddhi''; it is alsomulaprakriti, the kosmical spirit-substance, the reservoir of Being and of beings. The Hebrew OldTestament refers to it as the kosmic "waters." It is universal substantial space; also mystically Alaya.(See also Mulaprakriti, Alaya)

Aldebaran A first magnitude ruddy star, the principal star in Taurus the Bull. It is one of the four Royal Stars of the ancient Persians, which approximately marked the solstices and equinoxes about 4000 BC. It represented the spring equinox; the others being Antares in Scorpius (summer solstice), Regulus in Leo (autumnal equinox), and Fomalhaut in the Southern Fish (winter solstice). They have been connected from an early time in India with the legends concerning the four Maharajas (regents of the cardinal points) and the four primitive elements, and have come down to us in connection with Hebrew and Semitic writings as the archangels Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, as well as in the Christian symbols of the four evangelists: the bull, the eagle (Scorpio), the lion, and the angel or man. Blavatsky says that the spring equinox was in Taurus at the beginning of the kali yuga (3102 BC), though it was approaching Aries. Aldebaran symbolizes the Hebrew aleph (A or 1).

Aleph (Hebrew) ’Ālef The first letter in the Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew char), having the ox or bull for its symbol; also having the numerical value of 1. In its composition it is said by Qabbalists to symbolize waw (Hebrew char) between yod (Hebrew char) and daleth (Hebrew char), thus the letter itself represents the word yod (which again is the perfect number 10).

Aleph: The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The most sacred of the Hebrew letters; seldom pronounced because indicative of the Deity.

Alhim (Hebrew) ’Ēlīm [plural of ’ēl god] One method of transliterating ’elim, although the insertion of the h is incorrect. The number-values of the letters of ’Elohim, transliterated as alhim are 13514: when used anagrammatically they may be read as 31415, the value of pi. See also ELOHIM

alphabetic language "human language" A written human language in which symbols reflect the pronunciation of the words. Examples are English, Greek, Russian, Thai, Arabic and Hebrew. Alphabetic languages contrast with {ideographic languages}. {I18N Encyclopedia (http://i18ngurus.com/encyclopedia/alphabetic_language.html)}. (2004-08-29)

Alpiel: In Hebrew mysticism, a demon who rules over fruit-trees.

Altar [from Latin altare from altus high] Usually an elevation of earth, stone, or wood for the worshiper to kneel on, or for the offering of sacrifices, or as the pedestal of an invisible divinity or its statue. In the Old Testament it appears as part of the furniture of the Jewish tabernacle, that sacred shrine of the Deity. This altar has horns at each end, which is said to symbolize the fecund cow — in common with the ideas of Hindus and ancients Egyptians — which again represents Mother Nature; so the connection with the Holy of Holies, which stands for the great Mother, resurrection, and birth, is apparent. In general the altar is the earthly throne or supposed seat of a deity; and its familiar metaphorical use suggests both this and also the idea of sacrifice. The altar has been taken over by Christendom, where it has become the communion table. It also has the idea of refuge and sanctuary, for it was commonly so used both with the Hebrews and the Classical ancients.

Am (Hebrew) ’Ēm Mother; occasionally any female ancestor; also a mother-city, and by the same metaphor occasionally the earth as the common mother of all. See also AIMA; ’IMMA’ ‘ILLA’AH

Ambrosia (Greek) [from ambrotos immortal from a not + mortos or brotos mortal; cf Sanskrit amṛta from a not + the verbal root mṛ to die; Latin immortalus from in not + mors death] In Classical myths variously the food, drink, or unguent of the gods or divine wisdom, connected with nectar; anything that confers or promotes immortality. Equivalent to the Sanskrit amrita and soma and the northern European mead. In a Chinese allegory, the flying Dragon drinks of ambrosia and falls to earth with his host. The laws of evolution entail a so-called curse or fall upon virtually all the hosts of monads frequently called angels, whereby they are cast down to the nether pole and undergo peregrinations in the realms of matter; in the case of many such “fallen angels,” this involves imbodiment or incarnation on earth. Man himself at a stage of his evolution experiences a similar “descent” and speeding-up, due to the impulses of the immortal urge within his breast to grow, progress, evolve, and become cognizant of larger reaches of truth. This is evident in the highly mystical Hebrew story of the forbidden Tree and in the various legends pertaining to soma in Hindu literature.

Amen: A Hebrew word, used nowadays in the meaning “verily,” but considered by occultists to have originally been a mystic word, related to the Sanskrit om. In theosophical and related esoteric parlance, amen means “the concealed.”

Amen (Hebrew) ’Āmēn [from ’āman to be firm, faithful, trustworthy, sure] Firmness, permanency, durability, truth, fidelity; as an adverb truly, certainly, verily, so be it. The significance of amen is in many cases almost identic with that of the Sanskrit Aum (Om). For this reason in Christian prayers or church services it has been adopted as the final word closing a prayer — another usage closely similar to the way in which Om is used in Sanskrit writings. In later Gnostic times Amen was one of the angelic host.

Amorites (Hebrew) ’Emorī An Amorite; originally a mountaineer, but finally a Canaanite people living in the land east and west of the Jordan. Used in the Bible interchangeably with Canaanites (though the latter generally referred to people still living, while Amorites especially referred to the people of the past), the term is evidently connected with the Assyrian name Amurru, Egyptian Amar, and Babylonian Mar-tu, referring to the lands north of Palestine as far as Kadesh on the Orontes — although there was a district of the name Mar-tu in the neighborhood of Babylonia.

Anak, Sons of; Anakim (Hebrew) ‘Ānāq, ‘Ānāqīm An ancient race of giants in the Bible. When Moses sent Joshua to spy out the land of Canaan, the people seen were “men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:32-3). Blavatsky comments that the giants of antiquity “lived and flourished one million rather than between three and four thousand years ago. The Anakim of Joshua . . . are thus a piece of Israelite fancy, unless indeed the people of Israel claim for Joshua an antiquity and origin in the Eocene, or at any rate in the Miocene age, and change the millenniums of their chronology into millions of years” (SD 2:340).

Angel(s) [from Greek angelos messenger, envoy, announcer] In the Old Testament, used to translate the Hebrew mal’ach (messenger); in Christian, Jewish, Moslem, and some other theologies, either a messenger of God or one of various hierarchies of celestial beings, the idea of a guardian angel also being familiar. However, the idea of hosts of formative powers, rectores mundi, or other beings between divinity and man, serving as intermediaries or means of communication between man and high spiritual entities has largely vanished from popular Christianity, though Angels, Principalities, and Powers are mentioned by Paul, and the archangel Michael by Jude; while the influence of the Gnostics, Neoplatonists, and Jews on early Christianity gives a wider meaning to the term.

Anpiel: In Hebrew mysticism, the angel ruling the birds.

antilegomena ::: n. pl. --> Certain books of the New Testament which were for a time not universally received, but which are now considered canonical. These are the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of James and Jude, the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of John, and the Revelation. The undisputed books are called the Homologoumena.

apollyon ::: n. --> The Destroyer; -- a name used (Rev. ix. 11) for the angel of the bottomless pit, answering to the Hebrew Abaddon.

Applied by the ancient Hebrews and Phoenicians not only to gods or divinities, but to kings and priests. See also ADONAI

Ararat (Hebrew) ’Arārāṭ The mount on which the ark is supposed to have rested at the first subsiding of the flood. Mystically, the earth, in reference to the preservation of the human seed by incarnation on earth. The Chaldean equivalent is Nizir; the Arabian, Jebel Judi; the Hindu, Himalaya (SD 2:145). The Biblical flood is symbolic, as there never was a universal deluge covering all the earth.

Arariel: In Hebrew mysticism, the angel who presides over the waters.

Arba-Il (Hebrew) ’Arba‘-’ēl [from ’arba‘ four + ’ēl divinity] Four great divinities synthesized into a unity; mystically the four are one, precisely as the divine triad in nearly all ancient religious philosophies are both a divine unity and a trinity — one in three, three in one, according to the Christian system. “This is the Kabalistic abstract Trinity, so unceremoniously anthropomorphized by the Fathers. From this triple one emanated the whole Kosmos. First from one emanated number two, or Air, the creative element; and then number three, Water, proceeded from the air; Ether or Fire complete the mystic four, the Arba-il” (SD 1:447). “These are the ten Sephiroth out of Space (or the Void); One, from the Soul of the ’Elohim (or divinities) of living beings emanated Soul (Air); from the Air Water; from the Water Fire or Ether”; and from this last the manifested universe (Sepher Yetzirah 1:9). See also ’AHATH-RUAH-’ELOHIM-HAYYIM.

Ardhanari or Ardhanari-natesvara (Sanskrit) Ardhanārī, Ardhanārī-nāṭeśvara [from ardha half, middle + nārī woman; nāṭeśvara from nāṭa dancer + īśvara lord] Half-female; lord of dancers. The androgynous aspect of Siva cosmically, when bearing the duality of the polarized forces of nature — what is generally termed on lower planes masculine and feminine. Blavatsky depicts Ardhanari surrounded by the six-pointed star or seal of Vishnu and compares it to the wheel of Adonai of the Hebrew seer Ezekiel (IU 2:453). See also ARDHANARISA

Arets, Aretz (Hebrew) ’Erets With the definite article, ha-’arets. The earth, globe, ground, land, country; particularly dry land in contradistinction to water. In cosmogony the original veil or garment surroundings, as wrap or vehicle of expression, a cosmic monad within it; just as in India pradhana surrounds and manifests Brahman, or mulaprakriti with parabrahman.

Ariel: The poetic name of Jerusalem used by Hebrew mystics.

Ark of the Covenant The coffer or chest in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish synagogue. All ancient religions used the mystical ark, or something similar, in their respective ceremonial worships: “Every ark-shrine, whether with the Egyptians, Hindus, Chaldeans or Mexicans, was a phallic shrine, the symbol of the yoni or womb of nature. The seket [sektet-boat] of the Egyptians, the ark, or sacred chest, stood on the ara — its pedestal. The ark of Osiris, with the sacred relics of the god, was ‘of the same size as the Jewish ark,’ says S. Sharpe, the Egyptologist, carried by priests with staves passed through its rings in sacred procession, as the ark round which danced David, the King of Israel. . . . The ark was a boat — a vehicle in every case. ‘Thebes had a sacred ark 300 cubits long,’ and ‘the word Thebes is said to mean ark in Hebrew,’ which is but a natural recognition of the place to which the chosen people are indebted for their ark. Moreover, as Bauer writes, ‘the Cherub was not first used by Moses.’ The winged Isis was the cherub or Arieh in Egypt, centuries before the arrival there of even Abram or Sarai. ‘The external likeness of some of the Egyptian arks, surmounted by their two winged human figures, to the ark of the covenant, has often been noticed.’ (Bible Educator.) And not only the ‘external’ but the internal ‘likeness’ and sameness are now known to all ” (TG 30).

Arya (Sanskrit) Ārya [from the verbal root ṛ to rise, tend upward] Holy, hallowed, highly evolved or especially trained; a title of the Hindu rishis. Originally a term of ethical as well as intellectual and spiritual excellence, belonging to those who had completely mastered the aryasatyani (holy truths) and who had entered upon the aryamarga (path leading to moksha or nirvana). It was originally applicable only to the initiates or adepts of the ancient Aryan peoples, but today Aryan has become the name of a race of the human family in its various branches. All ancient peoples had their own term for initiates or adepts, as for instance among the ancient Hebrews the generic name Israel, or Sons of Israel.

Asdt (Hebrew) ’Ēshdāth [from ’ash, ’ēsh fire, lightning + dāth law, mandate, legal decree] Translated fiery law (Deut 33:2); in the Septuagint, translated as angels. It signifies the fiery spiritual beings or self-conscious spirits of cosmic character, emanating from the cosmic Logos.

Ash (Hebrew) ‘Āsh [probably from nā‘ash to support, bear] In Job (9:9) wrongly translated as the star Arcturus; from the Arabic it is evident that Ursa Major is referred to. Different peoples consider the Great Bear as the vital support or carrier not only of destiny but of the heavens. Thus the Hindus speak of the Saptarshayah (seven rishis), who preside over this constellation and have our universe in karmic supervision.

Asherah (Hebrew) ’Ashērāh A Syrian goddess of fortune having close similarities with the Roman divinity Venus, and connected by analogy of attributes with Ashtoreth or Astarte, another Syrian divinity.

’Asher (Hebrew) ’Asher Who, which, that; in The Secret Doctrine (2:468, 539), used in connection with the phrase ’ehyeh ’asher ’ehyeh (I am that I am — Exodus 3:14).

‘Asiyyah (Hebrew) ‘Aśiyyāh [from ‘āśāh to form, fashion] Lowest of the four ‘olamim (worlds or spheres) which, according to the Qabbalah, are emanated during a period of world manifestation. This ‘olam is termed the ‘asiyyatic world (the world of matter, sphere of action), also called ‘olam qelippoth, being emanated from the third world or ‘olam yetsirah. This fourth world is represented as containing the actual physical matter of the planets or spheres (gilgulim), and is the abode of Sama’el (the Prince of Darkness) and his legions. In this sphere is situated the earth, which is subject to birth, change, dissolution, and rebirth of its matter-forms. In the ‘asiyyatic world all the potencies and functions of the preceding or superior worlds are operative, including the powers and functions of the ten Sephiroth, but all greatly diminished or weakened, as being the farthest tip or extremity of the descent of the Septhirothal ray. See also QELIPPOTH

Asmodeus (Hebrew) ’Ashmĕdai Covetous; an evil demon in later Jewish tradition, son of Naamah (sister of Tubal-cain) and Shamdon. The spirit of lust and anger, he is king of demons, with Lilith as queen, and is sometimes associated with Beelzebub, Azrael (Angel of Death), and Abbadon. In the Talmud he is connected with the legends of Solomon, where he is the destroyer of matrimonial happiness and is forced to help in building the temple. But his description in the apocryphal book of Tobit (3:8), where he is rendered harmless by Tobias and captured by the angel Raphael, is most likely the basis for modern writers (cf IU 2:482). Possibly taken from Zend aeshma-daeva with daeva meaning ethereal being, cosmic spirit.

Asmonean, Hasmonean (Hebrew) “The Asmonean priest-kings promulgated the canon of the Old Testament in contradistinction to the Apocrypha or Secret Books of the Alexandrian Jews — kabalists. Till John Hyrcanus they were Asideans (Chasidim) and Pharisees (Parsees), but then they became Sadducees or Zadokites — asserters of sacerdotal rule as contradistinguished from rabbinical” (IU 2:135).

As the Hebrew words for serpent and brass are the same when the Massoretic points are omitted (N H SH), some have sought for an interpretation by referring to the Evil One, called by the later Jews and Qabbalaistic Christians the Deprived (Nahash), but the fiery serpents “were the Seraphim, each one of which, as Isaiah shows (vi. 2), ‘had six wings’; they are the symbols of Jehovah, and of all the other Demiurgi who produce out of themselves six sons or likenesses — Seven with their Creator. Thus, the Brazen Serpent is Jehovah, the chief of the ‘fiery serpents’ ” (SD 2:387n).

Athamaz [rare Hebrew identical with Thammūz, or Tammūz] A Syrian deity worshiped by both Syrians and Hebrews, equivalent to Adonis (the Greek form of the Shemitic ’Adon, “Lord”).

a ::: --> The first letter of the English and of many other alphabets. The capital A of the alphabets of Middle and Western Europe, as also the small letter (a), besides the forms in Italic, black letter, etc., are all descended from the old Latin A, which was borrowed from the Greek Alpha, of the same form; and this was made from the first letter (/) of the Phoenician alphabet, the equivalent of the Hebrew Aleph, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not an element of Greek articulation;

’Atstsiloth (Hebrew) ’Atstsīlōth [from ’ātsal to join, separate, flow out] In the Qabbalah, the first of the four worlds or spheres (‘olams) emanated during the manifestation of a cosmos, called the “sphere of emanations or condensation.” Being the most exalted of the spheres or conditions, it contains the upper ten Sephiroth, which represent the operative qualities of the divine will, as the most abstract and spiritual of the emanations from ’eyn soph. This uppermost sphere is represented as the abode of Diyyuqna’ (the prototype, the image, the upper ’Adam or ’Adam ‘Illa’ah) and is also called ‘olam has-sephiroth (the world of the Sephiroth). As the most perfect emanation from ’eyn soph, ’Atstsiloth is the Great Sacred Seal, the prototype from which all inferior worlds are copied, having impressed on themselves the image of the Great Seal. From this ‘olam (also called the ’Atstsilatic World), through the conjunction of the King and Queen, proceeds the second world — ‘olam hab-beri’ah. “The globes A, Z, of our terrestrial chain are in Aziluth” (TG 46).

A universal myth is that of the sun god fighting the dragon and eventually worsting it, which represents the descent of spirit into matter and the eventual sublimation of matter by spirit in the ascending arc of evolution. There are Bel (and later Merodach) and the dragon Tiamat in Babylonia and with the Hebrews; Fafnir in Scandinavia; Chozzar with the Peratae Gnostics; among the Greeks Python conquered by Apollo and the two serpents killed by Hercules at his birth; the fight between Ahti and the evil serpent in the Kalevala; and many other such stories. In the Christian Apocalypse the dragon plays a great part, but it has been often misinterpreted as evil just as Satan or the Devil has been imagined as the foe of divinity and humanity. Cosmologically, all dragons and serpents slain by their adversaries are the unregulated or chaotic cosmic principles bought to order by the spiritual sun gods or formative cosmic powers. The dragon is the demiurge, the establisher or former of our planet and of all that pertains to it — neither good nor bad, but its differentiated aspects in nature make it assume one or the other character.

Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, (Greek) Also Aschieros, Achiosera, Achiochersus. In ancient Greek mythology, three divinities whose Mysteries and worship were mainly centered in Samothrace. With Kadmilos, often said to be their parent, they were the kabiri [cf Chaldean gibbor, Hebrew geber beings of power or might, the great ones]. Frequently Axieros, Axiokersa, and Axiokersos are stated to be the offspring of Hephaestus or Vulcan, the fiery flame of creative cosmic intellect or mahat. The kabiri are equivalent to the four kumaras of Hindu literature — Sanat-kumara, Sananda, Sanaka, and Sanatana. The functions of both groups was as guardians, guides, inspirers, bringers of illumination and prosperity; and, in the kosmic sense, as divinities intimately involved in the intelligent productive energies of nature. Their number is the same as that of the kosmic elements — four, occasionally five, and in reality seven or ten. The four named above are the lower quaternary of the kosmic septenary — those divinities most closely involved in the intelligent building and architectural construction and therefore government of the four lower cosmic planes.

Azael (Hebrew) ‘Azā’ēl or ‘Azzā’ēl One of the higher angels mentioned in the Qabbalah; the Zohar (iii, 208a) relates that he and the angel ‘Uzza’ scoffed at God (the elohim) for creating a humanity that sinned, and consequently were thrown to earth and changed into men. See also ‘UZZA’. (SD 2:491)

Azael: In Hebrew mysticism, one of the angels who rebelled against God.

Azazel (Hebrew) ‘Azā’zēl [from ‘azāz to be firm, strong, powerful (or from ‘ēz goat) + ‘ēl divinity, god] Also Azaziel, Azazyel. God of victory; equivalent of Greek Prometheus, he was chief of the ’ishin (Chaldean) or ’ishim (Hebrew), men-spirits who, according to the Zohar, mixed themselves with mortal men, having come to earth to do so (Genesis 6:2-4). The ’ishin are chained on a mountain in the desert, which means that they undergo descent into material life and confinement in incarnation. Azazel and the six other ’ishin teach humankind to make weapons and utensils, and impart the knowledge of various other arts. These seven were the first instructors of the fourth root-race. The story is a form of the universal myth which represents the descent of the manasaputras and, as usual, the god of might or victory has been turned into a god of evil, his benefits into seductions, and his chivalrous sacrifice into a rebellion. He was, like Baphomet, turned into a goat — the scapegoat of the Old Testament, whose name in the Hebrew is Azazel. The goat in ancient animal symbology signified regeneration and reproductive power, hence strength, might.

Azazel: The mysterious creature dwelling in the desert to which the Hebrews of biblical times sent forth their scapegoats (q.v.). In latter Hebrew mysticism, this name was used as that of one of the fallen angels.

Babel (Hebrew) Bābāh The inner meaning of the Tower of Babel, by which it was hoped that divinity might be reached or attained, is a house of initiation, a gate, portal, opening, or entrance to the divine. The physical tower was both the building set aside to house and protect the initiation chambers, together with the ceremonies that take place in them, and an architectural emblem to signify a raising up towards heaven. The tower may have either a divine or evil significance, either haughty pride and self-sufficiency or spiritual aspiration. Similar is the lightning-struck tower of the Tarot cards, and the Arabian Nights story of the man who built a palace completely except only for a roc’s egg to hang in the dome, and when the egg is thus hung, the whole palace collapses. The work of the black magician, building from below upwards, is impermanent and, when it strikes the sky, is blasted. If such a tower and system be followed by adepts of the left-hand path for ultimate and foredestined confusion, it is one thing; but if the tower and its inner mysteries be in the charge of adepts of the right-hand path, it is another. The concentration of the narrator in the Bible concerning the Tower of Babel seems to have been entirely upon its aspect of left-hand magic.

Balaam (Hebrew) Bil‘ām One of the prophets of the Old Testament, last and greatest of the gentile prophets, appearing at the time when the Israelites were completing their forty years of wandering (Numbers 22-4). “The Zohar explains the ‘birds’ which inspired Balaam to mean ‘Serpents,’ to wit, the wise men and adepts at whose school he had learned the mysteries of prophecy” (SD 2:409).

Bath Qol, Bath Kol (Hebrew) Bath Qōl [from bath daughter + qōl voice] Daughter of the voice; used in the Qabbalah to signify the female side of the logos, the daughter of the primordial light, Shechinah, and is equivalent to the Hindu Vach and the Chinese Kwan-yin. It likewise signifies the wisdom that was received by initiates — figurated as a voice — this wisdom being the daughter of cosmic all-wisdom. “Bath Kol, the filia Vocis, the daughter of the divine voice of the Hebrews, responding from the mercy seat within the veil of the temple . . .” (SD 1:431n).

Beelzebub, Beelzebul (Hebrew) Ba‘al zĕbūb [from ba‘al lord + zĕbūb fly] Lord of the flies; a god of the Philistines, popularly worshiped as the destroyer of flies, to whom was erected a temple at Ekron. The mythical zoology of the ancients points directly to an inner and mystical significance: “flies” is used not in the sense of the insect, but for a certain class of elementals whose “flying” around and through the earth is governed directly by lunar influences. Thus Beelzebub is in this connection a lunar divinity.

Behemoth (Hebrew) Bĕhēmōth, singular bĕhēmāh [from bāham to be dumb, mute] A beast, a nonspeaking living being; used in Job 40:15-23. Scholars are of the opinion that the reference here is to the hippopotamus or the Leviathan. “Behemoth is the principle of Darkness, or Satan, in Roman Catholic Theology, and yet Job says of him that ‘Behemoth is the chief (principle) of the ways of God’ ” (SD 2:486), and an entity spoken of, however poetically, as the chief of the ways of the divine, can hardly be a physical quadruped of earth.

Beith ’Elohim (Hebrew) Bēith ’Elohīm House of the ’elohim or gods; the title of a Qabbalistic work, classed as one of the treatises of the Zohar, which contains the doctrines of Rabbi Isaac Loria (edited by Rabbi Irira) and treats of angels, demons, elemental spirits, and souls.

Belial (Hebrew) Bĕliyya‘al [from bĕlī nothing, not + ya‘al worth, profit, use] Worthless, signifying wickedness; also a wicked man, a destroyer, a waster. A name given by Hebrew and Christian demonologists to the aggregate of evil astral forces or influences, some of them partaking of an individualized type, whose influence is always pernicious to humans, and association with which is invariably immoral because suggestive of evil. It is a name personifying these astral entities of evil.

Belial: Hebrew for person of baseness or wicked person. The prince of devils, identified with Beelzebub or Satan.

bel ::: n. --> The Babylonian name of the god known among the Hebrews as Baal. See Baal.

Bel Shemesh (Hebrew) Lord of the sun; a title also given to the moon, during the time when the Jews worshiped the moon as a male and when the sun was considered to be a female divinity. Later the title was applied to the sun (likewise to Jehovah), and then Ashtoreth became queen of the heaven or the moon. See also ASTARTE; SHAMASH

Ben (Hebrew) Bēn Son; used in names to denote “son of,” as Ben-Hadad (son of Hadad).

Benei ’Elohim (Hebrew) Bĕnēi ’Elohīm Sons of gods — less accurately, sons of God; the phrase occurs in Genesis 6:2, 4. In the Qabbalah, however, it often has reference to the mal’achim or mal’achayya (Chaldean), meaning either angels or messengers.

Benei Shemesh (Hebrew) Bēl Shemesh Sons of the sun; “the term belongs to the period when the Jews were divided into sun and moon worshippers — Elites and Belites” (TG 53-4). See also BEL SHEMESH

Beni-Nabim (Hebrew) Bĕnēi Nĕbī’īm [from bēn son, disciple + nābī’ seer, prophet] Sons of seers; disciples of prophets. Blavatsky speaks of the Essenes as descendants of the Beni-Nabim (IU 1:xxx).

Bere’shith, (Hebrew) Bĕrē’shīth The first two words of the Hebrew Genesis. As Hebrew was originally written from right to left in a series of consonants, without vowels, several renderings may be made of any passage, according to the manner of inserting vowels and of dividing the consonants into words. Thus the original Hebrew בראשת (b r ’ sh th) may be divided as be-re’shith, as is common in European translations, and rendered “in the beginning” [bĕ in + rē’shīth beginning from rē’sh or rō’sh chief, head, first part, summit]; a second translation could be “in the first part.” If the meaning “head” be taken, then as head signifies wisdom, the rendering “in wisdom” follows. But this same combination of letters could be rendered “by arrangement” or “by establishment,” by dividing it as bare’-shith [from bārē’ forming + shīth establishment, arrangement].

Beri’ah (Hebrew) Bĕrī’āh [from bārā’ to create, shape] The beri’atic world or ‘olam hab-beri’ah is “world or sphere of creation”; second of the four worlds (’olamim) which according to the Qabbalah are emanated during the period of world manifestation. It is considered to contain pure or spiritual forms and originant ideas, for in this ’olam creation commences. This sphere is a continuation of the emanation of the first (’olam ’atstsiloth) and contains likewise, as do each of the ’olamim, a complete tenfold Sephirothal Tree, though on ’olam hab-beri’ah certain ones only of the ten Sephiroth find their especial field of action. The substance of the beri’atic world is still of a highly ethereal or quasi-spiritaual type. Just as the Prototype (Diyyuqna’) occupies the first world, so Metatron occupies the second — also named Kursyai’ (the Throne). From this world is emanated the third world, ’olam hay-yetsirah.

Bethel Stone (Hebrew) Bēith-ēl The pillar of Jacob, which he set up as a memorial or massebah at Bethel and anointed with oil (Genesis 28:18, 22); a phallic stone similar to the Hindu linga. Blavatsky writes: “How could anyone worthy of the name of a philosopher, and knowing the real secret meaning of their ‘pillar of Jacob,’ their Bethel, oil-anointed phalli, and their ‘Brazen Serpent,’ worship such a gross symbol, and minister unto it, seeing in it their ‘Covenant’ — the Lord Himself!” (SD 2:473; BCW 12:101) See also BETYLOS

Bible The Judeo-Christian holy book. The Bible is neither the literal word of God translated into the various languages, nor a collection of superstitious folklore, but a Jewish and late Greek version of the archaic wisdom expressed in the ancient mystery-language. Blavatsky classes it among the largely esoteric works whose secret symbolism is found also in the Indian, Chaldean, and Egyptian scriptures. The real Hebrew Bible is to a certain extent known only in small part to its Talmudic and Qabbalistic interpreters. The primeval faith of Israel was not what it was made to be by those who would have converted the secret doctrine into a national exoteric religion — by David, Hezekiah, and later the Talmudists. To trace the steps by which the ancient gnosis was handed down, adapted, transformed, perverted, and yet mysteriously preserved, is work to satisfy the most diligent scholar. “The real Hebrew Bible was a secret volume, unknown to the masses, and even the Samaritan Pentateuch is far more ancient than the Septuagint. As for the former, the Fathers of the Church never even heard of it” (IU 2:471).

Binah (Hebrew) Bīnāh Understanding; the third Sephirah, regarded in the Qabbalah as emanating from the second Sephirah, Hochmah — although it is also stated that both the second and third Sephiroth emanated conjointly. Binah is considered a passive potency or a feminine aspect, hence it is called the great Mother, the great productive Mother (’Imma) eternally conjoined with the Father (’Ab) for the maintenance of the universe; the supernal Mother as distinguished from Malchuth, the inferior Mother, Bride, and Queen; the upper Shechinah; and the great sea. Its Divine Name is YHWH or IHVH, which is the Tetragrammaton, while in the Angelic Order it is represented as the ’Er’elim (heroes) (Zohar ii, 43a).

Blessing of the New Moon: In the Jewish rituals, an outdoor benediction service on the appearance of the new moon, which marks the beginning of a new month of the Hebrew calendar.

Boaz (Hebrew) Bo‘az [from bĕ in + ‘oz might, strength, majesty] Strength, majesty; the name of an individual in the Old Testament, as well as of the left-hand pillar which was erected by the widow’s son, Hiram, before the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 7:21). From the standpoint of the Qabbalah, Boaz stands for the third Sephirah, Binah (intelligence or mind). The right-hand pillar was named Jachin (firmness, stability). The two pillars were commonly represented as white and black (or dark green) respectively, and correspond to the higher and lower ego or the dual manas.

Breath is often used in the same sense as ray, wind, spirit, pneuma, to denote an active emanation which is at once active and passive, positive and negative, donative and receptive, the principle of polarity later in cosmic evolution becoming pronounced. An instance is when the divine breath incubates the waters of space, and worlds are produced. Absolute perpetual motion is the breath of life of the one element, and is applied to fohat. In Sanskrit it is expressed among other words by asu, the true root of asura (a living or spiritual being). In Hebrew several words express it, varying according to the spiritual or grosser meaning: neshamah, ruah, or nephesh. In Greek philosophy perhaps the main word used in this sense in pneuma, equally well translated as spirit.

Briah: According to the Hebrew Kabalah, the world of creation, produced from the world of Adam Kadmon, the heavenly man. Also called Briatic World.

cabbala ::: 1 A body of mystical Jewish teachings based on an interpretation of hidden meanings in the Hebrew Scriptures. Among its central doctrines are, all creation is an emanation from the Deity and the soul exists from eternity. 2. Any secret or occult doctrine or science. 3. "Esoteric system of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures based on the assumption that every word, letter, number, and accent in them has an occult meaning. The system, oral at first, claimed great antiquity, but was really the product of the Middle Ages, arising in the 7th century and lasting into the 18th. It was popular chiefly among Jews, but spread to Christians as well. (Col. Enc.)” Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works

cab ::: n. --> A kind of close carriage with two or four wheels, usually a public vehicle.
The covered part of a locomotive, in which the engineer has his station.
A Hebrew dry measure, containing a little over two (2.37) pints.


Cain (Hebrew) Qayin In the Bible, the son of Adam and Eve, and a tiller of the ground. Becoming jealous of the offering which his brother Abel presents to the Lord, Cain, according to the legend, slays him (Genesis 4). This allegory signifies that “Jehovah-Cain, the male part of Adam the dual man, having separated himself from Eve, creates in her ‘Abel,’ the first natural woman, and sheds the Virgin blood” (SD 2:388). Cain and Abel represent the third root-race or the “Separating Hermaphrodite” (SD 2:134).

Cancer The Crab. Fourth zodiacal sign, being watery, cardinal, feminine, and the only house of the moon; in astrology it corresponds to the stomach and breast. Its symbol is a crab; in Sanskrit it is called Karkataka, and is dedicated to Surya, the god of the sun. In the Hebrew allocation of the signs to the 12 sons of Jacob, it is give to Benjamin, who is said to ravin as a wolf. This sign is that of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and is associated with heat, but in the southern hemisphere it is at the winter solstice, and we are told of times when the earth’s poles were inverted so that the south pole was in Cancer.

Casting off of sins: The Jewish ceremony, called Tashlikh in Hebrew, in which crumbs of bread symbolizing one’s sins are thrown into a river, thus symbolizing the casting off of one’s sins.

Cetus (Latin) [from Greek ketos whale] An ecliptic constellation adjoining Pisces and Aries. In Hebrew mythology it can be connected with the marine monster that swallowed Jonah, the peregrinating dove; and is also connected with Poseidon, Dagon, and other fish deities.

Chariot Vehicle (cf Sanskrit vahana, Hebrew merkhabah). The Zohar states that ’eyn soph uses the One, the manifested Heavenly Man, as its chariot; but, as ’eyn soph is the Boundless, it cannot come into individual relation with any thing; it is the depth or bythos of ’eyn soph whose ray uses the Heavenly Man as a chariot. It is the unmanifested Logos or Brahman which uses the manifested Logos or Brahma as its vehicle. Chariot is also used to refer to the visible planets as vehicles of the planetary deities, as for instance in the chariot of Apollo or Phoebus and in the nine chariots of the stars around Dhruva the pole star. In similar fashion, the human body is often called the chariot of the inner charioteer, the real person or true ego.

Cherub, Cherubim (Hebrew) Kĕrūb, Kĕrūbīm A celestial, sacred, occult being in Hebrew mythology; in the Old Testament various descriptions are given of the Cherubim, the prevailing one being that of winged entities with four faces, those respectively of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. In Genesis, they are the guardians of Paradise; in Exodus (25:18-22) their images are to be placed in the mercy-seat and also in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:23-35), but their most frequent association is with the throne or chariot of Yahweh (Jehovah). In Ezekiel and the Qabbalah the Cherubim are represented as the four holy living creatures. “These four animals are, in reality, the symbols of the four elements, and of the four lower principles in man. Nevertheless, they correspond physically and materially to the four constellations that form, so to speak, the suite or cortege of the Solar God, and occupy during the winter solstice the four cardinal points of the zodiacal circle” (SD 1:363).

cherubim ::: pl. --> of Cherub ::: n. --> The Hebrew plural of Cherub.. Cf. Seraphim.

Cherub: In Hebrew mysticism, a winged celestial being, part human and part animal, serving as the chariot of the Almighty and as guardian angel. (Plural: Cherubim.)

Chium, Chiun (Hebrew) Kiyyūn, Khiyūn A god worshiped by the Israelites in the desert: “ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god” (Amos 5:26). Said to be derived from the Chaldeans, it may have been the planet Saturn, and Blavatsky writes: “Kiyun, or the god Kivan, worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness, is Siva, the Hindu, as well as Saturn” (IU 1:570).

chrestomathy ::: n. --> A selection of passages, with notes, etc., to be used in acquiring a language; as, a Hebrew chrestomathy.

christ ::: n. --> The Anointed; an appellation given to Jesus, the Savior. It is synonymous with the Hebrew Messiah.

Christos (Greek) Anointed; applied in the Greek Mysteries to a candidate who had passed the last degree and become a full initiate. Also the immanent individual god in a person, equivalent in some respects to Dionysos, Krishna, etc. The Hebrew word for anointed (mashiah) is generally written in English as Messiah. What we know as Christianity is a syncretism of borrowings from Neoplatonism, neo-Pythagoreanism, Greek Gnosticism, and Hebrew religion. Christos was commonly used in the Greek translation of the Bible as a title of the Jewish Kings, those who had been anointed for reigning — a symbolic rite taken originally from the Mysteries. St. Paul’s use of the word shows that he understood its true mystical meaning, but spoke with precaution in his public epistles or writings.

Christos(Greek) Christos or "Christ" is a word literally signifying one who has been "anointed." This is a directreference, a direct allusion, to what happened during the celebration of the ancient Mysteries. Unction oranointing was one of the acts performed during the working of the rites of those ancient Mysteries in thecountries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The Hebrew word for an anointed one is mashiahh -"messiah" is a common way of misspelling the Hebrew word -- meaning exactly the same thing as theGreek word Christos.Each human being is an incarnation, an imbodiment, of a ray of his own inner god -- the divinity living inthe core of the core of each one. The modern Christians of a mystical bent of mind call it the ChristImmanent, the immanent Christos, and they are right as far as they go, but they do not carry the thoughtfar enough. Mystically speaking, the Christos is the deathless individuality; and when the strivingpersonal ego becomes united permanently with this stainless individuality, the resultant union is thehigher ego, "the living Christ" -- a Christ among men, or as the Buddhists would say, a human ormanushya-buddha.

Contemporary with the Talmud developed a somehow similar literature closely related to the text of the Hebrew Bible and known as Midrash (interpretation), containing both halakah (law) and aggada (homily). -- H.L.G.

core ::: n. --> A body of individuals; an assemblage.
A miner&


cor ::: n. --> A Hebrew measure of capacity; a homer.

Cry from the Cross The cry of the expiring Jesus — given in the Gospels as “Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani” (Matt 27:46) [in Mark it is Eloi]; translated in Greek “Theemou, Theemou, hinati me ’egkatelipes”; and then translated into English as “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” — is a curious instance of mistranslation, for the Hebrew words as quoted mean, “My God, my God, how thou hast glorified me!” On the other hand, Psalms 22:1 has the words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” but here the Hebrew for forsaken is ‘azabtani (forsaken me). There seems to have been a desire to represent the cry from the cross as a fulfillment of these words of Psalms. What Jesus really uttered, according to the Hebrew, was a cry of ecstasy over the peace of attainment, clarification, and liberation. The cry in Psalms is that of the candidate for initiation left to his unaided resources, to achieve or fail by them and them alone — which is the only fair and certain test of ability.

Cush (Hebrew) Kūsh Black; the eldest son of Ham, grandson of Noah, and father of Nimrod. Also applied to his descendants, usually translated Ethiopians, and to a region vaguely defined as Ethiopia. An old tradition states that Ham stole seven books out of Noah’s Ark and gave them to Cush; and Mas’udi, the Arabic historian, says that the Nabathaeans were those descendants of Ham who settled under the leadership of Nimrod.

Da‘ath (Hebrew) Da‘ath Knowledge or science, frequently insight or wisdom; in the Qabbalah of Luriah, a triad is made of Hochmah (Father), Binah (Mother), and Da‘ath (Son). This emanation does not occur in the ancient Qabbalah, nor is it one of the Sephiroth there.

Dabar (Hebrew) Dābār, plural Dĕbārīm. Word, speech, frequently a cosmic spiritual conscious energy, thus equivalent to the Greek logos or cosmic spirit; also, an oracle or divine communication; cause, reason. In the Chaldean Qabbalah, equivalent to the Logos, “which Word, though it becomes in fact a plural number, or ‘Words’ — D(a)B(a)RIM, when it reflects itself, or falls into the aspect of a Host (of angels, or Sephiroth, ‘numbers’) is still collectively One, and on the ideal plane a nought — 0, a ‘No-thing’ ” (SD 1:350).

Dag, Dagon (Hebrew, Phoenician) Dāg, Dāgōn [from dāg fish + ōn diminutive; or from dāgān grain] Fish or a little fish; a Philistine god, at Ashod and Gaza, mentioned several places in the Bible (e.g. Judges 16). He was more than a local deity, however, as place-names called after him are widespread. Some scholars assert there was an ancient Canaanite deity of similar name, and also associate this Shemitic god with the Babylonian Dagan. It is commonly believed that Dagon was represented as half-man half-fish and identified with Oannes, though no such early representations bear his name. Some scholars cite Philo Byblius as making Dagon the discoverer of grain and the inventor of the plow, an earth god parallel with Bel.

Daniel (Hebrew) Dāniyyē’l The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament has twelve chapters, the first six a historical narrative, the last six prophetic. According to the former, Daniel flourished about 600 b.c., was taken captive with the other Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and became a Magus. His skill in interpreting dreams procured him favor and the governorship of the province of Babylon. Later he became the first president of the whole Medo-Persian empire. Scholarship, however, finds difficulties in reconciling biblical data with information from other sources.

daniel ::: n. --> A Hebrew prophet distinguished for sagacity and ripeness of judgment in youth; hence, a sagacious and upright judge.

Darom (Hebrew) Dārōm The south, or south country; also applied to the south wind.

date "convention, data" A string unique to a time duration of 24 hours between 2 successive midnights defined by the local time zone. The specific representation of a date will depend on which calendar convention is in force; e.g., Gregorian, Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew etc. as well as local ordering conventions such as UK: day/month/year, US: month/day/year. Inputting and outputting dates on computers is greatly complicated by these {localisation} issues which is why they tend to operate on dates internally in some unified form such as seconds past midnight at the start of the first of January 1970. Many software and hardware representations of dates allow only two digits for the year, leading to the {year 2000} problem. {Unix manual page}: date(1), ctime(3). (1997-07-11)

Day of Yahweh: In Hebrew mysticism, the Day of Judgment.

Dayyan’ishi (Hebrew) Dayyan’īshī [from dayyān judge, advocate + ’īshī my man, my self, everybody] Judge or advocate of all. “The god worshipped by the Jews along with other Semites, as the ‘Ruler of men’; Dionysos — the Sun; whence Jehovah-Nissi, or Iao-Nisi, the same as Dio-nysos or Jove of Nyssa . . .” (TG 97).

Deity Intelligence and will superior to the human, forming the intelligent and vital governing essence of the universe, whether this universe be large or small. The principal views as to the nature of deity may be classed as 1) pantheistic, 2) polytheistic, 3) henotheistic, and 4) monotheistic. Pantheism, which views the divine as immanent in all nature and yet transcendent in its higher parts, is characteristic of certain Occidental philosophical systems and of all Oriental systems. Polytheism implies the recognition of an indefinite number of deific powers in the universe, the plural manifestations of the ever immanent, ever perduring, and manifest-unmanifest One. Polytheism is thus a logical development of pantheism. Henotheism is the belief in one god, but not the exclusion of others, such as is found in the Jewish scriptures, where the ancient Hebrews frankly worshiped a tribal deity and fully recognized the existence of other tribal deities. Monotheism is the belief in only one god, as is found in Christianity and Islam. These religions, in inheriting the Jewish tradition, have confounded this merely personal and local conception with the First Cause of the universe, which in theosophy would be called the formative cosmic Third Logos, thus producing an inconsistent idea of a God who is both infinite, delimited, and personal in character, with an intuition, however, of the necessarily impersonal cosmic intelligent root of all.

Demions (Hebrew) Dimyōn Spirits, demons; the Hebrews held “that there was a class of personating spirits which they designated demions, ‘personators.’ Admitting with Jehovah, who expressly asserts it, the existence of other gods, which were personators of the One God, were these other gods simply a higher class of personating spirits, which had acquired and exercised greater powers? . . . how are we to know that Jehovah was not a personating Spirit . . .” (SD 2:508-9).

Demonology: Referring to a study of the widespread religious ideas of hostile superhuman beings called demons. These creatures were generally thought of as inhabiting a super- or under-world and playing havoc with the fortunes of man by bringing about diseases, mental twists and calamities in general. Ridding an individual supposedly held in possession by such a demon was an ancient practice (technically known as "exorcism") and continued in some Christian liturgies even to our own day. Demonology as a theory of demonic behavior throve among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, post-exilic Hebrews, Jews, Greeks and many scattered peoples including the hoary ancients. Elaborate demonic ideas appear in the Mohammedan religion. -- V.F.

Dharaka (Sanskrit) Dhāraka A receptacle, vessel; secondarily, equivalent to dhara, the highest point, summit. Subba Row speaks of the sacred dharaka as equivalent to the sacred Hebrew Tetragram or the four matras of Pranava, the four measures or quantities of the mystical and sacred syllable Om.

Di-nur (Hebrew) Dī-nūr In the Qabbalah, part of a famous phrase which fully written is Nehar di-nur (the river or stream which is light or fire).

Dudaim (Hebrew) Dūdā’īm The mandrake, the atropea mandragora, mentioned in Genesis 30:14-17. As used in the Qabbalah, it “is the Soul and Spirit; any two things united in love and friendship (dodim). ‘Happy is he who preserves his dudaim (higher and lower Manas) inseparable’” (TG 105).

Dumah (Hebrew) Dūmāh The land of silence, the regions of the dead; in the Qabbalah used for the Angel of Silence or of Death. It has somewhat the same significance as the Greek Hades; another term for the same astral regions is She’ol.

Ebionites [probably from Hebrew ’ebyon poor] An early sect of Christians, but predating the term Christian. They were probably disciples of Jeshua ben Panthera, an initiated teacher living in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (104-79 BC), around whom many scholars believe the Gospel story of the avatara Jesus was later built. There seems little support for the conjecture that they had a founder called Ebion. Accounts of their tenets are uncertain, for their name was transferred to various diverging sects, differing in the extent of their adhesion to the Mosaic law and in their way of interpreting Christian dogmas as to the nature and work of Jesus. They were regarded as Judaizers and heretics, and eventually became eliminated from the Church. As Gnostics of a kind, they regarded both Christ and the polar opposite Jehovah as emanations or rays of the Logos, and were concerned with the adaptation of esoteric teachings with the Mosaic law on the one hand and with the materializing spirit of the Church on the other.

ebrauke ::: a. --> Hebrew.

E Delphicum The Delphic E, a sacred symbol denoting, among other things, the number 5. It is the fifth letter in the Greek and English alphabets, corresponding to he’, the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, which signifies a window and, in the Qabbalah, the human womb.

Eden or the garden of Eden (Hebrew) ‘Ēden, Gan-‘ēden [from ‘ēden delight, pleasure, loveliness] The country in which the garden of Adam and Eve was situated according to the Bible. Not wholly a mythical name, for Eden “is an archaic name of the country watered by the Euphrates and its many branches, from Asia and Armenia to the Erythraean Sea” (SD 2:202). Hebraists hold that the site of Eden would be the cradle of the human race. See also GAN-EDEN; PARADISE

Edom (Hebrew) ’Edom The land and the Kings of Edom are mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 36) in allegorical manner, and treated in the Qabbalah as referring to a period of unbalance before balance or harmony was inaugurated; the Kings, in one meaning of this Qabbalistic allegory, refer to the various attempts (and failures) at the formation of worlds before this one. However, “the ‘Edomite Kings’ could never symbolize the ‘prior worlds,’ but only the ‘attempts at men’ on this globe: the ‘pre-Adamite races,’ of which the Zohar speaks, and which we explain as the First Root-Race. . . . the Kings of Edom are the sons of ‘Esau the father of the Edomites’ (Gen., xxxvi, 43); i.e., Esau represents in the Bible the race which stands between the Fourth and the Fifth, the Atlantean and the Aryan” (SD 2:705). Interestingly Edom is exactly the same word as ’Adam (man), the only difference being one of vocalization, of changing the Massoretic points. The seven Kings of Edom are therefore the seven races of man, whether the reference be made to the seven subraces of any one root-race, or to the seven root-races themselves.

’Ehad (Hebrew) ’Eḥād One, first, alone, single; used by Orthodox Jews in relation to Jehovah as the one and only god. The feminine form is ’Ahath.

’Ehyeh (Hebrew) ’Ehyeh [from hāyāh to be] I am, I will be; He who exists; an equivalent for the highest name of the Deity, although not uttered. “Existence . . . corresponds to Kether and Macroprosopus” (TG 11). “The secret of this word אהיה, Ehyeh, I Am, comprises everything, when the ways are hidden and not separated and together in one place, then it is called Ehyeh, I am, all hidden and not revealed; but after it goes out from its defined line and that river bears in its bosom all things, then He is called Asher Ehyeh, i.e., That I Am” (Zohar iii, 65b).

Eka (Sanskrit) Eka The numeral adjective “one”; in the sense of first, primeval, or adi, it may mean Brahma, the third or creative kosmic Logos. This or any other One, such as the Hebrew ’ahath or ’ehad, never means boundless, frontierless infinity, which is symbolized by the zero. One is always the beginning of numeration as well as of enumeration, so that on however high a plane the One may be, it is always the beginning of the hierarchy flowing forth from it as its root or seed. In boundless infinitude there are, therefore, innumerable such Ones or hierarchs of kosmic hierarchies.

El (Hebrew) ’Ēl Sometimes written Al. Strong, mighty; as an abstract noun — strength, might — applied to divinities, heroes, or cosmic spirits. By the later Jewish and Christian monotheists rendered as God.

El Elion (Hebrew) ’Ēl ‘Elyōn [’ēl divinity + ‘elyōn what is high or above] The God on high; “a name of the Deity borrowed by the Jews from the Phoenician Elon, a name of the Sun” (TG 111). See also ELON

Elias, Elijah (Hebrew) ’Ēliyyāh Hebrew prophet (9th century BC) who struggled against the worship of the Phoenician Baal (1 Kings 17 - 2 Kings 2:15). Blavatsky states that the Hebrew root of the name is equivalent to buddhi, and is so used in the Gospel of John and the Pistis Sophia (BCW 9:492-3, 13:13). See also CARMEL, MOUNT

’Eloah (Hebrew) ’Elōah Goddess — although because of masculine anthropomorphic predisposition, it has been commonly rendered god by European translators; used as a title of eminence both for the Jewish Jehovah and the deities, especially the goddesses, of other nations.

Elohim (Hebrew) ’Elohīm [from ’elōah goddess + īm masculine plural ending] The monotheistic proclivities, not only of the Jews but of Christian translators, have led to this word always being translated as God; yet the word itself is a plural form, nor is it in any sense necessarily a plural of majesty, as suggested by some monotheistic scholars. A correct rendering should denote both masculine and feminine characteristics, such as androgyne divinities.

elohim ::: n. --> One of the principal names by which God is designated in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Elon or Elion (Phoenician) A name of the sun, recognized as one of the highest active deities or cosmic energies by the Phoenicians; rendered in Greek as ’Elioun. The Hebrew form of this word is found in the Bible in the phrase ’El ‘elyon, “the God or Divinity on high.”

Elu (Chaldean) A Chaldean god, variant of ’El (deity, divinity), frequently used by the Hebrews as equivalent to God. The original Semitic meaning embraces the idea of surpassing might, immense power, and unlimited strength.

Emunah (Hebrew) ’Emūnāh [from ’ēm mother] Mother; the cosmic feminine builder or mother-builder; feminine ’Ao (builder, architect). Found infrequently in the Qabbalah, applied to the third Sephirah, Binah, which forms the first Qabbalistic triad with the first Sephirah, Kether — to which the term ’Abba (father) is applied — and Hochmah, the second Sephirah. Both ’Amon and ’Emunah likewise mean firmness, stability, or security, thus involving the ideas of fidelity, faithfulness, regularity in procedures; from these last ideas, Binah or ’Imma is called Intelligence — because it is through cosmic intelligence and its firmness or stability and fidelity in ideation that the worlds are built in their manifold manifestations and follow the intrinsic regular courses of divine ideation.

En (Hebrew). See ’EYN

Enoch, Onech (Hebrew) Ḥanōkh Initiation or initiated; hence also hierophant. In the Bible (Genesis 4, 5), “there are three distinct Enochs — the son of Cain, the son of Seth, and the son of Jared; but they are all identical, and two of them are mentioned for the purposes of misleading. The years of only the last two are given, the first one being left without further notice.” He is the great grandfather of Noah, and stands for the first subrace of the fifth root-race (BCW 14:86&n).

Enoichion (Greek-Hebrew) [from Hebrew ḥanakh to make narrow, be narrow; pressure; hence to initiate, train into the paths of consecration or dedication; probably from ḥanōkh (Enoch) initiated, initiator] The root-meaning of narrowness, that which is straightened or close, is reminiscent of the New Testament saying: “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way” (Matthew 7:14) — a direct reference to initiation. Thus enoichion can be rendered as a seer. “Esoterically and spiritually Enoichion means the ‘Seer of the Open Eye,’ the inner spiritual eye” (SD 2:530).

En-Soph: The Limitless Deity of early Hebrew metaphysicists, interpreted as the “Supreme God” of the modern Kabalists.

epha ::: n. --> A Hebrew dry measure, supposed to be equal to two pecks and five quarts. ten ephahs make one homer.

epistrophe ::: n. --> A figure in which successive clauses end with the same word or affirmation; e. g., "Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I."

Equating the 12 sons of Jacob in the Hebrew system to the signs of the zodiac, Naphthali is assigned to Capricornus: he is called a “hind let loose.”

Erataoth (Hebrew-Syrian) The dog; one of several somewhat arbitrary but highly mystical titles given to spiritual beings among early Syrian, Hebrew, and other Near Eastern mystics, having especial reference perhaps to the seven sacred planets.

ericius ::: n. --> The Vulgate rendering of the Hebrew word qip/d, which in the "Authorized Version" is translated bittern, and in the Revised Version, porcupine.

Esau (Hebrew) ‘Ēśāw Hairy, rough; the son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob (Genesis 25). These twins symbolize duality in nature — good and evil, day and night; “Jacob-Israel is the feminine principle of Esau, as Abel is that of Cain, both Cain and Esau being the male principle” (TG 158). Esau as father of the Edomites (Genesis 36:43) is said to represent the race between the fourth and the fifth root-races (SD 2:705). See also ADAM; EDOM

’Esh (Hebrew) ’Ēsh ’Eshsha’ (Aramaic) ’Eshshā’ (cf Sanskrit ush to burn) Sometimes Ash(a). Fire.

’Esh Metsareph (Hebrew) ’Ēsh Metsārēf [from ’ēsh fire + the verbal root tsāraf to smelt, refine, purify] Fire purifying; one of the books of the so-called Dogmatic Qabbalah, usually called “The Book of the Purifying Fire,” considered by some to be a rare hermetic and alchemical work.

Essenes [probably from Hebrew asa to heal] Described by Josephus as one of three principal sects among Jews from about the middle of the 2nd century BC; the title Healer, often equivalent to savior or teacher (cf therapeutae). They were a sect of Jewish theosophy, rather exclusive, adhering to Jewish tradition in some respects though regarded as heretical in others. Their cardinal principles were active benevolence and self-discipline. They had an esoteric school guarded by secrecy, accessible through novitiate and degrees. Josephus, describing the rule of a community, presents the picture of a tranquil life, divided between practical avocations, assemblies, and ritual observances.

‘Ets Ha-Hayyim (Hebrew) ‘Ēts Ha-ḥayyīm The Tree of Lives; sometimes simply called the Tree (Chald ’ilan). A Qabbalistic term applied to the Sephirothal tenfold scheme, when arranged diagrammatically in three columns of three Sephiroth each, crowned with the tenth, Sephirah or Kether.

Etz Hayim: Hebrew for Tree of Life. The title of a book by Hayim Vital Calabrese, disciple of Isaak Luria, explaining the Kabalistic system of the latter.

Eve (Hebrew) Ḥawwāh [from ḥāwāh to breathe, live] Mystically the mother of all living, an allegorical yet actual figure in all archaic cosmogonies. Genesis describes three Eves: 1) the archetypal Eve, the feminine aspect of the divine androgyne which is on the one hand ‘Adam Qadmon, and on the other hand Sephirah-Eve (ch. l); 2) the Eve of the early third root-race, after the separation of the sexes but before the awakening of mind (ch. 2); and 3) Eve the mother of Abel and of Seth, here beginning the course of human history after the awakening of mind. The first Eve was no woman but, like the first Adam, the spiritual feminine aspect of an archetypal spiritual host; the second was no woman but womankind; while the third was woman and mother as now known. They companion and correspond to the three Adams: the first, the spiritual albeit masculine type of the archetypal host; the second, the mindless first human race; and the third, “the race that [had fully] separated, whose eyes are opened” (SD 2:46n). Between the Eve of Genesis and Eve the mother of Seth (Genesis 4) passed long ages, involving millions of years during which the archetypal preparation of the globe for human habitation was followed by distinct root-races and three Edens, with millions of years between even these latter.

’Eyn Soph (Hebrew) ’Ēin Sōf Also Ain Soph, Ayn Soph, Eyn Suph, Ein Soph, etc. No-thing, the negatively existent one, or the no-thing of space corresponding closely in some respects to the mystical sunyata of Mahayana Buddhism. Used in the Qabbalah for that which is above Kether or Macroprosopus, i.e., no-thing. “It is so named because we do not know, and it is impossible to know, that which there is in this Principle, because it never descends as far as our ignorance and because it is above Wisdom itself” (Zohar iii, 288b).

’Eyn Soph ’Or (Hebrew) ’Ēin Sōf ’Ōr ‘The Light without bounds’ — Infinite Light. A term used in the Qabbalah, representing the Intelligence or Mind of Divinity which permeates the All, and which is without bounds, as an immeasurable Ocean, emanating from ’Eyn Soph. From this ever-present Source of Light and arising out of it as from a womb by means of the karmically whirling movement of Fohat, is thrown into manifested being a particular Hierarchy, or River of Life or Lives, which is born from its ‘Primordial’ Point and proceeds in space and time to emanate the hierarchical ten Sephiroth — in their combination finally becoming a manifested universe.

Familiar Spirit “A man or woman having a familiar spirit” is the translation in the Old Testament of the Hebrew ’Ob or Aub, which means a sorcerer or necromancer, and in The Secret Doctrine (1:364n) is translated serpent. Such a person is a medium who is more or less under the control of this elemental or elementary, miscalled spirit, by whom he may be entranced; and is to be distinguished sharply from an adept or genuine theurgist, who is in self-conscious control of his own higher faculties through initiation following due and long preparation. These familiar spirits are equivalent to the Greek daimones, and to elementals and elementaries.

Fifth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical or sacred year, according to the system used after the Babylonian captivity; also the 11th month of the civil year. Likewise the 11th month of the Palmyrenes and Syrians, equivalent to July-August and the zodiacal sign Leo. See also ABBA.

Firmament Combines the meanings of support, expanse, and boundary; a translation of the Latin firmamentum (a support), which again renders the Greek stereoma (a foundation). The Hebrew is raqia‘ (an unfolding or expanse). The ordinary European meaning is the vault of heaven or sky. It is often identified with air, called the breath of the supporters of the heavenly dome in Islamic mysticism; in India the ethery expanse is the domain of Indra, and one reads of the 1008 divisions of the devaloka (god-worlds) and firmaments. It also relates to the supporters, pillars, or cosmocratores in so many ancient cosmogonies, said to uphold or support the world.

fitch ::: n. --> A vetch.
A word found in the Authorized Version of the Bible, representing different Hebrew originals. In Isaiah xxviii. 25, 27, it means the black aromatic seeds of Nigella sativa, still used as a flavoring in the East. In Ezekiel iv. 9, the Revised Version now reads spelt.
The European polecat; also, its fur.


F. Logos: (Gr. logos) A term denoting either reason or one of the expressions of reason or order in words or things; such as word, discourse, definition, formula, principle, mathematical ratio. In its most important sense in philosophy it refers to a cosmic reason which gives order and intelligibility to the world. In this sense the doctrine first appears in Heraclitus, who affirms the reality of a Logos analogous to the reason in man that regulates all physical processes and is the source of all human law. The conception is developed more fully by the Stoics, who conceive of the world as a living unity, perfect in the adaptation of its parts to one another and to the whole, and animated by an immanent and purposive reason. As the creative source of this cosmic unity and perfection the world-reason is called the seminal reason (logos spermatikos), and is conceived as containing within itself a multitude of logoi spermatikoi, or intelligible and purposive forms operating in the world. As regulating all things, the Logos is identified with Fate (heimarmene); as directing all things toward the good, with Providence (pronoia); and as the ordered course of events, with Nature (physis). In Philo of Alexandria, in whom Hebrew modes of thought mingle with Greek concepts, the Logos becomes the immaterial instrument, and even at times the personal agency, through which the creative activity of the transcendent God is exerted upon the world. In Christian philosophy the Logos becomes the second person of the Trinity and its functions are identified with the creative, illuminating and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Finally the Logos plays an important role in the system of Plotinus, where it appears as the creative and form-giving aspect of Intelligence (Nous), the second of the three Hypostases. -- G. R.

Flood. A story found in various forms in every cosmology. The Chaldean and Sumerian versions antedate the Hebrew; India, China, and other Asiatic countries furnish their own versions. It occurs in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quichés of Central American, as well as among many ancient American tribes; the story is found among the ancient Scandinavians, the Polynesian peoples, and among African tribes, such as the Masai of East Africa.

Fons Vitae (Latin) Fount of life; Latin title of the chief work of Ibn Gebirol (Avicebron), the Arab Jewish philosopher of the 11th century, believed by many to be a profound Kabbalist. The Hebrew title is Meqor Hayyim (Fountain of Lives).

Four Animals When used by Hebrews and Christians, the sacred animals seen by Ezekiel in his vision (Ezek 1:4-10): the man, the eagle, the ox or bull, and the lion. “These four animals are, in reality, the symbols of the four elements, and of the four lower principles in man. Nevertheless, they correspond physically and materially to the four constellations that form, so to speak, the suite or cortege of the solar god, and occupy during the winter solstice the four cardinal points of the zodiacal circle” (SD 1:363).

Gabriel (Hebrew) Gabrī’ēl [from geber might, power + ’ēl divinity, god] Power or might of God, my power of divinity; in the New Testament represented as one of the archangels who stand in the presence of God, sent to announce to Mary the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:19, 26-31). Among the Nazarenes, Aebel Zivo was also called Gabriel Legatus (Gabriel the Messenger). With the later Jews Gabriel was regarded as one of the seven archangels; likewise in Christian theology he belongs to the hierarchy of archangels and perhaps to the first, which are equivalent to the virgin angels or kumaras (SD 2:246). The angel Gabriel watches over Iran or Persia, according to popular view; and in Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim or the four sacred animals, the face of the eagle corresponded to Gabriel. In ancient astrology, he was the ruler of the moon and the sign Taurus.

Gamma Third letter in the Greek alphabet. Its capital form often stands for Gaia, the goddess or divinity of earth, which in its cosmic aspect is the third stage of evolution. Alphabetically it corresponds to gimel, the third letter in the Hebrew alphabet; and in the English alphabet is replaced by the hard guttural, C.

Gan-Eden (Hebrew) Gan ’Ēden [from gan garden, park + ’ēden] Sometimes Gan-Aeden, Gandunia. The garden of Eden; in the Assyrian tablets it is rendered gan-dunyas or gan-dunu, which is also a name of Babylonia. See also EDEN; PARADISE

Gates of reason: According to a Hebrew mystic legend, there are fifty gates to reason, of which forty-nine were disclosed to Moses.

Geber (Hebrew) Geber [from gābar to be strong, plural gibbōrīm] Man, with the connotation of might or strength; hence a mighty or strong man. Intimately connected with the word kabbirim (kabiri or kabeiroi), geber has a triple meaning, signifying a mighty spiritual power or being, of angelic character, as well as giants or titans on earth — the latter the reflection of the former. The planets, likewise, because of their indwelling spiritual angels or rectors, are frequently called by the same name. See also Gibborim.

Geburah (Hebrew) Gĕbūrāh Strength, might, power; the fifth Sephirah, also called Pahad (fear) and Din (judgment, justice), emanated from the four preceding Sephiroth. It is regarded in the Qabbalah as a passive potency, a feminine aspect, the second in the left pillar of the Sephirothal Tree. Its Divine Name is usually pointed by Qabbalists ’Eloha, though this word is most often found in its slightly shortened form of ’Eloah or ’Eloha. In the Angelic Order Geburah is represented as the Seraphim. In its application to the human body, it is regarded as the left arm; while in its application to the seven globes of a planetary chain it corresponds to globe A (SD 1:200). From this Sephirah is emanated the sixth, Tiph’ereth.

Gedulah (Hebrew) Gĕdūlāh Greatness, majesty; in the Qabbalah, another name for the Sephirah Hesed.

Gehenna: The word is derived from the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, the Valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, where the ancient Israelites sacrificed children to the god Moloch; in later times, the valley was regarded as a place of refuse, where fires were kept continually burning to prevent pestilence. The name Gehenna was adopted for the “bottomless pit” of eternal fire where the wicked are thrust after death and punished and tormented forever.

Gei’ Hinnom (Hebrew) Gēi’ Hinnōm Also Gai-hinnom. The valley of Hinnom, generally rendered as by the Greek Gehenna, situated south of Jerusalem, in which was Tophet where children were at one time sacrificed to Moloch (2 Kings 23:10). Later the place was used as a crematorium for the refuse of the city, perpetual fires being kept for that purpose. In the Bible it is translated as hell or hell of fire, but the Hebrew word bears no such interpretation. The Greek Gehenna “is identical with the Homeric Tartarus” (IU 2:507).

Gemara’ (Hebrew) Gĕmārā’ [from the verbal root gāmar to complete, perfect] Teaching leading to full initiation; the supplementary part of the Talmud based upon the Mishnah. The arrangement of the present Gemara’ is attributed originally to Rabbi Ashi (352-427).

Gemarah: Hebrew for completion; the name of the larger and latter part of the Talmud (q.v.) discussing the Mishnah (q.v.) and incorporating also vast materials not closely related to the Mishnah topics. The 1812 authorities of the Gemarah are known as Amoraim (speakers). Its contents bears on Hadaeha (law) and Aggadah (tale), i.e., non-legal material like legends, history, science, ethics, philosophy, biography, etc. There are two Gemarahs better known as Talmuds: the Jerusalem (i.e., Palestinian) Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.

Gematria [Hebrew/Aramaic gĕmaṭriyā’ from Greek geōmetría geometry] A Qabbalistic system of interpreting the Bible, consisting in finding the numerical value of a word or words — the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet each designating a number — and then substituting another word whose numerical value is equivalent to the one under consideration. Another method is that of using arithmetical values of words and phrases for interpretation of scriptures. This method forms one of the keys of interpreting sacred scriptures, although a very minor one, and in the hands of one who is inexpert an almost useless method.

Gibborim (Hebrew) Gibbōrīm [plural of geber mighty man from gābar to be strong] Generally refers to the antediluvian giants or Atlanteans, the fourth root-race of mankind. In the fifth root-race they became known as the kabiri — the early mighty men of wisdom (SD 2:273). See also GEBER

Gnosticism: A creed representing a mixture of the doctrines of the Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian and Christian religions, occultism, astrology and magic, as well as parts of the Hebrew Kabalistic teachings. Its origin is still a matter of debate. According to the Encyclopedia of Religion by V. Ferm, “Gnosticism is now regarded as pre-Christian Oriental mysticism.” All Gnostic sects had their priests who practiced astrology and the magic arts, and it is claimed that the Gnostics continued to celebrate the ancient Greek mysteries, too. The Church regarded the Gnostics as heretics and sorcerers and persecuted them as such.

Gog and Magog: In Hebrew occultism, the rebel people who rise up against God and His anointed.

Golden Calf In the Old Testament, an object (Hebrew agel, egel, calf or globe) made in the wilderness by Aaron at the request of the Israelites when Moses had not returned from Mt. Sinai (BCW 3:130). Upon his return, Moses destroyed the idol by burning it, grinding it to powder, strewing it on water, and making the Israelites drink it (Ex 32:20) — which Blavatsky holds has an alchemical significance (BCW 11:44). In one sense the golden calf stands for the secret knowledge the Jews took from the Egyptians. In another sense it is “the sacred heifer, the symbol of the ‘Great Mother,’ first the planet Venus, and then the moon . . . as says G. Massey . . .:

Golgotha [from Greek of Hebrew gulgoleth, Chald gulgalta skull; in Greek cranion; Latin calvaria, whence Calvary.] The site of Jesus’ alleged physical crucifixion; often used metaphorically to signify crucifixion or trial.

gomer ::: n. --> A Hebrew measure. See Homer.
A conical chamber at the breech of the bore in heavy ordnance, especially in mortars; -- named after the inventor.


Guph, Guf, Guff (Hebrew) Gūf A hollow or empty body, a shell; commonly used in the Qabbalah to signify the human physical body, whether alive or dead. Other Hebrew words for body are: guphah, gewiyyah, and gewah.

Habel (Hebrew) Hebel [from the verbal root hābal to breathe, blow, be vain, transitory, impermanent, fade away] Breath, mist, vapor, emptiness; whatever is illusory, non-enduring, corresponding to the Sanskrit concept of maya; translated in Ecclesiastes (1:2) as “vanity.” (FSO 105)

Hachamim (Hebrew) Hakhāmīm Hakkim (Aramaic) Hakkīm. Wise men; philosophers, statesmen, magicians — also at times the historical Magians.

Hagar (Hebrew) Hāgār The Egyptian handmaiden of Sarai (Sarah), who bore Abraham a son, Ishmael (Genesis 16). Some interpreters identify Hagar with Mount Sinai, as the numerical interpretation of her name is 235, the number of lunar cycles in 19 tropical years (SD 2:76).

Ha-Hoser (Hebrew) Ha-Ḥoser The diminished, implying derivation and reflection; reflected lights is a Qabbalistic term for a minor hierarchy of builders of inferior power.

halacha ::: n. --> The general term for the Hebrew oral or traditional law; one of two branches of exposition in the Midrash. See Midrash.

Ham ham (Hebrew) Ḥām [from ḥām hot, warm, heat, warmth] In the Bible, one of the three sons of Noah, from whom a great majority of the southern nations were supposed to trace their descent (Genesis 10). Some scholars have suggested that ham is equivalent to khem (black), the native name of Egypt, for Chem is the name of Egypt in the Qabbalah.

Hasid: A Hebrew word (plural: Hasidim), meaning pious, originally denoting a Jewish mystic and practitioner of esoteric science. The Hasidim of the 18th and 19th centuries strove for a spiritual and mystic revival in Judaism.

Hayyah (Hebrew) Ḥayyāh [from ḥāyāh life, vitality.] Sometimes Chiah, Chayah, Hay-yeh, etc. Life in the abstract; as an adjective, living; a living being or thing, and hence often a beast or an animal; in a collective plural, living beings including human beings.

Hay-Yashar (Hebrew) Hay-yāshār Blavatsky spelled Hayasscher. The straight, upright, or righteous, the light-forces; used in the Qabbalah for a group or minor hierarchy of forces or energies of an inferior grade, but still belonging to the powers of light.

Hayyim (Hebrew) Ḥayyīm [masculine plural of feminine ḥāyyāh life] Lives, living beings. See also HAYYAH

Hayyoth Haq-Qadosh (Hebrew) Ḥayyōth haq-Qādōsh [from ḥayyāh a living being + haq definite article + qādōsh holy] Holy living creatures; Qabbalistic term for the four creatures of Ezekiel’s vision, generally referred to as the cherubim. These holy living creatures are the four symbolic beasts which in the zodiac are called Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius.

Hazim hozim (Hebrew) Ḥozīm [from plural ḥāzāh to see, behold, contemplation as of spiritual or divine things; singular ḥozeh prophet or seer] In ancient times there were schools of hozim which were well known, in which occult sciences were taught. Samuel is said to have been the head of such a school at Ramah, while Elisha is said to have had his at Jericho.

Hebel is also the Hebrew spelling of the second son of Adam, usually rendered in English as Abel, brother of Cain.

hebraically ::: adv. --> After the manner of the Hebrews or of the Hebrew language.

hebraic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hebrews, or to the language of the Hebrews.

hebraism ::: n. --> A Hebrew idiom or custom; a peculiar expression or manner of speaking in the Hebrew language.
The type of character of the Hebrews.


hebraistic ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or resembling, the Hebrew language or idiom.

hebraist ::: n. --> One versed in the Hebrew language and learning.

hebraize ::: v. t. --> To convert into the Hebrew idiom; to make Hebrew or Hebraistic. ::: v. i. --> To speak Hebrew, or to conform to the Hebrew idiom, or to Hebrew customs.

hebrewess ::: n. --> An Israelitish woman.

hebrew ::: n. --> An appellative of Abraham or of one of his descendants, esp. in the line of Jacob; an Israelite; a Jew.
The language of the Hebrews; -- one of the Semitic family of languages. ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Hebrews; as, the Hebrew language or


He’, Hei (Hebrew) Hē’, Hēi The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, text, supposed to be a window or opening. Blavatsky suggests that its meaning in the Tetragrammaton (IHVH) text is that of a womb. The numerical value is 5.

He is one of many symbols of the mystic Christ, the God made man. Though the son of Father and Mother, he is identical with the Father. Adonis is identified with both Osiris and Horus; with the Semitic Thammuz in Ezekiel, Athamaz, Tamaz, and ’Adam Qadmon (SD 2:43-4); with the Indian Aditi; and the Hebrew Adon or ’Adonai. Adonis is spoken of as both a lunar and solar god, since what is solar from one point of view may be lunar from another — for instance, he may represent the sun in a lunar system. Adonis is connected with the solar year, as shown in the allegory of his six-months alternation.

Helios, Helion, Helius (Greek) The sun god, son of Hyperion and Theia, brother of Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn). He drives the chariot of the sun across the sky. Generally identical with Apollo or Phoebos; sol in Latin, sun in English, assimilated etymologically with the Hebrew ’El and ’elohim, the Chaldean Bel, and the Phoenician Ba‘al. Helios is paired with Selene the moon, as Sol is with Luna.

hell ::: v. t. --> The place of the dead, or of souls after death; the grave; -- called in Hebrew sheol, and by the Greeks hades.
The place or state of punishment for the wicked after death; the abode of evil spirits. Hence, any mental torment; anguish.
A place where outcast persons or things are gathered
A dungeon or prison; also, in certain running games, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
A gambling house.


Hesed or Chesed (Hebrew) Ḥesed [from ḥāsad to be zealous towards, to feel kindness and love for] Love, kindness; the fourth Sephirah, Mercy, Love, or Compassion, also called Gedulah (greatness, magnificence), emanated from the three preceding Sephiroth or first triad. Hesed is regarded as an active masculine potency, the second in the right pillar of the Sephirothal Tree. Its Divine Name is ’El (the mighty); in the Angelic Order it is represented as the Hashmaim (the scintillating flames), as of polished or burnished brass. In its application to the human body, regarded as the right arm, giving strength; while in its application to the seven globes of our planetary chain it corresponds to globe G. From this Sephiroth is emanated the fifth, Geburah.

Hezekiah (Hebrew) Ḥizqiyyāh Jehovah makes strong; according to the Bible, one of the greatest and best kings of Judah, the titular son of Ahaz and son-in-law of Isaiah. He sought to purge the religion and beliefs of the Jews: this is symbolized in the Bible as the breaking of the Brazen Serpent (2 Kings 18:4). “It was Hezekiah who was the expected Messiah of the exoteric state-religion. He was the scion from the stem of Jesse, who should recall the Jews from a deplorable captivity, about which the Hebrew historians seem to be very silent, . . . but which the irascible prophets imprudently disclose. If Hezekiah crushed the exoteric Baal-worship, he also tore violently away the people of Israel from the religion of their fathers, and the secret rites instituted by Moses” (IU 2:441).

Hierophant [from Greek hierophantes from hieros sacred + phainein to show] A revealer of sacred mysteries; title given to the highest adepts in the temples of antiquity, who taught and expounded the Mysteries. The attributes of a hierophant were those of Hermes or Mercury, being both expounder and mystagog or conductor of souls. In Hebrew an equivalent is found in the hierarchy of the ’elohim. Many names of man-gods refer to archaic hierophants, such as Orpheus, Enoch, etc. The hierophants of ancient Egypt handed down the sacred teachings, some of which were, however, lost by the deaths of hierophants before they had completed their message because, due to the degeneration which had come upon the West, they were unable to find appropriate pupils to receive the wisdom.

Hilkiah (Hebrew) Ḥilqiyyāh The high priest of Jerusalem during the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 22), who found again the manuscripts of the Bible. Blavatsky stresses the fact that he was unable to read “the Book of God,” and states that this copy disappeared (IU 2:470); and that the real Hebrew Bible was and is a volume partly written in cipher, which is what a large number of Qabbalists have always claimed. “What could remain, we ask, of the original writings of Moses, if such ever existed, when they had been lost for nearly 800 years and then found when every remembrance of them must have disappeared from the minds of the most learned, and Hilkiah has them re-written by Shaphan, the scribe?” (BCW 7:263).

Hillel, Heilel (Hebrew) Hēilel [from hālal to shine] Shining brightly or gloriously; used in Isaiah (14:12), referring to the king of Babylon: “How art thou fallen from the heavens, Lucifer [Hillel], Son of the Morning, how art thou cast down unto the earth, thou who didst cast down the nations.” (BCW 8:27-8n)

hin ::: n. --> A Hebrew measure of liquids, containing three quarts, one pint, one gill, English measure.

Hiram Abif, Huram Abif (Hebrew) Ḥīrām ’Ābīv, Ḥūrām ’Ābīv [from ḥāwar to become white or pale; or from ḥārāh to burn (as with ardor), be noble or free-born; or ḥāram to devote, consecrate as to religion or destruction, be killed or destroyed] The last derivation is descriptive of the character and fate (according to Masonic tradition) of Hiram Abif; while the second derivation befits the character of Hiram King of Tyre. Hiram Abif is described as a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali (1 Kings 7:14), and a skillful, knowledgeable man, a worker in gold, silver, brass, and iron, as was his father (2 Chron 2:12). Hiram Abif was sent by Hiram King of Tyre to King Solomon to aid in the building of his Temple.

Hiram, Huram, King of Tyre (Hebrew) Ḥīrām, Ḥūrām [from ḥāwar to become white or pale; or from ḥārāh to burn (as with ardor), be noble or free-born; or ḥāram to devote, consecrate as to religion or destruction, be killed or destroyed] A contemporary of the kings of Israel David and Solomon, who sent David cedar trees, carpenters, and masons in order to build him a house and who later, in response to a request from Solomon, sent timber from Lebanon and a skillful man, Hiram Abif or Huram ’abiu, to aid him in building Solomon’s Temple (2 Chron 3:12-13). All the ancient records speak of King Hiram as a master builder who built the temples of Hercules and Astarte, virtually rebuilt Tyre, and reconstructed the national temple of Melkarth (Melekartha). At the entrance to this temple were two pillars, one of gold and one of smaragdus or emerald, which probably were the immediate prototypes of the pillars Jachin and Boaz in front of the temple which Solomon later built with Hiram’s assistance, thus connecting the worship of Jehovah with that of Melkarth or Baal. The original prototype of these pillars were the Pillars of Hermes.

Hivim (Hebrew) Ḥiwwiyīm [from ḥāwāh to live, breathe] Plural of hivi (ḥiwwī), which mystically signifies a serpent; likewise one of the tribes mentioned in the Old Testament as originating from Canaan (Genesis 10:17), the serpent tribe of Palestine who were ministers to the temples, somewhat like the Levites or Ophites of Israel and Asia Minor respectively (cf IU 2:481).

Hochmah (Hebrew) Ḥokhmāh Also transliterated as Chochmah, Hhokhmah, Chokmah, etc. Wisdom; the second Sephirah, regarded in the Qabbalah as the first emanation from the first Sephirah, Kether. Wisdom is considered as a masculine active potency, and is therefore called ’Ab, the Father, to whom Binah, the Mother and third of the Sephiroth, is united. It is the head of one of the three pillars in the Sephirothal Tree, called the Column of Benignity, Mercy, or Grace, placed on the right side. Its Divine Name is Yah (a substitute for the mystery-name Iao), whereas the Divine Name for the third Sephirah is the so-called four-lettered name or Tetragrammaton IHVH — Jehovah. Among the angelic hosts it is represented by the ’ophanim, the wheels of Ezekiel’s vision. In its human application, Hochmah is represented as infilling the skull and brain, and less accurately as corresponding to the right shoulder. “Wisdom generates all things. By means of the 32 paths, Wisdom is spread throughout the universe, it gives to everything form and measure” (Zohar iii, 290a).

Hod (Hebrew) Hōd Splendor, glory, majesty; the eighth Sephirah, regarded in the Qabbalah as the emanation of the seven preceding Sephiroth. It is classed as a passive potency, feminine in aspect, forming the base of the left pillar of the Sephirothal Tree. Its Divine Name is ’Elohim Tseba’oth; in the angelic order it is represented as the Benei ’Elohim (Sons of God). In its application to the human body, as representative of ’Adam Qadmon (Heavenly Man), Hod is regarded as the left pillar or leg; while in its application to the seven globes of our planetary chain it corresponds to globe B (SD 1:200). From Hod is emanated the ninth Sephirah, Yesod.

Holy of Holies has a specific meaning in connection with the Jewish tabernacle, as explained in Exodus, referring to the inner part, the western division of the tabernacle. Three of the sides of the holy place were the walls of the tabernacle itself, while the fourth or eastern end of the sanctum was closed by a curtain or veil — upon which were the figures of the cherubim — suspended from four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold. The intention was to have this Holy of Holies in the shape of a perfect cube, the length, breath, and height being each ten cubits. In this sanctuary was placed the Ark of the Covenant or Testament, made of shittim wood overlaid with gold. Upon the Ark was the golden mercy-seat (the kapporeth), also two golden cherubim facing towards the center. Instead of being a “sarcophagus (the symbol of the matrix of Nature and resurrection) as in the Sanctum sanctorum of the pagans, they had the ark made still more realistic in its construction by the two cherubs set up on the coffer or ark of the covenant, facing each other, with their wings spread in such a manner as to form a perfect yoni (as now seen in India). Besides which, this generative symbol had its significance enforced by the four mystic letters of Jehovah’s name, namely hebrew text; or text meaning Jod (membrum Virile, see Kabala); text (He, the womb); text (Vau, a crook or a hook, a nail), and text again, meaning also ‘an opening’; the whole forming the perfect bisexual emblem or symbol or Y(e)H(o)V(a)H, the male and female symbol” (SD 2:460). However, “the worship of the ‘god in the ark’ dates only from David; and for a thousand years Israel knew of no phallic Jehovah” (SD 2:469). See also ARK

homer ::: n. --> A carrier pigeon remarkable for its ability to return home from a distance.
See Hoemother.
A Hebrew measure containing, as a liquid measure, ten baths, equivalent to fifty-five gallons, two quarts, one pint; and, as a dry measure, ten ephahs, equivalent to six bushels, two pecks, four quarts.


hook "programming" A {software} or {hardware} feature included in order to simplify later additions or changes by a user. For example, a simple program that prints numbers might always print them in base 10, but a more flexible version would let a variable determine what base to use; setting the variable to 5 would make the program print numbers in base 5. The variable is a simple hook. An even more flexible program might examine the variable and treat a value of 16 or less as the base to use, but treat any other number as the address of a user-supplied routine for printing a number. This is a {hairy} but powerful hook; one can then write a routine to print numbers as Roman numerals, say, or as Hebrew characters, and plug it into the program through the hook. Often the difference between a good program and a superb one is that the latter has useful hooks in judiciously chosen places. Both may do the original job about equally well, but the one with the hooks is much more flexible for future expansion of capabilities. {Emacs}, for example, is *all* hooks. The term "user exit" is synonymous but much more formal and less hackish. (1997-06-25)

hosanna ::: n. --> A Hebrew exclamation of praise to the Lord, or an invocation of blessings.

Hu’ (Hebrew) Hū’ The pronoun he or it; used in the Qabbalah to represent the Macroprosopus or macrocosm because Macroprosopus is not so closely known as to be addressed in the second person, but is called in the third person Hu’. “That, from which proceeds Ab, the ‘Father’; therefore the Concealed Logos” (TG 143).

hutchunsonian ::: n. --> A follower of John Hutchinson of Yorkshire, England, who believed that the Hebrew Scriptures contained a complete system of natural science and of theology.

Ialdabaoth’s mother, Sophia Achamoth (wisdom of the lower four of the cosmic planes) is the daughter or manifested reflection of the Heavenly Sophia — divine wisdom, or the mahat-side of akasa. Therefore Ialdabaoth is equivalent to the Nazarene Demiourgos of the Codex Nazaraeus, which makes him identical with the Hebrew Jehovah, the creator of the physical earth and the material side of the rector of the planet Saturn. He is also identical with Tsebaoth-Adamas, “the Pthahil of the Codex Nazaraeus, the Demiurge of the Valentinian system, the Proarchose of the Barbelitae, the Great Archon of Basilides and the Elohim of Justinus, etc. Ialdabaoth (the Child of Chaos) was . . . the Chief of the Creative Forces and the representative of one of the classes of Pitris” (BCW 13:43n). In the Ophite scheme he is the first of the superior septenate.

I Am That I Am (Hebrew) ’Ehyeh ’Asher ’Ehyeh A title given by Jehovah to himself, a variation of I-am-I, indicating that Jehovah, whatever he may claim to be, is merely one of the gods of the manifested world, a Demiourgos, and not the Supreme. See also ’EHYEH

  “I can only say that there is a strange mystery involved in the story of these two: Balsamo and Cagliostro. How strange is the statement, if true, that both had the name Pellegrini, which means Pilgrims! How strange is it that Giuseppe Balsamo is the Italian form of the name Joseph Balm, suggesting a healing influence; and that ‘Balsamo,’ whether rightly or wrongly, can be traced to a compound Semitic word which means ‘Lord of the Sun’ — ‘Son of the Sun’; while the Hebrew name Joseph signifies ‘increase’ or ‘multiplication.’ . . . How strange it is that Cagliostro was called an ‘orphan,’ the ‘unhappy child of Nature’! Every initiate . . . is an ‘orphan’ without father, without mother, because mystically speaking every initiate is self-born. How strange it is that other names under which Cagliostro is stated to have lived at various times have in each instance a singular esoteric signification! . . .

In Hebrew allegory the connection among the ideas associated with Jehovah is this same archaic verity which in Hebrew Qabbalistic thought is exemplified as ’Adam Qadmon; and the word transliterated as Jehovah in a collective sense refers to the Benei ’Elohim (sons of the gods).

In Christianity, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Ghost, who appears in that form to Jesus at his baptism. It is also often one of the four sacred animals which denote four important human principles along with the bull, the eagle, and the lion. These four animals in Greek mystic mythology are symbols respectively of the planets Venus, the Moon, Mercury (or Jupiter), and the Sun; but it is more properly here a seraph or cherub, the fiery-winged serpent or Agathodaimon. As a symbol of gentleness and love it is frequent in the Hebrew scriptures.

In later Babylonian history, one of the trinity Anu, Bel, and Ea, associated with the three divisions of the universe: heaven, earth, and the spatial or watery deep. In another aspect, Anu is identical with Sin (the moon). “And the Moon in the Hebrew Kabala is the Argha of the seed of all material life, and is still more closely connected, kabalistically, with Jehovah, who is double-sexed as Anu is. They are both represented in Esotericism and viewed from a dual aspect: male or spiritual, female or material, or Spirit and Matter, the two antagonistic principles” (SD 2:62). In the astrological theology of Babylonia and Assyria, Anu, Bel, and Ea became the northern, middle, and southern zones of the ecliptic respectively.

In later mythology Devaki became the anthropomorphized form of Aditi or cosmic space, just as the Hebrew Mary became a celestial entity. The seven sons of Devaki killed by Karsa before the birth of Krishna symbolize the seven human principles. We must rise above them before reaching the ideal, Krishna, the Christ or the Buddha state, thus centering ourselves in the highest, the seventh or first.

In Sanskrit the third sign is called Mithuna (pair, couple, also male and female); in the Hebrew system, assigning the twelve sons of Jacob to the twelve signs of the zodiac, Simeon and Levi represent Gemini.

interpret ::: v. t. --> To explain or tell the meaning of; to expound; to translate orally into intelligible or familiar language or terms; to decipher; to define; -- applied esp. to language, but also to dreams, signs, conduct, mysteries, etc.; as, to interpret the Hebrew language to an Englishman; to interpret an Indian speech.
To apprehend and represent by means of art; to show by illustrative representation; as, an actor interprets the character of Hamlet; a musician interprets a sonata; an artist interprets a


In the Hebrew Qabbalah the Kerubim are the class of angels or quasi-spiritual beings corresponding with the lower Shechinah or Malchuth, the lowest or tenth of the Sephiroth. Again, “the word cherub also meant serpent, in one sense, though its direct meaning is different; because the Cherubim and the Persian winged [gryphes] ‘griffins’ — the guardians of the golden mountain — are the same, and their compound name shows their character, as it is formed of (kr) circle, and ‘aub,’ or ob — serpent — therefore, a ‘serpent in a circle’ ” (SD 1:364). The color blue is associated with the Cherubim, as the color red is with the Seraphim.

In this connection “waters” in Hebrew often has the mystical significance of ethers or aether, and hence the division between the waters above and the waters below does not refer to the common fluid. In this sense firmament signifies one aspect of Ring-pass-not, the dividing line between one hierarchical division and another, which divisions, rings, or firmaments mutually support and complement each other, and thus build up the web or fabric of the cosmic structure.

Ioannes (Gnostic) “Ioannes, the Baptist who is usually associated with Waters, is but a Petro-Paulite name and symbol of the Hebrew Ionah [the Jonah swallowed by the whale] and the First Messenger, Assyrian Oannes . . . The fishermen and fishers of men in the Gospels are based on this mythos.” (Enoch, the Book of God 2:80, quoted BCW 3:217) Equivalent of John, Oannes, Dagon, and Vishnu, the personified microcosm (BCW 11:488).

Isarim (Hebrew) [from ’āsar to bind, confirm, frequently used in the sense of vows of abstinence.] A name for initiates or adepts among the ancient Hebrew, and particularly among the ancient Jewish Essenes, counterparts of the Egyptian hierophants.

’Ishin, ’Ishim (Hebrew, Chaldean) ’Īshīn, ’Īshīm In the Qabbalah, a lower order of angels, ranking ninth in the hierarchy of angels, corresponding to the Sephirah Yesod. The Zohar depicts the ’ishin as chained on a mountain in the desert, alluding to them as chained to the earth during the cycle of incarnation. The ’ishim are otherwise the Benei ’Elohim, who in human evolution were the prototypes of the fallen angels who by their fall made of the mindless races of protoplastic humanity the thinking and self-conscious human beings that men now are. Thus they correspond to the manasaputras . . . The ’ishin are also said to help magicians produce homunculi (SD 2:376). See also AZAZEL

Israel (Hebrew) Yiśrā’ēl [from yāshar upright, straight, righteous + ’ēl a divinity] The national designation of the Jews, principally applied in Jewish history to the northern kingdom as distinct from Judah; later it referred to the Jews as a religious community united under the national god Jehovah. The name was assigned to Jacob (Genesis 32:28), who was regarded as the parent of the twelve tribes.

israelite ::: n. --> A descendant of Israel, or Jacob; a Hebrew; a Jew.

israelitish ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Israel, or to the Israelites; Jewish; Hebrew.

Jabal (Hebrew) Yābāl Stream; in the Bible, the son of Lamech and Adah: “he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle” (Genesis 4:20). Blavatsky compares Jabal to the kabiri who were the instructors of mankind in agriculture (SD 2:390).

Jachin (Hebrew) Yākhīn The right-hand pillar set up before the temple of Solomon by Hiram (1 Kings 7:21). From the Qabbalistic standpoint, Jachin is the right pillar of the Sephirothal Tree composed of Hochmah (wisdom), Hesed (mercy), and Netsah (firmness). Its companion Boas (Bo‘az), the left pillar, consists of Binah (intelligence), Geburah (strength), and Hod (splendor). Jachin and Boaz together represent the dual manas, or higher and lower ego.

Jacob (Hebrew) Ya‘aqob The younger son of Isaac, founder of the nation of the Israelites, and twin brother of Esau; the Israelites are occasionally called Beith ya‘aqob (house of Jacob). The twins symbolize the dual principle in nature, Jacob being the feminine and Esau the masculine principle.

jacob ::: n. --> A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel.

Jah (Hebrew) Yāh [from hāyāh to be, come to pass, become] An abbreviation of Jehovah — although probably the original from which Jehovah is derived — occurring especially in the phrase “Jah is his name.” It signifies cosmic being, albeit in a restricted sense. In the Qabbalah, Jah is the divine name of the Sephirah Hochmah; also the masculine aspect of the hermaphrodite conception of Jehovah. See also JAH-HAVAH; JAH-VEH; JEHOVAH

Jah-Veh (Hebrew) YHVH One transliteration of Jehovah, referring specifically to Genesis 4:26: “then men began to call themselves Jehovah,” i.e., they knew themselves to be then males and females.

Japheth (Hebrew) Yefeth The second son of Noah, supposed to be the ancestor of the northern and western nations, and of the Indo-European stocks. Blavatsky equates Japheth with the titan Iapetus (SD 2:344).

Jared, Yered (Hebrew) Yered [from the verbal root yārad to descend] In Genesis 5, a decedent of Seth and son of Mahalaleel; his life-span is given as 962 years — representing a cycle of a race and identified with the third root-race (SD 2:597). His son was Enoch, father of Methuselah. See also CAIN

Jasher, Book of; Sepher Hay-Yashar (Hebrew) Sēfer hay-Yāshār Book of the upright or honorable ones; a poetic collection of Hebrew stories and allegories portraying the religious beliefs of the people of the time of its compilation. Regarded by some scholars as a 12th century composition in Spain, others hold it is not earlier than the time of Solomon. At all events, the Book of Jasher is older than the Mosaic Pentatuech, because references to it are found in Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel, and Isaiah. “Although rejected by the orthodox Rabbis, we cannot help thinking that, as in the case of the apocryphal Gospels, . . . the Book of Jasher is the true original from which the subsequent Bible was in part composed. . . . both are corner-stones of the Mosaic and Christian religions” (IU 2:399).

Java Aleim (Hebrew) Yĕhovāh ’Elōhīm More commonly Jehovah Elohim. Lord God — in Genesis (ch 1) the word ’elohim is used; in chapter 2, Yehovah or Lord makes its appearance; and elsewhere the words are combined into Yehovah ’Elohim. In the esoteric philosophy of Mesopotamia, used as a term for the head of a college of priests (’Elohim) which at one time flourished in Chaldea; the possessor of the “word,” passing it on to his successor only at the moment of death. See also ELOHIM

Jehovah: (Hebrew Yahveh, of doubtful origin and meaning) Personal name of God or the supreme being in Hebrew theological and philosophical writings, common only since the 14th century; the national god of Israel since Mosaic times. Neither name was originally pronounced as written on account of its holiness, but was replaced by Elohim and Adonai. -- K.F.L.

Jehovah (Hebrew) Yĕhovāh In the Bible, the god of the Hebrews; a modern mispronunciation of the Hebrew alphabetic characters, resulting from the combining by the Jews themselves of the Hebrew consonants of this word (YHVH) with the vowels of the word Adonai (my lords) because the Jews, while always writing or copying the alphabetic characters of the name correctly in their manuscripts, when reading it never pronounced the word YHVH, but read “Adonai” in its stead — writing the Massoretic points of Adonai to vocalize YHVH to produce Yahovah. Consequently when the Bible came to be studied by those unfamiliar with the real pronunciation of YHVH, it was read in various ways, commonly as Jehovah. It is now held by some scholars that YHVH should be pronounced yahweh or yave. It is also given as Yihweh (he will be, or it will be) (SD 2:129). However, Josephus, a priest who undoubtedly knew the correct pronunciation, wrote that it would be highly unlawful for him to divulge it as the Jews regarded it as too holy to pronounce aloud.

Jehovah: (From the Hebrew Yahveh, of doubtful origin and meaning.) Personal name of God or the supreme being in Hebrew theological and philosophical writings, common only since the 14th century; the national god of Israel since Mosaic times. Neither name was originally pronounced as written on account of its holiness, but was replaced by Elohim and Adonai.

Jehovah Nissi (Hebrew) Yĕhovāh Nissī [from nēs lofty, an elevation + ī mine] Jehovah, my elevation; in the Bible the altar built by Moses (Ex 17:15); Blavatsky maintains that this aspect of Jehovah was equivalent to Dionysos or Bacchus, and that the Jews worshiped this deity (the androgyne of Nissi) as the Greeks might have worshiped Bacchus and Osiris. Tradition has it that Bacchus was reared in a cave of Nysa, which is between Phoenicia and Egypt. As the son of Zeus, he was named for his father (gen Dios) and the place: Dio-Nysos (the Zeus or Jove of Nysa). Diodorus identifies this Dionysos with Osiris.

jehovist ::: n. --> One who maintains that the vowel points of the word Jehovah, in Hebrew, are the proper vowels of that word; -- opposed to adonist.
The writer of the passages of the Old Testament, especially those of the Pentateuch, in which the Supreme Being is styled Jehovah. See Elohist.


Jehovists one of the two main trends of ancient Jewish religious thought, the other being the Elohists. “The portions belonging to these respectively are so blended together, so completely mixed up by later hands, that often all external characteristics are lost. Yet it is also known that the two schools were antagonistic; that the one taught esoteric, the other exoteric, or theological doctrines; that the one, the Elohists, were Seers (Roeh), whereas the other, the Jehovists, were prophets (Nabi), and that the latter — who later became Rabbis — were generally only nominally prophets by virtue of their official position, . . . That, again, the Elohists meant by ‘Elohim’ ‘forces,’ identifying their Deity, as in the Secret Doctrine, with Nature; while the Jehovists made of Jehovah a personal God externally, and used the term simply as a phallic symbol — a number of them secretly disbelieving even in metaphysical, abstract Nature, and synthesizing all on the terrestrial scale. Finally, the Elohists made of man the divine incarnate image of the Elohim, emanated first in all Creation; and the Jehovists show him as the last, the crowing glory of the animal creation, instead of his being the head of all the sensible beings on earth” (BCW 14:183-4). David is said to have introduced this worship in Judea after living among the Tyrians and Philistines where such rites and beliefs were common: “David knew nothing of Moses, it seems, and if he introduced the Jehovah-worship, it was not in its monotheistic character, but simply as that of one of the many [Kabeirean] gods of the neighbouring nations — a tutelary deity of his own [hebrew characters]to whom he had given the preference, and chosen among ‘all other [Kabeiri] gods,” (IU 2:45). Blavatsky holds that the Jehovists altered the Mosaic texts. ( )

Jerusalem (Hebrew) Yĕrūshālēm, Yĕrūshālayim Represents the earth; in Christian and Qabbalistic symbology, also the city of God or the heavenly Jerusalem, the goal of human spiritual attainment. “In Hebrew it is written Yrshlim or ‘city of peace,’ but the ancient Greeks called it pertinently Hierosalem or ‘Secret Salem,’ since Jerusalem is a rebirth from Salem of which Melchizedek was the King-Hierophant, a declared Astrolator and worshipper of the Sun, ‘the Most High’ . . .” (TG 164). Plutarch relates that Typhon or Set after a long battle with Horus fled on an ass in to Palestine and there founded Hierosolymus and Judaeus — these two names meaning Jerusalem and the Jews (Isis and Osiris, sec 31).

Jesus [Latin of Greek Iesous from Hebrew Yēshūa‘ contraction of Yĕhōshua‘ a proper name meaning savior or helper, or that which is spacious or widespread] Indubitably a historical character, whose life as narrated in the Gospels is pure allegory, a story of the initiation chamber. There is a story current from medieval times among the Jews, mentioned in the Sepher Toledoth Yeshua‘ (Book of the Generations of Jesus), to the effect that the Jesus of the Gospels was a Jehoshua ben Panthera, a Jewish adept living about 100 BC. Jesus illustrates the typical sequence in occult history: 1) the coming of a leader or teacher to a people needing to be led and taught; 2) his passing, followed by the adoration, even worship, of his followers; 3) the gradual transformation of historic facts into more or less embroidered legends or mythological tales, which in time cluster so thickly about his memory that his identity as a person, and even his name, are lost; 4) the myth, allegory, or legend; and 5) the efforts of other, later teachers to explain, interpret, and reinstate this earlier teacher, now a purely mythic figure or else materialized and misunderstood.

Jethro (Hebrew) Yithrō Also called Reuel (Exodus 2). In the Bible the father of seven daughters: one, Zipporah, he gave in marriage to Moses. These daughters represent his various spiritual, intellectual, and psychic powers and faculties, as the offspring of the monadic or egoic center.

jewess ::: fem. --> A Hebrew woman.

jewish ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Jews or Hebrews; characteristic of or resembling the Jews or their customs; Israelitish.

jew ::: n. --> Originally, one belonging to the tribe or kingdom of Judah; after the return from the Babylonish captivity, any member of the new state; a Hebrew; an Israelite.

Jinshnu (Sanskrit) Jiṣṇu [from the verbal root ji to win, conquer] Victorious, triumphant, winning; as a proper noun, a name of Vishnu and of Indra, equivalent of the Hebrew Michael, the leader of the archangels. Also applied to Arjuna as the son of Indra.

Job (Hebrew) ’Iyyōb Persecuted, tried; one of the books in the Bible, depicting the story of Job, regarded by Blavatsky as far older than the Pentateuch. She points out that there is no reference to any of the Hebrew patriarchs, that Jehovah is not mentioned in the poem itself, that there is no mention of the Sabbatical institution, and that there is a direct discussion on the worship of the heavenly bodies (prevailing in those days in Arabia). “The Book of Job is a complete representation of ancient initiation and the trials which generally precede this grandest of all ceremonies. The neophyte perceives himself deprived of everything he valued, and afflicted with foul disease. His wife appeals to him to adore God and die; there was no more hope for him” (IU 2:494-5). Elihu the hierophant teaches Job, now ready to learn the meaning of his experience, and Job is able to contact his own higher self or inner god.

John the Baptist Considered by Christians the last of the Hebrew prophets and the forerunner and announcer of Jesus. His statement “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matt 3:11), is explained to mean that John as a non-initiate could impart no greater mysteries than those pertaining to the plane of matter — the exoteric gnosis and ritualism; while Jesus could impart the fire of spiritual knowledge (SD 2:566). His disciples are described as dissenters from the Essenes (IU 2:130).

Jonah, Jonas (Hebrew) Yōnāh Dove; a Hebrew prophet, son of Amitai, about whom the Bible story relates that he heard the voice of the Lord commanding him to go to Nineveh and cry out against the city because of its wickedness. But instead of following the command, Jonah set off upon a vessel bound to Jaffa, was subsequently cast overboard and swallowing by a “big fish,” in which he remains three days. This is reminiscent of the three days allotted to the initiation experience, and also of the fact that fish is a mystery-term imbodying the idea of either an advanced adept whose consciousness swims in the ether of space or, as in this place, an emblem of the initiation chamber. Further, primitive Christians often spoke of Jesus as the big fish and of themselves as little fishes (pisciculi).

jonah ::: n. --> The Hebrew prophet, who was cast overboard as one who endangered the ship; hence, any person whose presence is unpropitious.

Jordan (Hebrew) Yardēn “The flowing” (a river) — with a collateral idea of descent from a higher place, in which lies its mystical significance. “Many Christian hymns speak of the mystical Jordan and of reaching the ‘shore beyond,’ a conception which appears to be more or less identic with that of Buddhism. ‘This side’ is the life of the world, the usual or common pursuits of men. The ‘other shore’ is simply the life spiritual, involving the expansion in relatively full power and function of the entire range of man’s nature. In other words, to reach the ‘other shore’ means living at one with the divinity within, and hence partaking of the universal life in relatively full self-consciousness” (FSO 43-4). This symbolism applies to other holy rivers, such as the Nile and Ganges.

Joseph (Hebrew) Yōsēf [from yāsaf to increase, enlarge] In the Old Testament (Genesis 37-50), the eleventh son of Jacob, first by his favorite wife Rachel; known for his coat of many colors, he was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and later was instrumental in the Jews settling in Egypt. Joseph “was an Initiate, otherwise he would not have married Aseneth, the daughter of Petephre (’Potiphar’ — ‘he who belongs to Phre,’ the Sun-God), priest of Heliopolis and governor of On” (BCW 14:357). His second dream that “the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance” to Joseph (Genesis 37:9-10) may be a reference to the zodiac, the eleven “stars” or zodiacal constellations bowing to the twelfth because that one was “his star.” The twelve sons of Jacob are also a reference to the twelve signs of the zodiac, Joseph corresponding to Sagittarius (SD 1:649).

Joshua, Josue (Hebrew) Yĕhōshua‘ In the Old Testament, son of Nun (nun, “fish”) and successor of Moses, who led the Israelites in the invasion and settlement of Caanan; in the Middle Ages, rated among the “Nine Worthies.” Moses died or disappeared “from the top of Mount Pisgah (Nebo, oracular Wisdom), after he had laid his hands upon Joshua, who thus became ‘full of the spirit of wisdom,’ i.e., initiated” (BCW 14:264-5). Jesus [from Hebrew Yeshua‘ contraction of Yehoshua‘ savior, helper, or that which is spacious or widespread] is sometimes identified with Joshua, Qabbalistically.

Jubal (Hebrew) Yūbāl [from yābēl to flow, stream forth] River, stream; in the Bible the son of Lamech and Adah: “father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (Genesis 4:21). Jubal is compared to the kabiri who “fabricated the harp for Kronos and the trident for Poseidon” (SD 2:390).

jubilee ::: n. --> Every fiftieth year, being the year following the completion of each seventh sabbath of years, at which time all the slaves of Hebrew blood were liberated, and all lands which had been alienated during the whole period reverted to their former owners.
The joyful commemoration held on the fiftieth anniversary of any event; as, the jubilee of Queen Victoria&


Kadmon (Hebrew) Qadmōn Eastern, first; when used with Adam, the compound means primeval cosmic man, the aggregate of the ten Sephiroth or the creative or Third Logos. See also ’ADAM QADMON

Kadosh [from Hebrew qodesh consecrated, holy] One of the degrees pertaining to Freemasonry, associated with the Knights Templars, instituted at Lyons, France, 1743. See also QODESH

Kadush (Gnostic) [from Hebrew qādōsh holy, sacred] The holy one; one name of the sun in the Codex Nazaraeus.

Karshipta, Karshift (Pahlavi) The holy bird of the Zoroastrians who brought the law of Mazda into the Vara (man). “Karshipta is the human mind-soul, and the deity thereof, symbolized in ancient Magianism by a bird, as the Greeks symbolized it by a butterfly. No sooner had Karshipta entered the Vara or man, than he understood the law of Mazda, or Divine Wisdom. . . . With the Kabalists it was a like symbol. ‘Bird’ was a Chaldean, and has become a Hebrew synonym and symbol for Angel, a Soul, a Spirit, or Deva; and the ‘Bird’s Nest’ was with both Heaven, and is God’s bosom in the Zohar” (SD 2:292). The Egyptians also spoke of the spiritual swallow, the soul-bird — manas.

Kasdim (Aramaic) Kaśdīm [plural of kaśdī Chaldean] Chaldeans; the Hebrew word kashdim means the inhabitants of Babylonia, also astrologers.

Kavod: A Hebrew Kabalistic term for Divine Glory.

Kavvanah: A Hebrew mystical term, meaning intention or devotion. (Plural: Kavvanoth.) “The intention directed towards God while performing a (religious) deed. In the Kabbalah, kavvanoth denote the permutations of the divine name that aim at overcoming the separation of forces in the Upper World.” (M. Buber.) The word means also a devoted prayer delivered with great concentration.

Kelim (Hebrew) Kēlīm Vessels, utensils; in space the Qabbalists depicted a great source or fountain of life, which becomes the beginning of a number of cosmic vases or vessels — the kelim — which are the ten Sephiroth; through which all the energies, forms, and innumerable manifested objects come into being. This source of lives, the Crown or Kether, corresponds to the productive or generative Brahma, which just before the beginning of manvantaric manifestation was nonmanifest in the bosom of its higher essence, Brahman or parabrahman. When Brahma awakens to new activity and thus becomes what Western religion and philosophy call the Creator, the cosmic demiurge or former, then the various vessels or vases spring into being, and flow forth from Brahma, the Father-Mother. Being termed vessels simply signifies that the cosmic Sephiroth are the holders or containers of all the powers, faculties, forces, attributes, etc., which bring about the building of the manifested universe, enshrining as the Sephiroth do the unfolding of the energies of the Divine in the latter’s activity during manifestation.

Kerenhappuch (Hebrew) Qeren Happūkh Horn of paint, horn of antimony, or horn of Amalthea or plenty; in the Bible the third daughter of Job (42:14). HPB writes that this is a Pagan mythological name, not in its words but in its significance, and that it shows that the Book of Job is the work of an Initiate: “The presence in the Septuagint of this heroine of Pagan fable, shows the ingorance of the transcribers of its meaning as well as the exoteric origin of the Book of Job” (IU 2:496)

Kesil (Hebrew) Kĕsīl [from kāsal to be heavy, sluggish, stupid, foolish] Fool, dullard; the constellation Orion. In the plural, constellations.

Kether (Hebrew) Kether Crown; in the Qabbalah, the name of the first Sephirah which is regarded as the first condensation of spiritual substance around the monadic center, this gathering together being the first reflection — the number 1 — from manifested nonbeing or ’eyn soph, the mystical kosmic womb of being represented figuratively as the Zero. Kether is termed the Primordial Point (nequdah ri’shonah) and the Expanded or Evolved Point (nequdah peshutah) because when the first reflection from above or condensation from ’eyn soph occurred, it was figurated as a point or monadic garment.

Kimah (Hebrew) Kīmāh [from kūm to heap, cluster together; or from kāmah to long for, be in love with something cf Sanskrit the verbal root kam] The Pleiades, known as the seven stars; mentioned in the Bible as bringing a sweet and gentle influence upon earth and men (Job 38:31).

Kishuph: In Hebrew Kabalistic terminology, magic and its effects.

Koah hag-Guph (Hebrew) Kōaḥ hag-Gūf [from kōaḥ power, strength, aptness + gūf body, vehicle, shell] Also Choach-ha-guf, ko’h-ha-guph, etc. The body of (vital) strength; equivalent to the model-body or linga-sarira in the sevenfold classification of human principles (cf SD 2:633).

Kokab (Hebrew) Kōkhāb A shining celestial body, stars or planets, with the implication of a living being of celestial character; hence stellar light. In the Qabbalah and elsewhere in ancient Hebrew writings, frequently used for the planet Mercury.

Kol-arbas (Hebrew) Qōl-’arba‘ Voice of the (sacred) four, voice of the Holy Tetrad; the sacred number four in the Valentinian Gnostic system — equivalent in many respects to the Pythagorean sacred tetrad, cosmogonically or pneumatologically as the higher four principles in the human constitution.

Kothnoth ‘Or (Hebrew) Kothnōth ‘Ōr [from kuthoneth undergarment, tunic, close coat + ‘ōr skin, whether human or animal] Also Chitonuth-our. Coats of skin; used in Genesis (3:21): “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin, and clothed them,” referring to the third root-race when truly astral humanity became physicalized or carnalized, thus receiving a body of flesh or coat of skin.

Kwan-yin is the Chinese counterpart from one point of view of the Egyptian Isis, the Hebrew Bath-Qol — the “daughter of the (Divine) Voice” — and of the Hindu Vach. “She is male and female ad libitum, as Eve is with Adam. And she is a form of Aditi — the principle higher than Ether — in Akasa, the synthesis of all the forces in Nature; thus Vach and Kwan-Yin are both the magic potency of Occult sound in Nature and Ether — which ‘Voice’ calls forth Sien-Tchan, the illusive form of the Universe out of Chaos and the Seven Elements” (SD 1:137).

Lahash (Hebrew) Laḥash A whispering, sighing, or praying for help; magic, conjuration. Qabbalistically, the secret speech, “nearly identical in meaning with Vach, the hidden power of the Mantras” (SD 1:354).

Lamech (Hebrew) Lemech In the Bible, a son of Methusael (a descendant of Cain), and also a son of Methuselah (a descendant of Seth) and the father of Noah (Genesis 4:18-24; 5:25-31). Genesis 4:16 through ch 5 “give purely historical facts; though the latter were never correctly interpreted. . . . Every woman is an euhemerized land or city; every man and patriarch a race, a branch, or a subdivision of a race. The wives of Lamech give the key to the riddle which some good scholar might easily master, even without studying the esoteric sciences” (IU 1:579).

Later Qabbalists regarded the kelim as being connected with the 22 canals — equivalent to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet; which with the ten Sephiroth make the 32 paths of wisdom.

Lebanah (Hebrew) Lĕbānāh White; name for the moon used only in poetry, referring to the moon as a planet and astrological influence (TG 188).

Lebanon (Hebrew) Lĕbānōn A mountain range in Syria and Palestine of two principal chains, Lebanon or Libanus on the west and Antilibanus on the east. In this region dwell the brotherhood of the Druzes and likewise the Nabatheans. Lebanon is most often associated with its cedars; however, the phrase cedars of Lebanon also meant initiants who “were called the ‘trees of Righteousness,’ and the cedars of Lebanon, as also were come kings of Israel” (SD 2:494). In India too adepts were sometimes called trees.

Leo The lion; the fifth sign of the zodiac (in Sanskrit Simha or Sinha). It is a masculine sign, fiery and fixed, corresponding in the human body to the heart and being the only house of the sun. Among the twelve sons of Jacob in the allocation according to the Hebrew system, it is Judah, who is described as a lion’s whelp. In respect to the hierarchy of creative powers, “The highest group is composed of the divine Flames, so-called, also spoken of as the ‘Fiery Lions’ and the ‘Lions of Life,’ whose esotericism is securely hidden in the Zodiacal sign of Leo. It is the nucleole of the superior divine World. . . . They are the formless Fiery Breaths, identical in one aspect with the upper Sephirothal Triad, which is placed by the Kabalists in the ‘Archetypal World’ ” (SD 1:213).

Leviathan (Hebrew) Liwĕyāthān Foldings, turnings, windings, hence whatever is infolded or wound. Mystically time as the great serpent of cyclic or circling time, likewise space and the various phenomena that happen in space such as the turnings and windings of forces as manifested by electricity in lightning or thunderbolt. Ancient Hebrew Biblical esotericism made of Leviathan a great sea monster, with particular reference to the waters of space. In its exalted sense it means the cycling and everlasting motion of divinity in duration and in abstract space; its concrete or lowest aspect signifies the apparently unregulated, winding, turbulent forces of the material worlds — also inimical forces which seem antagonistic to the spiritual and intellectual balance of him who strives upwards. One significance was that of a great serpent or crocodile — it is sometimes compared to the Hindu Makara; another is “Deity in its double manifestation of good and evil” (TG 188).

leviticus ::: n. --> The third canonical book of the Old Testament, containing the laws and regulations relating to the priests and Levites among the Hebrews, or the body of the ceremonial law.

lexicon ::: n. --> A vocabulary, or book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language or of a considerable number of them, with the definition of each; a dictionary; especially, a dictionary of the Greek, Hebrew, or Latin language.

Lilin (Aramaic) Līlīn. In the Hebrew Qabbalah, a name for those general classes of astral and semi-astral entities who in the early times of the human race, notably during the third root-race, were the offspring of unconscious sorcery arising in intercourse between the unconscious mankind of those times and astral or semi-astral entities lower than man. For this reason in the Qabbalah they are inaccurately but graphically called demons. Referred to as children of Lilith and their descendants.

Lilith (Hebrew) Līlīth [from layil night] In popular Jewish legend a female demon, commonly but erroneously supposed to be nocturnal, counterpart of the Babylo-Assyrian Lilit or Lilu. In Rabbinical writings Lilith is the first consort or wife of the mindless Adam, and it was from the snares of Eve-Lilith that the second Eve, the woman, become his savior (IU 2:445).

lock-in "standard" When an existing standard becomes almost impossible to supersede because of the cost or logistical difficulties involved in convincing all its users to switch something different and, typically, {incompatible}. The common implication is that the existing standard is notably inferior to other comparable standards developed before or since. Things which have been accused of benefiting from lock-in in the absence of being truly worthwhile include: the {QWERTY} keyboard; any well-known {operating system} or programming language you don't like (e.g., see "{Unix conspiracy}"); every product ever made by {Microsoft Corporation}; and most currently deployed formats for transmitting or storing data of any kind (especially the {Internet Protocol}, 7-bit (or even 8-bit) {character sets}, analog video or audio broadcast formats and nearly any file format). Because of {network effects} outside of just computer networks, {Real World} examples of lock-in include the current spelling conventions for writing English (or French, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.); the design of American money; the imperial (feet, inches, ounces, etc.) system of measurement; and the various and anachronistic aspects of the internal organisation of any government (e.g., the American Electoral College). (1998-01-15)

log ::: n. --> A Hebrew measure of liquids, containing 2.37 gills.
A bulky piece of wood which has not been shaped by hewing or sawing.
An apparatus for measuring the rate of a ship&


Logograms [from Greek logos words + gramma letter] A single letter or other sign representing a whole word. Many ancient esoteric writings are written wholly or partially in logograms, such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, certain names in the Vedas, and to some extent in the Bible, so that they have a hidden meaning beneath the sense of the words and sentences. The Chinese written language itself is logographical. In Hebrew and Greek, letters represent numbers, which also is often a key to hidden meanings. See also GEMATRIA

Logos (Greek) plural logoi. Word; expressive cosmic intelligence manifested in every rational being. With Plato, that power of the mind which is manifested in speech; its relation to nous or intelligence is not always clearly distinguished. With reference to the logos in man, an important distinction was made by the ancients between the logos endiathetos (ideal or unspoken word) and the logos prophorikos (expressed or spoken word), the former being an unexpressed idea in the mind. The word was adopted by Christian theologians mingled with ideas taken from the Hebrews, used in the second sense, as found in the first chapter of John, where the Logos seems almost anthropomorphized.

Mabbul (Hebrew) Mabbūl A flood, deluge, inundation. “Esoterically, the periodical outpourings of astral impurities on to the earth; periods of psychic crimes and iniquities, or of regular moral cataclysms” (TG 211).

Macroprosopus (Latin) [from Greek makros great + prosopon face] Also Long Face, Great or Vast Countenance. Coined by medieval Qabbalists to translate the Chaldee phrase ’Arich ’Anpin (great face), one of the names of the first emanation of the Sephirothal Tree, Kether the Crown. Generally regarded as the universe in its totality, “in the Chaldean Kabal, a pure abstraction; the Word or logos, or dabar (in Hebrew), which Word, though it becomes in fact a plural number, or ‘Words’ — d(a)B(a)Rim, when it reflects itself, or falls into the aspect of a Host (of angels, or Sephiroth, ‘numbers’) is still collectively One, and on the ideal plane a nought — 0, a ‘No-thing.’ It is without form or being, ‘with no likeness with anything else’ ” (SD 1:350). The originator of the succeeding nine emanated Sephiroth which, flowing forth from the Crown, are collectively called Microprosopus.

Maggid: Hebrew for preacher. (Plural: Maggidim.) “The Maggidim were partly itinerant preachers, partly regularly appointed community preachers; some of the latter at times served as wandering preachers. The term also refers to a spirit that appears to the select and reveals to them secrets of the teachings and the future.” (M. Buber.)

Makom: A Hebrew mystical designation of God, as the One in whom everything that is existing exists.

maneh ::: n. --> A Hebrew weight for gold or silver, being one hundred shekels of gold and sixty shekels of silver.

Masorah or Masoreth (Hebrew) Massōrāh, Massōreth Division, separation, arrangement, supposedly based upon tradition; applied to a school of rabbis in Palestine which flourished towards the commencement of the Christian era. Scholars differ as to the exact date during which the work was in process of perpetuating the alleged traditional method of vocalizing, and hence of pronouncing the vowelless Hebrew Manuscripts of the Bible by means of “points” or “punctating,” but assign the 7th century as the date of completion of the texts. This work in vocalization enabled the rabbis to place virtually any interpretation that they desired upon the vowelless Hebrew texts. See also MASORETIC POINTS

masora ::: n. --> A Jewish critical work on the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, composed by several learned rabbis of the school of Tiberias, in the eighth and ninth centuries.

Masoretic Points or Vowels A system adopted by the College of the Massoretes where certain signs were added to the vowelless consonants of the Hebrew manuscripts, in order to supply vowels as well as to mark the division of the consonants into words — hence the term Massorah — thus enabling a reader to give the supposedly correct meaning, pronunciation, and intonation of the texts when read in the synagogue or to oneself. Hebrew, written originally without any spaces between the words, naturally called for some system of division, or vocalizing the series of consonants, and hence arose the usage of the Massoretic points or vowels. The vowel indications consist for the most part of dots and dashes, commonly termed points, and the placing of these dots and points is called puctating. This method of puctating was developed in the schools of Palestine, some say mainly by the rabbis of the School of Tiberias; another system, however, was used in Babylon, which differed in notation rather than in pronunciation. For an illustration of the method of employing differing vowels to the same Hebrew consonants, see also BERE’SHITH

Mazzaroth (Hebrew) Mazzārōth [probably from the verbal root nāzar to consecrate] The consecrated or holy; the twelve constellations of the zodiac. The more common form of the word is Mazzālōth [from nāzal to flow, distill, run] with reference to the universal belief that the celestial bodies distill or flow forth influences affecting the earth and all beings on it.

Meborach, Meborakh (Hebrew) Mĕborākh [from bārakh to bless] The holy, the blessed; a participle commonly used as a reverential title or name for the divinity.

Messiah; Messias: In Hebrew mysticism, the Savior who will come to restore the Chosen People to its rightful place in the world.

messiah ::: n. --> The expected king and deliverer of the Hebrews; the Savior; Christ.

Metatron: According to the Hebrew Kabbalah, the angel who inhabits the Briatic world (see Briah), constituting the world of true spirit and governing the visible world.

mezuzoth ::: n. --> A piece of parchment bearing the Decalogue and attached to the doorpost; -- in use among orthodox Hebrews.

Michael (Hebrew) Mīkhā’ēl Who is as God; one of the seven archangels, in the Old Testament one of the chiefs of the heavenly host, regarded as the guardian angel or celestial patron of Israel. According to one legend, Michael was chief of the four or seven angels who surrounded the heavenly throne. The Roman Catholic Church regards Michael in much the same light, his festival, Michaelmas, being held on September 29. With the Gnostics, the first of the Aeons, called the savior. In the New Testament Michael leads the angelic host against the Apocalyptic Dragon, repeating the familiar tale of many ancient mythologies. Again, he is the chief opponent of Samael, the principal antagonist of the heavenly host. Originally, however, both Michael and Samael were as one, both proceeding from ruah (soul), neshamah (spirit), and nephesh (vitality) — as taught in the Qabbalah (in the Chaldean Book of Numbers). “Samael is the concealed (occult) Wisdom, and Michael the higher terrestrial Wisdom, both emanating from the same source but diverging after their issue from the mundane soul, which on Earth is Mahat (intellectual understanding), or Manas (the seat of Intellect). They diverge, because one (Michael) is influenced by Neschamah, while the other (Isamael) remains uninfluenced. This tenet was perverted by the dogmatic spirit of the Church; which . . . made of Samael-Satan (the most wise and spiritual spirit of all) — the adversary of its anthropomorphic God and sensual physical man, the devil!” (SD 2:378).

Midrash: Hebrew for interpretation (plural: Midrashim). Midrashim are books interpreting the Holy Scriptures.

Midrash (Hebrew) Midrāsh [from dārash to search out, inquire] Any exegetical exposition, interpretation, or commentary treating of the Jewish scriptures; often used in the plural, Midrashim.

midrash ::: n. --> A talmudic exposition of the Hebrew law, or of some part of it.

Mishnah: Hebrew for repetition; the name of the older part of the Talmud (q.v.), containing Jewish laws and traditions from the close of the Old Testament till the end of the second century A.D., when it was compiled.

Mishnah or Mishneh (Hebrew) Mishnāh, Mishneh [from shānāh to do something a second time, repeat] That which has been done a second time, a repetition; hence that which is handed on by repetition, oral tradition.

Mizraim (Hebrew) Mitsrayim The Biblical name for Egypt, the word being in the dual signifying the two Egypts.

Moloch (Hebrew) Molekh Royal, king — another form of the more usual melekh; an idol of the Moabites and the Ammonites, also called Milcom, to which Jews after the time of Solomon are said to have sacrificed infants. Some scholars suggest that the Hebrews looked upon Moloch as the title of Yahweh or Yihweh (Jehovah). Even when occurring in the Bible the rendering is “the Molech,” and the idea is that of dedication — “to make one’s son or daughter pass through fire to (the) Molech” (2 King 23:10); and Jeremiah seems to indicate that immolation was practiced. Nothing of such a practice has been discovered in the ancient Assyrian or Babylonian empires, but ancient Greek writers have suggested that the Phoenicians had such a custom. Diodorus (19:14) mentions a Carthaginian idol made of brass into which children were placed, and compares it to the child-eating Kronos. Blavatsky suggests that the Moloch of the Ammonites was the King of the Hosts of Heaven, the sun (SD 1:397); and there was undoubtedly some such connection, yet antiquity has identified Kronos with the planet Saturn, which was held in reverence by all the ancient Shemitic peoples, the Jews included.

Monotheism Belief in a single or supreme god; opposed to polytheism and pantheism, although all polytheistic forms of thought recognize a supreme divinity, of which all others were children or offspring; and pantheism itself, when properly understood, likewise includes all forms or varieties of polytheistic belief. The Hebrews are a notable example of a people following a very definite monotheism in their religious beliefs; subsequent to this were the systems of Christianity and Islam. If deity be regarded as periodic cosmic mind or intelligence incessantly evolving through its emanated hierarchies — the structure inner and outer of the universe — which is the abode of such divinity, governed in its operations by its own spirit-wisdom, far transcending the remotest shadow of the limitations we call personality, then in this sense theosophists might be called pantheists, polytheists, and even monotheists, all in one. But where deity is by human imagination endowed with human attributes, however sublimated, and with human limitations of personality, an unphilosophical, impossible, and unnatural monotheism results. Such a god — being the offspring of human imagination, a creature of human fancy — cannot be universal, and must submit to rivalry with the humanly imagined gods of other religions.

Moriah (Hebrew) Moriyyāh In the Bible, the Mount in Jerusalem on which Solomon built the temple (2 Chron 3:1).

Naasenians, Naassenes [from Hebrew nāḥāsh serpent] A Gnostic school of the Ophites [from Greekophis serpent], which regarded the spiritual dragon or serpent as the redeeming power and as a symbol of the intelligence by whose means Adam and Eve received a knowledge of the existence of higher beings than their creator. The dragon or serpent is an extremely ancient, universal symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Only in Christian times has it become endowed with infernal attributes and used as an emblem of the Evil One. Yet even the Christian scriptures declare that divinity itself can properly be symbolized by the dragon.

Naba’ (Hebrew) Nābā’ Neba’ (Aramaic) Nĕbā’. To deliver an oracle, prophesy, predict future events. See also NABI’

Nabi’ (Hebrew) Nābī’ [from nābā’ to deliver an oracle] A prophet, one inspired to foretell future events; the name given to prophecy in the Bible. One of the “spiritual powers, such as divination, clairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and oracles. But while enchanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly condemned in the Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nobia appear as the special gifts of heaven. In early ages they were all termed Epoptai, the Greek word for seers, clairvoyants; after which they were designated as Nebim [nebi’im] ‘the plural of Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom.’ The kabalist distinguishes between the seer and the magician; one is passive, the other active; Nebirah [nabi’] is one who looks into futurity and a clairvoyant; Nebi-poel [nebi’-po‘el], he who possesses magic powers” (IU 1:xxxvii).

Nabi: In Hebrew mysticism, an interpreter of oracles, a messenger of the deity or spirit. The Nabis were not magicians, but seers.

Nephesh: Hebrew for soul. In Kabalistic terminology, the animal soul in man.

Nephilim: The Hebrew name of the giants of primeval times, regarded as fallen angels.

numbers ::: n. --> pl. of Number. The fourth book of the Pentateuch, containing the census of the Hebrews.

Ob: In Hebrew mysticism and occultism, the Spirit of Ob personifies the evil aspects of the astral light (q.v.).

octapla ::: sing. --> A portion of the Old Testament prepared by Origen in the 3d century, containing the Hebrew text and seven Greek versions of it, arranged in eight parallel columns.

omer ::: n. --> A Hebrew measure, the tenth of an ephah. See Ephah.

parallelism ::: n. --> The quality or state of being parallel.
Resemblance; correspondence; similarity.
Similarity of construction or meaning of clauses placed side by side, especially clauses expressing the same sentiment with slight modifications, as is common in Hebrew poetry; e. g.: --//At her feet he bowed, he fell:/Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Judg. v. 27.


passover ::: n. --> A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the sparing of the Hebrews in Egypt, when God, smiting the firstborn of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the blood of a lamb.
The sacrifice offered at the feast of the passover; the paschal lamb.


peshitto ::: n. --> The earliest Syriac version of the Old Testament, translated from Hebrew; also, the incomplete Syriac version of the New Testament.

Pharisaism: The most characteristic type of Palestinian Judaism at the time of Christ. This group is to be thought of as the remnant of the traditional culture of the ancient Hebrews. Scorched by the memory of the long struggle between their fathers' and other cultures which resulted in the unhappy Captivity, these descendants took on a more militant nationalism and a more rigid loyalty to traditional customs, teaching their children in schools of their own (the Synagogue) the religion of the ancient sacred covenant. Since their ways separated sharply from their brethren in the dispersion and from the less nationalistic minded at home they acquired the party name (from the second century B.C.) "Pharisees." Their leaders were devout students of the written and oral traditions which they regarded as the Divine Will (Torah). To this tradition they added detailed codes of rigorous religious living. Popular among the masses they were comparatively few in number although powerful in influence. Pharisaism was a book-centered religion, strongly monotheistic, intensely legalistic, teaching a national and social gospel of redemption by an expectant supernatural visitation. The term "Pharisaic" unfortunately has acquired a sinister meaning, probably due to certain N.T. statements linking Pharisees with hypocrites. R. T. Herford in his Pharisaism (1912) and The Pharisees (1924) has shown thit this religious party was preeminently spiritually minded even though legalistic and not sufficiently understood by Christian traditionalists. -- V.F.

Predestination: The doctrine that all events of man's life, even one's eternal destiny, are determined beforehand by Deity. Sometimes this destiny is thought of in terms of an encompassing Fate or Luck (Roman and Greek), sometimes as the cyclic routine of the wheel of Fortune (Indian), sometimes as due to special gods or goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos in Hesiod), sometimes as the Kismet or mysterious Fate (Mohammedanism), as due to rational Necessity (Stoicism) and more often in terms of the sheer will of a sovereign Deity (Hebrew, Jewish and Christian). In historic Christianity utterances of Paul are given as the authority for the doctrine (Eph. 1:11, Rom. 8:30, Rom. 9:18). St. Augustine believed that man's own sinfulness made his salvation utterly dependent upon the sheer grace and election of God. Extreme expressions of Calvinism and Lutheranism held that man does absolutely nothing toward his salvation apart from the grace and good will of the Divine. Classical examples of theological determinism are the views of Bucer (1491-1551), Calvin (see Calvinism), and the American theologian, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). The two classic theories concerning the place of the alleged Fall of man are supralapsarianism, the view that the Fall itself was predetermined; infralapsarianism, the view that man's predestination was set up subsequent to the Fall, the Fall itself only being permitted. -- V.F.

psaltery ::: n. --> A stringed instrument of music used by the Hebrews, the form of which is not known.

punctator ::: n. --> One who marks with points. specifically, one who writes Hebrew with points; -- applied to a Masorite.

Qabbalah(More frequently spelled Kabala or Kabbala.) ::: The Hebrew word for what the Jewish theosophicalinitiates called "the Tradition," or "the Secret Doctrine" -- meaning something which is handed down orpassed down from man to man by tradition; from a Hebrew word meaning "to receive" or "to take over."Unquestionably the Jewish Qabbalah existed as a traditional system of doctrine long before the presentmanuscripts of it were written, for these are of comparatively late production and probably date from theEuropean Middle Ages; and one proof of this statement is found in the fact that in the earliest centuriesof the Christian era several of the Church Fathers of the new Christian religion used language whichcould have been taken only from the Hebrew theosophy, that is, the Hebrew Qabbalah. The expressionshere are in some cases identic, and the thought is in all cases the same.The Zohar may be called the original and main book of the Qabbalah.The basis of the Jewish Qabbalah was the archaic Chaldean secret doctrine which was a system of occultor esoteric philosophy handed down in part by oral, and in part by written, transmission -- and mostly byoral reception, wholly so in the case of the deeper mysteries of the Qabbalah. The Jewish Qabbalah, suchas it exists today, has been disfigured and distorted by the interpolations and mutilations of manyWestern occultists, especially by mystics of strong Christian bias. The Qabbalah, therefore, is essentiallythe theosophy of the Jews, or rather the form which the universal theosophy of the archaic ages took inits transmission through the Jewish mind.

rabbinic ::: a. --> Alt. of Rabbinical ::: n. --> The language or dialect of the rabbins; the later Hebrew.

reem ::: n. --> The Hebrew name of a horned wild animal, probably the Urus. ::: v. t. --> To open (the seams of a vessel&

rendering ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Render ::: n. --> The act of one who renders, or that which is rendered.
A version; translation; as, the rendering of the Hebrew text.
In art, the presentation, expression, or interpretation


Rephaim: A Hebrew term for giants supposed to have lived in primeval times.

Ruh: The Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew ruach, the divine soul of man—the Mind.

Saadia, ben Joseph: (Arabic Sa'id Al-Fayyumi) (892-942) Born and educated in Egypt, he left his native country in 915 and settled in Babylonia where he was appointed in 928 Gaon of the Academy of Sura. He translated the Bible into Arabic and wrote numerous works, both in Hebrew and Arabic, in the fields of philology, exegesis, Talmudics, polemics, Jewish history, and philosophy. His chief philosophical work is the Kitab Al-Amanat wa'l-Itikadat, better known by its Hebrew title, Emunot we-Deott, i.e., Doctrines and Religious Beliefs. Its purpose is to prove the compatibility of the principles of Judaism with reason and to interpret them in such a way that their rationality be evident The first nine sections establish philosophically the ten fundamental articles of faith, and the tenth deals with ethics. Philosophically, Saadia was influenced by the teachings of the Mutazilia. See Jewish Philosophy. -- Q.V.

Sammael: Hebrew name, used in post-biblical times, of Satan.

sebat ::: n. --> The eleventh month of the ancient Hebrew year, approximately corresponding with February.

Sephiroth: A Hebrew term for “the mystical and organically related hierarchy of the ten creative powers emanating from God, constituting, according to the kabalistic system, the foundation of the existence of the world.” (M. Buber: Tales of the Hasidim.) The ten Sephiroth are: 1. The Divine Crown (Kether); 2. The Divine Wisdom (Hokhmah); 3. The Intelligence of God (Binah); 4. The Divine Love or Mercy (Hesed); 5. The Divine Power of judgment and retribution (Gevurah or Din); 6. The Divine Compassion (Rahamin) which mediates between God’s Power of judgment and His Mercy; 7. The Lasting Endurance or Firmness of God (Netsah); 8. God’s Majesty or Splendor (Hod); 9. The Foundation of all active forces in God (Yesod); 10. The Kingdom of God (Malkhuth), which the Zohar usually describes as the mystical archetype of Israel’s community. (The above terms are based on the interpretations given by G. G. Scholem in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. Other authorities occasionally adopt different terminologies. Thus, the fourth of the Sephiroth is frequently called Tiphereth, Beauty.)

seraphim ::: pl. --> of Seraph ::: n. --> The Hebrew plural of Seraph. Cf. Cherubim.

Seraphim: Winged guardians of God’s throne, highest in the hierarchy of angels. (From the Hebrew word Saraph—plural: Saraphim.)

shadrach ::: n. --> A mass of iron on which the operation of smelting has failed of its intended effect; -- so called from Shadrach, one of the three Hebrews who came forth unharmed from the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. (See Dan. iii. 26, 27.)

Shekhinah: Hebrew for indwelling. The presence of God, of the Divine Mind, among mortals. In Rosicrucian terminology, the name of a triangular altar in the Rosicrucian temple.

Sheol: Hebrew for pit or grave. The nether-world, a dark and dreary underground dwelling place of the dead where their spirits find deep sleep, forgetfulness, silence and destruction.

Shofar: The horn (ram’s horn) which is sounded in the Jewish houses of worship, especially on the Hebrew New Year. According to Jewish mystic tradition, a blast on the shofar will herald in the coming of the Messiah.

showbread ::: n. --> Bread of exhibition; loaves to set before God; -- the term used in translating the various phrases used in the Hebrew and Greek to designate the loaves of bread which the priest of the week placed before the Lord on the golden table in the sanctuary. They were made of fine flour unleavened, and were changed every Sabbath. The loaves, twelve in number, represented the twelve tribes of Israel. They were to be eaten by the priests only, and in the Holy Place.

Sod: A Hebrew word for a religious mystery.

Soul: The divine, immortal part of man. The psyche of the Greek philosophers, the nephesh of the Hebrew Bible. According to occult philosophy, the vital principle (“breath of life”) which all living beings possess.

stemmer "information science, human language" A program or {algorithm} which determines the morphological root of a given inflected (or, sometimes, derived) word form -- generally a written word form. A stemmer for English, for example, should identify the {string} "cats" (and possibly "catlike", "catty" etc.) as based on the root "cat", and "stemmer", "stemming", "stemmed" as based on "stem". English stemmers are fairly {trivial} (with only occasional problems, such as "dries" being the third-person singular present form of the verb "dry", "axes" being the plural of "ax" as well as "axis"); but stemmers become harder to design as the morphology, orthography, and {character encoding} of the target language becomes more complex. For example, an Italian stemmer is more complex than an English one (because of more possible verb inflections), a Russian one is more complex (more possible noun declensions), a Hebrew one is even more complex (a {hairy} writing system), and so on. Stemmers are common elements in {query} systems, since a user who runs a query on "daffodils" probably cares about documents that contain the word "daffodil" (without the s). ({This dictionary} has a rudimentary stemmer which currently (April 1997) handles only conversion of plurals to singulars). (1997-04-09)

stich ::: n. --> A verse, of whatever measure or number of feet.
A line in the Scriptures; specifically (Hebrew Scriptures), one of the rhythmic lines in the poetical books and passages of the Old Treatment, as written in the oldest Hebrew manuscripts and in the Revised Version of the English Bible.
A row, line, or rank of trees.


Suggested additional material: Many experts in ancient Hebrew hold that the name of the old Syriac desert spirit/deity Azazel (Azazyel from the Ethiopian text) was confused with the Hebrew term “oz-oz-el” which literally meant “A goat that goes away.” This confusion was fueled by the use of a sacrificial goat “for Azazel” (actually released, not killed) in the Jewish Old Testament rite of atonement. Later, in comparatively modern times, the term “azazel” became synonymous with the idea of the scapegoat. While a firm connection has never been established, it seems likely that the 3,000-year-old Syriac Azazel is the same one mentioned about 200 BC in the apocryphal “Book of Enoch” (Henoch) as the eventual leader of the “Sons of God” or “Watchers” sent to earth to watch over mankind, but later punished for taking human wives and teaching hidden knowledge to mankind. Confined to a thousand years’ bondage in the “abyss,” he was guarded by Archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel. Although modern Christians often equate Azazel with Satan (Lucifer/Heylel), there is little scholarly evidence to support this view. A more likely view holds that the ancient worshippers of Yahweh sought to incorporate a link to existing, older belief systems while demonizing competing deities.

Svabhavat(Sanskrit) ::: The neuter present participle of a compound word derived from the verb-root bhu, meaning "tobecome," from which is derived a secondary meaning "to be," in the sense of growth.Svabhavat is a state or condition of cosmic consciousnesssubstance, where spirit and matter, which arefundamentally one, no longer are dual as in manifestation, but one: that which is neither manifestedmatter nor manifested spirit alone, but both are the primeval unity -- spiritual akasa -- where mattermerges into spirit, and both now being really one, are called "Father-Mother," spirit-substance.Svabhavat never descends from its own state or condition, or from its own plane, but is the cosmicreservoir of being, as well as of beings, therefore of consciousness, of intellectual light, of life; and it isthe ultimate source of what science, in our day, so quaintly calls the energies of nature universal.The northern Buddhists call svabhavat by a more mystical term, Adi-buddhi, "primeval buddhi"; theBrahmanical scriptures call it akasa; and the Hebrew Old Testament refers to it as the cosmic "waters."The difference in meaning between svabhavat and svabhava is very great and is not generallyunderstood; the two words often have been confused. Svabhava is the characteristic nature, thetype-essence, the individuality, of svabhavat -- of any svabhavat, each such svabhavat having its ownsvabhava. Svabhavat, therefore, is really the world-substance or stuff, or still more accurately that whichis causal of the world-substance, and this causal principle or element is the spirit and essence of cosmicsubstance. It is the plastic essence of matter, both manifest and unmanifest. (See also Akasa)

Ta Ku: Major cause. See: ku. Talmud: (Learning) An encyclopedic work in Hebrew-Aramaic produced during 800 years (300 B.C.-500 A.D.) in Palestine and Babylon. Its six sedarim (orders) subdivided in 63 massektot (tractates) represent the oral tradition of Judaism expounding and developing the religious ideas and civil laws of the written special hermeneutic middot (measures) of law (i.e., the Hebrew Bible) by means of Rabbi Hillel, 13 of R. Ishmael and 32 of R. Eliezer of Galilee.

talent ::: v. t. --> Among the ancient Greeks, a weight and a denomination of money equal to 60 minae or 6,000 drachmae. The Attic talent, as a weight, was about 57 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver money, its value was £243 15s. sterling, or about $1,180.
Among the Hebrews, a weight and denomination of money. For silver it was equivalent to 3,000 shekels, and in weight was equal to about 93/ lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver, it has been variously estimated at from £340 to £396 sterling, or about $1,645 to


Talmud: An encyclopedic work in Hebrew-Aramaic produced during 800 years (300 B.C.-500 A.D.) in Palestine and Babylon. Its six Orders (sedarim), subdivided in sixty-three tractates (mas-sektoth), sum up the oral traditions of Jewry, expounding, developing and commenting on the civil and religious laws of Judaism. It is a veritable treasure-house of ancient Jewish philosophy, ethics, theology, folklore, sciences, etc. accumulated during those eight centuries. The Talmud consists of an older part, the Mishnah (q.v.), and the later part, Gemarah (q.v.), a commentary on the former.

tammuz ::: n. --> A deity among the ancient Syrians, in honor of whom the Hebrew idolatresses held an annual lamentation. This deity has been conjectured to be the same with the Phoenician Adon, or Adonis.
The fourth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, -- supposed to correspond nearly with our month of July.


Tashlikh: The Hebrew mystical ceremony of the casting off of sins (q.v.).

Tetragrammaton: Greek for four-letter unit. A Kabalistical term for the Hebrew name of God, which consists of the four Hebrew letters Yod, He, Vov, He (J-H-V-H or I-H-V-H).

tetragrammaton ::: n. --> The mystic number four, which was often symbolized to represent the Deity, whose name was expressed by four letters among some ancient nations; as, the Hebrew JeHoVaH, Greek qeo`s, Latin deus, etc.

The Amshaspands in ancient Persian theology bore the same general relation to the universe that the seven or ten prajapatis have in the Hindu scriptures, or that the seven or ten Sephiroth have in the Hebrew Qabbalah. See also Amesha-Spenta.

The Hebrew name Jah or Jehovah became identified in the mind of Christians with the name of Jesus, although Jesus never was in any wise identical with the Jewish Jehovah, but was identified in initiation through his own inner god or Father in Heaven, and the Jewish Jehovah mystically was the regent of the planet Saturn.

The Hebrews were not the only ones who knew of and revered a divinity whose name when written was conveyed by vowels mainly, as for instance the Gnostic Iao, Ieuo, or Iaou. All these ancient peoples by these vowel-words desired to express the fluid life-giving energy of the globe, of the moon, and of the planetary source — in this case, Saturn.

The Brahmanical equivalent to Aquarius, presided over by the sky god Indra, is Kumbha, which Subba Row states is equivalent in its numerical value to 14, a number intended to represent the 14 lokas or chaturdasa-bhuvana (Theos, Nov 1881). Assigning the twelve sons of Jacob in the Hebrew system to the signs of the zodiac, Reuben is ascribed to Aquarius, who is “unstable as water”; also associated with Rimmon, the god of storms and rain (SD 2:353), and equated with Ganymede.

The crescent moon, because of its curved form, either represented the mystic ark itself or was conjoined with it in various manners, for the moon in archaic teaching was the fecund yet presently dead mother of our earth, the latter being its reimbodiment. Thus the moon stood as an emblem of the cosmic matrix or ark floating in and on the watery abyss of space — just as the ark in the Jewish form of this cosmogonic legend was associated with the flood waters as the bearer of all the seeds of lives. In the view of the later rather materialistic Hebrew rabbis the human womb became the maqom or ark, the place representative on earth of what the moon was in the cosmic sphere.

  “The doctrine of Emanation was at one time universal. It was taught by the Alexandrian as well as by the Indian philosophers, by the Egyptian, the Chaldean and Hellenic Hierophants, and also by the Hebrews (in their Kabbala, and even in Genesis). For it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the Hebrew word asdt has been translated ‘angels’ from the Septuagint, when it means Emanations, AEons, precisely as with the Gnostics. Indeed, in Deuteronomy (xxxiii., 2) the word asdt or ashdt is translated as ‘fiery law,’ while the correct rendering of the passage should be ‘from his right hand went [not a fiery law, but] a fire according to law’; viz., that the fire of one flame is imparted to, and caught up by another like as in a trail of inflammable substance. This is precisely emanation” (TG 113-4).

The early Mexican word nagual, now meaning sorcerer and medicine man, is akin in its meaning, for “Some of the descendants of the primitive Nagas, the Serpents of Wisdom, peopled America, when its continent arose during the palmy days of the great Atlantis, (America being the Patala or Antipodes of Jambu-Dwipa, not of Bharata-Varsha)” (SD 2:182). The Hebrew equivalent is nahash also meaning magic, enchantment, thus showing the same connection of ideas.

The fish as a mystic emblem was perhaps more familiar to the primitive Christian sects than to the Hebrews. Primitive and even later Christian iconography show many examples of the fish symbolizing the Logos and its incarnation as the Messiah. Likewise, the early Christians called themselves pisciculi (Latin, “little fish”) and spoke of Christ as the Great Fish, figurating the Logos as manifesting itself in the waters of space and living there somewhat as fish live in water.

The linga-sarira has great tensile strength. It changes continuously during a lifetime, although these changes never depart from the fundamental human type or pattern, just as the physical body alters every moment. It also possesses the ability to exteriorize itself to a certain distance from its physical encasement, but in no case more than a few feet. It is composed of electromagnetic matter, which is somewhat more refined than the matter of our physical body. The whole world was composed of such matter in far past ages before it became the dense physical sphere it now is. After long ages the astral form had evolved and perfected, so that it has the form that the human races had during the early period of the third root-race — a more or less materialized concretion of the still more ethereal astrals of the first and second root-races. After another long period, during which the cycle of further descent into matter progressed, the gradually thickening astral form oozed forth from itself a coat of skin, corresponding to the Hebrew allegory of the Garden of Eden. Thus the present physical flesh-form of mankind appears.

The most important infinite cardinal number is the cardinal number of the class of inductive cardinal numbers (0, 1, 2, . . .); it is called aleph-zero and symbolized by a Hebrew letter aleph followed by an inferior 0.

Theocracy: (Gr. theos, god, kratos, government, power) A view of political organization in which God is sole ruler. All political laws come under what is held to be the Divine Will. Church and State become one. Examples the development of the Hebrew ideal and Judaism, Mohammedan politics, Calvinism in Geneva, Puritan New England. -- V.F.

theocracy ::: n. --> Government of a state by the immediate direction or administration of God; hence, the exercise of political authority by priests as representing the Deity.
The state thus governed, as the Hebrew commonwealth before it became a kingdom.


The older Hebrews had no such devil; the word Satan is nearly always used in the ordinary sense of adversary. In Job, Satan is an emissary of God, one of his sons, charged with a mission to test Job. The original Hebrew God is supreme, author of both good and evil. But with the later Hebrews the idea underwent modification, and the notion of an evil deity arose, possibly from an adoption of Persian dualism acquired during the captivity. At the time the Gospels were written it is evident that the idea of a prince of darkness was very real and ever-present, though the story of the temptation of Jesus is evidently a picture of the triumph of an initiate over the forces of terrestrial nature.

Theomancy: The general meaning of the word is: Divination by oracles considered to be divinely inspired. The term is used also as the name of that part of the Hebrew Kabalah devoted to the study of the Majesty of God and to the mastery of the sacred names believed to be the key to the power of divination and magical ability.

The opening words of the Bible refer directly to the activities of the ’elohim, for this is the sole divine name mentioned in Genesis 1:1-2. De Purucker translates these verses from the original Hebrew as: “In a host (or multitude), the gods (Elohim) formed themselves into the heavens and the earth. And the earth became ethereal. And darkness upon the face of the ethers. And the ruah (the spirit-soul) of the gods (of Elohim) fluttered or hovered, brooding” (cf Fund 99-100). He goes on to say that “we see that the Elohim evolved man, humanity, out of themselves, and told them to become, then to enter into and inform these other creatures. Indeed, these sons of the Elohim are, in our teachings, the children of light, the sons of light, which are we ourselves, and yet different from ourselves, because higher, yet they are our own very selves inwardly. In fact, the Elohim, became, evolved into, their own offspring, remaining in a sense still always the inspiring light within, or rather above . . . the Elohim projected themselves into the nascent forms of the then ‘humanity,’ which thenceforward were ‘men,’ however imperfect their development still was” (Fund 101-2).

The original from which the Hebrew Genesis was later compiled is lost. Yet even as the latter has reached us — first veiled, then probably remodeled by Ezra with shiftings that confuse the chronology — despite important words and clauses mistranslated by European scholars, its resemblance to the esoteric account is unmistakable. For Jehovah, who gave the human body and (physical) breath of life, is the hyparxis of Saturn and an earthly, not a celestial, hierarchy. The human mind and spirit are essentially emanations from the immortal spiritual monad coeval with the universe, and subsequent human evolutionary development was both from and aided by the elohim, a spiritual host. Adam and Eve, once mind appeared in them, enter the path of self-directed evolution, a reference to the second and third Eves mentioned above. The eating of the fruit of the tree is the awakening or lighting of mind in man. It shows Eve as consorting with spiritual, not demoniacal, forces and incidentally reconciles the two creation stories. Like the serpent, the tree is an ancient and universal symbol of sacred and esoteric knowledge. To eat of its fruit is to acquire the knowledge that only the gods possess, and the possession confers immortality under the law.

The original significance of Israel is, in the singular, an upright, righteous man, who strives for union with his inner god; hence an initiate. The Jews applied this term in reverential yearning to themselves, with a special application to the noblest Hebrews among them; but the term abstractly is as applicable to the righteous ones or initiates of any country.

These shells, spooks, elementaries, and evil phantoms of the astral light were known throughout antiquity, universally abhorred and often feared by human beings because of their evil effects on human life. Hebrew and early Christian demonologists personalized them under the head of Belial and his army of imps.

These stories refer in part to an actual great deluge in the world’s history, mainly to the sinking of the great and smaller islands of the Atlantean continental stretches. In many if not all the versions, we find that a race had become so corrupt that nature or the gods would no longer tolerate it, and destroyed it and brought forth a new race. There is usually a type-figure, like the Hebrew Noah, who builds an ark or other vessel of salvation, thus saving from the waters the righteous few to be the seeds of the new race. In many versions are traditions of the destruction of the preceding root-race, Atlantis, by water, and of the saving of various groups of human remnants to found new civilizations on lands, then or shortly later geologically speaking, emerging from the ocean. But besides the particular application to this latest cataclysm in the earth’s history, the story refers to cataclysms in general, to the death of old races and the birth of new ones. The evolution of the earth goes on pari passu with that of the beings upon it. These stories are evidently allegorical as well, with reference to cosmological facts. See also ARK

The Shemitic Muluk is identical with the Hebrew melech (ruler or lord); also the Hebrew mal’ach (messenger, angel).

  “The ‘very old Book’ is the original work from which the many volumes of Kiu-ti were complied. Not only this latter and the Siphrah Dzeniouta but even the Sepher Jezirah, the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabbalists to their Patriarch Abraham (!), the book of Shu-king, China’s primitive Bible, the sacred volumes of the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes, the Puranas in India, and the Chaldean Book of Numbers and the Pentateuch itself, are all derived from that one small parent volume. Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, the secret sacerdotal tongue, from the words of the Divine Beings, who dictated it to the sons of Light, in Central Asia, at the very beginning of the 5th (our) race; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the 2nd and 1st Races. . . . The old book, having described Cosmic Evolution and explained the origin of everything on earth, including physical man, after giving the true history of the races from the First down to the Fifth (our) race, goes no further” (SD 1:xliii).

triliteralness ::: n. --> The quality of being triliteral; as, the triliterality of Hebrew roots.

Urim and Thummim: Objects attached to the breastplate of the High Priest of the ancient Hebrews and used by him as accessories for divination, to learn the will of God on questions of great national importance.

Used in connection with Jehovah as well as with non-Jewish gods. Its plural form is ’elim, whereas the Hebrew plural ’elohim is, strictly speaking, the plural of a cognate Chaldee and Hebrew word ’eloah. This last word has a feminine termination, whereas the plural has the masculine termination, thus imbodying in curious fashion both masculine and feminine attributes when used in the plural form. In translations from the Bible, ’elohim is usually translated into English as God, whereas Jehovah is usually rendered into English as Lord. See also ALHIM

“Zarathushtra is the Divine Universal Force that directs everything within the universe towards perfection. This force is known as Amesha-Spenta” (Shahrestani, Al-Melal Va Al-Nehal). This force is equivalent to the Gnostic primeval ruler or governor, the closest being to the creator; the active mind or intellect which is the source of divine bliss and providence, with the Manichaen pure or holy spirits; the Hebrew elohim, the Arabic Malaeka (angels); the Koranic soul within the angels; and the theosophic dhyani-chohans or dhyani-buddhas. They are the rulers of the seven globes of the earth-chain.

Zohar: A Jewish mystical work, the oldest known treatise on Hebrew esoteric teachings, which became the classic text of the Kabalah and the Bible of medieval mysticism and occultism. It is a compendium of Jewish esoteric thought on the nature and attributes of God, the mysteries of the Tetragrammaton (q.v.), the evolution of the cosmos, the nature of man’s soul, magic, astrology, etc.



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1:We should note that this word "amen" is a Hebrew word frequently employed by Christ. So out of reverence for him no Greek or Latin translator wished to translate it. Sometimes it means the same as "true" or "truly" and sometimes the same as "so be it" ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Jn 3 lect 1).,
2:Q: I always had the impression that Lucifer and Satan was one and the same, you know, that Lucifer fell and became Satan. Would you clarify that for me?
A: There is a difference between Lucifer and Satan. The word satan comes from the word Shatan in Hebrew which means 'adversary'. Lucifer is Latin for "the bearer of light," and is the cosmic force that carries the fire. That fire is Kundalini, but when that fire becomes trapped in the ego, that fire is polarized negatively and becomes Satan, the adversary or the opposite of God. As long as that fire is trapped in desire, in ego, it is Satan, it is the devil. It is not outside of us. It is our mind. But when that force is liberated, it is the bearer of light. It is the greatest angel in the hierarchy of our own Consciousness. So it is our best friend.~ Samael Aun Weor,
3:So then let the Adept set this sigil upon all the Words he hath writ in the book of the Works of his Will. And let him then end all, saying: Such are the Words!2 For by this he maketh proclamation before all them that be about his Circle that these Words are true and puissant, binding what he would bind, and loosing what he would loose. Let the Adept perform this ritual right, perfect in every part thereof, once daily for one moon, then twice, at dawn and dusk, for two moons; next thrice, noon added, for three moons; afterwards, midnight making up his course, for four moons four times every day. Then let the Eleventh Moon be consecrated wholly to this Work; let him be instant in constant ardour, dismissing all but his sheer needs to eat and sleep.3 For know that the true Formula4 whose virtue sufficed the Beast in this Attainment, was thus:

INVOKE OFTEN

So may all men come at last to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel: thus sayeth The Beast, and prayeth his own Angel that this Book be as a burning Lamp, and as a living Spring, for Light and Life to them that read therein.

1. There is an alternative spelling, TzBA-F, where the Root, "an Host," has the value of 93. The Practicus should revise this Ritual throughout in the Light of his personal researches in the Qabalah, and make it his own peculiar property. The spelling here suggested implies that he who utters the Word affirms his allegiance to the symbols 93 and 6; that he is a warrior in the army of Will, and of the Sun. 93 is also the number of AIWAZ and 6 of The Beast.
2. The consonants of LOGOS, "Word," add (Hebrew values) to 93 [reading the Sigma as Samekh = 60; reading it as Shin = 300 gives 333], and ΕΠΗ, "Words" (whence "Epic") has also that value; ΕΙ∆Ε ΤΑ ΕΠΗ might be the phrase here intended; its number is 418. This would then assert the accomplishment of the Great Work; this is the natural conclusion of the Ritual. Cf. CCXX, III, 75.
3. These needs are modified during the process of Initiation both as to quantity and quality. One should not become anxious about one's phyiscal or mental health on à priori grounds, but pay attention only to indubitable symptoms of distress should such arise. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber Samekh,

*** WISDOM TROVE ***

1:There is no word in Hebrew for religion, by the way. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove
2:What is Scripture? The Hebrew word is torah. Torah means teaching, learning. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove
3:The English name Jesus traces its origin to the Hebrew word Yeshua. Yeshua is a shortening of Yehoshuah, which means "Yahweh saves." ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove
4:I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch— I said it in German and Greek; But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you speak! ~ lewis-carroll, @wisdomtrove
5:Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, "Be silent in God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove
6:The attempt is to kill the false "I", so that the real "I", the Lord, will reign. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me," say the Hebrew scriptures. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove
7:But the Hebrew word, the word timshel‚îThou mayest'‚î that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if Thou mayest'‚îit is also true that Thou mayest not. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove
8:God has called His creation to find satisfaction in a personal relationship with Him, and stop trying to manage the world by conforming it to our expectations, and to allow Him to govern His creation. He continues to say through an ancient Hebrew worship song, "Be still and know that I am God! ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove
9:If you suspect that my interest in the Bible is going to inspire me with sudden enthusiasm for Judaism and make me a convert of mountain?moving fervor and that I shall suddenly grow long earlocks and learn Hebrew and go about denouncing the heathen you little know the effect of the Bible on me. Properly read, it is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove
10:[&
11:The Hebrew word, the word timshel - &
12:Let all your preaching be in the most simple and plainest manner; look not to the prince, but to the plain, simple, gross, unlearned people, of which cloth the prince also himself is made. If I, in my preaching, should have regard to Philip Melancthon and other learned doctors, then should I do but little good. I preach in the simplest manner to the unskillful, and that giveth content to all. Hebrew, Greek and Latin I spare until we learned ones come together. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove

*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***

1:Barak, the Hebrew word for lightning, ~ Daniel Silva,
2:Sublimity is Hebrew by birth. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
3:I have always been edified by Hebrew prayers. ~ Moses Hess,
4:In Hebrew Michael means ‘Who is like God? ~ David Baldacci,
5:There is no word in Hebrew for religion, by the way. ~ Elie Wiesel,
6:The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind. ~ William Shakespeare,
7:Hebrew was frozen, like frozen peas, fresh out of the Bible. ~ Etgar Keret,
8:I might do something in Arabic. I might do something in Hebrew. ~ Stevie Wonder,
9:What do Japanese Jews love to eat? Hebrew National Tsunami. ~ Gilbert Gottfried,
10:However, the word madda in modern Hebrew specifically means science. ~ Norman Lamm,
11:Since the Exodus, freedom has always spoken with a Hebrew accent. ~ Heinrich Heine,
12:Nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures does it say that God is omnipotent. ~ Tony Campolo,
13:Acrostics in French or acrostics in Hebrew were still Greek to him. ~ Dorothy Dunnett,
14:What is Scripture? The Hebrew word is torah. Torah means teaching, learning. ~ Elie Wiesel,
15:I recited in Hebrew, “‘Truth and peace form the foundation of the world … ~ Samuel R Delany,
16:Her solemn face of a Hebrew angel regarded me, ready, stripped of expression. ~ Iris Murdoch,
17:strange, the Hebrew noun which means “I am”, The English always use to govern damn. ~ Lord Byron,
18:I just went to Hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah. No crazy weird Jewish cult. ~ Hayden Schlossberg,
19:The name of the child, “Jesus,” is a Greek translation of the Hebrew, “Joshua, ~ Craig L Blomberg,
20:Begin thinking of death and you are no longer sure of your life. It's a Hebrew proverb. ~ Leo Gordon,
21:I decline to accept Hebrew mythology as a guide to twentieth-century science. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
22:I learned enough Hebrew to stagger through a meaningless ceremony that I scarcely remember. ~ David Antin,
23:Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrew 11:1 KJV) ~ Anonymous,
24:I speak fluent Hebrew and even dream in Hebrew when we visit there, once or twice a year. ~ Natalie Portman,
25:For instance, if the biblical Hebrew says: “And he said,” the Aramaic says: “And he saith. ~ Sholom Aleichem,
26:Pharaoh and the princes of Egypt were about to find out the hard way that Hebrew Lives Matter. ~ Brian Zahnd,
27:I read on. Aramaic, like Hebrew, did not use vowels. Instead, you had to supply them yourself. ~ Jeff Lindsay,
28:attempted to reason with the beast—first in French, then Italian, and then, exasperated, in Hebrew ~ Anonymous,
29:Here I am, a Palestinian Arab who only knows how to write in Hebrew, stuck in central Illinois. ~ Sayed Kashua,
30:I still live today with my mom sending me, you know, Hebrew Scriptures or phrases or celebrating. ~ Trevor Noah,
31:There is scarcely one figure in the entire Hebrew scripture we would want our children to emulate. ~ Harvey Cox,
32:Unfeeling thing that I was, the sensibilities of the maternal heart were Greek and Hebrew to me. ~ Charlotte Bront,
33:a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a ~ Edgar Allan Poe,
34:It's too late to be studying Hebrew; it's more important to understand even the slang of today. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
35:It is too late to be studying Hebrew; it is more important to understand even the slang of today. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
36:I wouldn’t use the word ‘man’. The Hebrew is ha-adam, which I would argue encompasses both sexes. ~ Michel Faber,
37:Yiddish became the Jews’ tongue via the Jewish mother, who, not being male, was denied a Hebrew education. ~ Leo Rosten,
38:Hebrew is this unique thing that you cannot translate to any other language. It has to do with its history. ~ Etgar Keret,
39:His grandfather believed in spirits and learned Hebrew, because he thought that was the language of heaven. ~ Kol Anderson,
40:Saint Paul said the invisible must be understood by the visible. That was not a Hebrew idea, it was Greek. ~ Edith Hamilton,
41:Gossip, gossip, gossip. Rumors. Tongues. ‘Life and death are in the power of the tongue,’ ” he quoted in Hebrew. ~ Chaim Potok,
42:I think that, in Hebrew, it's like the language creates a more unique and specific universe even before the story. ~ Etgar Keret,
43:It is impossible for me to conceive of a character more utterly detestable than that of the Hebrew god. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll,
44:It is only in Hebrew that you feel the full meaning of it -- all the associations which a different word has. ~ David Ben Gurion,
45:I love a Hebrew National hot dog with an ice-cold Corona - no lime. If the phone rings, I won't answer until I'm done. ~ Maya Angelou,
46:and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." The word translated as "insight" is a Hebrew equivalent to "discernment. ~ Tim Challies,
47:There's a saying in Hebrew, 'No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there's always a thread of grace. ~ Mary Doria Russell,
48:In addition to English, at least one ancient language, probably Greek or Hebrew, and two modern languages would be required. ~ W H Auden,
49:[I]ndeed, one hears, in early Christian theology, as many echoes of Persian dualism as of Hebrew Puritanism or Greek philosophy. ~ Will Durant,
50:Severe against others, he was most severe against himself. He resembled a Hebrew prophet  He may be called a Christian Elijah. ~ Philip Schaff,
51:Now, that may be the correct translation, but the Hebrew doesn’t say thigh, it says yarek, which means, approximately, soft bits. ~ Mark Forsyth,
52:I might sing a gospel song in Arabic or do something in Hebrew. I want to mix it up and do it differently than one might imagine. ~ Stevie Wonder,
53:The English name Jesus traces its origin to the Hebrew word Yeshua. Yeshua is a shortening of Yehoshuah, which means "Yahweh saves." ~ Max Lucado,
54:Both gospels employ the term “Son of God” exactly as it is used throughout the Hebrew Scriptures: as a royal title, not a description. ~ Reza Aslan,
55:I don't have any religion. I'm Hebrew by nationality. My religion is just God. I have no religion, I just believe in the Most High. ~ Killah Priest,
56:And the Vatican, whatever anyone else might have thought on the subject, answered, like Hebrew National hot dogs, to "a higher authority. ~ Anonymous,
57:The Hebrew word translated “comfort” also means “to repent.” God brings comfort, not to rebellious people but to repentant people. ~ Warren W Wiersbe,
58:The Hebrew word translated “comfort�� also means “to repent.” God brings comfort, not to rebellious people but to repentant people. ~ Warren W Wiersbe,
59:The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father, and could teach you even Hebrew, if you wished it. ~ George Eliot,
60:The really delightful
marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father, and could teach you even Hebrew, if you wished it ~ George Eliot,
61:They spoke in Latin, so that all might understand; but the quotations they flung at each other were Greek and Hebrew, Turkish, Persian. ~ Dorothy Dunnett,
62:All the various component parts of the Hebrew worship subserve this great purpose, the bringing of man into communication with God. ~ Samson Raphael Hirsch,
63:Christ comes from the Greek word christos, which means "anointed." It corresponds to the Hebrew word translated "messiah." When Jesus is called ~ R C Sproul,
64:When I say a spoken Hebrew sentence, half of it is like the King James Bible and half of it is a hip-hop lyric. It has a roller-coaster effect. ~ Etgar Keret,
65:I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch— I said it in German and Greek; But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you speak! ~ Lewis Carroll,
66:They fully bloomed in the pages of the Bible and the Quran, where the Sumerian word ilu became transliterated as Elohim in Hebrew and Allah in Arabic. ~ Reza Aslan,
67:Mine was a patchwork God, sewn together from bits of rag and ribbon, Eastern and Western, pagan and Hebrew, everything but the kitchen sink and Jesus. ~ Anne Lamott,
68:The piety of the Hebrew prophets purges their grossness. The circumcision is an example of the power of poetry to raise the low and offensive. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,
69:Two signs predicted by the Hebrew prophet Daniel for “the time of the end” should be obvious to all—the increase in travel and the increase in knowledge. ~ Tim LaHaye,
70:Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, "Be silent in God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape. ~ Martin Luther,
71:My boobs became massive, so massive that Farrah would run around the house with my bra on her head like a yarmulke, spouting off random Hebrew words. ~ Nicole Jacquelyn,
72:I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch—
I said it in German and Greek;
But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)
That English is what you speak! ~ Lewis Carroll,
73:Nobody ever saw anybody who had seen anybody who had heard of anybody that had ever seen anybody that had ever seen one of the original Hebrew manuscripts. ~ Robert G Ingersoll,
74:We may not see the connection between the name Jesus and the phrase "save his people from their sins," but Joseph would have. He was familiar with the Hebrew language. ~ Max Lucado,
75:I have trouble reading modern Hebrew. In the 1950s, I could read anything. I don't know how much experience you've had with contemporary Hebrew. It's quite difficult. ~ Noam Chomsky,
76:In Hebrew, His name is Jesus, in Greek, Soter, in Latin, Salvator; but men say Christus in Greek, Messias in Hebrew, Unctus in Latin, that is, King and Priest. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas,
77:The assets of the Jewish National Home must be created exclusively through our own work, for only the product of the Hebrew labor can serve as the national estate. ~ David Ben Gurion,
78:Physics is nothing but the ABC's. Nature is an equation with an unknown, a Hebrew word which is written only with consonants to which reason has to add the dots. ~ Johann Georg Hamann,
79:The term here translated "in the beginning" signifies, as every Hebrew scholar knows, a period of such remote antiquity, that in Bible language it stands next to eternity. ~ Anonymous,
80:We do hereby command the Leaders of the Hebrew, Catholic and Protestant Churches to sanctify and have us crowned Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. ~ Emperor Norton,
81:Unless you’re like my friend, poet Brooks Haxton (who translates Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, and German), throwing in three-dollar words will just make you look like a dick. ~ Mary Karr,
82:Hebrew word for "charity" tzedakah, simply means "justice" and as this suggests, for Jews, giving to the poor is no optional extra but an essential part of living a just life. ~ Peter Singer,
83:In the Torah, the Hebrew 'to know', often used in a sexual context, is not about facts but about connections. Knowledge, not as accumulation but as charge and discharge. ~ Jeanette Winterson,
84:I was a roving guard on the Lowell Hebrew Community Center's girls' basketball team all through high school. My specialty was stealing the ball, but my only shot was a lay-up. ~ Elinor Lipman,
85:The essence of the Hebrew Bible, transmitted by Christianity, is separation: between life and death, nature and God, good and evil, man and woman, and the holy and the profane. ~ Dennis Prager,
86:By the reduction of the Arabs on the one hand and Jewish immigration in the transition period on the other, we will ensure an absolute Hebrew majority in a parliamentary regime. ~ Moshe Sharett,
87:Rock of Ages, cleft for me,  Let me hide myself in thee. ~ Augustus Toplady, Living and Dying Prayer. "Rock of Ages" is translation. from the Hebrew of "everlasting strength." Isaiah, XXVI. 4,
88:We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all. ~ David Ben Gurion,
89:There were murky glass vessels holding baby Xenomorphs (possibly they were pickles) and bright colorful boxes with labels in Arabic and Hebrew and other scripts I didn't recognize. ~ Robin Sloan,
90:ABAD'DON, noun [Hebrew Chaldee Syriac Samaritan to be lost, or destroyed, to perish.] 1. The destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit. Revelation 9. 2. The bottomless pit. Milton. ~ Noah Webster,
91:The book of Psalms has been and still is the irreplaceable devotional guide, prayer book, and hymnal of the people of God. The Hebrew title is “the book of praises” (tehillim). ~ Warren W Wiersbe,
92:When I first began to combine letters other than Hebrew, I read every book in German that came my way, and from these I certainly received according to the nature of my soul. ~ Shmuel Yosef Agnon,
93:In fact, the ultimate speculation we can make about the nature of Divinity is that Divinity is NO-THING which we can know. In Hebrew, the word for no-thing (nothing) is AIN. ~ Donald Michael Kraig,
94:The tombstones smashed in Hebrew cemeteries and plundered for Polish sidewalks; today bored citizens, staring at their feet while waiting for a bus, can still read the inscriptions. ~ Anne Michaels,
95:Latin! The language of God! Or perhaps He speaks Hebrew? I suppose that's more likely and it will make things rather awkward in heaven, won't it? Will we all have to learn Hebrew? ~ Bernard Cornwell,
96:Latin! The language of God! Or perhaps He speaks Hebrew? I suppose that’s more likely and it will make things rather awkward in heaven, won’t it? Will we all have to learn Hebrew? ~ Bernard Cornwell,
97:Linguists had long known that Latin script—the everyday alphabet of today’s Western world—evolved from Greek letters, which had themselves derived from Phoenician, as did Hebrew.6 ~ William J Bernstein,
98:In our own tradition, and on the basis of the words of Hebrew Scripture, there is not the faintest doubt that Moses is not only the source of Judaism under God, but its high reach as well. ~ Herman Wouk,
99:And God, the Master Builder. This is the meaning behind Joseph's words "God meant it for good in order to bring about..." The Hebrew word translated here as bring about is a construction term ~ Max Lucado,
100:The waters below are mayim (the Hebrew word for “water”), and waters above are sham-mayim—which some, but by no means all, scholars believe means “water there” (sham is Hebrew for “there”). ~ Dennis Prager,
101:You are not the one who speaks your thoughts—you are the one who hears your thoughts.” In Hebrew, the word for the highest soul, that which God breathed into Adam, is N’Shama—“the hearer. ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky,
102:In the King James text God says to Adam, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." With only a little stretching, the same Hebrew letters can be read to mean, "Cursed is the ground by thy passing over. ~ Anonymous,
103:The attempt is to kill the false "I", so that the real "I", the Lord, will reign. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me," say the Hebrew scriptures. ~ Swami Vivekananda,
104:when the overwhelming majority of Europeans were illiterate, it would have been hard to find a Jewish male over the age of five who could not read. Virtually every Jewish boy had to learn Hebrew. ~ Leo Rosten,
105:Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life. ~ Lyndon B Johnson,
106:The Hebrew word for “glory” (kabod) literally means “weight.” To give something glory in your life (or, to worship it) is to give it so much weight that you couldn’t imagine doing life without it. ~ J D Greear,
107:One crucial thing to keep in mind as you read any Hebrew narrative is the presence of God in the narrative. In any biblical narrative, God is the ultimate character, the supreme hero of the story. ~ Gordon D Fee,
108:The psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, there recommended, are plainly the same with the mismorim, tehillim, and shirim, mentioned in the Hebrew titles of David's Psalms 3, 4, 5, etc.; 145, 120, 134. ~ Anonymous,
109:Plutarch gave her nine languages, including Hebrew and Troglodyte, an Ethiopian tongue that—if Herodotus can be believed—was “unlike that of any other people; it sounds like the screeching of bats. ~ Stacy Schiff,
110:The Hebrew language will go from the synagogue to the house of study, and from the house of study to the school, and from the school it will come into the home and... become a living language ~ Eliezer Ben Yehuda,
111:Humans have "dominion" over animals. But that "dominion" (radah in Hebrew) does not mean despotism, rather we are set over creation to care for what God has made and to treasure God's own treasures. ~ Andrew Linzey,
112:This verse uses the Hebrew word milacha to refer to work instead of the more common word avoda. Milacha is not truly translatable; it is best understood as creative work—work that produces something. ~ Dennis Prager,
113:What Jews do you know who don’t make comedy of their lives? It’s part of the religion. I’ll bet you think all that Hebrew at bar mitzvahs is prayers, don’t you? Fooled you, didn’t we? It’s stand-up. ~ Jennifer Coburn,
114:When asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus in effect does not say, “Let me give you three Hebrew roots on the word neighbor.” What he does say is, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. . . . ~ Calvin Miller,
115:The fact that the Hebrew word 'adam', meaning 'man', is identical with Adam as the name of the father of Seth plays a fundamental role in fusing the three stories (Gen 2:7-3:24, 4:1, 4:25 and 5:1) in one. ~ Kamal Salibi,
116:Who knows anything about things like that around here? All these bores and cowards who grind away and work their fingers to the bone and don't realize that there's something higher than the Hebrew alphabet. ~ Hermann Hesse,
117:He was the editor of our paper. He created the publishing house in Hebrew. He was - I wouldn't say the "guru" - but really he was our teacher and a most respected man. I wrote for the paper of the youth movement. ~ Shimon Peres,
118:Babylonians made pilgrimages, as did the Greeks, Israelites, Chinese and Mayans. The Arabic word for pilgrimage, hajj, comes from the Hebrew word for celebration, hag. In Tibetan, the word for human being means “goer. ~ Anonymous,
119:The Hebrew original does not say, ‘Do not kill.’ It says, ‘Do not murder.’ Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life — one is ‘kill’ (harag, in Hebrew) and the other is ‘murder’ (ratzach in Hebrew). ~ Dennis Prager,
120:Because if the Romans, the Greeks, the Hebrew scholars, and the Christians all describe the same entities, and issue the same warnings and formulae for controlling them, then surely that is something not to be dismissed. ~ Anne Rice,
121:But one should be suspicious of all statements about the nature of “the Hebrew mind” or “the Greek mind” if those statements are based on observations about the semantic limitations of words of the language in question. ~ D A Carson,
122:There are indeed moral universals — the Hebrew Bible calls them ‘the covenant with Noah’ and they form the basis of modern codes of human rights. But they exist to create space for cultural and religious difference… ~ Jonathan Sacks,
123:The name ‘Azkaban’ derives from a mixture of the prison ‘Alcatraz’, which is its closest Muggle equivalent, being set on an island, and ‘Abaddon’, which is a Hebrew word meaning ‘place of destruction’ or ‘depths of hell’. ~ J K Rowling,
124:You meant evil against me," Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that traces its meaning to "weave" or "plait." "You wove evil," he was saying, "but God rewove it together for good."

God, the Master Weaver. ~ Max Lucado,
125:In Hebrew, satan means an advocate of the alternative, the one who makes the arguments you don't know how to refute." Michelangelo looked to the old Jew, still grinning wickedly in the corner. "That satan is my best friend. ~ Adam Gidwitz,
126:Had anyone suggested at the time that it would not be the Egypt of the pharaohs that would survive and change the moral landscape of the world, but instead a group of Hebrew slaves, it would have seemed the ultimate absurdity. ~ Sheila Heti,
127:I'm twelve years old. I run into a synagogue. I ask the rabbi the meaning of life. He tells me the meaning of life but he tells it to me in Hebrew. I don't understand Hebrew. Then he wants to charge me $600 for Hebrew lessons. ~ Woody Allen,
128:Scholars of the Hebrew bible define something they call wisdom literature and I would say clearly the poetry of wisdom is something that comes with age or that might come with age which has to do with reflecting on experience. ~ Edward Hirsch,
129:Its other name was Satis, which is Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or all three -- or all one to me -- for enough....but it meant more than it said. It meant, when it was given, that whoever had this house, could want nothing else. ~ Charles Dickens,
130:How does allegiance to the Christian Prince of Peace or the God of the Hebrew prophets square with a national security policy that still relies on threatening the use of nuclear weapons—something all of our religious traditions abhor? ~ Jim Wallis,
131:The precepts of philosophy and of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. (Jesus) pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the regions of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head. ~ Thomas Jefferson,
132:...when he thought of the word mercy, it was the Yiddish word that came to his mind: rachmones, whose root was rechem, the Hebrew word for womb. Rachmones: a compassion as deep and as undeniable as what a mother felt for her child. ~ Julie Orringer,
133:But secret agents, like God, only give signs to their confidants. They are also very cruel and even unhappy at times. At any rate, they keep quiet. —BENJAMIN TAMMUZ, Minotaur, translated from the Hebrew by Kim Parfitt and Mildred Budny ~ John Darnielle,
134:English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background. ~ David Crystal,
135:The market economy is deeply congruent with the values set out in the Hebrew Bible. Material prosperity is a divine blessing. Poverty crushes the spirit as well as the body, and its alleviation is a sacred task. Work is a noble calling. ~ Jonathan Sacks,
136:The Swiss theologian John Calvin, in his commentaries on the Hebrew prophets, says that God so identifies with the poor that their cries express divine pain. The Bible teaches us that our treatment of them equals our treatment of God. ~ Timothy J Keller,
137:When you say, 'I am a Christian,' you are saying, 'I am mashiach,' in the Hebrew. I am a little messiah walking on earth, in other words. That is a shocking revelation. ...May I say it like this? You are a little god on earth running around ~ Benny Hinn,
138:You've been the rabbi here for thirty years and these guys who've never set foot here want to decide who should be rabbi or not. And to lead prayer in Hebrew for Jews who speak Arabic, they want you to write in French. So I say they're nuts. ~ Joann Sfar,
139:One moment he's telling you why convexity leads to philostochasticity and the next he's explaining why he doesn't eat papayas. For the record, he avoids all fruits without a Greek or Hebrew name because his ancestors would not have eaten them. ~ Anonymous,
140:A pretty young Hebrew woman spoke so little English I could not get her story except as told by the nurses. They said her name is Sarah Fishbaum, and that her husband put her in the asylum because she had a fondness for other men than himself. ~ Nellie Bly,
141:The Hebrew scriptures say it's okay to enslave anybody except your fellow Jews. It says you should enslave only your neighbors. I say to people that means Mexicans and Canadians are a bit at risk if we want to be literal about the Bible. ~ John Shelby Spong,
142:On a crowded bus in Israel, a mother was speaking to her son in Yiddish. An Israeli woman reprimanded her. "You should be speaking Hebrew. Why are you talking to him in Yiddish?" The mother answered, "I don't want he should forget he's a Jew." ~ Kirk Douglas,
143:In addition to the eternal, mystical Silence and the Holy Spirit, certain gnostics suggest a third characterization of the divine Mother: as Wisdom. Here the Greek feminine term for “wisdom,” sophia, translates a Hebrew feminine term, hokhmah. ~ Elaine Pagels,
144:In my life are many windows
and many graves.

Sometimes they exchange
roles:
then a window is closed forever,
then by way of a gravestone
I can see
very far.

(Hebrew-to-English translation by Rabbi Steven Sager) ~ Yehuda Amichai,
145:But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not. ~ John Steinbeck,
146:The Bible affects everybody's life who is a Christian, from the middle class in Europe to the peasant in Africa and Asia. The Bible has affected their lives, but in translation, since they do not read the Bible in the original Greek or Hebrew. ~ Ngugi wa Thiong o,
147:Belief in a divine messiah would have been anathema to everything Judaism represents, which is why, without exception, every text in the Hebrew Bible dealing with the messiah presents him as performing his messianic functions on earth, not in heaven.) ~ Reza Aslan,
148:First, the word she used that we translate kindness is the Hebrew hesed. It’s a word that refers to a strongly bonded relationship where one party continues to be faithfully involved with another because it is the character of the first party to do so. ~ Larry Crabb,
149:It is summed up for us in the Hebrew epistle when we are instructed to run life's race "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." From all this we learn that faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God. ~ A W Tozer,
150:Jehovah Pronounced (in English) Jee-HO-vah. Not a Yiddish word. It is not a Hebrew word. It is some scribe’s Latin transliteration of YHVH, to which the vowel marks for Adonai were added. The word appeared for the first time in an English text in 1530. God. ~ Leo Rosten,
151:What is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion that it is by study that you make yourself a holy people - is nowhere present in Hebrew tradition before the end of the first or the beginning of the second century of the Common Era. ~ Harold Bloom,
152:it means what it say," Ethel said. "It means that a Hebrew may not enslave a Hebrew. But the sons of Ham are not of that tribe. The were cursed, with black skin and tails. Where the Scripture condemns slavery, it is not speaking of negro slavery at all. ~ Colson Whitehead,
153:The Hebrew Bible is the supreme example of that rarest of phenomena, a national literature of self-criticism. Other ancient civilisations recorded their victories. The Israelites recorded their failures. It is what the Mosaic and prophetic books are about. ~ Jonathan Sacks,
154:Being raised a Jew in southern California in the 1950s and 1960s, my religious training emphasized learning the Hebrew language and Jewish festivals, history, and culture. We also remembered the Holocaust and supported the newly formed Jewish state of Israel. ~ Rick Strassman,
155:The Hebrew Kabbalah, the Chinese Book of Changes, the Tarot, The Egyptian & Tibetan Books of the Dead—should not be regarded as primitive & unsuccessful attempts at ‘science,’ but as attempts to express the depths of ‘lunar’ knowledge in their own terms. ~ Colin Wilson,
156:Literature, the study of literature in English in the 19th century, did not belong to literary studies, which had to do with Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, but instead with elocution and public speaking. So when people read literature, it was to memorize and to recite it. ~ Robert Hass,
157:The Hebrew Bible contains multiple provisions to ensure that no one would go hungry. The corners of the field, forgotten sheaves of grain, gleanings that drop from the hands of the gleaner, and small clusters of grapes left on the vine were to be given to the poor. ~ Jonathan Sacks,
158:It is impossible for one who has studied at all the services of the Hebrew people to avoid the faith that they will one day be restored to their historic national home and there enter on a new and yet greater phase of their contribution to the advance of humanity. ~ Warren G Harding,
159:Luther used this new technology to distribute power among the people with his 1534 translation of the Bible from Greek, Hebrew, and Latin into common German. More than one hundred thousand copies of the Luther Bible were sold within forty years of its publication ~ Shawn Lawrence Otto,
160:German accents and Hassidic accents aren't that romantic. They're more harsh. Although Hebrew, when spoken by certain people, sounds beautiful. There's this beautiful woman I know who speaks Hebrew, and when she speaks, it's so attractive. Maybe it's who's speaking it. ~ Janeane Garofalo,
161:God with us”? We must understand it the same way the Hebrew people would have understood it. There is something beautiful here—this is the secret of Immanuel! The Jewish mind understands that when the Lord is with you, you become successful in every endeavor in your life. ~ Joseph Prince,
162:Scholar Michael S. Heiser has pointed out that the Hebrew word Elohim was more of a reference to a plane of existence than to a substance of being. In this way, Yahweh was Elohim, but no other elohim was Yahweh. Yahweh is incomparably THE Elohim of elohim (Deut. 10:17).[2] ~ Brian Godawa,
163:The Jewish people have been in exile for 2,000 years; they have lived in hundreds of countries, spoken hundreds of languages and still they kept their old language, Hebrew. They kept their Aramaic, later their Yiddish; they kept their books; they kept their faith. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer,
164:To help your understanding: (i) Mark well the titles of the psalms; (ii) Note the propriety of the Hebrew phrase, in the margin; (iii) Use that translation [of scripture] which is nearest the Hebrew; (iv) Peruse this exposition first [Francis Roberts’ Key of the Bible, 1675]. ~ Anonymous,
165:[Ezekiel 1:1a] Hebrew On the fifth day of the fourth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of dates in Ezekiel can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This event occurred on July 31, 593 B.C. ~ Anonymous,
166:The Egyptians of 4000 B.C. believed that the goddess Isis, wife of Osiris, taught them how to grow olives. The Greeks have a similar legend. But the Hebrew word for olive, zait, is probably older than the Greek word, elaia, and is thought to refer to Said in the Nile Delta. ~ Mark Kurlansky,
167:But every great scripture, whether Hebrew, Indian, Persian, or Chinese, apart from its religious value will be found to have some rare and special beauty of its own; and in this respect the original Bible stands very high as a monument of sublime poetry and of artistic prose. ~ Lafcadio Hearn,
168:..There are circumstances when you are torn away like a leaf from a tree and no power can attach you again.
The wind carries you from your roots. There's a name for it in Hebrew, but I've forgotten."

"Na-v'nad - a fugitive and a wanderer.”

“That's it. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer,
169:I have never been particularly good with languages. Despite a dozen years of Hebrew school and a lifetime of praying in the language, I'm ashamed to admit that I still can't read an Israeli newspaper. Besides English, the only language I speak with any degree of fluency is Spanish. ~ Joshua Foer,
170:sn God. This frequently used Hebrew name for God (אֱלֹהִים,’elohim ) is a plural form. When it refers to the one true God, the singular verb is normally used, as here. The plural form indicates majesty; the name stresses God’s sovereignty and incomparability – he is the “God of gods. ~ Anonymous,
171:The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It ~ John Steinbeck,
172:Berzelius' symbols are horrifying. A young student in chemistry might as soon learn Hebrew as make himself acquainted with them... They appear to me equally to perplex the adepts in science, to discourage the learner, as well as to cloud the beauty and simplicity of the atomic theory. ~ John Dalton,
173:She said: ‘Would you take this bit of parchment.… I got a little Jew girl to write on it in Hebrew: It’s “God bless you and keep you: God watch over you at your goings out and at …” ’ He tucked it into his breast pocket. ‘The talismanic passage,’ he said. ‘Of course I’ll wear it.… ~ Ford Madox Ford,
174:The scriptures of all three of the great monotheisms show that they began similarly as popular movements in protest against the privilege and arrogance of power, whether that of kings as in the Hebrew bible, or the Roman Empire as in the Gospels, or a tribal elite as in the Quran. ~ Lesley Hazleton,
175:At times, God's history seems to operate on an entirely different plane than ours...Exodus identifies by name the two Hebrew midwives who helped save Moses' life, but it does not bother to record the name of the Pharaoh ruling Egypt (an omission that has baffled scholars ever since). ~ Philip Yancey,
176:Do you think God speaks Arabic or Hebrew? Can he hear your prayers or mine?"... "I do not know." "What do you think, Nabi?" The boy thought about this for a long time before replying. "I think God must speak all the languages." His tone was confident. "I think he can heal all of us. ~ Kristin Harmel,
177:I will use the conventional Christian term “Old Testament” when talking about the sacred writings of the ancient Israelites—a. k.a. the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, an acronym for the three sections of the Jewish Bible, Torah (five books of Moses), Nevi’im (prophets), and Kethuvim (writings). ~ Peter Enns,
178:Many people do not know that Jesus did not speak Latin or English or Hebrew; he spoke Aramaic. But nobody knows that language. So we're talking about the Bible itself being a translation of a translation of a translation. And, in reality, it has affected people's lives in history. ~ Ngugi wa Thiong o,
179:~ Hilary Mantel You know young Francis Weston? He that waits on the king? His people are giving out that you’re a Hebrew... Next time you’re at court, take your cock out and put it on the table and see what he says to that. ~ Hilary Mantel I do that anyway, if the conversation flags. ~ Hilary Mantel,
180:Beriyth, the Hebrew word for covenant, is a solemn, binding agreement made by passing through pieces of flesh. The Greek word for covenant, diatheke, means a testament or an agreement. The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments—or covenants. Everything God does is based on covenant.15 ~ Anonymous,
181:It is possible that the meaning of wisdom in Hebrew indicates aptitude for stratagems and the application of thought in such a way that the stratagems and ruses may be used in achieving either rational or moral virtues, or in achieving skill in a practical art, or in working evil and wickedness. ~ Maimonides,
182:In the ancient Hebrew language the word which is translated "ladder" can also mean a hill, a mound, or any artificially contrived means of ascent. It is quite possible therefore that the Jews used the term ladder to include the type of building now called a pyramid. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
183:(The belief that Jews have horns apparently derives from a mistranslation from Hebrew of a verse in Exodus, compounded by a Michelangelo sculpture that portrays Moses with horns.) As I grew older, I became aware that many of my peers, evangelical Christians, believed as a matter of doctrine—if ~ Ben S Bernanke,
184:For Isaac’s protection he had a blue Turkish evil eye and a painted tin hand of Fatima hanging from the bedpost; a candle was always lit on his chest of drawers, next to Hebrew and Christian Bibles and a jar of holy water that one of the domestic staff had brought from the Shrine of Saint Jude. ~ Isabel Allende,
185:Because on that watch list, they would be like, yeah, your name - they told me like, yeah, your name matches the name of a terrorist or someone that they're watching. I was just like, what terrorist is running around with a Hebrew first name and a Muslim - Arabic last - I'm like, who's that guy? ~ Mahershala Ali,
186:God has called His creation to find satisfaction in a personal relationship with Him, and stop trying to manage the world by conforming it to our expectations, and to allow Him to govern His creation. He continues to say through an ancient Hebrew worship song, "Be still and know that I am God! ~ Charles R Swindoll,
187:The Hebrew language... is the only glue which holds together our scattered bones. It also holds together the rings in the chain of time.... It binds us to those who built pyramids, to those who shed their blood on the ramparts of Jerusalem, and to those who, at the burning stakes, cried Shema Yisrael! ~ I L Peretz,
188:I never went to Hebrew school or to a church or synagogue afterward, but then I never gave much thought to God either. I felt confident that I would be able to deal with Him when the time came for me to have to—just as I would deal with everything else in my life, when the time came and not before. ~ Harold Robbins,
189:  Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons.” The Hebrew word for “sign” is owth, which also translates as “signals.” Therefore, based on the Bible, God uses the sun, moon, and stars as signals to mankind. ~ John Hagee,
190:We encounter God in the face of a stranger. That, I believe, is the Hebrew Bible’s single greatest and most counterintuitive contribution to ethics. God creates difference; therefore it is in one-who-is-different that we meet god. Abraham encounters God when he invites three strangers into his tent. ~ Jonathan Sacks,
191:Although some popular religious texts such as the New Testament, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, or Tibetan Book of the Dead contain interesting insights and stories, it is the Jewish religious texts such as the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) that contain valuable information on acquiring wealth. ~ H W Charles,
192:From Genesis on, nakedness, or the shame of being exposed to others, became one of the great curses in Hebrew culture. It was a profound curse because it symbolized the deeper, spiritual nakedness and shame that needed covering. It symbolized that apart from God's covering, we stand naked before him. ~ Edward T Welch,
193:Samson, the Hebrew hero, as his name implies, is also a solar deity. His fight with the Nubian lion, his battles with the Philistines, who represent the Powers of Darkness, and his memorable feat of carrying off the gates of Gaza, all refer to aspects of solar activity. ~ Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of all Ages,
194:More than 500 deluge legends are known around the world and, in a survey of 86 of these (20 Asiatic, 3 European, 7 African, 46 American and 10 from Australia and the Pacific), the specialist researcher Dr Richard Andree concluded that 62 were entirely independent of the Mesopotamian and Hebrew accounts. ~ Graham Hancock,
195:What happens when you speak colloquial Hebrew is you switch between registers all the time. So in a typical sentence, three words are biblical, one word is Russian, and one word is Yiddish. This kind of connection between very high language and very low language is very natural, people use it all the time. ~ Etgar Keret,
196:What was ridiculous about Christianity, from the perspective of a cultivated pagan, was not only its language—the crude style of the Gospels’ Greek resting on the barbarous otherness of Hebrew and Aramaic—but also its exaltation of divine humiliation and pain conjoined with an arrogant triumphalism. ~ Stephen Greenblatt,
197:Kenneth Hagin, the late father of the modern faith movement, stated: Prophecy is supernatural utterance in a known tongue. The Hebrew word “to prophesy” means “to flow forth.” It also carries with it the thought “to bubble forth like a fountain, to let drop, to lift up, to tumble forth, and to spring forth. ~ James W Goll,
198:Its other name was Satis; which is Greek,
or Latin, or Hebrew, or all three - or all one to me - for enough.’
‘Enough House,’ said I; ‘that’s a curious name, miss.’
‘Yes,’ she replied; ‘but it meant more than it said. It meant, when it was given, that whoever had this house, could want nothing else. ~ Charles Dickens,
199:Your spirit is mingled with mine as wine is mixed with water; whatever touches you touches me. In all the stations of the soul you are I. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Mansur al-Hallaj, Your spirit is mingled with mine
,
200:ANNOYANCE. Conflict (Hebrew madon) in Proverbs does not refer to principled disagreements or respectful arguments. It is something God hates (6: 19) and at the heart of conflict is annoyance, a word that means contempt and disdain between people. Everything said in conflict is to belittle rather than convince. ~ Timothy J Keller,
201:People would understand better the popular fury against the witches, if they remembered that the malice most commonly attributed to them was preventing the birth of children. The Hebrew prophets were perpetually protesting against the Hebrew race relapsing into an idolatry that involved such a war upon children; ~ G K Chesterton,
202:the thing she loved most about being Jewish was that you could step into a synagogue anywhere on earth and feel like you’d come home. India, Brazil, New Zealand, even Mars—if you could rely on Shalom, Spacemen!, the homemade comic book that had been the highlight of Simon’s third-grade Hebrew school experience. ~ Cassandra Clare,
203:The biblical tale of Man's creation is, of course, the crux of the debate—at times bitter—between Creationists and Evolutionists and of the ongoing confrontation between them—at times in courts, always on school boards. As previously stated, both sides had better read the Bible again (and in its Hebrew original); ~ Zecharia Sitchin,
204:[I had Bar mitzvah ]it was just me and my mom. And she's celebrating. And she's reading things to me in Hebrew. I don't know what's going on. And she's telling me that now I'm a man. And I'm like, does that mean I have no chores? And she's like, no, you still have chores, but you're a man. I didn't understand most of it. ~ Trevor Noah,
205:I am the One whom I love, and the One whom I love is myself. We are two souls incarnated in one body; if you see me, you see Him, if you see Him, you see us. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Mansur al-Hallaj, I am the One whom I love
,
206:Lo and behold, look what was hiding in Hebrews: "By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (10:14)... Also, the Hebrew word for "perfect" is different than our typical Western definition. It actually speaks more to the concept of being "complete" and how we are all we need to be in Christ. ~ Holley Gerth,
207:The word resentment means to re-feel...to feel again. Someone wrongs or wounds you; in resenting it, you re-feel the injury. And you re-hurt yourself. The Hebrew Talmud says that a person who bears a grudge is "Like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand." ~ Norman Vincent Peale,
208:The Hebrew word translated here as “God” is “elohim” and elohim is plural, so the first verse of the Bible should actually read:   “In the beginning gods created the heaven and the earth.”   This is no small thing. The difference between God, capital G, and gods, small g, is the difference between monotheism and polytheism. ~ Steve Ebling,
209:A Man’s life of any worth is a continual allegory, and very few eyes can see the Mystery of his life—a life like the scriptures, figurative—which such people can no more make out than they can the Hebrew Bible. Lord Byron cuts a figure but he is not figurative—Shakspeare led a life of Allegory: his works are the comments on it ~ John Keats,
210:But hold on: Didn’t I remember that the original language of the Bible was not Hebrew but something else? I beat my gray cells brutally, and they finally came out with it. Yes, it had been something I remembered from that unimpeachable scholarly source, Raiders of the Lost Ark. And the language I was looking for was Aramaic. ~ Jeff Lindsay,
211:Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth says in the Times London that multiculturalism was intended to create a more tolerant society, one in which everyone, regardless of colour, creed or culture, felt at home. But, he says, multiculturalism's message is "there is no need to integrate". ~ Citizen One,
212:Despite two millennia of Christian apologetics, the fact is that belief in a dying and rising messiah simply did not exist in Judaism. In the entirety of the Hebrew Bible there is not a single passage of scripture or prophecy about the promised messiah that even hints of his ignominious death, let alone his bodily resurrection. ~ Reza Aslan,
213:A handy tip: When angels say “be not afraid,” you should be afraid.
Also, as I said earlier, we have to memorize angel names because Jonathan Shadowhunter wanted us to have to memorize angel names.

They sure like to end angel names in “el.”

Means “of God” in Hebrew, Clariel.

You two are just adorable ~ Cassandra Clare,
214:Jossi had been slow in agreeing with Ben Yehuda and the others. Hebrew had to be revived. If the desire for national identity was great enough a dead language could be brought back. But Sarah was set in her ways. Yiddish was what she spoke and what her mother had spoken. She had no intention of becoming a scholar so late in life. ~ Leon Uris,
215:I am the One whom I love, and the One whom I love is myself.
We are two souls incarnated in one body;
if you see me, you see Him,
if you see Him, you see us.

Al Hallaj

From Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, trans. Bernard Lewis
~ Mansur al-Hallaj, I am the One Whom I Love
,
216:The Rulers of Russia, then, are Jewish Politicians, and they are applying to the world the doctrine of Karl Marx (Mordecai). Marx, was a clear and lucid Talmudist...full of that old Hebrew (sic) materialism which ever dreams of a paradise on earth and always rejects the hope held out of the chance of a Garden of Eden after Death. ~ Bernard Lazare,
217:(There is, however, one thing about which all the prophecies seem to agree: the messiah is a human being, not divine. The idea of a divine messiah is anathema to Judaism, which is why, without exception, every text in the Hebrew Bible dealing with the messiah presents him as performing his messianic functions on earth, not in heaven.) ~ Reza Aslan,
218:Jesus’s demonstration in the temple was not, as is often assumed, a plea for a more spiritual form of worship. As he rampaged through the money changers’ stalls, he quoted the Hebrew prophets who had harsh words for those who were punctilious in their devotions but ignored the plight of the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. ~ Karen Armstrong,
219:The uppermost idea with Hellenism is to see things as they really are; the uppermost ideas with Hebraism is conduct and obedience.Nothing can do away with this ineffaceable difference. The Greek quarrel with the body and its desires is, that they hinder right thinking; the Hebrew quarrel with them is, that they hinder right acting. ~ Matthew Arnold,
220:12:21 Those quoting a passage might end on a point they did not want to omit—here concern for the Gentiles (cf. 4:15; 28:19). The Hebrew text speaks of “coasts” or “islands,” giving an example of distant peoples, but Matthew follows here the common Greek translation that captures the text’s theological sense, applying it to all Gentiles. ~ Anonymous,
221:Once a week, beginning at sunset on Friday and until sunset on Saturday, the family had to pause. A Jewish merchant had explained the Sabbath to Agios already, back in Egypt. No devout Hebrew could work or travel on that day. If they were near a temple, the family went there. If no temple was available, they prayed where they were. When ~ Glenn Beck,
222:In my office in Jerusalem, there's an ancient seal. It's a signet ring of a Jewish official from the time of the Bible. The seal was found right next to the Western Wall, and it dates back 2,700 years, to the time of King Hezekiah. Now, there's a name of the Jewish official inscribed on the ring in Hebrew. His name was Netanyahu. ~ Benjamin Netanyahu,
223:The Self says ‘I AM’–as in the very grand sayings of Christ, especially in the Gospel of John, in which he says in the state of onenenss with Yahweh (which in Hebrew means ‘I AM’), I AM is the way and the truth and the life–but the ego says ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that,’ thus attaching itself only to a small portion of the Vastness. (62) ~ Ravi Ravindra,
224:In Hebrew, the Lord’s language, the word for time is ZeMaN, which is linked to the word for invitation. This serves to remind us that the passage of time is an invitation to make the most of it, to manage it effectively, and to integrate our understanding of how the world works with a true and accurate perception of the reality of time. ~ Daniel Lapin,
225:The second modern commandment, "Thou shalt consume!" is the natural complement of the first—"Create more desire!" Together they lead the attack on the key bastion of the Indo-European, Islamic, and Hebrew traditions—the impulse control system—for the desire for a million things cannot be created without stimulating a craving for everything. ~ Anonymous,
226:I thought of  how God had sent a prostitute to help the Hebrew spies who would, through her help, and only through her help, conquer the city and fell the walls. I also wondered: Had that been humiliating to them? Receiving help from a whore? Would they rather have done it all by themselves or with help from someone of their choosing? ~ Nadia Bolz Weber,
227:A central fact, possibly the central fact, about the Hebrew Bible is that it is not written at a moment of apogee, but over three centuries (eight to fifth) of trouble, That is what gives the Book its cumulative sobriety, its cautionary poetic, severity from the coarseness of triumphal self-congratulation found in imperial cultures. ~ Simon Schama,
228:The Nazis played the same games against Jews that today’s left plays against 'Eurocentrism,' 'whiteness,' and 'logocentrism.' When you hear a campus radical denounce 'white logic' or 'male logic,' she is standing on the shoulders of a Nazi who denounced 'Jewish logic' and the 'Hebrew disease'...The white man is the Jew of liberal fascism. ~ Jonah Goldberg,
229:Before examining the texts about the divine council it is important to understand that the English word “God,” can be misleading in Biblical interpretation. The most common Hebrew word translated in English as “God” in the Bible is Elohim. But God has many names in the text and each of them is used to describe different aspects of his person. ~ Brian Godawa,
230:We read off the ancient Hebrew words, with no idea of what they might mean, and the congregation responds with more words that they don’t understand either. We are gathered together on a Saturday morning to speak gibberish to each other, and you would think, in these godless times, that the experience would be empty, but somehow it isn’t. ~ Jonathan Tropper,
231:You said you learned something.” I nodded. “The men following me. They spoke Hebrew and knew Krav Maga.” Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art. “And,” Win added, “they were good.” “You see where I’m going with this?” “A good tail, good fighter, got away without killing you, spoke Hebrew.” Win nodded. “Mossad.” “Explains all the interest.” Below ~ Harlan Coben,
232:Glorious things are spoken of God; he transcends our thoughts, and the praises of angels. God’s glory lies chiefly in his attributes, which are the several beams by which the divine nature shines forth. Among other of his orient excellencies, this is not the least, The Lord is a God of knowledge; or as the Hebrew word is, ‘A God of knowledges. ~ Thomas Watson,
233:I don't know why I do this. I definitely wasn't planning on telling my parents the post office story. Just like I wasn't planning on telling them about my sad crush on Cody Feinman from Hebrew school. Or my even sadder crush on Jessie's slightly younger brother. Or the fact that I'm gay in the first place. But sometimes things just slip out. ~ Becky Albertalli,
234:My father reminds me that according to Midrash - the ever-evolving commentary upon the Hebrew scriptures - when you arrive in the world as a baby, your hands are clenched, as though to say, "Everything is mine. I will inherit it all." When you depart from the world, your hands are open, as though to say, "I have acquired nothing from the world. ~ David Shields,
235:The Hebrew word for this perfect, harmonious interdependence among all parts of creation is called shalom. We translate it as “peace,” but the English word is basically negative, referring to the absence of trouble or hostility. The Hebrew word means much more than that. It means absolute wholeness—full, harmonious, joyful, flourishing life. ~ Timothy J Keller,
236:While the business of education in Europe consists in lectures upon the ruins of Palmyra and the antiquities of Herculaneum , or in disputes about Hebrew points, Greek particles, or the accent and quantity of the Roman language, the youth of America will be employed in acquiring those branches of knowledge which increase the conveniences of life. ~ Benjamin Rush,
237:Everybody wants to have sex - you don't have to have a baby when you're 16. You don't have to do drugs. I think our Sunday schools should be turned into Black history schools and computer schools on the weekend, just like Hebrew schools for Jewish people, or my Asian friends who send their kids to schools on the weekend to learn Chinese or Korean. ~ Henry Louis Gates,
238:My aunt touched my shoulder, I opened my eyes startled for a moment. She was smiling softly but I could see the tears sparkling in the corner of her eyes. “It’s the same God, Frankie.” I could feel the tension flow out of me. Suddenly I smiled at her. She was right: the Word meant God in no matter what language you spoke it—English, Latin or… Hebrew. ~ Harold Robbins,
239:Stella says the name for the house where she and Ms. Havisham live is Stasis, Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or all three to dub the domicile Enough House. In a healthy soul, this might mean contentment. Or, in seeing what we have as Enough, this can mean we are not open to vulnerability, generosity, or dependence on those who might threaten our Stasis. ~ Charles Dickens,
240:First, in Hebrew, Elohim is an androgynous term inferring a combination of male and female attributes. Second, the word, by its termination, is plural. Actually therefore the word Elohim means "the male-female creators," representing a host or at least a group of powers and not, under any condition, a single personal entity. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
241:AMEN  (A'MEN)   adv.[A word of which the original has given rise to many conjectures. Scaliger writes, that it is Arabick; and the Rabbies make it the compound of the initials of three words, signifying the Lord is a faithful king; but the word seems merely Hebrew, , which, with a long train of derivatives, signifies firmness, certainty, fidelity.]A term ~ Samuel Johnson,
242:Agnon himself was an observant Jew who kept the Sabbath and wore a skullcap; he was, literally, a God-fearing man: in Hebrew, "fear" and "faith" are synonyms. There are corners in Agnon's stories where, in an indirect, cleverly camouflaged way, the fear of God is portrayed as a terrible dread of God: Agnon believes in God and fears him, but he does not love him. ~ Amos Oz,
243:The Christian preacher is not the successor to the Greek orator, but of the Hebrew prophet,” writes Forsyth. “It is one thing to have to rouse or persuade people to do something. . . . It is another to have to induce them to trust somebody and renounce themselves for him. . . . The orator stirs men to [action], the preacher invites them to be redeemed.”8 ~ Timothy J Keller,
244:Being born a human was not the first time God made Himself small so that we could have access to Him. First He shrunk Himself when He revealed the Torah at Mount Sinai. He shrunk Himself into tiny Hebrew words, man's finite language, so that we might get to Him that way. Then He shrunk Himself again, down to the size of a baby, down into manger finiteness. ~ Lauren F Winner,
245:Regarding the children in Israel who made the first known world change in history using the Bible Code, they left a statement which they wrote on a rock, in Hebrew: "If it is not simple, it simply will not be," meaning that they have decided that if there is not an innocence, a simplicity in the actions of the world, they are simply going to erase it. ~ Drunvalo Melchizedek,
246:When my works are being translated, I always get this question from my translators: Up or down? Which means, should it sound biblical and highbrow, or should we take it all down to sound colloquial? In Hebrew, it's both all the time. People in Israel would write in a high register, they wouldn't write colloquial speech. I do a special take on colloquial speech. ~ Etgar Keret,
247:There was malachite green, and red; the intense red known as worm scarlet—tola’at shani in Hebrew—extracted from tree-dwelling insects, crushed up and boiled in lye. Later, when alchemists learned how to make a similar red from sulfur and mercury, they still named the color “little worm”—vermiculum. Some things don’t change: we call it vermilion even today. ~ Geraldine Brooks,
248:For Paul 'righteousness' and 'justice' are the same word, as they were in Hebrew. Paul clearly believes that helping the poor is a central and ongoing part of Christian commitment, precisely because in Jesus Christ God has unveiled and launched his plan for the rescue, redemption and renewal of the whole creation. Justification and justice go very closely together. ~ N T Wright,
249:For example, most editions of the Old Testament, intended for a Christian readership (obtained from a Greek translation of the original Hebrew), will translate Isaiah 7:14 to state that "a virgin shall conceive . . ." The English translation of the original Hebrew, used in the corresponding passage in the Hebrew Bible, states that "a young woman shall conceive. . . . ~ Anonymous,
250:(There is, however, one thing about which all the prophecies seem to agree: the messiah is a human being, not divine. Belief in a divine messiah would have been anathema to everything Judaism represents, which is why, without exception, every text in the Hebrew Bible dealing with the messiah presents him as performing his messianic functions on earth, not in heaven.) ~ Reza Aslan,
251:If you suspect that my interest in the Bible is going to inspire me with sudden enthusiasm for Judaism and make me a convert of mountain-moving fervor and that I shall suddenly grow long earlocks and learn Hebrew and go about denouncing the heathen - you little know the effect of the Bible on me. Properly read, it is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. ~ Isaac Asimov,
252:Careful study will show that the entire account is a cleverly concealed myth which parallels closely the Greek myth of Hercules. The name Hercules means the glory of Hera (who was the Queen of Heaven). In Hebrew, Samson means sunlike. Samson is a solar personification, and, like Hercules, performs certain labors consistent with his role. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
253:As Peggy snored beside him, Tom pondered the Greek and Hebrew legends of the scapegoat. Pharmakos to the Greeks, Azazel to the Hebrews. A shameful human practice, he’d always thought, one born from guilt and superstition. But most human behavior had grown out of necessity, and he now understood the empirical value of the rituals for which he had felt only contempt before. ~ Greg Iles,
254:Pottscamp felt nothing; he was, of course, a machine without feeling. He had no conscience or compassion. This would not bother him at all.
It wouldn’t?
Then why did he-?
Then why did he-WHAT?
Sat on the ground and moaned and howled like an old Hebrew. And poured dust and ashes over his head.
You’re crazy. He really did that?
He really did that. ~ R A Lafferty,
255:It is not without significance that Hebrew was the language used by Abraham, and that he could not hand it on to all his descendants but only to those who were derived from him through Jacob, and by uniting to form the people of God in the most evident and conspicuous fashion, were able to keep the covenants and to preserve the stock from which Christ came. And ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo,
256:One of God's central qualities is compassion, a word that in Hebrew is related to the word for "womb." Not only is compassion a female image suggesting source of life and nourishment but it also has a feeling dimension: God as compassionate Spirit feels for us as a mother feels for the children of her womb. Spirit feels the suffering of the world and participates in it. . . . ~ Marcus Borg,
257:By the way, his name was Joshua. Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Yeshua, which is Joshua. Christ is not a last name. It’s the Greek for messiah, a Hebrew word meaning anointed. I have no idea what the “H” in Jesus H. Christ stood for. It’s one of the things I should have asked him. Me? I am Levi who is called Biff. No middle initial. Joshua was my best friend. ~ Christopher Moore,
258:Ibn Rushd's writings were translated into Latin and Hebrew by European scholars. There soon appeared super-commentaries on his commentaries. Many of the writings exist only in these two languages, the original Arabic writings being long lost. This itself is a commentary on the extent to which Ibn Rushd, as a rationalist philosopher, was able to influence the mood of his times ~ Pervez Hoodbhoy,
259:I was fascinated by the lack of a word for a parent who has lost a child. We have no word in English. I thought for sure there'd be a word in Irish but there is none. And then I looked in several other languages and could not find one, until I found the word Sh'khol in Hebrew. I'm still not sure why so many languages don't have a word for this sort of bereavement, this shadowing. ~ Colum McCann,
260:The first glimpse of the power or function of the Shekinah is seen in the meaning of her name, which is derived from the Hebrew root Shakhan meaning ‘to dwell’. This meaning hints at her tangible presence as a visible manifestation of the light of wisdom in the books of the Old Testament, as the burning bush seen by Moses, in the Ark of the Covenant and in the Temple of Solomon.  ~ Sorita d Este,
261:We came here to a country that was populated by Arabs and we are building here a Hebrew, a Jewish state; instead of the Arab villages, Jewish villages were established. You even do not know the names of those villages, and I do not blame you because these villages no longer exist. There is not a single Jewish settlement that was not established in the place of a former Arab Village. ~ Moshe Dayan,
262:What havoc has been made of books through every century of the Christian era? Where are fifty gospels, condemned as spurious by the bull of Pope Gelasius? Where are the forty wagon-loads of Hebrew manuscripts burned in France, by order of another pope, because suspected of heresy? Remember the 'index expurgatorius', the inquisition, the stake, the axe, the halter and the guillotine. ~ John Adams,
263:The Norse runes and the Hebrew alphabet are simple letters for spelling words, but also deep symbols of cosmic significance.
This magical sense is preserved in our word for teaching children how to
manipulate letters to make words: spelling. When you "spell" a word correctly, you are in effect casting a spell, charging these abstract, arbitrary symbols with meaning
and power. ~ Christopher Vogler,
264:["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful. ~ Charles Spurgeon,
265:Christian philosophy has, like the Hebrew, uniformly attributed moral and physical evil to the action of created free will. Man has himself brought about the evil from which he suffers by transgressing the law of God, on obedience to which his happiness depended. . . . The errors of mankind, mistaking the true conditions of its own well-being, have been the cause of moral and physical evil.28 ~ William A Dembski,
266:All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
267:You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. Isaiah and the other Hebrew prophets, in their rage, were being altogether attached - not at all detached, although as I think of the word "detachment," I also think of a sheet of paper, loose from its notebook, fluttering around somewhere in the wind trying to find its home again. ~ Gerald Stern,
268:Abraham was far from just a wandering Hebrew, as often popularly believed, but was rather a ranking Sumerian from Ur. “Coming to Egypt, Abraham and Sarah were taken to the Pharaoh’s court; in Canaan, Abraham made treaties with the local rulers,” he noted. “This is not the image of a nomad pillaging others’ settlements; it is the image of a personage of high standing skilled in negotiation and diplomacy. ~ Jim Marrs,
269:After escaping from Paris and finally leaving France entirely, Calvin spent his exile in Basel, Switzerland, between 1534 and 1536. To redeem the time, “he devoted himself to the study of Hebrew.” (Imagine such a thing! Would any pastor today, exiled from his church and country, and living in mortal danger, study Hebrew? What has become of the vision of ministry that such a thing seems unthinkable today?) ~ John Piper,
270:Jack Miles's wonderful literary reading of the Hebrew Bible as a biography of God offers the insight that after the Book of Job, God never speaks again. God may seem to silence Job, but Job silences God. It is lovely that Job silencing God is part of the text (though likely an accidental order of the books), because it reflects a real change in the real world after the Book of Job came into it. ~ Jennifer Michael Hecht,
271:The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: "I am the Lord thy God there is no other." The second prohibits us from making images. Thus, there is a profound rejection of any goddess influence and a ban of representative art. ~ Leonard Shlain,
272:Bible consists of sixty-six books written by some forty different authors over a period of about 1,500 years. The authors came from every imaginable background—“kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen and scholars. It was written on at least three different continents in three different languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—yet, there is a thread of continuity from Genesis to Revelation. ~ David Limbaugh,
273:Obviously, to be in the fear of the Lord is not to be scared of the Lord, even though the Hebrew word has overtones of respect and awe. "Fear" in the Bible means to be overwhelmed, to be controlled by something. To fear the Lord is to be overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and his love. It means that, because of his bright holiness and magnificent love, you find him "fearfully beautiful. ~ Timothy J Keller,
274:The Greek word translated “peace” in the Scripture is eirene. This word is equivalent to the Hebrew word shalom. Essentially, eirene embodies completeness, wholeness, and an inner resting of the soul that does not fluctuate based on outside influences. A person who is at peace is someone who is stable, calm, orderly, and at rest within. The opposite of peace, of course, is inner chaos, anxiety, and worry. This ~ Tony Evans,
275:Confucians, along with Hebrew, Islamic, and Catholic scholastics, as well as Protestant fundamentalists, are like tourists who study guidebooks and maps instead of wandering freely and looking at the view. Speech and writing are undoubtedly marvelous, but for this very reason they have a hypnotic and fascinating quality which can lead to the neglect of nature itself until they become too much of a good thing. ~ Alan W Watts,
276:We will need to give you a Muslim name…does Leila suit you?” “I don’t deserve this kindness,” she whispered. “That you, Muslims, should help a Jew—” “Come now!” Serif said, realizing that she was about to cry. “Jews and Muslims are cousins, the descendants of Abraham. Your new name, do you know it means ‘evening’ both in Arabic, the language of our Holy Koran, and also in Hebrew, the language of your Torah? ~ Geraldine Brooks,
277:There's a lot of talk in some of the other versions of the Bible, the Hebrew versions, and things about the end of the world not being a punishment from God, but being an invitation from mankind. That mankind has to invite its own destruction. And I think that's very true, and it's almost very American. I think that's the type of society we're in and it's people's very fear of the Antichrist that has created it ~ Marilyn Manson,
278:Some devout Christians are among the most fervent advocates of the death penalty, contradicting Jesus Christ and justifying their belief on an erroneous interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," their most likely response, overlooks the fact that this was promulgated by Moses as a limitation- a prohibition against taking both eyes or all of an offender's teeth in retribution. ~ Jimmy Carter,
279:Barney Hainsfeather
If the excursion train to Peoria
Had just been wrecked, I might have escaped with my life -Certainly I should have escaped this place.
But as it was burned as well, they mistook me
For John Allen who was sent to the Hebrew Cemetery
At Chicago,
And John for me, so I lie here.
It was bad enough to run a clothing store in this town,
But to be buried here -- ach!
~ Edgar Lee Masters,
280:God is not a theoretical problem to somehow resolve but rather a mystery to be participated in. This perspective is evidenced in the Bible itself when we note that the term ‘knowing’ in the Hebrew tradition (in contrast to the Greek tradition) is about engaging in an intimate encounter rather than describing some objective fact: religious truth is thus that which transforms reality rather than that which describes it. ~ Peter Rollins,
281:Nephele, the cloud image of Hera, went on to marry a Boeotian king called ATHAMAS,fn2 by whom she bore two sons, PHRIXUS and HELLE. Nephele had cause to save the life of Phrixus – an Isaac to his father’s Abraham – when Athamas tied his son to the ground and made to sacrifice him. Just as the Hebrew god revealed a ram in a thicket to Abraham and saved Isaac’s life, so Nephele sent a golden ram to rescue her son Phrixus. ~ Stephen Fry,
282:[On the New Testament:] I ... must enter my protest against the false translation of some passages by the men who did that work, and against the perverted interpretation by the men who undertook to write commentaries thereon. I am inclined to think, when we [women] are admitted to the honor of studying Greek and Hebrew, we shall produce some various readings of the Bible a little different from those we now have. ~ Sarah Moore Grimke,
283:As Mama once told me, “We called him Boy for the first two months of his life, but when his third-month birthday came around and we saw that sweet smile—especially when you were close to him, reaching out for him—we realized that he had chosen life. So we named him Chaim after your zaide, your grandfather, but also because ‘chaim’ in Hebrew means ‘life.’” I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without my twin. ~ Jane Yolen,
284:You glide between the heart and its casing as tears glide from the eyelid. You dwell in my inwardness, in the depths of my heart, as souls dwell in bodies. Nothing passes from rest to motion unless you move it in hidden ways, O new moon. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Mansur al-Hallaj, You glide between the heart and its casing
,
285:The Hebrew word, the word timshel - 'Thou mayest' - that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open...Why, that makes a man great...He can choose his course and fight it through and win...I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed - because 'Thou mayest'. ch 24 ~ John Steinbeck,
286:There, a simple headstone marked the grave of Eva Saloman Johansen, "beloved wife and grandmother." Tess was intrigued to see a phrase in Hebrew characters. Her paternal grandmother had apparently been Jewish. Beside that was a marker for Erik Karl Johansen, inscribed, 'Measure his life not by its length but by the depths of joy he brought us. He jumped into life and never touched bottom. We will never laugh the same again. ~ Susan Wiggs,
287:What all four stories tell us is that there comes a time for each of us when we must make an ultimate decision as to who we are. It is a moment of existential truth. Lot is a Hebrew, not a citizen of Sodom. Eliezer is Abraham’s servant, not his heir. Joseph is Jacob’s son, not an Egyptian of loose morals. Moses is a prophet, not a priest. To say yes to who we are, we have to have the courage to say no to who we are not. Pain ~ Jonathan Sacks,
288:16 So then, because of them, he handed Him over to be crucified. The Crucifixion Therefore they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying His own cross, He went out to what is called Skull Place, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified Him and two others with Him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also had a sign lettered and put on the cross. The inscription was: JESUS THE NAZARENE THE KING OF THE JEWS ~ Anonymous,
289:The Seventh Year In Deuteronomy 15, there was a law God gave the people of Israel that said every seventh year they had to release any Hebrew slaves. If you were Hebrew and owed another person money that you couldn’t repay, they could take you in as a slave and make you work full-time until you paid them back. But every seventh year, if you were a part of God’s chosen people, you had a special advantage. You got released. No matter ~ Joel Osteen,
290:King David had a ring with an inscription on it: ‘All things pass.’ When one is sad those words make one cheerful, and when one is cheerful it makes one sad. I have got myself a ring like that with Hebrew letters on it, and this talisman keeps me from infatuations. All things pass, life will pass, one wants nothing. Or at least one wants nothing but the sense of freedom, for when anyone is free, he wants nothing, nothing, nothing. ~ Anton Chekhov,
291:But when one researches the meaning behind the original Hebrew words, their truer fuller meaning comes to light. Elohim is revealed as a more generic plural reference to the Creator as all humankind can know through general revelation.[7] El Elyon has a linguistic affinity to the Ugaritic “Elyon Ba’al” a name for the Most High God of Canaan, and therefore a polemical stance against him. Ba’al is not the Most High, the God of Israel is.[8] ~ Brian Godawa,
292:We often translate it “law,” yet it comes from a root meaning “to give a direction,” “to point the way.” In the Bible, it means first a particular oracle showing God’s direction for conduct, and in time it refers to the entire Pentateuch (cf. Neh. 8:1). So the law, the Torah, is the Way—and it is no accident that the chief Hebrew word for sin, chatah, means not as we might say to “break” the law, but literally, to “miss the way. ~ James William McClendon Jr,
293:Transhumanism is a contemporary version of a modern project of human self-deification. One of the few to recognize this is the Israeli historian of science Yuval Noah Harari. In Sapiens: a brief history of humankind, first published in Hebrew in 2011, and Homo Deus: a brief history of tomorrow (2016), Harari suggests that the expanding powers that humankind is acquiring through the advance of science could end up bringing about human extinction ~ John N Gray,
294:The scriptures of all three of the great monotheisms show that they began similarly as popular movements in protest against the privilege and arrogance of power, whether that of kings as in the Hebrew bible, or the Roman Empire as in the Gospels, or a tribal elite as in the Quran. All three, that is, were originally driven by ideals of justice and egalitarianism, rejecting the inequities of human power in favor of a higher and more just one. ~ Lesley Hazleton,
295:A great scholar named Hans Walter Wolff wrote a classic study of how the Old Testament writers understood personhood. He said that the word flesh stands for humanity’s bodily form with its mortality, physical strength, and limitations. Ruah, the Hebrew word for “spirit,” speaks of human beings as they are empowered — human existence with breath and will and inspiration. Wolff’s chapter on nephesh — the Hebrew word for “soul” — he titled “Needy Man. ~ Anonymous,
296:One way or another, the alphabet created a possibility that never existed before, namely of a society of mass, even universal, literacy. With only twenty-two symbols, it could be taught, in a relatively short time, to everyone. We see evidence of this at many places in Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. Isaiah says “All your children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13), implying universal education. ~ Jonathan Sacks,
297:And the letter is longing, and sky desire to know the will that moves Him and lends grace to spirit and mercy to power to rectify action, Kingdom now foremost and Law behind, now Law foremost and Kingdom behind -- and the letter and vowels and song reveal the mystery of blood... [2465.jpg] -- from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, Edited by Peter Cole

~ Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, And the letter is longing
,
298:Garrick, for instance, observed in his sprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just discrimination, as is usual with wits, ‘When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his London, which is lively and easy. When he became more retired, he gave us his Vanity of Human Wishes, which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew. ~ Samuel Johnson,
299:And the story suggests something more: unchaperoned, and left to our own untutored judgment, we are quick to aim low and worship qualities that are beneath us—in this case, an artificial animal that brings out our own animal instincts in a completely unregulated way. The old Hebrew story makes it clear how the ancients felt about our prospects for civilized behaviour in the absence of rules that seek to elevate our gaze and raise our standards. ~ Jordan Peterson,
300:And the story suggests something more: unchaperoned, and left to our own untutored judgment, we are quick to aim low and worship qualities that are beneath us—in this case, an artificial animal that brings out our own animal instincts in a completely unregulated way. The old Hebrew story makes it clear how the ancients felt about our prospects for civilized behaviour in the absence of rules that seek to elevate our gaze and raise our standards. ~ Jordan B Peterson,
301:William Bedwell was both a leading mathematician and, because his readings in medieval mathematical studies had led him down this path, an Arabist, one of England’s first. He was no admirer of Islam, being the author of a vituperative book on ‘the blasphemous seducer Mohammed’, but he was captivated by the theological, medical and mathematical genius of the Arabs. Arabic, he was also convinced, was an invaluable tool in the interpretation of Hebrew. ~ Adam Nicolson,
302:It may seem strange that one story or account may have several meanings, but such is the working of the Cabala. In the original Hebrew there were numerical and letter cyphers to aid in the decoding of the hidden information. Translation and editing have destroyed these older Cabalistic patterns and it is now necessary to have recourse to the fascinating field of comparative religion in order to unlock the Biblical secrets. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
303:Most Christians believe that Jesus IS God, that Jesus is the same jealous and angry God that abhorred homosexuals and condemned them as "an abomination." He is the same deity that gave instructions on how to beat slaves and the same divine Creator that suggested the stoning of non-believers and disobedient children. You have to accept the good along with the bad... after all, he came not to abolish the Hebrew laws, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). ~ David G McAfee,
304:testaments regarding the concept of believing God. In Genesis 15:6, the Hebrew word for “believed” is ’aman, meaning “to make firm, … to stand firm, to be enduring; to trust, to believe.” In Romans 4:3, the Greek word for “believed” is pisteuo, meaning “to be firmly persuaded as to something, to believe … with the idea of hope and certain expectation.” It comes from the Greek word pistis, translated into the English word faith throughout the New Testament. ~ Beth Moore,
305:Yet it is perhaps worth mentioning that the masculine tenor of God-talk is particularly problematic in English. In Hebrew, Arabic and French, however, grammatical gender gives theological discourse a sort of sexual counterpoint and dialectic, which provides a balance that is often lacking in English. Thus in Arabic al-Lah (the supreme name for God) is grammatically masculine, but the word for the divine and inscrutable essence of God—al-Dhat—is feminine. ~ Karen Armstrong,
306:The Hebrew word is actually Lilith, which the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible explains is a Mesopotamian demoness residing in a tree that reaches back to the third millennium BC.   Here we find Inanna (Ishtar) who plants a tree later hoping to cut from its wood a throne and a bed for herself. But as the tree grows, a snake makes its nest at its roots, Anzu settled in the top and in the trunk the demon ki-sikil-líl-lá [Lilith] makes her lair.[15] ~ Brian Godawa,
307:Let all your preaching be in the most simple and plainest manner; look not to the prince, but to the plain, simple, gross, unlearned people, of which cloth the prince also himself is made. If I, in my preaching, should have regard to Philip Melancthon and other learned doctors, then should I do but little good. I preach in the simplest manner to the unskillful, and that giveth content to all. Hebrew, Greek and Latin I spare until we learned ones come together. ~ Martin Luther,
308:To know only one thing well is to have a barbaric mind: civilization implies the graceful relation of all varieties of experience to a central humane system of thought. The present age is peculiarly barbaric: introduce, say, a Hebrew scholar to an ichthyologist or an authority on Danish place names and the pair of them would have no single topic in common but the weather or the war (if there happened to be a war in progress, which is usual in this barbaric age). ~ Robert Graves,
309:The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see? ~ John Steinbeck,
310:The basic elements of DNA—hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon—translate directly to key letters of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. In these languages, our genetic code spells the ancient name of God. The same name lives within all humans, regardless of their beliefs, actions, lifestyle, religion, or heritage. This relationship was described in sacred texts, such as the Hebrew Sepher Yetzirah, at least 1,000 years before modern science verified such connections. ~ Gregg Braden,
311:These are good days for him: every day a fight he can win. “Still serving your Hebrew God, I see,” remarks Sir Thomas More. “I mean, your idol Usury.” But when More, a scholar revered through Europe, wakes up in Chelsea to the prospect of morning prayers in Latin, he wakes up to a creator who speaks the swift patois of the markets; when More is settling in for a session of self-scourging, he and Rafe are sprinting to Lombard Street to get the day’s exchange rates. ~ Hilary Mantel,
312:What is that?” I asked, squinting at the vertical symbols.
“It’s Hebrew,” Travis smiled.
“What does it mean?”
“It says, ‘I belong to my beloved, and my beloved is mine.”
My eyes darted to his. “You weren’t happy with just one tattoo, you had to get two?”
“It’s something I always said I would do when I met The One. I met you…I went and got the tats.” His smile faded when he saw my expression. “You’re pissed, aren’t you?” he said, pulling his shirt down. ~ Jamie McGuire,
313:What makes one Sumerian city better than another one? A bigger ziggurat? A
better football team?"
"Better me."
"What are me?"
"Rules or principles that control the operation of society, like a code of laws,
but on a more fundamental level."
"I don't get it."
"That is the point. Sumerian myths are not 'readable' or 'enjoyable' in the
same sense that Greek and Hebrew myths are. They reflect a fundamentally
different consciousness from ours. ~ Neal Stephenson,
314:A Tourist On a great rock by the Jaffa Gate sat a golden girl from Scandinavia and oiled herself with suntan oil as if on the beach. I told her, don’t go into these alleys, a net of bachelors in heat is spread there, a snare of lechers. And further inside, in half-darkness, the groaning trousers of old men, and unholy lust in the guise of prayer and grief and seductive chatter in many languages. Once Hebrew was God’s slang in these streets, now I use it for holy desire. ~ Yehuda Amichai,
315:The Second Table of the Ten Commandments reads in Hebrew something like this: 'Don't kill; don't be vile; don't steal; don't tell lies about others; don't envy any man his wife or house or animals, or anything he has.' This sounds shockingly wrong in English. For the English genius, religion is solemn and stately; Canterbury Cathedral, not a shul. The grand slow march of "Thou Shalt Nots" is exactly right. Religion for the Jews is intimate and colloquial, or it is nothing. ~ Herman Wouk,
316:So where does the name Adam's apple come from? Most people say that it is from the notion that this bump was caused by the forbidden fruit getting stuck in the throat of Adam in the Garden of Eden. There is a problem with this theory because some Hebrew scholars believe that the forbidden fruit was the pomegranate. The Koran claims that the forbidden fruit was a banana. So take your pick---Adam's apple, Adam's pomegranate, Adam's banana. Eve clearly chewed before swallowing. ~ Mark Leyner,
317:Flowers... that are so pathetic in their beauty, frail as the clouds, and in their coloring as gorgeous as the heavens, had through thousands of years been the heritage of children - honored as the jewelry of God only by them - when suddenly the voice of Christianity, counter-signing the voice of infancy, raised them to a grandeur transcending the Hebrew throne, although founded by God himself, and pronounced Solomon in all his glory not to be arrayed like one of these. ~ Thomas de Quincey,
318:John Smyth, originally from Gainsborough, but by 1608 pastor of the Brethren of the Separation of the Second English Church at Amsterdam, its congregation made up of Lincolnshire farmers, decided that they needed to hear the scriptures in the original. One can only imagine the effect on the poor exiles from Gainsborough: hour on hour of Smyth reading out passages of Hebrew and Greek of which they had not the faintest understanding, desperately looking for the sanctity in this. ~ Adam Nicolson,
319:Let then the Transient pass, fleet as it will, and may God send us some new manifestation of the Christian faith, that shall stir men's hearts as they were never stirred; some new Word, which shall teach us what we are, and renew us all in the image of God; some better life, that shall fulfill the Hebrew prophecy, and pour out the spirit of God on young men and maidens, and old men and children; which shall realize the Word of Christ, and give us the comforter, who shall reveal all ~ Anonymous,
320:The Lord indicates the increasing intensity and proximity of the effects of this plague, but when Pharaoh uses the same phrase to qualify his repentance (v. 27) it is clear that he has still not taken any of the plagues to heart. The Hebrew phrase translated “on you yourself” is literally “on your heart” (see esv footnote) and is likely an intended wordplay with the continued reference to the state of Pharaoh’s heart (vv. 34–35) and the hearts of his servants (v. 34; see vv. 20–21). ~ Anonymous,
321:books that Uncle bought in Odessa or acquired in Heidelberg, books that he discovered in Lausanne or found in Berlin or Warsaw, books he ordered from America and books the like of which exist nowhere but in the Vatican Library, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, classical and modern Greek, Sanskrit, Latin, medieval Arabic, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Polish, French, Italian, and languages and dialects I had never even heard of, like Ugaritic and Slovene, Maltese and Old Church Slavonic. ~ Amos Oz,
322:The Hebrew alphabet, incidentally, came from the inhabitants of Canaan, which was that part of Palestine the Greeks called Phoenicia. Hebrew was most probably the language spoken by the Phoenicians/Canaanites (Isaiah spoke of the “language of Canaan”), who almost surely created those letters that formed a Semitic alphabet and from which all the alphabets in Europe descended. Hebrew was one of a cluster of related languages (Aramaic, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Arabic, etc.) known as “Semitic. ~ Leo Rosten,
323:Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life. ... Most, if not all of you, have very deep ties with the land and with the people of Israel, as I do; for my Christian faith sprang from yours. The Bible stories are woven into my childhood memories as the gallant struggle of modem Jews to be free of persecution is also woven into our souls. ~ Lyndon B Johnson,
324:Compassion in the Bible has rich resonances of meaning. It is linguistically related to the Hebrew and Aramaic word for “womb” and sometimes refers to what a mother feels for the children of her womb.5 Thus naming “compassion” as God’s primary quality means that God, like a mother, is “womb-like”: life-giving, nourishing, willing the well-being of her children, and desiring our maturation. So also we are to be like that: centering in God the compassionate one leads to growth in compassion. ~ Marcus J Borg,
325:After [Bill Shawn] was fired, I was going to the YMHA [Young Men's Hebrew Association] on the Upper East Side to do a talk on free speech.I went into a coffee shop to get a piece of pie and a coffee, and I was reading a paper and I hear a voice. And it was -it was not a voice I was familiar with, but I looked across the table and I saw Lilian Ross.And sitting next to her was William Shawn - no tie, needed a shave. His voice was kind of coarse and rather loud. He wasn't drunk, but I was just stunned. ~ Nat Hentoff,
326:Rabbi Loew of sixteenth-century Prague. He is supposed to have formed an artificial human being—a robot—out of clay, just as God had formed Adam out of clay. A clay object, however much it might resemble a human being, is “an unformed substance” (the Hebrew word for it is “golem”), since it lacks the attributes of life. Rabbi Loew, however, gave his golem the attributes of life by making use of the sacred name of God, and set the robot to work protecting the lives of Jews against their persecutors. ~ Isaac Asimov,
327:The Bible tells the story of the Hebrew prophet Daniel, who was able to read mysterious words that appeared on the wall of the Babylonian king Belshazzar’s banquet hall during a rowdy feast. The words mene, mene, tekel, upharsin (“numbered, numbered, weighed, divided” in Aramaic) were unintelligible to all but Daniel, who warned the king that they foretold the fall of his kingdom. According to the story, Belshazzar was killed in a coup only hours later. Daniel had seen the “writing on the wall. ~ Richard A Clarke,
328:More than the painting you see or the music you hear, the words you read become in the very act of reading them part of who you are, especially if they are the words of exceptionally promising writers. If there is poison in the words, you are poisoned; if there is nourishment, you are nourished; if there is beauty, you are made a little more beautiful. In Hebrew, the word dabar means both word and also deed. A word doesn’t merely say something, it does something. It brings something into being. ~ Frederick Buechner,
329:The Blessing

Heads are covered by the Tallit, or prayer shawl; hands are extended out with the fingers splayed to form the shape of the letter Shin, the first letter in the word Shaddai, a name for the Almighty. The chant, in Hebrew, is loud and ecstatic: "May the Lord bless and keep you."

The Shekhina is summoned; the feminine essence of God. She enters the sanctuary to bless the congregation. The very sight of her, the awesome light emanating from the Shekhina, is dangerous to behold. ~ Leonard Nimoy,
330:There's a whole history that never appears in the Bible, Detective. A secret history you can only find in Canaanite or Hebrew legends. They talk about the marriage between Adam and a free-spirited woman, a cunning temptress who refused to obey her husband, or to lie beneath him as a docile wife should. Instead she demanded wild sex in every position and taunted him when he couldn't satisfy her. She was the world's first truly liberated female, and she wasn't afraid to seek the pleasures of the flesh. ~ Tess Gerritsen,
331:The demise of cuneiform was largely the work of an obscure Semitic tribe living on the western fringes of the great Mesopotamian empires. Modern people dimly remember that Jesus spoke Aramaic, but few, even among contemporary practicing Jews, recall that so did the majority of his fellow Jews.13 Fewer still realize that the modern “Hebrew alphabet” is actually Aramaic. The silent tragedy of the Aramaeans is that they created a language and alphabet that long outlived their culture and civilization. ~ William J Bernstein,
332:If only one country, for whatever reason, tolerates a Jewish family in it, that family will become the germ center for fresh sedition. If one little Jewish boy survives without any Jewish education, with no synagogue and no Hebrew school, it [Judaism] is in his soul. Even if there had never been a synagogue or a Jewish school or an Old Testament, the Jewish spirit would still exist and exert its influence. It has been there from the beginning and there is no Jew, not a single one, who does not personify it. ~ Adolf Hitler,
333:Potiphar, the commander of Pharaoh's guard, saw that Yahweh favored his slave Joseph—and right away I'm skeptical. Potiphar was an Egyptian and Egypt had its own ancient religion, featuring incredible gods and a fantastic afterlife. You think Potiphar or any sober Egyptian gave a rat's ass about some crap Hebrew god called Yahweh? Who killed you for squirting a little semen on the ground? And offered a piss-poor afterlife where you "gathered with your people" in some dark, subterranean shithole called Sheol? ~ Steve Ebling,
334:To roast the chicken, first I peeled the onions. I juiced a lemon and placed the rind inside the bird's cavity. I melted butter and rubbed it lovingly into the skin, my Hebrew school teacher's voice be damned. I prepared the thyme, de-stemming the leaves. I snapped the carrots, rondelled the celery, cubed the potatoes, and chopped the parsnips. I splashed wine into the roasting pan, added crushed garlic cloves before trussing the chicken's leg together with cooking twine. I sprinkled pepper and pinched the salt. ~ Melissa Ford,
335:Now and then I am asked as to “what books a statesman should read,” and my answer is, poetry and novels—including short stories under the head of novels. I don’t mean that he should read only novels and modern poetry. If he cannot also enjoy the Hebrew prophets and the Greek dramatists, he should be sorry. He ought to read interesting books on history and government, and books of science and philosophy; and really good books on these subjects are as enthralling as any fiction ever written in prose or verse. ~ Theodore Roosevelt,
336:The only points in which I differ from all ecclesiastical teaching is that I do not believe that any man ever saw or talked with God, I do not believe that God inspired the Mosaic code, or told the historians what they say he did about woman, for all the religions on the face of the earth degrade her, and so long as woman accepts the position that they assign her, her emancipation is impossible. Whatever the Bible may be made to do in Hebrew or Greek, in plain English it does not exalt and dignify woman. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
337:A carpenter witnessed to me about Christ. He died knowing he had brought only my wife and me to faith, but we brought others to Christ. Those brought others, and so on. The result is Hebrew Christian churches in Haifa, Tel-Aviv, and Jerusalem. Their true founder is that carpenter. He witnessed to many people without result, but he brought one to Christ who brought others. Some of them became interested in helping persecuted Christians in communist countries. That is how The Voice of the Martyrs worldwide began. ~ Richard Wurmbrand,
338:Pantaenus was one of these and is said to have gone to India. It is reported that among persons there who knew of Christ, he found the Gospel according to Matthew, which had anticipated his own arrival. For Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them, and left with them the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language, which they had preserved till that time. After many good deeds, Pantaenus finally became the head of the school at Alexandria, and expounded the treasures of divine doctrine both orally and in writing. ~ Eusebius,
339:Some things are like that—they strike you as repugnant for instinctive reasons, probably having to do with your culture and the way you were raised. The French word “gauche” comes to mind, but I preferred the Hebrew word “treyf.” Literally, it means not kosher, but I also use it to describe things like cars, bars, strip clubs, guns, dogs, rock-n-roll, and football games. Things that are treyf, you avoid, not because you hate them per se, but because in avoiding them you keep yourself from becoming like the people you hate. ~ Aaron Cometbus,
340:Contrary to popular opinion, then, Christianity is not a Western religion that destroys local cultures. Rather, Christianity has taken more culturally diverse forms than other faiths.25 It has deep layers of insight from the Hebrew, Greek, and European cultures, and over the next hundred years will be further shaped by Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Christianity may become the most truly “catholic vision of the world,”26 having opened its leadership over the centuries to people from every tongue, tribe, people and nation. ~ Timothy J Keller,
341:Paul suggests that gentiles can practice a law written in their hearts, which will be seen as not only equal to but also above the written Torah…It should be remembered that in Paul’s day the only religious law for Paul was that of the Jewish Bible, in Hebrew… Though Torah and the New Testament, including Paul’s letters, will eventually shape church law, the New Testament’s books are not in themselves composed as law. They are not a self-consciously composed constitution. They contain no Ten Commandments in form or statement. ~ Willis Barnstone,
342:Jesus’ harshest words are aimed at hypocrites, and the second harshest at the people who are primarily concerned with possessions. He says that power, prestige, and possessions are the three things that prevent us from recognizing and receiving the reign of God. . . . The only ones who can accept the proclamation of the reign are those who have nothing to protect, not their own self-image or their reputation, their possessions, their theology, their principles, or their certitudes. And these are called “the poor,” anawim in Hebrew. ~ Jen Hatmaker,
343:It is true that Adam and Eve didn’t die the exact day they ate, as some seem to think Genesis 2:17 implies. The Hebrew is die-die (muwth-muwth), which is often translated as “surely die” or literally as “dying you shall die,” which indicates the beginning of dying (i.e., an ingressive sense). At that point, Adam and Eve began to die and would return to dust. If they were meant to have died right then, the text should have used muwth only once, as is used in the Hebrew meaning “dead, died, or die” and not “beginning to die” or “surely die. ~ Ken Ham,
344:The writers of Luke and Matthew, for instance, in seeking to make the life of Jesus conform to Old Testament prophecy, insist that Mary conceived as a virgin (Greek parthenos), harking to the Greek rendering of Isaiah 7:14. Unfortunately for fanciers of Mary’s virginity, the Hebrew word alma (for which parthenos is an erroneous translation) simply means “young woman,” without any implication of virginity. It seems all but certain that the Christian dogma of the virgin birth, and much of the church’s resulting anxiety about sex, was the ~ Sam Harris,
345:in order to confer their lost Nationality upon exiled Jews , the British with the help of the League of Nations began to rehabilitate the old Hebrew country, Palestine, with its long lost children. The Jews had maintained their race, religion, culture and language; and all they wanted was their natural territory to complete their Nationality. The reconstruction of the Hebrew Nation on Palestine is just an affirmation of the fact that Country, Race, Religion, Culture and Language must exist unequivocally together to form the Nation idea. ~ M S Golwalkar,
346:Parables In Greek, parabolē, i.e., “parable,” can mean “comparison” or “analogy.” Many scholars, however, argue that Jesus’ parables especially fit the range of forms referred to by the Hebrew term mashal, which is sometimes translated parabolē, or parable, in the Septuagint, the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT. A mashal could be a proverb, riddle, similitude, or other saying of the wise; the Greek version uses parabolē similarly (e.g., Ps 78:2; Pr 1:6). The Greek term appears nine times in Sirach, a pre-Christian book of Jewish wisdom. ~ Anonymous,
347:Rise and open the door that is shut, and send to me the roe that is fled. The day of his coming he shall lie all night between my breasts there his good smell shall rest upon me. How looks thy beloved, O lovely bride, that thou sayest to me 'Take him and send him!' Is he beautiful, ruddy, and goodly to look on? That is my beloved and my friend! Rise and anoint him! [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Solomon ibn Gabirol, Rise and open the door that is shut
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348:It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers” (Isa. 40:22). Some have tried to say that the Hebrew word for “circle” could mean sphere, but it does not. The Hebrew word used here (ḥûg) could however refer to a vaulted dome that covers the visible circular horizon, which would be more accurate to say, “above the vault of the earth.”[91] If Isaiah had wanted to say the earth was a sphere he would have used another word that he used in a previous chapter (22:18) for a ball (kaddur), but he did not.[92] ~ Brian Godawa,
349:scroll written in Greek. The text, known as the Septuagint, was a translation done by Judean scholars, and it had been completed a century and a half before Jesus was born. Jacob had studied those very scrolls in his youth, and he knew the text was usually referred to as the Seventy, representing the number of scholars who had labored on the translation. All students were required to memorize the prophets in Greek as a beginning to their studies. The Hebrew version of the Scriptures was used only during the formal reading of the Sabbath services. ~ Davis Bunn,
350:The school was going to suspend him for the rest of the year, but instead Jake took two years off while his mother homeschooled him. He learned Latin and Hebrew and Greek, how to write sestinas, how to make sushi, how to play bridge, and even how to knit. He learned fencing and ballroom dancing. He worked in a soup kitchen and made a Super 8 movie about Civil War reenactors who play extreme croquet in full costume instead of firing off cannons. He started learning how to play guitar. He even wrote a novel. I’ve never read it—he says it was awful. ~ Kelly Link,
351:Graciousness, courtesy, compassion-this is hesed. Hesed is a quality that extends even to the animals and the land. The sabbath rest principle of Hebrew law included the needs of the livestock (Exod. 23:12). After seven years of planting and harvesting, the land itself needed "a year of complete rest" (Lev. 25:5). Even the soil of the vineyards was not to be overtaxed by planting other crops between the rows (Deut. 22:9). The oxen that trod out the grain were not to be muzzled so that they could eat while they worked (Deut. 25:4). And so on. ~ Richard J Foster,
352:If an ancient Hebrew invoked the name of the Lord God in a vow, he believed God alone had the power to break it. Because the Israelites understood Him to be a covenant God and knew that He was faithful, they more readily assumed that the vow was utterly binding. I am convicted by how thoughtlessly I often petition something “in the name of Jesus” without really seeking the heart and will of God in the matter. We need to be careful what we pray. Sometimes our hasty, popcorn prayers reveal a lack of conviction in the true power of the name of Jesus. ~ Beth Moore,
353:The biblical authors wrote of God's sovereignty over His world, and of man's experiences within that world, using such modes of speech about the natural order and human experience as were current in their days, and in a language that was common to themselves and their contemporaries. This is saying no more than that they wrote to be understood. Their picture of the world and things in it is not put forward as normative for later science, andy more than their use of Hebrew and Greek is put forward as a perfect model for composition in these languages. ~ J I Packer,
354:We claim scriptural authority for the assertion that Jesus Christ was and is God the Creator, the God who revealed Himself to Adam, Enoch, and all the antediluvial patriarchs and prophets down to Noah; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God of Israel as a united people, and the God of Ephraim and Judah after the disruption of the Hebrew nation; the God who made Himself known to the prophets from Moses to Malachi; the God of the Old Testament record; and the God of the Nephites. We affirm that Jesus Christ was and is Jehovah, the Eternal One. ~ James E Talmage,
355:ABRACADABRA: This term was already known as a magical word in the second century BCE. It appears in an amulet from that era in the form of a ba ga da in Greek letters. According to some, this could be the acrostic form of the Hebrew Ha brakha dabra, “The blessing has spoken”; others maintain it is a derivative of Abraxas. It is used in a shrinking pattern against fevers and pains. By making the word shorter and shorter, the pains or illness are encouraged to gradually diminish: Abracadabra Bracadabra Racadabra Acadabra Cadabra Adabra Abra Bra Ra A ~ Claude Lecouteux,
356:Since I was 18 years old, I have taught the Bible. For the last fifteen or twenty years, I have taught every Sunday when I was home or near my own house, so that would be 35 or 40 times per year. Half of those Sundays, the text comes from the Hebrew Bible. I have had a deep personal interest in the Holy Land and in the teachings of the Hebrew people. God has a special position for the Jewish people, the Hebrews, or whatever. I know the difference between ancient Israel and Judaea, and I know the history. I don't have any problem with the Jewish people. ~ Jimmy Carter,
357:Sheol was the Hebrew word for the underworld.[96] Though the Bible does not contain any narratives of experiences in Sheol, it was nevertheless described as the abode of the dead that was below the earth. Though Sheol was sometimes used interchangeably with “Abaddon” as the place of destruction of the body (Prov. 15:11; 27:20),[97] and “the grave” (qibrah) as a reference to the state of being dead and buried in the earth (Psa. 88:11; Isa. 14:9-11), it was also considered to be physically located beneath the earth in the same way as other ANE worldviews. ~ Brian Godawa,
358:From Tears of Abraham: Genesis

For an organisation with its fearsome reputation, most people with only a superficial knowledge of its myriad and deadly operations refer to it simply and erroneously as “Mossad”. Those in the know cringe at the reference and mentally correct the name to “The Mossad” for the organisation’s full name is"The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations"or in Hebrew,“Ha Mossad leModiʿin uleTafkidim Meyuḥadim”, referred to by insiders simply as ‘The Institute’ or ‘The Mossad’ with the definite article always included. ~ Jack Clark,
359:From the beginnings of Israelite religion the belief that God had chosen this particular people to carry out His mission has been both a cornerstone of Hebrew faith and a refuge in moments of distress. And yet, the prophets felt that to many of their contemporaries this cornerstone was a stumbling block; this refuge, an escape. They had to remind the people that chosenness must not be mistaken as divine favoritism or immunity from chastisement, but, on the contrary, that it meant being more seriously exposed to divine judgment and chastisement. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel,
360:Scholars call it [the Torah] the Masoretic text. The Masoretes were Hebrew scribes of the first centuries of the present era. They fixed the wording and spelling of the Bible; since then it has not changed. It has long been a matter of critical controversy as to just how accurate the Masoretes were; for one thing, did they have a true text from ancient sources, or did they invent and corrupt? Opinion has swayed back and forth on this point. The excitement over the Dead Sea Scrolls came in part from their substantial authentication of the Masoretic Isaiah. ~ Herman Wouk,
361:Grandfather looked away from me and out to sea, and when he spoke, it was as though he spoke to himself. “The obligations of normal human kindness – chesed, as the Hebrew has it – that we all owe. But there’s a kind of vanity in thinking you can nurse the world. There’s a kind of vanity in goodness.”

I could hardly believe my ears. “But aren’t we supposed to be good?”

“I’m not sure.” Grandfather’s voice was heavy. “I do know that we’re not good, and there’s a lot of truth to the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. ~ Madeleine L Engle,
362:The word of God has provided nine explanatory designations of the heavenly beings... the first group is forever around God and is said to be permanently united with Him ahead of any of the others and with no intermediary. Here there are the most holy 'thrones' and the orders said to possess many eyes and many wings, called in Hebrew the 'cherubim' and 'seraphim'... The second group... is made up of 'authorities,' 'dominions,' and 'powers.' And the third, at the end of the heavenly hierarchies, is the group of 'angels,' 'archangels,' and 'principalities.' ~ Pope Dionysius,
363:A 1998 study was done in Hebrew by an Israeli scholar, Yosef Grodzinsky, and the English translation of the title is Good Human Material. That's what they wanted sent to Palestine for colonization and for the eventual conflict that took place some years later. These policies were somewhat complementary to the U.S. policy of pressuring England to allow Jews to go to Palestine, but not allowing them here. The British politician Ernest Bevin was quite bitter about it, asking, "if you want to save the Jews, why send them to Palestine when you don't admit them?" ~ Noam Chomsky,
364:El, often refers to God’s powerful preeminence; El Elyon (God Most High) indicates God as possessor of heaven and earth; Adonai means God as lord or master; and Yahweh is the covenantal name for the God of Israel as distinguished from any other deity. Elohim, though it is the most common Hebrew word for God in the Old Testament, was also a word that was used of angels (Psa. 8:5; Heb. 2:7), gods or idols of pagan nations (Psa. 138:1), supernatural beings of the divine council (Psa. 82:6), departed spirits of humans (1Sam. 28:13), and demons (Deut. 32:17).[1] ~ Brian Godawa,
365:Were it not for Augustine’s “harass, but do not destroy” formula, Christians and Jews would certainly have had much less to do with each other throughout the many centuries before exterminationist anti-Semitism entered the West’s historical consciousness and conscience. Moreover, many Westerners today see Christianity as the beginning of Western proselytizing and do not realize that Judaism itself, in its historical infancy, was a proselytizing religion using tactics, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible, that could sometimes be summed up as “harass and destroy. ~ Susan Jacoby,
366:Yet despite its current usage, the @ is not a product of the digital age, and may be almost as old as the ampersand. It had been associated with trade for many centuries, known as an *amphora* or jar, a unit of measurement. Most countries have their own term for it, often linked to food (in Hebrew it is *shtrudl*, meaning strudel, in Czech it is *zavinac* or rollmop herring) or to cute animals (*Affenschwanz* or monkey's tail in German, *snabel-a* meaning "the letter a, with a trunk," in Danish, *sobaka* or dog in Russian,), or both (*escargot* in French). ~ Simon Garfield,
367:Augustine’s particular contribution to the Adversus Judaeos genre of sermons, which permeates all of the patristic writings, was his admonition that Jews should be harassed, dispersed throughout the world at the pleasure of Christian rulers, treated as constant targets for conversion, but not, in the end, exterminated. To Augustine, the physical survival of some Jews—even though they were so wrongheaded and oblivious to God’s grace as to reject Jesus as the Messiah—was necessary to attest to the truth of Christianity and its fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy. He ~ Susan Jacoby,
368:Sirs, you are doubtlessly intelligent people, however, I have a problem understanding how you found a place in prophecy for those I know to be void of a even a single drop of Hebrew blood - without any cultural or historical ties to the Holy Land and in fact simple converts to a base form of Judaism. Clinton eulogized Rabinowitz (Yitzhak Rabin) as a son of David and a son of Solomon. You must know that this man was a Khazar of Turko- Mongolian lineage, and can in no way represent a 'return' since his southern Russian ancestors never made it down to Palestine until 1948. ~ Dave Hunt,
369:The furniture once appropriated to the lower apartments had from time to time been removed here, as fashions changed: and the imperfect light entering by their narrow casements showed bedsteads of a hundred years old; chests in oak or walnut, looking, with their strange carvings of palm branches and cherubs’ heads, like types of the Hebrew ark; rows of venerable chairs, high-backed and narrow; stools still more antiquated, on whose cushioned tops were yet apparent traces of half-effaced embroideries, wrought by fingers that for two generations had been coffin-dust. ~ Charlotte Bront,
370:daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bare him a son. —Hosea 1:2-3 In the minds of the Jews, it was the lack of fertility that was the work of the devil. Barren women were seen as accursed. The Hebrew word for "widow" originally meant "wasted womb." Sex was, and is, a sacrament to Orthodox Jews. Friday nights, when Sabbath officially begins, is reserved for sexual intercourse between man and wife with Jehovah's blessing. In fact, in this ancient religion, it is the husband's duty to satisfy his wife. But something must have happened along the way of history ~ Christopher S Hyatt,
371:Most of the Israelites chose to stay in Babylon, where they would make an important contribution to the Hebrew scriptures. The returning exiles brought home nine scrolls that traced the history of their people from the creation until their deportation: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings; they also brought anthologies of the oracles of the prophets (neviim) and a hymn book, which included new psalms composed in Babylon. It was still not complete, but the exiles had in their possession the bare bones of the Hebrew Bible. ~ Karen Armstrong,
372:Lee’s hand shook as he filled the delicate cups. He drank his down in one gulp. “Don’t you see?” he cried. “The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see? ~ John Steinbeck,
373:it enables us to imagine ourselves in someone else’s place, and to ask how we would feel and what we would do if we were this other person. No matter how poorly we use or fail to use or even abuse these capacities, they are the rudiments of our ability to begin to love our neighbor, to have ethical sensitivity, to see truth, to create beauty, to devote ourselves to ideals, and to die for them if need be. To fulfill these potentialities is to be a person. This is what is meant when it is stated in the Hebrew-Christian religious tradition that man is created in the image of God. ~ Rollo May,
374:history of his people well. His eyes grew dreamy as he began to speak of how Jehovah had appeared to Abraham. “He promised him a land flowing with milk and honey, and though he was only one man he said, ‘One day your descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky.’ Abraham was the first Hebrew.” Rahab was fascinated. This was the first time Ardon had spoken to her at any length. “Tell me more about your god.” “Why do you want to know?” “Surely everyone wants to know about your god.” “I don’t think so. Most people want what God will do for them. They don’t want God himself. ~ Gilbert Morris,
375:I wish I could recall with clarity the impulse that compelled me to help bring this camp into being. I'd be pleased if I could announce a motive of lofty purpose. I've been accused of compassion, of altruism, of devotion to Christian, Hebrew, and Muslim ethic, but however desperate I am to claim ownership of a high ideal, I cannot. I wanted, I think, to acknowledge Luck; the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it. ~ Paul Newman,
376:Hoping to apply what few marketable skills I'd acquired in school, I used my undergraduate's Hebrew to check into options in Israel. I was eager to travel, open to adventure, but as a non-Jew, I found that my possible motives were a cause for concern. In more than one interview I was asked a question that I would eventually hear word for word from Malpesh himself: Are you some sort of missionary? To my prospective employers I tried to explain that if I was to convert anyone it would only be to a nebulous wishy-washy agnosticism, but this honest answer did not earn me many callbacks. ~ Peter Manseau,
377:Any reader who feels superior to such quaint English might remember that when the overwhelming majority of humankind was illiterate, it was hard to find a Jewish lad over six who could not read and write (Hebrew). Most adult male Jews could handle at least three languages: they used Hebrew in the synagogues and houses of study (see Besmedresh), Yiddish in the home, and—to Gentiles—the language of the land in which they lived. My father, a workingman denied the equivalent of a high school education in Poland, handled Yiddish, English, Hebrew, and Polish. Jews were linguists of necessity. ~ Leo Rosten,
378:While the sun's eye rules my sight, love sits as sultan in my soul. His army has made camp in my heart -- passion and yearning, affliction and grief. When his camp took possession of me I cried out as the flame of desire burned in my entrails. Love stole my sleep, love has bewildered me, love kills me unjustly, and I am helpless, love has burdened me with more than I can bear so that I bequeath him a soul and no body. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Ibn Arabi, While the suns eye rules my sight
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379:There is a principle of human affairs that goes back millennia, which is that you don't look in the mirror. You can trace this principle back to the Bible. The designated intellectuals of that time are called prophets, which is a mistranslation of a Hebrew word, but they were basically intellectuals, giving geopolitical analysis, criticizing the moral practice of leadership, etc. Now, these people were not treated very nicely. There were other intellectuals who were treated nicely, namely those who centuries later came to be called false prophets. These were the flatterers of the court. ~ Noam Chomsky,
380:I believe in Islam. I am a Muslim and there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim, nothing wrong with the religion of Islam. It just teaches us to believe in Allah as the God. Those of you who are Christian probably believe in the same God, because I think you believe in the God Who created the universe. That's the One we believe in, the One Who created universe - the only difference being you call Him God and we call Him Allah. The Jews call Him Jehovah. If you could understand Hebrew, you would probably call Him Jehovah too. If you could understand Arabic, you would probably call Him Allah. ~ Malcolm X,
381:it is sometimes suggested that Bible translations should capitalize pronouns referring to deity. It has seemed best not to capitalize deity pronouns in the ESV, however, for the following reasons: first, there is nothing in the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that corresponds to such capitalization; second, the practice of capitalizing deity pronouns in English Bible translations is a recent innovation, which began only in the mid-twentieth century; and, third, such capitalization is absent from the KJV Bible and the whole stream of Bible translations that the ESV seeks to carry forward. ~ Anonymous,
382:We today can recognize the antiquity of astrology in words such as disaster, which is Greek for “bad star,” influenza, Italian for (astral) “influence”; mazeltov, Hebrew—and, ultimately, Babylonian—for “good constellation,” or the Yiddish word shlamazel, applied to someone plagued by relentless ill-fortune, which again traces to the Babylonian astronomical lexicon. According to Pliny, there were Romans considered sideratio, “planet-struck.” Planets were widely thought to be a direct cause of death. Or consider consider: it means “with the planets,” evidently a prerequisite for serious reflection. ~ Carl Sagan,
383:In 1909 a Jewish town was established on the sand dunes just north of Jaffa—it was called Tel Aviv, the Hebrew for ‘Hill of Spring’. It came to be known as ‘the first all-Jewish city’. The Jewish population of nearby Jaffa, originally about 1,000 strong, had risen by immigration to more than 8,000. As a result, conditions of life in Jaffa had become as crowded and uncomfortable as in the Russian towns from which most of the immigrants had come—sometimes even more so. The new town provided welcome space. It also freed the immigrants from dependence on Arab landlords, who could raise rents at whim. ~ Martin Gilbert,
384:So what if he saw? Now he knows. What never crossed my mind was that someone else who lived under our roof, who played cards with my mother, ate breakfast and supper at our table, recited the Hebrew blessing on Fridays for the sheer fun of it, slept in one of our beds, used our towels, shared our friends, watched TV with us on rainy days when we sat in the living room with a blanket around us because it got cold and we felt so snug being all together as we listened to the rain patter against the windows—that someone else in my immediate world might like what I liked, want what I wanted, be who I was ~ Andr Aciman,
385:The Oxford Classical Dictionary firmly states: “No word in either Greek or Latin corresponds to the English ‘religion’ or ‘religious.’ ”6 The idea of religion as an essentially personal and systematic pursuit was entirely absent from classical Greece, Japan, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, China, and India.7 Nor does the Hebrew Bible have any abstract concept of religion; and the Talmudic rabbis would have found it impossible to express what they meant by faith in a single word or even in a formula, since the Talmud was expressly designed to bring the whole of human life into the ambit of the sacred.8 ~ Karen Armstrong,
386:Let me give you another example from the Bible of how illustrations work. God says to Cain, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). The Hebrew word used here connotes an animal that is coiled low, perhaps off in the shadows, ready to spring, rend, and kill. God does not simply say, “Sin will get you into trouble, Cain.” That would have been an abstraction. By likening sin to a dangerous, predatory animal, God is not only gripping the heart but also conveying a great deal of information about sin—much more than a mere proposition could do. ~ Timothy J Keller,
387:Be still, and know that I am God. I know I sometimes do. Countless times I’ve sat down to try to be still and holy. It’s never worked very well. Only recently when I was studying this passage did I realize my misunderstanding of the text: the original Hebrew root of Be still doesn’t mean “be quiet”; it means “let go.” That’s very different, don’t you think? Let go and know that I am God! Let go of trying to control your spouse! Let go of your worry about your finances! Let go of your unforgiveness! Let go of your past! Let go of what you can’t control—and rest in the knowledge that God is in control! ~ Sheila Walsh,
388:Shalom is the Hebrew word for “peace.” For rhythm. For everything lining up exactly how it was meant to line up. Shalom is happening in those moments when you are at the dinner table for hours with good friends, good food, and good wine. Shalom is when you hear or see something and can’t quite explain it, but you know it’s calling and stirring something deep inside of you. Shalom is a sunset, that sense of exhaustion yet satisfaction from a hard day’s work, creating art that is bigger than itself. Shalom is enemies being reconciled by love. Shalom is when you are dancing to the rhythm of God’s voice. ~ Jefferson Bethke,
389:Languages were his principal study; and he sought, but acquiring their elements, to open a field for self-instruction on his return to Geneva. Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew, gained his attention, after he had made himself perfectly master of Greek and Latin. For my own part, idleness had ever been irksome to me, and now that I wished to fly from reflection, and hated my former studies, I felt great relief in being the fellow-pupil with my friend, and found not only instruction but consolation in the works of the orientalists. Their melancholy is soothing, and their joy elevating to a degree I ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,
390:Unfortunately, English translations obscure the meaning of the text by painting over the Hebrew names with bastardized generic terms. Thus, Yahweh is translated as “the LORD,” and El Shaddai, as “God Almighty,” which drains them of their rich cultural context and meaning. They further this offensive activity by translating El Elyon as “God Most High,” and Elohim as “God,” and on and on. We have reduced the names of the living God to nameless generic references to a “supreme being.” This de-naming of Yahweh Elohim is more a reflection of the Greek impersonal “Prime Mover” than the Hebrew personal “Named One. ~ Brian Godawa,
391:10 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” sn The term χριστός (christos) was originally an adjective (“anointed”), developing in LXX into a substantive (“an anointed one”), then developing still further into a technical generic term (“the anointed one”). In the intertestamental period it developed further into a technical term referring to the hoped-for anointed one, that is, a specific individual. In the NT the development starts there (technical-specific), is so used in the gospels, and then develops in Paul to mean virtually Jesus’ last name. ~ Anonymous,
392:He remembered a story Madrigal had told him once: the human tale of the golem. It was a thing shaped of clay in the form of a man, brought to life by carving the symbol aleph into its brow. Aleph was the first symbol of an ancestral human alphabet, and the first letter of the Hebrew word truth; it was the beginning. Watching Karou rise to her feet, radiant in a fall of lapis hai, in a woven dress the colour of tangerines, with a loop of silver beads at her throat and a look of joy and relief and... love... on her beautiful face, Akiva knew that she was his aleph, his truth and beginning. His soul. ~ Laini Taylor,
393:Fundamentalism is the philosophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced and the dispossessed. Its spawning ground is the wreckage of political and military defeat, as Hebrew fundamentalism arose during the Babylonian captivity, as white Christian fundamentalism appeared in the American South during Reconstruction, as the notion of the Master Race evolved in Germany following World War I. In such desperate times, the vanquished race would perish without a doctrine that restored hope and pride. Islamic fundamentalism ascends from the same landscape of despair and possesses the same tremendous and potent appeal. ~ Steven Pressfield,
394:Verily, too early died that Hebrew whom the preachers of slow death honour: and to many hath it proved a calamity that he died too early.   As yet had he known only tears, and the melancholy of the Hebrews, together with the hatred of the good and just—the Hebrew Jesus: then was he seized with the longing for death.   Had he but remained in the wilderness, and far from the good and just! Then, perhaps, would he have learned to live, and love the earth—and laughter also!   Believe it, my brethren! He died too early; he himself would have disavowed his doctrine had he attained to my age! Noble enough was he to disavow! ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
395:I only recently learned that my sister-in-law is employing what Hebrew scholars term the waw consecutive, an element of syntax upon which Hebrew stories are built. By prefixing a verb form with the letter waw in order to change tense, the writers of Hebrew Scripture move a story along by essentially saying, “And then, and then, and then.” “The composers of biblical prose,” wrote author and scholar Gregory Mobley, “appended the simplest conjunction, ‘and,’ to a line, gave it a little extra vocalization . . . doubled the initial consonant of the word to which the ‘and’ was attached, and voila: the Biblical Hebrew ‘and then. ~ Rachel Held Evans,
396:We glorify God by praising Him. Doxology, or praise, is a God-exalting work. The Hebrew word bara, "to create," and barak, "to praise," are little different, because the end of creation is to praise God... How sad that God receives so little glory from us in this way! Many Christians are full of murmuring and discontent, but seldom bring glory to God by giving Him praise due to His name. We read of the saints having harps in their hands, the emblems of praise. Many Christians today have tears in their eyes and complaints in their mouths, but few have harps in their hand, blessing and glorifying God. Let us honor God in this way. ~ Thomas Watson,
397:The “Intelligence of Will” denotes that this is the path where each individual “created being” is “prepared” for the spiritual quest by being made aware of the higher and divine “will” of the creator. By spiritual preparation (prayer, meditation, visualization, and aspiration), the student becomes aware of the higher will and ultimately attains oneness with the Divine Self—fully immersed in the knowledge of “the existence of the Primordial Wisdom.” The Hebrew letter Yod means “hand,” and it refers to the hand of the divine, extended to assist us. Yod is the primary letter whose shape forms the basis for all other Hebrew letters. ~ Israel Regardie,
398:The right’s contention that we are a “Christian nation” that has fallen from pure origins and can achieve redemption by some kind of return to Christian values is based on wishful thinking, not convincing historical argument. Writing to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790, President Washington assured his Jewish countrymen that America “gives…bigotry no sanction.” In a treaty with the Muslim nation of Tripoli initiated by Washington, completed by John Adams, and ratified by the Senate in 1797, the Founders declared that “the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…. ~ Jon Meacham,
399:The depiction of the divine family is one of the key expressions of the greatest word of power, the Unpronounceable Name of God, or Tetragrammaton.  This fourfold name is comprised of the Hebrew letters Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh corresponding respectively to the Father, Mother, Son, and Daughter.  The correct pronunciation of Tetragrammaton, which was said to be immensely powerful and capable of destroying the universe, has been lost for centuries.  Significantly, if the Yod, symbolising God the Father, is removed from this name, we are left with Heh Vav Heh, which spells Eve, the first woman of the Book of Genesis and some of the Gnostic texts. ~ Sorita d Este,
400:But the case is not so strong for these examples because the Hebrew word used in these passages for “the world” is not the word for earth (erets), but the word that is sometimes used for the inhabited world (tebel). So it is possible that these verses are talking about the “world order” as does the poetry of 2Sam. 22:16. But the problem that then arises is that the broader chapter context of these verses describe the earth’s physical aspects such as oceans, trees, and in the case of 1Chron. 16:30, even the “earth” (erets) in redundant context with the “world” (tebel), which would seem to indicate that “world” may refer to the physical earth. ~ Brian Godawa,
401:Come to me at dawn, my beloved, and go with me, for my soul thirsts to see the sons of my people. For thee I shall lay golden couches in my chamber I shall spread for thee a table, I shall make ready for thee my bread I shall fill for thee a bowl, from the clusters of my vineyard -- Drink to thy heart's delight, may my taste be pleasing to thee for with thee I shall rejoice, as the scion of my people the son of thy servant Jesse, the prince of Bethlehem. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Solomon ibn Gabirol, Come to me at dawn, my beloved, and go with me
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402:Irena toasted “Professor Norman and my dearly beloved girls.” Mr. C. responded with his own accolade. “Our deep thanks go to Irena,” he said. “Compared to what you and the Jewish and Polish people lived through, our difficulties are trivial. Compared to your courage, we are, all of us, only children. But you are our hero – our role model. We will carry on your mission – your deep commitment to respect for all people. I want to offer a toast in Hebrew – one we all know well – an aspiration to which you, Irena have contributed so much. L’Chaim – To Life.” Even the documentary cameraman put down his video-cam and picked up a glass. “L’Chaim – To Life. ~ Jack Mayer,
403:Are you a Genesis 1 Christian or a Genesis 3 Christian? Do you start your story with shalom or with sin? Shalom is the Hebrew word for “peace.” For rhythm. For everything lining up exactly how it was meant to line up. Shalom is happening in those moments when you are at the dinner table for hours with good friends, good food, and good wine. Shalom is when you hear or see something and can’t quite explain it, but you know it’s calling and stirring something deep inside of you. Shalom is a sunset, that sense of exhaustion yet satisfaction from a hard day’s work, creating art that is bigger than itself. Shalom is enemies being reconciled by love. ~ Jefferson Bethke,
404:God is God of history and of nations. Also of nature. Originally Yahweh was probably a volcanic deity. But he periodically enters history, the best example being when he intervened to bring the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt and to the Promised Land.

They were shepherds and accustomed to freedom; it was terrible for them to be making bricks. And the Pharaoh had them gathering the straw as well and still being required to meet their quota of bricks per day. It is an archetypal timeless situation. God bringing men out of slavery and into freedom. Pharaoh represents all tyrants at all times." Her voice was calm and reasonable; Asher felt impressed. ~ Philip K Dick,
405:In a matter-of-fact voice, she said to me, “Have you found out anything more than that?” She glanced toward the documents, which said nothing directly about her job. “Only that you were with the Sickle project. My associate’s good but she couldn’t get much more than that. Your archives’re locked pretty tight. As for active files—if the group is still active . . .” She said nothing. “If it’s still active, she didn’t find anything on record.” Though the nickname of the group was anglicized to the name of the farm implement, in fact it came from the Israeli Defense Force’s name for assassination—in Hebrew, sikul memukad, which means “focused foiling. ~ Jeffery Deaver,
406:The name Mary means literally water, and is an adaption of the Hebrew name Miriam. The word Magdala from the Greek means a tower, a fortress, a place of strength, a defense or security. Like many Bible names it is a carefully conceived key to the Bible mysteries. Like the Helen of the Greeks, Mary Magdalene symbolizes the moon, the consort of the sun; the principle of humidity, water, MARE; and a high fortress or place of protection; Mary of Magdala is like the Ishtar of the Babylonians, and the Mylitta of the Phrigians. She is the mistress of growing things, the very symbol of the humid principle that brings forth life. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
407:There are two places in the Bible that hint at the Rephaim being warrior kings brought down to Sheol in similar language to the Ugaritic notion of the Rephaim warrior kings in the underworld:   Is. 14:9 Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades [The Hebrew word Rephaim] to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.   Ezek. 32:21 They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword… The mighty chiefs [Rephaim] shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: “They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword. ~ Brian Godawa,
408:Obviously, to be in the fear of the Lord is not to be scared of the Lord, even though the Hebrew word has overtones of respect and awe. “Fear” in the Bible means to be overwhelmed, to be controlled by something. To fear the Lord is to be overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and his love. It means that, because of his bright holiness and magnificent love, you find him “fearfully beautiful.” That is why the more we experience God’s grace and forgiveness, the more we experience a trembling awe and wonder before the greatness of all that he is and has done for us. Fearing him means bowing before him out of amazement at his glory and beauty. ~ Timothy J Keller,
409:Bashan is the region of the cities Ashtaroth and Edrei, whichboth the Bible and the Ugaritic texts mention as abodes of the Rephaim. What’s even more fascinating is that in the Ugaritic language, this region was known not as Bashan, but Bathan—the Semitic people of Ugarit pronounced the Hebrew “sh” as “th” in their dialect. Why is that of interest? Because “Bathan” is a common word across all the Semitic languages, biblical Hebrew included, for “serpent.” The region of Bashan was known as “the place of the serpent.” It was ground zero for the Rephaim giant clan and, spiritually speaking, the gateway to the abode of the infernal deified Rephaim spirits.[54] ~ Brian Godawa,
410:First, concerning terms that refer to God in the Old Testament: God, the Maker of heaven and earth, introduced himself to the people of Israel with a special personal name, the consonants for which are YHWH (see Exodus 3:14–15). Scholars call this the “Tetragrammaton,” a Greek term referring to the four Hebrew letters YHWH. The exact pronunciation of YHWH is uncertain, because the Jewish people considered the personal name of God to be so holy that it should never be spoken aloud. Instead of reading the word YHWH, they would normally read the Hebrew word ’adonay (“Lord”), and the ancient translations into Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic also followed this practice. ~ Anonymous,
411:AMBASSADOUR  (AMBA'SSADOUR)   n.s.[ambassadeur, Fr. embaxador, Span. It is written differently, as it is supposed to come from the French or Spanish language; and the original derivation being uncertain, it is not easy to settle its orthography.Some derive it from the Hebrew , to tell, and , a messenger; others from ambactus, which, in the old Gaulish, signified a servant; whence ambascia, in low Latin, is found to signify service, and ambasciator, a servant; others deduce it from ambacht, in old   Teutonick, signifying a government, and Junius mentions a possibility of its descent from amab  and others from am for ad, and bassus, low, as supposing the act ~ Samuel Johnson,
412:Although the American Standard Version (1901) had used “Jehovah” to render the tetragrammaton (the sound of y being represented by j and the sound of w by v, as in Latin), for two reasons the Committees that produced the RSV and the NRSV returned to the more familiar usage of the King James Version. (1) The word “Jehovah” does not accurately represent any form of the divine name ever used in Hebrew. (2) The use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom the true God had to be distinguished, began to be discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian church. ~ Anonymous,
413:From the very beginning, before times long past, I was stored among His hidden treasures. He had brought me forth from Nothing, but at the end of time I shall be summoned back before the King. My life flowed out of the depth of the spheres which gave me form and order. Divine forces shaped me to be treasured in the chambers of the King. Then He shined his light to bring me forth in hidden well-springs, on the left and on the right. He made me descend the steps leading down from the Pool of Shelah to the garden of the King. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Nachmanides, The Soul Speaks (from Hymn on the Fate of the Soul)
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414:The man continued. “So Jesus put them all outside, and took me and Mary,” he looked down at his wife and hugged her, “and several others of you.” He looked around the room at several people. “You were there. You saw it.” They nodded their heads. “He took Rebecca’s hand and said, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’” The man stopped. He choked up again, and could barely continue. But he pushed through. “And Rebecca got up. Jesus brought her back to us.” The brothers heard a peppering of “hallelujahs” from the people in the crowded room. One said, “Yahweh saves!” followed by amens. “Yahweh saves” was the meaning of the name Yeshua, which was Jesus’s Hebrew name. ~ Brian Godawa,
415:I grew up thinking the only scriptures on earth were those inspired by the Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament, the words and letters of Jesus and his apostles, and the scriptures of the Restoration. But how could the God I believed was the loving God of all the earth not speak somehow to everyone else? For years I wrestled with this idea. Having now read the Chinese classics, certainly Confucius, but others as well, I believe I have found the scriptural infusion God gave the Chinese nation. Mencius is my favorite, I must admit, and I do not hesitate to call what he bestowed upon the world scripture--some of the most optimistic, holy writing the world has. ~ S Michael Wilcox,
416:There’s no such thing as an entitlement because no one is entitled to anything. If you plan to live off of the generosity of your neighbors, it would behoove you to endear yourself to them so that they actually want to help you, because you do not have a right to anybody else’s money. Nobody does. There isn’t such a thing. We all have obligations but nobody in the Bible has a right to anything. The word doesn’t exist in Hebrew because it doesn’t exist in the world. When anyone coerces you to provide such a right, it is not charity by the very definition of charity, which is voluntary giving. If you are being coerced to give your money to someone, this is theft. ~ Daniel Lapin,
417:It has recently been stated that Michaelangelo placed horns on his statue of Moses by mistake. In reality they are most significant. They are the horns of Jupiter Ammon, the same symbol which is later to appear again as the horns on the corners of the Hebrew alter. The horns are those of the celestial Ram, Aries, the leader of the flocks of heaven. The same symbol traces from the fact that during the time of Moses the vernal equinox took place in the sign of the Ram, and the horned Sun was the symbol of truth. Ram, the mind-light god of the Egyptians, is likewise represented as wearing a helmet adorned with the curling horns of the ram. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
418:Dorothea, with all her eagerness to know the truths of life, retained very childlike ideas about marriage. She felt sure that she would have accepted the judicious Hooker, if she had been born in time to save him from that wretched mistake he made in matrimony; or John Milton when his blindness had come on; or any of the other great men whose odd habits it would have been glorious piety to endure; but an amiable handsome baronet, who said "Exactly" to her remarks even when she expressed uncertainty,--how could he affect her as a lover? The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father, and could teach you even Hebrew, if you wished it. ~ George Eliot,
419:The Hebrew original does not say, ‘Do not kill.’ It says, ‘Do not murder.’ Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life—one is “kill” (harag, , in Hebrew) and the other is “murder” (ratsach, , in Hebrew). Kill means: 1.Taking any life—whether of a human being or an animal. 2.Taking a human life deliberately or by accident. 3.Taking a human life legally or illegally, morally or immorally. On the other hand, murder can only mean one thing: The illegal or immoral taking of a human life. That’s why we say, ‘I killed a mosquito,’ not ‘I murdered a mosquito.’ And that’s why we would say, ‘The worker was accidentally killed,’ not ‘The worker was accidentally murdered. ~ Dennis Prager,
420:This important theme of Abraham’s deep trust in God’s promise and faithfulness helped shape Israel’s own self-understanding and identity. So it’s not surprising to hear Moses’s words to Israel at Sinai: “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test [the Hebrew verb is nasah] you, and in order that the fear [yir’ah] of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin” (Exod. 20:20). These two key verbs link back to Genesis 22. Abraham was tested by God (Gen. 22:1) and through this ordeal demonstrated his fear of God (v. 12). Abraham’s obedience is intended to serve as a model for Israel and to inspire Israel’s obedience and solidify their relationship with (“fear of”) God.5 ~ Paul Copan,
421:In Psalm 32:1 David reminded us that the blessed person is the one “whose transgressions are forgiven, / whose sins are covered.” How sad that he learned the lesson through such bitter experience. The word covered in the Hebrew is kasah, and it means “to cover, conceal, hide; to clothe; . . . to forgive; to keep secret; to hide oneself, wrap oneself up.”14 When we try desperately to cover up our sinful ways, we are bound for disaster as sin perpetuates. Only through repentance will God “cover” us and “clothe” us with His loving forgiveness. Only when we run to Him in the nakedness of our sin will He wrap us up with “garments of salvation” and a “robe of righteousness” (Isa. 61:10). ~ Beth Moore,
422:Joseph of Arimathea, another wealthy man, but a Pharisee. Joseph said, “My brother Annas sounds more like a pagan Greek than a Hebrew.” Some scattered laughs peppered the crowd. Longinus shook his head with contempt. “Not only does the prophet Daniel clearly speak of a general resurrection of the dead, but Isaiah and our beloved David reveal it to be so. May I quote from the Scriptures that Annas and his Sadducees so proudly claim to be the sole beneficiaries of? A Psalm of David: ‘For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.’ And the prophet Isaiah, who, I may remind my illustrious opponents, wrote Scripture, said of a Suffering Servant, and I quote, ~ Brian Godawa,
423:Maybe great sorrow or guilt is simply to be accepted as absolute, like revelation. My iniquity/punishment is greater than I can bear. In the Hebrew, her father said, that one word had two meanings and we chose one of them, which may make it harder for us to understand why the Lord would have pardoned Cain and protected him, and let him go on with his life, marry, have a son, build a city. His crime was his punishment, which had to mean he wasn't such a villain after all. She might mention this to Jack sometime, if it ever seemed to her a conversation had arrived at a point where she could dare, could summon delicacy enough, to compare him to Cain. She laughed at herself. What a thought. ~ Marilynne Robinson,
424:Why not now?’ Horgias said. ‘We could go back in now and take it.’
‘You can certainly try.’
Pantera rolled his tongue around his teeth and then said something in the native tongue that neither of us understood. When we made no response, he repeated it, more slowly, louder.
We looked at each other, and at him. He smiled tightly. ‘I said, “You are Roman and we of Eleazir’s party take great pleasure in slaughtering your countrymen. We took five days to skin alive a man who tried to join you. Imagine what we can do now, when we have all winter.”’
‘Very funny.’ I wasn’t smiling.
Nor was Pantera. ‘If you want to go, I won’t stop you. But without fluency in both Aramaic and Hebrew, you will die. ~ M C Scott,
425:we call the editorial plural or the editorial “we,” which a writer or speaker uses to communicate a point. This device is often used by dignitaries; a king, a pope, or another person in high office prefaces his or her comments by saying, “We decree” or “We declare,” even though the person is speaking only for himself or herself. More specifically, there is a Hebrew literary device called the plural of intensity, which calls attention to the depth of the character of God, in whom resides all elements of deity and majesty. So, I believe that the name Elohim is compatible with the doctrine of the Trinity and may be hinting in that direction, but the name itself does not demand that we infer that God is triune ~ R C Sproul,
426:The Inner Meaning of “Jacob” and “Israel” The difference between them is this. The name “Jacob” implies that he acquired the blessings of Isaac “by supplanting and subtlety”5 (the name in Hebrew, Ya-akov, means he supplanted”). He used cunning to take the blessings which had been intended for Esau. “Israel,” on the other hand, denotes the receiving of blessings through “noble conduct (Serarah, which is linguistically related to Yisrael, the Hebrew form of Israel), and in an open manner.”6 However the Torah is interpreted, its literal meaning remains true. And the blessings of Isaac referred to the physical world and its benefits: “G-d give you of the dew of the heaven and the fatness of the earth.”7 ~ Menachem M Schneerson,
427:Why didn't Jacob simply refuse to go along with this bold, obvious swindle? Again, Robert Alter's insights are invaluable. When Jacob asks, 'Why have you DECEIVED me?' the Hebrew word is the same one used in chapter 27 to describe what Jacob did to Isaac. Alter then quotes an ancient rabbinical commentator who imagines the conversation the next day between Jacob and Leah. Jacob says to Leah: 'I called out "Rachel" in the dark and you answered. Why did you do that to me?' And Leah says to him, 'Your father called out "Esau" in the dark and you answered. Why did you do that to him?' His fury dies on his lips. He sees what it is like to be manipulated and deceived, and he meekly complies with Laban's offer. ~ Timothy J Keller,
428:tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the LORD (cf. RSV, NIV) based on vv. 1, 13, but the Hebrew text merely has “he said” at this point, referring to one of the three visitors. Aside from the introductory statement in v. 1, the incident is narrated from Abraham’s point of view, and the suspense is built up for the reader as Abraham’s elaborate banquet preparations in the preceding verses suggest he suspects these are important guests. But not until the promise of a son later in this verse does it become clear who is speaking. In v. 13 the Hebrew text explicitly mentions the LORD. ~ Anonymous,
429:asleep. 6So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea 7And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What ~ Anonymous,
430:She asked me if she could become a woman of Israel.” “And what did you tell her?” “Why, I told her no, of course.” Ardon was surprised at the question. “You know that an idolater and a stranger cannot be a part of Israel.” “You know our history better than that. Moses was married to an Ethiopian woman. She wasn’t born a Hebrew. There are others too. You remember how Moses used to say that the strangers and foreigners could join us if they wanted to worship Jehovah.” Indeed, Ardon did know this, but he had shut it out of his mind. He never understood that and was resentful of strangers who were admitted into the fellowship of the nation of Israel. “But in any case,” he said, “she’s a prostitute, so that bars her. ~ Gilbert Morris,
431:Perhaps the most likely answer is that, in the Bible, six is the number for human beings. People were created on the sixth day, and they are to work six of seven days. A Hebrew could not be a slave for more than six years. God’s number, on the other hand, is seven. He created seven days in a week. There are seven colors in the visible spectrum and seven notes in a musical scale. Biblically, there are seven feasts of Jehovah (Leviticus 23); seven sayings of Jesus from the cross; and seven “secrets” in the Kingdom parables (Matthew 13). At the fall of Jericho, seven priests marched in front of the army bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns, and on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times (Joshua 6). ~ David Jeremiah,
432:The word amen, which found its way from Judaism into Christianity and Islam, crossing cultures and continents, borders and chasms, is in fact an acronym of the Hebrew phrase ‘el melech ne’eman.’ Spoken in response to a blessing, it means: the words of the blessing are true and may they come to pass…Since that word is so universal, it symbolizes for me, much as literature does, everything that we, all of humanity, have in common despite the differences in our way of thinking, in our faith, and our inner and outer landscapes, the living, quivering hope of every human being for forgiveness, salvation, mercy. And so I think that even the very fact of its existence is comforting, although all our wishes may not come true. ~ Zeruya Shalev,
433:The Rebbe now spoke in a manner that anticipated the work that was later to be done by the shluchim whom he dispatched throughout the United States and the world: “One must go to a place where nothing is known of Godliness, nothing is known of Judaism, nothing is even known of the Hebrew alphabet, and while there, put one’s own self aside and ensure that the other calls out to God! . . . Indeed, if one wants to ensure his own connection to God, he must make sure that the other person not only becomes familiar with but actually calls out to God!” It was not enough, it was never enough, to simply practice Judaism by oneself or in an already religiously observant community; one has to bring others to embrace God as well ~ Joseph Telushkin,
434:the English translations make it look like they are just more natural animals. Not so in the Hebrew. Let’s take a closer look at the Hebrew words behind two more of these strange creatures, “wild animals” and “hyenas.”   Isaiah 13:21–22 21 But wild animals (siyyim) will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. 22 Hyenas (iyyim) will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.   Isaiah 34:14 14 And wild animals (siyyim) shall meet with hyenas; (iyyim) the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place. ~ Brian Godawa,
435:The narrative of the virgin birth is told in Matthew and Luke, but the citation of Isaiah 7:14 in Matthew 1:23 contains the prophecy: “‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’” The Greek word for virgin is parthenos, but the Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 is ‘almah, which has the meaning “young girl.” Christian tradition has read the verse as a prediction of the “virgin birth” of a Messiah, even though the translator’s choice of parthenos was just one of several acceptable translation equivalences for the Hebrew ‘almah. Whatever the Septuagint translator intended, there can be no doubt that Matthew wished to emphasize a miraculous birth of Jesus. ~ Timothy Michael Law,
436:she shows up in this Biblical context connected with the satyrs and Azazel. The very next verse (Isa. 34:15) talks about the owl that nests and lays and hatches her young in its shadow. But lexicons such as the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon contest this Hebrew word for owl (qippoz) with more ancient interpretations of an “arrow snake.”[17] If they are correct, then the poetry of the passage would be more complete as the NASB indicates.   Isaiah 34:14–15 (NASB95) 14 Yes, the night monster (Lilith) will settle there And will find herself a resting place. 15 The tree snake (qippoz) will make its nest and lay eggs there, And it will hatch and gather them under its protection. ~ Brian Godawa,
437:Zuckerman shook his head. “You guys are funnier than the Three Stooges without Curly. Anyway, it’s a helluva campaign. Esme is running it for me. Male and female lines. Not only have we got Crispin, but Esme’s landed the numero uno female golfer in the world.” “Linda Coldren?” Myron asked. “Whoa!” Norm clapped his hands once. “The Hebrew hoopster knows his golf! By the way, Myron, what kind of name is Bolitar for a member of the tribe?” “It’s a long story,” Myron said. “Good, I wasn’t interested anyway. I was just being polite. Where was I?” Zuckerman threw one leg over the other, leaned back, smiled, looked about. A ruddy-faced man at a neighboring table glared. “Hi, there,” Norm said with a little wave. “Looking good.” The ~ Harlan Coben,
438:/Farsi I shall grasp the soul's skirt with my hand and stamp on the world's head with my foot. I shall trample Matter and Space with my horse, beyond all Being I shall utter a great shout, and in that moment when I shall be alone with Him, I shall whisper secrets to all mankind. Since I shall have neither sign nor name I shall speak only of things unnamed and without sign. Do not delude yourself that from a burned heart I will discourse with palette and tongue. The body is impure, I shall cast it away and utter these pure words with soul alone. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Farid ud-Din Attar, I shall grasp the souls skirt with my hand
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439:Etgar Keret, an Israeli novelist, said he had been troubled by some of the terms favored by journalists, politicians and even friends in Tel Aviv. There is no Hebrew word for ‘‘assassination,’’ Mr. Keret said, so killings of Hamas operatives are described with a phrase meaning ‘‘focused obstruction.’’ Instead of ‘‘civilians,’’ he said, slain children and women are sometimes called ‘‘uninvolved.’’ ‘‘There’s something about this ‘uninvolved,’ there’s something passive about it,’’ Mr. Keret said. ‘‘You admit that he is not somebody who is trying to destroy you, but you don’t give him any other identification. It was not a child who wanted to learn how to play the piano,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘it was just somebody who didn’t shoot at us. ~ Anonymous,
440:Theologian Randy Woodley identifies this deeper engagement as the Hebrew word shalom, which is often translated simplistically as “peace.” Woodley asserts that shalom “is active and engaged, going far beyond the mere absence of conflict. A fuller understanding of shalom is the key to the door that can lead us to a whole new way of living in the world.”1 Shalom combats the dualism rampant in Western culture and is instead rooted in a more Hebraic “passion for equilibrium, a sense of system in which all the parts cohere.”2 Shalom, therefore, does not eschew or diminish the role of the other or the reality of a suffering world. Instead, it embraces the suffering other as an instrumental aspect of well-being. Shalom requires lament. ~ Soong Chan Rah,
441:Before I was, Thy mercy came to me, inverting void and being Thou madest me to be. Who wrought my image, poured my essence into the crucible and gave me shape? Who breathed a soul into me opened the belly of Sheol and took me out? Who led me from childhood until here? Who taught me to understand, caused me to marvel? Indeed I am clay in Thy hand. Thou didst make me, in truth, not I myself. I shall confess my sins, and not say to Thee "The serpent deceived me and led me astray." How can I hide my guilt from Thee? For indeed before I was, Thy mercy came to me. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Solomon ibn Gabirol, Before I was, Thy mercy came to me
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442:The practice of silent reading would not become common until almost the modern period, and some linguists argue that while most modern Western languages are easy to read silently, the ancient Semitic languages, particularly vowel-less Hebrew, could not be read silently, a contention that most bar and bat mitzvah boys and girls would surely agree with.19 In the words of biblical scholar David Carr, When you list those people who are depicted as writing in ancient Israel, it quickly becomes evident that virtually all are some sort of official. Aside from God, who is one of the Bible’s most prolific writers, virtually all writers and readers in the Bible are officials of some kind: scribes, kings, priests, and other bureaucrats.20 ~ William J Bernstein,
443:But the fact that the New Testament winters used this version on many occasions supplies a new proof in opposition to the idea of its authority, for in not a few places they do not follow it, but they suppl)'• a version of their own which rightly represents the Hebrew text, although contradicting the Septuagint. The use, however, which the writers of the New Testament have made of the Septuagint version must always invest it with a peculiar interest; we thus see Avhat honour God may be pleased to put on an honestly-made version, since we find that inspired Avriters often used such a version, when it was sufficiently near the original to suit the purpose for which it was cited, instead of rendering the Hebrew text de novo on every occasion. ~ Anonymous,
444:The Pentateuch is ascribed, in our modern translations, to Moses, and he is generally supposed to be the author. This is altogether erroneous, as Moses had nothing whatever to do with these five books. Bishop Colenso, speaking of this, says: "The books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses in the inscriptions of Hebrew manuscripts, or in printed copies of the Hebrew Bible. Nor are they styled the 'Books of Moses' in the Septuagint [92:1] or Vulgate, [92:2] but only in our modern translations, after the example of many eminent Fathers of the Church, who, with the exception of Jerome, and, perhaps, Origen, were, one and all of them, very little acquainted with the Hebrew language, and still less with its criticism." [92:3] ~ Thomas William Doane,
445:Now an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire -- a fire that devours fire; a fire that burns in things dry and moist; a fire that glows amid snow and ice; a fire that is like a crouching lion; a fire that reveals itself in many forms; a fire that is, and never expires; a fire that shines and roars; a fire that blazes and sparkles; a fire that flies in a storm wind; a fire that burns without wood; a fire that renews itself every day; a fire that is not fanned by fire; a fire that billows like palm branches; a fire whose sparks are flashes of lightning; a fire black as a raven; a fire, curled, like the colours of the rainbow! [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Yannai, The Celestial Fire
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446:The actual Hebrew verb “create” (bara) also focuses our attention in this direction. In the Bible, only God can perform this action of bringing something into existence. What is even more intriguing is that the objects of this verb point consistently toward its connection to functional existence rather than material existence; e.g., God “creates” fire, cloud, destruction, calamity, darkness, righteousness and purity. This is much like the ancient Near Eastern way of thinking that it was more important to determine who controlled functions rather than who/what gave something its physical form. In the ancient world something was created when it was given a function. In the ancient world, the cosmos is less like a machine, more like a kingdom. ◆ ~ Anonymous,
447:We have taken Herodotus as an interesting specimen of what we have called the free intelligence of mankind. Now here we are dealing with a similar overflow of moral ideas into the general community. The Hebrew prophets, and the steady expansion of their ideas towards one God in all the world, is a parallel development of the free conscience of mankind. From this time onward there runs through human thought, now weakly and obscurely, now gathering power, the idea of one rule in the world, and of a promise and possibility of an active and splendid peace and happiness in human affairs. From being a temple religion of the old type, the Jewish religion becomes, to a large extent, a prophetic and creative religion of a new type. Prophet succeeds prophet. ~ H G Wells,
448:9. Những gì diễn ra sau đó là những năm hạnh phúc nhất trong đời họ

Họ sống trong một căn nhà tràn ngập ánh nắng có hoa giấy phủ trên mái ở Ramat Gan. Cha tôi trồng một cây ô liu, một cây chanh trong vườn và đào quanh mỗi cây một rãnh nhỏ để nước chảy vào. Ban đêm họ nghe âm nhạc Mỹ qua chiếc đài sóng ngắn của ông. Khi các cửa sổ mở và gió thổi đúng hướng, họ có thể thấy hương vị của biển. Cuối cùng họ làm lễ cưới trên bãi biển ở Tel Aviv, kỳ trăng mật là hai tháng du lịch ở Nam Mỹ. Khi hai người trở về, mẹ tôi bắt đầu dịch sách sang tiếng Anh - ban đầu từ tiếng Tây Ban Nha, rồi sau đó cả từ tiếng Hebrew nữa. Năm năm như thế trôi qua, thế rồi cha tôi được mời một công việc ông không thể từ chối - làm cho một công ty Mỹ trong ngành vũ trụ. ~ Nicole Krauss,
449:/Farsi Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine. Make haste, the heavenly sphere knows no delay. Before this transient world is ruined and destroyed, ruin me with a beaker of rose-tinted wine. The sun of the wine dawns in the east of the goblet. Pursue life's pleasure, abandon dreams, and the day when the wheel makes pitchers of my clay, take care to fill my skull with wine! We are not men for piety, penance and preaching but rather give us a sermon in praise of a cup of clear wine. Wine-worship is a noble task, O Hafiz; rise and advance firmly to your noble task. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Hafiz, Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine
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450:In principle, to be sure, the Reformation idea of the universal priesthood of all believers meant that not only the clergy but also the laity, not only the theologian but also the magistrate, had the capacity to read, understand, and apply the teachings of the Bible. Yet one of the contributions of the sacred philology of the biblical humanists to the Reformation was an insistence that, in practice, often contradicted the notion of the universal priesthood: the Bible had to be understood on the basis of the authentic original text, written in Hebrew and Greek which, most of the time, only clergy and theologians could comprehend properly. Thus the scholarly authority of the Reformation clergy replaced the priestly authority of the medieval clergy. ~ Jaroslav Pelikan,
451:To help me learn how to practice lectio divina, I’ve enlisted two expert sources. Eugene Peterson opens his book on spiritual reading with an analogy of us reading Scripture like a dog might gnaw a bone. His dog is joyful to have the bone; for a time he plays with it and enjoys having others interact with it. Then he settles in to chew it in a more private area, turning it over for a long time, then burying it only to retrieve it again later and pick up where he left off. Peterson says that in Hebrew, the word we tamely translate as “meditate” on the Scriptures actually means “growl,” like an animal growls over its prey. God wants us to growl in triumph over the Bible before settling in to wrestle with it and worry it like a bone. It’s a marvelous image. ~ Jana Riess,
452:For the disciples, Jesus is not a mere prophet heralding the latest divine message. Jesus is a revolution. Note the very first verse of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” These three simple statements carry hitherto unknown and inconceivable ideas about God that are destined to change the world. As a good Jew, John certainly knows the first verse in the Hebrew Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”2 But John has met Jesus, and “saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.”3 While John certainly agrees that God created all things, he cannot leave it at that, for he has seen something that has changed his understanding of everything. Note the parallel ~ C Baxter Kruger,
453:...he would tell stories about the Holy City, about Solomon, a just king, a poet-king, a monarch with a thousand concubines. We weren't quite sure what concubines were, but we guessed: a concubine ... Concubines! One thousand! One thousand women in all colours and shapes - but all of them sexy, of course - one thousand - one thousand raving beauties lying side by side on a bed (what a bed! How wide it must have been!), all of them smiling, all of them reaching out their arms, all of them saying something in Hebrew - but the meaning was unmistakeable - "Come here, sweety." One thousand women. If one were to spend twenty, or fifteen minutes with each one of them, how long would it take to...? A problem that our math teacher never assigned us for homework...! ~ Moacyr Scliar,
454:Saint Paul said the invisible must be understood by the visible. That was not a Hebrew idea, it was Greek. In Greece alone in the ancient world people were preoccupied with the visible; they were finding the satisfaction of their desires in what was actually in the world around them. The sculptor watched the athletes contending in the games and he felt that nothing he could imagine would be as beautiful as those strong young bodies. So he made his statue of Apollo. The storyteller found Hermes among the people he passed in the street. He saw the god “like a young man at the age when youth is loveliest,” as Homer says. Greek artists and poets realized how splendid a man could be, straight and swift and strong. He was the fulfillment of their search for beauty. ~ Edith Hamilton,
455:The Hebrew for the words “wild animals” and “hyenas” are not readily identifiable,[10] so the ESV translators simply guessed according to their anti-mythical bias and filled in their translations with naturalistic words like “wild animals” and “hyenas.” But of these words, Bible commentator Hans Wildberger says,   “Whereas (jackals) and (ostriches), mentioned in v. 13, are certainly well-known animals, the creatures that are mentioned in v. 14 cannot be identified zoologically, not because we are not provided with enough information, but because they refer to fairy tale and mythical beings. Siyyim are demons, the kind that do their mischief by the ruins of Babylon, according to [Isaiah] 13:21. They are mentioned along with the iyyim (goblins) in this passage.[11] ~ Brian Godawa,
456:The Talmud describes rabbis debating over which remains fixed and which revolves, the constellations or the solid sky (Pesachim 94b),[106] as well as how to calculate the thickness of the firmament scientifically (Pesab. 49a) and Biblically (Genesis Rabbah 4.5.2).[107] While the Talmud is not the definitive interpretation of the Bible, it certainly illustrates how ancient Jews of that time period understood the term, which can be helpful in learning the Hebrew cultural context. When the Scriptures talk poetically of this vault of heaven it uses the same terminology of stretching out the solid surface of the heavens over the earth as it does of stretching out an ANE desert tent over the flat ground (Isa. 54:2; Jer. 10:20)—not like an expanding Einsteinian time-space ~ Brian Godawa,
457:In John 10, learned Jews in the Temple challenge Jesus about his identity as Christ. Jesus says that he and the Father are one, a clear claim of deity in the Hebrew culture, which results in the Jews picking up stones to stone him because he, being a man, made himself out to be God (10:33). Their particular Rabbinic absolute monotheism did not allow for the existence of divinity other than the Father. Jesus responds by appealing to this very passage we are discussing: “Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (10:34-36). ~ Brian Godawa,
458:IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH, the nature of angels caused some confusion. Writing in the second century, Justin Martyr thought that fallen angels had denser bodies than the good angels, and that they actually ate a special kind of food (Psalm 78:25; Psalm 105:40). The word angel is also deceiving. Deriving from the Hebrew mal'ak or the Greek angelos, it signifies “messenger,” or “envoy,” which indicates more of a function than a nature. Today, the Church teaches that angels are incorporeal spiritual beings. Saint Augustine says: “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit,’ from what they do, ‘angel.’“ There has been much ~ Anonymous,
459:Lord of the world, He reigned alone While yet the universe was naught. When by His will all things were wrought. Then first his sovran Name was known. And when the All shall cease to be, In dread lone splendour He shall reign, He was, He is, He shall remain In glorious eternity. For He is one, no second shares His nature or His loneliness; Unending and beginningless, All strength is His, all sway He bears. He is the living God to save, My Rock while sorrow's toils endure, My banner and my stronghold sure, The cup of life whene'er I crave. I place my soul within His palm Before I sleep as when I wake, And though my body I forsake, Rest in the Lord in fearless calm. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Solomon ibn Gabirol, Lord of the World
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460:But first, these past months in my hermitage I’ve figured out a few things concerning matters metaphysical. As I began to explain earlier, loneliness is nothingness. And as already mentioned, the Hebrew word for God, Yahweh, is simply a form of that most fundamental verb, to be. God is what is, understand, but God cannot be without being perceived. God is all that is, and yet God is nothing unless God can look upon God. God is one, but God is not lonely. Loneliness is a contradiction of Creation. Creation must be, but God did not create the universe. God is the universe. God is not the Creator. God is Creation. There is no difference. There was never anything but Creation, and there will never be anything but Creation. Creation requires nothing but itself for its own existence. ~ Tony Vigorito,
461:But the earthly humans over which we rule can.” He let that one linger with a sense of foreboding. Belial was good at delivery. He was after all the Accuser in the very courtroom of Yahweh’s divine council. He challenged the Laws of Torah and prosecuted heavenly lawsuits against Yahweh’s people. “I almost had you in the hands of Herod when you were born. How you escaped Herod’s slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem, now that I must congratulate Yahweh on. The whole flight to Egypt and all. And there you have it, that exodus connection again. Just like Moses escaping the slaughter of Hebrew infants by Pharaoh. Nice touch. If it had not been for those Babylonian Magi literally coming and pointing out the star prophecy to Herod, that rock head would never have figured anything out. ~ Brian Godawa,
462:My grandfather seemed to me stricken and afflicted, and indeed he was, like a man everlastingly struck by lightening, so that there was an ashiness about his clothes and his hair never settled and his eye had a look of tragic alarm when he wasn't actually sleeping. He was the most unreposeful human being I ever knew, except for certain of his friends. All of them could sit on their heels into their old age, and they'd do it by preference, as if they had a grudge against furniture. They had no flesh on them at all. They were like the Hebrew prophets in some unwilling retirement, or like the primitive church still waiting to judge the angels...It was the most natural thing in the world that my grandfather's grave would look like a place where someone had tried to smother a fire. ~ Marilynne Robinson,
463:The LXX translates the word for “satyrs” that appears in these Isaiah passages as onokentaurois or “donkey-centaurs,” from which we get our word “centaur.” The Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint defines this word as “donkey-centaur, mythic creature (a centaur resembling a donkey rather than a horse).”[6] In Isaiah 34:14 of the ESV we read of “the wild goat crying to his fellow,” and in 13:21, “there wild goats will dance.” But the underlying Hebrew (seirim) is not about wild goats, but satyrs, that were prevalent in Canaanite religion. Scholar Judd Burton points out that Panias or Panias at the base of Mount Hermon in Bashan was a key worship site for the Greek goat-god Pan as early as the third century B.C. and earlier connections to the goat-idol Azazel (see Azazel below).[7] ~ Brian Godawa,
464:Isaiah was not only the most remarkable of the prophets, he was by far the greatest writer in the Old Testament. He was evidently a magnificent preacher, but it is likely he set his words down in writing. They certainly achieved written form very early and remained among the most popular of all the holy writings: among the texts found at Qumran after the Second World War was a leather scroll, 23 feet long, giving the whole of Isaiah in fifty columns of Hebrew, the best preserved and longest ancient manuscript of the Bible we possess.216 The early Jews loved his sparkling prose with its brilliant images, many of which have since passed into the literature of all civilized nations. But more important than the language was the thought: Isaiah was pushing humanity towards new moral discoveries. ~ Paul Johnson,
465:What made travel possible was that he knew how neither self nor wealth can be measured in terms of what you consume or own. Even the downtrodden souls on the fringes of society, he observed, had something the rich didn’t: time. This notion—the notion that “riches” don’t necessarily make you wealthy—is as old as society itself. The ancient Hindu Upanishads refer disdainfully to “that chain of possessions wherewith men bind themselves, and beneath which they sink”; ancient Hebrew scriptures declare that “whoever loves money never has money enough.” Jesus noted that it’s pointless for a man to “gain the whole world, yet lose his very self,” and the Buddha whimsically pointed out that seeking happiness in one’s material desires is as absurd as “suffering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes. ~ Rolf Potts,
466:Before he died in 2013, the great sociologist Robert Bellah said that his view of everything he’d studied across his life was tilted on its axis by this late recognition: when mammals began to bring forth offspring from the center of their bodies, spiritual life became possible. With apes and far more with humans, the period of necessary parental care—care in order for the offspring to survive—became longer and longer. The long helplessness of the child generated a sphere of softening, experimentation, and creativity in self-understanding and shared life. This is the biological groundwork for the axial move—stepping out of fear and into care beyond one’s self. The religions apprehended this long ago and wove it into language; compassion in both Hebrew and Arabic derives from the word for womb. ~ Krista Tippett,
467:/Farsi Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy, garment torn, singing a love song, glass in hand, picking a quarrel, chanting a spell, yesterday at midnight she came and sat by my bed. She lowered her head to my ear, and whispered, sad-voiced, "My old lover, are you asleep?" The lover for whom such a nightfarer's drink is poured is an unbeliever of love if he does not worship wine. Come on, hermit, do not blame those who drink to the dregs, there was no other gift when God announced His Mastery. The smile of the wineglass, a girl's tangled tresses, have broken may penances, as they broke the penance of Hafiz. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Hafiz, Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy
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468:1:13–16 Israelite genealogies could skip generations; thus Matthew lists only 11 generations from the exile before Joseph, whereas Luke lists about 20. 1:17 fourteen generations. Even though Matthew skips some generations, the three sets of names he has listed in this verse do not come out to exactly the same number each. Matthew is giving a rounded number, showing that at roughly equivalent intervals in Israel’s history, something dramatic happened. These focal times of conspicuous divine activity surround Abraham, David, the exile, and now the coming of the Messiah, son of David (see note on v. 1). Some scholars point out that when “David” is spelled in Hebrew letters and calculated as numbers (Hebrew used letters also as numbers), it comes out to 14. Some other scholars attribute this to coincidence. ~ Anonymous,
469:Ingredient 2: Sorrow for Sin “I will be sorry for my sin” (Psa 38:18). Ambrose calls sorrow the embittering of the soul. The Hebrew word “to be sorrowful” signifies “to have the soul, as it were, crucified.” This must be in true repentance: “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn” (Zec 12:10), as if they did feel the nails of the cross sticking in their sides. A woman may as well expect to have a child without pangs as one can have repentance without sorrow. He that can believe without doubting, suspect his faith; and he that can repent without sorrowing, suspect his repentance. Martyrs shed blood for Christ, and penitents shed tears for sin: “she…stood at his [Jesus’] feet…weeping” (Luk 7:38). See how this limbeck[19] dropped. The sorrow of her heart ran out at her eye… ~ Thomas Watson,
470:Go into the London Stock Exchange – a more respectable place than many a court – and you will see representatives from all nations gathered together for the utility of men. Here Jew, Mohammedan and Christian deal with each other as though they were all of the same faith, and only apply the word infidel to people who go bankrupt. Here the Presbyterian trusts the Anabaptist and the Anglican accepts a promise from the Quaker. On leaving these peaceful and free assemblies some go to the Synagogue and others for a drink, this one goes to be baptized in a great bath in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, that one has his son’s foreskin cut and has some Hebrew words he doesn’t understand mumbled over the child, others go to heir church and await the inspiration of God with their hats on, and everybody is happy. ~ Voltaire,
471:I lit a candle in a Catholic church for the first time that afternoon. Me, a Presbyterian. I lit a candle in the warm, dark, waxy-smelling air of Saint Adelbert’s. I put it beside the one that Mrs. Baker lit. I don’t know what she prayed for, but I prayed that no atomic bomb would ever drop on Camillo Junior High or the Quaker meetinghouse or the old jail or Temple Emmanuel or Hicks Park or Saint Paul’s Episcopal School or Saint Adelbert’s. I prayed for Lieutenant Baker, missing in action somewhere in the jungles of Vietnam near Khesanh. I prayed for Danny Hupfer, sweating it out in Hebrew school right then. I prayed for my sister, driving in a yellow bug toward California—or maybe she was there already, trying to find herself. And I hoped that it was okay to pray for a bunch of things with one candle. ~ Gary D Schmidt,
472:Q: I always had the impression that Lucifer and Satan was one and the same, you know, that Lucifer fell and became Satan. Would you clarify that for me?
A: There is a difference between Lucifer and Satan. The word satan comes from the word Shatan in Hebrew which means 'adversary'. Lucifer is Latin for "the bearer of light," and is the cosmic force that carries the fire. That fire is Kundalini, but when that fire becomes trapped in the ego, that fire is polarized negatively and becomes Satan, the adversary or the opposite of God. As long as that fire is trapped in desire, in ego, it is Satan, it is the devil. It is not outside of us. It is our mind. But when that force is liberated, it is the bearer of light. It is the greatest angel in the hierarchy of our own Consciousness. So it is our best friend.~ Samael Aun Weor,
473:The Exile In July 587 BCE, Babylonian soldiers broke through Jerusalem’s walls, ending a starvation siege that had lasted well over a year. They burned the city and Solomon’s temple and took its king and many other leaders to Babylon as captives, leaving others to fend for themselves in the destroyed land. Many surrounding countries disappeared altogether when similar disasters befell them. But Judah did not. Instead, the period scholars most often call the “Babylonian exile” inspired religious leaders to revise parts of Scripture that had been passed down to them. It also sparked the writing of entirely new Scriptures and the revision of ideas about God, creation, and history. Much of what is called the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament was written, edited, and compiled during and after this national tragedy. ~ Walter Brueggemann,
474:tn The expression ῾Ωσαννά (hōsanna, literally in Hebrew, “O Lord, save”) in the quotation from Ps 118:25-26 was probably by this time a familiar liturgical expression of praise, on the order of “Hail to the king,” although both the underlying Aramaic and Hebrew expressions meant “O Lord, save us.” In words familiar to every Jew, the author is indicating that at this point every messianic expectation is now at the point of realization. It is clear from the words of the psalm shouted by the crowd that Jesus is being proclaimed as messianic king. See E. Lohse, TDNT 9:682-84. sn Hosanna is an Aramaic expression that literally means, “help, I pray,” or “save, I pray.” By Jesus’ time it had become a strictly liturgical formula of praise, however, and was used as an exclamation of praise to God. 16 sn A quotation from Ps 118:25-26. ~ Anonymous,
475:In Hebrew Exodus 24:10 says rather casually that Moses and a party of more than seventy Israelites saw the God of Israel, which is a problem because no one is actually supposed to be able to see God. The Greek translation shifts the focus (literally): they saw the place where the God of Israel stood. Likewise, after instructions for building the mercy seat atop the ark of the covenant, God says, There I will meet with you (Exod. 25:22). In the Septuagint God says, I will make myself known to you, which avoids the possibility of God’s physically appearing to Moses. And in Numbers 3:16, where the Hebrew refers to God’s very humanlike mouth, the Greek translation replaces mouth with God’s voice. Yes, humans have voices too, but at least now God doesn’t have a body. The Septuagint really wants to make God seem more, well, godlike. ~ Peter Enns,
476:There was nothing negative about the whore in the ancient world; Her title Hierodule of Heaven means sacred work or servant of the holy in Greek. The word prostitute means to stand on behalf of (the Goddess) in Hebrew the word zona is used for both Prophetess and Priestess. Even that wonderful word harlot (rhymes with scarlet) means priestess of Hathoor. It is essential that the Goddess-hating negativity of Christianity is washed away from these words. Even the term virgin means ever creative receptive potential, it is definitely not a physical state. In many cultures virgin simply meant un-married, and children born out of wedlock were called virgin-born – that puts rather a different slant on the story of Joseph and Mary. More often than not virgin was used to contrast with married, and the Holy Whore is very much her own woman. ~ Peter Grey,
477:What had become of the girl who sought out British Socinian texts all on her own, argued over Swedenborgian theology with adults three times her age, read the New Testament thirty times in one summer, and taught herself Hebrew so that she could make her own translation of the Old Testament? There had been many obstacles. Because of financial hardship, she had been “thrown too early” into the working world, teaching long hours when she might have studied and written more. And there was the fact of her sex. Without the option of college or a profession, Elizabeth had not known how or where to apply herself. She had looked to men of genius to confirm her talents and grown “dependent on the daily consolations of friendship.” She could see now that she had “constantly craved . . . assurances” that should have “come from within.” Yet ~ Megan Marshall,
478:The result of Alexander the Great’s victory over Darius in 330 BCE not only shifted the balance of power in the ancient world to the Macedonian general but also instigated a political and cultural transformation that has shaped the course of Western history down to the present day. Although the fall of Constantinople in 1453 brought an end to Greek cultural dominance in the Mediterranean world, the legacy of Greek thought never met the same end.9 As we shall come to see, it was this singular event in world history that led to the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, which paved the way for the creation and expansion of Christianity. For many centuries, the fortunes of the church would be tied intimately to those of Greek culture, and the direction of Western history would be closely related to that of the church. ~ Timothy Michael Law,
479:The Bible contains significant teachings that encourage the creation of goods and services. One example is the description of an “excellent wife” in Proverbs 31:10–31: “She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant” (v. 24). She makes valuable products and so increases the GDP of Israel. This woman is productive, for “she seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands” (v. 13). She produces agricultural products from the earth, because “with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard” (v. 16). She sells products in the marketplace, because “she perceives that her merchandise is profitable” (v. 18). (The Holman Christian Standard Bible translates this as, “She sees that her profits are good”; this is also a legitimate translation because the Hebrew term sakar can refer to profit or gain from merchandise.) ~ Wayne Grudem,
480:The misfire result is that in The Message Psalms he has taken a collection of Hebrew glories and crammed them full of English clichés—lie through their teeth, within an inch of my life, the end of my rope, only have eyes for you, down on their luck, every bone in my body, sit up and take notice, rule the roost, the bottom has fallen out, free as a bird, kicked around long enough, my life’s an open book, at the top of my lungs, nearly did me in, sell me a bill of goods, wide open spaces, stranger in these parts, hard on my heels, from dawn to dusk, skin and bones, turn a deaf ear, eat me alive, all hell breaks loose, raise the roof, wipe the slate clean, miles from nowhere, and, as they say on the teevee, much, much more. If clichés were candied fruit, walnuts, and raisins, the Book of Psalms in The Message would be a three-pound fruitcake. ~ Douglas Wilson,
481:in Likkutei Torah15 of the verse, “He has not seen sin in Jacob nor toil in Israel.”16 At the level of “Jacob” the Jew has no sin, but he still experiences “toil”—his freedom from sin is achieved only by tension and struggle for he has concealments to overcome. This is why he is called “Jacob, my servant”17 for “service” (in Hebrew, avodah) has the implication of strenuous effort to refine his physical nature (his “animal soul”). He does not sin but he still experiences the inclination to sin, which he must overcome. But “Israel” encounters no “toil,” for in his struggle “with Elokim and with men” he broke down the factors which conceal G-dliness and silenced his dissenting inclinations. Israel no longer needs to contend with those forces which oppose the perception of G-dliness. His progress lies entirely within the domain of the holy. ~ Menachem M Schneerson,
482:What’s going on?” the Philistines asked. “What’s all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?” When they were told it was because the Ark of the LORD had arrived, 7 they panicked. “The gods have[*] come into their camp!” they cried. “This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before! 8 Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness. 9 Fight as never before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up like men and fight!” 10 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. 11 The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed. ~ Anonymous,
483:Baker, Sharon L. Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught About God’s Wrath and Judgment. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2010. *Batto, Bernard. Slaying the Dragon: Mythmaking in the Biblical Tradition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992. Bell, Rob. Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2011. Brettler, Marc Zvi, Peter Enns, and Daniel Harrington, SJ. The Bible and the Believer: Reading the Bible Critically and Religiously. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. *Brown, Raymond E., and Francis J. Moloney S.D.B. An Introduction to the Gospel of John. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Brueggemann, Walter. An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009. *———. Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997. ~ Peter Enns,
484:Fundamentalism is the philosophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced and the dispossessed. Its spawning ground is the wreckage of political and military defeat, as Hebrew fundamentalism arose during the Babylonian captivity, as white Christian fundamentalism appeared in the American South during Reconstruction, as the notion of the Master Race evolved in Germany following World War I. In such desperate times, the vanquished race would perish without a doctrine that restored hope and pride. Islamic fundamentalism ascends from the same landscape of despair and possesses the same tremendous and potent appeal. What exactly is this despair? It is the despair of freedom. The dislocation and emasculation experienced by the individual cut free from the familiar and comforting structures of the tribe and the clan, the village and the family. It is the state of modern life. The ~ Steven Pressfield,
485:Cryptanalysis could not be invented until a civilization had reached a sufficiently sophisticated level of scholarship in several disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, and linguistics. The Muslim civilization provided an ideal cradle for cryptanalysis, because Islam demands justice in all spheres of human activity, and achieving this requires knowledge, or ilm. Every Muslim is obliged to pursue knowledge in all its forms, and the economic success of the Abbasid caliphate meant that scholars had the time, money, and materials required to fulfil their duty. They endeavoured to acquire knowledge of previous civilizations by obtaining Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, Farsi, Syriac, Armenian, Hebrew and Roman texts and translating them into Arabic. In 815, the Caliph of Ma'mun established in Baghdad the Bait al-Hikmah ('House of Wisdom'), a library and centre for translation. ~ Simon Singh,
486:The King James Bible, which most Pennsylvanians would have been using, describes the central moment as an act of economic liberation: “Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” But there’s a problem with this translation. The Hebrew word deror, which the King James renders as liberty, is more precisely translated as release. Modern Bibles usually translate Leviticus 25:10 as “You shall proclaim release throughout the land,” stressing that the liberation is a freeing from economic duress, not political servitude. Considering all that would befall Isaac Norris’s bell, the one misfortune that proved most beneficial was preventing America’s treasured icon from being called … the Release Bell. ~ Bruce Feiler,
487:No one in the Israelite camp could believe it either. Least of all, Saul, and his dark companion. It was as if time stood still for both sides. It was a valley of silence.   Up on the Philistine heights, Ishbi watched the Hebrew runt run over to Goliath’s fallen body. With great effort, the kid drew out Goliath’s huge scimitar from his back. Ishbi screamed, “NOOOOOOOO!” as the Hebrew raised the blade high and chopped off Goliath’s head. Then he pulled up his tunic and released his bladder on the corpse. Ishbi and Lahmi raced down toward their fallen comrade. They saw the Hebrew raise Goliath’s head in victory as a squadron of waiting soldiers stripped the armor and fled with David back to their lines. By the time Ishbi and Lahmi arrived at Goliath’s decapitated and stripped corpse, David was almost back to his lines. Ishbi thought he should have had Runihura throw one of his missiles at the fleeing runt. ~ Brian Godawa,
488:The Old Testament uses several different Hebrew terms to describe the various modes of impartation. First, according to Strong’s Concordance, there is nataf, which means “to let drop like rain.” This describes a slow, gentle process where the prophetic word comes upon us little by little and accumulates in our spirits over a period of time. It is like being in a certain place and having the mist of God descend around us and slowly permeate our spirits. Some have described it as being like a sponge that gradually soaks up and absorbs the “raindrops” of the prophetic presence of the Lord until they fill up and overflow. The second Hebrew word listed in Strong’s Concordance for prophetic impartation is massa, which refers to the “hand of the Lord” that releases the “burden of the Lord.” When God’s hand comes upon us, He imparts something to us—a prophetic “burden”—and when His hand lifts, that burden remains. The ~ James W Goll,
489:Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society of the era in Berlin, New York and India were in constant touch with Maria Orsic. Early writers of the Theosophical movement corresponded with her, and some Theosophists linguists offered her their linguistic expertise. It was a well-known fact in the metaphysical and spiritualism circles of the time, that one of Blavatsky’s associates who was an expert linguist in Hebrew, Phoenician and Sumerian took a leading part in the translation and explanation of the extraterrestrial messages Maria received in an unknown language, later to be revealed a  dead language of the Middle East which contained Ugaritic, Phoenician, Akkadian and Sumerian scripts; some passages were written  in cuneiform, and others in a script almost similar to the Byblos Script, and Ana’kh, a language the Anunnaki used to communicate with the early Mesopotamians and Phoenicians. ~ Jean Maximillien De La Croix de Lafayette,
490:When God creates Eve, he calls her an ezer kenegdo. 'It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him [an ezer kenegdo]' (Gen. 2:18 Alter). Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, who has spent years translating the book of Genesis, says that this phrase is 'notoriously difficult to translate.' The various attempts we have in English are "helper" or "companion" or the notorious "help meet." Why are these translations so incredibly wimpy, boring, flat...disappointing? What is a help meet, anyway? What little girl dances through the house singing "One day I shall be a help meet?" Companion? A dog can be a companion. Helper? Sounds like Hamburger Helper. Alter is getting close when he translates it "sustainer beside him"

The word ezer is used only twenty other places in the entire Old Testament. And in every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately. ~ Stasi Eldredge,
491:author class:Nachmanides
From the beginning, before the world ever was, I was held on high with his hidden treasures. He brought me forth from nothing and in the end I will be withdrawn by the King. My being flowed from the spheres' foundation, which endowed it with form in evident fashion. The craftsmen's hands weighed its creation, so I would be brought to the vaults of the King. He appeared to reveal what once he concealed, on the left and on the right as well. He sent me down the stairway leading from Siloam's pool to the groves of the King. I was formed from dust, though your breath in me burns. You've known this stranger's thoughts in these lands. How long, my soul, until you return and meet with approval before your King? [2465.jpg] -- from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, Edited by Peter Cole

~ the beginning, before the world ever was (from Before the World Ever Was)
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492:Only Merlin and her guards ever woke her in the mornings, and her guards only shouted to her through the doors.
Britt picked her head off her pillow. “Merlin?”
Merlin, once again standing out in the hallway, hissed through the door.“You’re still in bed.”
“Yeah, so?”
“It is indecent for you to allow a man into your bedchambers when you are still in bed!”
Britt rolled her eyes and sat up. “What did you want?”
“Get up. We’re going to mass.”
“No, we’re not. You might be, but I’m not.”
“Oh yes you are, you little heathen.”
“It’s boring. The pastor only talks in Greek or Hebrew or whatever that language is.”
“He’s the archbishop, and he conducts the service in Latin.”
“Mmm, yeah that,” Britt said, falling back into her bed with a thump.
“Do not lie back down you unschooled foundling!”
“Too late,” Britt said. “If you want me to go to mass you’re going to have to drag me out of here. How indecent would that be? ~ K M Shea,
493:The Hebrew prophet made three requirements from those who would join the great forward-moving procession led by Jehovah. “To love mercy” and at the same time “to do justly” is the difficult task; to fulfil the first requirement alone is to fall into the error of indiscriminate giving with all its disastrous results; to fulfil the second solely is to obtain the stern policy of withholding, and it results in such a dreary lack of sympathy and understanding that the establishment of justice is impossible. It may be that the combination of the two can never be attained save as we fulfil still the third requirement—“to walk humbly with God,” which may mean to walk for many dreary miles beside the lowliest of His creatures, not even in that peace of mind which the company of the humble is popularly supposed to afford, but rather with the pangs and throes to which the poor human understanding is subjected whenever it attempts to comprehend the meaning of life. ~ Jane Addams,
494:I remembered the scene in the Bible when Jacob asks Rachel for water and on hearing her speak the words that were prophesied for him, throws up his hands to heaven and kisses the ground by the well. Me Jewish, Celan Jewish, Oliver Jewish—we were in a half ghetto, half oasis, in an otherwise cruel and unflinching world where fuddling around strangers suddenly stops, where we misread no one and no one misjudges us, where one person simply knows the other and knows him so thoroughly that to be taken away from such intimacy is galut, the Hebrew word for exile and dispersal. Was he my home, then, my homecoming? You are my homecoming. When I’m with you and we’re well together, there is nothing more I want. You make me like who I am, who I become when you’re with me, Oliver. If there is any truth in the world, it lies when I’m with you, and if I find the courage to speak my truth to you one day, remind me to light a candle in thanksgiving at every altar in Rome. ~ Andr Aciman,
495:Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, ”What is God like?” and goes on from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind. The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him - and of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise. ~ A W Tozer,
496:27:4 betrayed innocent blood. God avenged innocent blood (Dt 21:8; 2Ki 24:3–4); here many share in the guilt yet try to pass it to others (see v. 24). 27:5 hanged himself. The penalty for false witnesses in capital cases was death (Dt 19:16–21). Many people regarded hanging as a dishonorable form of suicide (cf. 2Sa 17:23, note on Ac 16:27). Most Jewish people rejected suicide as immoral under most circumstances. In the usual ancient view, hanging himself within the temple would have desecrated it. 27:6 blood money. Irony was common in ancient literature, and Matthew’s audience would certainly understand the irony of elite priests being more concerned with the temple’s purity than with a judicial murder that was currently underway. 27:7 potter’s field. Possibly Matthew’s audience knew enough Hebrew to know that the Hebrew term for “potter” (see vv. 7, 10) could be read as “treasury” by changing vowels, as ancient rabbis often did to impress a point upon their listeners. ~ Anonymous,
497:And YHVH spoke to me when I saw His name spelled out and merged with the blood in my heart, separating blood from ink and ink from blood: and YHVH said to me: Bohold, blood is the name of your soul, and ink the name of your spirit: your father and mother are vessels for my name and a sign. And then I fathomed the tremendous difference between my spirit and soul, and a great joy came through me. For I knew my soul was dwelling in the redness as blood, and my spirit was dwelling in the blackness as ink. And there raged a war in my heart between the blood and the ink: the blood from the wind and the ink from dust, and the black ink over the blood was victorious -- as the Sabbath subdues all days of the week. And so my heart rested within me -- and I offer praise to the Lord, to the Name in my heart forever. [2465.jpg] -- from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, Edited by Peter Cole

~ Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, And YHVH spoke to me when I saw His name
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498:Yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty and You are exalted over all. A king who says to the sea: 'Thus far shall you come' -- He shall be king! A king of abomination, who comes from a stinking drop and goes no further than the grave -- why should he be king? A king who builds his upper chambers and the chariot-throne in the heavens -- He shall be king! A king who returns to the dust like an expiring candle -- why should he be king? A king who redeems from harm all those who trust in him -- He shall be king! A king who flees like a driven leaf because of his heart's dread -- why should he be king? A king distinguished among ten thousand, who brings forth thousands and tens of thousands of angels -- He shall be king! A king who fears, dreads, and is terrified at the judgment of his Master -- why should he be king? A king Who every was and shall be, in His grace and His bounty -- He shall be king! [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Eleazar ben Kallir, He Shall be King!
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499:One of the problems with understanding what is meant by hell is that this tiny word has been forced to carry so much freight. Over the centuries it has picked up meanings often far removed from what was originally intended in the Bible. Hell has become a catchall word for however we imagine eternal punishment in the afterlife. But the Bible doesn’t talk near as much about the afterlife as we have imagined. A surprising thing about the Old Testament is its almost total disinterest in the afterlife. We think of heaven and hell as being the stock-in-trade of religion, but this was not the case with the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures. While the pagan religions of the Gentiles made elaborate speculations about the nature of the afterlife (this was a specialty with the Egyptians and Babylonians), the Hebrews were conspicuous in having almost no afterlife theology. For the Hebrews, death was Sheol, the grave, the underworld, the abode of the dead. The Hebrew Scriptures are fundamentally concerned with this life. ~ Brian Zahnd,
500:I shall proclaim the mighty deeds of God, who is glorious in power. He alone is God and there is no other; there is none besides Him, none second to him; there will be none after Him on earth, there was none before Him in heaven; there was none but He of old, nor shall there be in the end. Lordly in thought, godly in action -- when He takes counsel, no one is absent; when He orders, no one delays. He speaks and does, designs and fulfills, bearing the world with strength, carrying it with might. He is celebrated in song by his creatures; from above and below He is given praise. The only God on earth, the Holy One in heaven, the Mighty One on high -- He receives songs from the waters, paeans from the deeps adoration from the luminaries, speech from the days, melody from the nights. Fire shouts out His name, the trees of the forest sing for joy, the animals teach the might of his terrible acts. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Yose ben Yose, In Praise of God (from Avoda)
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501:George Matheson was only a teenager when he learned that his poor eyesight was deteriorating further. Not to be denied, he continued straightaway with his plans to enroll in Glasgow University, and his determination led to his graduating at age nineteen. But as he pursued graduate studies for Christian ministry he became totally blind. His sisters joined ranks beside him, learning Greek and Hebrew to assist him in his studies, and he pressed faithfully on. But his spirit collapsed when his fiance´e, unwilling to be married to a blind man, broke their engagement and returned his ring. George never married, and the pain of that rejection never totally left him. Years later, his sister came to him, announcing her engagement. He rejoiced with her, but his mind went back to his own heartache.He consoled himself in thinking of God’s love which is never limited, never conditional, never withdrawn, and never uncertain. Out of this experience it is said he wrote the hymn, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, on June 6, 1882. ~ Robert J Morgan,
502:/Farsi If life remains, I shall go back to the tavern and do no other work than serve the revelers. Happy day when, with streaming eyes, I shall go again to sprinkle the tavern floor. There is no knowledge among these folk, Suffer me, God, to offer my jewel of self to another buyer. If the Friend has gone, rejecting the claim of old friendship, God forbid I should go and look for another friend. If the turn of the heavenly wheel favor me I shall find some other craft to bring him back. My soul seeks wholeness, if that be permitted by his wanton glance and bandit tresses. See our guarded secret, a ballad sung with drum and flute at the gate of another bazaar. Every moment I sigh in sorrow, for fate, every hour strikes at my wounded heart with another torment. Yet truly I say: Hafiz is not alone in this plight; So many others were swallowed in the desert. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Hafiz, If life remains, I shall go back to the tavern
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503:Do we not know that the Apostles spoke all tongues? How is it then that their gospels and their epistles are only in Hebrew, as S. Jerome witnesses928of the Gospel of S. Matthew; in Latin, as some think concerning that of S. Mark,929 and in Greek, as is held concerning the other Gospels which were the three languages chosen at Our Lord’s very cross for the preaching of the Crucified? Did they not carry the Gospel throughout the world? And in the world were there no other languages but these three? Truly there were, and yet they did not judge it expedient to vary their writings in so many languages. Who then shall despise the custom of our Church, which has for its warrant the imitation of the Apostles?930 Now for this, besides the great weight it should have to put down all our curious questionings, there is a reason which I hold to be most sound: it is that these other languages are not fixed, they change between town and town; in accents, in phrases and in words, they are altered, and vary from season to season and from age to age. ~ Francis de Sales,
504:question, albeit speculative, won’t go away. No scholar quarrels with the archaic antiquity of the earliest elements of the Hebrew Bible: the Song of the Sea and of Moses. A strong consensus exists that their form is consistent with other similar archaic ‘song’ literature from the late Bronze Age Near East of the twelfth century BCE. If that’s correct, even though the Song of the Sea has much in common with the Phoenician epic of the storm god Baal’s conquest of the sea, why would early Israelite poets have created, perhaps just a century after the purported event, their own identity-epic, in which the degrading element of enslavement and liberation is entirely distinct from other archetypes, if there was nothing to it lodged in the folk memory? The most sceptical view presupposes an indigenous subset of Canaanites, settled in the Judaean hills, differentiating themselves from the rest of Canaanite tribes and states, through a mythic history of separation, migration and conquest, all with exceptionally detailed topography. Why that story? ~ Simon Schama,
505:Do we not know that the Apostles spoke all tongues? How is it then that their gospels and their epistles are only in Hebrew, as S. Jerome witnesses928of the Gospel of S. Matthew; in Latin, as some think concerning that of S. Mark,929 and in Greek, as is held concerning the other Gospels which were the three languages chosen at Our Lord’s very cross for the preaching of the Crucified? Did they not carry the Gospel throughout the world? And in the world were there no other languages but these three? Truly there were, and yet they did not judge it expedient to vary their writings in so many languages. Who then shall despise the custom of our Church, which has for its warrant the imitation of the Apostles?930 Now for this, besides the great weight it should have to put down all our curious questionings, there is a reason which I hold to be most sound: it is that these other languages are not fixed, they change between town and town; in accents, in phrases and in words, they are altered, and vary from season to season and from age to age. ~ Saint Francis de Sales,
506:significant that with the exception of animals and humans (Gen. 1:21, 26–27), Genesis 1 does not use the word “create” (bara ') but “make” ( ' asah). God fashions things out of preexisting material. This observation fits well with the view that Genesis 1 and 2 are talking about the restoration of the world, not its original creation from nothing. Finally, certain otherwise puzzling features of the Genesis narrative become clear in light of the restoration interpretation. For example, God’s command to humankind to “have dominion” seems to suggest that humankind would be met with resistance. The Hebrew term kabash (“dominion”) usually suggests suppression, conquering, or enslaving hostile forces (e.g., Num. 32:22, 29; Josh. 18:1; Neh. 5:5; Jer. 34:16; Mic. 7:19; Zech. 9:15). Along the same lines, God’s command to Adam to “keep” (shamar) the Garden (Gen. 2:15) conveys a sense of “guarding” it from something hostile. It is the same term used to describe the role of the cherubim in keeping Adam and Eve from reentering the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24). But ~ Gregory A Boyd,
507:Belial said, “My children. My minions. No, the Nephilim are not gone from the land. They are still here. And they will rise up.” The unholy Nephilim had been purged from the land, first by the Flood, and finally through the holy wars of Canaan by Joshua ben Nun and King David. There was only one thing Belial could mean by their return. Belial changed the subject. “Yahweh has protected his chosen seedline of Messiah through all the ages. I must say however, that I am not impressed with his choice of a final vessel. You have neither the constitution nor the military skills of your namesake, Joshua.” Joshua was Hebrew for Jesus. “Now there was a ballsy warrior. I hated that godlicker and his tail-wagging dog, Caleb. “But you, you are but a simple carpenter. Pshaw! I fail to see how you will fulfill his conquest. The only thing you have going for you is the Covering. Apparently, the heavenly principalities and powers cannot touch you.” Belial paused. The bodiless demonic horde faded back into the howling desert rocks. A subtle smirk grew on Belial’s lips. ~ Brian Godawa,
508:exilic prophet Daniel, had followed the final sign in the heavens that pointed to the birth of Messiah. It was written that when the constellation Virgo was on the horizon, clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, with twelve stars above her head, she would give birth to a divine king. This was because the king planet Jupiter aligned in conjunction with the king star Regulus over her head creating a bright star. The Magi observed that sign in the year 750 AUC, seven hundred and fifty years from the founding of the city of Rome. The star Regulus is in the constellation of Leo the Lion. The Magi were taught by their Hebrew prophet that this King of the Jews would be called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And they were taught he would come from the small town of Bethlehem in Judea. Unfortunately, the second part of the sign was the constellation of Hydra, the red dragon, whose tail was just under Virgo’s feet and entailed a third of the horizon line called the elliptic. This prefigured the Serpent and his fallen ones seeking to devour the Messiah at birth. ~ Brian Godawa,
509:In first-century Palestine, nearly every claimant to the mantle of the messiah neatly fit one of these messianic paradigms. Hezekiah the bandit chief, Judas the Galilean, Simon of Peraea, and Athronges the shepherd all modeled themselves after the Davidic ideal, as did Menahem and Simon son of Giora during the Jewish War. These were king-messiahs whose royal aspirations were clearly defined in their revolutionary actions against Rome and its clients in Jerusalem. Others, such as Theudas the wonder worker, the Egyptian, and the Samaritan cast themselves as liberator-messiahs in the mold of Moses, each would-be messiah promising to free his followers from the yoke of Roman occupation through some miraculous deed. Oracular prophets such as John the Baptist and the holy man Jesus ben Ananias may not have overtly assumed any messianic ambitions, but their prophecies about the End Times and the coming judgment of God clearly conformed to the prophet-messiah archetype one finds both in the Hebrew Scripture and in the rabbinic traditions and commentaries known as the Targum. ~ Reza Aslan,
510:Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently powerful to employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and faggot too; and Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same spirit that Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant (if the story be true) he would cut off his head, and the head of his master, had he been able. Besides this, Christianity grounds itself originally upon the [Hebrew] Bible, and the Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that in the worst use of it — not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made no converts: they butchered all. The Bible is the sire of the [New] Testament, and both are called the word of God. The Christians read both books; the ministers preach from both books; and this thing called Christianity is made up of both. It is then false to say that Christianity was not established by the sword. ~ Thomas Paine,
511:Those who abdicate the empire of reason and permit their wills to wander in pursuit of reflections in the Astral Light, are subject to alternations of mania and melancholy which have originated all the marvels of demoniacal possession, though it is true, at the same time, that by means of these reflections impure spirits can act upon such souls, make use of them as docile instruments and even habitually torment their organism, wherein they enter and reside by obsession, or embryonically. These kabalistic terms are explained in the Hebrew book of the Revolution of Souls, of which our thirteenth chapter will contain a succinct analysis. It is therefore extremely dangerous to make sport of the Mysteries of Magic; it is above all excessively rash to practice its rites from curiosity, by way of experiment and as if to exploit higher forces. The inquisitive who, without being adepts, busy themselves with evocations or occult magnetism, are like children playing with fire in the neighborhood of a cask of gunpowder; sooner or later they will fall victims to some terrible explosion. ~ liphas L vi,
512:From Heaven to the Heaven of Heavens; from the Heaven of Heavens to the Dark Clouds; from the Dark Clouds to the Abode; from the Abode to the Dwelling-place; from the Dwelling-place to the Skies; from the Skies to the Plains; from the Plains to the height of the Throne; and from the height of the Throne to the Chariot -- who can be compared to You, who is your equal? who has seen You, who has reached You? who can hold his head high, who can lift up his eyes? who can question, who can defy? who can fathom, who can calculate? who can be proud, who can be haughty? who is like You? For You ride on a cherub and fly on the wind; Your road is in the whirlwind, Your way is in the storm; Your path is through waters. Fires are Your emissaries -- thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads, who are changed into men, changed into women, changed into winds, changed into demons; who assume all shapes and fulfill every mission, with fear, dread, awe, trembling, terror, trepidation, they open... [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Yannai, Hymn from the Heavens
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513:Between the 10th and 6th centuries B.C.E., the Canaanite cult of Ashera continued to resurface, as evidenced by the recurring injunctions against Her worship in many of the Old Testament books written during that time. And, eventually, the conflict between the Canaanite worshippers of the One in Its dual aspects which they called Baal and Asherah, and the Hebrew worshippers of the One in Its dual aspects which they called Yahweh and Chokmah resulted in the systematic slaughter of many of the Canaanites by the Hebrews. Ba’al was replaced by Yahweh, and Asherah was replaced by Chokmah. Chokmah (pronounced Hoke-mah), which means “Wisdom,” was the Hebrew version of the creative Power of Yahweh, synonymous with Prthivi of the Vedas. Later, in the Jewish rabbinical tradition, She would become Shekinah; and the Greek seers of a later time—notably the Stoics, and the Gnostics as well, would call Her Sophia, their own word for “Wisdom.” By both Jews and Greeks alike, She was regarded, not only as the creative aspect of God, but also as the principle of Intelligence inherent in mankind who is Her embodiment. ~ Swami Abhayananda,
514:That One is Being itself, the constant in the endlessly changing evolutionary parade."
"Nuclear physicists and cosmologists have become the new Kabbalists of our age, speculating in ever more refined ways on the first few seconds of existence much as our mystical sages meditated on the highest triad of the ten divine emanations."
"How would such a reframed tale read? It would be a narrative of the great reaching out by the inner One that inhabits each of us and binds us all together, a constant stretching forth of Y-H-W-H ("Being") in the endless adventure of becoming HWYH (Hebrew for ''being'' or "existence"), or of the One garbing itself in the multicolored garment of diversity and multiplicity."
"I do not view humans - surely not as we are now - as the end purpose of evolution. We, like all other species, are a step along the way. If existence survives on this planet, Mind will one day be manifest to a degree far beyond our present ability to comprehend or predict. On that day, says Scripture, "Earth will be filled with knowledge of Y-H-W-H as water fills the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) - just that wholly and naturally. ~ Arthur Green,
515:El Mahdi To The Australian Troops
And wherefore have they come, this warlike band,
That o'er the ocean many a weary day
Have tossed; and now beside Suakim's Bay,
With faces stern and resolute, do stand,
Waking the desert's echoes with the drum -Men of Australia, wherefore have ye come?
To keep the Puppet Khedive on the throne,
To strike a blow for tyranny and wrong,
To crush the weak and aid the oppressing strong!
Regardless of the hapless Fellah's moan,
To force the payment of the Hebrew loan,
Squeezing the tax like blood from out the stone?
And fair Australia, freest of the free,
Is up in arms against the freeman's fight;
And with her mother joined to crush the right -Has left her threatened treasures o'er the sea,
Has left her land of liberty and law
To flesh her maiden sword in this unholy war.
Enough! God never blessed such enterprise -England's degenerate Generals yet shall rue
Brave Gordon sacrificed, when soon they view
The children of a thousand deserts rise
To drive them forth like sand before the gale -God and the Prophet! Freedom will prevail.
~ Banjo Paterson,
516:For example, missionary linguists are working on modified Roman alphabets for hundreds of New Guinea and Native American languages. Government linguists devised the modified Roman alphabet adopted in 1928 by Turkey for writing Turkish, as well as the modified Cyrillic alphabets designed for many tribal languages of Russia. In a few cases, we also know something about the individuals who designed writing systems by blueprint copying in the remote past. For instance, the Cyrillic alphabet itself (the one still used today in Russia) is descended from an adaptation of Greek and Hebrew letters devised by Saint Cyril, a Greek missionary to the Slavs in the ninth century A.D. The first preserved texts for any Germanic language (the language family that includes English) are in the Gothic alphabet created by Bishop Ulfilas, a missionary living with the Visigoths in what is now Bulgaria in the fourth century A.D. Like Saint Cyril’s invention, Ulfilas’s alphabet was a mishmash of letters borrowed from different sources: about 20 Greek letters, about five Roman letters, and two letters either taken from the runic alphabet or invented by Ulfilas himself. Much ~ Jared Diamond,
517:The Ah Goo Tongue
The queerest languages known to man,
Sanscrit, Hebrew, Hindoostan,
Are all translated and made as free
And comprehensive as A B C.
Yet the oldest language talked or sung,
The strange mysterious Ah Goo tongue,
The royal language of Babyland
No man living can understand.
Every soul in the world to-day
Was one time anchored in Babyland Bay,
And quarantined there for a year or more
Before he even could step on shore.
And everybody in Babyland Bay
Talks the Ah Goo tongue, so people say,
But once on land-why not a word
Do they understand of it when 'tis heard.
For the fairy rulers of Babyland
Who guard the kingdom on every hand,
Have willed that no one shall keep the key
Who crosses into the Grown-up Sea.
So the sweet court language has never been made
A common parlance of strife or trade,
But is kept in the kingdom where natives come
Versed in the language of Babydom.
They are all of them royal and that is how
The Grown-up people all kneel and bow,
When they hear that language talked or sungThe strange mysterious Ah Goo tongue.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
518:I remembered the scene in the Bible when Jacob asks Rachel for water and on hearing her speak the words that were prophesied for him, throws up his hands to heaven and kisses the ground by the well. Me Jewish, Celan Jewish, Oliver Jewish—we were in a half ghetto, half oasis, in an otherwise cruel and unflinching world where fuddling around strangers suddenly stops, where we misread no one and no one misjudges us, where one person simply knows the other and knows him so thoroughly that to be taken away from such intimacy is galut,Hebrew word for exile and dispersal. Was he my home, then, my homecoming? You are my homecoming. When I’m with you and we’re well together, there is nothing more I want. You make me like who I am, who I become when you’re with me, Oliver.
If there is any truth in the world, it lies when I’m with you, and if I find the courage to speak my truth to you one day, remind me to light a candle in thanksgiving at every altar in Rome.
It never occurred to me that if one word word from him could make me so happy, another could just as easily crush me, that if I didn’t want to be unhappy, I should learn to beware of such small joys as well. ~ Andr Aciman,
519:For Hindus, banyan trees are sacred. For Buddhists, bodhi trees; for the Arabs, certain date palms. To be stalwart in a ‘tree-like’ way was to approach goodness, according to Confucius. The Normans built chapels in the trunks of yew trees. Many other cultures attached religious significance to particular trees and groves and forests. Adonis was born of a tree. Daphne turned into one. George Washington confessed to cutting one down and the United States, as a result, was all but immaculately conceived. The tree is the symbol of the male organ and of the female body. The Hebrew kabbalah depicts Creation in the form of a tree. In Genesis, a tree holds the key to immortal life, and it is to the branches and fruit of an olive tree that God’s people are likened in both the Old and New Testaments. To celebrate the birth of Christ his followers place trees in their sitting rooms and palm fronds, a symbol of victory, commemorate his entering Jerusalem. A child noted by Freud had fantasies of wounding a tree that represented his mother. The immortal swagman of Australia sat beneath a coolabah tree. In hundreds of Australian towns the war dead are honoured by avenues of trees. ~ Don Watson,
520:I asked Professor Manning to describe in her own words some of the more significant things that she has learned from all of her conversations with secular parents over the years. Is there anything that secular parents have in common? “A key pattern that I uncovered in my research—and this applies to parents from all over the country, and it held, overall, in all of my interviews—is that secular parents value the idea of having choices. This emphasis on having choices just really stands out. Secular parents want their children to have a choice about what to believe in and what to practice. And this makes them quite different from religious parents. You know, your typical Catholic parent will send their kids to CCD—catechism class—and Jewish parents will send their kids to Hebrew school, and what they want is to pass on their own worldview. But secular parents do not necessarily want their kids to turn out secular. Rather, what they talk about, what they emphasize is, ‘I want my son or daughter to be able to freely choose his or her own worldview.’ So many secular parents will even try to expose them to religion because they think it would help them make their own choices. ~ Phil Zuckerman,
521:The term "stood" descriptively represents their obstinacy, and stiff-neckedness, wherein they harden themselves and make their excuses in words of malice, having become incorrigible in their ungodliness. For "to stand," in the figurative manner of Scripture expression, signifies to be firm and fixed: as in Romans 14:4, "To his own master he standeth or falleth: yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand." Hence the word "column" is by the Hebrew derived from their verb "to stand," as is the word statue among the Latins. For this is the very self-excuse and self-hardening of the ungodly—their appearing to themselves to live rightly, and to shine in the eternal show of works above all others. With respect to the term "seat," to sit in the seat, is to teach, to act the instructor and teacher; as in Matthew 23:2, "The scribes sit in Moses' chair." They sit in the seat of pestilence, who fill the church with the opinions of philosophers, with the traditions of men, and with the counsels of their own brain, and oppress miserable consciences, setting aside, all the while, the word of God, by which alone the soul is fed, lives, and is preserved. Martin Luther, 1536-1546. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
522:We read off the ancient Hebrew words, with no idea of what they might mean, and the congregation responds with more words that they don't understand either. We are gathered together on a Saturday morning to speak gibberish to each other, and you would think, in these godless times, that the experience would be empty, but somehow it isn't. The five of us, huddled together shoulder to shoulder over the bima, read the words aloud slowly, and the congregation, these old friends and acquaintances and strangers, all respond, and for reasons I can't begin to articulate, it feels like something is actually happening. It's got nothing to do with God or souls, just the palpable sense of goodwill and support emanating in waves from the pews around us, and I can't help but be moved by it. When we reach the end of the page, and the last "amen" has been said, I'm sorry that' it's over. I could stay up here a while longer. And as we step down to make our way back to the pews, a quick survey of the sadness in my family's wet eyes tells me that I'm not the only one who feels that way. I don't feel any closer to my father than I did before, but for a moment there I was comforted, and that's more than I expected. ~ Jonathan Tropper,
523:Lord, where shall I find You? Your place is lofty and secret. And where shall I not find You? The whole earth is full of Your glory! You are found in man's innermost heart, yet You fixed earth's boundaries. You are a strong tower for those who are near, and the trust of those who are far. You are enthroned on the cherubim, yet You dwell in the heights of heaven. You are praised by Your hosts, but even their praise is not worthy of You. The sphere of heaven cannot contain You; how much less the chambers of the Temple! Even when You rise above Your hosts on a throne, high and exalted, You are nearer to them than their own bodies and souls. Their mouths attest that they have no Maker except You. Who shall not fear You? All bear the yoke of Your kingdom. And who shall not call to You? It is You who give them their food. I have sought to come near You, I have called to You with all my heart; and when I went out towards You, I found You coming towards me. I look upon Your wondrous power and awe. Who can say that he has not seen You? The heavens and their legions proclaim Your dread -- without a sound. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Judah Halevi, Lord, Where Shall I Find You?
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524:My first female lover was a Jewish woman. She was butch, but not in a swaggering macho way- she could pass as a yeshiva boy, pale and intense. Small, almost fragile, she exuded a powerful sense of herself. She had not been to a synagogue in years, but kept the law of kashrut, and taught me my first prayers in Hebrew. She cooked, she read, she ironed her dress shirts and polished her boots meticulously, and admired femme women enormously. She was also the first person ever- including myself- to bring me to multiple orgasms. She taught me to ask for what I wanted in bed, then encouraged me to expect it from her and future lovers. She taught me to get her off with fingers, tongue, lips, sex toys, and my voice. She showed me how to masturbate in different positions, and fisted me during my menstrual cramps to provide an internal massage- and to demonstrate that a sexual act without orgasm was also an acceptable, intimate act. She never separated sexuality from the rest of her life; it was as integral to her as her Judaism.

This was how I wanted to be. Not just sexually, although certainly that way too. This is how I wanted to move through the world.

-- Karen Taylor (from "Daughters of Zelophehad") ~ Lawrence Schimel,
525:​"So it will be appropriate to offer a brief exposition of the subject. We can speak of three factors that led Mussolini to confront the problem of race in 1938. [181] On 5 August 1938, an official document [182] declared, ‘The climate is now ripe for an Italian racism’, for which the Grand Council outlined the fundamental directives the following October. The first legislative provisions ‘for the defence of the Italian race’ were promulgated the following month. Of the three factors, the one that concerned the Hebraic problem was the most incidental. There are few or no references to this problem in Mussolini’s early writings. One can only cite an old article that mentions a well-known theme, that the Hebrew, subjugated and deprived of the usual means to compete directly in the modern world, had recourse to the indirect means constituted by money, finance and intelligence (in the profane sense) to exercise power and for self-affirmation. In addition, in an article from 1919, Mussolini wondered whether Bolshevism, which was supported in its origins by Jewish bankers in London and New York and counted (at that time) numerous Hebrews among its leaders, did not represent ‘Israel’s revenge against the Aryan race’. [183]"​ ~ Julius Evola,
526:As yet had he known only tears, and the melancholy of the Hebrews, together with the hatred of the good and just — the Hebrew Jesus: then was he seized with the longing for death.

Had he but remained in the wilderness, and far from the good and just! Then, perhaps, would he have learned to live, and love the earth — and laughter also!

Believe it, my brethren! He died too early; he himself would have disavowed his doctrine had he attained to my age! Noble enough was he to disavow!

But he was still immature. Immaturely loveth the youth, and immaturely also hateth he man and earth. Confined and awkward are still his soul and the wings of his spirit.

But in man there is more of the child than in the youth, and less of melancholy: better understandeth he about life and death.

Free for death, and free in death; a holy Naysayer, when there is no longer time for Yea: thus understandeth he about death and life.

That your dying may not be a reproach to man and the earth, my friends: that do I solicit from the honey of your soul.

In your dying shall your spirit and your virtue still shine like an evening after-glow around the earth: otherwise your dying hath been unsatisfactory. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
527:Adam and Eve, placed in the garden of Eden, find themselves forbidden to eat of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). Catholic theologians believe this “knowledge” forbidden by Elohim-Yahweh is neither omniscience nor moral discernment, but the ability to decide what is good or evil. Jewish theology is more subtle. The “tree” of the knowledge is interpreted as the representation of a world where good and evil “are in a combined state,” where there is no absolute Good and Evil. In other words, the “tree” is a foreshadowing of the real world we live in, a world where nothing is absolutely clear cut, where moral imperatives are tied to human values, and where everything of any greatness and importance always takes place beyond good and evil. Furthermore, in the Hebrew tradition “to eat” means “to assimilate.” To eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is therefore to personally enter this real world where human initiative “combines” good and evil. Adam’s transgression, from which all the others are derived, is clearly “that of autonomy,” accordingly, as emphasized by Eisenberg and Abecassis, this would be “the desire to conduct his own history alone in according to his own desire and his own word or law. ~ Alain de Benoist,
528:For example, in opposition to the rumor that Jesus was born illegitimate, Matthew and his predecessors found vindication for their faith in Jesus in Isaiah 7:14. There the Lord promises to give Israel a “sign” of the coming of God’s salvation. Apparently Matthew knew the Hebrew Bible in its Greek translation, where he would have read the following: “The Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son; and shall call his name Immanuel—God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). In the original Hebrew, the passage had read “young woman” (almah), apparently describing an ordinary birth. But the translation of almah into the Greek parthenos (“virgin”), as many of Jesus’ followers read the passage, confirmed their conviction that Jesus’ birth, which unbelievers derided as sordid, actually was a miraculous “sign.”21 Thus Matthew revises Mark’s story by saying that the spirit descended upon Jesus not at his baptism but at the moment of his conception. So, Matthew says, Jesus’ mother “was discovered to have a child in her womb through the holy spirit” (1:18); and God’s angel explains to Joseph that the child “was conceived through the holy spirit.” Jesus’ birth was no scandal, Matthew says, but a miracle—one that precisely fulfills Isaiah’s ancient prophecy. ~ Elaine Pagels,
529:Throughout the pages of the Hebrew Bible we face this question: Is our covenant relationship with God conditional, based on our obedience to him, or is it unconditional, based on his love for us? In the end, will his holiness and justice be more fundamental than his love and mercy, or will it be the other way around? Will he punish us or forgive us? The seeming contradiction of Exodus 34:6–7 expresses this suspenseful mystery, this great tension. How will it be solved? The authors of the New Testament point out the answer to all the riddles of the Old. “God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood. . . . He did this . . . so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:25–26). Is the covenant with God conditional because God is just, or unconditional because God is our justifier? Because of the great saving work of Jesus Christ, the answer is—both. When Jesus died on the cross he took our curse for our unfaithfulness, so that we could receive the blessing he earned through his perfect faithfulness (Gal 3:10–14). Jesus fulfilled the conditions of the covenant so we can enjoy the unconditional love of God. Because of the Cross, God can be both just toward sin and yet mercifully justifying to sinners. ~ Timothy J Keller,
530:The crafty merchant keeps out the worst articles of his stock to offer first to buyers, to try if he can get rid of them and sell them to some simpleton. The reasons which these reformers have advanced in the preceding chapter are but tricks, as we have seen, which are used only as it were for amusement, to try whether some simple and weak brain will be content with them, and in reality, when one comes to the grapple, they confess that not the authority of the Church, nor of S. Jerome, nor of the gloss, nor of the Hebrew, is cause sufficient to receive or reject any Scripture. The following is their protestation of faith presented to the King of France by the French pretended reformers. After having placed on the list, in the third article, the books they are willing to receive, they write thus in the fourth article: “We know these books to be canonical and a most safe rule of our faith, not so much by the common accord and consent of the Church, as by the testimony and interior persuasion of the Holy Spirit, which gives us to discern them from the other ecclesiastical books.” Quitting then the field of the reasons preceding, and making for cover, they throw themselves into the interior, secret and invisible persuasion which they consider to be produced in them by the Holy Spirit. ~ Francis de Sales,
531:The crafty merchant keeps out the worst articles of his stock to offer first to buyers, to try if he can get rid of them and sell them to some simpleton. The reasons which these reformers have advanced in the preceding chapter are but tricks, as we have seen, which are used only as it were for amusement, to try whether some simple and weak brain will be content with them, and in reality, when one comes to the grapple, they confess that not the authority of the Church, nor of S. Jerome, nor of the gloss, nor of the Hebrew, is cause sufficient to receive or reject any Scripture. The following is their protestation of faith presented to the King of France by the French pretended reformers. After having placed on the list, in the third article, the books they are willing to receive, they write thus in the fourth article: “We know these books to be canonical and a most safe rule of our faith, not so much by the common accord and consent of the Church, as by the testimony and interior persuasion of the Holy Spirit, which gives us to discern them from the other ecclesiastical books.” Quitting then the field of the reasons preceding, and making for cover, they throw themselves into the interior, secret and invisible persuasion which they consider to be produced in them by the Holy Spirit. ~ Saint Francis de Sales,
532:They were staggered to learn that a real tangible person, living in Minnesota, and married to their own flesh-and-blood relation, could apparently believe that divorce may not always be immoral; that illegitimate children do not bear any special and guaranteed form of curse; that there are ethical authorities outside of the Hebrew Bible; that men have drunk wine yet not died in the gutter; that the capitalistic system of distribution and the Baptist wedding-ceremony were not known in the Garden of Eden; that mushrooms are as edible as corn-beef hash; that the word "dude" is no longer frequently used; that there are Ministers of the Gospel who accept evolution; that some persons of apparent intelligence and business ability do not always vote the Republican ticket straight; that it is not a universal custom to wear scratchy flannels next the skin in winter; that a violin is not inherently more immoral than a chapel organ; that some poets do not have long hair; and that Jews are not always peddlers or pants-makers.

"Where does she get all them theories?" marveled Uncle Whittier Smail; while Aunt Bessie inquired, "Do you suppose there's many folks got notions like hers? My! If there are," and her tone settled the fact that there were not, "I just don't know what the world's coming to! ~ Sinclair Lewis,
533:'Bound by affection, may your joy increase, as you are wed today in love and gladness; be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God. 'Bridegroom, delight in your glorious marriage chambers; excel in beauty among your companions; may your heart rejoice in the wife of your youth. 'Your radiant face, O bride, shall glow like wine; your enemies shall be as nothing; My parapet, your love is sweeter than wine.' Like one drinking wine or hearing the song of a swallow or a crane, I shall revel in the Holy One! 'I shall crown My dove with grace and kindness, as once I did when I revealed Myself in the flame of the consuming fire; for you have ravished My heart, My sister, My bride. 'Your fountains are a place of running water; I have shaken all your tormentors from you; My treasured one, lift up your eyes and look about you. 'I shall shower her who comes up from the wilderness with favours; I shall envelop My cornerstone with clouds of glory; I have likened your neck to an ivory tower.' Like one drinking wine or hearing the song of swallows or a crane, I shall revel in the Holy One! 'Arise, My beloved, and be married in love; give hymns and thanks to your King; sing and make music in My bridal chamber: "under the apple tree You have awakened me!"' [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

~ Eleazar ben Kallir, Epithalamium
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534:Heilner went on: "Yes, things were certainly different then. Who knows anything about things like that around here? All these bores and cowards who grind away and work their fingers to the bone and don't realize that there's something higher than the Hebrew alphabet. You're no different."

Hans kept silent. This Heilner fellow certainly was a strange one. A romantic, a poet. As everyone knew, he worked hardly at all and still he knew quite a bit, he knew how to give good answers, and at the same time despised his learning.

“We're reading Homer," he went on in the same mocking tone, "as though the Odyssey were a cookbook. Two verses an hour and then the whole thing is masticated word by word and inspected until you're ready to throw up. But at the end of the hour the professor will say: 'Notice how nicely the poet has turned this phrase! This has afforded you an insight into the secret of poetic creativity!' Just like a little icing around the aorists and particles so you won't choke on them completely. I don't have any use for that kind of Homer. Anyway, what does all this old Greek stuff matter to us? If one of us ever tried to live a little like a Greek, he'd be out on his tail. And our room is called 'Hellas'! Pure mockery! Why isn't it called 'wastepaper basket' or 'monkey cage' or 'sweatshop'? All this classical stuff is a big fake. ~ Hermann Hesse,
535:The number 6 was the first perfect number, and the number of creation. The adjective "perfect" was attached that are precisely equal to the sum of all the smaller numbers that divide into them, as 6=1+2+3. The next such number, incidentally, is 28=1+2+4+7+14, followed by 496=1+2+4+8+16+31+62+124+248; by the time we reach the ninth perfect number, it contains thirty-seven digits. Six is also the product of the first female number, 2, and the first masculine number, 3. The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (ca. 20 B.C.-c.a. A.D. 40), whose work brought together Greek philosophy and Hebrew scriptures, suggested that God created the world in six days because six was a perfect number. The same idea was elaborated upon by St. Augustine (354-430) in The City of God: "Six is a number perfect in itself, and not because God created the world in six days; rather the contrary is true: God created the world in six days because this number is perfect, and it would remain perfect, even if the work of the six days did not exist." Some commentators of the Bible regarded 28 also as a basic number of the Supreme Architect, pointing to the 28 days of the lunar cycle. The fascination with perfect numbers penetrated even into Judaism, and their study was advocated in the twelfth century by Rabbi Yosef ben Yehudah Ankin in his book, Healing of the Souls. ~ Mario Livio,
536:The market's second wild trait-almost-cycles-is prefigured in the story of Joseph. Pharaoh dreamed that seven fat cattle were feeding in the meadows, when seven lean kine rose out of the Nile and ate them. Likewise, seven scraggly ears of corn consumed seven plump ears. Joseph, a Hebrew slave, called the dreams prophetic: Seven years of famine would follow seven years of prosperity. He advised Pharaoh to stockpile grain for bad times to come. And when all passed as prophesied, "Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians...And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands." Given the profits he and Pharaoh must have made, one might call Joseph the first international arbitrageur. That pattern, familiar from Hurst's work on the Nile, also appears in markets. A big 3 percent change in IBM's stock one day might precede a 2 percent jump another day, then a 1.5 percent change, then a 3.5 percent move-as if the first big jumps were continuing to echo down the succeeding days' trading. Of course, this is not a regular or predictable pattern. But the appearance of one is strong. Behind it is the influence of long-range dependence in an otherwise random process-or, put another way, a long-term memory through which the past continues to influence the random fluctuations of the present. ~ Beno t B Mandelbrot,
537:one like a son of man. In Aramaic and Hebrew the phrase “son of man” is simply a common expression to describe someone or something as human or humanlike. In Ezekiel, God often addresses the prophet as “son of man” to emphasize his humanness (e.g., Eze 2:6). coming with the clouds of heaven. In ancient Near Eastern literature clouds are often associated with the appearances of deities. In the OT it is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who rides on the clouds as his chariot (Ps 104:3; Isa 19:1). In Canaanite mythology Baal, the son of El, is described as “rider/charioteer of the clouds.” After doing battle with, and defeating, Yamm/Sea, Baal is promised an everlasting kingdom and eternal dominion. Some scholars see echoes of this story in Da 7:9–14. Others argue for a background in Mesopotamian cosmic conflict myths (such as the creation epic Enuma Elish and the Myth of Anzu), which depict a deity (Marduk and Ninurta, respectively) defeating the representative of chaos (Tiamat and Anzu, respectively) and regaining authority and dominion for the gods and for himself. Daniel’s vision has no conflict between the “one like a son of man” and the beasts. The interpretation in vv. 17–27, however, makes it clear that the “one like a son of man” in some way represents “the holy people of the Most High” (vv. 18, 22), who are in conflict with the “little horn” that arises out of the fourth beast (v. 8). ~ Anonymous,
538:The problem with every sacred text is that it has human readers. Consciously or unconsciously, we interpret it to meet our own needs. There is nothing wrong with this unless we deny that we are doing it, as when someone tells me that he is not 'interpreting' anything but simply reporting what is right there on the page. This is worrisome, not only because he is reading a translation from the original Hebrew or Greek that has already involved a great deal of interpretation, but also because it is such a short distance between believing you possess an error-free message from God and believing that you are an error-free messenger of God. The literalists I like least are the ones who do not own a Bible. The literalists I like most are the ones who admit that they do not understand every word God has revealed in the Bible, though they still believe God has revealed it. I can respect that.

I can respect almost anyone who admits to being human while reading a divine text. After that, we can talk - about we highlight some teachings and ignore others, about how we decide which ones are historically conditioned and which ones are universally true, about who has influenced our reading of scripture and how our social location affects what we hear. The minute I believe I know the mind of God is the minute someone needs to tell me to sit down and tell me to breathe into a paper bag. ~ Barbara Brown Taylor,
539:This is a classic example of the type of literary blind that Crowley loved to utilize when he wished to publish, in a public medium, sensitive or secret information that had heretofore been reserved for high initiates while, at the same time, shocking and outraging the public at large. Today the sexual connotations are obvious to all but the most mentally or emotionally disadvantaged. For such unfortunates we advise they read the last sentence of this chapter first: "You are likely to get into trouble over this chapter unless you truly comprehend its meaning. " OF THE BLOODY SACRIFICE: AND MATTERS COGNATE by The Master Therion Aleister Crowley It is necessary for us to consider carefully the problems connected with the bloody sacrifice, for this question is indeed traditionally important in Magick. Nigh all ancient Magick revolves around this matter. In particular all the Osirian religions-the rites of the Dying God-refer to this. The slaying of Osiris and Adonis the mutilation of Attis; the cults of Mexico and Peru; the story of Hercules or Melcarth; the legends of Dionysus and of Mithra, are all connected with this one idea. In the Hebrew religion we find the same thing inculcated. The first ethical lesson in the Bible is that the only sacrifice pleasing to the Lord is the sacrifice of blood; Abel, who made this, finding favour with the Lord, while Cain, who offered cabbages, was ~ Christopher S Hyatt,
540:Alexandrian Kings
The Alexandrians were gathered
to see Cleopatra's children,
Caesarion, and his little brothers,
Alexander and Ptolemy, whom for the first
time they lead out to the Gymnasium,
there to proclaim kings,
in front of the grand assembly of the soldiers.
Alexander -- they named him king
of Armenia, Media, and the Parthians.
Ptolemy -- they named him king
of Cilicia, Syria, and Phoenicia.
Caesarion stood more to the front,
dressed in rose-colored silk,
on his breast a bouquet of hyacinths,
his belt a double row of sapphires and amethysts,
his shoes fastened with white
ribbons embroidered with rose pearls.
Him they named more than the younger ones,
him they named King of Kings.
The Alexandrians of course understood
that those were theatrical words.
But the day was warm and poetic,
the sky was a light azure,
the Alexandrian Gymnasium was
a triumphant achievement of art,
the opulence of the courtiers was extraordinary,
Caesarion was full of grace and beauty
(son of Cleopatra, blood of the Lagidae);
and the Alexandrians rushed to the ceremony,
and got enthusiastic, and cheered
in greek, and egyptian, and some in hebrew,
enchanted by the beautiful spectacle -although they full well knew what all these were worth,
what hollow words these kingships were.
13
~ Constantine P. Cavafy,
541:There is an irony of history that completely escapes Harris and other new atheists in their evangelical quest for a global morality rooted in scientific truth. As philosopher John Gray of the London School of Economics convincingly argues, it is universal forms of monotheism, such as Christianity and Islam, that merged Hebrew tribal belief in one God with Greek faith in universal laws applicable to the whole of creation that originated the inclusive concept of Humanity in the first place. Universal monotheisms created two new concepts in human thought: individual free choice and collective humanity. People not born into these religions could, in principle, choose to belong (or remain outside) without regard to ethnicity, tribe or territory. The mission of these religions was to extend moral salvation to all peoples, whether they liked it or not. Secularized by the European Enlightenment, the great quasi-religious isms of modern history—colonialism, socialism, anarchism, fascism, communism, democratic liberalism and accompanying forms of messianic atheism—have all tried to harness industry and science to continue on a global scale the Stone Age human imperative “cooperate to compete” (against the other-isms, that is). These great secular isms, often relying on the science of the day to justify their moral values, have produced both massive killing to save the mass of humanity as well as great progress in human rights ~ Benny Morris,
542:Goliath could not tell for sure until the lad had reached to within fifty or so feet of him. He was puny. And he wore no armor. He was clad as a shepherd without his cloak. He had a shepherd’s staff and sling in his hand. He looked like a teenager. In fact, he was quite handsome and Goliath thought it would be a pleasure to sexually violate this stripling. But he was insulted by the challenge. He boiled with rage. He screamed out to his enemies on the hillside, “AM I A DOG THAT YOU COME TO ME WITH STICKS? I CURSE YOU BY DAGON, BA’ALZEBUL, MOLECH AND ASHERAH! YOU FILTHY HEBREW COWARDS!” Goliath turned to David and said, “Come to me, boy. I will give your flesh to the vultures and jackals. After I have my way with you!” David shouted to him, “You come with scimitar and javelin, but I come in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have blasphemed! This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand and I will smite you and cut off your head!” Goliath laughed with incredulity. And it is a puny pontificating pipsqueak no less. I wonder if the little rat is going to keep on talking. He did. “I will give your body to the vultures and jackals, and all the earth will know that there is a god in Israel whose name is Yahweh Elohim! And this assembly will know that Yahweh saves not with sword or spear! For the battle is Yahweh’s and he will give you into our hands!” Goliath muttered, “Sanctimonious little twat. ~ Brian Godawa,
543:The inescapable and troublesome conclusion was that if there was a political entity in tenth-century Judea, it was a small tribal kingdom, and that Jerusalem was a fortified stronghold. It is possible that the tiny kingdom was ruled by a dynasty known as the House of David. An inscription discovered in Tell Dan in 1993 supports this assumption, but this kingdom of Judah was greatly inferior to the kingdom of Israel to its north, and apparently far less developed. The documents from el-Amarna, dating from the fourteenth century BCE, indicate that already there were two small city-states in the highlands of Canaan—Shechem and Jerusalem—and the Merneptah stela shows that an entity named Israel existed in northern Canaan at the end of the thirteenth century BCE. The plentiful archaeological finds unearthed in the West Bank during the 1980s reveal the material and social difference between the two mountain regions. Agriculture thrived in the fertile north, supporting dozens of settlements, whereas in the south there were only some twenty small villages in the tenth and ninth centuries BCE. The kingdom of Israel was already a stable and strong state in the ninth century, while the kingdom of Judah consolidated and grew strong only by the late eighth. There were always in Canaan two distinct, rival political entities, though they were culturally and linguistically related—variants of ancient Hebrew were spoken by the inhabitants of both. ~ Shlomo Sand,
544:The Crowing Of The Red Cock
Across the Eastern sky has glowed
The flicker of a blood-red dawn,
Once more the clarion cock has crowed,
Once more the sword of Christ is drawn.
A million burning rooftrees light
The world-wide path of Israel's flight.
Where is the Hebrew's fatherland?
The folk of Christ is sore bestead;
The Son of Man is bruised and banned,
Nor finds whereon to lay his head.
His cup is gall, his meat is tears,
His passion lasts a thousand years.
Each crime that wakes in man the beast,
Is visited upon his kind.
The lust of mobs, the greed of priest,
The tyranny of kings, combined
To root his seed from earth again,
His record is one cry of pain.
When the long roll of Christian guilt
Against his sires and kin is known,
The flood of tears, the life-blood spilt,
The agony of ages shown,
What oceans can the stain remove,
From Christian law and Christian love?
Nay, close the book; not now, not here,
The hideous tale of sin narrate,
Reëchoing in the martyr's ear,
Even he might nurse revengeful hate,
Even he might turn in wrath sublime,
With blood for blood and crime for crime.
Coward? Not he, who faces death,
Who singly against worlds has fought,
For what? A name he may not breathe,
For liberty of prayer and thought.
243
The angry sword he will not whet,
His nobler task is -- to forget.
~ Emma Lazarus,
545:Jonathan Sacks; “One way is just to think, for instance, of biodiversity. The extraordinary thing we now know, thanks to Crick and Watson’s discovery of DNA and the decoding of the human and other genomes, is that all life, everything, all the three million species of life and plant life—all have the same source. We all come from a single source. Everything that lives has its genetic code written in the same alphabet. Unity creates diversity. So don’t think of one God, one truth, one way. Think of one God creating this extraordinary number of ways, the 6,800 languages that are actually spoken. Don’t think there’s only one language within which we can speak to God. The Bible is saying to us the whole time: Don’t think that God is as simple as you are. He’s in places you would never expect him to be. And you know, we lose a bit of that in English translation. When Moses at the burning bush says to God, “Who are you?” God says to him three words: “Hayah asher hayah.”Those words are mistranslated in English as “I am that which I am.” But in Hebrew, it means “I will be who or how or where I will be,” meaning, Don’t think you can predict me. I am a God who is going to surprise you. One of the ways God surprises us is by letting a Jew or a Christian discover the trace of God’s presence in a Buddhist monk or a Sikh tradition of hospitality or the graciousness of Hindu life. Don’t think we can confine God into our categories. God is bigger than religion. ~ Krista Tippett,
546:Years ago, a Muslim woman called my radio show and asked me why I was not a Muslim. She asked this question with complete sincerity, and I answered her with equal sincerity.
The name of her religion, I told her, is Islam, which in Arabic means submission (to God). The name of the Jewish people is Israel, which in Hebrew means struggle with God. I’d rather struggle with God, I said, than only submit to God.
She thanked me and hung up. The answer apparently satisfied her.
Arguing/struggling with God is not only Jewishly permitted, it is central to the Torah and later Judaism. In this regard, as in others, the Torah is unique. In no other foundational religious text of which I am aware is arguing with God a religious expectation. The very first Jew, Abraham, argues with God, as does the greatest Jew, Moses. (It is worth noting that though Muslims consider Abraham their father as well, arguing with God has no place in the Quran or in normative Islam.)
It is difficult to overstate the importance of this Jewish concept. For one thing, it enabled Jews to believe in the importance of reason — God Himself could be challenged on the basis of reason and morality; one does not have to suspend reason to be a believing Jew. Indeed, it assured Jews that belief in God was itself the apotheosis of reason. For another, it had profound psychological benefits to Jews. We do not have to squelch our questioning of, or even our anger at, God. One can be both religious and real. ~ Dennis Prager,
547:What a revolution! In less than a century the persecuted church had become a persecuting church. Its enemies, the “heretics” (those who “selected” from the totality of the Catholic faith), were now also the enemies of the empire and were punished accordingly. For the first time now Christians killed other Christians because of differences in their views of the faith. This is what happened in Trier in 385: despite many objections, the ascetic and enthusiastic Spanish lay preacher Priscillian was executed for heresy together with six companions. People soon became quite accustomed to this idea. Above all the Jews came under pressure. The proud Roman Hellenistic state church hardly remembered its own Jewish roots anymore. A specifically Christian ecclesiastical anti-Judaism developed out of the pagan state anti-Judaism that already existed. There were many reasons for this: the breaking off of conversations between the church and the synagogue and mutual isolation; the church’s exclusive claim to the Hebrew Bible; the crucifixion of Jesus, which was now generally attributed to the Jews; the dispersion of Israel, which was seen as God’s just curse on a damned people who were alleged to have broken the covenant with God . . . Almost exactly a century after Constantine’s death, by special state-church laws under Theodosius II, Judaism was removed from the sacral sphere, to which one had access only through the sacraments (that is, through baptism). The first repressive measures ~ Hans K ng,
548:Greek and the Hebrew—and whichever side you embrace more strongly determines to a large extent how you see life. From the Greeks—specifically from the glory days of ancient Athens—we have inherited our ideas about secular humanism and the sanctity of the individual. The Greeks gave us all our notions about democracy and equality and personal liberty and scientific reason and intellectual freedom and open-mindedness and what we might call today “multiculturalism.” The Greek take on life, therefore, is urban, sophisticated, and exploratory, always leaving plenty of room for doubt and debate. On the other hand, there is the Hebrew way of seeing the world. When I say “Hebrew” here, I’m not specifically referring to the tenets of Judaism. (In fact, most of the contemporary American Jews I know are very Greek in their thinking, while it’s the American fundamentalist Christians these days who are profoundly Hebrew.) “Hebrew,” in the sense that philosophers use it here, is shorthand for an ancient world-view that is all about tribalism, faith, obedience, and respect. The Hebrew credo is clannish, patriarchal, authoritarian, moralistic, ritualistic, and instinctively suspicious of outsiders. Hebrew thinkers see the world as a clear play between good and evil, with God always firmly on “our” side. Human actions are either right or wrong. There is no gray area. The collective is more important than the individual, morality is more important than happiness, and vows are inviolable. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
549:Call it the Human Mission-to be all and do all God sent us here to do. And notice-the mission to be fruitful and conquer and hold sway is given both to Adam and to Eve. 'And God said to them...' Eve is standing right there when God gives the world over to us. She has a vital role to play; she is a partner in this great adventure. All that human beings were intended to do here on earth-all the creativity and exploration, all the battle and rescue and nurture-we were intended to do together. In fact, not only is Eve needed, but she is desperately needed.

When God creates Eve, he calls her an ezer kenegdo. 'It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him [an ezer kenegdo]' (Gen. 2:18 Alter). Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, who has spent years translating the book of Genesis, says that this phrase is 'notoriously difficult to translate.' The various attempts we have in English are "helper" or "companion" or the notorious "help meet." Why are these translations so incredibly wimpy, boring, flat...disappointing? What is a help meet, anyway? What little girl dances through the house singing "One day I shall be a help meet?" Companion? A dog can be a companion. Helper? Sounds like Hamburger Helper. Alter is getting close when he translates it "sustainer beside him"

The word ezer is used only twenty other places in the entire Old Testament. And in every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately. ~ Stasi Eldredge,
550:In Mesopotamia one way to accomplish this was to name something, because a name designated a thing’s function or role. Thus, in the Babylonian creation account, bringing the cosmos into existence begins “When on high no name was given in heaven, nor below was the netherworld called by name . . . When no gods at all had been brought forth, none called by names, none destinies ordained, then were the gods formed.” In Egyptian accounts existence was associated with something having been differentiated. The god Atum is conceptualized as the primordial monad—the singularity embodying all the potential of the cosmos, from whom all things were separated and thereby created. The Genesis account includes both of these concepts as God separates and names. The actual Hebrew verb “create” (bara) also focuses our attention in this direction. In the Bible, only God can perform this action of bringing something into existence. What is even more intriguing is that the objects of this verb point consistently toward its connection to functional existence rather than material existence; e.g., God “creates” fire, cloud, destruction, calamity, darkness, righteousness and purity. This is much like the ancient Near Eastern way of thinking that it was more important to determine who controlled functions rather than who/what gave something its physical form. In the ancient world something was created when it was given a function. In the ancient world, the cosmos is less like a machine, more like a kingdom. ◆ ~ Anonymous,
551:Increase. Being fruitful is a good and necessary start, but it should grow into the next phase, increase. Once again, even though the idea here is to multiply or reproduce, sexual procreation is only part of the meaning. The Hebrew word for increase also can mean “abundance,” “to be in authority,” “to enlarge,” and “to excel.” It carries the sense of refining your gift until it is completely unique. It is impossible to reproduce what you have not refined. In this context, then, to increase means not only to multiply or reproduce as in having children, but also to improve and excel, mastering your gift and becoming the very best you can possibly be at what you do. It also means learning how to manage the resources God has given you and developing a strategy for managing the increase that will come through refinement. By refining your gift, you make room for it in the world. The more refined your gift, the more in demand you will be. Proverbs 18:16 (KJV) says, “A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.” By refining your gift, you make room for it in the world. What is your fruit—your gift? What are you known for? What do you have that is reproducible? What quality or ability do you have that causes people to seek you out? What brings you joy? What are you passionate about? What do you have to offer the world, even just your little part of it? Fruit must be reproducible or else it is not genuine fruit. “Be fruitful” means to produce fruit; “increase” means to reproduce it. ~ Myles Munroe,
552:The now-famous yearly Candlebrow Conferences, like the institution itself, were subsidized out of the vast fortune of Mr. Gideon Candlebrow of Grossdale, Illinois, who had made his bundle back during the great Lard Scandal of the '80s, in which, before Congress put an end to the practice, countless adulterated tons of that comestible were exported to Great Britain, compromising further an already debased national cuisine, giving rise throughout the island, for example, to a Christmas-pudding controversy over which to this day families remain divided, often violently so. In the consequent scramble to develop more legal sources of profit, one of Mr. Candlebrow's laboratory hands happened to invent "Smegmo," an artificial substitute for everything in the edible-fat category, including margarine, which many felt wasn't that real to begin with. An eminent Rabbi of world hog capital Cincinnati, Ohio, was moved to declare the product kosher, adding that "the Hebrew people have been waiting four thousand years for this. Smegmo is the Messiah of kitchen fats." [...]

Miles, locating the patriotically colored Smegmo crock among the salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, steak sauce, sugar and molasses, opened and sniffed quizzically at the contents. "Say, what is this stuff?"

"Goes with everything!" advised a student at a nearby table. "Stir it in your soup, spread it on your bread, mash it into your turnips! My doormates comb their hair with it! There's a million uses for Smegmo! ~ Thomas Pynchon,
553:Be fruitful. God’s command in Genesis 1:28 is most often understood as referring to procreation, but filling the earth with people is only part of the meaning. The Hebrew word for fruitful means more than just sexual reproduction; it refers to being fruitful in either a literal or a figurative sense. Fruitfulness can be qualitative in nature as well as quantitative. Mankind has never had a problem being procreative—a current global population of over six billion is proof of that—but we do have a problem with being fruitful in the other ways God desires. Essentially, being fruitful means releasing our potential. Fruit is an end product. An apple tree may provide cool shade and be beautiful to look at, but until it produces apples it has not fulfilled its ultimate purpose. Apples contain the seeds of future apple trees and, therefore, future apples. However, apples also have something else to offer: a sweet and nourishing food to satisfy human physical hunger. In this sense, fruit has a greater purpose than simply reproducing; fruit exists to bless the world. Every person is born with a seed of greatness. God never tells us to go find seed; it is already within us. Inside each of us is the seed potential for a full forest—a bumper crop of fruit with which to bless the world. We each were endowed at birth with a unique gift, something we were born to do or become that no one else can achieve the way we can. God’s purpose is that we bear abundant fruit and release the blessings of our gift and potential to the world. ~ Myles Munroe,
554:Why should Milton, Shakespeare, and Lord Bacon, and Sir Philip Sidney die? Perhaps yet they shall not wholly die. I am not contented to visit the house in Bread-Street where Milton was born, or that in Bunhill-Row where he died, I want to repair to the place where he now dwells. Some spirit shall escape from his ashes, and whisper to me things unfelt before. I am not satisfied to converse only with the generation of men that now happens to subsist; I wish to live in intercourse with the Illustrious Dead of All Ages. I demand the friendship of Zoroaster. Orpheus, and Linus, and Musaeus shall be welcome to me. I have a craving and an earnest heart, that can never be contented with anything in this sort, while something more remains to be obtained. And I feel that thus much at least the human race owes to its benefactors, that they should never be passed by without an affectionate remembrance. I would say, with Ezekiel, the Hebrew, in his Vision, ‘Let these dry bones live!’ Not let them live merely in cold generalities and idle homilies of morality; but let them live, as my friends, my philosophers, my instructors, and my guides! I would say with the moralist of old, ‘Let me act, as I would wish to have acted, if Socrates or Cato were the spectators of what I did!’ And I am not satisfied only to call them up by a strong effort of the imagination, but I would have them, and men like them, ‘around my path, and around my bed,’ and not allow myself to hold a more frequent intercourse with the living, than with the good departed. ~ William Godwin,
555:What, then, were the original vowels in God’s name? Ultimately, we do not know. During the period of the divided kingdom, the name may have been pronounced something like “Yau,” with the “au” forming a diphthong rather than two separate syllables. Evidence from classical Hebrew (found in both Biblical and non-Biblical texts) and certain Greek renderings of the name, however, have led scholars generally to believe that “Yahweh” was the way in which the name eventually came to be pronounced. More significant is the meaning of the name Yahweh. For this there has been a wide range of suggestions: “Truly He!”; “My One”; “He Who Is”; “He Who Brings into Being”; “He Who Storms.” One of the best suggestions is that the name is a shortened form of a longer name, Yahweh Sabaoth (often rendered in English as “the LORD of Hosts” or “the LORD Almighty”; see, e.g., 2Sa 6:2). The word “Yahweh” itself is most likely a verb. Many other shortened names from the ancient Near East are verb forms, which is exactly what Yahweh appears to be. It comes from the Hebrew verb meaning “to be.” But if the first vowel really is an a-vowel, then the verb likely has a causative sense: “to cause to be.” Thus, a fairly literal translation of Yahweh Sabaoth would be “He Who Causes the Hosts (of Heaven) to Be.” In general, then, the name refers to the One who creates or brings into being. ◆ The Tetragrammaton in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls and in a modern scroll, with the vowel sounds of Adonay added. Wikimedia Commons Go to Index of Articles in Canonical Order 4:3 it became a snake. ~ Anonymous,
556:We’ve been instructed to reject any trace of poetry, myth, hyperbole, or symbolism even when those literary forms are virtually shouting at us from the page via talking snakes and enchanted trees. That’s because there’s a curious but popular notion circulating around the church these days that says God would never stoop to using ancient genre categories to communicate. Speaking to ancient people using their own language, literary structures, and cosmological assumptions would be beneath God, it is said, for only our modern categories of science and history can convey the truth in any meaningful way. In addition to once again prioritizing modern, Western (and often uniquely American) concerns, this notion overlooks one of the most central themes of Scripture itself: God stoops. From walking with Adam and Eve through the garden of Eden, to traveling with the liberated Hebrew slaves in a pillar of cloud and fire, to slipping into flesh and eating, laughing, suffering, healing, weeping, and dying among us as part of humanity, the God of Scripture stoops and stoops and stoops and stoops. At the heart of the gospel message is the story of a God who stoops to the point of death on a cross. Dignified or not, believable or not, ours is a God perpetually on bended knee, doing everything it takes to convince stubborn and petulant children that they are seen and loved. It is no more beneath God to speak to us using poetry, proverb, letters, and legend than it is for a mother to read storybooks to her daughter at bedtime. This is who God is. This is what God does. ~ Rachel Held Evans,
557:/Farsi & Turkish What can I do, Muslims? I do not know myself. I am neither Christian nor Jew, neither Magian nor Muslim, I am not from east or west, not from land or sea, not from the shafts of nature nor from the spheres of the firmament, not of the earth, not of water, not of air, not of fire. I am not from the highest heaven, not from this world, not from existence, not from being. I am not from India, not from China, not from Bulgar, not from Saqsin, not from the realm of the two Iraqs, not from the land of Khurasan. I am not from the world, not from beyond, not from heaven and not from hell. I am not from Adam, not from Eve, not from paradise and not from Ridwan. My place is placeless, my trace is traceless, no body, no soul, I am from the soul of souls. I have chased out duality, lived the two worlds as one. One I seek, one I know, one I see, one I call. He is the first, he is the last, he is the outer, he is the inner. Beyond "He" and "He is" I know no other. I am drunk from the cup of love, the two worlds have escaped me. I have no concern but carouse and rapture. If one day in my life I spend a moment without you from that hour and that time I would repent my life. If one day I am given a moment in solitude with you I will trample the two worlds underfoot and dance forever. O Sun of Tabriz, I am so tipsy here in this world, I have no tale to tell but tipsiness and rapture. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

~ Jalaluddin Rumi, What can I do, Muslims? I do not know myself
,
558:It would have been unusual in the ancient Near East for a deity quickly and easily to reveal his name (e.g., Ge 32:29); this may be part of the reason for the delayed answer here in Ex 3. Nevertheless, Yahweh’s name is not meant to be kept secret, and it is vitally important for Moses to have this knowledge. He is to speak Yahweh’s words (6:29), wield his power (7:17) and function like Yahweh to both his brother Aaron (4:16) and to Pharaoh (7:1). To this day, no one knows for sure how to pronounce the name of God—at least not as the ancient Israelites would have pronounced it. There are four consonants in the name—sometimes called the Tetragrammaton (“four-letter word”): y-h-w-h. The vowels are the tricky part. Hebrew is generally written without vowels. In the second half of the first millennium AD, some Jewish scribes began adding small marks to Biblical manuscripts in order to indicate how the vowel sounds of each word should be pronounced. They treated the name of God, however, differently from other words. It had long been customary in Jewish tradition not to pronounce the name Yahweh. Instead of saying “Yahweh,” people would often say “Adonay,” which means “my Lord” (and has led to “the LORD” as the traditional rendering of Yahweh in the English Bible). In order to remind readers to say “Adonay” instead of “Yahweh,” the scribes added the marks for the vowel sounds of Adonay to the consonants for Yahweh in their manuscripts. Pronouncing the consonants of yhwh with the vowels of adonay produces the well-known “Jehovah,” which is certainly not the right pronunciation. ~ Anonymous,
559:All people have religions. It's like we have religion receptors built into our
brain cells, or something, and we'll latch onto anything that'll fill that niche
for us. Now, religion used to be essentially viral -- a piece of information
that replicated inside the human mind, jumping from one person to the next.
That's the way it used to be, and unfortunately, that's the way it's headed
right now. But there have been several efforts to deliver us from the hands of
primitive, irrational religion. The first was made by someone named Enki about
four thousand years ago. The second was made by Hebrew scholars in the eighth
century B.C., driven out of their homeland by the invasion of Sargon II, but
eventually it just devolved into empty legalism. Another attempt was made by
Jesus -- that one was hijacked by viral influences within fifty days of his
death. The virus was suppressed by the Catholic Church, but we're in the middle
of a big epidemic that started in Kansas in 1900 and has been gathering momentum
ever since."
"Do you believe in God or not?" Hiro says. First things first.
"Definitely."
"Do you believe in Jesus?"
"Yes. But not in the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus."
"How can you be a Christian without believing in that?"
"I would say," Juanita says, "how can you be a Christian with it? Anyone who
takes the trouble to study the gospels can see that the bodily resurrection is a
myth that was tacked onto the real story several years after the real histories
were written. It's so National Enquirer-esque, don't you think? ~ Neal Stephenson,
560:The biblical Hebrew narrative refers to the northern kingdom as the 'House of Joseph' and more specifically, 'Ephraim'. [Ephraim is often seen as the tribe that embodied the entire Northern Kingdom and the royal house resided in that tribe's territory]; and what was very surprising to me is when I discovered the Aryan signature behind that story. The House of The Sacred Bull was after all the signature of the Hebrew worship and this non-Abrahamic Aryan tradition is portrayed vividly in the biblical Aryan narrative as follows: Ephraim's name is derived from the word 'pr/phr' which means 'bull/house' and he was the one who got blessed and whose seed became a multitude of nations resembling thereby the function of Hathor (the feminine Bull), the goddess of fertility; this certainly cannot be a coincidence. Joseph's other son on the other hand is called according to the Bible, 'Manasseh'. It is as if the name itself was shouting to be given audience and attention since the Hindu goddess of the seven-headed snakes is called 'Manasa'. That's not all yet - the most interesting part of this observation of mine is when I realized that 'Manasa' was cursed using a hapax legomenon word (i.e., a word that occurs only once within a text) which is שכל (sh-k-l), or simply the 'Sickle' tool with which the head of 'Manasa' is to be chopped off in other narratives as I have explained before. As a conclusion, it is indeed remarkable to observe how The Sacred Bull is vividly used in the iconography that marks the Hebrews (i.e., Aryans) while the 'Naga' was modifiable depending on the context in which the Hebrews were located. ~ Ibrahim Ibrahim,
561:Rendezvous
[For Nathan Altermann ]
Altermann, sipping wine, reads with a look
Of infinite patience and slight suffering.
When I approach him, he puts down his book,
Waves t the chair beside him like a king,
Then claps his hands, and an awed waiter fetches
Bread, kosher sausage, cake, a chicken's wing,
More wine, some English cigarettes, and matches.
‘Eat, eat,' Altermann says, ‘this is good food.'
Through the awning over us the sunlight catches
His aquiline sad head, till it seems hewed
From tombstone marble. I accept some bread.
I've lunched already, but would not seem rude.
When I refuse more, he feeds me instead,
Heaping my plate, clapping for wine, his eyes
-Expressionless inside the marble head—
Appearing not to notice how the flies
Form a black, sticky icing on the cake.
Thinking of my health now, I visualize
The Aryan snow floating, flake upon flake,
Over the ghetto wall where only fleas
Fed well, and they and hunger kept awake
Under sharp stars, those waiting for release.
Birds had their nests, but Jews nowhere to hide
When visited by vans and black police.
The shekinah rose where a people died,
A pillar of flame by night, of smoke by day.
From Europe then the starved and terrified
Flew. Now their mourner sits in this café.
Telling me how to scan a Hebrew line.
Though my attention has moved far away
His features stay marble and aquiline.
But the eternal gesture of his race
Flowing through the hands that offer bred and wine
Reveals the deep love sealed in the still face.
~ Dom Moraes,
562:The effort of religions to inspire a sense of community does not stop at introducing us to one other. Religions have also been clever at solving some of what goes wrong inside groups once they are formed.

It has been the particular insight of Judaism to focus on anger: how easy it is to feel it, how hard it is to express it and how frightening and awkward it is to appease it in others. We can see this especially clearly in the Jewish Day of Atonement, one of the most psychologically effective mechanisms ever devised for the resolution of social conflict.

Falling on the tenth day of Tishrei, shortly after the beginning of the Jewish new year, the Day of Atonement (or Yom Kippur) is a solemn and critical event in the Hebrew calendar. Leviticus instructs that on this date, Jews must set aside their usual domestic and commercial activities and mentally review their actions over the preceding year, identifying all those whom they have hurt or behaved unjustly towards. Together in synagogue, they must repeat in prayer:

‘We have sinned, we have acted treacherously,
we have robbed, we have spoken slander.
We have acted perversely, we have acted wickedly,
we have acted presumptuously, we have been violent,
we have framed lies.’

They must then seek out those whom they have frustrated, angered, discarded casually or otherwise betrayed and offer them their fullest contrition. This is God’s will, and a rare opportunity for blanket forgiveness. ‘All the people are in fault,’ says the evening prayer, and so ‘may all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst’. ~ Alain de Botton,
563:for the next week we endured what can only be described as verbal abuse from anti-equality Christians. Truly, not all of those opposing marriage equality were mean spirited. Some were nice enough, and went so far as to offer us water and snacks. Too many others, though, were just plain unkind, and too few of the good Christians who stood nearby did anything to rein them in. The most harrowing moment for me came when a prominent ex-gay activist pointed at my clergy collar and yelled, “You’re not fooling anyone with that thing!” He yelled that I was not a real pastor, and that I had simply bought a clergy shirt to try to deceive others. When I replied that I was an ordained minister he looked incredulous and told me to read the Bible. (I let him know that I’d read it cover to cover, in English and the original Hebrew and Greek.) Fuming, he told me I was going to hell. Before I could respond Heidi grabbed my shoulder and guided me away. The incident left me shaken, not so much for me, but for Christians everywhere. Too often progressive Christians have ceded the public proclamation of Christian values to conservatives and fundamentalists. If you asked the youth and young adults who were with us in that hallway that week what Christians thought of them, they would likely have believed that the vast majority of Christians hated them. That was true, even with Heidi, myself, and a moderate number of other supportive clergy visible and engaged. This is probably not all that surprising to you if you are a progressive Christian. If you’re anything like me, you roll your eyes in frustration every time a right-wing extremist clergy person claims to offer the “Christian perspective” on an issue. Or, ~ Emily C Heath,
564:that if we are to interpret the accounts of marvellous events and miracles in the Bible correctly, one must first acquire the right kind of philological and historical expertise, ‘one must know the beliefs of those who originally related, and left us written records of them’ and learn to distinguish between what the people believed and what actually impressed itself on their perceptions. For if we do not, then we shall ourselves inevitably confuse the beliefs of the time with the people’s understanding of what impressed itself on their senses and be unable to distinguish between what really happened and what were ‘imaginary things and nothing but prophetic representations’.29 For many things are related in the Bible as real, and were believed to be real, but which were nevertheless merely imaginary, or understood through poetic imagery such as that God, the ‘Supreme Being, came down from Heaven and that Mount Sinai smoked because God descended upon it surrounded by fire’. Precisely because the wondrous events related in Scripture were believed to be real, and were couched in terms adjusted to the ignorant and superstitious minds of the multitude ‘proiende non debent ut reales a philosophis accipi’ (they should not therefore be accepted as real by philosophers). Spinoza rounds off the chapter with a further point concerning the metaphors and figures of speech habitual in Biblical Hebrew. ‘He who does not pay sufficient attention to this’, he warns, ‘will ascribe to Scripture many miracles which the Biblical writers never intended as such, thus completely failing to grasp not only happenings and miracles as they really occurred but also the meaning of the writers of the Sacred Books.’30 ~ Jonathan I Israel,
565:Would you buy a used car from your occupier? For the first six months of the intifada, Ehud Gol was the official Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman. Every day he had to go before the world’s press and defend Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. But in the spring of 1988, Gol was made the Israeli Consul General in Rio de Janeiro and he had to sell his car before he left the country. Practically the first place he went was to a Palestinian car dealer in the West Bank town of Ramallah. “Intifada or no intifada, this was business,” Gol explained to me. “The car dealer even came down to the Foreign Ministry and we went over all the papers in my office. There I was, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, and this guy, whose son was probably out throwing stones, was ready to buy from me—and it was a used car!” A Palestinian teacher I knew was driving from Ramallah to Jerusalem one afternoon when he saw a colleague of his from Bir Zeit University and offered to give him a lift. “This fellow came from a small village near Ramallah,” said my teacher friend. “The whole way into Jersualem he was talking to me about the intifada and how it had changed his village, how everyone was involved, and how the local committees of the uprising were running the village and they were getting rid of all the collaborators. He was really enthusiastic, and I was really impressed. As we got close to Jerusalem, I asked him where he wanted to be dropped off and he said, ‘The Hebrew University.’ I was really surprised, so I said, ‘What are you going there for?’ and he said, ‘I teach an Arabic class there.’ It simply didn’t occur to him that there was any contradiction between enthusiasm for the intifada and where he was going. ~ Thomas L Friedman,
566:Some of the scholastic rabbis just prior to Jesus' time became embarrassed by the fact that a woman with Rahab's background was spared in the destruction of Jericho and brought into Israel as a proselyte. They proposed a different understanding of the Hebrew word for harlot in Joshua 2:1. The Hebrew term is similiar to a word meaning "to feed," they claimed. Perhaps Rahab was really just an innkeeper or a hostess, they countered.

The problem is, the actual Hebrew word really can mean only one thing: "harlot." That was the uncontested undertanding of this text for centuries. In fact, there is no ambiguity whatsoever in the Septuagint or in the Greek tests of Hebrews. The Greek word used to describe Rahab is porne, meaning harlot. Notice that the term comes from the same root as the English term pornography and has similar negative moral overtones.

The idea of sanitizing Rahab's background was revived by some churchmen with overly delicate sensibilities in the Victorian era. C>H> Spurgeon, the best-known Baptist preacher in late nineteenth-century London, replied, This woman was no mere hostess, but a real harlot....I am persuaded that nothing but a spirit of distaste for free grace would ever have led any commentator to deny her sin.

He was exactly right, of course,. Remove the stigma of sin, and you remove the need for grace. Rehab is extraordinary precisely because she received extraordinary grace. There's no need to reinvent her past to try to make her seem less of a sinner. The disturbing fact about what she once was simply magnifies the glory of divine grace, which is what made her extraodinary woman she became. That, after all, is the whole lesson of her life. ~ John F MacArthur Jr,
567:The triad, being the fundamental principle of the whole Kabalah, or Sacred Tradition of our fathers, was necessarily the fundamental dogma of Christianity, the apparent dualism of which it explains by the intervention of a harmonious and all-powerful unity. Christ did not put His teaching into writing, and only revealed it in secret to His favored disciple, the one Kabalist, and he a great Kabalist, among the apostles. So is the Apocalypse the book of the Gnosis or Secret Doctrine of the first Christians, and the key of this doctrine is indicated by an occult versicle of the Lord's Prayer, which the Vulgate leaves untranslated, while in the Greek Rite, the priests only are permitted to pronounce it. This versicle, completely kabalistic, is found in the Greek text of the Gospel according to St Matthew, and in several Hebrew copies, as follows:

Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εις τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν.

The sacred word MALKUTH substituted for KETHER, which is its kabalistic correspondent, and the equipoise of GEBURAH and CHESED, repeating itself in the circles of heavens called eons by the Gnostics, provided the keystone of the whole Christian Temple in the occult versicle. It has been retained by Protestants in their New Testament, but they have failed to discern its lofty and wonderful meaning, which would have unveiled to them all the Mysteries of the Apocalypse. There is, however, a tradition in the Church that the manifestation of this mysteries is reserved till the last times. ~ liphas L vi,
568:Completely unrecognized is the whole presumption of this saying according to which individual body parts could possess independent volition and as such can inform (sway/direct) the acting of the whole body. Even more seriously — the presumption that self-mutilation can stop or somehow influence higher mental processes. Even the person who is not a trained psychologist or psychiatrist can recognize that we are dealing with a seriously pathological state of mind. I am inclined to believe that gospel sayings represent atavism — a regression to older stages of development. It is one of the vestiges of development of modern consciousness. This is an example of physiological metaphor which never made it through the whole process to unification of consciousness. On the contrary it remained stuck somewhere in stage III. In this stage physiological hypostases represent internal stimuli and are starting to create internal spaces where metaphored action can occur. In this position they hypertrophied unable to move into the next stage of unification into one consciousness. Already at the time of recording in the gospels this saying was perceived as anomalous. Luke, the most educated and refined of synoptical authors, preserved the immediate context, but edited out most of the peculiar parts concerning disseminated volition and self-mutilations. Further and broader contexts which may be mentioned and discussed: other Greek and Hebrew physiological and anatomical metaphors; the popularity of a metaphor of the body for structuring and functioning of society in Hellenism; the ancient practice of religious self-mutilation; the potential for facilitating our understanding of brutish penal codes or modern self-mutilations. ~ Marcel Kuijsten,
569:Egypt: Old and Middle Kingdoms Roughly concurrent to the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia was the formative Old Kingdom period in Egypt, which permanently shaped Egypt both politically and culturally. This was the age of the great pyramids. During Egypt’s Sixth Dynasty, contemporary with the dynasty of Akkad in Mesopotamia, disintegration became evident. From the mid-twenty-second century BC until about 2000 BC, Egypt was plunged into a dark period known as the First Intermediate Period, which was characterized by disunity and at times by practical anarchy. Order was finally restored when Mentuhotep reunited Egypt, and Amenemhet I founded the Twelfth Dynasty, beginning a period of more than two centuries of prosperous growth and development. The Twelfth Dynasty developed extensive trade relations with Syro-Palestine and is the most likely period for initial contacts between Egypt and the Hebrew patriarchs. By the most conservative estimates, Sesostris III would have been the pharaoh who elevated Joseph to his high administrative post. Others are more inclined to place the emigration of the Israelites to Egypt during the time of the Hyksos. The Hyksos were Semitic peoples who began moving into Egypt (particularly the delta region in the north) as early as the First Intermediate Period. As the Thirteenth Dynasty ushered in a gradual decline, the reins of power eventually fell to the Hyksos (whether by conquest, coup or consent is still indeterminable), who then controlled Egypt from about the middle of the eighteenth century BC to the middle of the sixteenth century BC. It was during this time that the Israelites began to prosper and multiply in the delta region, waiting for the covenant promises to be fulfilled. ◆ ~ Anonymous,
570:When God creates Eve, he calls her an ezer kenegdo. “It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him [an ezer kenegdo]” (Gen. 2:18 Alter). Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, who has spent years translating the book of Genesis, says that this phrase is “notoriously difficult to translate.” The various attempts we have in English are “helper” or “companion” or the notorious “help meet.” Why are these translations so incredibly wimpy, boring, flat . . . disappointing? What is a help meet, anyway? What little girl dances through the house singing, “One day I shall be a help meet”? Companion? A dog can be a companion. Helper? Sounds like Hamburger Helper. Alter is getting close when he translates it “sustainer beside him.” The word ezer is used only twenty other places in the entire Old Testament. And in every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you . . . Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. (Deut. 33:26, 29, emphasis added) I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Ps. 121:1–2, emphasis added) May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help. (Ps. 20:1–2, emphasis added) We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. (Ps. 33:20, emphasis added) O house of Israel, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield. (Ps. 115:9–11, emphasis added) ~ John Eldredge,
571:If, uh, Luce wants to get out, someone's gonna have to help her down from the window." She drummed her fingers on the table, looking sheepish. "I made a library book barricade near the entrance in case any of the Sword & Cross-eyeds felt inclined to disrupt us."
"Dibs." Cam already had his arm slipped through the crook of Luce's elbow. She started to argue, but none of the other angels seemed to think it was a bad idea. Daniel didn't even notice.
Near the back exit, Shelby and Miles both mouthed Be careful to Luce with varying degrees of fierceness.
Cam walked her to the window, radiating warmth with his smile. He slid the glass pane up and together they looked out at the campus where they'd met, where they'd grown close, where he'd tricked her into kissing him. They weren't all bad memories...
He hopped through the window first, landing smoothly on the ledge, and he held out a hand for hers.
"Milady."
His grip was strong and it made her feel tiny and weightless as Cam drifted down from the ledge, two stories in two seconds. His wings were concealed, but he still moved as gracefully as if he were flying. They landed softly on the dewy grass.
"I take it you don't want my company," he said. "At the cemetery-not, you know, in general."
"Right. No, thanks."
He looked away and reached into his pocket, pulled out a tiny silver bell. It looked ancient, with Hebrew writing on it. He handed it to her. "Just ring when you want a lift back up."
"Cam," Luce said. "What is my role in all of this?"
Cam reached out to touch her cheek, then seemed to think better of it. His hand hovered in the air. "Daniel's right. It isn't our place to tell you."
He didn't wait for her response-just bent his knees and soared off the ground. He didn't even look back. ~ Lauren Kate,
572:The call for justice was a protest as fierce as those of the biblical prophets and of Jesus, and the similarity of the call was no coincidence. As with early Judaism and early Christianity, early Islam would be rooted in opposition to a corrupt status quo. Its protest of inequity would be an integral part of the demand for inclusiveness, for unity and equality under the umbrella of the one god regardless of lineage, wealth, age, or gender. This is what would make it so appealing to the disenfranchised, those who didn't matter in the grand Meccan scheme of things, like slaves and freedmen, widows and orphans, all those cut out of the elite by birth or circumstance. And it spoke equally to the young and idealistic, those who had not yet learned to knuckle under to the way things were and who responded to the deeply egalitarian strain of the verses. All were equal before God, the thirteen-year-old Ali as important as the most respected graybeard, the daughter as much as the son, the African slave as much as the highborn noble. It was a potent and potentially radical re-envisioning of society.

This was a matter of politics as much as of faith. The scriptures of all three of the great monotheisms show that they began similarly as popular movements in protest against the privilege and arrogance of power, whether that of kings as in the Hebrew bible, or the Roman Empire as in the Gospels, or a tribal elite as in the Quran. All three, that is, were originally driven by ideals of justice and egalitarianism, rejecting the inequities of human power in favor of a higher and more just one. No matter how far they might have strayed from their origins as they became institutionalized over time, the historical record clearly indicates that what we now call the drive for social justice was the idealistic underpinning of monotheistic faith. ~ Lesley Hazleton,
573:The complete NIV Bible was first published in 1978. It was a completely new translation made by over a hundred scholars working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. The translators came from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, giving the translation an international scope. They were from many denominations and churches—including Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Brethren, Christian Reformed, Church of Christ, Evangelical Covenant, Evangelical Free, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and others. This breadth of denominational and theological perspective helped to safeguard the translation from sectarian bias. For these reasons, and by the grace of God, the NIV has gained a wide readership in all parts of the English-speaking world. The work of translating the Bible is never finished. As good as they are, English translations must be regularly updated so that they will continue to communicate accurately the meaning of God’s Word. Updates are needed in order to reflect the latest developments in our understanding of the biblical world and its languages and to keep pace with changes in English usage. Recognizing, then, that the NIV would retain its ability to communicate God’s Word accurately only if it were regularly updated, the original translators established The Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The committee is a self-perpetuating group of biblical scholars charged with keeping abreast of advances in biblical scholarship and changes in English and issuing periodic updates to the NIV. CBT is an independent, self-governing body and has sole responsibility for the NIV text. The committee mirrors the original group of translators in its diverse international and denominational makeup and in its unifying commitment to the Bible as God’s inspired Word. ~ Anonymous,
574:Interpretation first appears in the culture of late classical antiquity, when the power and credibility of myth had been broken by the “realistic” view of the world introduced by scientific enlightenment. Once the question that haunts post-mythic consciousness—that of the seemliness of religious symbols—had been asked, the ancient texts were, in their pristine form, no longer acceptable. Then interpretation was summoned, to reconcile the ancient texts to “modern” demands. Thus, the Stoics, to accord with their view that the gods had to be moral, allegorized away the rude features of Zeus and his boisterous clan in Homer’s epics. What Homer really designated by the adultery of Zeus with Leto, they explained, was the union between power and wisdom. In the same vein, Philo of Alexandria interpreted the literal historical narratives of the Hebrew Bible as spiritual paradigms. The story of the exodus from Egypt, the wandering in the desert for forty years, and the entry into the promised land, said Philo, was really an allegory of the individual soul’s emancipation, tribulations, and final deliverance. Interpretation thus presupposes a discrepancy between the clear meaning of the text and the demands of (later) readers. It seeks to resolve that discrepancy. The situation is that for some reason a text has become unacceptable; yet it cannot be discarded. Interpretation is a radical strategy for conserving an old text, which is thought too precious to repudiate, by revamping it. The interpreter, without actually erasing or rewriting the text, is altering it. But he can’t admit to doing this. He claims to be only making it intelligible, by disclosing its true meaning. However far the interpreters alter the text (another notorious example is the Rabbinic and Christian “spiritual” interpretations of the clearly erotic Song of Songs), they must claim to be reading off a sense that is already there. ~ Susan Sontag,
575:Gifts
'O World-God, give me Wealth!' the Egyptian cried.
His prayer was granted. High as heaven, behold
Palace and Pyramid; the brimming tide
Of lavish Nile washed all his land with gold.
Armies of slaves toiled ant-wise at his feet,
World-circling traffic roared through mart and street,
His priests were gods, his spice-balmed kings enshrined,
Set death at naught in rock-ribbed charnels deep.
Seek Pharaoh's race to-day and ye shall find
Rust and the moth, silence and dusty sleep.
'O World-God, give me beauty!' cried the Greek.
His prayer was granted. All the earth became
Plastic and vocal to his sense; each peak,
Each grove, each stream, quick with Promethean flame,
Peopled the world with imaged grace and light.
The lyre was his, and his the breathing might
Of the immortal marble, his the play
Of diamond-pointed thought and golden tongue.
Go seek the sun-shine race, ye find to-day
A broken column and a lute unstrung.
'O World-God, give me Power!' the Roman cried.
His prayer was granted. The vast world was chained
A captive to the chariot of his pride.
The blood of myriad provinces was drained
To feed that fierce, insatiable red heart.
Invulnerably bulwarked every part
With serried legions and with close-meshed Code,
Within, the burrowing worm had gnawed its home,
A roofless ruin stands where once abode
The imperial race of everlasting Rome.
'O Godhead, give me Truth!' the Hebrew cried.
His prayer was granted; he became the slave
Of the Idea, a pilgrim far and wide,
Cursed, hated, spurned, and scourged with none to save.
The Pharaohs knew him, and when Greece beheld,
His wisdom wore the hoary crown of Eld.
85
Beauty he hath forsworn, and wealth and power.
Seek him to-day, and find in every land.
No fire consumes him, neither floods devour;
Immortal through the lamp within his hand.
~ Emma Lazarus,
576:Creation and Existence If creation is the act of bringing something into existence, we must ask what constituted existence in the ancient world. In our culture, we consider existence to be either material (i.e., having molecules/taking up space and extending to energy and subatomic particles) or experiential (e.g., abstractions such as love or time). Those definitions, however, are culturally determined. By contrast, in the ancient world something existed when it had a function—a role to play. In Mesopotamia one way to accomplish this was to name something, because a name designated a thing’s function or role. Thus, in the Babylonian creation account, bringing the cosmos into existence begins “When on high no name was given in heaven, nor below was the netherworld called by name . . . When no gods at all had been brought forth, none called by names, none destinies ordained, then were the gods formed.” In Egyptian accounts existence was associated with something having been differentiated. The god Atum is conceptualized as the primordial monad—the singularity embodying all the potential of the cosmos, from whom all things were separated and thereby created. The Genesis account includes both of these concepts as God separates and names. The actual Hebrew verb “create” (bara) also focuses our attention in this direction. In the Bible, only God can perform this action of bringing something into existence. What is even more intriguing is that the objects of this verb point consistently toward its connection to functional existence rather than material existence; e.g., God “creates” fire, cloud, destruction, calamity, darkness, righteousness and purity. This is much like the ancient Near Eastern way of thinking that it was more important to determine who controlled functions rather than who/what gave something its physical form. In the ancient world something was created when it was given a function. In the ancient world, the cosmos is less like a machine, more like a kingdom. ◆ ~ Anonymous,
577:Now and then I am asked as to "what books a statesman should read," and my answer is, poetry and novels—including short stories under the head of novels. I don't mean that he should read only novels and modern poetry. If he cannot also enjoy the Hebrew prophets and the Greek dramatists, he should be sorry. He ought to read interesting books on history and government, and books of science and philosophy; and really good books on these subjects are as enthralling as any fiction ever written in prose or verse. Gibbon and Macaulay, Herodotus, Thucydides and Tacitus, the Heimskringla, Froissart, Joinville and Villehardouin, Parkman and Mahan, Mommsen and Ranke—why! there are scores and scores of solid histories, the best in the world, which are as absorbing as the best of all the novels, and of as permanent value. The same thing is true of Darwin and Huxley and Carlyle and Emerson, and parts of Kant, and of volumes like Sutherland's "Growth of the Moral Instinct," or Acton's Essays and Lounsbury's studies—here again I am not trying to class books together, or measure one by another, or enumerate one in a thousand of those worth reading, but just to indicate that any man or woman of some intelligence and some cultivation can in some line or other of serious thought, scientific or historical or philosophical or economic or governmental, find any number of books which are charming to read, and which in addition give that for which his or her soul hungers. I do not for a minute mean that the statesman ought not to read a great many different books of this character, just as every one else should read them. But, in the final event, the statesman, and the publicist, and the reformer, and the agitator for new things, and the upholder of what is good in old things, all need more than anything else to know human nature, to know the needs of the human soul; and they will find this nature and these needs set forth as nowhere else by the great imaginative writers, whether of prose or of poetry. ~ Theodore Roosevelt,
578:Scholar Karen Randolph Joines adds more to the Egyptian origin of this motif, by explaining that the usage of serpent images to defend against snakes was also an exclusively Egyptian notion without evidence in Canaan or Mesopotamia.[32] And Moses came out of Egypt. But the important element of these snakes being flying serpents or even dragons with mythical background is reaffirmed in highly respected lexicons such as the Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.[33] The final clause in Isaiah 30:7 likening Egypt’s punishment to the sea dragon Rahab lying dead in the desert is a further mythical serpentine connection.[34] But the Bible and Egypt are not the only places where we read of flying serpents in the desert. Hans Wildberger points out Assyrian king Esarhaddon’s description of flying serpents in his tenth campaign to Egypt in the seventh century B.C.   “A distance of 4 double-hours I marched over a territory… (there were) two-headed serpents [whose attack] (spelled) death—but I trampled (upon them) and marched on. A distance of 4 double-hours in a journey of 2 days (there were) green [animals] [Tr.: Borger: “serpents”] whose wings were batting.”[35]   The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of “sacred” winged serpents and their connection to Egypt in his Histories:   There is a place in Arabia not far from the town of Buto where I went to learn about the winged serpents. When I arrived there, I saw innumerable bones and backbones of serpents... This place… adjoins the plain of Egypt. Winged serpents are said to fly from Arabia at the beginning of spring, making for Egypt... The serpents are like water-snakes. Their wings are not feathered but very like the wings of a bat. I have now said enough concerning creatures that are sacred.[36]   The notion of flying serpents as mythical versus real creatures appearing in the Bible is certainly debated among scholars, but this debate gives certain warrant to the imaginative usage of winged flying serpents appearing in Chronicles of the Nephilim.[37] ~ Brian Godawa,
579:Exodus 3:13–15 God’s Name God’s statement “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14) is essentially in answer to the question, “What is your name?” God’s initial answer seems evasive. He is hinting at the real answer, though, since the Hebrew words for “I am” sound a bit like “Yahweh,” the name finally revealed in Ex 3:15 (“the LORD”). Two aspects of how divine names were utilized in ancient Egypt may relate to this revelation of God’s name. First, ancient Egyptians believed in a close relationship between the name of a deity and the deity itself—i.e., the name of a god could reveal part of the essential nature of that god. In Egyptian texts that refer to different but important names for the same deity, the names are often associated with particular actions or characteristics, and the words used tend to sound similar to the names with which they are associated. One can say there is wordplay between the action or characteristic and the name. For example, one text says, “You are complete [km] and great [wr] in your name of Bitter Lake [Km wr] . . . See you are great and round [šn] in (your name of) Ocean [Šn wr].” One can discern a similar wordplay at work in Ex 3:14. The action God refers to is that of being or existing. The wordplay consists in that the statement “I AM” comes from the Hebrew consonants h-y-h, while the name in Ex 3:15 contains the consonants y-h-w-h. Both words come from the same verbal root, and the linguistic connection would be immediately clear to an ancient listener or reader. It is not that God’s name is actually “I am” but that “Yahweh” reveals something about the essence of who God is—an essence that relates to the concept of being and to the idea of one who brings others into being. A second aspect of divine names in Egypt may be relevant. Deities sometimes had secret names, and special power was granted to those who knew them. Certain Egyptian magical texts (e.g., the Harris Magical Papyrus) give instructions on how to use the words of a god and thereby wield a degree of that god’s power. ~ Anonymous,
580:Conversation with the Tsatsawassa House
Bernadette: O sweet delightful house
why do so many things get lost in you?
House: Maybe you just dream you lose them.
B: How do you know what dreams are?
H: I pride myself on knowing everything you know.
B: Oh, so you know we're getting you new windows?
H: I have trouble with no & know. With knew & new too.
Why do people do that?
B: I don't know; I don't mean I don't no.
H: See, you make it hard for a house. Anyway I don't
usually speak.
B: Do you write poetry?
H: I dabble. I don't know if it's poetry or prose though.
B: It's prose?—?it's shaped like you.
H: What about my roof?
B: That would be a concrete poem.
H: Even the time the tree fell through it?
B: That would be a different genre, perhaps
conceptual art.
H: I'd like to climb mountains. You can leave me
whenever you want but I'm stuck with you.
B: What was it like when people prayed in you?
H: It was kind of creepy. I liked the Jewish people
better?—?more love of life. People can do anything they
want to me, I'd like to be more proactive. I'm just
stuck here. Even a cult could move in.
B: I've never been a therapist for a house. How was
your childhood? Were you born?
H: I was made of mostly local stuff. Don't set me
me on fire. I tremble every time you light that wood stove.
B: There was no heat when we moved into you; there
were also 24 doors.
H: Don't blame me, I didn't do it.
B: You didn't do anything but be here like an immobile
tree, but you provided shelter. Can houses tremble?
Do you have a sex life?
H: None of your business. The sex life of houses isn't
known to humans, nor will it ever be.
B: You seem to have mastered grammar but not homonyms.
H: I liked it when I was unoccupied, full of birds' nests
on the porch & ghosts inside, I felt fulfilled.
B: How did you like the Hebrew books?
H: They reminded me of my bat mitzvah.
B: You never told me you were Jewish.
H: I thought you'd never ask.
~ Bernadette Mayer,
581:If Paul brought the first generation of Christians the useful skills of a trained theologian, Origen was the first great philosopher to rethink the new religion from first principles. As his philosophical enemy, the anti-Christian Porphyry, summed it up, he 'introduced Greek ideas to foreign fables' -- that is, gave a barbarous eastern religion the intellectual respectability of a philosophical defense. Origen was also a phenomenon. As Eusebius put it admiringly, 'even the facts from his cradle are worth mentioning'. Origen came from Alexandria, the second city of the empire and then it's intellectual centre; his father's martyrdom left him an orphan at seventeen with six younger brothers. He was a hard working prodigy, at eighteen head of the Catechetical School, and already trained as a literary scholar and teacher. But at this point, probably in 203, he became a religious fanatic and remained one for the next fifty years. He gave up his job and sold his books to concentrate on religion. he slept on the floor, ate no meat, drank no wine, had only one coat and no shoes. He almost certainly castrated himself, in obedience to the notorious text, Matthew 19:12, 'there are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.' Origen's learning was massive and it was of a highly original kind: he always went back to the sources and thought through the whole process himself. This he learned Hebrew and, according to Eusebius, 'got into his possession the original writings extant among the Jews in the actual Hebrew character'. These included the discovery of lost texts; in the case of the psalms, Origen collected not only the four known texts but three others unearthed, including 'one he found at Jericho in a jar'. The result was an enormous tome, the Hexapla, which probably existed in only one manuscript now lost, setting out the seven alternative texts in parallel columns. He applied the same principles of original research to every aspect of Christianity and sacred literature. He seems to have worked all day and though most of the night, and was a compulsive writer. Even the hardy Jerome later complained: 'Has anyone read everything Origen wrote?' ~ Paul Johnson,
582:Religious intolerance is an idea that found its earliest expression in the Old Testament, where the Hebrew tribe depicts itself waging a campaign of genocide on the Palestinian peoples to steal their land. They justified this heinous behavior on the grounds that people not chosen by their god were wicked and therefore did not deserve to live or keep their land. In effect, the wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian peoples, eradicating their race with the Jew's own Final Solution, was the direct result of a policy of religious superiority and divine right. Joshua 6-11 tells the sad tale, and one needs only read it and consider the point of view of the Palestinians who were simply defending their wives and children and the homes they had built and the fields they had labored for. The actions of the Hebrews can easily be compared with the American genocide of its native peoples - or even, ironically, the Nazi Holocaust.

With the radical advent of Christianity, this self-righteous intolerance was borrowed from the Jews, and a new twist was added. The conversion of infidels by any means possible became the newfound calling card of religious fervor, and this new experiment in human culture spread like wildfire. By its very nature, how could it not have? Islam followed suit, conquering half the world in brutal warfare and, much like its Christian counterpart, it developed a new and convenient survival characteristic: the destruction of all images and practices attributed to other religions. Muslims destroyed millions of statues and paintings in India and Africa, and forced conversion under pain of death (or by more subtle tricks: like taxing only non-Muslims), while the Catholic Church busily burned books along with pagans, shattering statues and defacing or destroying pagan art - or converting it to Christian use. Laws against pagan practices and heretics were in full force throughrout Europe by the sixth century, and as long as those laws were in place it was impossible for anyone to refuse the tenets of Christianity and expect to keep their property or their life. Similar persecution and harassment continues in Islamic countries even to this day, officially and unofficially. ~ Richard C Carrier,
583:So then let the Adept set this sigil upon all the Words he hath writ in the book of the Works of his Will. And let him then end all, saying: Such are the Words!2 For by this he maketh proclamation before all them that be about his Circle that these Words are true and puissant, binding what he would bind, and loosing what he would loose. Let the Adept perform this ritual right, perfect in every part thereof, once daily for one moon, then twice, at dawn and dusk, for two moons; next thrice, noon added, for three moons; afterwards, midnight making up his course, for four moons four times every day. Then let the Eleventh Moon be consecrated wholly to this Work; let him be instant in constant ardour, dismissing all but his sheer needs to eat and sleep.3 For know that the true Formula4 whose virtue sufficed the Beast in this Attainment, was thus:

INVOKE OFTEN

So may all men come at last to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel: thus sayeth The Beast, and prayeth his own Angel that this Book be as a burning Lamp, and as a living Spring, for Light and Life to them that read therein.

1. There is an alternative spelling, TzBA-F, where the Root, "an Host," has the value of 93. The Practicus should revise this Ritual throughout in the Light of his personal researches in the Qabalah, and make it his own peculiar property. The spelling here suggested implies that he who utters the Word affirms his allegiance to the symbols 93 and 6; that he is a warrior in the army of Will, and of the Sun. 93 is also the number of AIWAZ and 6 of The Beast.
2. The consonants of LOGOS, "Word," add (Hebrew values) to 93 [reading the Sigma as Samekh = 60; reading it as Shin = 300 gives 333], and ΕΠΗ, "Words" (whence "Epic") has also that value; ΕΙ∆Ε ΤΑ ΕΠΗ might be the phrase here intended; its number is 418. This would then assert the accomplishment of the Great Work; this is the natural conclusion of the Ritual. Cf. CCXX, III, 75.
3. These needs are modified during the process of Initiation both as to quantity and quality. One should not become anxious about one's phyiscal or mental health on à priori grounds, but pay attention only to indubitable symptoms of distress should such arise. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber Samekh,
584:Children Are a Gift Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. —PSALM 127:3 NASB     In a recent women’s Bible study, the teacher asked the group, “Did you feel loved by your parents when you were a child?” Here are some of the responses. • “A lot of pizza came to the house on Friday nights when my parents went out for the evening.” • “I got in their way. I wasn’t important to them.” • “They were too busy for me.” • “Mom didn’t have to work, but she did just so she wouldn’t have to be home with us kids.” • “I spent too much time with a babysitter.” • “Mom was too involved at the country club to spend time with me.” • “Dad took us on trips, but he played golf all the time we were away.” So many of the ladies felt they were rejected by their parents in their childhoods. There was very little love in their homes. What would your children say in response to the same question? I’m sure we all would gain insight from our children’s answers. In today’s verse we see that children are a reward (gift) from the Lord. In Hebrew, “gift” means “property—a possession.” Truly, God has loaned us His property or possessions to care for and to enjoy for a certain period of time. My Bob loves to grow vegetables in his raised-bed garden each summer. I am amazed at what it takes to get a good crop. He cultivates the soil, sows seeds, waters, fertilizes, weeds, and prunes. Raising children takes a lot of time, care, nurturing, and cultivating as well. We can’t neglect these responsibilities if we are going to produce good fruit. Left to itself, the garden—and our children—will end up weeds. Bob always has a smile on his face when he brings a big basket full of corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans into the kitchen. As the harvest is Bob’s reward, so children are parents’ rewards. Let your home be a place where its members come to be rejuvenated after a very busy time away from it. We liked to call our home the “trauma center”—a place where we could make mistakes, but also where there was healing. Perfect people didn’t reside at our address. We tried to teach that we all make mistakes and certainly aren’t always right. Quite often in our home we could hear the two ~ Emilie Barnes,
585:The Dead Father was slaying, in a grove of music and musicians. First he slew a harpist and then a performer upon the serpent and also a banger upon the rattle and also a blower of the Persian trumpet and one upon the Indian trumpet and one upon the Hebrew trumpet and one upon the Roman trumpet and one upon the Chinese trumpet of copper-covered wood. Also a blower upon the marrow trumpet and one upon the slide trumpet and one who wearing upon his head the skin of a cat performed upon the menacing murmurous cornu and three blowers on the hunting horn and several blowers of the conch shell and a player of the double aulos and flautists of all descriptions and a Panpiper and a fagotto player and two virtuosos of the quail whistle and a zampogna player whose fingering of the chanters was sweet to the ear and by-the-bye and during the rest period he slew four buzzers and a shawmist and one blower upon the water jar and a clavicytheriumist who was before he slew her a woman, and a stroker of the theorbo and countless nervous-fingered drummers as well as an archlutist, and then whanging his sword this way and that the Dead Father slew a cittern plucker and five lyresmiters and various mandolinists, and slew too a violist and a player of the kit and a picker of the psaltery and a beater of the dulcimer and a hurdy-gurdier and a player of the spike fiddle and sundry kettledrummers and a triangulist and two-score finger cymbal clinkers and a xylophone artist and two gongers and a player of the small semantron who fell with his iron hammer still in his hand and a trictrac specialist and a marimbist and a maracist and a falcon drummer and a sheng blower and a sansa pusher and a manipulator of the gilded ball.
The Dead Father resting with his two hands on the hilt of his sword, which was planted in the red and steaming earth.
My anger, he said proudly.
Then the Dead Father sheathing his sword pulled from his trousers his ancient prick and pissed upon the dead artists, severally and together, to the best of his ability-four minutes, or one pint.
Impressive, said Julie, had they not been pure cardboard.
My dear, said Thomas, you deal too harshly with him.
I have the greatest possible respect for him and for what he represents, said Julie, let us proceed. ~ Donald Barthelme,
586:For a start, most books like this, rich in such expensive pigments, had been made for palaces or cathedrals. But a haggadah is used only at home. The word is from the Hebrew root ngd, “to tell,” and it comes from the biblical command that instructs parents to tell their children the story of the Exodus. This “telling” varies widely, and over the centuries each Jewish community has developed its own variations on this home-based celebration. But no one knew why this haggadah was illustrated with numerous miniature paintings, at a time when most Jews considered figurative art a violation of the commandments. It was unlikely that a Jew would have been in a position to learn the skilled painting techniques evinced here. The style was not unlike the work of Christian illuminators. And yet, most of the miniatures illustrated biblical scenes as interpreted in the Midrash, or Jewish biblical exegesis. I turned the parchment and suddenly found myself gazing at the illustration that had provoked more scholarly speculation than all the others. It was a domestic scene. A family of Jews—Spanish, by their dress—sits at a Passover meal. We see the ritual foods, the matzoh to commemorate the unleavened bread that the Hebrews baked in haste on the night before they fled Egypt, a shank bone to remember the lamb’s blood on the doorposts that had caused the angel of death to “pass over” Jewish homes. The father, reclining as per custom, to show that he is a free man and not a slave, sips wine from a golden goblet as his small son, beside him, raises a cup. The mother sits serenely in the fine gown and jeweled headdress of the day. Probably the scene is a portrait of the family who commissioned this particular haggadah. But there is another woman at the table, ebony-skinned and saffron-robed, holding a piece of matzoh. Too finely dressed to be a servant, and fully participating in the Jewish rite, the identity of that African woman in saffron has perplexed the book’s scholars for a century. Slowly, deliberately, I examined and made notes on the condition of each page. Each time I turned a parchment, I checked and adjusted the position of the supporting forms. Never stress the book—the conservator’s chief commandment. But the people who had owned this book had known unbearable stress: pogrom, Inquisition, exile, genocide, war. ~ Geraldine Brooks,
587:God created man out of dust from the ground. At a basic level, the Creator picked up some dirt and threw Adam together. The Hebrew word for God forming man is yatsar,[11] which means “to form, as a potter.” A pot usually has but one function. Yet when God made a woman, He “made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man” (Genesis 2:22). He created her with His own hands. He took His time crafting and molding her into multifaceted brilliance. The Hebrew word used for making woman is banah, meaning to “build, as a house, a temple, a city, an altar.”[12] The complexity implied by the term banah is worth noting. God has given women a diverse makeup that enables them to carry out multiple functions well. Adam may be considered Human Prototype 1.0, while Eve was Human Prototype 2.0. Of high importance, though, is that Eve was fashioned laterally with Adam’s rib. It was not a top-down formation of dominance or a bottom-up formation of subservience. Rather, Eve was an equally esteemed member of the human race. After all, God spoke of the decision for their creation as one decision before we were ever even introduced to the process of their creation. The very first time we read about both Eve and Adam is when we read of the mandate of rulership given to both of them equally. We are introduced to both genders together, simultaneously. This comes in the first chapter of the Bible: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27) Both men and women have been created equally in the image of God. While within that equality lie distinct and different roles (we will look at that in chapter 10), there is no difference in equality of being, value, or dignity between the genders. Both bear the responsibility of honoring the image in which they have been made. A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image-bearer of the one true King. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent in the world to be trodden on.”[13] Just as men, women were created to rule. ~ Tony Evans,
588:Which brings me back to Ecclesiastes, his search for happiness, and mine. I spoke in chapter 4 about my first meeting, as a student, with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. As I was waiting to go in, one of his disciples told me the following story. A man had recently written to the Rebbe on something of these lines: ‘I need the Rebbe’s help. I am deeply depressed. I pray and find no comfort. I perform the commands but feel nothing. I find it hard to carry on.’ The Rebbe, so I was told, sent a compelling reply without writing a single word. He simply ringed the first word in every sentence of the letter: the word ‘I’. It was, he was hinting, the man’s self-preoccupation that was at the root of his depression. It was as if the Rebbe were saying, as Viktor Frankl used to say in the name of Kierkegaard, ‘The door to happiness opens outward.’23 It was this insight that helped me solve the riddle of Ecclesiastes. The word ‘I’ does not appear very often in the Hebrew Bible, but it dominates Ecclesiastes’ opening chapters. I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. (Ecclesiastes 2:4–8) Nowhere else in the Bible is the first-person singular used so relentlessly and repetitively. In the original Hebrew the effect is doubled because of the chiming of the verbal suffix and the pronoun: Baniti li, asiti li, kaniti li, ‘I built for myself, I made for myself, I bought for myself.’ The source of Ecclesiastes’ unhappiness is obvious and was spelled out many centuries later by the great sage Hillel: ‘If I am not for myself, who will be? But if I am only for myself, what am I?’24 Happiness in the Bible is not something we find in self-gratification. Hence the significance of the word simchah. I translated it earlier as ‘joy’, but really it has no precise translation into English, since all our emotion words refer to states of mind we can experience alone. Simchah is something we cannot experience alone. Simchah is joy shared. ~ Jonathan Sacks,
589:One of the most disputed Old Testament texts that could show distinct personality for more than one person is Proverbs 8:22–31. Although the earlier part of the chapter could be understood as merely a personification of “wisdom” for literary effect, showing wisdom calling to the simple and inviting them to learn, vv. 22–31, one could argue, say things about “wisdom” that seem to go far beyond mere personification. Speaking of the time when God created the earth, “wisdom” says, “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind” (Prov. 8:30–31 NIV). To work as a “craftsman” at God’s side in the creation suggests in itself the idea of distinct personhood, and the following phrases might seem even more convincing, for only real persons can be “filled with delight day after day” and can rejoice in the world and delight in mankind.7 But if we decide that “wisdom” here really refers to the Son of God before he became man, there is a difficulty. Verses 22–25 (RSV) seem to speak of the creation of this person who is called “wisdom”: The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth. Does this not indicate that this “wisdom” was created? In fact, it does not. The Hebrew word that commonly means “create” (bārā’) is not used in verse 22; rather the word is qānāh, which occurs eighty-four times in the Old Testament and almost always means “to get, acquire.” The NASB is most clear here: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way” (similarly KJV). (Note this sense of the word in Gen. 39:1; Ex. 21:2; Prov. 4:5, 7; 23:23; Eccl. 2:7; Isa. 1:3 [”owner”].) This is a legitimate sense and, if wisdom is understood as a real person, would mean only that God the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of God the Son at the time creation began8: the Father summoned the Son to work with him in the activity of creation. The expression “brought forth” in verses 24 and 25 is a different term but could carry a similar meaning: the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of the Son in the creation of the universe. ~ Wayne Grudem,
590:Come Let Us Worship Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. —PSALM 95:6     A recent point of frustration, debate, and tension in many churches has been about defining worship and agreeing what it should look like. Older Christians are confused because of changes made to the style of worship. They wonder whatever happened to the old hymns that were so beloved. They knew the page numbers and all the old verses by heart. Today there are no hymnals, the organs have been silenced, and guitars, drums, and cymbals have taken over. The choir and their robes have been abandoned, and now we have five to seven singers on stage leading songs. We stand for 30 minutes at a time singing song lyrics that we aren’t familiar with from a large screen. What’s happening? If the church doesn’t have these components, the young people leave and go to where it’s happening. Are we going to let the form of worship divide our churches? I hope not! The origins of many of the different expressions of worship can be found in the Psalms, which portray worship as an act of the whole person, not just the mental sphere. The early founders established ways to worship based on what they perceived after reading this great book of the Bible. Over the centuries, Christian worship has taken many different forms, involving various expressions and postures on the part of churchgoers. The Hebrew word for “worship” literally means “to kneel” or “to bow down.” The act of worship is the gesture of humbling oneself before a mighty authority. The Psalms also call upon us to “sing to the LORD, bless His name” (96:2 NASB). Music has always played a large part in the sacred act of worship. Physical gestures and movements are also mentioned in the Psalms. Lifting our hands before God signifies our adoration of Him. Clapping our hands shows our celebration before God. Some worshipers rejoice in His presence with tambourines and dancing (see Psalm 150:4). To worship like the psalmist is to obey Jesus’ command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). There are many more insights for worship in the book of Psalms: • God’s gifts of instruments and vocal music can be used to help us worship (47:1; 81:1-4). • We can appeal to God for help, and we can thank Him for His deliverance (4:3; 17:1-5). • Difficult times should not prevent us from praising God (22:23- 24; 102:1-2; 140:4-8). ~ Emilie Barnes,
591:The Guardian Of The Red Disk
Spoken by a Citizen of Malta-1300.
A curious title held in high repute,
One among many honors, thickly strewn
On my lord Bishop's head, his grace of Malta.
Nobly he bears them all,-with tact, skill, zeal,
Fulfills each special office, vast or slight,
Nor slurs the least minutia,-therewithal
Wears such a stately aspect of command,
Broad-checked, broad-chested, reverend, sanctified,
Haloed with white about the tonsure's rim,
With dropped lids o'er the piercing Spanish eyes
(Lynx-keen, I warrant, to spy out heresy);
Tall, massive form, o'ertowering all in presence,
Or ere they kneel to kiss the large white hand.
His looks sustain his deeds,-the perfect prelate,
Whose void chair shall be taken, but not filled.
You know not, who are foreign to the isle,
Haply, what this Red Disk may be, he guards.
'T is the bright blotch, big as the Royal seal,
Branded beneath the beard of every Jew.
These vermin so infest the isle, so slide
Into all byways, highways that may lead
Direct or roundabout to wealth or power,
Some plain, plump mark was needed, to protect
From the degrading contact Christian folk.
The evil had grown monstrous: certain Jews
Wore such a haughty air, had so refined,
With super-subtile arts, strict, monkish lives,
And studious habit, the coarse Hebrew type,
One might have elbowed in the public mart
Iscariot,-nor suspected one's soul-peril.
Christ's blood! it sets my flesh a-creep to think!
We may breathe freely now, not fearing taint,
Praise be our good Lord Bishop! He keeps count
Of every Jew, and prints on cheek or chin
The scarlet stamp of separateness, of shame.
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No beard, blue-black, grizzled or Judas-colored,
May hide that damning little wafer-flame.
When one appears therewith, the urchins know
Good sport's at hand; they fling their stones and mud,
Sure of their game. But most the wisdom shows
Upon the unbelievers' selves; they learn
Their proper rank; crouch, cringe, and hide,-lay by
Their insolence of self-esteem; no more
Flaunt forth in rich attire, but in dull weeds,
Slovenly donned, would slink past unobserved;
Bow servile necks and crook obsequious knees,
Chin sunk in hollow chest, eyes fixed on earth
Or blinking sidewise, but to apprehend
Whether or not the hated spot be spied.
I warrant my Lord Bishop has full hands,
Guarding the Red Disk-lest one rogue escape!
~ Emma Lazarus,
592:It was a story no one could tell me when I was child. The story of Russian Jewry had been told in English, by American Jews; to them, it was a story that began with antiquity, culminated with the pogroms, and ended with emigration. For those who remained in Russia, there had been a time before the pogroms and a time after: a period of home, then a period of fear and even greater fear and then brief hope again, and then a different kind of fear, when one no longer feared for one's life but fear never having hope again. This story did not end; it faded into a picture of my parents sitting at the kitchen table poring over an atlas of the world, or of me sitting on the bedroom floor talking at my best friend.

The history of the Soviet Union itself remains a story without an narrative; every attempt to tell this story in Russia has stopped short, giving way to the resolve to turn away from the decades of pain and suffering and bloodshed. With every telling, stories of Stalinism and the Second World War become more mythologized. And with so few Jew left in Russia, with so little uniting them, the Russian Jewish world is one of absences and silences.

I had no words for this when I was twelve, but what I felt more strongly that anything, more strongly even than the desire to go to Israel, was this absence of a story. My Jewishness consisted of the experience of being ostracized and beaten up and the specter of not being allowed into university. Once I found my people milling outside the synagogue (we never went inside, where old men in strange clothes sang in an unfamiliar language), a few old Yiddish songs and a couple of newer Hebrew ones were added to my non-story. Finally, I had read the stories of Sholem Aleichem, which were certainly of a different world, as distant from my modern urban Russian-speaking childhood as anything could be. In the end, my Jewish identity was entirely negative: it consisted of non-belonging.

How had I and other late-Soviet Jews been so impoverished? Prior to the Russian Revolution, most of the world's Jews lived in the Russian Empire. Following the Second World War, Russia was the only European country whose Jewish population numbered not in the hundreds or even thousands but in the millions. How did this country rid itself of Jewish culture altogether? How did the Jews of Russia lose their home? Much later, as I tried to find the answers to these questions, I kept circling back tot he story of Birobidzhan, which, in its concentrated tragic absurdity seemed to tell it all. ~ Masha Gessen,
593:On A Picture Of The Finding Of Moses By Pharoah's
Daughter
This picture does the story express
Of Moses in the bulrushes.
How livelily the painter's hand
By colours makes us understand!
Moses that little infant is.
This figure is his sister. This
Fine stately lady is no less
A personage than a princess,
Daughter of Pharaoh, Egypt's king;
Whom Providence did hither bring
This little Hebrew child to save.
See how near the perilous wave
He lies exposëd in the ark,
His rushy cradle, his frail bark!
Pharaoh, king of Egypt land,
In his greatness gave command
To his slaves, they should destroy
Every new-born Hebrew boy.
This Moses was an Hebrew's son.
When he was born, his birth to none
His mother told, to none revealed,
But kept her goodly child concealed.
Three months she hid him; then she wrought
With bulrushes this ark, and brought
Him in it to this river's side,
Carefully looking far and wide
To see that no Egyptian eye
Her ark-hid treasure should espy.
Among the river-flags she lays
The child. Near him his sister stays.
We may imagine her affright,
When the king's daughter is in sight.
Soon the princess will perceive
The ark among the flags, and give
Command to her attendant maid
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That its contents shall be displayed.
Within the ark the child is found,
And now he utters mournful sound.
Behold he weeps, as if he were
Afraid of cruel Egypt's heir!
She speaks, she says, 'This little one
I will protect, though he the son
Be of an Hebrew.' Every word
She speaks is by the sister heard.And now observe, this is the part
The painter chose to show his art.
Look at the sister's eager eye,
As here she seems advancing nigh.
Lowly she bends, says, 'Shall I go
And call a nurse to thee? I know
A Hebrew woman liveth near,
Great lady, shall I bring her here?'
See! Pharaoh's daughter answers, 'Go.'No more the painter's art can show.
He cannot make his figures move.On the light wings of swiftest love
The girl will fly to bring the mother
To be the nurse, she'll bring no other.
To her will Pharaoh's daughter say,
'Take this child from me away:
For wages nurse him. To my home
At proper age this child may come.
When to our palace he is brought,
Wise masters shall for him be sought
To train him up, befitting one
I would protect as my own son.
And Moses be a name unto him,
Because I from the waters drew him.'
~ Charles Lamb,
594:My father was a man of iron will. He had a red beard and eyes like caves. He married my mother sensibly for the triple joy of her widowhood, the three estates, but he was concerned - as an English country gentleman and an epitome of the chivalric virtues - with the making of a son.
Having heard well of the giant's child-inspiring powers, my father takes my mother by the hand and leads her up to him the night before their wedding. It had been a hot day, the hottest day that any man could remember, the skylarks swooning in the sticky air, milk turning sour in the cows' udders. At the end of that hottest day now it is suddenly Midsummer Eve and the giant stands out bold and wonderful and monstrous on his long green Dorset hill, the moon at the full above his knobbled club. My father lays my mother down on the giant's thistle, in the modest shade of Mr Wiclif's burgeoning fig tree.
'Dear hart,' he says, taking off his spurs and his liripipe hat, 'I shall require an heir.'
If ever widow woman blushed then my mother blushed hot when she saw my father unbuttoned above her in the moonlight. 'My womb,' she says, 'is empty.'
My father engages the key in the lock. It is well-oiled. He turns and enters and makes himself at home.
'I have been told,' he says,
'that any true woman,' he says,
'childless,' he adds,
'who lies,' he says,
'on the Cerne giant, - my father
takes a shuddering juddering breath -
'conceives without fail,' he explains.
My father goes on, without need of saying.
It is sixty yards if it is an inch from the top to the toe of the giant of Cerne Abbas. The creature's club alone must be every bit of forty yards.
'O Gog,' says my mother eventually. 'O Gog, O Gog, O Gog.'
'I do believe,' says my father, 'Magog.'
Now, in the moment of my conception, as a star falls into my mother's left eye, as the wind catches its breath, as the little hills skip for joy, and the moon hides her face behind a cloud - a bit of local history. When St Augustine came calling in those parts the people of Cerne tied a tail to his coat and whipped him out of their valley. The saint was furious. He got down on his knees and prayed to God to give tails to all the children that were born in Dorset. 'Right,' said the Omnipotence. This went on, tails, tails, tails, tails, until the folk regretted their pagan manners. When they expressed their regret, St Austin came back and founded the abbey, calling it Cernal because he was soon seeing his visions there - from the Latin, 'cerno', I see, and the Hebrew, 'El, God. That's enough history. I prefer mystery. ~ Robert Nye,
595:The origin of the Jews is revealed by the origin of their tribal
name. The word "Jew" was unknown in ancient history. The
Jews were then known as Hebrews, and the word Hebrew tells us
all about this people that we need to know. The Encyclopaedia
Britannica defines Hebrew as originating in the Aramaic word,
Ibhray, but strangely enough, offers no indication as to what the
word means. Most references, such as Webster's International
Dictionary, 1952, give the accepted definition of Hebrew. Webster
says Hebrew derives from the Aramaic Ebri, which in turn
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derives from the Hebrew word, Ibhri, lit. "one who is from across
the river. 1. A Member of one of a group of tribes in the northern
branch of the Semites, including Israelites."
That is plain enough. Hebrew means "one who is from across
the river." Rivers were often the boundaries of ancient nations,
and one from across the river meant, simply, an alien. In every
country of the ancient world, the Hebrews were known as aliens.
The word also, in popular usage, meant "one who should not be
trusted until he has identified himself." Hebrew in all ancient
literature was written as "Habiru". This word appears frequently
in the Bible and in Egyptian literature. In the Bible, Habiru is
used interchangeably with "sa-gaz", meaning "cutthroat". In all
of Egyptian literature, wherever the word Habiru appears, it is
written with the word "sa-gaz" written beside it. Thus the Egyptians
always wrote of the Jews as "the cutthroat bandits from
across the river". For five thousand years, the Egyptian scribes
identified the Jews in this manner. Significantly, they are not
referred to except by these two characters. The great Egyptian
scholar, C. J. Gadd, noted in his book, The Fall of Nineveh,
London, 1923,
"Habiru is written with an ideogram. . . sa-gaz. . . signifying
'cut-throats'."
In the Bible, wherever the word Habiru, meaning the Hebrews,
appears, it is used to mean bandit or cutthroat. Thus, in Isaiah
1:23, "Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves,"
the word for thieves here is Habiru. Proverbs XXVIII:24 ,
"Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, 'It is no
transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer," sa-gaz
is used here for destroyer, but the word destroyer also appears
sometimes in the Bible as Habiru. Hosea VI:9 , "And as troops of
robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the
way by consent; for they commit lewdness." The word for robbers
in this verse is Habiru. ~ Eustace Clarence Mullins,
596:Over the two centuries before Jesus, the celebration had taken on quite a bit of Greek Socratic (Hellenistic) influence, which suited Jewish social tradition quite nicely, so what had begun as the recitation of a story had morphed into almost a question and response ritual. On the morning of Preparation Day for the celebration, the head of the household took a lamb to The Temple for slaughter. Then, he would bring the meat home so that it, together with the other prescribed ritual foodstuffs, could be properly prepared. Eventually, when it was time for the meal, those gathered would be called to table for a joyous repast. But the feast included an important ritual. Someone at table would query those gathered, following an informal script that revolved around four questions that not only told the great Story of Exodus, but also applied it to the participants’ present lives. So we might imagine: “This is the story of our slavery, and today we are enslaved…” “We wandered for forty years in the arid desert, and today we find that we are wandering, unable to make a decision…” “But at last we arrived in the Promised Land, and we’re planning … this year, God-willing.” Followed by, “Since then we have been committed to making ourselves and our people thrive in God’s promise of this Land—and look around this table and see the kernel of the community that needs our love, every day.” From this deep annual ritual and the understandings flowing from it, we can well imagine how this core metaphor became a spiritual springboard for every Hebrew’s journey with God—a journey of freedom and liberation, one with four sequential paths that continually repeated in the lives of every individual, and in the life of the community. So there is the key—and it is a far-reaching link, indeed. The explanation for early Christians’ natural comfort with being Followers of The Way was specifically and profoundly rooted in their Jewish traditions and almost certainly, the principal of fourness, in ancient rituals from prehistory. The sequence was well-known to them, and the road well-marked. Yet, as Christians did in so many other ways, they expanded the journey from that of their predecessors, pushing beyond the liberation of a single tribe and outer freedom from an oppressive Pharaoh. Christians took the framework of freedom and crafted an identifiable, cyclical inner journey of transformation available to everyone, incorporating the living reality of Jesus the Christ. And soon, The Way came to be understood by early Christians as the ongoing gradual process of transformation into the image of the eternal Christ in whom they believed they were already made. ~ Alexander John Shaia,
597:Augustine, who assumed that Genesis 1 was chapter 1 in a book that contained the literal words of God, and that Genesis 2 was the second chapter in the same book, put the two chapters together and read the latter as a sequel. Genesis 2, he assumed, described the fall from the perfection and original goodness of creation depicted in chapter 1. So almost inevitably the Christian scriptures from the fourth century on were interpreted against the background of this (mis) understanding.

The primary trouble with this theory was that by the fourth century of the Common Era there were no Jews to speak of left in the Christian movement, and therefore the only readers and interpreters of the ancient Hebrew myths were Gentiles, who had no idea what these stories originally meant. Consequently, they interpreted them as perfection established by God in chapter 1, followed by perfection ruined by human beings in chapter 2. Why was that a problem? Well I, for one, have never known a Jewish scripture scholar to treat the Garden of Eden story in the same way that Gentiles treat it. Jews tend to see this story not as a narrative about sin entering the world, but as a parable about the birth of self-consciousness. It is, for the Jews, not a fall into sin, but a step into humanity. It is the birth of a new relationship with God, changing from master-servant to interdependent cooperation. The forbidden fruit was not from an apple tree, as so many who don’t bother to read the text seem to think. It was rather from “the tree of knowledge,” and the primary thing that one gained from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge was the ability to discern good from evil. Gaining that ability did not, in the minds of the Jewish readers of the book of Genesis, corrupt human nature. It simply made people take responsibility for their freely made decisions. A slave has no such freedom. The job of the slave is simply to obey, not to think. The job of the slave-master is to command. Thus the relationship of the master to the slave is a relationship of the strong to the weak, the parent to the child, the king to the serf, the boss to the worker. If human beings were meant to live in that kind of relationship with God, then humanity would have been kept in a perpetual state of irresponsible, childlike immaturity. Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden, not because they had disobeyed God’s rules, but because, when self-consciousness was born, they could no longer live in childlike dependency. Adam and Eve discovered, as every child ultimately must discover, that maturity requires that the child leave his or her parents’ home, just as every bird sooner or later must leave its nest and learn to fly on its own. To be forced out of the Garden of Eden was, therefore, not a punishment for sin, so much as it was a step into maturity. ~ John Shelby Spong,
598:The central fact of biblical history, the birth of the Messiah, more than any other, presupposes the design of Providence in the selecting and uniting of successive producers, and the real, paramount interest of the biblical narratives is concentrated on the various and wondrous fates, by which are arranged the births and combinations of the 'fathers of God.' But in all this complicated system of means, having determined in the order of historical phenomena the birth of the Messiah, there was no room for love in the proper meaning of the word. Love is, of course, encountered in the Bible, but only as an independent fact and not as an instrument in the process of the genealogy of Christ. The sacred book does not say that Abram took Sarai to wife by force of an ardent love, and in any case Providence must have waited until this love had grown completely cool for the centenarian progenitors to produce a child of faith, not of love. Isaac married Rebekah not for love but in accordance with an earlier formed resolution and the design of his father. Jacob loved Rachel, but this love turned out to be unnecessary for the origin of the Messiah. He was indeed to be born of a son of Jacob - Judah - but the latter was the offspring, not of Rachel but of the unloved wife, Leah. For the production in the given generation of the ancestor of the Messiah, what was necessary was the union of Jacob precisely with Leah; but to attain this union Providence did not awaken in Jacob any powerful passion of love for the future mother of the 'father of God' - Judah. Not infringing the liberty of Jacob's heartfelt feeling, the higher power permitted him to love Rachel, but for his necessary union with Leah it made use of means of quite a different kind: the mercenary cunning of a third person - devoted to his own domestic and economic interests - Laban. Judah himself, for the production of the remote ancestors of the Messiah, besides his legitimate posterity, had in his old age to marry his daughter-in-law Tamar. Seeing that such a union was not at all in the natural order of things, and indeed could not take place under ordinary conditions, that end was attained by means of an extremely strange occurrence very seductive to superficial readers of the Bible. Nor in such an occurrence could there be any talk of love. It was not love which combined the priestly harlot Rahab with the Hebrew stranger; she yielded herself to him at first in the course of her profession, and afterwards the casual bond was strengthened by her faith in the power of the new God and in the desire for his patronage for herself and her family. It was not love which united David's great-grandfather, the aged Boaz, with the youthful Moabitess Ruth, and Solomon was begotten not from genuine, profound love, but only from the casual, sinful caprice of a sovereign who was growing old. ~ Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov,
599:Dear Old London
When I was broke in London in the fall of '89,
I chanced to spy in Oxford Street this tantalizing sign,
'A Splendid Horace cheap for Cash!' Of course I had to look
Upon the vaunted bargain, and it was a noble book!
A finer one I 've never seen, nor can I hope to see,
The first edition, richly bound, and clean as clean can be;
And, just to think, for three-pounds-ten I might have had that Pine,
When I was broke in London in the fall of '89!
Down at Noseda's, in the Strand, I found, one fateful day,
A portrait that I pined for as only maniac may,
A print of Madame Vestris (she flourished years ago,
Was Bartolozzi's daughter, and a thoroughbred, you know).
A clean and handsome print it was, and cheap at thirty bob,
That 's what I told the salesman, as I choked a rising sob;
But I hung around Noseda's as it were a holy shrine,
When I was broke in London in the fall of '89.
At Davey's, in Great Russell Street, were autographs galore,
And Mr. Davey used to let me con that precious store.
Sometimes I read what warriors wrote, sometimes a king's command,
But oftener still a poet's verse, writ in a meagre hand.
Lamb, Byron, Addison, and Burns, Pope, Johnson, Swift, and Scott,
It needed but a paltry sum to comprehend the lot;
Yet, though Friend Davey marked 'em down, what could I but decline?
For I was broke in London in the fall of '89.
Of antique swords and spears I saw a vast and dazzling heap
That Curio Fenton offered me at prices passing cheap;
And, oh, the quaint old bureaus, and the warming-pans of brass,
And the lovely hideous freaks I found in pewter and in glass!
And, oh, the sideboards, candlesticks, the cracked old china plates,
The clocks and spoons from Amsterdam that antedate all dates!
Of such superb monstrosities I found an endless mine
When I was broke in London in the fall of '89.
O ye that hanker after boons that others idle by, -The battered things that please the soul, though they may vex the eye, -The silver plate and crockery all sanctified with grime,
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The oaken stuff that has defied the tooth of envious Time,
The musty tomes, the speckled prints, the mildewed bills of play,
And other costly relics of malodorous decay, -Ye only can appreciate what agony was mine
When I was broke in London in the fall of '89.
When, in the course of natural things, I go to my reward,
Let no imposing epitaph my martyrdoms record;
Neither in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, nor any classic tongue,
Let my ten thousand triumphs over human griefs be sung;
But in plain Anglo-Saxon that he may know who seeks
What agonizing pangs I 've had while on the hunt for freaks
Let there be writ upon the slab that marks my grave this line:
'Deceased was broke in London in the fall of '89.'
~ Eugene Field,
600:Hope does not mean that our protests will suddenly awaken the dead consciences, the atrophied souls, of the plutocrats running Halliburton, Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or the government.

Hope does not mean we will reform Wall Street swindlers and speculators.

Hope does not mean that the nation’s ministers and rabbis, who know the words of the great Hebrew prophets, will leave their houses of worship to practice the religious beliefs they preach. Most clerics like fine, abstract words about justice and full collection plates, but know little of real hope.

Hope knows that unless we physically defy government control we are complicit in the violence of the state. All who resist keep hope alive. All who succumb to fear, despair and apathy become enemies of hope.

Hope has a cost. Hope is not comfortable or easy. Hope requires personal risk. Hope does not come with the right attitude. Hope is not about peace of mind. Hope is an action. Hope is doing something.

Hope, which is always nonviolent, exposes in its powerlessness the lies, fraud and coercion employed by the state. Hope does not believe in force. Hope knows that an injustice visited on our neighbor is an injustice visited on us all.

Hope sees in our enemy our own face.

Hope is not for the practical and the sophisticated, the cynics and the complacent, the defeated and the fearful. Hope is what the corporate state, which saturates our airwaves with lies, seeks to obliterate. Hope is what our corporate overlords are determined to crush. Be afraid, they tell us. Surrender your liberties to us so we can make the world safe from terror. Don’t resist. Embrace the alienation of our cheerful conformity. Buy our products. Without them you are worthless. Become our brands. Do not look up from your electronic hallucinations to think. No. Above all do not think. Obey.

The powerful do not understand hope. Hope is not part of their vocabulary. They speak in the cold, dead words of national security, global markets, electoral strategy, staying on message, image and money.

Those addicted to power, blinded by self-exaltation, cannot decipher the words of hope any more than most of us can decipher hieroglyphics. Hope to Wall Street bankers and politicians, to the masters of war and commerce, is not practical. It is gibberish. It means nothing.

I cannot promise you fine weather or an easy time. I cannot pretend that being handcuffed is pleasant. If we resist and carry out acts, no matter how small, of open defiance, hope will not be extinguished.

Any act of rebellion, any physical defiance of those who make war, of those who perpetuate corporate greed and are responsible for state crimes, anything that seeks to draw the good to the good, nourishes our souls and holds out the possibility that we can touch and transform the souls of others. Hope affirms that which we must affirm. And every act that imparts hope is a victory in itself. ~ Chris Hedges,
601:Lee’s hand shook as he filled the delicate cups. He drank his down in one gulp. “Don’t you see?” he cried. “The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see?”
“Yes, I see. I do see. But you do not believe this is divine law. Why do you feel its importance?”
“Ah!” said Lee. “I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time. I even anticipated your questions and I am well prepared. Any writing which has influenced the thinking and the lives of innumerable people is important. Now, there are many millions in their sects and churches who feel the order, ‘Do thou,’ and throw their weight into obedience. And there are millions more who feel predestination in ‘Thou shalt.’ Nothing they may do can interfere with what will be. But “Thou mayest’! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.” Lee’s voice was a chant of triumph.
Adam said, “Do you believe that, Lee?”
“Yes, I do. Yes, I do. It is easy out of laziness, out of weakness, to throw oneself into the lap of deity, saying, ‘I couldn’t help it; the way was set.’ But think of the glory of the choice! That makes a man a man. A cat has no choice, a bee must make honey. There’s no godliness there. And do you know, those old gentlemen who were sliding gently down to death are too interested to die now?”
Adam said, “Do you mean these Chinese men believe the Old Testament?”
Lee said, “These old men believe a true story, and they know a true story when they hear it. They are critics of truth. They know that these sixteen verses are a history of humankind in any age or culture or race. They do not believe a man writes fifteen and three-quarter verses of truth and tells a lie with one verb. Confucius tells men how they should live to have good and successful lives. But this—this is a ladder to climb to the stars.” Lee’s eyes shone. “You can never lose that. It cuts the feet from under weakness and cowardliness and laziness.”
Adam said, “I don’t see how you could cook and raise the boys and take care of me and still do all this.”
“Neither do I,” said Lee. “But I take my two pipes in the afternoon, no more and no less, like the elders. And I feel that I am a man. And I feel that a man is a very important thing—maybe more important than a star. This is not theology. I have no bent toward gods. But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed—because ‘Thou mayest. ~ John Steinbeck,
602:No more peeping through keyholes! No more mas turbating in the dark! No more public confessions! Unscrew the doors from their jambs! I want a world where the vagina is represented by a crude, honest slit, a world that has feeling for bone and contour, for raw, primary colors, a world that has fear and respect for its animal origins. I’m sick of looking at cunts all tickled up, disguised, deformed, idealized. Cunts with nerve ends exposed. I don’t want to watch young
virgins masturbating in the privacy of their boudoirs or biting their nails or tearing their hair or lying on a bed full of bread crumbs for a whole chapter. I want Madagascan funeral poles, with animal upon animal and at the top Adam and Eve, and Eve with a crude, honest slit between the legs. I want hermaphrodites who are real hermaphrodites, and not make-believes walking around with an atrophied penis or a dried-up cunt. I want a classic purity, where dung is dung and angels are angels. The Bible a la King James, for example. Not the Bible of Wycliffe, not the Vulgate, not the Greek, not the Hebrew, but the glorious, death-dealing Bible that was created when the English
language was in flower, when a vocabulary of twenty thousand words sufficed to build a monument for all time. A Bible written in Svenska or Tegalic, a Bible for the Hottentots or the Chinese, a Bible that has to meander through the trickling sands of French is no Bible-it is a counterfeit and a fraud. The King James Version was created by a race of bone-crushers. It revives the primitive mysteries, revives rape, murder, incest, revives epilepsy, sadism,
megalomania, revives demons, angels, dragons, leviathans, revives magic, exorcism, contagion, incantation, revives fratricide, regicide, patricide, suicide, revives hypnotism, anarchism, somnambulism, revives the song, the dance, the act, revives the mantic, the chthonian, the arcane, the mysterious, revives the power, the evil, and the glory that is God. All brought into the
open on a colossal scale, and so salted and spiced that it will last until the next Ice Age.
A classic purity, then-and to hell with the Post Office authorities! For what is it enables the classics to live at all, if indeed they be living on and not dying as we and all about us are dying? What preserves them against the ravages of time if it be not the salt that is in them? When I read Petronius or Apuleius or Rabelais, how close they seem! That salty tang! That odor of the menagerie! The smell of horse piss and lion’s dung, of tiger’s breath and elephant’s hide. Obscenity, lust, cruelty, boredom, wit. Real eunuchs. Real hermaphrodites. Real pricks. Real cunts. Real banquets! Rabelais rebuilds the walls of Paris with human cunts. Trimalchio tickles his own throat, pukes up his own guts, wallows in his own swill. In the amphitheater, where a big, sleepy pervert of a Caesar lolls dejectedly, the lions and the jackals, the hyenas, the tigers, the spotted leopards are crunching real human boneswhilst the coming men, the martyrs and imbeciles, are walking up the golden stairs shouting Hallelujah! ~ Henry Miller,
603:Cain complained to God, “My punishment is more than I can bear” (Gen. 4:13). Resolved to overcome his fate, he tried to build a comfortable life for himself. He started a family and began to build a city (Gen. 4:17). I must surrender my fascination with myself to a more worthy preoccupation with the character and purposes of God. I am not the point. He is. I exist for him. He does not exist for me. Without repenting, Cain set out to overcome the consequences of his sin and to provide comfortable circumstances for himself. In effect, Cain was saying, “Okay, I’m out of the Garden. Ever since you expelled Mom and Dad from Eden and placed that angelic bouncer at the gate to keep everyone out, I realized that I must come to terms with living in a world filled with weeds and thornbushes. But even though I am out of the Garden, I will not lead the miserable life of a nomad. I will do everything I can to recapture as much of the Garden experience as possible. I will build a city, plant a few flowers, and put in a recreation park for my children. I will not keep on wandering about without trying to settle down. I have no higher priority than arranging for my own comfort.” Because Cain passed on this attitude to his descendants, we are now able to contrast two ways of approaching life: Lamech’s (reflecting the ungodly influence of Cain) and Enoch’s (consistent with the godly line of Seth). Lamech declared: “I will build my city! I want my pleasures now.” Enoch said: “I will build God’s kingdom! And trust God to one day build a city for me to enjoy.” Because God cares deeply about his children, many times he chooses to relieve our suffering and solve our problems. But because his love is an intelligent love rooted in what he knows is best for us, he provides us with something more interesting to live for than ourselves. He catches us up in the supernatural reality of living for an eternal kingdom. The question we need to ask is this: Are we merely living, or are we walking with God? As we explore our own lives, we must never get so immersed in ourselves that we fail to remember that there is something far more wonderful to ponder. If I am to reject Lamech’s approach and come to God as Enoch came, I must surrender my fascination with myself to a more worthy preoccupation with the character and purposes of God. I am not the point. He is. I exist for him. He does not exist for me. The question we need to ask is this: Are we merely living, or are we walking with God?Are we merely committed to feeding our own souls, to arranging our lives around getting our needs met, to building our cities? Or are we committed to knowing God, to cooperating with him as loved participants in a plan larger than ourselves, to becoming like the Son whom the Father adores, and to waiting for the city that Christ is building right now? We must learn what it means to come to God, believing that he is good when life doesn’t show it, knowing that he graciously rewards honest seekers even when their souls ache relentlessly. But can we put the lessons of Hebrew 11 more practically? What would our lives look like if we were coming to God as Enoch did? ~ Larry Crabb,
604:Iii. The Shadow Of Lilith
The tuberose thickens the air: a swoon
lies close on open'd calyx and slipt sheath
thro' all the garden bosom-bound beneath
dense night that hangs, her own perturbing moon:
no star: and heaven and earth, seeking their boon,
meet in this troubled blood whereunder seethe
cravings of darkling bliss whose fumes enwreathe
some rose of rare-reveal'd delight: oh, soon! —
Ay, surely near — the hour consents to bless! —
and nearer yet, all ways of night converge
in that delicious dark between her breasts
whom night and bloom and wayward blood confess,
where all the world's desire is wild to merge
its multitude of single suffering nests.
Cloth'd now with dark alone, O rose and balm,
whence unto world-sear'd youth is healing boon,
what lures the tense dark round thy pulsing calm?
Or does that flood-tide of luxurious noon,
richly distill'd for thy sweet nutriment,
now traitor, hearken to some secret moon.
Eve's wifely guise, her dower that Eden lent,
now limbeck where the enamour'd alchemist
invokes the rarer rose, phantom descent;
thy dewy essence where the suns persist
is alter'd by occult yet natural rite:
among thy leaves it was the night we kiss'd.
Rare ooze of odour drowns our faint delight,
some spilth of love that languishes unshared,
a rose that bleeds unseen, the heart of night;
whose sweetness holds us, wondering, ensnared:
for cunning she, the outcast, to entice
to wake with her, remembering how she fared
in times before our time, when Paradise
shone once, the dew-gem in her heart, and base
betrayal gave her to the malefice
that all thro' time afflicts her lonely face,
and all the mournful widowhood of night
closed round her, and the wilderness of space:
36
O bleeding rose, alone! O heart of night!
This is of Lilith, by her Hebrew name
Lady of Night: she, in the delicate frame
that was of woman after, did unite
herself with Adam in unblest delight;
who, uncapacious of that dreadful love,
begat on her not majesty, as Jove,
but the worm-brood of terrors unconfest
that chose henceforth, as their avoided nest,
the mire-fed writhen thicket of the mind.
She, monsterward from that embrace declined,
could change her to Chimera and inspire
doubt of his garden-state, exciting higher
the arrowy impulse to dim descried
o'erhuman bliss, as after, on the wide
way of his travail, with enticing strain
and hint of nameless things reveal'd, a bane
haunted, the fabled siren, and was seen
later as Lamia and Melusine,
and whatsoe'er of serpent-wives is feign'd,
or malice of the vampire-witch that drain'd
fresh blood of fresh-born babes, a wicked blast:
faces of fear, beheld along the past
and in the folk's scant fireside lore misread,
of her that is the august and only dread,
close-dwelling, in the house of birth and death,
and closer, in the secrets of our breath or love occult, whose smile eludes our sight
in her flung hair that is the starry night
~ Christopher John Brennan,
605:At the end of this Sabbath encounter with the religious leaders Mark records a remarkable sentence that sums up one of the main themes of the New Testament, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” The Herodians were the supporters of Herod, the nastiest of the corrupt kings who ruled Israel, representing the Roman occupying power and its political system. In any country that the Romans conquered, they set up rulers. And wherever the Romans went, they brought along the culture of Greece—Greek philosophy, the Greek approach to sex and the body, the Greek approach to truth. Conquered societies like Israel felt assaulted by these immoral, cosmopolitan, pagan values. In these countries there were cultural resistance movements; and in Israel that was the Pharisees. They put all their emphasis on living by the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures and putting up big hedges around themselves to prevent contamination by the pagans. See what was going on? The Herodians were moving with the times, while the Pharisees upheld traditional virtues. The Pharisees believed their society was being overwhelmed with pluralism and paganism, and they were calling for a return to traditional moral values. These two groups had been longtime enemies of each other—but now they agree: They have to get rid of Jesus. These two groups were not used to cooperating, but now they do. In fact, the Pharisees, the religious people, take the lead in doing so. That’s why I say this sentence hints at one of the main themes of the New Testament. The gospel of Jesus Christ is an offense to both religion and irreligion. It can’t be co-opted by either moralism or relativism. The “traditional values” approach to life is moral conformity—the approach taken by the Pharisees. It is that you must lead a very, very good life. The progressive approach, embodied in the Herodians, is self-discovery—you have to decide what is right or wrong for you. And according to the Bible, both of these are ways of being your own savior and lord. Both are hostile to the message of Jesus. And not only that, both lead to self-righteousness. The moralist says, “The good people are in and the bad people are out—and of course we’re the good ones.” The self-discovery person says, “Oh, no, the progressive, open-minded people are in and the judgmental bigots are out—and of course we’re the open-minded ones.” In Western cosmopolitan culture there’s an enormous amount of self-righteousness about self-righteousness. We progressive urbanites are so much better than people who think they’re better than other people. We disdain those religious, moralistic types who look down on others. Do you see the irony, how the way of self-discovery leads to as much superiority and self-righteousness as religion does? The gospel does not say, “the good are in and the bad are out,” nor “the open-minded are in and the judgmental are out.” The gospel says the humble are in and the proud are out. The gospel says the people who know they’re not better, not more open-minded, not more moral than anyone else, are in, and the people who think they’re on the right side of the divide are most in danger. ~ Timothy J Keller,
606:When reading the history of the Jewish people, of their flight from slavery to death, of their exchange of tyrants, I must confess that my sympathies are all aroused in their behalf. They were cheated, deceived and abused. Their god was quick-tempered unreasonable, cruel, revengeful and dishonest. He was always promising but never performed. He wasted time in ceremony and childish detail, and in the exaggeration of what he had done. It is impossible for me to conceive of a character more utterly detestable than that of the Hebrew god. He had solemnly promised the Jews that he would take them from Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. He had led them to believe that in a little while their troubles would be over, and that they would soon in the land of Canaan, surrounded by their wives and little ones, forget the stripes and tears of Egypt. After promising the poor wanderers again and again that he would lead them in safety to the promised land of joy and plenty, this God, forgetting every promise, said to the wretches in his power:—'Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness and your children shall wander until your carcasses be wasted.' This curse was the conclusion of the whole matter. Into this dust of death and night faded all the promises of God. Into this rottenness of wandering despair fell all the dreams of liberty and home. Millions of corpses were left to rot in the desert, and each one certified to the dishonesty of Jehovah. I cannot believe these things. They are so cruel and heartless, that my blood is chilled and my sense of justice shocked. A book that is equally abhorrent to my head and heart, cannot be accepted as a revelation from God.

When we think of the poor Jews, destroyed, murdered, bitten by serpents, visited by plagues, decimated by famine, butchered by each, other, swallowed by the earth, frightened, cursed, starved, deceived, robbed and outraged, how thankful we should be that we are not the chosen people of God. No wonder that they longed for the slavery of Egypt, and remembered with sorrow the unhappy day when they exchanged masters. Compared with Jehovah, Pharaoh was a benefactor, and the tyranny of Egypt was freedom to those who suffered the liberty of God.

While reading the Pentateuch, I am filled with indignation, pity and horror. Nothing can be sadder than the history of the starved and frightened wretches who wandered over the desolate crags and sands of wilderness and desert, the prey of famine, sword, and plague. Ignorant and superstitious to the last degree, governed by falsehood, plundered by hypocrisy, they were the sport of priests, and the food of fear. God was their greatest enemy, and death their only friend.

It is impossible to conceive of a more thoroughly despicable, hateful, and arrogant being, than the Jewish god. He is without a redeeming feature. In the mythology of the world he has no parallel. He, only, is never touched by agony and tears. He delights only in blood and pain. Human affections are naught to him. He cares neither for love nor music, beauty nor joy. A false friend, an unjust judge, a braggart, hypocrite, and tyrant, sincere in hatred, jealous, vain, and revengeful, false in promise, honest in curse, suspicious, ignorant, and changeable, infamous and hideous:—such is the God of the Pentateuch. ~ Robert G Ingersoll,
607:Babel led to an explosion in the number of languages. That was part of Enki's plan. Monocultures, like a field of corn, are susceptible to infections, but genetically diverse cultures, like a prairie, are extremely robust. After a few thousand years, one new language developed - Hebrew - that possessed exceptional flexibility and power. The deuteronomists, a group of radical monotheists in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C., were the first to take advantage of it. They lived in a time of extreme nationalism and xenophobia, which made it easier for them to reject foreign ideas like Asherah worship. They formalized their old stories into the Torah and implanted within it a law that insured its propagation throughout history - a law that said, in effect, 'make an exact copy of me and read it every day.' And they encouraged a sort of
informational hygiene, a belief in copying things strictly and taking great care with information, which as they understood, is potentially dangerous. They made data a controlled substance... [and] gone beyond that. There is evidence of carefully planned biological warfare against the army of Sennacherib when he tried to conquer Jerusalem. So the deuteronomists may have had an en of their very own. Or maybe they just understood viruses well enough that they knew how to take
advantage of naturally occurring strains. The skills cultivated by these people were passed down in secret from one generation to the next and manifested themselves two thousand years later, in Europe, among the Kabbalistic sorcerers, ba'al shems, masters of the divine name.
In any case, this was the birth of rational religion. All of the subsequent monotheistic religions - known by Muslims, appropriately, as religions of the
Book - incorporated those ideas to some extent. For example, the Koran states over and over again that it is a transcript, an exact copy, of a book in Heaven. Naturally, anyone who believes that will not dare to alter the text in any way! Ideas such as these were so effective in preventing the spread of Asherah that, eventually, every square inch of the territory where the viral cult had once thrived was under the sway of Islam, Christianity, or Judaism.
But because of its latency - coiled about the brainstem of those it infects, passed from one generation to the next - it always finds ways to resurface. In the case of Judaism, it came in the form of the Pharisees, who imposed a rigid
legalistic theocracy on the Hebrews. With its rigid adherence to laws stored in a temple, administered by priestly types vested with civil authority, it
resembled the old Sumerian system, and was just as stifling.
The ministry of Jesus Christ was an effort to break Judaism out of this condition... an echo of what Enki did. Christ's gospel is a new namshub,
an attempt to take religion out of the temple, out of the hands of the priesthood, and bring the Kingdom of God to everyone. That is the message
explicitly spelled out by his sermons, and it is the message symbolically embodied in the empty tomb. After the crucifixion, the apostles went to his
tomb hoping to find his body and instead found nothing. The message was clear enough; We are not to idolize Jesus, because his ideas stand alone, his church is no longer centralized in one person but dispersed among all the people. ~ Neal Stephenson,
608:I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my
mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards;
but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy
flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the
flocks of thy companions?

If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell
thereof.

A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my
breasts.

My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

...

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste.

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the
field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills.

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come
away.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and
the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape
give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the
stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy
voice, and thy countenance is comely.

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have
tender grapes.

My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou
like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
-- Anon. (Hebrew, 6th century B.C.)

~ Anonymous, The Song of Songs
,
609:Remarks On The Bright And Dark Side
But may a Rural Pen try to set forth
Such a Great Fathers Ancient Grace and worth
I undertake a no less Arduous Theme
Then the Old Sages found the Chaldae Dream
'Tis more then Tythes of a profound respect
That must be paid such a Melchizedeck
Oxford this light with tongues and Arts doth trim
And then his Northern Town doth Challeng him
His Time and Strength he Center'd there in this
To do good works, and be what now he is.
His fulgent Virtues there and learned Strains
Tall comely Presence, Life unsoil'd with Stains
Things most on WORTHIES in their Stories writ
Did him to move in Orbs of Service fitt
Things more peculiar yet, my muse intend
Say stranger things then these, so weep and End
When he forsook first his Oxonian Cell
Some Scores at once from Popish darkness fell
So this Reformer studied! rare first fruits!
Shakeing a Crab-tree thus by hot disputes
The acid juice by miracle turn'd wine
And rais'd the Spirits of our young Divine
Hearers like Doves flock'd with contentios wing
Who should be first, feed most: most homeward bring
Laden with honey like Hyblaean Bees
They knead it into combs upon their knees.
Why he from Europes pleasant Garden fled
In the Next Age will be with horrour said
Braintree was of this Jewel then possest
Untill himself he labour'd into Rest
His Inventory then with Johns was took
His rough Coat, Girdle with the Sacred Book
When Reverend Knowles and he sail'd hand in hand
To Christ, Espousing the Virginian Land
Upon a ledge of Craggy Rocks near stav'd
His Bible in his bosome thrusting sav'd
The Bible, the best cordial of his Heart
Come floods, come flames (cry'd he) we'l never part
A constellation of great converts there
15
Shone round him and his Heav'nly Glory where
With a Rare Skill in hearts, this Doctor cou'd
Steal into them words that should do them good
His Balsom's from the Tree of Life distill'd
Hearts cleans'd and heal'd, and with rich comforts fill'd
But here's the wo! Balsoms which others cur'd
Would in his Own Turn hardly be endur'd
Apollyon Owing him a cursed Spleen
Who an Apollos in the Church had been
Dreading his Traffick here would be undone
By Numerous proselites he daily won
Accus'd him of Imaginary faults
And push'd him down so into dismal Vaults
Vaults where he kept long Ember weeks of grief
'Till Heav'n alarm'd sent him in relief
Then was a Daniel in the lyons Den
A man, oh how belov'd of God and men
By his beds-side an Hebrew sword there lay
With which at last he drove the Devil away.
Quaker's too durst not bear his keen replies
But fearing it half drawn the trembler flyes
Like Lazarus new rais'd from Death appears
The Saint that had been dead for many years
Our Nehemiah said, shall such as I
Desert my flock, and like a Coward fly
Long had the Churches begg'd the Saints release
Releas'd at last, he dies in Glorious peace
The Night is not so long, but phosphors ray
Approaching Glories doth on high display
Faith's Eye in him discern'd the Morning Star
His heart leap'd; Sure the Sun cannot be far
In Extasies of Joy, he Ravish'd Cryes
Love, Love the Lamb, the Lamb, in whome he dies.
~ Benjamin Tompson,
610:Part Of The Fifth Scene In The Second Act Of Athalia
Enter, as in the Temple of Jerusalem,
ATHALIA, MATHAN, ABNER
[Mathan]
WHY, to our Wonder, in this Place is seen,
Thus discompos'd, and alter'd, Juda's Queen?
May we demand, what Terrors seize your Breast,
Or, why your Steps are to this House addrest,
Where your unguarded Person stands expos'd
To secret Foes, within its Walls inclos'd?
Can it be thought that you remit that Hate?
[Athalia]
No more! but Both observe what I relate:
Not, that I mean (recalling Times of Blood)
To make you Judges of the Paths I trod,
When to the empty'd Throne I boldly rose,
Treating all Intercepters as my Foes.
'Twas Heav'ns Decree, that I should thus succeed,
Whose following Favour justifies the Deed,
Extending my unlimited Command
From Sea to Sea o'er the obedient Land:
Whilst your Jerusalem all Peace enjoys,
Nor now the' encroaching Philistine destroys,
Nor wandring Arab his Pavilion spreads,
Near Jordan's Banks, nor wastes his flow'ry Meads.
The great Assyrian, Terror of your Kings,
Who bought his Friendship with their holiest Things,
Yields that a Sister, of his pow'rful Race,
Should sway these Realms, and dignify the Place.
Nor need we add the late insulting Foe,
The furious Jehu does this Sceptre know,
And sinks beneath the Load of conscious Fears,
When in Samaria he my Actions hears.
Distrest by Foes, which I've against him rais'd,
He sees me unmolested, fix'd, and pleas'd;
At least, till now thus glorious was my State;
But something's threatned from relaxing Fate,
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And the last Night, which should have brought me Rest,
Has all these great Ideas dispossest.
A Dream, a Vision, an apparent View
Of what, methinks, does still my Steps pursue,
Hangs on my pensive Heart, and bears it down
More than the weight of an objected Crown,
My Mother (be the Name with Rev'rence spoke!)
Ere chearful Day thro' horrid Shades had broke,
Approach'd my Bed, magnificent her Dress,
Her Shape, her Air did Jesabel confess:
Nor seem'd her Face to have refus'd that Art,
Which, in despight of Age, does Youth impart,
And which she practis'd, scorning to decay,
Or to be vanquish'd ev'n in Nature's way.
Thus all array'd, in such defying Pride
As when th' injurious Conqu'ror she descry'd,
And did in height of Pow'r for ill-got Pow'r deride.
To me she spake, these Accents to me came:
"Thou worthy Daughter of my soaring Fame,
"Tho' with a more transcendent Spirit fill'd,
"Tho' struggling Pow'rs attempt thy Life to shield,
"The Hebrew's God (Oh, tremble at the sound!)
"Shall Thee and Them, and all their Rights confound.
A pitying Groan concludes, no Word of Aid.
My Arms I thought to throw about the Shade
Of that lov'd Parent, but my troubled Sight
No more directed them to aim aright,
Nor ought presented, but a heap of Bones,
For which fierce Dogs contended on the Stones,
With Flakes of mangled Flesh, that quiv'ring still
Proclaim'd the Freshness of the suffer'd Ill;
Distain'd with Blood the Pavement, and the Wall,
Appear'd as in that memorable Fall–
[Abner]
Oh! just avenging Heaven!– [aside.
[Mathan]
Sure, Dreams like these are for Prevention given.
117
~ Anne Kingsmill Finch,
611:The Hymn
To the Almighty on his radiant Throne,
Let endless Hallelujas rise!
Praise Him, ye wondrous Heights to us unknown,
Praise Him, ye Heavens unreach'd by mortal Eyes,
Praise Him, in your degree, ye sublunary Skies!
Praise Him, you Angels that before him bow,
You Creatures of Celestial frame,
Our Guests of old, our wakeful Guardians now,
Praise Him, and with like Zeal our Hearts enflame,
Transporting then our Praise to Seats from whence you came!
Praise Him, thou Sun in thy Meridian Force;
Exalt Him, all ye Stars and Light!
Praise Him, thou Moon in thy revolving Course,
Praise Him, thou gentler Guide of silent Night,
Which do's to solemn Praise, and serious Thoughts invite.
Praise Him, ye humid Vapours, which remain
Unfrozen by the sharper Air;
Praise Him, as you return in Show'rs again,
To bless the Earth and make her Pastures fair:
Praise Him, ye climbing Fires, the Emblems of our Pray'r.
Praise Him, ye Waters petrify'd above,
Ye shredded Clouds that fall in Snow,
Praise Him, for that you so divided move;
Ye Hailstones, that you do no larger grow.
Nor, in one solid Mass, oppress the World below.
Praise Him, ye soaring Fowls, still as you fly,
And on gay Plumes your Bodies raise;
You Insects, which in dark Recesses lie,
Altho' th' extremest Distances you try,
Be reconcil'd in This, to offer mutual Praise.
Praise Him, thou Earth, with thy unbounded Store;
Ye Depths which to the Center tend:
Praise Him ye Beasts which in the Forests roar;
145
Praise Him ye Serpents, tho' you downwards bend,
Who made your bruised Head our Ladder to ascend.
Praise Him, ye Men whom youthful Vigour warms;
Ye Children, hast'ning to your Prime;
Praise Him, ye Virgins of unsullied Charms,
With beauteous Lips becoming sacred Rhime:
You Aged, give Him Praise for your encrease of Time.
Praise Him, ye Monarchs in supreme Command,
By Anthems, like the Hebrew Kings;
Then with enlarged Zeal throughout the Land
Reform the Numbers, and reclaim the Strings,
Converting to His Praise, the most Harmonious Things.
Ye Senators presiding by our Choice,
And You Hereditary Peers!
Praise Him by Union, both in Heart and Voice;
Praise Him, who your agreeing Council steers,
Producing sweeter Sounds than the according Spheres.
Praise Him, ye native Altars of the Earth!
Ye Mountains of stupendious size!
Praise Him, ye Trees and Fruits which there have birth,
Praise Him, ye Flames that from their Bowels rise,
All fitted for the use of grateful Sacrifice.
He spake the Word; and from the Chaos rose
The Forms and Species of each Kind:
He spake the Word, which did their Law compose,
And all, with never ceasing Order join'd,
Till ruffl'd for our Sins by his chastising Wind.
But now, you Storms, that have your Fury spent,
As you his Dictates did obey,
Let now your loud and threatening Notes relent,
Tune all your Murmurs to a softer Key,
And bless that Gracious Hand, that did your Progress stay.
From my contemn'd Retreat, obscure and low,
As Grots from when the Winds disperse,
May this His Praise as far extended flow;
146
And if that future Times shall read my Verse,
Tho' worthless in it self, let them his Praise rehearse.
~ Anne Kingsmill Finch,
612:A man decides to be a lawyer and spends years studying law and finally puts out his shingle. He soon finds something in his temperament that makes it impossible for him to make good as a lawyer. He is a complete failure. He is 50 years old, was admitted to the bar when he was 30, and 20 years later, he has not been able to make a living as a lawyer. As a lawyer, he is a failure. A businessman buys a business and tries to operate it. He does everything that he knows how to do but just cannot make it go. Year after year the ledger shows red, and he is not making a profit. He borrows what he can, has a little spirit and a little hope, but that spirit and hope die and he goes broke. Finally, he sells out, hopelessly in debt, and is left a failure in the business world. A woman is educated to be a teacher but just cannot get along with the other teachers. Something in her constitution or temperament will not allow her to get along with children or young people. So after being shuttled from one school to another, she finally gives up, goes somewhere and takes a job running a stapling machine. She just cannot teach and is a failure in the education world. I have known ministers who thought they were called to preach. They prayed and studied and learned Greek and Hebrew, but somehow they just could not make the public want to listen to them. They just couldn’t do it. They were failures in the congregational world. It is possible to be a Christian and yet be a failure. This is the same as Israel in the desert, wandering around. The Israelites were God’s people, protected and fed, but they were failures. They were not where God meant them to be. They compromised. They were halfway between where they used to be and where they ought to be. And that describes many of the Lord’s people. They live and die spiritual failures. I am glad God is good and kind. Failures can crawl into God’s arms, relax and say, “Father, I made a mess of it. I’m a spiritual failure. I haven’t been out doing evil things exactly, but here I am, Father, and I’m old and ready to go and I’m a failure.” Our kind and gracious heavenly Father will not say to that person, “Depart from me—I never knew you,” because that person has believed and does believe in Jesus Christ. The individual has simply been a failure all of his life. He is ready for death and ready for heaven. I wonder if that is what Paul, the man of God, meant when he said: [No] other foundation can [any] man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he should receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (1 Cor. 3:11-15). I think that’s what it means, all right. We ought to be the kind of Christian that cannot only save our souls but also save our lives. When Lot left Sodom, he had nothing but the garments on his back. Thank God, he got out. But how much better it would have been if he had said farewell at the gate and had camels loaded with his goods. He could have gone out with his head up, chin out, saying good riddance to old Sodom. How much better he could have marched away from there with his family. And when he settled in a new place, he could have had “an abundant entrance ~ A W Tozer,
613:And I want to play hide-and-seek and give you my clothes and tell you I like your shoes and sit on the steps while you take a bath and massage your neck and kiss your feet and hold your hand and go for a meal and not mind when you eat my food and meet you at Rudy's and talk about the day and type up your letters and carry your boxes and laugh at your paranoia and give you tapes you don't listen to and watch great films and watch terrible films and complain about the radio and take pictures of you when you're sleeping and get up to fetch you coffee and bagels and Danish and go to Florent and drink coffee at midnight and have you steal my cigarettes and never be able to find a match and tell you about the tv programme I saw the night before and take you to the eye hospital and not laugh at your jokes and want you in the morning but let you sleep for a while and kiss your back and stroke your skin and tell you how much I love your hair your eyes your lips your neck your breasts your arse your

and sit on the steps smoking till your neighbour comes home and sit on the steps smoking till you come home and worry when you're late and be amazed when you're early and give you sunflowers and go to your party and dance till I'm black and be sorry when I'm wrong and happy when you forgive me and look at your photos and wish I'd known you forever and hear your voice in my ear and feel your skin on my skin and get scared when you're angry and your eye has gone red and the other eye blue and your hair to the left and your face oriental and tell you you're gorgeous and hug you when you're anxious and hold you when you hurt and want you when I smell you and offend you when I touch you and whimper when I'm next to you and whimper when I'm not and dribble on your breast and smother you in the night and get cold when you take the blanket and hot when you don't and melt when you smile and dissolve when you laugh and not understand why you think I'm rejecting you when I'm not rejecting you and wonder how you could think I'd ever reject you and wonder who you are but accept you anyway and tell you about the tree angel enchanted forest boy who flew across the ocean because he loved you and write poems for you and wonder why you don't believe me and have a feeling so deep I can't find words for it and want to buy you a kitten I'd get jealous of because it would get more attention than me and keep you in bed when you have to go and cry like a baby when you finally do and get rid of the roaches and buy you presents you don't want and take them away again and ask you to marry me and you say no again but keep on asking because though you think I don't mean it I do always have from the first time I asked you and wander the city thinking it's empty without you and want what you want and think I'm losing myself but know I'm safe with you and tell you the worst of me and try to give you the best of me because you don't deserve any less and answer your questions when I'd rather not and tell you the truth when I really don't want to and try to be honest because I know you prefer it and think it's all over but hang on in for just ten more minutes before you throw me out of your life and forget who I am and try to get closer to you because it's beautiful learning to know you and well worth the effort and speak German to you badly and Hebrew to you worse and make love with you at three in the morning and somehow somehow somehow communicate some of the overwhelming undying overpowering unconditional all-encompassing heart-enriching mind-expanding on-going never-ending love I have for you. ~ Sarah Kane,
614:Daphnis And Chloe
Daphnis must from Chloe part:
Now is come the dismal Hour
That must all his Hopes devour,
All his Labour, all his Art.
Nature, her own Sexes foe,
Long had taught her to be coy:
But she neither knew t' enjoy,
Nor yet let her Lover go.
But, with this sad News surpriz'd,
Soon she let that Niceness fall;
And would gladly yield to all,
So it had his stay compriz'd.
Nature so her self does use
To lay by her wonted State,
Left the World should separate;
Sudden Parting closer glews.
He, well read in all the wayes
By which men their Siege maintain,
Knew not that the Fort to gain
Better 'twas the siege to raise.
But he came so full possest
With the Grief of Parting thence,
That he had not so much Sence
As to see he might be blest.
Till Love in her Language breath'd
Words she never spake before;
But then Legacies no more
To a dying Man bequeath'd.
For, Alas, the time was spent,
Now the latest minut's run
When poor Daphnis is undone,
Between Joy and Sorrow rent.
47
At that Why, that Stay my Dear,
His disorder'd Locks he tare;
And with rouling Eyes did glare,
And his cruel Fate forswear.
As the Soul of one scarce dead,
With the shrieks of Friends aghast,
Looks distracted back in hast,
And then streight again is fled.
So did wretched Daphnis look,
Frighting her he loved most.
At the last, this Lovers Ghost
Thus his Leave resolved took.
Are my Hell and Heaven Joyn'd
More to torture him that dies?
Could departure not suffice,
But that you must then grow kind?
Ah my Chloe how have I
Such a wretched minute found,
When thy Favours should me wound
More than all thy Cruelty?
So to the condemned Wight
The delicious Cup we fill;
And allow him all he will,
For his last and short Delight.
But I will not now begin
Such a Debt unto my Foe;
Nor to my Departure owe
What my Presence could not win.
Absence is too much alone:
Better 'tis to go in peace,
Than my Losses to increase
By a late Fruition.
Why should I enrich my Fate?
48
'Tis a Vanity to wear,
For my Executioner,
Jewels of so high a rate.
Rather I away will pine
In a manly stubborness
Than be fatted up express
For the Canibal to dine.
Whilst this grief does thee disarm,
All th' Enjoyment of our Love
But the ravishment would prove
Of a Body dead while warm.
And I parting should appear
Like the Gourmand Hebrew dead,
While he Quailes and Manna fed,
And does through the Desert err.
Or the Witch that midnight wakes
For the Fern, whose magick Weed
In one minute casts the Seed.
And invisible him makes.
Gentler times for Love are ment:
Who for parting pleasure strain
Gather Roses in the rain,
Wet themselves and spoil their Sent.
Farewel therefore all the fruit
Which I could from Love receive:
Joy will not with Sorrow weave,
Nor will I this Grief pollute.
Fate I come, as dark, as sad,
As thy Malice could desire;
Yet bring with me all the Fire
That Love in his Torches had.
At these words away he broke;
As who long has praying ly'n,
To his Heads-man makes the Sign,
49
And receives the parting stroke.
But hence Virgins all beware.
Last night he with Phlogis slept;
This night for Dorinda kept;
And but rid to take the Air.
Yet he does himself excuse;
Nor indeed without a Cause.
For, according to the Lawes,
Why did Chloe once refuse?
~ Andrew Marvell,
615:A Dream Of The Melbourne Cup
Bring me a quart of colonial beer
And some doughy damper to make good cheer,
I must make a heavy dinner;
Heavily dine and heavily sup,
Of indigestible things fill up,
Next month they run the Melbourne Cup,
And I have to dream the winner.
Stoke it in, boys! the half-cooked ham,
The rich ragout and the charming cham.,
I've got to mix my liquor;
Give me a gander's gaunt hind leg,
Hard and tough as a wooden peg,
And I'll keep it down with a hard-boiled egg,
'Twill make me dream the quicker.
Now that I'm full of fearful feed,
Oh, but I'll dream of a winner indeed
In my restless, troubled slumber;
While the night-mares race through my heated brain
And their devil-riders spur amain,
The trip for the Cup will reward my pain,
And I'll spot the winning number.
Thousands and thousands and thousands more,
Like sands on the white Pacific shore,
The crowding people cluster;
For evermore is the story old,
While races are bought and backers are sold,
Drawn by the greed of the gain of gold,
In their thousands still they muster.
And the bookies' cries grow fierce and hot,
'I'll lay the Cup! The double, if not! '
'Five monkeys, Little John, sir! '
'Here's fives bar one, I lay, I lay! '
And so they shout through the livelong day,
And stick to the game that is sure to pay,
26
While fools put money on, sir!
And now in my dream I seem to go
And bet with a 'book' that I seem to know A Hebrew money-lender;
A million to five is the price I get Not bad! but before I book the bet
The horse's name I clean forgret,
Its number and even gender.
Now for the start, and here they come,
And the hoof-strokes roar like a mighty drum
Beat by a hand unsteady;
They come like a rushing, roaring flood,
Hurrah for the speed of the Chester blood;
For Acme is making the pace so good
They are some of 'em done already.
But round the track she begins to tire,
And a mighty shout goes up 'Crossfire! '
The magpie jacket's leading;
And Crossfire challenges fierce and bold,
And the lead she'll have and the lead she'll hold,
But at length gives way to the black and gold,
Which right to the front is speeding.
Carry them on and keep it up A flying race is the Melbourne Cup,
You must race and stay to win it;
And old Commotion, Victoria's pride,
Now takes the lead with his raking stride,
And a mighty roar goes far and wide 'There's only Commotion in it! '
But one draws out from the beaten ruck
And up on the rails by a piece of luck
He comes in a style that's clever;
'It's Trident! Trident! Hurrah for Hales! '
'Go at 'em now while their courage fails; '
'Trident! Trident! for New South Wales! '
'The blue and white for ever! '
27
Under the whip! with the ears flat back,
Under the whip! though the sinews crack,
No sign of the base white feather:
Stick to it now for your breeding's sake,
Stick to it now though your hearts should break,
While the yells and roars make the grand-stand shake,
They come down the straignt together.
Trident slowly forges ahead,
The fierce whips cut and the spurs are red,
The pace is undiminished
Now for the Panics that never fail!
But many a backer's face grows pale
As old Commotion swings his tail
And swerves - and the Cup is finished.
And now in my dream it all comes back:
I bet my coin on the Sydney crack,
A million I've won, no question!
'Give me my money, you hook-nosed hog!
Give me my money, bookmaking dog! '
But he disappeared in a kind of fog,
And I woke with 'the indigestion'.
~ Banjo Paterson,
616:A businessman buys a business and tries to operate it. He does everything that he knows how to do but just cannot make it go. Year after year the ledger shows red, and he is not making a profit. He borrows what he can, has a little spirit and a little hope, but that spirit and hope die and he goes broke. Finally, he sells out, hopelessly in debt, and is left a failure in the business world. A woman is educated to be a teacher but just cannot get along with the other teachers. Something in her constitution or temperament will not allow her to get along with children or young people. So after being shuttled from one school to another, she finally gives up, goes somewhere and takes a job running a stapling machine. She just cannot teach and is a failure in the education world. I have known ministers who thought they were called to preach. They prayed and studied and learned Greek and Hebrew, but somehow they just could not make the public want to listen to them. They just couldn’t do it. They were failures in the congregational world. It is possible to be a Christian and yet be a failure. This is the same as Israel in the desert, wandering around. The Israelites were God’s people, protected and fed, but they were failures. They were not where God meant them to be. They compromised. They were halfway between where they used to be and where they ought to be. And that describes many of the Lord’s people. They live and die spiritual failures. I am glad God is good and kind. Failures can crawl into God’s arms, relax and say, “Father, I made a mess of it. I’m a spiritual failure. I haven’t been out doing evil things exactly, but here I am, Father, and I’m old and ready to go and I’m a failure.” Our kind and gracious heavenly Father will not say to that person, “Depart from me—I never knew you,” because that person has believed and does believe in Jesus Christ. The individual has simply been a failure all of his life. He is ready for death and ready for heaven. I wonder if that is what Paul, the man of God, meant when he said: [No] other foundation can [any] man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he should receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (1 Cor. 3:11-15). I think that’s what it means, all right. We ought to be the kind of Christian that cannot only save our souls but also save our lives. When Lot left Sodom, he had nothing but the garments on his back. Thank God, he got out. But how much better it would have been if he had said farewell at the gate and had camels loaded with his goods. He could have gone out with his head up, chin out, saying good riddance to old Sodom. How much better he could have marched away from there with his family. And when he settled in a new place, he could have had “an abundant entrance” (see 2 Pet. 1:11). Thank God, you are going to make it. But do you want to make it in the way you have been acting lately? Wandering, roaming aimlessly? When there is a place where Jesus will pour “the oil of gladness” on our heads, a place sweeter than any other in the entire world, the blood-bought mercy seat (Ps. 45:7; Heb. 1:9)? It is the will of God that you should enter the holy of holies, live under the shadow of the mercy seat, and go out from there and always come back to be renewed and recharged and re-fed. It is the will of God that you live by the mercy seat, living a separated, clean, holy, sacrificial life—a life of continual spiritual difference. Wouldn’t that be better than the way you are doing it now? ~ A W Tozer,
617:Take a look at the following list of numbers: 4, 8, 5, 3, 9, 7, 6. Read them out loud. Now look away and spend twenty seconds memorizing that sequence before saying them out loud again. If you speak English, you have about a 50 percent chance of remembering that sequence perfectly. If you're Chinese, though, you're almost certain to get it right every time. Why is that? Because as human beings we store digits in a memory loop that runs for about two seconds. We most easily memorize whatever we can say or read within that two-second span. And Chinese speakers get that list of numbers—4, 8, 5, 3, 9, 7, 6—right almost every time because, unlike English, their language allows them to fit all those seven numbers into two seconds. That example comes from Stanislas Dehaene's book The Number Sense. As Dehaene explains: Chinese number words are remarkably brief. Most of them can be uttered in less than one-quarter of a second (for instance, 4 is "si" and 7 "qi"). Their English equivalents—"four," "seven"—are longer: pronouncing them takes about one-third of a second. The memory gap between English and Chinese apparently is entirely due to this difference in length. In languages as diverse as Welsh, Arabic, Chinese, English and Hebrew, there is a reproducible correlation between the time required to pronounce numbers in a given language and the memory span of its speakers. In this domain, the prize for efficacy goes to the Cantonese dialect of Chinese, whose brevity grants residents of Hong Kong a rocketing memory span of about 10 digits. It turns out that there is also a big difference in how number-naming systems in Western and Asian languages are constructed. In English, we say fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, so one might expect that we would also say oneteen, twoteen, threeteen, and five- teen. But we don't. We use a different form: eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fifteen. Similarly, we have forty and sixty, which sound like the words they are related to (four and six). But we also say fifty and thirty and twenty, which sort of sound like five and three and two, but not really. And, for that matter, for numbers above twenty, we put the "decade" first and the unit number second (twentyone, twenty-two), whereas for the teens, we do it the other way around (fourteen, seventeen, eighteen). The number system in English is highly irregular. Not so in China, Japan, and Korea. They have a logical counting system. Eleven is ten-one. Twelve is ten-two. Twenty-four is two- tens-four and so on. That difference means that Asian children learn to count much faster than American children. Four-year-old Chinese children can count, on average, to forty. American children at that age can count only to fifteen, and most don't reach forty until they're five. By the age of five, in other words, American children are already a year behind their Asian counterparts in the most fundamental of math skills. The regularity of their number system also means that Asian children can perform basic functions, such as addition, far more easily. Ask an English-speaking seven-yearold to add thirty-seven plus twenty-two in her head, and she has to convert the words to numbers (37+22). Only then can she do the math: 2 plus 7 is 9 and 30 and 20 is 50, which makes 59. Ask an Asian child to add three-tensseven and two-tens-two, and then the necessary equation is right there, embedded in the sentence. No number translation is necessary: It's five-tens-nine. "The Asian system is transparent," says Karen Fuson, a Northwestern University psychologist who has closely studied Asian-Western differences. "I think that it makes the whole attitude toward math different. Instead of being a rote learning thing, there's a pattern I can figure out. There is an expectation that I can do this. There is an expectation that it's sensible. For fractions, we say three-fifths. The Chinese is literally 'out of five parts, take three.' That's telling you conceptually ~ Anonymous,
618:So which theory did Lagos believe in? The
relativist or the universalist?"
"He did not seem to think there was much of a difference. In the end, they are
both somewhat mystical. Lagos believed that both schools of thought had
essentially arrived at the same place by different lines of reasoning."
"But it seems to me there is a key difference," Hiro says. "The universalists
think that we are determined by the prepatterned structure of our brains -- the
pathways in the cortex. The relativists don't believe that we have any limits."
"Lagos modified the strict Chomskyan theory by supposing that learning a
language is like blowing code into PROMs -- an analogy that I cannot interpret."
"The analogy is clear. PROMs are Programmable Read-Only Memory chips," Hiro
says. "When they come from the factory, they have no content. Once and only
once, you can place information into those chips and then freeze it -- the
information, the software, becomes frozen into the chip -- it transmutes into
hardware. After you have blown the code into the PROMs, you can read it out,
but you can't write to them anymore. So Lagos was trying to say that the
newborn human brain has no structure -- as the relativists would have it -- and
that as the child learns a language, the developing brain structures itself
accordingly, the language gets 'blown into the hardware and becomes a permanent
part of the brain's deep structure -- as the universalists would have it."
"Yes. This was his interpretation."
"Okay. So when he talked about Enki being a real person with magical powers,
what he meant was that Enki somehow understood the connection between language
and the brain, knew how to manipulate it. The same way that a hacker, knowing
the secrets of a computer system, can write code to control it -- digital namshubs?"
"Lagos said that Enki had the ability to ascend into the universe of language
and see it before his eyes. Much as humans go into the Metaverse. That gave
him power to create nam-shubs. And nam-shubs had the power to alter the
functioning of the brain and of the body."
"Why isn't anyone doing this kind of thing nowadays? Why aren't there any namshubs
in English?"
"Not all languages are the same, as Steiner points out. Some languages are
better at metaphor than others. Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Chinese lend
themselves to word play and have achieved a lasting grip on reality: Palestine
had Qiryat Sefer, the 'City of the Letter,' and Syria had Byblos, the 'Town of
the Book.' By contrast other civilizations seem 'speechless' or at least, as may
have been the case in Egypt, not entirely cognizant of the creative and
transformational powers of language. Lagos believed that Sumerian was an
extraordinarily powerful language -- at least it was in Sumer five thousand
years ago."
"A language that lent itself to Enki's neurolinguistic hacking."
"Early linguists, as well as the Kabbalists, believed in a fictional language
called the tongue of Eden, the language of Adam. It enabled all men to
understand each other, to communicate without misunderstanding. It was the
language of the Logos, the moment when God created the world by speaking a word.
In the tongue of Eden, naming a thing was the same as creating it. To quote
Steiner again, 'Our speech interposes itself between apprehension and truth like
a dusty pane or warped mirror. The tongue of Eden was like a flawless glass; a
light of total understanding streamed through it. Thus Babel was a second
Fall.' And Isaac the Blind, an early Kabbalist, said that, to quote Gershom
Scholem's translation, 'The speech of men is connected with divine speech and
all language whether heavenly or human derives from one source: the Divine
Name.' The practical Kabbalists, the sorcerers, bore the title Ba'al Shem,
meaning 'master of the divine name.'"
"The machine language of the world," Hiro says. ~ Neal Stephenson,
619:The Groans Of The Tankard
OF strange events I sing, and portents dire;
The wond'rous themes a reverent ear require;
Tho' strange the tale, the faithful Muse believe,
And what she says with pious awe receive.
'Twas at the solemn, silent, noon-tide hour,
When hunger rages with despotic power,
When the lean student quits his Hebrew roots
For the gross nourishment of English fruits,
And throws unfinish'd airy systems by
For solid pudding and substantial pye,
When hungry poets the glad summons own,
And leave spare fast to dine with Gods alone;
Our sober meal dispatch'd with silent haste,
The decent grace concludes the short repast:
Then urg'd by thirst we cast impatient eyes
Where deep, capacious, vast, of ample size,
The tankard stood, replenish'd to the brink
With the cool beverage blue-ey'd Naiads drink.
But lo! a sudden prodigy appears,
And our chill'd hearts recoil with startling fears;
Its yawning mouth disclos'd the deep profound,
And in low murmurs breath'd a sullen sound;
Cold drops of dew did on the sides appear;
No finger touch'd it, and no hand was near;
At length th' indignant vase its silence broke,
First heav'd deep hollow groans, and then distinctly spoke.
'How chang'd the scene! for what unpardon'd crimes
'Have I surviv'd to these degenerate times?
'I, who was wont the festal board to grace,
'And midst the circle lift my honest face,
'White o'er with froth, like Etna crown'd with snow,
'Which mantled o'er the brown abyss below,
'Where Ceres mingled with her golden store
'The richer spoils of either India's shore,
'The dulcet reed the Western islands boast,
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'And spicy fruit from Banda's fragrant coast.
'At solemn feasts the nectar'd draught I pour'd,
'And often journey'd round the ample board:
'The portly Alderman, the stately Mayor,
'And all the furry tribe my worth declare;
'And the keen Sportsman oft, his labours done,
'To me retreating with the setting sun,
'Deep draughts imbib'd, and conquere'd land and sea,
'And overthrew the pride of France by me.
'Let meaner clay contain the limpid wave,
'The clay for such an office nature gave;
'Let China's earth, enrich'd with colour'd stains,
'Pencil'd with gold, and streak'd with azure veins,
'The grateful flavour of the Indian leaf,
'Or Mocho's sunburnt berry glad receive;
'The nobler metal claims more generous use,
'And mine should flow with more exalted juice.
'Did I for this my native bed resign,
'From the dark bowels of Potosi's mine?
'Was I for this with violence torn away,
'And drag'd to regions of the upper day?
'For this the rage of torturing furnace bore,
'From foreign dross to purge the bright'ning ore?
'For this have I endur'd the fiery test,
'And was I stamp'd for this with Britain's lofty crest?
'Unblest the day, and luckless was the hour
'Which doom'd me to a Presbyterian's power;
'Fated to serve the Puritanick race,
'Whose slender meal is shorter than their grace;
'Whose moping sons no jovial orgies keep;
'Where evening brings no summons but to sleep;
'No Carnival is even Christmas here,
'And one long Lent involves the meagre year.
'Bear me, ye pow'rs! to some more genial scene,
'Where on soft cushions lolls the gouty Dean,
'Or rosy Prebend, with cherubic face,
'With double chin, and paunch of portly grace,
'Who lull'd in downy slumbers shall agree
135
'To own no inspiration but from me.
'Or to some spacious mansion, Gothic, old,
'Where Comus sprightly train their vigils hold;
'There oft exhausted, and replenish'd oft,
'Oh! let me still supply th' eternal draught;
'Till care within the deep abyss be drown'd,
'And thought grows giddy at the vast profound.'
More had the goblet spoke, but lo ! appears
An ancient Sybil furrow'd o'er with years;
Her aspect sour, and stern ungracious look
With sudden damp the conscious vessel struck;
Chill'd at her touch its mouth it slowly clos'd,
And in long silence all its griefs repos'd:
Yet still low murmurs creep along the ground,
And the air vibrates with the silver sound.
~ Anna Laetitia Barbauld,
620: ON FREE

DEATH

Many die too late, and a few die too early. The
doctrine still sounds strange: "Die at the right timely"
Die at the right time-thus teaches Zarathustra. Of
course, how could those who never live at the right time
die at the right time? Would that they had never been
born Thus I counsel the superfluous. But even the
superfluous still make a fuss about their dying; and
even the hollowest nut still wants to be cracked. Everybody considers dying important; but as yet death is no
festival. As yet men have not learned how one hallows
the most beautiful festivals.
I show you the death that consummates-a spur and
a promise to the survivors. He that consummates his
life dies his death victoriously, surrounded by those
who hope and promise. Thus should one learn to die;
and there should be no festival where one dying thus
does not hallow the oaths of the living.
To die thus is best; second to this, however, is to die
fighting and to squander a great soul. But equally hateful to the fighter and the victor is your grinning death,
which creeps up like a thief-and yet comes as the
master.
My death I praise to you, the free death which
comes to me because I want it. And when shall I want
it? He who has a goal and an heir will want death at
the right time for his goal and heir. And from reverence
for his goal and heir he will hang no more dry wreaths
in the sanctuary of life. Verily, I do not want to be like
the ropemakers: they drag out their threads and always
walk backwards.
Some become too old even for their truths and victories: a toothless mouth no longer has the right to
every truth. And everybody who wants fame must take
leave of honor betimes and practice the difficult art of
leaving at the right time.
One must cease letting oneself be eaten when one
tastes best: that is known to those who want to be
loved long. There are sour apples, to be sure, whose lot
requires that they wait till the last day of autumn: and
they become ripe, yellow, and wrinkled all at once. In
some, the heart grows old first; in others, the spirit.
And some are old in their youth. but late youth preserves long youth.
For some, life turns out badly: a poisonous worm eats
its way to their heart. Let them see to it that their dying turns out that much better. Some never become
sweet; they rot already in the summer. It is cowardice
that keeps them on their branch.
All-too-many live, and all-too-long they hang on their
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branches. Would that a storm came to shake all this
worm-eaten Tot from the tree
Would that there came preachers of quick death! I
would like them as the true storms and shakers of the
trees of life. But I hear only slow death preached, and
patience with everything "earthly."
Alas, do you preach patience with the earthly? It is
the earthly that has too much patience with you, blasphemersl
Verily, that Hebrew died too early whom the preachers of slow death honor; and for many it has become a
calamity that he died too early. As yet he knew only
tears and the melancholy of the Hebrew, and hatred of
the good and the just-the Hebrew Jesus: then the
longing for death overcame him. Would that he had
remained in the wilderness and far from the good and
the just Perhaps he would have learned to live and to
love the earth-and laughter too.
Believe me, my brothers! He died too early; he himself would have recanted his teaching, had he reached
my age. Noble enough was he to recant. But he was not
yet mature. Immature is the love of the youth, and immature his hatred of man and earth. His mind and the
wings of his spirit are still tied down and heavy.
But in the man there is more of the child than in the
youth, and less melancholy: he knows better how to die
and to live. Free to die and free in death, able to say a
holy No when the time for Yes has' passed: thus he
knows how to die and to live.
That your dying be no blasphemy against man and
earth, my friends, that I ask of the honey of your soul.
In your dying, your spirit and virtue should still glow
like a sunset around the earth: else your dying has
turned out badly.
Thus I want to die myself that you, my friends, may
love the earth more for my sake; and to earth I want
to return that I may find rest in her who gave birth to
me.
Verily, Zarathustra had a goal; he threw his ball:
now you, my friends, are the heirs of my goal; to you I
throw my golden ball. More than anything, I like to see
you, my friends, throwing the golden ball. And so I still
linger a little on the earth: forgive me for that.
Thus spoke Zarathustra.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, ON FREE DEATH
,
621:A Farewell To Tobacco
May the Babylonish curse
Straight confound my stammering verse,
If I can a passage see
In this word-perplexity,
Or a fit expression find,
Or a language to my mind,
(Still the phrase is wide or scant)
To take leave of thee, great plant!
Or in any terms relate
Half my love, or half my hate:
For I hate, yet love, thee so,
That, whichever thing I shew,
The plain truth will seem to be
A constrain'd hyperbole,
And the passion to proceed
More from a mistress than a weed.
Sooty retainer to the vine,
Bacchus' black servant, negro fine;
Sorcerer, that mak'st us dote upon
Thy begrimed complexion,
And, for thy pernicious sake,
More and greater oaths to break
Than reclaimed lovers take
'Gainst women: thou thy siege dost lay
Much too in the female way,
While thou suck'st the lab'ring breath
Faster than kisses or than death.
Thou in such a cloud dost bind us,
That our worst foes cannot find us,
And ill fortune, that would thwart us,
Shoots at rovers, shooting at us;
While each man, thro' thy height'ning steam,
Does like a smoking Etna seem,
And all about us does express
(Fancy and wit in richest dress)
10
A Sicilian fruitfulness.
Thou through such a mist dost shew us,
That our best friends do not know us,
And, for those allowed features,
Due to reasonable creatures,
Liken'st us to fell Chimeras,
Monsters that, who see us, fear us;
Worse than Cerberus or Geryon,
Or, who first lov'd a cloud, Ixion.
Bacchus we know, and we allow
His tipsy rites. But what art thou,
That but by reflex canst shew
What his deity can do,
As the false Egyptian spell
Aped the true Hebrew miracle?
Some few vapours thou may'st raise,
The weak brain may serve to amaze,
But to the reins and nobler heart
Canst nor life nor heat impart.
Brother of Bacchus, later born,
The old world was sure forlorn,
Wanting thee, that aidest more
The god's victories than before
All his panthers, and the brawls
Of his piping Bacchanals.
These, as stale, we disallow,
Or judge of thee meant: only thou
His true Indian conquest art;
And, for ivy round his dart,
The reformed god now weaves
A finer thyrsus of thy leaves.
Scent to match thy rich perfume
Chemic art did ne'er presume
Through her quaint alembic strain,
11
None so sov'reign to the brain.
Nature, that did in thee excel,
Fram'd again no second smell.
Roses, violets, but toys
For the smaller sort of boys,
Or for greener damsels meant;
Thou art the only manly scent.
Stinking'st of the stinking kind,
Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind,
Africa, that brags her foyson,
Breeds no such prodigious poison,
Henbane, nightshade, both together,
Hemlock, aconite ---
Nay, rather,
Plant divine, of rarest virtue;
Blisters on the tongue would hurt you.
'Twas but in a sort I blam'd thee;
None e'er prosper'd who defam'd thee;
Irony all, and feign'd abuse,
Such as perplext lovers use,
At a need, when, in despair
To paint forth their fairest fair,
Or in part but to express
That exceeding comeliness
Which their fancies doth so strike,
They borrow language of dislike;
And, instead of Dearest Miss,
Jewel, Honey, Sweetheart, Bliss,
And those forms of old admiring,
Call her Cockatrice and Siren,
Basilisk, and all that's evil,
Witch, Hyena, Mermaid, Devil,
Ethiop, Wench, and Blackamoor,
Monkey, Ape, and twenty more;
Friendly Trait'ress, loving Foe,Not that she is truly so,
But no other way they know
A contentment to express,
12
Borders so upon excess,
That they do not rightly wot
Whether it be pain or not.
Or, as men, constrain'd to part
With what's nearest to their heart,
While their sorrow's at the height,
Lose discrimination quite,
And their hasty wrath let fall,
To appease their frantic gall,
On the darling thing whatever,
Whence they feel it death to sever,
Though it be, as they, perforce,
Guiltless of the sad divorce.
For I must (nor let it grieve thee,
Friendliest of plants, that I must) leave thee.
For thy sake, tobacco, I
Would do any thing but die,
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
But, as she, who once hath been
A king's consort, is a queen
Ever after, nor will bate
Any tittle of her state,
Though a widow, or divorced,
So I, from thy converse forced,
The old name and style retain,
A right Katherine of Spain;
And a seat, too, 'mongst the joys
Of the blest Tobacco Boys;
Where, though I, by sour physician,
Am debarr'd the full fruition
Of thy favours, I may catch
Some collateral sweets, and snatch
Sidelong odours, that give life
Like glances from a neighbour's wife;
And still live in the by-places
And the suburbs of thy graces;
And in thy borders take delight,
13
An unconquer'd Canaanite.
~ Charles Lamb,
622:Pilate's Wife's Dream
I've quenched my lamp, I struck it in that start
Which every limb convulsed, I heard it fall­
The crash blent with my sleep, I saw depart
Its light, even as I woke, on yonder wall;
Over against my bed, there shone a gleam
Strange, faint, and mingling also with my dream.
It sunk, and I am wrapt in utter gloom;
How far is night advanced, and when will day
Retinge the dusk and livid air with bloom,
And fill this void with warm, creative ray ?
Would I could sleep again till, clear and red,
Morning shall on the mountain-tops be spread!
I'd call my women, but to break their sleep,
Because my own is broken, were unjust;
They've wrought all day, and well-earned slumbers steep
Their labours in forgetfulness, I trust;
Let me my feverish watch with patience bear,
Thankful that none with me its sufferings share.
Yet, Oh, for light ! one ray would tranquilise
My nerves, my pulses, more than effort can;
I'll draw my curtain and consult the skies:
These trembling stars at dead of night look wan,
Wild, restless, strange, yet cannot be more drear
Than this my couch, shared by a nameless fear.
All black­one great cloud, drawn from east to west,
Conceals the heavens, but there are lights below;
Torches burn in Jerusalem, and cast
On yonder stony mount a lurid glow.
I see men stationed there, and gleaming spears;
A sound, too, from afar, invades my ears.
Dull, measured, strokes of axe and hammer ring
From street to street, not loud, but through the night
Distinctly heard­and some strange spectral thing
45
Is now upreared­and, fixed against the light
Of the pale lamps; defined upon that sky,
It stands up like a column, straight and high.
I see it all­I know the dusky sign­
A cross on Calvary, which Jews uprear
While Romans watch; and when the dawn shall shine
Pilate, to judge the victim will appear,
Pass sentence­yield him up to crucify;
And on that cross the spotless Christ must die.
Dreams, then, are true­for thus my vision ran;
Surely some oracle has been with me,
The gods have chosen me to reveal their plan,
To warn an unjust judge of destiny:
I, slumbering, heard and saw; awake I know,
Christ's coming death, and Pilate's life of woe.
I do not weep for Pilate­who could prove
Regret for him whose cold and crushing sway
No prayer can soften, no appeal can move;
Who tramples hearts as others trample clay,
Yet with a faltering, an uncertain tread,
That might stir up reprisal in the dead.
Forced to sit by his side and see his deeds;
Forced to behold that visage, hour by hour,
In whose gaunt lines, the abhorrent gazer reads
A triple lust of gold, and blood, and power;
A soul whom motives, fierce, yet abject, urge
Rome's servile slave, and Judah's tyrant scourge.
How can I love, or mourn, or pity him ?
I, who so long my fettered hands have wrung;
I, who for grief have wept my eye-sight dim;
Because, while life for me was bright and young,
He robbed my youth­he quenched my life's fair ray­
He crushed my mind, and did my freedom slay.
46
And at this hour­although I be his wife­
He has no more of tenderness from me
Than any other wretch of guilty life;
Less, for I know his household privacy­
I see him as he is­without a screen;
And, by the gods, my soul abhors his mien !
Has he not sought my presence, dyed in blood­
Innocent, righteous blood, shed shamelessly ?
And have I not his red salute withstood ?
Aye,­when, as erst, he plunged all Galilee
In dark bereavement­in affliction sore,
Mingling their very offerings with their gore.
Then came he­in his eyes a serpent-smile,
Upon his lips some false, endearing word,
And, through the streets of Salem, clanged the while,
His slaughtering, hacking, sacrilegious sword­
And I, to see a man cause men such woe,
Trembled with ire­I did not fear to show.
And now, the envious Jewish priests have brought
Jesus­whom they in mockery call their king­
To have, by this grim power, their vengeance wrought;
By this mean reptile, innocence to sting.
Oh ! could I but the purposed doom avert,
And shield the blameless head from cruel hurt!
Accessible is Pilate's heart to fear,
Omens will shake his soul, like autumn leaf;
Could he this night's appalling vision hear,
This just man's bonds were loosed, his life were safe,
Unless that bitter priesthood should prevail,
And make even terror to their malice quail.
Yet if I tell the dream­but let me pause.
What dream ? Erewhile the characters were clear,
Graved on my brain­at once some unknown cause
Has dimmed and rased the thoughts, which now appear,
Like a vague remnant of some by-past scene;­
Not what will be, but what, long since, has been.
47
I suffered many things, I heard foretold
A dreadful doom for Pilate,­lingering woes,
In far, barbarian climes, where mountains cold
Built up a solitude of trackless snows,
There, he and grisly wolves prowled side by side,
There he lived famished­there methought he died;
But not of hunger, nor by malady;
I saw the snow around him, stained with gore;
I said I had no tears for such as he,
And, lo ! my cheek is wet­mine eyes run o'er;
I weep for mortal suffering, mortal guilt,
I weep the impious deed­the blood self-spilt.
More I recall not, yet the vision spread
Into a world remote, an age to come­
And still the illumined name of Jesus shed
A light, a clearness, through the enfolding gloom­
And still I saw that sign, which now I see,
That cross on yonder brow of Calvary.
What is this Hebrew Christ ? To me unknown,
His lineage­doctrine­mission­yet how clear,
Is God-like goodness, in his actions shewn !
How straight and stainless is his life's career !
The ray of Deity that rests on him,
In my eyes makes Olympian glory dim.
The world advances, Greek, or Roman rite
Suffices not the inquiring mind to stay;
The searching soul demands a purer light
To guide it on its upward, onward way;
Ashamed of sculptured gods­Religion turns
To where the unseen Jehovah's altar burns.
Our faith is rotten­all our rites defiled,
Our temples sullied, and methinks, this man,
With his new ordinance, so wise and mild,
Is come, even as he says, the chaff to fan
48
And sever from the wheat; but will his faith
Survive the terrors of to-morrow's death ?
*****
I feel a firmer trust­a higher hope
Rise in my soul­it dawns with dawning day;
Lo ! on the Temple's roof­on Moriah's slope
Appears at length that clear, and crimson ray,
Which I so wished for when shut in by night;
Oh, opening skies, I hail, I bless your light !
Part, clouds and shadows ! glorious Sun appear !
Part, mental gloom ! Come insight from on high !
Dusk dawn in heaven still strives with daylight clear,
The longing soul, doth still uncertain sigh.
Oh ! to behold the truth­that sun divine,
How doth my bosom pant, my spirit pine !
This day, time travails with a mighty birth,
This day, Truth stoops from heaven and visits earth,
Ere night descends, I shall more surely know
What guide to follow, in what path to go;
I wait in hope­I wait in solemn fear,
The oracle of God­the sole­true God­to hear.
~ Charlotte Brontë,
623:Kaddish, Part I
Strange now to think of you, gone without corsets & eyes, while I walk on
the sunny pavement of Greenwich Village.
downtown Manhattan, clear winter noon, and I've been up all night, talking,
talking, reading the Kaddish aloud, listening to Ray Charles blues
shout blind on the phonograph
the rhythm the rhythm--and your memory in my head three years after-And read Adonais' last triumphant stanzas aloud--wept, realizing
how we suffer-And how Death is that remedy all singers dream of, sing, remember,
prophesy as in the Hebrew Anthem, or the Buddhist Book of Answers--and my own imagination of a withered leaf--at dawn-Dreaming back thru life, Your time--and mine accelerating toward Apocalypse,
the final moment--the flower burning in the Day--and what comes after,
looking back on the mind itself that saw an American city
a flash away, and the great dream of Me or China, or you and a phantom
Russia, or a crumpled bed that never existed-like a poem in the dark--escaped back to Oblivion-No more to say, and nothing to weep for but the Beings in the Dream,
trapped in its disappearance,
sighing, screaming with it, buying and selling pieces of phantom, worshipping each other,
worshipping the God included in it all--longing or inevitability?--while it
lasts, a Vision--anything more?
It leaps about me, as I go out and walk the street, look back over my shoulder,
Seventh Avenue, the battlements of window office buildings shouldering each other high, under a cloud, tall as the sky an instant--and
the sky above--an old blue place.
or down the Avenue to the south, to--as I walk toward the Lower East Side
--where you walked 50 years ago, little girl--from Russia, eating the
first poisonous tomatoes of America frightened on the dock
then struggling in the crowds of Orchard Street toward what?--toward
Newark-toward candy store, first home-made sodas of the century, hand-churned ice
cream in backroom on musty brownfloor boards-Toward education marriage nervous breakdown, operation, teaching school,
and learning to be mad, in a dream--what is this life?
Toward the Key in the window--and the great Key lays its head of light
on top of Manhattan, and over the floor, and lays down on the
46
sidewalk--in a single vast beam, moving, as I walk down First toward
the Yiddish Theater--and the place of poverty
you knew, and I know, but without caring now--Strange to have moved
thru Paterson, and the West, and Europe and here again,
with the cries of Spaniards now in the doorstops doors and dark boys on
the street, firs escapes old as you
--Tho you're not old now, that's left here with me-Myself, anyhow, maybe as old as the universe--and I guess that dies with
us--enough to cancel all that comes--What came is gone forever
every time-That's good!That leaves it open for no regret--no fear radiators, lacklove,
torture even toothache in the end-Though while it comes it is a lion that eats the soul--and the lamb, the soul,
in us, alas, offering itself in sacrifice to change's fierce hunger--hair
and teeth--and the roar of bonepain, skull bare, break rib, rot-skin,
braintricked Implacability.
Ai! ai!we do worse! We are in a fix!And you're out, Death let you out,
Death had the Mercy, you're done with your century, done with
God, done with the path thru it--Done with yourself at last--Pure
--Back to the Babe dark before your Father, before us all--before the
world-There, more suffering for you.I know where you've gone, it's good.
No more flowers in the summer fields of New York, no joy now, no more
fear of Louis,
and no more of his sweetness and glasses, his high school decades, debts,
loves, frightened telephone calls, conception beds, relatives, hands-No more of sister Elanor,--she gone before you--we kept it secret you
killed her--or she killed herself to bear with you--an arthritic heart
--But Death's killed you both--No matter-Nor your memory of your mother, 1915 tears in silent movies weeks and
weeks--forgetting, agrieve watching Marie Dressler address humanity, Chaplin dance in youth,
or Boris Godunov, Chaliapin's at the Met, halling his voice of a weeping Czar
--by standing room with Elanor & Max--watching also the Capital
ists take seats in Orchestra, white furs, diamonds,
with the YPSL's hitch-hiking thru Pennsylvania, in black baggy gym skirts
pants, photograph of 4 girls holding each other round the waste, and
laughing eye, too coy, virginal solitude of 1920
all girls grown old, or dead now, and that long hair in the grave--lucky to
have husbands later-You made it--I came too--Eugene my brother before (still grieving now and
will gream on to his last stiff hand, as he goes thru his cancer--or kill
47
--later perhaps--soon he will think--)
And it's the last moment I remember, which I see them all, thru myself, now
--tho not you
I didn't foresee what you felt--what more hideous gape of bad mouth came
first--to you--and were you prepared?
To go where?In that Dark--that--in that God? a radiance? A Lord in the
Void?Like an eye in the black cloud in a dream?Adonoi at last, with
you?
Beyond my remembrance! Incapable to guess! Not merely the yellow skull
in the grave, or a box of worm dust, and a stained ribbon--Deathshead with Halo?can you believe it?
Is it only the sun that shines once for the mind, only the flash of existence,
than none ever was?
Nothing beyond what we have--what you had--that so pitiful--yet Triumph,
to have been here, and changed, like a tree, broken, or flower--fed to the
ground--but made, with its petals, colored, thinking Great Universe,
shaken, cut in the head, leaf stript, hid in an egg crate hospital, cloth
wrapped, sore--freaked in the moon brain, Naughtless.
No flower like that flower, which knew itself in the garden, and fought the
knife--lost
Cut down by an idiot Snowman's icy--even in the Spring--strange ghost
thought some--Death--Sharp icicle in his hand--crowned with old
roses--a dog for his eyes--cock of a sweatshop--heart of electric
irons.
All the accumulations of life, that wear us out--clocks, bodies, consciousness,
shoes, breasts--begotten sons--your Communism--'Paranoia' into
hospitals.
You once kicked Elanor in the leg, she died of heart failure of
p?within a year, the two of you, sisters in death.Is
Elanor happy?
Max grieves alive in an office on Lower Broadway, lone large mustache over
midnight Accountings, not life passes--as he sees--and
what does he doubt now?Still dream of making money, or that might
have made money, hired nurse, had children, found even your Immortality, Naomi?
I'll see him I've got to cut through to talk to you as I didn't
when you had a mouth.
we're bound for that, Forever like Emily Dickinson's horses
--headed to the End.
They know the way--These Steeds--run faster than we think--it's our own
life they cross--and take with them.
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Magnificent, mourned no more, marred of heart, mind behind, married dreamed, mortal changed--Ass and face done with murder.
In the world, given, flower maddened, made no Utopia, shut under
pine, almed in Earth, blamed in Lone, Jehovah, accept.
Nameless, One Faced, Forever beyond me, beginningless, endless,
Father in I am not there for this Prophecy, I am unmarried, I'm
hymnless, I'm Heavenless, headless in blisshood I would still adore
Thee, Heaven, after Death, only One blessed in Nothingness, not
light or darkness, Dayless Eternity-Take this, this Psalm, from me, burst from my hand in a day, some
of my Time, now given to Nothing--to praise Thee--But Death
This is the end, the redemption from Wilderness, way for the Wonderer, House sought for All, black handkerchief washed clean by weeping
--page beyond Psalm--Last change of mine and Naomi--to God's perfect
Darkness--Death, stay thy phantoms!
II
Over and over--refrain--of the Hospitals--still haven't written your
history--leave it abstract--a few images
run thru the mind--like the saxophone chorus of houses and years-remembrance of electrical shocks.
By long nites as a child in Paterson apartment, watching over your
nervousness--you were fat--your next move-By that afternoon I stayed home from school to take care of you-once and for all--when I vowed forever that once man disagreed with my
opinion of the cosmos, I was lost-By my later burden--vow to illuminate mankind--this is release of
particulars--(mad as you)--(sanity a trick of agreement)-But you stared out the window on the Broadway Church corner, and
spied a mystical assassin from Newark,
So phoned the Doctor--'OK go way for a rest'--so I put on my coat
and walked you downstreet--On the way a grammarschool boy screamed,
unaccountably--'Where you goin Lady to Death'? I shuddered-and you covered your nose with motheaten fur collar, gas mask
against poison sneaked into downtown atmosphere, sprayed by Grandma-And was the driver of the cheesebox Public Service bus a member of
the gang?You shuddered at his face, I could hardly get you on--to New
York, very Times Square, to grab another Greyhound-~ Allen Ginsberg,
624:Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 3
For a Man is to be looked upon in that which he excells as on a prospect.
For there be twelve cardinal virtues -- three to the East -- Greatness, Valour,
Piety.
For there be three to the West -- Goodness, Purity and Sublimity.
For there be three to the North -- Meditation, Happiness, Strength.
For there be three to the South -- Constancy, Pleasantry and Wisdom.
For the Argument A PRIORI is GOD in every man's CONSCIENCE.
For the Argument A POSTERIORI is God before every man's eyes.
For the Four and Twenty Elders of the Revelation are Four and Twenty Eternities.
For their Four and Twenty Crowns are their respective Consummations.
For a CHARACTER is the votes of the Worldlings, but the seal is of Almighty GOD
alone.
For there is no musick in flats and sharps which are not in God's natural key.
For where Accusation takes the place of encouragement a man of Genius is
driven to act the vices of a fool.
For the Devil can set a house on fire, when the inhabitants find combustibles.
For the old account of time is the true -- Decr 28th 1759-60 -- -- -For Faith as a grain of mustard seed is to believe, as I do, that an Eternity is
such in respect to the power and magnitude of Almighty God.
For a DREAM is a good thing from GOD.
For there is a dream from the adversary which is terror.
For the phenomenon of dreaming is not of one solution, but many.
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For Eternity is like a grain of mustard as a growing body and improving spirit.
For the malignancy of fire is oweing to the Devil's hiding of light, till it became
visible darkness.
For the Circle may be SQUARED by swelling and flattening.
For the Life of God is in the body of man and his spirit in the Soul.
For there was no rain in Paradise because of the delicate construction of the
spiritual herbs and flowers.
For the Planet Mercury is the WORD DISCERNMENT.
For the Scotchman seeks for truth at the bottom of a well, the Englishman in the
Heavn of Heavens.
For the Planet Venus is the WORD PRUDENCE or providence.
For GOD nevertheless is an extravagant BEING and generous unto loss.
For there is no profit in the generation of man and the loss of millions is not
worth God's tear.
For this is the twelfth day of the MILLENNIUM of the MILLENNIUM foretold by the
prophets -- give the glory to God ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY For the Planet Mars is the word FORTITUDE.
For to worship naked in the Rain is the bravest thing for the refreshing and
purifying the body.
For the Planet Jupiter is the WORD DISPENSATION.
For Tully says to be generous you must be first just, but the voice of Christ is
distribute at all events.
For Kittim is the father of the Pygmies, God be gracious to Pigg his family.
For the Soul is divisible and a portion of the Spirit may be cut off from one and
82
applied to another.
For NEW BREAD is the most wholesome especially if it be leaven'd with honey.
For a NEW SONG also is best, if it be to the glory of God; and taken with the food
like the psalms.
For the Planet Saturn is the word TEMPERANCE or PATIENCE.
For Jacob's Ladder are the steps of the Earth graduated hence to Paradice and
thence to the throne of God.
For a good wish is well but a faithful prayer is an eternal benefit.
For SPICA VIRGINIS is the star that appeared to the wise men in the East and
directed their way before it was yet insphered.
For an IDEA is the mental vision of an object.
For Lock supposes that an human creature, at a given time may be an atheist i.e.
without God, by the folly of his doctrine concerning innate ideas.
For it is not lawful to sell poyson in England any more than it is in Venice, the
Lord restrain both the finder and receiver.
For the ACCENTS are the invention of the Moabites, who learning the GREEK
tongue marked the words after their own vicious pronuntiation.
For the GAULS (the now-French and original Moabites) after they were subdued
by Cæsar became such Grecians at Rome.
For the Gaullic manuscripts fell into the hands of the inventors of printing.
For all the inventions of man, which are good, are the communications of
Almighty God.
For all the stars have satellites, which are terms under their respective words.
For tiger is a word and his satellites are Griffin, Storgis, Cat and others.
For my talent is to give an Impression upon words by punching, that when the
reader casts his eye upon 'em, he takes up the image from the mould which I
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have made.
For JOB was the son of Issachar and patience is the child of strength.
For the Names of the DAYS, as they now stand, are foolish and abominable.
For the Days are the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh.
For the names of the months are false -- the Hebrew appellatives are of God.
For the Time of the Lord's temptation was in early youth and imminent danger.
For an equivocal generation is a generation and no generation.
For putrifying matter nevertheless will yield up its life in diverse creatures and
combinations of creatures.
For a TOAD can dwell in the centre of a stone, because -- there are stones whose
constituent life is of those creatures.
For a Toad hath by means of his eye the most beautiful prospects of any other
animal to make him amends for his distance from his Creator in Glory.
For FAT is the fruit of benevolence, therefore it was the Lord's in the Mosaic
sacrifices.
For the very particular laws of Moses are the determinations of CASES that fell
under his cognizance.
For the Devil can make the shadow thicker by candlelight by reason of his pow'r
over malignant fire.
For the Romans clipped their words in the Augustan thro idleness and effeminacy
and paid foreign actors for speaking them out.
For when the weight and the pow'r are equivalent the prop is of none effect.
For shaving of the beard was an invention of the people of Sodom to make men
look like women.
For the ends of the world are the accomplishment of great events, and the
consummation of periods.
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For ignorance is a sin because illumination is to be obtained by prayer.
For Preferment is not from the East, West or South, but from the North, where
Satan has most power.
For the ministers of the Devil set the hewer of wood over the head of God's free
Man.
For this inverting God's good order, edifice and edification, and appointing place,
where the Lord has not appointed.
For the Ethiopian question is already solved in that the Blacks are the children of
Cain.
For the phenomenon of the horizontal moon is the truth -- she appears bigger in
the horizon because she actually is so.
For it was said of old 'can the Ethiopian change his skin?' the Lord has answered
the question by his merit and death he shall. -For the moon is magnified in the horizon by Almighty God, and so is the Sun.
For she has done her day's-work and the blessing of God upon her, and she
communicates with the earth.
For when she rises she has been strength'ned by the Sun, who cherishes her by
night.
For man is born to trouble in the body, as the sparks fly upwards in the spirit.
For man is between the pinchers while his soul is shaping and purifying.
For the ENGLISH are the seed of Abraham and work up to him by Joab, David,
and Naphtali. God be gracious to us this day. General Fast March 14th 1760.
For the Romans and the English are one people the children of the brave man
who died at the altar praying for his posterity, whose death was the type of our
Saviour's.
For the WELCH are the children of Mephibosheth and Ziba with a mixture of
David in the Jones's.
85
For the Scotch are the children of Doeg with a mixture of Cush the Benjamite,
whence their innate antipathy to the English.
For the IRISH are the children of Shimei and Cush with a mixture of something
lower -- the Lord raise them!
For the FRENCH are Moabites even the children of Lot.
For the DUTCH are the children of Gog.
For the Poles are the children of Magog.
For the Italians are the children of Samuel and are the same as the Grecians.
For the Spaniards are the children of Abishai Joab's brother, hence is the goodwill
between the two nations.
For the Portuguese are the children of Amman -- God be gracious to Lisbon and
send good angels amongst them!
For the Hottentots are the children of Gog with a Black mixture.
For the Russians are the Children of Ishmael.
For the Turks are the children of Esaw, which is Edom.
For the Wallachians are the children of Huz. God be gracious to Elizabeth Hughes,
as she was.
For the Germans are the children of the Philistins even the seed of Anak.
For the Prussians are the children of Goliah -- but the present, whom God bless
this hour, is a Campbell of the seed of Phinees.
For the Hanoverians are Hittites of the seed of Uriah. God save the king.
For the Hessians are Philistines with a mixture of Judah.
For the Saxons are Benjamites, men of great subtlety and Marshal Saxe was
direct from Benjamin.
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For the Danes are of the children of Zabulon.
For the Venetians are the children of Mark and Romans.
For the Swiss are Philistins of a particular family. God be gracious to Jonathan
Tyers his family and to all the people at Vaux Hall.
For the Sardinians are of the seed of David -- The Lord forward the Reformation
amongst the good seed first. -For the Mogul's people are the children of Phut.
For the Old Greeks and the Italians are one people, which are blessed in the gift
of Mustek by reason of the song of Hannah and the care of Samuel with regard to
divine melody.
For the Germans and the Dutch are the children of the Goths and Vandals who
did a good in destruction books written by heathen Free-Thinkers against God.
For there are Americans of the children of Toi. -For the Laplanders are the children of Gomer.
For the Phenomena of the Diving Bell are solved right in the schools.
For NEW BREAD is the most wholesome -- God be gracious to Baker.
For the English are the children of Joab, Captain of the host of Israel, who was
the greatest man in the world to GIVE and to ATCHIEVE.
For TEA is a blessed plant and of excellent virtue. God give the Physicians more
skill and honesty!
For nutmeg is exceeding wholesome and cherishing, neither does it hurt the
liver.
For The Lightning before death is God's illumination in the spirit for preparation
and for warning.
For Lavender Cotton is exceeding good for the teeth. God be gracious to
Windsmore.
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For the Fern is exceeding good and pleasant to rub the teeth.
For a strong preparation of Mandragora is good for the gout.
For the Bark was a communication from God and is sovereign.
For the method of curing an ague by terror is exaction.
For Exaction is the most accursed of all things, because it brought the Lord to the
cross, his betrayers and murderers being such from their exaction.
For an Ague is the terror of the body, when the blessing of God is withheld for a
season.
For benevolence is the best remedy in the first place and the bark in the second.
For, when the nation is at war, it is better to abstain from the punishment of
criminals especially, every act of human vengeance being a check to the grace of
God.
For the letter ל [Hebrew character lamed] which signifies GOD by himself
is on the fibre of some leaf in every Tree.
For ל is the grain of the human heart and on the network of the skin.
For ל is in the veins of all stones both precious and common.
For ל is upon every hair both of man and beast.
For ל is in the grain of wood.
For ל is in the ore of all metals.
For ל is on the scales of all fish.
For ל is on the petals of all flowers.
For ל is upon on all shells.
For ל is in the constituent particles of air.
For ל is on the mite of the earth.
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For ל is in the water yea in every drop.
For ל is in the incomprehensible ingredients of fire.
For ל is in the stars the sun and in the Moon.
For ל is upon the Sapphire Vault.
For the doubling of flowers is the improvement of the gardners talent.
For the flowers are great blessings.
For the Lord made a Nosegay in the meadow with his disciples and preached
upon the lily.
For the angels of God took it out of his hand and carried it to the Height.
For a man cannot have publick spirit, who is void of private benevolence.
For there is no Height in which there are not flowers.
For flowers have great virtues for all the senses.
For the flower glorifies God and the root parries the adversary.
For the flowers have their angels even the words of God's Creation.
For the warp and woof of flowers are worked by perpetual moving spirits.
For flowers are good both for the living and the dead.
For there is a language of flowers.
For there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers.
For elegant phrases are nothing but flowers.
For flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ.
For flowers are medicinal.
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For flowers are musical in ocular harmony.
For the right names of flowers are yet in heaven. God make gard'ners better
nomenclators.
For the Poorman's nosegay is an introduction to a Prince.
For it were better for the SERVICE, if only select psalms were read.
For the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Songs from other scriptures, and parts of
Esdras might be taken to supply the quantity.
For A is the beginning of learning and the door of heaven.
For B is a creature busy and bustling.
For C is a sense quick and penetrating.
For D is depth.
For E is eternity -- such is the power of the English letters taken singly.
For F is faith.
For G is God -- whom I pray to be gracious to Liveware my fellow prisoner.
For H is not a letter, but a spirit -- Benedicatur Jesus Christus, sic spirem!
For I is identity. God be gracious to Henry Hatsell.
For K is king.
For L is love. God in every language.
For M is musick and Hebrew מ [Hebrew character mem] is the direct
figure of God's harp.
For N is new.
For O is open.
For P is power.
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For Q is quick.
For R is right.
For S is soul.
For T is truth. God be gracious to Jermyn Pratt and to Harriote his Sister.
For U is unity, and his right name is Uve to work it double.
For W is word.
For X [drawn as a backwards G and a G stuck together] is hope -- consisting of
two check G -- God be gracious to Anne Hope.
For Y is yea. God be gracious to Eennet and his family!
For Z is zeal.
For in the education of children it is necessary to watch the words, -which they
pronounce with difficulty, for such are against them in their consequences.
For A is awe, if pronounced full. Stand in awe and sin not.
For B pronounced in the animal is bey importing authority.
For C pronounced hard is ke importing to shut.
For D pronounced full is day.
For E is east particularly when formed little e with his eye.
For F in it's secondary meaning is fair.
For G in a secondary sense is good.
For H is heave.
For I is the organ of vision.
For K is keep.
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For L is light, and ל [Hebrew character lamed] is the line of beauty.
For M is meet.
For N is nay.
For O is over.
For P is peace.
For Q is quarter.
For R is rain, or thus reign, or thus rein.
For S is save.
For T is take.
For V is veil.
For W is world.
For X [drawn as a backwards G and a G stuck together] beginneth not, but
connects and continues.
For Y is young -- the Lord direct me in the better way of going on in the Fifth
year of my jeopardy June the 17th N.S. 1760. God be gracious to Dr YOUNG.
For Z is zest. God give us all a relish of our duty.
For Action and Speaking are one according to God and the Ancients.
For the approaches of Death are by illumination.
For a man cannot have Publick Spirit, who is void of private benevolence.
For the order of Alamoth is first three, second six, third eighteen, fourth fifty
four, and then the whole band.
For the order of Sheminith is first ten, second twenty, third thirty and then the
whole band.
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For the first entrance into Heaven is by complement.
For Flowers can see, and Pope's Carnations knew him.
For the devil works upon damps and lowth and causes agues.
For Ignorance is a sin, because illumination is to be had by prayer.
For many a genius being lost at the plough is a false thought -- the divine
providence is a better manager.
For a man's idleness is the fruit of the adversary's diligence.
For diligence is the gift of God, as well as other good things.
For it is a good NOTHING in one's own eyes and in the eyes of fools.
For æra in its primitive sense is but a weed amongst corn.
For there is no knowing of times and seasons, in submitting them to God stands
the Christian's Chronology.
For Jacob's brown sheep wore the Golden fleece.
For Shaving of the face was the invention of the Sodomites to make men look
like women.
~ Christopher Smart,
625:Ballad Of Jesus Of Nazareth
I.
It matters not what place he drew
At first life's mortal breath,
Some say it was in Bethlehem,
And some in Nazareth.
But shame and sorrow were his lot
And shameful was his death.
The angels sang, and o'er the barn
Wherein the infant lay,
They hung a star, for they foresaw
The sad world's better day,
But well God knew what thyme and rue
Were planted by his way.
The children of the Pharisees
In hymn and orison
Worshipped the prophets, whom their sires
To cruel death had done,
And said, 'had we been there their death
We had not looked upon.'
While the star shone the angels saw
The tombs these children built
For those the world had driven out,
And smitten to the hilt,
God knew these wretched sons would bear
The self-same bloody guilt.
Always had he who strives for men
But done some other thing,
If he had not led a hermit life,
Or had not had his fling,
We would have followed him, they say,
And made him lord and King.
For John was clothed in camel's hair
And lived among the brutes;
26
But Jesus fared where the feast was spread
To the sound of shawms and lutes,
Where gathered knaves and publicans
And hapless prostitutes.
Like children in the market place
Who sullen sat and heard,
With John they would not mourn, nor yet
Rejoice at Jesus' word;
Had Jesus mourned, or John rejoiced,
He had been King and lord.
II.
From Bethlehem until the day
He came up to the feast
We hear no word, we only know
In wisdom he increased,
We know the marvelous boy did awe
The Pharisee and priest.
For wearied men wake to admire
A genius in the bud;
Before the passion of the world
Flows through him like a flood;
Ere he becomes a scourge to those
Who drink of mankind's blood.
Perhaps in him they saw an arm
To keep the people still;
And fool the meek and slay the weak
And give the King his will;
And put a wall for armZd men
'Round every pleasant hill.
And this is why in after years
The Galilean wept;
The cup of youth was sweet with truth
But a green worm in it crept;
And that was dullness clothed in power,
And hate which never slept.
27
Through twenty years he drove the plane,
And shaped with ax and saw;
And dreamed upon the Hebrew writ
Unto a day of awe,
When he felt the world fit to his grasp
As by a mighty law.
He looked upon the sunny sky,
And 'round the flowering earth;
He heard the poor man's groan of woe,
And the prince's song of mirth;
Then Jesus vowed the life of man
Should have another birth.
And this is why the Son of Man
Wept when he knew the loss,
The toil and sacrifice to cleanse
A little earthly dross;
And that a god to save twelve men
Must die upon the cross.
III.
'Twas on a pleasant day in June
Beneath an azure sky
That 'round him stood the multitude
And saw within his eye
The light that from nor sun nor star
Ever was known to fly.
And some came out to scoff and laugh,
And some to lay a snare;
The rhetorician gaped to see:
The learnZd carpenter.
The money changer, judge and priest,
And statesman all were there.
Some thought the Galilean mad;
Some asked, is he sincere?
Some said he played the demagogue
To gain the people's ear,
And raise a foe against the law
28
That lawful men should fear.
But all the while did C¾sar's might
Grow big with blood and lust;
And no one brooked his tyrant arm,
For the statesman said the crust
That paupers gnaw is by the law,
And that the law is just.
From hunger's hovel, from the streets;
From horror's blackened niche
Earth's mourners came and hands were stretched
To touch him from the ditch.
Then rose a Scribe and said he turned
The poor against the rich.
And those who hated C¾sar's rule,
Albeit sowed the lie
That Jesus stirred sedition up
That he might profit by
A revolution, which should clothe
Himself in monarchy.
Through twice a thousand years the world
Has missed the words he taught;
To forms and creeds and empty show
Christ never gave a thought,
But wrongs that men do unto men
They were the wrongs he fought.
He did not eat with washen hands,
Nor keep the Sabbath day;
He did not to the Synagogue
Repair to sing and pray.
Nor for to-morrow take a thought,
To mar life's pleasant way.
He saw that all of human woe
Takes root in hate and greed;
He saw until men love their kind
The human heart must bleed.
And that nor hymn nor sacrifice
29
Meets any human need.
And this is why he scourged the rich
And lashed the Pharisee,
And stripped from every pious face
The mask hypocrisy;
And so laced Mary Magdalene,
Caught in adultery.
And this is why with grievous fire
He smote the lawyer's lore.
And every wile of cunning guile
Which made the burden more
Upon the backs of wretched men,
Who heavy burdens bore.
Therefore when that the hour was come
For him to die, they blent
Of many things a lying charge,
But at last the argument
They killed him with was that he stirred
The people's discontent.
From thence the world has gone its way
Of this truth, deaf and blind,
And every man who struck the law
Has felt the halter bind,
Until his words were choked in death
Uttered for human kind.
Now did the dreams of Galilee
Awake as from a sleep,
Fly up from earth, and Life unmasked
Life's promise did not keep,
And Jesus saw the face of Life,
And all who see it weep.
God's spirit fled the damnZd earth
And left the earth forlorn.
No more did Jesus walk the fields,
And pluck the ripened corn;
Nor muse beside the silent sea,
30
Upon a summer's morn.
Before the heart of Christ was pierced
With agony divine,
He sat him down in a merry mood
With loving friends to dine.
And once in Cana he did turn
The water into wine.
Now put from shore, swept far to sea
His shallop caught the tide,
Arched o'er him was eternity
'Twixt starless wastes and wide.
God's spirit seemed withdrawn that once
Walked hourly at his side.
IV.
Gladly the common people heard
And called upon his name.
But yet he knew what they would do,
Christ Jesus knew their frame,
And that he should be left alone
Upon a day of shame.
Sharper than thorns upon the brow,
Or nails spiked through the hand
Is when the people fly for fear
And cannot understand;
And let their saviors die the death
As creatures contraband.
For wrongs that flourish by a lie
Are hard enough to bear;
But wrongs that take their root in truth
Shade every brow with care;
And this is why Gethsemane
Was shadowed with despair.
In dark and drear Gethsemane
Hell's devils laughed and raved,
When Jesus torn by fear and doubt
31
Reprieve from sorrow craved;
For who would lose his life, unless
Another's life he saved?
V.
In youth when all the world appeared
As fresh as any flower,
Satan besought the Son of Man,
New-clothed in godly power,
And took him to behold the world
Upon a lofty tower.
To every man of god-like might
Comes Satan once to give
The crown, the crosier and the sword
And bid him laugh and live,
While Hope hides in the wilderness,
A hunted fugitive.
But neither gold nor kingly crown
Tempted the Son of Man
He hoped as many souls have hoped,
Ever since time began,
That love itself can overcome,
Hate's foul leviathan
Some fix their faith to heaven's grace,
And some to saintly bones;
Some think that water doth contain
A virtue which atones;
And some believe that men are saved
By penitential groans.
But of all faith that ever fired
A spirit with its glow
That is supreme which thinks that truth
No power can overthrow;
And he believes who takes and cleaves
To the thorny way of woe!
For life is sweet, and sweet it is
32
With jeweled sandals shod
To trip where happy blossoms shoot
Up from the fragrant sod;
And what sustains the souls that pass
Alway beneath the rod?
The book of worldly lore he closed
And bound it with a hasp;
And in the hour of danger came
No king with friendly clasp.
It was the hand of love against
The anger of the asp.
Since Jesus died the lust of kings
Has linked the cross and crown;
And slaughtered millions whom to save
From heaven he came down;
And all to tame the mind of man
To his divine renown.
But whether he were man or god
This thing at least is true;
He hated with a lordly hate
The Gentile and the Jew,
Who robbed the poor and wronged the weak,
And kept the widow's due.
And those all clothed in raiment soft,
Who in kings' houses dwell;
And those who compass sea and land
Their proselytes to swell;
And when they make one he is made
Two-fold the child of hell.
And those who tithe of anise give,
But sharpen beak and claw;
And those who plait the web of hate
The heart of man to flaw;
And hungry lawyers who pile up
The burdens of the law.
I wonder not they slew the Christ
33
And put upon his brow
The cruel crown of thorns, I know
The world would do it now;
And none shall live who on himself
Shall take the self-same vow.
And none shall live who tries to balk
The heavy hand of greed;
And he who hopes for human help
Against his hour of need
Will find the souls he tried to save
Ready to make him bleed.
For he who flays the hypocrite,
And scourges with a thong
The money changer, soon will find
The money changer strong;
And even the people will incline
To think his mission wrong.
And pious souls will say he is
At best a castaway;
Some will remember he blasphemed
And broke the Sabbath day.
And the coward friend will fool his heart
And then he will betray.
At last the Scribe and Pharisee
No longer could abide
The tumult which his words stirred up
In every country side;
And so they made a sign, which meant
He must be crucified.
For him no sword was raised, no king
Came forward for his sake;
And every son of mammon laughed
To see death overtake
The fool who fastened to the truth
And made his life the stake.
VI.
34
Upon a day when Jesus' soul
Like an angel's voice did quire,
The heart of all the people burned
With a white and holy fire;
And they did sweep to make him king
Over the world's empire.
His kingdom was not of this world,
But this they would not own;
And he to save themselves did go
To a mountain place alone,
And there did pray that holy Truth
Might find somewhere a throne.
When Henry was by Francis sought
To make him emperor,
They walked upon a cloth of gold,
As sovereign lords of war.
And trumpets blew and banners flew
About the royal car.
When Caesar back to Rome returned
With all the world subdued,
The soldiers and the priests did shout,
And cried the multitude;
For he had slain his country's foes,
And drenched their land with blood.
But all the triumph of the Christ
That ever came to pass
Was when he rode amidst a mob
Upon a borrowed ass;
And this is all the worldly pomp
A genius ever has.
His cloth of gold were branches cut
And strewn upon the ground;
And every money-changer laughed,
And the judges looked and frowned;
But no one saw a flag unfurled,
Or heard a bugle sound.
35
To-day whene'er a coxcomb king
Visits a foreign shore,
The simple people deck themselves
And all the cannon roar.
But it would not do such grace to show
To a soul of lordly lore.
VII.
Of all sad suppers ever spread
For broken hearts to eat,
That was the saddest where the Christ
Did serve the bread and meat;
And, ere he served them, washed with care
Each worn disciple's feet.
And who would hold in memory
That supper, let him call
His loved friends about his board
And serve them one and all;
And with a loving spirit crown
The simple festival.
For this I hold to be the truth,
And Jesus said the same;
That men who meet as brothers, they
Are gathered in his name;
And only for its evil deeds
A soul he will disclaim.
Through climes of sun and climes of snow
Full many a wretched knight,
The holy grail, without avail
Did make his life's delight,
And lo! the thing it symbolized
Was ever in their sight.
The cup whereof Christ Jesus drank
Was wholly without grace;
And whether made of stone or wood
Was lost or broke apace.
36
And no one thought to keep a cup
While looking in his face.
They kept no cup, their only thought
Was for the morrow morn.
And as he passed the wine and bread
With pallid hands and worn,
Peter did swear he would not leave
His stricken lord forlorn.
John, the beloved, on his breast,
Wept while the hour did pass.
Judas did groan when Jesus struck
Behind his soul's arras.
All trembled for the bitter hate,
And power of Caiaphas.
But for that simple, farewell feast
In Holland, France and Spain,
Ten million men as true as John
Were racked and burnt and slain,
As if they held remembrance of
The farewell feast of Cain.
Had Jesus known what fratricide
Over his words would fall
I think he would have gone straightway
Up to the judgment hall,
And never broken bread or drunk
The cup his friends withal.
Though a good tree brings forth good fruit,
What good bears naught but good?
What sum of saintly life contains
No grain of devil's food?
What purest truth when past its youth
Is not its own falsehood?
And every rod wherewith the wise
Have cleft each barrier sea,
That men might walk across and reach
The land of liberty,
37
In hands of kings were snakes whose stings
Were worse than slavery.
VIII.
The rulers thought it best to wait
Till Jesus were alone;
They had forgot the coward crowd
Never protects its own,
But leaves its leaders to the whim
Of wrong upon a throne.
Had malcontents for Pilate sought
To do a treasonous thing,
Ten thousand loyal fishermen
Had made the traitors swing;
For they are taught they cannot live
Unless they have a king.
But soldiers came with swords and staves
To sieze one helpless man.
And only Peter had a sword
To smite the craven clan
And only Peter stood his ground,
And all the people ran.
I wish, since Jesus by the world
Is held to be divine,
That he had lived to give to men
A perfect anodyne,
And raise to human liberty
A world compelling shrine.
A shrine 'round which should lie to-day
The world's discarded crowns,
And swords and guns and gilded gawds
And monkish beads and gowns;
But, as it is, upon these things,
They say, he never frowns.
And only by an argument
Can any being show
38
That Jesus would chop out and burn
These monstrous roots of woe.
And so these roots are living yet,
And still the roots do grow.
Unto this day in divers lands
Pilate is singled out
For curses that he did not save
Christ from the rabble's shout;
But they forget he was a judge,
And had a judge's doubt.
The sickly fear of the rulers' sneer
Clutches the judge's heart.
And to hide behind a hoary lie
Is the judge's highest art;
And the judgment hall has a door that leads
To the room of the money mart.
The laws wherewith men murder men
Are dark with skeptic slime;
They are not stars that point the way
To truth in every clime.
Wherefore was Jesus crucified,
For what was not a crime.
When Pilate questioned what is truth
He did not mean to jest;
He meant to show when life's at stake
How difficult the quest
Through hollow rules and empty forms
To truth's ingenuous test.
And Pilate might have pardoned him
Had not the lawyers said,
The Galilean strove to put
A crown upon his head.
And how could Jesus be a king,
Who blood had never shed?
The trial of Jesus long ago
Was cursed in solemn rhyme;
39
For the judgment hall was but farcical
And the trial a pantomime.
Save that it led to a felon's death
For what was not a crime.
The common people on that day
Had enough black-bread to eat.
And what to them was another's woe
Before the judgment seat?
They were content that day to keep
From pit-falls their own feet.
Had Herod stood, whate'er the charge,
Before the people's bar
The sophists would have cut it down
With reason's scimitar,
And called the peasants to enforce
The judgment near and far.
And had they failed to save their king
From every foul mischance
The banded Anarchs of the world
Had held them in durance,
As afterward the crownZd heads
Did punish recreant France.
IX.
So it fell out amid the rout
Of captain, lord and priest,
They bound his hands with felon bands
And they flogged him like a beast.
And Pilate washed his hands, and then
For them a thief released.
And only women solaced him,
And one mad courtesan,
'Save thou thyself,' the elders cried,
'Who came to rescue man.'
Where were the common people then?
The common people ran.
40
Between two thieves upon a hill
The terror to proclaim
They racked his body on a cross
Till his thirst was like a flame;
And they mocked his woe and they wagged their heads,
And they spat upon his name.
God thought a picture like to this,
Fire-limned against the sky,
Once seen, would never fade away
From the world's careless eye;
And that the lesson that it taught
No soul could wander by.
God thought the shadow of this cross,
Athwart the mad world's ken,
Would stay with shame the hands that kill
The men who die for men,
And that no soul for love of truth
Need ever die again.
Many a man the valley of death
With fearless step hath trod;
The prophet is a phoenix soul,
And the wretch is a sullen clod.
But Jesus in his death became
Liker unto a god
Liker unto a god he grew
Who walked through heaven and hell;
He died as he forgave the mob
That 'round the cross did yell.
They knew not what they did, and this
Jesus, the god, knew well.
For hate is spawned of ignorance
And ignorance of hate.
And all the fangZd shapes that creep
From their incestuous state
Enter the gardens of the world,
And cursZd keep their fate.
41
Near Gadara did Jesus drive
By an occult power and sign
The unclean devils from a loon
Into a herd of swine.
But the swinish devils entered the Scribes,
And slew a soul divine.
Christ healed the blind, but could not ope
The eyes of ignorance,
Nor turn to wands of peace and love
Hate's bloody sword and lance;
But the swinish fiends who took his life
Received a pardoning glance.
And Jesus raised the dead to life,
And he cured the lame and halt
But he could not heal a hateful soul,
And keep it free from fault;
Nor bring the savour back again
To the world's trampled salt.
X.
After his death the rulers slept,
And the judges were at ease;
For they had killed a rebel soul
And strewed his devotees;
But the imp of time is a thing perverse,
And laughs at men's decrees.
For it is vain to kill a man,
His life to stigmatize;
Herein the wisdom of the world
Is folly to the wise;
For those the world doth kill, the world
Will surely canonize.
To look upon a lovZd face
By the Gorgon Death made stone,
Will make the heart leap up with fear
And the soul with sorrow groan;
42
Alas! who knows what thing he knew
Ere the light of life was flown?
Who knows what tears did start to well,
But were frozen at their source?
Who knows his ashen grief who felt
That iron hand of force?
Or what black thing he saw before
He grew a lifeless corse?
And, much of hope, but more of woe
Falls with the chastening rod,
As the living think of an orphan soul
That the spectral ways may trod,
And how that orphan soul must cry
In its new world after God.
So the fisherman did sigh at night,
For a dream-face haunted them.
By day they hid as branded men
Within Jerusalem.
And the common people, safe at home,
Did breathe a requiem.
But where he lay, one fearless soul,
Mad Magdalene, from whom
Christ cast the seven devils out,
Came in the morning's gloom,
And thence arose the burning faith
That Christ rose from the tomb
But all do know the mind of man
Mixes the false and true,
And deifies each Son of God
That ever hatred slew;
And weaves him magic tales to tell
Of what the man could do.
The legends grow, as grow they must
The wonder to equip.
And ere they write the legends out,
They pass from lip to lip,
43
Till a simple life becomes a theme
For studied scholarship.
But this I know that after Christ
Did die on Calvary,
He never more did preach to men,
Nor scourge the Pharisee;
Else it was vain to still his voice
And nail him to a tree.
Nor scribe nor priest were ever more
By him disquieted.
And little did it mean to them
That he rose from the dead.
For greed can sleep when it has killed
The thing that it did dread.
And never a king or satrap knew
That Christ the tomb had rent;
He might have lived a second life,
With every lord's consent,
If never more he sought to stir
The people's discontent.
He might have risen from the dead
And gone to Galilee;
And there paced out a hundred years
In a sorrowed revery,
If he but never preached again
The creed humanity.
XI.
To distant lands did Jesus' words,
Like sparks that burst in flame,
Fly forth to light the ways of dole,
And blind the eyes of shame,
Till subtle kings, to staunch their wounds,
Did conjure with his name.
When kings did pilfer Jesus' might,
His words of love were turned
44
To swords and goads and heavy loads,
And rods and brands that burned;
And never had the world before
So piteously mourned.
Of peasant Mary they did make
A statue all of gold;
And placed a crown upon her head
With jewels manifold.
And Jesus' words were strained and drawn
This horror to uphold.
They robed a rebel royally,
And placed within his hand
A scepter, that himself should be
One of their murderous band.
And it is tragical that men
Can never understand.
For Herod crowned the carpenter
With woven thorns of hate.
And put a reed within his hand
A king to imitate.
Now kings have made a rebel soul
The patron of the state.
And kingcraft never hatched a lie,
This falsehood to surpass.
For Jesus' only hour of pomp
Was what a genius has;
He rode amidst a howling mob
Upon a borrowed ass.
Though his cloth of gold were branches cut
And strewed upon the ground;
And though the money-changers laughed,
While the judges looked and frowned;
To-day for him the flag is flown,
And all the bugles sound.
To-day where'er the treacherous sword
Takes lord-ship in the world,
45
The bloody rag they call the flag,
In his name is unfurled.
And round the standard of the cross
Is greed, the python, curled.
For wrongs that have the show of truth
Are hard enough to bear,
But wrongs that flourish by a lie,
Shade wisdom's brow with care.
And still in dark Gethsemane
There lurks the fiend Despair.
And still in drear Gethsemane,
Hell's devils laugh and rave,
Because the Prince of Peace hath failed
The wayward world to save.
For every word he spoke is made
A shackle to enslave.
Man's wingd hopes are white at dawn,
But the hand of malice smuts.
O, angel voices drowned and lost
Amid the growl of guts!
O spirit hands that strain to draw
A dead world from the ruts!
God made a stage of Palestine,
And the drama played was Life;
And the Eye of Heaven sat and watched
The true and false at strife;
While a masque o' the World did play the pimp,
And take a whore to wife.
I wonder not they slew the Christ,
And put upon his brow
A mocking crown of thorns, I know
The world would do it now;
And none shall live who on himself
Shall take the self-same vow.
And none shall live who tries to balk
The heavy hand of greed.
46
And who betakes him to the task,
That heart will surely bleed.
But a little truth, somehow is saved
Out of each dead man's creed.
Out of the life of him who scourged
The Scribe and Pharisee,
A willing world can take to heart
The creed humanity;
And all the wonder tales of Christ
Are naught to you and me.
And it matters not what place he drew,
At first life's mortal breath,
Nor how it was his spirit rose
And triumphed over death,
But good it is to hear and do
The word that Jesus saith.
Until the perfect truth shall lie
Treasured and set apart;
One whole, harmonious truth to set
A seal upon each heart;
And none may ever from that truth
In any wise depart.
~ Edgar Lee Masters,
626:A Tale Of True Love
Not in the mist of legendary ages,
Which in sad moments men call long ago,
And people with bards, heroes, saints, and sages,
And virtues vanished, since we do not know,
But here to-day wherein we all grow old,
But only we, this Tale of True Love will be told.
For Earth to tender wisdom grows not older,
But to young hearts remains for ever young,
Spring no less winsome, Winter winds no colder,
Than when tales first were told, songs first were sung.
And all things always still remain the same,
That touch the human heart, and feed Love's vestal flame.
And, if you have ears to hear and eyes for seeing,
Maidens there be, as were there in your youth,
That round you breathe, and move, and have their being,
Fair as Greek Helen, pure as Hebrew Ruth;
With Heaven-appointed poets, quick to sing
Of blameless warrior brave, and wisdom-counselled king.
And, tho' in this our day, youth, love, and beauty,
Are far too often glorified as slave
Of every sense except the sense of Duty,
In fables that dishonour and deprave,
The old-world Creeds still linger, taught us by
The pious lips that mute now in the churchyard lie.
And this true simple tale in verse as simple
Will from its prelude to its close be told,
As free from artifice as is the dimple
In childhood's cheek, whereby is age consoled.
And haply it may soothe some sufferer's lot,
When noisier notes are husht, and newer ones forgot.
And think not, of your graciousness, I pray you,
Who tells the tale is one of those who deem
That love will beckon only to betray you,
Life an illusion, happiness a dream;
96
Only that noble grief is happier far
Than transitory lusts and feverish raptures are.
It was the season when aggressive Winter,
That had so long invested the sealed world,
With frosts that starve and hurricanes that splinter,
And rain, hail, blizzard, mercilessly hurled,
Made one forlorn last effort to assail
Ere Spring's relieving spears came riding on the gale.
For Amazonian March with breast uncovered
Blew loud her clarion, and the wintry host
Took courage fresh and lingeringly hovered
Round vale and hill, wherever needed most;
And ever and anon the raging weather
And wolfish winds re-formed, and onward swept together,
Loud-bellowing to the thunder-clouds to follow:
But all in vain, for here, there, everywhere,
Primrose battalions, seizing ridge and hollow,
Dingle, and covert, wind-flowers wild that dare
Beyond their seeming, bluebells without sound,
And scentless violets peeped, to spring up from the ground.
And, covering their advance, swift-scouring showers,
Gathering, dispersing, skirmished through the sky,
Till squadrons of innumerable flowers
Thronged through the land far as you could descry.
Then Winter, smitten with despair and dread,
Folded his fluttering tents, sounded retreat, and fled.
Whereat the land, so long beleaguered, seeing
The peril past, and Winter's iron ring
Broken, and all his cohorts norward fleeing,
Came forth to welcome and embrace the Spring,
Spring the Deliverer, and from sea and shore
Rose the rejoicing shout, ``See, April dawns once more!''
Radiant she came, attended by her zephyrs,
And forth from dusky stall and hurdled fold
Poured lowing kine and sleeky-coated heifers,
To roam at will through pastures green and gold,
97
Where unweaned lambs from morning until night
Raced round their nibbling dams, and frolicked with delight.
High up, on larch and cypress, merle and mavis
Vociferated love-lays sweet as strong,
And the bird dear to Homer and to Hafiz
Proclaimed the joy of sadness all night long;
Vowed each new Spring more Spring-like than the last,
And triumphed over Time, futile iconoclast.
Then imperceptibly and slowly rounded
Slim girlish April into maiden May,
Whereat still louder everywhere resounded
The cuckoo's call and throstle's roundelay.
It was as though in meadow, chase, and wood,
God made the world anew, and saw that it was good.
Then feudal Avoncourt, the stern and stately,
Whose dawn deep hidden in undated days,
Not like those palaces erected lately
Whose feet swift crumble, and whose face decays,
Defieth Time's insatiable tooth,
Relaxed grave gaze and wore the countenance of youth.
It had beheld kings and proud empires vanish,
Male sceptres shattered, princedoms pass away,
Norman, Plantagenet, Lombard, Swabian, Spanish,
Rise, rule, then totter, and topple from their sway;
York and Lancastrian Rose unfold and bloom,
Then canker and decay, and vanish in the tomb.
It faces the four winds with like demeanour
Norward as Southernward, as though to say,
``Blow from some other, stronger and still keener,
Wherefrom you will, and I will face that way.''
And round it as you roam, to gaze perplexed
Each side seems loveliest till you look upon the next.
Its present seeming unto ages Tudor
It owes, by unnamed, unknown hands designed,
Who planned and worked amid a folk deemed ruder,
But who with grace enduring strength combined.
98
Like sturdy oak with all its leaves still on,
When foliage from elm and sycamore have gone.
Upon its delicate, lofty-jutting portal
Imaginative minds and hands have wrought
Of dead artificers once deemed immortal,
From Southern climes by kings and magnates brought,
When architects and sculptors smiled in scorn
On plain defensive days and called the world reborn.
But time hath mellowed mullion, roof, and gable,
Stone-work without, and wainscotting within;
And nigh them oaken-timbered barn and stable,
Lowlier, withal of countenance akin,
Cluster, for in times olden, meek, and proud,
Being nearer much than now, their kinship was avowed.
From it slope woodlands and long alleys shaded,
Saving that all around it and more near
Stretches wild chase by ploughshare uninvaded,
Where roam rough cattle and unherded deer,
That look up as you pass from brackened sod,
Then flee with step as fleet as that whereon they trod.
Through vale below from many a source unfailing
A river flows where deft hands cast the line,
Well stocked with wary trout and bolder grayling.
Through smooth, fat pastures dotted o'er with kine
League after league the water winds away,
Oft turning as though loth from Avoncourt to stray.
It was in the sweet season that hath ravished
The virgin heart since ever love began,
A maiden, upon whom had Nature lavished
Each fair gift given to maiden or to man,
Roamed all alone through windings of its wood,
Seeking the way to where Avoncourt haply stood.
Onward in search of it she went, but slowly,
For who could hasten through so fresh a scene,
With violets paved, the lovelier because lowly,
And pallid primroses on ground of green;
99
While overhead each bird that hath a voice
Seemed in its own blithe notes to revel and rejoice.
And ever and anon she gazed around her,
Or knelt to gather some appealing flower,
And to dear God, the Father and the Founder
Of all things good, the all-protecting Power,
Breathed a brief prayer of thanks within her breast,
Feeling she roamed in Heaven on earth made manifest.
Sometimes she broke into spontaneous singing,
Such as fond nurse to fretful babe might sing,
Whose close as sudden is as its beginning.
Herself she seemed a portion of the Spring
Which, if she went, would lose the chiefest part
Of that which charms the gaze and captivates the heart.
At length she passed from out these paths embowered
To where meek does, young fawns, and shaggy beeves
Ranged amid bracken; but the House, that towered
Full nigh at hand, for intercepting leaves
She still descried not, so, advancing under
An arch of hornbeam, stood in husht, astonied wonder.
For there it rose as silent and abstracted
As though it nothing shared or had to say
With those that shadow-like have lived and acted
Upon the stage we call our later day;
From passing passions thoughtfully aloof,
Through age, not pride, without lamenting or reproof.
Then slowly timid, tentative explorer,
Longing to see yet dreading to be seen,
Asudden living figure rose before her
Of manly mould and meditative mien;
Modern, withal with air of ancient port,
As if the same blood flowed through him and Avoncourt.
``Forgive,'' she said, ``an overbold intruder!''
``I doubt if anywhere you would intrude;
But sooth none do on this survival Tudor,
Who visit its old age in reverent mood.''
100
``And that indeed I do. I never saw
Aught that I so admired, or felt for so much awe.''
``Will you, I round it willingly can guide you,
Unless-and, told, shall fully understand,Wander you rather would with none beside you
To mar the silence of the windless land,
Saving Spring's choristers, whose constant trills
One hears or doth not hear, according as one wills.''
``You know it well?'' she asked. ``I ought to know it.
Here was I born, here grew to boy's estate,
Pored o'er the page of storier and poet,
All that is big, magnanimous, and great,
Hardened my own, tried my dear Mother's nerves,
Robbed the home orchard, poached my Father's own preserves.''
``And are you now its occupant and possessor?''
``So called, alas! whose ancestors have paid
The final tax, by Death the stern assessor
On all poor mortals equitably laid.
I have a leasehold; no one can have more,
This side at least the vague, still-undiscovered shore.''
Thereat there fell a silence on their speaking,
And on they moved, he follower more than guide;
Oblivious she what 'twas that she was seeking,
Since conscious now of manhood at her side.
Withal, so much there was to lure her gaze,
That his on her could rest, nor stint its look of praise.
Then when they reached the Jacobean portal,
Back rolled its doors of iron brace and stay,
On grooves that seemed more cut for feet immortal
Than for a feeble transitory day,
And mounted oaken stair axe-hewn, unplaned,
With lion-headed piers unpolished and unstained.
From coffered ceiling hung down tattered banners,
And weapons warlike deadly deemed no more
Were parked on landing; grants of ancient manors,
With charts and parchments of black-letter lore,
101
Stacked spears and dinted armour; ebon presses
With jealous bolts stood locked in embrasured recesses.
Chamber on chamber wainscotted and spacious
Was lined with effigies of warriors wise,
Reticent rulers, dames revered and gracious,
Whose fingers wove the silken tapestries,
Time-toned but faded not, that draped the wall
Of gallery long and straight, and square-set banquet-hall.
About lay obsolete instruments, wheel and spindle,
When women read much less and knew much more,
Huge logs for early-rising maids to kindle
On deep-set hearths, mottoes of lasting lore
In ancient tongues, Norman, or Saxon stave,
Bidding man live and die, meek, pious, steadfast, brave.
And many a question asked she, always getting
The answer craved for, given prompt and plain.
``But look,'' she said, ``the sun will soon be setting,
And that old dial-hand that doth nor gain
Nor lose, I am sure, in its diurnal pace,
Reproves me I still lag in this enthralling place.''
``Then come again,'' he answered, ``at your leisure,''
And led her outward where the ancient pile
Looked as though dwelt within no special treasure,
And owned no spell nor charm save sunset's smile;
Like one of those large natures that betray
No sign that they are made of more than common clay.
``And may I ask, your homeward footsteps, whither?
What! there! it is on Avoncourt estate,
And I by shorter path can guide you thither
Than that you came by, fear you to be late.
You lodge with much-loved tenants, for the wife
My foster-parent was in rosy-dawning life.''
``She did not tell me that; but sooth our meeting
Was but two days back, though I quickly saw
That she for you would evermore be bleating
With voice of blent solicitude and awe.''
102
``'Tis so: on Sundays with a spirit meek
She worships God, then me the rest of all the week.''
Wending and winding under curved ways shaded,
Wider than heretofore, they farmward trod,
While twilight incense all the air pervaded
Round flower-decked altar at the shrine of God,
This sacred Earth, and for approaching night
One star kept watch, as yet Heaven's only lamp alight.
To her it seemed the Real and Ideal
At last were one, and every bird that sings
Joined prayerfully in chorus hymeneal,
Ere folding music underneath its wings.
How little did she guess that ambushed grief
Watched all her thoughts and lurked 'neath every dewy leaf!
``Are both your parents at the farmstead staying?''
``Alas!'' she said, ``like yours, they both abide
My coming further off, and in my praying
Alone survive; my guardian and my guide
My Mother's sister, whom we there shall find,
Most loving and most loved of living womankind.''
Where buttressed Church with crenellated Tower
Over the village still kept watch and ward;
``For these,'' he said, ``inherited have that power,
The pious citadels of peace that guard
The sin-beleaguered soul, and still repel
From humble homes and hearts the ravening hosts of hell.''
Within were monuments of home-delved marble,
Whereon lay figures of his race and name,
Crusaders whose dead deeds no time can garble,
Learning destroy, malignity defame:
Legs crossed, feet resting against faithful hound,
And, at their side, their dames and children kneeling round.
Then would they wend them valeward to the river,
And he cast line that neither curled nor sank.
Round ran the reel, then the lithe rod would quiver,
And May-fly trout lie gasping on the bank,
103
Or, like a flying shadow through the stream,
Startled, would pass to pool sheltered from noonday gleam.
Which pleased her most, for sooth she thought sport cruel,
Yet watched it for the sake of his rare skill,
But happiest when asudden wingèd jewel,
The king-fisher, disturbed near rustic mill,
Darted, and deep into its nest withdrew,
Shortly to issue forth, and, flickering, raid anew.
So passed the days unnoticed and uncounted,
As louder, longer, later, piped the merle,
And cuckoo oftener called, if harsher throated,
And hawthorn decked itself with loops of pearl.
It seemed a world reborn without its woes:
Woodbine was in the lanes, and everywhere the rose.
All things that are in that seductive season
In them struck root and with them got entwined;
Looking before or after had seemed treason
To the free heart and unconditioned mind,
As daily tightened beyond time's control
That strongest of all ties, the kinship of the soul.
And deeper into bliss they wandered blindly,
While woe and wet winds kept from them aloof,
As from screened homestead visitings unkindly,
Where old-world windows under gabled roof
Seem gazing at the present from the past,
And wondering how long such happiness will last.
Ah me! the days of Summer, not of Winter,
The shortest are and swiftest glide away,
And leaves of Autumn, sober mezzotinter,
Linger far longer than the blooms of May.
Time that, when fledged by joy, finds wings to fly,
With sorrow for its load limps slowly, wearily.
One evening, as they watched the sunset fading,
``To strangers Avoncourt must never pass,
For that would be dishonouring and degrading,''
Thinking aloud he said: ``withal, alas!
104
Sit by its hearth they must, and much I fear
That there they must abide for many a coming year.
``No fault of mine nor yet of those now sleeping
In tombs ancestral. Unrelenting time,
That hath the future in its unseen keeping,
Hath lowered the lofty, let the lowly climb,
And swept away the sustenance of my home.
What is there that endures? Go ask of Greece or Rome.
``Mullion from sill, transom from beam, is cracking,
Beauty and majesty their only stay;
And, save new wealth supply what now is lacking,
These too in turn will slowly pass away.
And I must save and strive in duteous ways,
So irksome felt by most in these luxurious days.''
``There is another way, some deem a duty,
None call unworthy,'' slowly she replied.
``Women there be, gifted with charm and beauty,
On whom hath Fortune lavished wealth beside.''
``I am not made like that,'' he firmly said;
``I but for love alone should ever woo or wed.''
And, as he said it, on her face he centred
Strong tender gaze, as though to search her soul,
Which straight so deep into her being entered,
She felt a current beyond will's control.
Crimsoning she turned aside, and thus confessed
The secret she had thought to hide within her breast.
Out of a cloud long gathering burst a flashing,
Followed by thunder's discontented sound;
And straight they heard slow big round raindrops plashing
On the green leaves o'erhead and emerald ground.
``Hark! I must hasten home,'' she said, ``before
The storm-wrack breaks.''-``And I will see you to your door.''
All through the morrow much he seemed to ponder,
And oft would halt and gaze upon the ground,
Or look out fixedly on something yonder,
Unseen by others, which at last he found,
105
And then strode quickly on, since he had solved
The doubt that would die out oftener the years revolved.
``Yes, for she hath that higher understanding
That routs Life's phantoms with a fearless face,
And knows, when spectral enemies throng banding,
The good from bad, the noble from the base.
To-morrow will I offer, ask for, all,
Love, Faith, and Hope can give, whatever else befall.''
But on the morrow came she not. More lonely,
Wandering, he felt than ever heretofore;
Nor on the morrow's morrow, and he only
Could wait her will, nor wend unto their door
Till wearily some doubtful days crept on,
And then the farmstead sought, to find its guests had gone!
Gone three days back, and none knew why or whither.
Then he with promptitude unleashed his mind,
In search for trace, now hither and now thither,
But trace or tidings nowhere could he find.
Still unremittingly he sought: in vain
Was search within our shore, was search beyond the main.
Slowly the glory from the Summer faded,
And ominously leaves began to fall;
And ever and anon harsh gusts invaded
Avoncourt, moaning through deserted hall,
And roaring woefully up chimney wide;
And mute the deerhound clung unto her master's side,
Or gazed at him with sad look sympathetic,
As though it too missed what its master missed.
``Ah, Lufra!'' said he in a voice prophetic,
``She is gone, and we shall never see her more.
Cling you to me, and I will take you where
Wander awhile I must, wherever I may fare.
``No more than you can I unmask the meaning
Of hapless things that baffle mortal vows.''
Then, sighing, saw he white-haired Winter gleaning,
Amid the crackling drift and fallen boughs
106
That lay on avenue, chase, and garden garth,
Fuel to feed faint flame upon her widowed hearth.
He was not one of those who love to wrangle
Before the populace for place and power,
Or fight for wealth with weapons that but strangle
The nobler passions, manhood's richest dower.
``I will return when wound shall less be felt,
And work among my folk, dwelling where once she dwelt.''
Farewell he took of wood-reeve, keeper, ranger,
And tenants grave with grief, and some in tears,
And order gave that Avoncourt to stranger
Be leased for maybe many coming years;
Then crossed the vigilant, unsleeping sea
That ranges round our Isle, to keep it great and free.
He lingered not in that vain-glorious city,
Whose Rulers pass the sceptre to the crowd,
But wended to the Land where amorous ditty
By swain at work to maid is sung aloud;
Where life is simple, and unchanging ways
Of tillage still recall loved Virgil's rustic lays:
Where on majestic pedestals the mighty
Marble imaginings of Art august,
Thought-wrinkled Zeus and dimpled Aphrodité,
Exact our homage and command our trust;
Immortal gods whose never-ending sway
Rebellion cannot shake nor scoffing sweep away.
And in that high companionship he slowly
Stifled his sighs and cicatrised his wound,
And, with the griefs the lofty and the lowly
Alike must feel, his share of pain attuned;
More willingly, it may be, since he knew
He unto love and loss would evermore keep true.
Ofttimes he stood by shrines where peasants kneeling
Told of their sorrows to the Mother-Maid,
Unto celestial sympathy appealing
From the world's pitiless splendour and parade;
107
And in that sight he resignation found,
With sun, and sea, and sky, and mountain-peaks around.
So that when nigh upon a year had vanished
Homeward his longing and his looks were cast,
Feeling 'twere base to longer stay self-banished,
Grafting his future on a fruitless past.
And soon his steadfast journeying came to close,
Where Avoncourt amid its unchanged woodlands rose.
It had meanwhile been leased to lately wedded
Tenants, unknown to Fame, but well endowed
With what could rescue it from fate so dreaded
Of slow decay and ruin-mantling shroud,
And who already had done much to win
Its walls from storm without, and worm and moth within.
So, as in duty bound, he promptly started
From home prepared for him on his estate,
With cheerful step if somewhat heavy-hearted,
To visit those who lived within his gate;
Ascending through the woodland's winding ways,
That wore more careful mien than in the bygone days.
It was the dawn of Autumn, very season
When he from further search for her forbore,
Whom to forget had seemed to him a treason,
Though well he knew he ne'er should see her more.
Sound, sight, scent, yellowing elm, and conecrowned fir,
Sunshine and shade alike, reminded him of her.
But, resolute to curb regret, he entered,
And, led through hall and corridor, he wound
To long ancestral gallery, and centred
His curious gaze on what he saw around.
It seemed to have lost no look of days gone by,
Withal to blend young smile with ancient majesty.
Still on the walls the effigies ancestral,
In armour or in ermine, hung unchanged,
With the device of wild boar, wolf, or kestrel,
That once in English forests freely ranged;
108
With later draperies that seemed to bring
Distance more near and shed a grace round everything.
While gazing out on well-remembered garden,
Where old yew hedges screened new-planted rose,
Against whose beauty none his heart could harden,
He heard a door soft open and then close.
And, turning, saw Egeria, with a face
Pale as a moon that moves alone through lonely space!
``Are you a guest,'' he said, ``in my poor dwelling?''
``I am,'' she answered, ``your-your tenant's wife.
Hear me in patience, dear, while I am telling
What tell I must, but tell this once for life.''
Whereat they towards each other drew more near:
One spoke, one listened, both without a sob or tear.
``I loved, I love you. Noble since I know you,
Here I confess that I shall love you still;
Since you will never show me nor I show you
More tenderness than now, for such God's will.
Knowing I should, love once avowed, rejoice,
Should not refuse your love, could not resist your voice,
``From you I fled, and steadfast left behind me
No word to weaken you, no sign, no trace,
Whereby your manliness could following find me.
For well I knew, that day your face my face
Scanned in strong silence, probing to my heart,
Love once confessed, no power could keep our lives apart.
``And well, too well I knew, for all things told me,
Men's tongues, the air, I thus should wreck your life,
And Avoncourt reproachfully behold me
A selfish bride and paralysing wife;
That duty had decreed a harder fate
For you, for me. If wrong, I know the right too late.
``In innocency's life there comes an hour
When stands revealed what it could never guess:
That there is magical and mystic power
To make love strong or leave it powerless;
109
If felt, if given without one selfish thought,
That Love is Wisdom's self, and all beside is nought.
``Ask me no more, I beg, than what I tell you:
I am your tenant, at another's will.
How, wherefore, when, on that which then befell, you,
Though I be mute, will understand me still.
Forgive, but ne'er forget me. Now depart,
Till to endurance Time shall mellowed have the smart.''
Her hand she stretched towards him, and, low bending,
On it his lips he reverently laid,
As on some sacred relic pilgrims wending
From far-off land with faith still undecayed.
Then he went forth, and she remained, alone,
Stern Duty unassailed upon its sovran throne.
But with the morrow's dawn there came the tidings
How that a crafty, freedom-loathing race,
Its schemes unmasked, had come from out its hidings,
And flung defiance in its Suzerain's face,
Then on his open territories burst,
Proclaiming these annexed unto its rule accursed.
Then England said, ``I must endure no longer
This long-conspiring, now presumptuous brood,
But must assert the Sceptre of the stronger
Against their vapourings vain and challenge rude,
Who have against me their false flag unfurled,
Urged to their ruin by an Empire-envying world.''
Nor England only, nor main-moated Britain,
But their brave offspring homed beyond the sea,
In righteous wrath arose, and, duty-smitten,
Vowed that their Afric brethren should be free
To think and speak the thing they would, and dwell
Equal and safe around Law's peaceful citadel.
Then said Sir Alured, ``Against such foemen
I too will ride and strike,'' and round him drew
All Avoncourt's hard-knit, well-mounted yeomen,
And to his lands ancestral bade adieu.
110
Beneath him seethed the waters no one barred,
Over the wave-wide track our steel-shod sentries guard.
And day by day Egeria scans and watches
The ebb and flow of fluctuating war,
And ofttimes sees his name in terse dispatches
Shine among those that most distinguished are.
Then pride and terror in her heart contend,
And low she prays anew, ``Dear God! his life befriend!''
And when she reads of some fresh deed of daring
That decorates his breast and crowns his brow,
Sparing of others, of himself unsparing,
She weeps apart where no one sees. But now
This Tale of True Love hath been truly told.
May it by some be read, and by it some consoled!
~ Alfred Austin,
627:Muse of my native land! loftiest Muse!
O first-born on the mountains! by the hues
Of heaven on the spiritual air begot:
Long didst thou sit alone in northern grot,
While yet our England was a wolfish den;
Before our forests heard the talk of men;
Before the first of Druids was a child;--
Long didst thou sit amid our regions wild
Rapt in a deep prophetic solitude.
There came an eastern voice of solemn mood:--
Yet wast thou patient. Then sang forth the Nine,
Apollo's garland:--yet didst thou divine
Such home-bred glory, that they cry'd in vain,
"Come hither, Sister of the Island!" Plain
Spake fair Ausonia; and once more she spake
A higher summons:--still didst thou betake
Thee to thy native hopes. O thou hast won
A full accomplishment! The thing is done,
Which undone, these our latter days had risen
On barren souls. Great Muse, thou know'st what prison
Of flesh and bone, curbs, and confines, and frets
Our spirit's wings: despondency besets
Our pillows; and the fresh to-morrow morn
Seems to give forth its light in very scorn
Of our dull, uninspired, snail-paced lives.
Long have I said, how happy he who shrives
To thee! But then I thought on poets gone,
And could not pray:nor can I now--so on
I move to the end in lowliness of heart.--

"Ah, woe is me! that I should fondly part
From my dear native land! Ah, foolish maid!
Glad was the hour, when, with thee, myriads bade
Adieu to Ganges and their pleasant fields!
To one so friendless the clear freshet yields
A bitter coolness, the ripe grape is sour:
Yet I would have, great gods! but one short hour
Of native airlet me but die at home."

Endymion to heaven's airy dome
Was offering up a hecatomb of vows,
When these words reach'd him. Whereupon he bows
His head through thorny-green entanglement
Of underwood, and to the sound is bent,
Anxious as hind towards her hidden fawn.

"Is no one near to help me? No fair dawn
Of life from charitable voice? No sweet saying
To set my dull and sadden'd spirit playing?
No hand to toy with mine? No lips so sweet
That I may worship them? No eyelids meet
To twinkle on my bosom? No one dies
Before me, till from these enslaving eyes
Redemption sparkles!I am sad and lost."

Thou, Carian lord, hadst better have been tost
Into a whirlpool. Vanish into air,
Warm mountaineer! for canst thou only bear
A woman's sigh alone and in distress?
See not her charms! Is Phoebe passionless?
Phoebe is fairer farO gaze no more:
Yet if thou wilt behold all beauty's store,
Behold her panting in the forest grass!
Do not those curls of glossy jet surpass
For tenderness the arms so idly lain
Amongst them? Feelest not a kindred pain,
To see such lovely eyes in swimming search
After some warm delight, that seems to perch
Dovelike in the dim cell lying beyond
Their upper lids?Hist!      "O for Hermes' wand
To touch this flower into human shape!
That woodland Hyacinthus could escape
From his green prison, and here kneeling down
Call me his queen, his second life's fair crown!
Ah me, how I could love!My soul doth melt
For the unhappy youthLove! I have felt
So faint a kindness, such a meek surrender
To what my own full thoughts had made too tender,
That but for tears my life had fled away!
Ye deaf and senseless minutes of the day,
And thou, old forest, hold ye this for true,
There is no lightning, no authentic dew
But in the eye of love: there's not a sound,
Melodious howsoever, can confound
The heavens and earth in one to such a death
As doth the voice of love: there's not a breath
Will mingle kindly with the meadow air,
Till it has panted round, and stolen a share
Of passion from the heart!"

               Upon a bough
He leant, wretched. He surely cannot now
Thirst for another love: O impious,
That he can even dream upon it thus!
Thought he, "Why am I not as are the dead,
Since to a woe like this I have been led
Through the dark earth, and through the wondrous sea?
Goddess! I love thee not the less: from thee
By Juno's smile I turn notno, no, no
While the great waters are at ebb and flow.
I have a triple soul! O fond pretence
For both, for both my love is so immense,
I feel my heart is cut in twain for them."

And so he groan'd, as one by beauty slain.
The lady's heart beat quick, and he could see
Her gentle bosom heave tumultuously.
He sprang from his green covert: there she lay,
Sweet as a muskrose upon new-made hay;
With all her limbs on tremble, and her eyes
Shut softly up alive. To speak he tries.
"Fair damsel, pity me! forgive that I
Thus violate thy bower's sanctity!
O pardon me, for I am full of grief
Grief born of thee, young angel! fairest thief!
Who stolen hast away the wings wherewith
I was to top the heavens. Dear maid, sith
Thou art my executioner, and I feel
Loving and hatred, misery and weal,
Will in a few short hours be nothing to me,
And all my story that much passion slew me;
Do smile upon the evening of my days:
And, for my tortur'd brain begins to craze,
Be thou my nurse; and let me understand
How dying I shall kiss that lily hand.
Dost weep for me? Then should I be content.
Scowl on, ye fates! until the firmament
Outblackens Erebus, and the full-cavern'd earth
Crumbles into itself. By the cloud girth
Of Jove, those tears have given me a thirst
To meet oblivion."As her heart would burst
The maiden sobb'd awhile, and then replied:
"Why must such desolation betide
As that thou speakest of? Are not these green nooks
Empty of all misfortune? Do the brooks
Utter a gorgon voice? Does yonder thrush,
Schooling its half-fledg'd little ones to brush
About the dewy forest, whisper tales?
Speak not of grief, young stranger, or cold snails
Will slime the rose to night. Though if thou wilt,
Methinks 'twould be a guilta very guilt
Not to companion thee, and sigh away
The lightthe duskthe darktill break of day!"
"Dear lady," said Endymion, "'tis past:
I love thee! and my days can never last.
That I may pass in patience still speak:
Let me have music dying, and I seek
No more delightI bid adieu to all.
Didst thou not after other climates call,
And murmur about Indian streams?"Then she,
Sitting beneath the midmost forest tree,
For pity sang this roundelay
     "O Sorrow,
     Why dost borrow
The natural hue of health, from vermeil lips?
     To give maiden blushes
     To the white rose bushes?
Or is it thy dewy hand the daisy tips?

     "O Sorrow,
     Why dost borrow
The lustrous passion from a falcon-eye?
     To give the glow-worm light?
     Or, on a moonless night,
To tinge, on syren shores, the salt sea-spry?

     "O Sorrow,
     Why dost borrow
The mellow ditties from a mourning tongue?
     To give at evening pale
     Unto the nightingale,
That thou mayst listen the cold dews among?

     "O Sorrow,
     Why dost borrow
Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?
     A lover would not tread
     A cowslip on the head,
Though he should dance from eve till peep of day
     Nor any drooping flower
     Held sacred for thy bower,
Wherever he may sport himself and play.

     "To Sorrow
     I bade good-morrow,
And thought to leave her far away behind;
     But cheerly, cheerly,
     She loves me dearly;
She is so constant to me, and so kind:
     I would deceive her
     And so leave her,
But ah! she is so constant and so kind.

"Beneath my palm trees, by the river side,
I sat a weeping: in the whole world wide
There was no one to ask me why I wept,
     And so I kept
Brimming the water-lily cups with tears
     Cold as my fears.

"Beneath my palm trees, by the river side,
I sat a weeping: what enamour'd bride,
Cheated by shadowy wooer from the clouds,
    But hides and shrouds
Beneath dark palm trees by a river side?

"And as I sat, over the light blue hills
There came a noise of revellers: the rills
Into the wide stream came of purple hue
    'Twas Bacchus and his crew!
The earnest trumpet spake, and silver thrills
From kissing cymbals made a merry din
    'Twas Bacchus and his kin!
Like to a moving vintage down they came,
Crown'd with green leaves, and faces all on flame;
All madly dancing through the pleasant valley,
    To scare thee, Melancholy!
O then, O then, thou wast a simple name!
And I forgot thee, as the berried holly
By shepherds is forgotten, when, in June,
Tall chesnuts keep away the sun and moon:
    I rush'd into the folly!

"Within his car, aloft, young Bacchus stood,
Trifling his ivy-dart, in dancing mood,
    With sidelong laughing;
And little rills of crimson wine imbrued
His plump white arms, and shoulders, enough white
    For Venus' pearly bite;
And near him rode Silenus on his ****,
Pelted with flowers as he on did pass
    Tipsily quaffing.

"Whence came ye, merry Damsels! whence came ye!
So many, and so many, and such glee?
Why have ye left your bowers desolate,
    Your lutes, and gentler fate?
We follow Bacchus! Bacchus on the wing?
    A conquering!
Bacchus, young Bacchus! good or ill betide,
We dance before him thorough kingdoms wide:
Come hither, lady fair, and joined be
    To our wild minstrelsy!'

"Whence came ye, jolly Satyrs! whence came ye!
So many, and so many, and such glee?
Why have ye left your forest haunts, why left
    Your nuts in oak-tree cleft?
For wine, for wine we left our kernel tree;
For wine we left our heath, and yellow brooms,
    And cold mushrooms;
For wine we follow Bacchus through the earth;
Great God of breathless cups and chirping mirth!
Come hither, lady fair, and joined be
To our mad minstrelsy!'

"Over wide streams and mountains great we went,
And, save when Bacchus kept his ivy tent,
Onward the tiger and the leopard pants,
    With Asian elephants:
Onward these myriadswith song and dance,
With zebras striped, and sleek Arabians' prance,
Web-footed alligators, crocodiles,
Bearing upon their scaly backs, in files,
Plump infant laughers mimicking the coil
Of seamen, and stout galley-rowers' toil:
With toying oars and silken sails they glide,
    Nor care for wind and tide.

"Mounted on panthers' furs and lions' manes,
From rear to van they scour about the plains;
A three days' journey in a moment done:
And always, at the rising of the sun,
About the wilds they hunt with spear and horn,
    On spleenful unicorn.

"I saw Osirian Egypt kneel adown
    Before the vine-wreath crown!
I saw parch'd Abyssinia rouse and sing
    To the silver cymbals' ring!
I saw the whelming vintage hotly pierce
    Old Tartary the fierce!
The kings of Inde their jewel-sceptres vail,
And from their treasures scatter pearled hail;
Great Brahma from his mystic heaven groans,
    And all his priesthood moans;
Before young Bacchus' eye-wink turning pale.
Into these regions came I following him,
Sick hearted, wearyso I took a whim
To stray away into these forests drear
    Alone, without a peer:
And I have told thee all thou mayest hear.

     "Young stranger!
     I've been a ranger
In search of pleasure throughout every clime:
     Alas! 'tis not for me!
     Bewitch'd I sure must be,
To lose in grieving all my maiden prime.

     "Come then, Sorrow!
     Sweetest Sorrow!
Like an own babe I nurse thee on my breast:
     I thought to leave thee
     And deceive thee,
But now of all the world I love thee best.

     "There is not one,
     No, no, not one
But thee to comfort a poor lonely maid;
     Thou art her mother,
     And her brother,
Her playmate, and her wooer in the shade."

O what a sigh she gave in finishing,
And look, quite dead to every worldly thing!
Endymion could not speak, but gazed on her;
And listened to the wind that now did stir
About the crisped oaks full drearily,
Yet with as sweet a softness as might be
Remember'd from its velvet summer song.
At last he said: "Poor lady, how thus long
Have I been able to endure that voice?
Fair Melody! kind Syren! I've no choice;
I must be thy sad servant evermore:
I cannot choose but kneel here and adore.
Alas, I must not thinkby Phoebe, no!
Let me not think, soft Angel! shall it be so?
Say, beautifullest, shall I never think?
O thou could'st foster me beyond the brink
Of recollection! make my watchful care
Close up its bloodshot eyes, nor see despair!
Do gently murder half my soul, and I
Shall feel the other half so utterly!
I'm giddy at that cheek so fair and smooth;
O let it blush so ever! let it soothe
My madness! let it mantle rosy-warm
With the tinge of love, panting in safe alarm.
This cannot be thy hand, and yet it is;
And this is sure thine other softlingthis
Thine own fair bosom, and I am so near!
Wilt fall asleep? O let me sip that tear!
And whisper one sweet word that I may know
This is this worldsweet dewy blossom!"Woe!
Woe! Woe to that Endymion! Where is he?
Even these words went echoing dismally
Through the wide foresta most fearful tone,
Like one repenting in his latest moan;
And while it died away a shade pass'd by,
As of a thunder cloud. When arrows fly
Through the thick branches, poor ring-doves sleek forth
Their timid necks and tremble; so these both
Leant to each other trembling, and sat so
Waiting for some destructionwhen lo,
Foot-feather'd Mercury appear'd sublime
Beyond the tall tree tops; and in less time
Than shoots the slanted hail-storm, down he dropt
Towards the ground; but rested not, nor stopt
One moment from his home: only the sward
He with his wand light touch'd, and heavenward
Swifter than sight was goneeven before
The teeming earth a sudden witness bore
Of his swift magic. Diving swans appear
Above the crystal circlings white and clear;
And catch the cheated eye in wild surprise,
How they can dive in sight and unseen rise
So from the turf outsprang two steeds jet-black,
Each with large dark blue wings upon his back.
The youth of Caria plac'd the lovely dame
On one, and felt himself in spleen to tame
The other's fierceness. Through the air they flew,
High as the eagles. Like two drops of dew
Exhal'd to Phoebus' lips, away they are gone,
Far from the earth awayunseen, alone,
Among cool clouds and winds, but that the free,
The buoyant life of song can floating be
Above their heads, and follow them untir'd.
Muse of my native land, am I inspir'd?
This is the giddy air, and I must spread
Wide pinions to keep here; nor do I dread
Or height, or depth, or width, or any chance
Precipitous: I have beneath my glance
Those towering horses and their mournful freight.
Could I thus sail, and see, and thus await
Fearless for power of thought, without thine aid?
There is a sleepy dusk, an odorous shade
From some approaching wonder, and behold
Those winged steeds, with snorting nostrils bold
Snuff at its faint extreme, and seem to tire,
Dying to embers from their native fire!

There curl'd a purple mist around them; soon,
It seem'd as when around the pale new moon
Sad Zephyr droops the clouds like weeping willow:
'Twas Sleep slow journeying with head on pillow.
For the first time, since he came nigh dead born
From the old womb of night, his cave forlorn
Had he left more forlorn; for the first time,
He felt aloof the day and morning's prime
Because into his depth Cimmerian
There came a dream, shewing how a young man,
Ere a lean bat could plump its wintery skin,
Would at high Jove's empyreal footstool win
An immortality, and how espouse
Jove's daughter, and be reckon'd of his house.
Now was he slumbering towards heaven's gate,
That he might at the threshold one hour wait
To hear the marriage melodies, and then
Sink downward to his dusky cave again.
His litter of smooth semilucent mist,
Diversely ting'd with rose and amethyst,
Puzzled those eyes that for the centre sought;
And scarcely for one moment could be caught
His sluggish form reposing motionless.
Those two on winged steeds, with all the stress
Of vision search'd for him, as one would look
Athwart the sallows of a river nook
To catch a glance at silver throated eels,
Or from old Skiddaw's top, when fog conceals
His rugged forehead in a mantle pale,
With an eye-guess towards some pleasant vale
Descry a favourite hamlet faint and far.

These raven horses, though they foster'd are
Of earth's splenetic fire, dully drop
Their full-veined ears, nostrils blood wide, and stop;
Upon the spiritless mist have they outspread
Their ample feathers, are in slumber dead,
And on those pinions, level in mid air,
Endymion sleepeth and the lady fair.
Slowly they sail, slowly as icy isle
Upon a calm sea drifting: and meanwhile
The mournful wanderer dreams. Behold! he walks
On heaven's pavement; brotherly he talks
To divine powers: from his hand full fain
Juno's proud birds are pecking pearly grain:
He tries the nerve of Phoebus' golden bow,
And asketh where the golden apples grow:
Upon his arm he braces Pallas' shield,
And strives in vain to unsettle and wield
A Jovian thunderbolt: arch Hebe brings
A full-brimm'd goblet, dances lightly, sings
And tantalizes long; at last he drinks,
And lost in pleasure at her feet he sinks,
Touching with dazzled lips her starlight hand.
He blows a bugle,an ethereal band
Are visible above: the Seasons four,
Green-kyrtled Spring, flush Summer, golden store
In Autumn's sickle, Winter frosty hoar,
Join dance with shadowy Hours; while still the blast,
In swells unmitigated, still doth last
To sway their floating morris. "Whose is this?
Whose bugle?" he inquires: they smile"O Dis!
Why is this mortal here? Dost thou not know
Its mistress' lips? Not thou?'Tis Dian's: lo!
She rises crescented!" He looks, 'tis she,
His very goddess: good-bye earth, and sea,
And air, and pains, and care, and suffering;
Good-bye to all but love! Then doth he spring
Towards her, and awakesand, strange, o'erhead,
Of those same fragrant exhalations bred,
Beheld awake his very dream: the gods
Stood smiling; merry Hebe laughs and nods;
And Phoebe bends towards him crescented.
O state perplexing! On the pinion bed,
Too well awake, he feels the panting side
Of his delicious lady. He who died
For soaring too audacious in the sun,
Where that same treacherous wax began to run,
Felt not more tongue-tied than Endymion.
His heart leapt up as to its rightful throne,
To that fair shadow'd passion puls'd its way
Ah, what perplexity! Ah, well a day!
So fond, so beauteous was his bed-fellow,
He could not help but kiss her: then he grew
Awhile forgetful of all beauty save
Young Phoebe's, golden hair'd; and so 'gan crave
Forgiveness: yet he turn'd once more to look
At the sweet sleeper,all his soul was shook,
She press'd his hand in slumber; so once more
He could not help but kiss her and adore.
At this the shadow wept, melting away.
The Latmian started up: "Bright goddess, stay!
Search my most hidden breast! By truth's own tongue,
I have no ddale heart: why is it wrung
To desperation? Is there nought for me,
Upon the bourne of bliss, but misery?"

These words awoke the stranger of dark tresses:
Her dawning love-look rapt Endymion blesses
With 'haviour soft. Sleep yawned from underneath.
"Thou swan of Ganges, let us no more breathe
This murky phantasm! thou contented seem'st
Pillow'd in lovely idleness, nor dream'st
What horrors may discomfort thee and me.
Ah, shouldst thou die from my heart-treachery!
Yet did she merely weepher gentle soul
Hath no revenge in it: as it is whole
In tenderness, would I were whole in love!
Can I prize thee, fair maid, all price above,
Even when I feel as true as innocence?
I do, I do.What is this soul then? Whence
Came it? It does not seem my own, and I
Have no self-passion or identity.
Some fearful end must be: where, where is it?
By Nemesis, I see my spirit flit
Alone about the darkForgive me, sweet:
Shall we away?" He rous'd the steeds: they beat
Their wings chivalrous into the clear air,
Leaving old Sleep within his vapoury lair.

The good-night blush of eve was waning slow,
And Vesper, risen star, began to throe
In the dusk heavens silvery, when they
Thus sprang direct towards the Galaxy.
Nor did speed hinder converse soft and strange
Eternal oaths and vows they interchange,
In such wise, in such temper, so aloof
Up in the winds, beneath a starry roof,
So witless of their doom, that verily
'Tis well nigh past man's search their hearts to see;
Whether they wept, or laugh'd, or griev'd, or toy'd
Most like with joy gone mad, with sorrow cloy'd.

Full facing their swift flight, from ebon streak,
The moon put forth a little diamond peak,
No bigger than an unobserved star,
Or tiny point of fairy scymetar;
Bright signal that she only stoop'd to tie
Her silver sandals, ere deliciously
She bow'd into the heavens her timid head.
Slowly she rose, as though she would have fled,
While to his lady meek the Carian turn'd,
To mark if her dark eyes had yet discern'd
This beauty in its birthDespair! despair!
He saw her body fading gaunt and spare
In the cold moonshine. Straight he seiz'd her wrist;
It melted from his grasp: her hand he kiss'd,
And, horror! kiss'd his ownhe was alone.
Her steed a little higher soar'd, and then
Dropt hawkwise to the earth.    There lies a den,
Beyond the seeming confines of the space
Made for the soul to wander in and trace
Its own existence, of remotest glooms.
Dark regions are around it, where the tombs
Of buried griefs the spirit sees, but scarce
One hour doth linger weeping, for the pierce
Of new-born woe it feels more inly smart:
And in these regions many a venom'd dart
At random flies; they are the proper home
Of every ill: the man is yet to come
Who hath not journeyed in this native hell.
But few have ever felt how calm and well
Sleep may be had in that deep den of all.
There anguish does not sting; nor pleasure pall:
Woe-hurricanes beat ever at the gate,
Yet all is still within and desolate.
Beset with painful gusts, within ye hear
No sound so loud as when on curtain'd bier
The death-watch tick is stifled. Enter none
Who strive therefore: on the sudden it is won.
Just when the sufferer begins to burn,
Then it is free to him; and from an urn,
Still fed by melting ice, he takes a draught
Young Semele such richness never quaft
In her maternal longing. Happy gloom!
Dark Paradise! where pale becomes the bloom
Of health by due; where silence dreariest
Is most articulate; where hopes infest;
Where those eyes are the brightest far that keep
Their lids shut longest in a dreamless sleep.
O happy spirit-home! O wondrous soul!
Pregnant with such a den to save the whole
In thine own depth. Hail, gentle Carian!
For, never since thy griefs and woes began,
Hast thou felt so content: a grievous feud
Hath let thee to this Cave of Quietude.
Aye, his lull'd soul was there, although upborne
With dangerous speed: and so he did not mourn
Because he knew not whither he was going.
So happy was he, not the aerial blowing
Of trumpets at clear parley from the east
Could rouse from that fine relish, that high feast.
They stung the feather'd horse: with fierce alarm
He flapp'd towards the sound. Alas, no charm
Could lift Endymion's head, or he had view'd
A skyey mask, a pinion'd multitude,
And silvery was its passing: voices sweet
Warbling the while as if to lull and greet
The wanderer in his path. Thus warbled they,
While past the vision went in bright array.

"Who, who from Dian's feast would be away?
For all the golden bowers of the day
Are empty left? Who, who away would be
From Cynthia's wedding and festivity?
Not Hesperus: lo! upon his silver wings
He leans away for highest heaven and sings,
Snapping his lucid fingers merrily!
Ah, Zephyrus! art here, and Flora too!
Ye tender bibbers of the rain and dew,
Young playmates of the rose and daffodil,
Be careful, ere ye enter in, to fill
    Your baskets high
With fennel green, and balm, and golden pines,
Savory, latter-mint, and columbines,
Cool parsley, basil sweet, and sunny thyme;
Yea, every flower and leaf of every clime,
All gather'd in the dewy morning: hie
    Away! fly, fly!
Crystalline brother of the belt of heaven,
Aquarius! to whom king Jove has given
Two liquid pulse streams 'stead of feather'd wings,
Two fan-like fountains,thine illuminings
    For Dian play:
Dissolve the frozen purity of air;
Let thy white shoulders silvery and bare
Shew cold through watery pinions; make more bright
The Star-Queen's crescent on her marriage night:
    Haste, haste away!
Castor has tamed the planet Lion, see!
And of the Bear has Pollux mastery:
A third is in the race! who is the third,
Speeding away swift as the eagle bird?
    The ramping Centaur!
The Lion's mane's on end: the Bear how fierce!
The Centaur's arrow ready seems to pierce
Some enemy: far forth his bow is bent
Into the blue of heaven. He'll be shent,
    Pale unrelentor,
When he shall hear the wedding lutes a playing.
Andromeda! sweet woman! why delaying
So timidly among the stars: come hither!
Join this bright throng, and nimbly follow whither
    They all are going.
Danae's Son, before Jove newly bow'd,
Has wept for thee, calling to Jove aloud.
Thee, gentle lady, did he disenthral:
Ye shall for ever live and love, for all
    Thy tears are flowing.
By Daphne's fright, behold Apollo!"

                    More
Endymion heard not: down his steed him bore,
Prone to the green head of a misty hill.

His first touch of the earth went nigh to kill.
"Alas!" said he, "were I but always borne
Through dangerous winds, had but my footsteps worn
A path in hell, for ever would I bless
Horrors which nourish an uneasiness
For my own sullen conquering: to him
Who lives beyond earth's boundary, grief is dim,
Sorrow is but a shadow: now I see
The grass; I feel the solid groundAh, me!
It is thy voicedivinest! Where?who? who
Left thee so quiet on this bed of dew?
Behold upon this happy earth we are;
Let us ay love each other; let us fare
On forest-fruits, and never, never go
Among the abodes of mortals here below,
Or be by phantoms duped. O destiny!
Into a labyrinth now my soul would fly,
But with thy beauty will I deaden it.
Where didst thou melt too? By thee will I sit
For ever: let our fate stop herea kid
I on this spot will offer: Pan will bid
Us live in peace, in love and peace among
His forest wildernesses. I have clung
To nothing, lov'd a nothing, nothing seen
Or felt but a great dream! O I have been
Presumptuous against love, against the sky,
Against all elements, against the tie
Of mortals each to each, against the blooms
Of flowers, rush of rivers, and the tombs
Of heroes gone! Against his proper glory
Has my own soul conspired: so my story
Will I to children utter, and repent.
There never liv'd a mortal man, who bent
His appetite beyond his natural sphere,
But starv'd and died. My sweetest Indian, here,
Here will I kneel, for thou redeemed hast
My life from too thin breathing: gone and past
Are cloudy phantasms. Caverns lone, farewel!
And air of visions, and the monstrous swell
Of visionary seas! No, never more
Shall airy voices cheat me to the shore
Of tangled wonder, breathless and aghast.
Adieu, my daintiest Dream! although so vast
My love is still for thee. The hour may come
When we shall meet in pure elysium.
On earth I may not love thee; and therefore
Doves will I offer up, and sweetest store
All through the teeming year: so thou wilt shine
On me, and on this damsel fair of mine,
And bless our simple lives. My Indian bliss!
My river-lily bud! one human kiss!
One sigh of real breathone gentle squeeze,
Warm as a dove's nest among summer trees,
And warm with dew at ooze from living blood!
Whither didst melt? Ah, what of that!all good
We'll talk aboutno more of dreaming.Now,
Where shall our dwelling be? Under the brow
Of some steep mossy hill, where ivy dun
Would hide us up, although spring leaves were none;
And where dark yew trees, as we rustle through,
Will drop their scarlet berry cups of dew?
O thou wouldst joy to live in such a place;
Dusk for our loves, yet light enough to grace
Those gentle limbs on mossy bed reclin'd:
For by one step the blue sky shouldst thou find,
And by another, in deep dell below,
See, through the trees, a little river go
All in its mid-day gold and glimmering.
Honey from out the gnarled hive I'll bring,
And apples, wan with sweetness, gather thee,
Cresses that grow where no man may them see,
And sorrel untorn by the dew-claw'd stag:
Pipes will I fashion of the syrinx flag,
That thou mayst always know whither I roam,
When it shall please thee in our quiet home
To listen and think of love. Still let me speak;
Still let me dive into the joy I seek,
For yet the past doth prison me. The rill,
Thou haply mayst delight in, will I fill
With fairy fishes from the mountain tarn,
And thou shalt feed them from the squirrel's barn.
Its bottom will I strew with amber shells,
And pebbles blue from deep enchanted wells.
Its sides I'll plant with dew-sweet eglantine,
And honeysuckles full of clear bee-wine.
I will entice this crystal rill to trace
Love's silver name upon the meadow's face.
I'll kneel to Vesta, for a flame of fire;
And to god Phoebus, for a golden lyre;
To Empress Dian, for a hunting spear;
To Vesper, for a taper silver-clear,
That I may see thy beauty through the night;
To Flora, and a nightingale shall light
Tame on thy finger; to the River-gods,
And they shall bring thee taper fishing-rods
Of gold, and lines of Naiads' long bright tress.
Heaven shield thee for thine utter loveliness!
Thy mossy footstool shall the altar be
'Fore which I'll bend, bending, dear love, to thee:
Those lips shall be my Delphos, and shall speak
Laws to my footsteps, colour to my cheek,
Trembling or stedfastness to this same voice,
And of three sweetest pleasurings the choice:
And that affectionate light, those diamond things,
Those eyes, those passions, those supreme pearl springs,
Shall be my grief, or twinkle me to pleasure.
Say, is not bliss within our perfect seisure?
O that I could not doubt?"

               The mountaineer
Thus strove by fancies vain and crude to clear
His briar'd path to some tranquillity.
It gave bright gladness to his lady's eye,
And yet the tears she wept were tears of sorrow;
Answering thus, just as the golden morrow
Beam'd upward from the vallies of the east:
"O that the flutter of this heart had ceas'd,
Or the sweet name of love had pass'd away.
Young feather'd tyrant! by a swift decay
Wilt thou devote this body to the earth:
And I do think that at my very birth
I lisp'd thy blooming titles inwardly;
For at the first, first dawn and thought of thee,
With uplift hands I blest the stars of heaven.
Art thou not cruel? Ever have I striven
To think thee kind, but ah, it will not do!
When yet a child, I heard that kisses drew
Favour from thee, and so I kisses gave
To the void air, bidding them find out love:
But when I came to feel how far above
All fancy, pride, and fickle maidenhood,
All earthly pleasure, all imagin'd good,
Was the warm tremble of a devout kiss,
Even then, that moment, at the thought of this,
Fainting I fell into a bed of flowers,
And languish'd there three days. Ye milder powers,
Am I not cruelly wrong'd? Believe, believe
Me, dear Endymion, were I to weave
With my own fancies garlands of sweet life,
Thou shouldst be one of all. Ah, bitter strife!
I may not be thy love: I am forbidden
Indeed I amthwarted, affrighted, chidden,
By things I trembled at, and gorgon wrath.
Twice hast thou ask'd whither I went: henceforth
Ask me no more! I may not utter it,
Nor may I be thy love. We might commit
Ourselves at once to vengeance; we might die;
We might embrace and die: voluptuous thought!
Enlarge not to my hunger, or I'm caught
In trammels of perverse deliciousness.
No, no, that shall not be: thee will I bless,
And bid a long adieu."

             The Carian
No word return'd: both lovelorn, silent, wan,
Into the vallies green together went.
Far wandering, they were perforce content
To sit beneath a fair lone beechen tree;
Nor at each other gaz'd, but heavily
Por'd on its hazle cirque of shedded leaves.

Endymion! unhappy! it nigh grieves
Me to behold thee thus in last extreme:
Ensky'd ere this, but truly that I deem
Truth the best music in a first-born song.
Thy lute-voic'd brother will I sing ere long,
And thou shalt aidhast thou not aided me?
Yes, moonlight Emperor! felicity
Has been thy meed for many thousand years;
Yet often have I, on the brink of tears,
Mourn'd as if yet thou wert a forester,
Forgetting the old tale.

              He did not stir
His eyes from the dead leaves, or one small pulse
Of joy he might have felt. The spirit culls
Unfaded amaranth, when wild it strays
Through the old garden-ground of boyish days.
A little onward ran the very stream
By which he took his first soft poppy dream;
And on the very bark 'gainst which he leant
A crescent he had carv'd, and round it spent
His skill in little stars. The teeming tree
Had swollen and green'd the pious charactery,
But not ta'en out. Why, there was not a slope
Up which he had not fear'd the antelope;
And not a tree, beneath whose rooty shade
He had not with his tamed leopards play'd.
Nor could an arrow light, or javelin,
Fly in the air where his had never been
And yet he knew it not.

             O treachery!
Why does his lady smile, pleasing her eye
With all his sorrowing? He sees her not.
But who so stares on him? His sister sure!
Peona of the woods!Can she endure
Impossiblehow dearly they embrace!
His lady smiles; delight is in her face;
It is no treachery.

           "Dear brother mine!
Endymion, weep not so! Why shouldst thou pine
When all great Latmos so exalt wilt be?
Thank the great gods, and look not bitterly;
And speak not one pale word, and sigh no more.
Sure I will not believe thou hast such store
Of grief, to last thee to my kiss again.
Thou surely canst not bear a mind in pain,
Come hand in hand with one so beautiful.
Be happy both of you! for I will pull
The flowers of autumn for your coronals.
Pan's holy priest for young Endymion calls;
And when he is restor'd, thou, fairest dame,
Shalt be our queen. Now, is it not a shame
To see ye thus,not very, very sad?
Perhaps ye are too happy to be glad:
O feel as if it were a common day;
Free-voic'd as one who never was away.
No tongue shall ask, whence come ye? but ye shall
Be gods of your own rest imperial.
Not even I, for one whole month, will pry
Into the hours that have pass'd us by,
Since in my arbour I did sing to thee.
O Hermes! on this very night will be
A hymning up to Cynthia, queen of light;
For the soothsayers old saw yesternight
Good visions in the air,whence will befal,
As say these sages, health perpetual
To shepherds and their flocks; and furthermore,
In Dian's face they read the gentle lore:
Therefore for her these vesper-carols are.
Our friends will all be there from nigh and far.
Many upon thy death have ditties made;
And many, even now, their foreheads shade
With cypress, on a day of sacrifice.
New singing for our maids shalt thou devise,
And pluck the sorrow from our huntsmen's brows.
Tell me, my lady-queen, how to espouse
This wayward brother to his rightful joys!
His eyes are on thee bent, as thou didst poise
His fate most goddess-like. Help me, I pray,
To lureEndymion, dear brother, say
What ails thee?" He could bear no more, and so
Bent his soul fiercely like a spiritual bow,
And twang'd it inwardly, and calmly said:
"I would have thee my only friend, sweet maid!
My only visitor! not ignorant though,
That those deceptions which for pleasure go
'Mong men, are pleasures real as real may be:
But there are higher ones I may not see,
If impiously an earthly realm I take.
Since I saw thee, I have been wide awake
Night after night, and day by day, until
Of the empyrean I have drunk my fill.
Let it content thee, Sister, seeing me
More happy than betides mortality.
A hermit young, I'll live in mossy cave,
Where thou alone shalt come to me, and lave
Thy spirit in the wonders I shall tell.
Through me the shepherd realm shall prosper well;
For to thy tongue will I all health confide.
And, for my sake, let this young maid abide
With thee as a dear sister. Thou alone,
Peona, mayst return to me. I own
This may sound strangely: but when, dearest girl,
Thou seest it for my happiness, no pearl
Will trespass down those cheeks. Companion fair!
Wilt be content to dwell with her, to share
This sister's love with me?" Like one resign'd
And bent by circumstance, and thereby blind
In self-commitment, thus that meek unknown:
"Aye, but a buzzing by my ears has flown,
Of jubilee to Dian:truth I heard!
Well then, I see there is no little bird,
Tender soever, but is Jove's own care.
Long have I sought for rest, and, unaware,
Behold I find it! so exalted too!
So after my own heart! I knew, I knew
There was a place untenanted in it:
In that same void white Chastity shall sit,
And monitor me nightly to lone slumber.
With sanest lips I vow me to the number
Of Dian's sisterhood; and, kind lady,
With thy good help, this very night shall see
My future days to her fane consecrate."

As feels a dreamer what doth most create
His own particular fright, so these three felt:
Or like one who, in after ages, knelt
To Lucifer or Baal, when he'd pine
After a little sleep: or when in mine
Far under-ground, a sleeper meets his friends
Who know him not. Each diligently bends
Towards common thoughts and things for very fear;
Striving their ghastly malady to cheer,
By thinking it a thing of yes and no,
That housewives talk of. But the spirit-blow
Was struck, and all were dreamers. At the last
Endymion said: "Are not our fates all cast?
Why stand we here? Adieu, ye tender pair!
Adieu!" Whereat those maidens, with wild stare,
Walk'd dizzily away. Pained and hot
His eyes went after them, until they got
Near to a cypress grove, whose deadly maw,
In one swift moment, would what then he saw
Engulph for ever. "Stay!" he cried, "ah, stay!
Turn, damsels! hist! one word I have to say.
Sweet Indian, I would see thee once again.
It is a thing I dote on: so I'd fain,
Peona, ye should hand in hand repair
Into those holy groves, that silent are
Behind great Dian's temple. I'll be yon,
At vesper's earliest twinklethey are gone
But once, once, once again" At this he press'd
His hands against his face, and then did rest
His head upon a mossy hillock green,
And so remain'd as he a corpse had been
All the long day; save when he scantly lifted
His eyes abroad, to see how shadows shifted
With the slow move of time,sluggish and weary
Until the poplar tops, in journey dreary,
Had reach'd the river's brim. Then up he rose,
And, slowly as that very river flows,
Walk'd towards the temple grove with this lament:
"Why such a golden eve? The breeze is sent
Careful and soft, that not a leaf may fall
Before the serene father of them all
Bows down his summer head below the west.
Now am I of breath, speech, and speed possest,
But at the setting I must bid adieu
To her for the last time. Night will strew
On the damp grass myriads of lingering leaves,
And with them shall I die; nor much it grieves
To die, when summer dies on the cold sward.
Why, I have been a butterfly, a lord
Of flowers, garlands, love-knots, silly posies,
Groves, meadows, melodies, and arbour roses;
My kingdom's at its death, and just it is
That I should die with it: so in all this
We miscal grief, bale, sorrow, heartbreak, woe,
What is there to plain of? By Titan's foe
I am but rightly serv'd." So saying, he
Tripp'd lightly on, in sort of deathful glee;
Laughing at the clear stream and setting sun,
As though they jests had been: nor had he done
His laugh at nature's holy countenance,
Until that grove appear'd, as if perchance,
And then his tongue with sober seemlihed
Gave utterance as he entered: "Ha!" I said,
"King of the butterflies; but by this gloom,
And by old Rhadamanthus' tongue of doom,
This dusk religion, pomp of solitude,
And the Promethean clay by thief endued,
By old Saturnus' forelock, by his head
Shook with eternal palsy, I did wed
Myself to things of light from infancy;
And thus to be cast out, thus lorn to die,
Is sure enough to make a mortal man
Grow impious." So he inwardly began
On things for which no wording can be found;
Deeper and deeper sinking, until drown'd
Beyond the reach of music: for the choir
Of Cynthia he heard not, though rough briar
Nor muffling thicket interpos'd to dull
The vesper hymn, far swollen, soft and full,
Through the dark pillars of those sylvan aisles.
He saw not the two maidens, nor their smiles,
Wan as primroses gather'd at midnight
By chilly finger'd spring. "Unhappy wight!
Endymion!" said Peona, "we are here!
What wouldst thou ere we all are laid on bier?"
Then he embrac'd her, and his lady's hand
Press'd, saying:" Sister, I would have command,
If it were heaven's will, on our sad fate."
At which that dark-eyed stranger stood elate
And said, in a new voice, but sweet as love,
To Endymion's amaze: "By Cupid's dove,
And so thou shalt! and by the lily truth
Of my own breast thou shalt, beloved youth!"
And as she spake, into her face there came
Light, as reflected from a silver flame:
Her long black hair swell'd ampler, in display
Full golden; in her eyes a brighter day
Dawn'd blue and full of love. Aye, he beheld
Phoebe, his passion! joyous she upheld
Her lucid bow, continuing thus; "Drear, drear
Has our delaying been; but foolish fear
Withheld me first; and then decrees of fate;
And then 'twas fit that from this mortal state
Thou shouldst, my love, by some unlook'd for change
Be spiritualiz'd. Peona, we shall range
These forests, and to thee they safe shall be
As was thy cradle; hither shalt thou flee
To meet us many a time." Next Cynthia bright
Peona kiss'd, and bless'd with fair good night:
Her brother kiss'd her too, and knelt adown
Before his goddess, in a blissful swoon.
She gave her fair hands to him, and behold,
Before three swiftest kisses he had told,
They vanish'd far away!Peona went
Home through the gloomy wood in wonderment.

(line 2): This line originally began with 'O Mountain-born in the draft, where also 'while' stands cancelled in favour of 'by.'

(line 158): Keats has been supposed to have invented the variant 'spry' for 'spray' for convenience of rhyming, just as Shelley has been accused of inventing for like reasons the word 'uprest', for example, in Laon And Cythna, Canto III, Stanza xxi. Sandys, the translator of Ovid, may not be a very good authority; but he is not improbably Keats's authority for 'spry', and will certainly do in default of a better.

(line 273): The biblical dissyllabic form 'mayest' is clearly used by deliberate preference, for the line originally stood thus in the draft :
And I have told thee all that thou canst hear.

(line 298): Remember'd from its velvet summer song : The gentleness of summer wind seems to have been a cherished idea with Keats. Compare with Sleep And Poetry, line 1 --
'What is more gentle than a wind in summer?'

(line 585): This was originally a short line consisting of the words "Thine illuminings" alone. The whole stanza, ... was sent by Keats to his friend Baily for his "vote, pro or con," in a letter dated the 22nd of November 1817.

(line 668): An imagination in which Hunt would have found it difficult to discover the reality; but probably Keats had never seen the miserable platform of dry twigs that serves for "a dove's nest among summer trees."

(line 672): Endymion's imaginary home and employments as pictured in the next fifty lines may be compared with Shelley's AEgean island described so wonderfully in Epipsychidion. Both passages are thoroughly characteristic; and they show the divergence between the modes of thought and sentiment of the two men in a very marked way.

(line 885-86): A curious importation from Hebrew theology into a subject from Greek mythology. Compare St. Matthew, X, 29: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." Or, as made familiar to our childhood by the popular hymn-wright,---
'A little sparrow cannot fall,
Unnoticed, Lord, by Thee.'

In the finished manuscript the word "kist" occurs twice instead of "kiss'd" as in the first edition; but "bless'd" is not similarly transformed to "blest."

At the end of the draft Keats wrote "Burford Bridge Nov. 28, 1817--".

The imprint of Endymion is as follows:-- T. Miller, Printer, Noble Street, Cheapside. by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes
~ John Keats, Endymion - Book IV
,
628:Last Instructions To A Painter
After two sittings, now our Lady State
To end her picture does the third time wait.
But ere thou fall'st to work, first, Painter, see
If't ben't too slight grown or too hard for thee.
Canst thou paint without colors? Then 'tis right:
For so we too without a fleet can fight.
Or canst thou daub a signpost, and that ill?
'Twill suit our great debauch and little skill.
Or hast thou marked how antic masters limn
The aly-roof with snuff of candle dim,
Sketching in shady smoke prodigious tools?
'Twill serve this race of drunkards, pimps and fools.
But if to match our crimes thy skill presumes,
As th' Indians, draw our luxury in plumes.
Or if to score out our compendious fame,
With Hooke, then, through the microscope take aim,
Where, like the new Comptroller, all men laugh
To see a tall louse brandish the white staff.
Else shalt thou oft thy guiltless pencil curse,
Stamp on thy palette, not perhaps the worse.
The painter so, long having vexed his cloth-Of his hound's mouth to feign the raging froth-His desperate pencil at the work did dart:
His anger reached that rage which passed his art;
Chance finished that which art could but begin,
And he sat smiling how his dog did grin.
So mayst thou pérfect by a lucky blow
What all thy softest touches cannot do.
Paint then St Albans full of soup and gold,
The new court's pattern, stallion of the old.
Him neither wit nor courage did exalt,
But Fortune chose him for her pleasure salt.
Paint him with drayman's shoulders, butcher's mien,
Membered like mules, with elephantine chine.
Well he the title of St Albans bore,
For Bacon never studied nature more.
But age, allayed now that youthful heat,
Fits him in France to play at cards and treat.
80
Draw no commission lest the court should lie,
That, disavowing treaty, asks supply.
He needs no seal but to St James's lease,
Whose breeches wear the instrument of peace;
Who, if the French dispute his power, from thence
Can straight produce them a plenipotence..
Nor fears he the Most Christian should trepan
Two saints at once, St Germain, St Alban,
But thought the Golden Age was now restored,
When men and women took each other's word.
Paint then again Her Highness to the life,
Philosopher beyond Newcastle's wife.
She, nak'd, can Archimedes self put down,
For an experiment upon the crown,
She pérfected that engine, oft assayed,
How after childbirth to renew a maid,
And found how royal heirs might be matured
In fewer months than mothers once endured.
Hence Crowther made the rare inventress free
Of's Higness's Royal Society-Happiest of women, if she were but able
To make her glassen Dukes once malleáble!
Paint her with oyster lip and breath of fame,
Wide mouth that 'sparagus may well proclaim;
With Chancellor's belly and so large a rump,
There--not behind the coach--her pages jump.
Express her study now if China clay
Can, without breaking, venomed juice convey,
Or how a mortal poison she may draw
Out of the cordial meal of the cacao.
Witness, ye stars of night, and thou the pale
Moon, that o'ercame with the sick steam didst fail;
Ye neighboring elms, that your green leaves did shed,
And fawns that from the womb abortive fled;
Not unprovoked, she tries forbidden arts,
But in her soft breast love's hid cancer smarts,
While she resoloves, at once, Sidney's disgrace
And her self scorned for emulous Denham's face,
And nightly hears the hated guards, away
Galloping with the Duke to other prey.
81
Paint Castlemaine in colours that will hold
(Her, not her picture, for she now grows old):
She through her lackey's drawers, as he ran,
Discerned love's cause and a new flame began.
Her wonted joys thenceforth and court she shuns,
And still within her mind the footman runs:
His brazen calves, his brawny thighs--the face
She slights--his feet shaped for a smoother race.
Poring within her glass she readjusts
Her looks, and oft-tried beauty now distrusts,
Fears lest he scorn a woman once assayed,
And now first wished she e'er had been a maid.
Great Love, how dost thou triumph and how reign,
That to a groom couldst humble her disdain!
Stripped to her skin, see how she stooping stands,
Nor scorns to rub him down with those fair hands,
And washing (lest the scent her crime disclose)
His sweaty hooves, tickles him 'twixt the toes.
But envious Fame, too soon, began to note
More gold in's Fob, more lace upon his coat;
And he, unwary, and of tongue too fleet,
No longer could conceal his fortune sweet.
Justly the rogue was shipped in porter's den,
And Jermyn straight has leave to come again.
Ah, Painter, now could Alexander live,
And this Campaspe thee, Apelles, give!
Draw next a pair of tables opening, then
The House of Commons clattering like the men.
Describe the Court and Country, both set right
On opp'site points, the black against the white.
Those having lost the nation at tric-trac,
These now adventuring how to win it back.
The dice betwixt them must the fate divide
(As chance doth still in multitudes decide).
But here the Court does its advantage know,
For the cheat Turner for them both must throw.
As some from boxes, he so from the chair
Can strike the die and still with them goes share.
Here, Painter, rest a little, and survey
With what small arts the public game they play.
82
For so too Rubens, with affairs of state,
His labouring pencil oft would recreate.
The close Cabal marked how the Navy eats,
And thought all lost that goes not to the cheats,
So therefore secretly for peace decrees,
Yet as for war the Parliament should squeeze,
And fix to the revénue such a sum
Should Goodrick silence and strike Paston dumb,
Should pay land armies, should dissolve the vain
Commons, and ever such a court maintain;
Hyde's avarice, Bennet's luxury should suffice,
And what can these defray but the Excise?
Excise a monster worse than e'er before
Frighted the midwife and the mother tore.
A thousand hands she has and thousand eyes,
Breaks into shops and into cellars pries,
And on all trade like cassowar she feeds:
Chops off the piece wheres'e'er she close the jaw,
Else swallows all down her indented maw.
She stalks all day in streets concealed from sight
And flies, like bats with leathern wings, by night;
She wastes the country and on cities preys.
Her, of a female harpy, in dog days,
Black Birch, of all the earth-born race most hot
And most rapacious, like himself, begot,
And, of his brat enamoured, as't increased,
Buggered in incest with the mongrel beast.
Say, Muse, for nothing can escape thy sight
(And, Painter, wanting other, draw this fight),
Who, in an English senate, fierce debate
Could raise so long for this new whore of state.
Of early wittols first the troop marched in-For diligence renowned and discipline-In loyal haste they left young wives in bed,
And Denham these by one consent did head.
Of the old courtiers, next a squadron came,
That sold their master, led by Ashburnham.
To them succeeds a desipicable rout,
But know the word and well could face about;
83
Expectants pale, with hopes of spoil allured,
Though yet but pioneers, and led by Stew'rd.
Then damning cowards ranged the vocal plain,
Wood these command, the Knight of the Horn and Cane.
Still his hook-shoulder seems the blow to dread,
And under's armpit he defends his head.
The posture strange men laughed at of his poll,
Hid with his elbow like the spice he stole.
Headless St Denys so his head does bear,
And both of them alike French martyrs were.
Court officers, as used, the next place took,
And followed, Fox, but with disdainful look.
His birth, his youth, his brokage all dispraise
In vain, for always he commands that pays.
Then the procurers under Progers filed-Gentlest of men-- and his lieutenant mild,
Brounker--Love's squire--through all the field arrayed,
No troop was better clad, nor so well paid.
Then marched the troop of Clarendon, all full
Haters of fowl, to teal preferring bull:
Gross bodies, grosser minds, and grossest cheats,
And bloated Wren conducts them to their seats.
Charlton advances next, whose coif does awe
The Mitre troop, and with his looks gives law.
He marched with beaver cocked of bishop's brim,
And hid much fraud under an aspect grim.
Next the lawyers' merecenary band appear:
Finch in the front, and Thurland in the rear.
The troop of privilege, a rabble bare
Of debtors deep, fell to Trelawney's care.
Their fortune's error they supplied in rage,
Nor any further would than these engage.
Then marched the troop, whose valiant acts before
(Their public acts) obliged them still to more.
For chimney's sake they all Sir Pool obeyed,
Or in his absence him that first it laid.
Then comes the thrifty troop of privateers,
Whose horses each with other interfered.
Before them Higgons rides with brow compact,
Mourning his Countess, anxious for his Act.
Sir Frederick and Sir Solomon draw lots
For the command of politics or sots,
84
Thence fell to words, but quarrel to adjourn;
Their friends agreed they should command by turn.
Carteret the rich did the accountants guide
And in ill English all the world defied.
The Papists--but of these the House had none
Else Talbot offered to have led them on.
Bold Duncombe next, of the projectors chief,
And old Fitz-harding of the Eaters Beef.
Late and disordered out the drinkers drew,
Scarce them their leaders, they their leaders knew.
Before them entered, equal in command,
Apsley and Brod'rick, marching hand in hand.
Last then but one, Powell that could not ride,
Led the French standard, weltering in his stride.
He, to excuse his slowness, truth confessed
That 'twas so long before he could be dressed.
The Lord's sons, last, all these did reinforce:
Cornb'ry before them managed hobby-horse.
Never before nor since, an host so steeled
Trooped on to muster in the Tothill Field:
Not the first cock-horse that with cork were shod
To rescue Albemarle from the sea-cod,
Nor the late feather-men, whom Tomkins fierce
Shall with one breath, like thistledown disperse.
All the two Coventrys their generals chose
For one had much, the other nought to lose;
Nor better choice all accidents could hit,
While Hector Harry steers by Will the Wit.
They both accept the charge with merry glee,
To fight a battle, from all gunshot free.
Pleased with their numbers, yet in valour wise,
They feign a parley, better to surprise;
They that ere long shall the rude Dutch upbraid,
Who in the time of treaty durst invade.
Thick was the morning, and the House was thin,
The Speaker early, when they all fell in.
Propitious heavens, had not you them crossed,
Excise had got the day, and all been lost.
For the other side all in loose quarters lay,
Without intelligence, command, or pay:
85
A scattered body, which the foe ne'er tried,
But oftener did among themselves divide.
And some ran o'er each night, while others sleep,
And undescried returned ere morning peep.
But Strangeways, that all night still walked the round
(For vigilance and courage both renowned)
First spied he enemy and gave the 'larm,
Fighting it single till the rest might arm.
Such Romand Cocles strid before the foe,
The falling bridge behind, the stream below.
Each ran, as chance him guides to several post,
And all to pattern his example boast.
Their former trophies they recall to mind
And to new edge their angry courage grind.
First entered forward Temple, conqueror
Of Irish cattle and Solicitor;
Then daring Seymour, that with spear and shield
Had stretched the Monster Patent on the field;
Keen Whorwood next, in aid of damsel frail,
That pierced the giant Mordaunt through his mail;
And surly Williams, the accountants' bane;
And Lovelace young, of chimney-men the cane.
Old Waller, trumpet-general, swore he'd write
This combat truer than the naval fight.
How'rd on's birth, wit, strength, courage much presumes
And in his breast wears many Montezumes.
These and some more with single valour stay
The adverse troops, and hold them all at bay.
Each thinks his person represents the whole,
And with that thought does multiply his soul,
Believes himself an army, theirs, one man
As easily conquered, and believing can,
With heart of bees so full, and head of mites,
That each, though duelling, a battle fights.
Such once Orlando, famous in romance,
Broached whole brigades like larks upon his lance.
But strength at last still under number bows,
And the faint sweat trickled down Temple's brows.
E'en iron Strangeways, chafing, yet gave back,
Spent with fatigue, to breathe a while toback.
86
When marching in, a seasonable recruit
Of citizens and merchants held dispute;
And, charging all their pikes, a sullen band
Of Presyterian Switzers made a stand.
Nor could all these the field have long maintained
But for th' unknown reserve that still remained:
A gross of English gentry, nobly born,
Of clear estates, and to no faction sworn,
Dear lovers of their king, and death to meet
For country's cause, that glorious think and sweet;
To speak not forward, but in action brave,
In giving generous, but in counsel grave;
Candidly credulous for once, nay twice,
But sure the Devil cannot cheat them thrice.
The van and battle, though retiring, falls
Without dosorder in their intervals.
Then, closing all in equal front, fall on,
Led by great Garway and great Littleton.
Lee, ready to obey or to command,
Adjutant-general, was still at hand.
The martial standard, Sandys displaying, shows
St Dunstan in it, tweaking Satan's nose.
See sudden chance of war! To paint or write
Is longer work and harder than to fight.
At the first charge the enemy give out,
And the Excise receives a total rout.
Broken in courage, yet the men the same
Resolve henceforth upon their other game:
Where force had failed, with stratagem to play,
And what haste lost, recover by delay.
St Albans straight is sent to, to forbear,
Lest the sure peace, forsooth, too soon appear.
The seamen's clamour to three ends they use:
To cheat their pay, feign want, the House accuse.
Each day they bring the tale, and that too true,
How strong the Dutch their equipage renew.
Meantime through all the yards their orders run
To lay the ships up, cease the keels begun.
The timber rots, and useless axe doth rust,
Th' unpracticed saw lies buried in its dust,
87
The busy hammer sleeps, the ropes untwine,
The stores and wages all are mine and thine.
Along the coast and harbours they make care
That money lack, nor forts be in repair.
Long thus they could against the House conspire,
Load them with envy, and with sitting tire.
And the loved King, and never yet denied,
Is brought to beg in public and to chide;
But when this failed, and months enow were spent,
They with the first day's proffer seem content,
And to Land-Tax from the Excise turn round,
Bought off with eighteen-hundred-thousand pound.
Thus like fair theives, the Commons' purse they share,
But all the members' lives, consulting, spare.
Blither than hare that hath escaped the hounds,
The House prorogued, the Chancellor rebounds.
Not so decrepit Aeson, hashed and stewed,
With bitter herbs, rose from the pot renewed,
And with fresh age felt his glad limbs unite;
His gout (yet still he cursed) had left him quite.
What frosts to fruit, what arsenic to the rat,
What to fair Denham, mortal chocolate,
What an account to Carteret, that, and more,
A Parliament is to the Chancellor.
So the Sad-tree shrinks from the morning's eye,
But blooms all night and shoots its branches high.
So, at the sun's recess, again returns
The comet dread, and earth and heaven burns.
Now Mordaunt may, within his castle tower,
Imprison parents, and the child deflower.
The Irish herd is now let loose and comes
By millions over, not by hecatombs;
And now, now the Canary Patent may
Be broached again for the great holiday.
See how he reigns in his new palace culminant,
And sits in state divine like Jove the fulminant!
First Buckingham, that durst to him rebel,
Blasted with lightning, struck wtih thunder, fell.
Next the twelve Commons are condemned to groan
88
And roll in vain at Sisyphus's stone.
But still he cared, while in revenge he braved
That peace secured and money might be saved:
Gain and revenge, revenge and gain are sweet
United most, else when by turns they meet.
France had St Albans promised (so they sing),
St Albans promised him, and he the King:
The Count forthwith is ordered all to close,
To play for Flanders and the stake to lose,
While, chained together, two ambassadors
Like slaves shall beg for peace at Holland's doors.
This done, among his Cyclops he retires
To forge new thunder and inspect their fires.
The court as once of war, now fond of peace,
All to new sports their wanton fears release.
From Greenwich (where intelligence they hold)
Comes news of pastime martial and old,
A punishment invented first to awe
Masculine wives transgressing Nature's law,
Where, when the brawny female disobeys,
And beats the husband till for peace he prays,
No concerned jury for him damage finds,
Nor partial justice her behavior binds,
But the just street does the next house invade,
Mounting the neighbour couple on lean jade,
The distaff knocks, the grains from kettle fly,
And boys and girls in troops run hooting by:
Prudent antiquity, that knew by shame,
Better than law, domestic crimes to tame,
And taught youth by spectácle innocent!
So thou and I, dear Painter, represent
In quick effigy, others' faults, and feign
By making them ridiculous, to restrain.
With homely sight they chose thus to relax
The joys of state, for the new Peace and Tax.
So Holland with us had the mastery tried,
And our next neighbours, France and Flanders, ride.
But a fresh news the great designment nips,
Of, at the Isle of Candy, Dutch and ships!
Bab May and Arlington did wisely scoff
89
And thought all safe, if they were so far off.
Modern geographers, 'twas there, they thought,
Where Venice twenty years the Turk had fought,
While the first year our navy is but shown,
The next divided, and the third we've none.
They, by the name, mistook it for that isle
Where Pilgrim Palmer travelled in exile
With the bull's horn to measure his own head
And on Pasiphaë's tomb to drop a bead.
But Morice learn'd demónstrates, by the post,
This Isle of Candy was on Essex' coast.
Fresh messengers still the sad news assure;
More timorous now we are than first secure.
False terrors our believing fears devise,
And the French army one from Calais spies.
Bennet and May and those of shorter reach
Change all for guineas, and a crown for each,
But wiser men and well foreseen in chance
In Holland theirs had lodged before, and France.
Whitehall's unsafe; the court all meditates
To fly to Windsor and mure up the gates.
Each does the other blame, and all distrust;
(That Mordaunt, new obliged, would sure be just.)
Not such a fatal stupefaction reigned
At London's flame, nor so the court complained.
The Bloodworth_Chancellor gives, then does recall
Orders; amazed, at last gives none at all.
St Alban's writ to, that he may bewail
To Master Louis, and tell coward tale
How yet the Hollanders do make a noise,
Threaten to beat us, and are naughty boys.
Now Dolman's dosobedient, and they still
Uncivil; his unkindness would us kill.
Tell him our ships unrigged, our forts unmanned,
Our money spent; else 'twere at his command.
Summon him therefore of his word and prove
To move him out of pity, if not love;
Pray him to make De Witt and Ruyter cease,
And whip the Dutch unless they'll hold their peace.
But Louis was of memory but dull
90
And to St Albans too undutiful,
Nor word nor near relation did revere,
But asked him bluntly for his character.
The gravelled Count did with the answer faint-His character was that which thou didst paint-Trusses his baggage and the camp does fly.
Yet Louis writes and, lest our heart should break,
Consoles us morally out of Seneque.
Two letters next unto Breda are sent:
In cipher one to Harry Excellent;
The first instructs our (verse the name abhors)
Plenipotentiary ambassadors
To prove by Scripture treaty does imply
Cessation, as the look adultery,
And that, by law of arms, in martial strife,
Who yields his sword has title to his life.
Presbyter Holles the first point should clear,
The second Coventry the Cavalier;
But, whould they not be argued back from sea,
Then to return home straight, infecta re.
But Harry's ordered, if they won't recall
Their fleet, to threaten--we will grant them all.
The Dutch are then in proclamation shent
For sin against th' eleventh commandment.
Hyde's flippant style there pleasantly curvets,
Still his sharp wit on states and princes whets
(So Spain could not escape his laughter's spleen:
None but himsef must choose the King a Queen),
But when he came the odious clause to pen
That summons up the Parliament again,
His writing master many a time he banned
And wished himself the gout to seize his hand.
Never old lecher more repugnance felt,
Consenting, for his rupture, to be gelt;
But still then hope him solaced, ere they come,
To work the peace and so to send them home,
Or in their hasty call to find a flaw,
Their acts to vitiate, and them overawe;
But most relied upon this Dutch pretence
To raise a two-endged army for's defence.
91
First then he marched our whole militia's force
(As if indeed we ships or Dutch had horse);
Then from the usual commonplace, he blames
These, and in standing army's praise declaims;
And the wise court that always loved it dear,
Now thinks all but too little for their fear.
Hyde stamps, and straight upon the ground the swarms
Of current Myrmidons appear in arms,
And for their pay he writes, as from the King-With that cursed quill plucked from a vulture's wing-Of the whole nation now to ask a loan
(The eighteen-hundred-thousand pound was gone).
This done, he pens a proclamation stout,
In rescue of the banquiers banquerout,
His minion imps that, in his secret part,
Lie nuzzling at the sacremental wart,
Horse-leeches circling at the hem'rrhoid vein:
He sucks the King, they him, he them again.
The kingdom's farm he lets to them bid least
(Greater the bribe, and that's at interest).
Here men, induced by safety, gain, and ease,
Their money lodge; confiscate when he please.
These can at need, at instant, with a scrip
(This liked him best) his cash beyond sea whip.
When Dutch invade, when Parliament prepare,
How can he engines so convenient spare?
Let no man touch them or demand his own,
Pain of displeasure of great Clarendon.
The state affairs thus marshalled, for the rest
Monck in his shirt against the Dutch is pressed.
Often, dear Painter, have I sat and mused
Why he should still be 'n all adventures used,
If they for nothing ill, like ashen wood,
Or think him, like Herb John for nothing good;
Whether his valour they so much admire,
Or that for cowardice they all retire,
As heaven in storms, they call in gusts of state
On Monck and Parliament, yet both do hate.
All causes sure concur, but most they think
Under Hercúlean labours he may sink.
92
Soon then the independent troops would close,
And Hyde's last project would his place dispose.
Ruyter the while, that had our ocean curbed,
Sailed now among our rivers undistrubed,
Surveyed their crystal streams and banks so green
And beauties ere this never naked seen.
Through the vain sedge, the bashful nymphs he eyed:
Bosoms, and all which from themselves they hide.
The sun much brighter, and the skies more clear,
He finds the air and all things sweeter here.
The sudden change, and such a tempting sight
Swells his old veins with fresh blood, fresh delight.
Like am'rous victors he begins to shave,
And his new face looks in the English wave.
His sporting navy all about him swim
And witness their complacence in their trim.
Their streaming silks play through the weather fair
And with inveigling colours court the air,
While the red flags breathe on their topmasts high
Terror and war, but want an enemy.
Among the shrouds the seamen sit and sing,
And wanton boys on every rope do cling.
Old Neptune springs the tides and water lent
(The gods themselves do help the provident),
And where the deep keel on the shallow cleaves,
With trident's lever, and great shoulder heaves.
&Aelig;olus their sails inspires with eastern wind,
Puffs them along, and breathes upon them kind.
With pearly shell the Tritons all the while
Sound the sea-march and guide to Sheppey Isle.
So I have seen in April's bud arise
A fleet of clouds, sailing along the skies;
The liquid region with their squadrons filled,
Their airy sterns the sun behind does gild;
And gentle gales them steer, and heaven drives,
When, all on sudden, their calm bosom rives
With thunder and lightning from each armèd cloud;
Shepherds themselves in vain in bushes shroud.
Such up the stream the Belgic navy glides
And at Sheerness unloads its stormy sides.
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Spragge there, though practised in the sea command,
With panting heart lay like a fish on land
And quickly judged the fort was not tenáble-Which, if a house, yet were not tenantáble-No man can sit there safe: the cannon pours
Thorough the walls untight and bullet showers,
The neighbourhood ill, and an unwholesome seat,
So at the first salute resolves retreat,
And swore that he would never more dwell there
Until the city put it in repair.
So he in front, his garrison in rear,
March straight to Chatham to increase the fear.
There our sick ships unrigged in summer lay
Like moulting fowl, a weak and easy prey,
For whose strong bulk earth scarce could timber find,
The ocean water, or the heavens wind-Those oaken giants of the ancient race,
That ruled all seas and did our Channel grace.
The conscious stag so, once the forest's dread,
Flies to the wood and hides his armless head.
Ruyter forthwith a squadron does untack;
They sail securely through the river's track.
An English pilot too (O shame, O sin!)
Cheated of pay, was he that showed them in.
Our wretched ships within their fate attend,
And all our hopes now on frail chain depend:
(Engine so slight to guard us from the sea,
It fitter seemed to captivate a flea).
A skipper rude shocks it without respect,
Filling his sails more force to re-collect.
Th' English from shore the iron deaf invoke
For its last aid: `Hold chain, or we are broke.'
But with her sailing weight, the Holland keel,
Snapping the brittle links, does thorough reel,
And to the rest the opened passage show;
Monck from the bank the dismal sight does view.
Our feathered gallants, which came down that day
To be spectators safe of the new play,
Leave him alone when first they hear the gun
(Cornb'ry the fleetest) and to London run.
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Our seamen, whom no danger's shape could fright,
Unpaid, refuse to mount our ships for spite,
Or to their fellows swim on board the Dutch,
Which show the tempting metal in their clutch.
Oft had he sent of Duncombe and of Legge
Cannon and powder, but in vain, to beg;
And Upnor Castle's ill-deserted wall,
Now needful, does for ammunition call.
He finds, wheres'e'er he succor might expect,
Confusion, folly, treach'ry, fear, neglect.
But when the Royal Charles (what rage, what grief)
He saw seized, and could give her no relief!
That sacred keel which had, as he, restored
His exiled sovereign on its happy board,
And thence the British Admiral became,
Crowned, for that merit, with their master's name;
That pleasure-boat of war, in whose dear side
Secure so oft he had this foe defied,
Now a cheap spoil, and the mean victor's slave,
Taught the Dutch colours from its top to wave;
Of former glories the reproachful thought
With present shame compared, his mind destraught.
Such from Euphrates' bank, a tigress fell
After the robber for her whelps doth yell;
But sees enraged the river flow between,
Frustrate revenge and love, by loss more keen,
At her own breast her useless claws does arm:
She tears herself, since him she cannot harm.
The guards, placed for the chain's and fleet's defence,
Long since were fled on many a feigned pretence.
Daniel had there adventured, man of might,
Sweet Painter, draw his picture while I write.
Paint him of person tall, and big of bone,
Large limbs like ox, not to be killed but shown.
Scarce can burnt ivory feign an hair so black,
Or face so red, thine ocher and thy lac.
Mix a vain terror in his martial look,
And all those lines by which men are mistook;
But when, by shame constrained to go on board,
He heard how the wild cannon nearer roared,
And saw himself confined like sheep in pen,
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Daniel then thought he was in lion's den.
And when the frightful fireships he saw,
Pregnant with sulphur, to him nearer draw,
Captain, lieutenant, ensign, all make haste
Ere in the fiery furnace they be cast-Three children tall, unsinged, away they row,
Like Shadrack, Meschack, and Abednego.
Not so brave Douglas, on whose lovely chin
The early down but newly did begin,
And modest beauty yet his sex did veil,
While envious virgins hope he is a male.
His yellow locks curl back themselves to seek,
Nor other courtship knew but to his cheek.
Oft, as he in chill Esk or Seine by night
Hardened and cooled his limbs, so soft, so white,
Among the reeds, to be espied by him,
The nymphs would rustle; he would forward swim.
They sighed and said, `Fond boy, why so untame
That fliest love's fires, reserved for other flame?'
Fixed on his ship, he faced that horrid day
And wondered much at those that ran away.
Nor other fear himself could comprehend
Then, lest heaven fall ere thither he ascend,
But entertains the while his time too short
With birding at the Dutch, as if in sport,
Or waves his sword, and could he them conjúre
Within its circle, knows himself secure.
The fatal bark him boards with grappling fire,
And safely through its port the Dutch retire.
That precious life he yet disdains to save
Or with known art to try the gentle wave.
Much him the honours of his ancient race
Inspire, nor would he his own deeds deface,
And secret joy in his calm soul does rise
That Monck looks on to see how Douglas dies.
Like a glad lover, the fierce flames he meets,
And tries his first embraces in their sheets.
His shape exact, which the bright flames enfold,
Like the sun's statue stands of burnished gold.
Round the transparent fire about him flows,
As the clear amber on the bee does close,
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And, as on angels' heads their glories shine,
His burning locks adorn his face divine.
But when in this immortal mind he felt
His altering form and soldered limbs to melt,
Down on the deck he laid himself and died,
With his dear sword reposing by his side,
And on the flaming plank, so rests his head
As one that's warmed himself and gone to bed.
His ship burns down, and with his relics sinks,
And the sad stream beneath his ashes drinks.
Fortunate boy, if either pencil's fame,
Or if my verse can propagate thy name,
When Oeta and Alcides are forgot,
Our English youth shall sing the valiant Scot.
Each doleful day still with fresh loss returns:
The Loyal London now the third time burns,
And the true Royal Oak and Royal James,
Allied in fate, increase, with theirs, her flames.
Of all our navy none should now survive,
But that the ships themselves were taught to dive,
And the kind river in its creek them hides,
Fraughting their piercèd keels with oozy tides.
Up to the bridge contagious terror struck:
The Tower itself with the near danger shook,
And were not Ruyter's maw with ravage cloyed,
E'en London's ashes had been then destroyed.
Officious fear, however, to prevent
Our loss does so much more our loss augment:
The Dutch had robbed those jewels of the crown;
Our merchantmen, lest they be burned, we drown.
So when the fire did not enough devour,
The houses were demolished near the Tower.
Those ships that yearly from their teeming hole
Unloaded here the birth of either Pole-Furs from the north and silver from the west,
Wines from the south, and spices from the east;
From Gambo gold, and from the Ganges gems-Take a short voyage underneath the Thames,
Once a deep river, now with timber floored,
And shrunk, least navigable, to a ford.
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Now (nothing more at Chatham left to burn),
The Holland squadron leisurely return,
And spite of Ruperts and of Albemarles,
To Ruyter's triumph lead the captive Charles.
The pleasing sight he often does prolong:
Her masts erect, tough cordage, timbers strong,
Her moving shapes, all these he does survey,
And all admires, but most his easy prey.
The seamen search her all within, without:
Viewing her strength, they yet their conquest doubt;
Then with rude shouts, secure, the air they vex,
With gamesome joy insulting on her decks.
Such the feared Hebrew, captive, blinded, shorn,
Was led about in sport, the public scorn.
Black day accursed! On thee let no man hale
Out of the port, or dare to hoist a sail,
Nor row a boat in thy unlucky hour.
Thee, the year's monster, let thy dam devour,
And constant time, to keep his course yet right,
Fill up thy space with a redoubled night.
When agèd Thames was bound with fetters base,
And Medway chaste ravished before his face,
And their dear offspring murdered in their sight,
Thou and thy fellows held'st the odious light.
Sad change since first that happy pair was wed,
When all the rivers graced their nuptial bed,
And Father Neptune promised to resign
His empire old to their immortal line!
Now with vain grief their vainer hopes they rue,
Themselves dishonoured, and the gods untrue,
And to each other, helpless couple, moan,
As the sad tortoise for the sea does groan.
But most they for their darling Charles complain,
And were it burnt, yet less would be their pain.
To see that fatal pledge of sea command
Now in the ravisher De Ruyter's hand,
The Thames roared, swooning Medway turned her tide,
And were they mortal, both for grief had died.
The court in farthing yet itself does please,
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(And female Stuart there rules the four seas),
But fate does still accumulate our woes,
And Richmond her commands, as Ruyter those.
After this loss, to relish discontent,
Someone must be accused by punishment.
All our miscarriages on Pett must fall:
His name alone seems fit to answer all.
Whose counsel first did this mad war beget?
Who all commands sold through the navy? Pett.
Who would not follow when the Dutch were beat?
Who treated out the time at Bergen? Pett.
Who the Dutch fleet with storms disabled met,
And rifling prizes, them neglected? Pett.
Who with false news prevented the Gazette,
The fleet divided, writ for Rupert? Pett.
Who all our seamen cheated of their debt,
And all our prizes who did swallow? Pett.
Who did advise no navy out to set,
And who the forts left unrepairèd? Pett.
Who to supply with powder did forget
Languard, Sheerness, Gravesend and Upnor? Pett.
Who should it be but the Fanatic Pett?
Pett, the sea-architect, in making ships
Was the first cause of all these naval slips:
Had he not built, none of these faults had been;
If no creation, there had been no sin.
But his great crime, one boat away he sent,
That lost our fleet and did our flight prevent.
Then (that reward might in its turn take place,
And march with punishment in equal pace),
Southhampton dead, much of the Treasure's care
And place in council fell to Dunscombe's share.
All men admired he to that pitch could fly:
Powder ne'er blew man up so soon so high,
But sure his late good husbandry in petre
Showed him to manage the Exchequer meeter;
And who the forts would not vouchsafe a corn,
To lavish the King's money more would scorn.
Who hath no chimneys, to give all is best,
And ablest Speaker, who of law has least;
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Who less estate, for Treasurer most fit,
And for a couns'llor, he that has least wit.
But the true cause was that, in's brother May,
The Exchequer might the Privy Purse obey.
But now draws near the Parliament's return;
Hyde and the court again begin to mourn:
Frequent in council, earnest in debate,
All arts they try how to prolong its date.
Grave Primate Sheldon (much in preaching there)
Blames the last session and this more does fear:
With Boynton or with Middleton 'twere sweet,
But with a Parliament abohors to meet,
And thinks 'twill ne'er be well within this nation,
Till it be governed by Convocation.
But in the Thames' mouth still De Ruyter laid;
The peace not sure, new army must be paid.
Hyde saith he hourly waits for a dispatch;
Harry came post just as he showed his watch,
All to agree the articles were clear-The Holland fleet and Parliament so near-Yet Harry must job back, and all mature,
Binding, ere the Houses meet, the treaty sure,
And 'twixt necessity and spite, till then,
Let them come up so to go down again.
Up ambles country justice on his pad,
And vest bespeaks to be more seemly clad.
Plain gentlemen in stagecoach are o'erthrown
And deputy-lieutenants in their own.
The portly burgess through the weather hot
Does for his corporation sweat and trot;
And all with sun and choler come adust
And threaten Hyde to raise a greater dust.
But fresh as from the Mint, the courtiers fine
Salute them, smiling at their vain design,
And Turner gay up to his perch does march
With face new bleached, smoothened and stiff with starch;
Tells them he at Whitehall had took a turn
And for three days thence moves them to adjourn.
`Not so!' quoth Tomkins, and straight drew his tongue,
Trusty as steel that always ready hung,
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And so, proceeding in his motion warm,
The army soon raised, he doth as soon disarm.
True Trojan! While this town can girls afford,
And long as cider lasts in Herford,
The girls shall always kiss thee, though grown old,
And in eternal healths thy name be trolled.
Meanwhile the certain news of peace arrives
At court, and so reprieves their guilty lives.
Hyde orders Turner that he should come late,
Lest some new Tomkins spring a fresh debate.
The King that day raised early from his rest,
Expects (as at a play) till Turner's dressed.
At last together Ayton come and he:
No dial more could with the sun agree.
The Speaker, summoned, to the Lords repairs,
Nor gave the Commons leave to say their prayers,
But like his prisoners to the bar them led,
Where mute they stand to hear their sentence read.
Trembling with joy and fear, Hyde them prorogues,
And had almost mistook and called them rogues.
Dear Painter, draw this Speaker to the foot;
Where pencil cannot, there my pen shall do't:
That may his body, this his mind explain.
Paint him in golden gown, with mace's brain,
Bright hair, fair face, obscure and dull of head,
Like knife with ivory haft and edge of lead.
At prayers his eyes turn up the pious white,
But all the while his private bill's in sight.
In chair, he smoking sits like master cook,
And a poll bill does like his apron look.
Well was he skilled to season any question
And made a sauce, fit for Whitehall's digestion,
Whence every day, the palate more to tickle,
Court-mushrumps ready are, sent in in pickle.
When grievance urged, he swells like squatted toad,
Frisks like a frog, to croak a tax's load;
His patient piss he could hold longer than
An urinal, and sit like any hen;
At table jolly as a country host
And soaks his sack with Norfolk, like a toast;
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At night, than Chanticleer more brisk and hot,
And Sergeant's wife serves him for Pertelotte.
Paint last the King, and a dead shade of night
Only dispersed by a weak taper's light,
And those bright gleams that dart along and glare
From his clear eyes, yet these too dark with care.
There, as in the calm horror all alone
He wakes, and muses of th' uneasy throne;
Raise up a sudden shape with virgin's face,
(Though ill agree her posture, hour, or place),
Naked as born, and her round arms behind
With her own tresses, interwove and twined;
Her mouth locked up, a blind before her eyes,
Yet from beneath the veil her blushes rise,
And silent tears her secret anguish speak
Her heart throbs and with very shame would break.
The object strange in him no terror moved:
He wondered first, then pitied, then he loved,
And with kind hand does the coy vision press
(Whose beauty greater seemed by her distress),
But soon shrunk back, chilled with her touch so cold,
And th' airy picture vanished from his hold.
In his deep thoughts the wonder did increase,
And he divined 'twas England or the Peace.
Express him startling next with listening ear,
As one that some unusual noise does hear.
With cannon, trumpets, drums, his door surround-But let some other painter draw the sound.
Thrice did he rise, thrice the vain tumult fled,
But again thunders, when he lies in bed.
His mind secure does the known stroke repeat
And finds the drums Louis's march did beat.
Shake then the room, and all his curtains tear
And with blue streaks infect the taper clear,
While the pale ghosts his eye does fixed admire
Of grandsire Harry and of Charles his sire.
Harry sits down, and in his open side
The grisly wound reveals of which he died,
And ghastly Charles, turning his collar low,
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The purple thread about his neck does show,
Then whispering to his son in words unheard,
Through the locked door both of them disappeared.
The wondrous night the pensive King revolves,
And rising straight on Hyde's disgrace resolves.
At his first step, he Castlemaine does find,
Bennet, and Coventry, as 't were designed;
And they, not knowing, the same thing propose
Which his hid mind did in its depths enclose.
Through their feigned speech their secret hearts he knew:
To her own husband, Castlemaine untrue;
False to his master Bristol, Arlington;
And Coventry, falser than anyone,
Who to the brother, brother would betray,
Nor therefore trusts himself to such as they.
His Father's ghost, too, whispered him one note,
That who does cut his purse will cut his throat,
But in wise anger he their crimes forbears,
As thieves reprived for executioners;
While Hyde provoked, his foaming tusk does whet,
To prove them traitors and himself the Pett.
Painter, adieu! How well our arts agree,
Poetic picture, painted poetry;
But this great work is for our Monarch fit,
And henceforth Charles only to Charles shall sit.
His master-hand the ancients shall outdo,
Himself the painter and the poet too.
To the King
So his bold tube, man to the sun applied
And spots unknown to the bright star descried,
Showed they obscure him, while too near they please
And seem his courtiers, are but his disease.
Through optic trunk the planet seemed to hear,
And hurls them off e'er since in his career.
And you, Great Sir, that with him empire share,
Sun of our world, as he the Charles is there,
Blame not the Muse that brought those spots to sight,
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Which in you splendour hid, corrode your light:
(Kings in the country oft have gone astray
Nor of a peasant scorned to learn the way.)
Would she the unattended throne reduce,
Banishing love, trust, ornament, and use,
Better it were to live in cloister's lock,
Or in fair fields to rule the easy flock.
She blames them only who the court restrain
And where all England serves, themselves would reign.
Bold and accursed are they that all this while
Have strove to isle our Monarch from his isle,
And to improve themselves, on false pretence,
About the Common-Prince have raised a fence;
The kingdom from the crown distinct would see
And peel the bark to burn at last the tree.
(But Ceres corn, and Flora is the spring,
Bacchus is wine, the country is the King.)
Not so does rust insinuating wear,
Nor powder so the vaulted bastion tear,
Nor earthquake so an hollow isle o'er whelm
As scratching courtiers undermine a realm,
And through the palace's foundations bore,
Burrowing themselves to hoard their guilty store.
The smallest vermin make the greatest waste,
And a poor warren once a city rased.
But they, whom born to virtue and to wealth,
Nor guilt to flattery binds, nor want to wealth,
Whose generous conscience and whose courage high
Does with clear counsels their large souls supply;
That serve the King with their estates and care,
And, as in love, on Parliaments can stare,
(Where few the number, choice is there less hard):
Give us this court, and rule without a guard.
~ Andrew Marvell,
629:The Door Of Humility
ENGLAND
We lead the blind by voice and hand,
And not by light they cannot see;
We are not framed to understand
The How and Why of such as He;
But natured only to rejoice
At every sound or sign of hope,
And, guided by the still small voice,
In patience through the darkness grope;
Until our finer sense expands,
And we exchange for holier sight
The earthly help of voice and hands,
And in His light behold the Light.
Let there be Light! The self-same Power
That out of formless dark and void
Endued with life's mysterious dower
Planet, and star, and asteroid;
That moved upon the waters' face,
And, breathing on them His intent,
Divided, and assigned their place
To, ocean, air, and firmament;
That bade the land appear, and bring
Forth herb and leaf, both fruit and flower,
Cattle that graze, and birds that sing,
Ordained the sunshine and the shower;
That, moulding man and woman, breathed
In them an active soul at birth
In His own image, and bequeathed
To them dominion over Earth;
That, by whatever is, decreed
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His Will and Word shall be obeyed,
From loftiest star to lowliest seed;The worm and me He also made.
And when, for nuptials of the Spring
With Summer, on the vestal thorn
The bridal veil hung flowering,
A cry was heard, and I was born.
II
To be by blood and long descent
A member of a mighty State,
Whose greatness, sea-girt, but unpent
By ocean, makes the world more great;
That, ranging limitless, hath won
A Rule more wide than that of Rome,
And, journeying onward with the sun,
In every zone hath found a home;
That, keeping old traditions fast,
Still hails the things that are to be,
And, firmly rooted in the Past,
On Law hath grafted Liberty;That is a birthright nobler far
Than princely claim or Right Divine
From far-off rapine, wanton war,
And I could feel this birthright mine.
And not the lowliest hand that drives
Or share or loom, if so it be
Of British strain, but thence derives
A patent of nobility.
III
The guiding of the infant years
Onward to good, away from guile,
A mother's humanising tears,
A father's philosophic smile;
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Refining beauty, gentle ways,
The admonitions of the wise,
The love that watches, helps, and prays,
And pities, but doth ne'er despise;
An ancient Faith, abiding hope,
The charity that suffers long,
But flames with sacred zeal to cope
With man's injustice, nature's wrong;
Melodious leisure, learnëd shelf,
Discourse of earnest, temperate mind,
The playful wit that of itself
Flashes, but leaves no wound behind;
The knowledge gleaned from Greece and Rome,
From studious Teuton, sprightly Gaul,
The lettered page, the mellow tome,
And poets' wisdom more than all;These, when no lips severe upbraid,
But counsel rather than control,
In budding boyhood lend their aid
To sensibility of soul.
IV
But, more than mentor, mother, sire,
Can lend to shape the future man
With help of learning or of lyre,
Of ancient rule, or modern plan,
Is that which with our breath we bring
Into the world, we know not whence,
That needs nor care nor fostering,
Because an instinct and a sense.
And days and years are all forgot
When Nature's aspect, growth, and grace,
And veering moods, to me were not
The features of the Loved One's face.
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The
The
The
The
cloud whose shadow skims the lake,
shimmering haze of summer noon,
voice of April in the brake,
silence of the mounting moon,
Swaying of bracken on the hill,
The murmur of the vagrant stream,
These motions of some unseen Will,
These babblings of some heavenly dream,
Seemed tokens of divine desire
To hold discourse with me, and so
To touch my lips with hallowed fire,
And tell me things I ought to know.
I gazed and listened, all intent,
As to the face and voice of Fate,
But what they said, or what they meant,
I could surmise not, nor translate.
They did but lure me to unrest,
Unanswered questioning, longings vain,
As when one scans some palimpsest
No erudition can explain;
But left me with a deep distaste
For common speech, that still did seem
More meaningless than mountain waste,
Less human than the far-off stream.
So that a stranger in the land
Wherein I moved, where'er I went,
I dwelt, whom none could understand,
Or exorcise my discontent.
And I to them, and they to me
Seemed from two different planets come,
And, save to flower and wild-bird's glee,
My heart was deaf, my soul was dumb.
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But slowly dawned a happier time
When I began to apprehend,
And catch, as in some poet's rhyme,
The intimations of a friend;
When Nature spake no unknown tongue,
But language kindred to my thought,
Till everything She said, I sung,
In notes unforced, in words unsought.
And I to Her so closely drew,
The seasons round, in mind and mood,
I felt at length as if we knew
Self-same affection, self-same feud:
That both alike scorned worldly aim,
Profit, applause, parade, and pride,
Whereby the love of generous fame
And worthy deeds grows petrified.
I did as yet not understand
Nature is far more vast than I,
Deep as the ocean, wide as land,
And overarching as the sky;
And but responded to my call,
And only felt and fed my need,
Because She doth the same for all
Who to her pity turn and plead.
VI
Shall man have mind, and Nature none,
Shall I, not she, have soul and heart?
Nay, rather, if we be not one,
Each is of each the counterpart.
She too may have within her breast
A conscience, if not like to yours,
A sense of rightness ill at rest,
Long as her waywardness endures.
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And hence her thunder, earthquakes, hail,
Her levin bolts, her clouds' discharge:
She sins upon a larger scale,
Because She is herself more large.
Hence, too, when She hath pierced with pain
The heart of man, and wrecked his years,
The pity of the April rain,
And late repentance of her tears.
She is no better, worse, than we;
We can but say she seems more great,
That half her will, like ours, is free,
And half of it is locked in Fate.
Nor need we fear that we should err
Beyond our scope in reasoning thus,That there must be a God for Her,
If that there be a God for us.
VII
The chiming of the Sabbath bell,
The silence of the Sabbath fields,
Over the hamlet cast a spell
To which the gracious spirit yields.
Sound is there none of wheel or wain,
Husht stands the anvil, husht the forge,
No shout is heard in rustic lane,
No axe resounds in timbered gorge.
No flail beats time on granary floor,
The windmill's rushing wings are stayed,
And children's glee rings out no more
From hedgerow bank or primrose glade.
The big-boned team that firm and slow
Draw yoked, are free to couch or stray;
The basking covey seem to know
None will invade their peace to-day.
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And speckless swains, and maidens neat,
Through rustic porch, down cottage stair,
Demurely up the village street
Stream onward to the House of Prayer.
They kneel as they were taught to kneel
In childhood, and demand not why,
But, as they chant or answer, feel
A vague communion with the sky.
VIII
But when the impetuous mind is spurred
To range through epochs great but gone,
And, heedless of dogmatic word,
With fearless ardour presses on,
Confronting pulpit, sceptre, shrine,
With point by Logic beaten out,
And, questioning tenets deemed divine
With human challenge, human doubt,
Hoists Reason's sail, and for the haze
Of ocean quits Tradition's shore,
Awhile he comes, and kneels, and prays,
Then comes and kneels, but prays no more;
And only for the love he bears
To those who love him, and who reared
His frame to genuflexion, shares
In ritual, vain, if still revered.
His Gods are many or are none,
Saturn and Mithra, Christ and Jove,
Consorting, as the Ages run,
With Vestal choir or Pagan drove.
Abiding still by Northern shores,
He sees far off on Grecian coast
Veiled Aphrodite, but adores
Minerva and Apollo most.
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Beauty of vision, voice, and mind,
Enthrall him so, that unto him
All Creeds seem true, if he but find
Siren, or saint, or seraphim.
And thus once more he dwells apart,
His inward self enswathed in mist,
Blending with poet's pious heart
The dreams of pagan Hedonist.
IX
If Beauty be the Spirit's quest,
Its adoration, creed, and shrine,
Wherein its restlessness finds rest,
And earthly type of the Divine,
Must there for such not somewhere be
A blending of all beauteous things
In some one form wherein we see
The sum of our imaginings?
The smile on mountain's musing brow,
Sunrise and sunset, moon and star,
Wavelets around the cygnet's prow,
Glamour anear and charm afar;
The silence of the silvery pool,
Autumn's reserve and Summer's fire,
Slow vanishings of Winter's rule
To free full voice of April's choir;The worshippers of Beauty find
In maiden form, and face, and tress;
Faint intimations of her mind
And undulating loveliness.
Bound, runnels, bound, bound on, and flow!
Sing, merle and mavis, pair and sing!
425
Gone is the Winter, fled the snow,
And all that lives is flushed with Spring.
Harry the woods, young truant folk,
For flowers to deck your cottage sills,
And, underneath my orchard oak,
Cluster, ye golden daffodils!
Unfettered by domestic vow,
Cuckoo, proclaim your vagrant loves,
And coo upon the self-same bough,
Inseparable turtle-doves.
Soar, laverock, soar on song to sky,
And with the choir of Heaven rejoice!
You cannot be more glad than I,
Who feel Her gaze, and hear Her voice:
Who see Her cheek more crimson glow,
And through Her veins love's current stream,
And feel a fear She doth but know
Is kin to joy and dawning dream.
Bound, rivulets, bound, bound on, and flow!
Sing, merle and mavis, pair and sing!
Gone from the world are want and woe,
And I myself am one with Spring.
XI
They err who say that Love is blind,
Or, if it be, 'tis but in part,
And that, if for fair face it find
No counterpart in mind and heart,
It dwells on that which it beholds,
Fair fleshly vision void of soul,
Deeming, illusioned, this enfolds,
Longing's fulfilment, end, and whole.
Were such my hapless carnal lot,
I too might evanescent bliss
426
Embrace, fierce-fancied, fast forgot,
Then leave for some fresh loveliness.
But April gaze, and Summer tress,
With something of Autumnal thought,
In Her seem blent to crown and bless
A bond I long in dreams have sought.
She looks as though She came to grace
The earth, from world less soiled than this,
Around her head and virgin face
Halo of heavenly holiness.
XII
He who hath roamed through various lands,
And, wheresoe'er his steps are set,
The kindred meaning understands
Of spire, and dome, and minaret;
By Roman river, Stamboul's sea,
In Peter's or Sophia's shrine,
Acknowledges with reverent knee
The presence of the One Divine;
Who, to the land he loves so well
Returning, towards the sunset hour
Wends homeward, feels yet stronger spell
In lichened roof and grey church-tower;
Round whose foundations, side by side,
Sleep hamlet wit and village sage,
While loud the blackbird cheers his bride
Deep in umbrageous Vicarage.
XIII
Was it that sense which some aver
Foreshadows Fate it doth not see,
That gave unwittingly to Her
The name, for ever dear to me,
427
Borne by that tearful Mother whom,
Nigh unto Ostia's shelving sand,
Augustine laid in lonely tomb,
Ere sailing for his Afric land?
But I at least should have foreseen,
When Monica to me had grown
Familiar word, that names may mean
More than by word and name is shown;
That nought can keep two lives apart
More than divorce 'twixt mind and mind,
Even though heart be one with heart;Alas! Alas! Yes, Love is blind.
XIV
How could I think of jarring Creeds,
And riddles that unread remain,
Or ask if Heaven's indulgence heeds
Broils born of man's polemic brain,
And pause because my venturous mind
Had roamed through tracks of polar thought,
Whence mightiest spirits turn back blind,
Since finding not the thing they sought,
When Love, with luring gifts in hand,
Beauty, refinement, smile, caress,
Heart to surmise and understand,
And crowning grace of holiness,
Stood there before me, and, with gaze
I had been purblind not to see,
Said, ``I to you will, all my days,
Give what you yearn to give to me''?
Must both then sorrow, while we live,
Because, rejoicing, I forgot
Something there was I could not give,
Because, alas! I had it not.
428
XV
She comes from Vicarage Garden, see!
Radiant as morning, lithe and tall,
Fresh lilies in her hand, but She
The loveliest lily of them all.
The thrushes in their fluting pause,
The bees float humming round her head,
Earth, air, and heaven shine out because
They hear her voice, and feel her tread.
Up in the fretted grey church-tower,
That rustic gaze for miles can see,
The belfry strikes the silvery hour,
Announcing her propinquity.
And I who, fearful to be late,
Passed long since through the deerpark pale,
And loitered by the churchyard gate,
Once more exclaim, ``Hail! loved one! hail!''
We pass within, and up the nave,
Husht, because Heaven seems always there,
Wend choirward, where, devoutly grave,
She kneels, to breathe a silent prayer.
She takes the flowers I too have brought,
Blending them deftly with her own,
And ranges them, as quick as thought,
Around the white-draped altar-throne.
How could she know my gaze was not
On things unseen, but fixed on Her,
That, as She prayed, I all forgot
The worship in the worshipper?While She beheld, as in a glass,
The Light Divine, that I but sought
Sight of her soul?-Alas! Alas!
Love is yet blinder than I thought.
429
XVI
Who hath not seen a little cloud
Up from the clear horizon steal,
And, mounting lurid, mutter loud
Premonitory thunder-peal?
Husht grows the grove, the summer leaf
Trembles and writhes, as if in pain,
And then the sky, o'ercharged with grief,
Bursts into drenching tears of rain.
I through the years had sought to hide
My darkening doubts from simple sight.
'Tis sacrilegious to deride
Faith of unquestioning neophyte.
And what, methought, is Doubt at best?
A sterile wind through seeded sedge
Blowing for nought, an empty nest
That lingers in a leafless hedge.
Pain, too, there is we should not share
With others lest it mar their joy;
There is a quiet bliss in prayer
None but the heartless would destroy.
But just as Love is quick divined
From heightened glow or visage pale,
The meditations of the Mind
Disclose themselves through densest veil.
And 'tis the unloving and least wise
Who through life's inmost precincts press,
And with unsympathetic eyes
Outrage our sacred loneliness.
Then, when their sacrilegious gaze
The mournful void hath half surmised,
To some more tender soul they raise
The veil of ignorance it prized.
430
XVII
`What though I write farewell I could
Not utter, lest your gaze should chide,
'Twill by your love be understood
My love is still, dear, at your side.
``Nor must we meet to speak goodbye,
Lest that my Will should lose its choice,
And conscience waver, for then I
Should see your face and hear your voice.
``But, when you find yourself once more,
Come back, come back and look for me,
Beside the little lowly door,
The Doorway of Humility.''
XVIII
There! Peace at last! The far-off roar
Of human passion dies away.
``Welcome to our broad shade once more,''
The waning woodlands seem to say:
The music of the vagrant wind,
That wandered aimlessly, is stilled;
The songless branches all remind
That Summer's glory is fulfilled.
The fluttering of the falling leaves
Dimples the leaden pool awhile;
So Age impassively receives
Youth's tale of troubles with a smile.
Thus, as the seasons steal away,
How much is schemed, how little done,
What splendid plans at break of day!
What void regrets at set of sun!
The world goes round, for you, for me,
For him who sleeps, for him who strives,
And the cold Fates indifferent see
431
Crowning or failure of our lives.
Then fall, ye leaves, fade, summer breeze!
Grow, sedges, sere on every pool!
Let each old glowing impulse freeze,
Let each old generous project cool!
It is not wisdom, wit, nor worth,
Self-sacrifice nor friendship true,
Makes venal devotees of earth
Prostrate themselves and worship you.
The consciousness of sovran powers,
The stubborn purpose, steadfast will,
Have ever, in this world of ours,
Achieved success, achieve it still.
Farewell, ye woods! No more I sit;
Great voices in the distance call.
If this be peace, enough of it!
I go. Fall, unseen foliage, fall!
XIX
Nay, but repress rebellious woe!
In grief 'tis not that febrile fool,
Passion, that can but overthrow,
But Resignation, that should rule.
In patient sadness lurks a gift
To purify the life it stings,
And, as the days move onward, lift
The lonely heart to loftier things;
Bringing within one's ripening reach
The sceptre of majestic Thought,
Wherefrom one slowly learns to teach
The Wisdom to oneself it taught.
And unto what can man aspire,
On earth, more worth the striving for,
Than to be Reason's loftier lyre,
432
And reconciling monitor;
To strike a more resounding string
And deeper notes of joy and pain,
Than such as but lamenting sing,
Or warble but a sensuous strain:
So, when my days are nearly sped,
And my last harvest labours done,
That I may have around my head
The halo of a setting sun.
Yet even if be heard above
Such selfish hope, presumptuous claim,
Better one hour of perfect love
Than an eternity of Fame!
XX
Where then for grief seek out the cure?
What scenes will bid my smart to cease?
High peaks should teach one to endure,
And lakes secluded bring one peace.
Farewell awhile, then, village bells,
Autumnal wood and harvest wain!
And welcome, as it sinks or swells,
The music of the mighty main,
That seems to say, now loud, now low,
Rising or falling, sweet or shrill,
``I pace, a sentry, to and fro,
To guard your Island fortress still.''
The roses falter on their stalk,
The late peach reddens on the wall,
The flowers along the garden walk
Unheeded fade, unheeded fall.
My gates unopened drip with rain,
The wolf-hound wends from floor to floor,
And, listening for my voice in vain,
433
Waileth along the corridor.
Within the old accustomed place
Where we so oft were wont to be,
Kneeling She prays, while down her face
The fruitless tears fall silently.
SWITZERLAND
XXI
Rain, wind, and rain. The writhing lake
Scuds to and fro to scape their stroke:
The mountains veil their heads, and make
Of cloud and mist a wintry cloak.
Through where the arching pinewoods make
Dusk cloisters down the mountain side,
The loosened avalanches take
Valeward their way, with death for guide,
And toss their shaggy manes and fling
To air their foam and tawny froth,
From ledge and precipice bound and spring,
With hungry roar and deepening wrath;
Till, hamlet homes and orchards crushed,
And, rage for further ravin stayed,
They slumber, satiated, husht,
Upon the ruins they have made.
I rise from larch-log hearth, and, lone,
Gaze on the spears of serried rain,
That faster, nigher, still are blown,
Then stream adown the window pane.
The peasant's goatskin garments drip,
As home he wends with lowered head,
Shakes off the drops from lid and lip,
Then slinks within his châlet shed.
434
The cattle bells sound dull and hoarse,
The boats rock idly by the shore;
Only the swollen torrents course
With faster feet and fuller roar.
Mournful, I shape a mournful song,
And ask the heavens, but ask in vain,
``How long, how long?'' Ah! not so long
As, in my heart, rain, wind, and rain.
XXII
I ask the dark, the dawn, the sun,
The domeward-pointing peaks of snow,
Lofty and low alike, but none
Will tell me what I crave to know.
My mind demands, ``Whence, Whither, Why?''
From mountain slope and green defile,
And wait the answer. The replyA far-off irresponsive smile.
I ask the stars, when mortals sleep,
The pensive moon, the lonely winds;
But, haply if they know, they keep
The secret of secluded minds.
Shall I in
Straining
Where in
Where in
vain, then, strive to find,
towards merely fancied goal?
the lily lurks the mind,
the rose discern the soul?
More mindless still, stream, pasture, lake,
The mountains yet more heartless seem,
And life's unceasing quest and ache
Only a dream within a dream.
We know no more, though racked with thought
Than he who, in yon châlet born,
Gives not the riddle, Life, a thought,
But lays him down and sleeps till morn.
435
Sometimes he kneels; I cannot kneel,
So suffer from a wider curse
Than Eden's outcasts, for I feel
An exile in the universe.
The rudeness of his birth enures
His limbs to every season's stings,
And, never probing, so endures
The sadness at the heart of things.
When lauwine growls, and thunder swells,
Their far-off clamour sounds to me
But as the noise of clanging bells
Above a silent sanctuary.
It is their silence that appals,
Their aspect motionless that awes,
When searching spirit vainly calls
On the effect to bare the Cause.
I get no answer, near or far;
The mountains, though they soar so high,
And scale the pathless ether, are
No nearer unto God than I.
There dwells nor mystery nor veil
Round the clear peaks no foot hath trod;
I, gazing on their frontage pale,
See but the waning ghost of God.
Is Faith then but a drug for sleep,
And Hope a fondly soothing friend
That bids us, when it sees us weep,
Wait for the End that hath no end?
Then do I hear voice unforgot
Wailing across the distance dim,
``Think, dear! If God existeth not,
Why are you always seeking Him?''
XXIII
436
Like glowing furnace of the forge,
How the winds rise and roar, as they
Up twisting valley, craggy gorge,
Seek, and still seek, to storm their way;
Then, baffled, up the open slope
With quickening pulses scale and pant,
Indomitably bent to cope
With bristling fronts of adamant.
All through the day resounds the strife,
Then doth at sunset hour subside:
So the fierce passions of our life
Slowly expire at eventide.
By Nature we are ne'er misled;
We see most truly when we dream.
A singer wise was he who said,
``Follow the gleam! Follow the gleam!''
XXIV
I dreamed, last night, again I stood,
Silent, without the village shrine,
While She in modest maidenhood
Left, fondly clasped, her hand in mine.
And, with a face as cerecloth white,
And tears like those that by the bier
Of loved one lost make dim the sight,
She poured her sorrows in mine ear.
``I love your voice, I love your gaze,
But there is something dearer still,
The faith that kneels, the hope that prays,
And bows before the Heavenly Will.
``Not where hills rise, or torrents roll,
Seek Him, nor yet alone, apart;
He dwells within the troubled soul,
His home is in the human heart.
437
``Withal, the peaceful mountains may
'Twixt doubt and yearning end the strife:
So ponder, though you cannot pray,
And think some meaning into life:
``Nor like to those that cross the main
To wander witless through strange land,
Hearing unmastered tongues, disdain
The speech they do not understand.
``Firm stands my faith that they who sound
The depths of doubt Faith yet will save:
They are like children playing round
A still remembered mother's grave;
``Not knowing, when they wax more old,
And somewhat can her vision share,
She will the winding-sheet unfold,
And beckon them to evening prayer.''
Then, with my hand betwixt her hands,
She laid her lips upon my brow,
And, as to one who understands,
Said, ``Take once more my vestal vow.
``No other gaze makes mine to glow,
No other footstep stirs my heart,
To me you only dearer grow,
Dearer and nearer, more apart.
``Whene'er you come with humble mind,
The little Door stands open wide,
And, bending low, you still will find
Me waiting on the other side.''
Her silence woke me. . . . To your breast
Fold me, O sleep! and seal mine ears;
That She may roam through my unrest
Till all my dreams are drenched with tears!
XXV
438
Why linger longer, subject, here,
Where Nature sits and reigns alone,
Inspiring love not, only fear,
Upon her autocratic throne?
Her edicts are the rigid snow,
The wayward winds, the swaying branch;
She hath no pity to bestow,
Her law the lawless avalanche.
Though soon cascades will bound and sing,
That now but drip with tears of ice,
And upland meadows touched by Spring
Blue gentian blend with edelweiss,
Hence to the Land of youthful dreams,
The Land that taught me all I know.
Farewell, lone mountain-peaks and streams;
Yet take my thanks before I go.
You gave me shelter when I fled,
But sternly bade me stem my tears,
Nor aimless roam with rustling tread
'Mong fallen leaves of fruitless years.
ITALY
XXVI
Upon the topmost wheel-track steep,
The parting of two nations' ways,
Athwart stone cross engraven deep,
The name ``Italia'' greets the gaze!
I trembled, when I saw it first,
With joy, my boyish longings fed,
The headspring of my constant thirst,
The altar of my pilgrim tread.
Now once again the magic word,
So faintly borne to Northern home,
Sounds like a silvery trumpet heard
439
Beneath some universal dome.
The forests soften to a smile,
A smile the very mountains wear,
Through mossy gorge and grassed defile
Torrents race glad and debonair.
From casement, balcony and door,
Hang golden gourds, droops tear-tipped vine,
And sun-bronzed faces bask before
Thin straw-swathed flasks of last year's wine.
Unyoked, the patient sleek-skinned steers
Take, like their lords, no heed of time.
Hark! now the evening star appears,
Ave Maria belfries chime.
The maidens knit, and glance, and sing,
With glowing gaze 'neath ebon tress,
And, like to copse-buds sunned by Spring,
Seem burgeoning into tenderness.
On waveless lake where willows weep,
The Borromean Islands rest
As motionless as babe asleep
Upon a slumbering Mother's breast.
O Land of sunshine, song, and Love!
Whether thy children reap or sow,
Of Love they chant on hills above,
Of Love they sing in vale below.
But what avail the love-linked hands,
And love-lit eyes, to them that roam
Passionless through impassioned lands,
Since they have left their heart at home!
XXVII
Among my dreams, now known as dreams
In this my reawakened life,
I thought that by historic streams,
440
Apart from stress, aloof from strife,
By rugged paths that twist and twine
Through olive slope and chesnut wood
Upward to mediaeval shrine,
Or high conventual brotherhood,
Along the mountain-curtained track
Round peaceful lake where wintry bands
Halt briefly but to bivouac
Ere blustering on to Northern lands;Through these, through all I first did see,
With me to share my raptures none,
That nuptialled Monica would be
My novice and companion:
That we should float from mere to mere,
And sleep within some windless cove,
With nightingales to lull the ear,
From ilex wood and orange grove;
Linger at hamlets lost to fame,
That still wise-wandering feet beguile,
To gaze on frescoed wall or frame
Lit by Luini's gracious smile.
Now, but companioned by my pain,
Among each well-remembered scene
I can but let my Fancy feign
The happiness that might have been;
Imagine that I hear her voice,
Imagine that I feel her hand,
And I, enamoured guide, rejoice
To see her swift to understand.
Alack! Imagination might
As lief with rustic Virgil roam,
Reverent, or, welcomed guest, alight
At Pliny's philosophic home;
441
Hear one majestically trace
Rome's world-wide sway from wattled wall,
And read upon the other's face
The omens of an Empire's fall.
XXVIII
Like moonlight seen through forest leaves,
She shines upon me from afar,
What time men reap the ripened sheaves,
And Heaven rains many a falling star.
I gaze up to her lofty height,
And feel how far we dwell apart:
O if I could, this night, this night,
Fold her full radiance to my heart!
But She in Heaven, and I on earth,
Still journey on, but each alone;
She, maiden Queen of sacred birth,
Who with no consort shares her throne.
XXIX
What if She ever thought She saw
The self within myself prefer
Communion with the silent awe
Of far-off mountains more than Her;
That Nature hath the mobile grace
To make life with our moods agree,
And so had grown the Loved One's face,
Since it nor checked nor chided me;
Or from the tasks that irk and tire
I sought for comfort from the Muse,
Because it grants the mind's desire
All that familiar things refuse.
How vain such thought! The face, the form,
Of mountain summits but express,
Clouded or clear, in sun or storm,
442
Feebly Her spirit's loftiness.
Did I explore from pole to pole,
In Nature's aspect I should find
But faint reflections of Her soul,
Dim adumbrations of Her mind.
O come and test with lake, with stream,
With mountain, which the stronger be,
Thou, my divinest dearest dream,
My Muse, and more than Muse, to me!
XXX
They tell me that Jehovah speaks
In silent grove, on lonely strand,
And summit of the mountain peaks;
Yet there I do not understand.
The stars, disdainful of my thought,
Majestic march toward their goal,
And to my nightly watch have brought
No explanation to my soul.
The truth I seek I cannot find,
In air or sky, on land or sea;
If the hills have their secret mind,
They will not yield it up to me:
Like one who lost mid lonely hills
Still seeks but cannot find his way,
Since guide is none save winding rills,
That seem themselves, too, gone astray.
And so from rise to set of sun,
At glimmering dawn, in twilight haze,
I but behold the face of One
Who veils her face, and weeps, and prays.
What know I that She doth not know?
What I know not, She understands:
With heavenly gifts She overflows,
443
While I have only empty hands.
O weary wanderer! Best forego
This questioning of wind and wave.
For you the sunshine and the snow,
The womb, the cradle, and the grave.
XXXI
How blest, when organ concords swell,
And anthems are intoned, are they
Who neither reason nor rebel,
But meekly bow their heads and pray.
And such the peasants mountain-bred,
Who hail to-day with blithe accord
Her Feast Who to the Angel said,
``Behold the Handmaid of the Lord!''
Downward they wind from pastoral height,
Or hamlet grouped round shattered towers,
To wend to shrine more richly dight,
And bring their gift of wilding flowers;
Their gifts, their griefs, their daily needs,
And lay these at Her statue's base,
Who never, deem they, intercedes
Vainly before the Throne of Grace.
Shall I, because I stand apart,
A stranger to their pious vows,
Scorn their humility of heart
That pleads before the Virgin Spouse,
Confiding that the Son will ne'er,
If in His justice wroth with them,
Refuse to harken to Her prayer
Who suckled Him in Bethlehem?
Of all the intercessors born
By man's celestial fancy, none
444
Hath helped the sorrowing, the forlorn,
Lowly and lone, as She hath done.
The maiden faithful to Her shrine
Bids demons of temptation flee,
And mothers fruitful as the vine
Retain their vestal purity.
Too trustful love, by lust betrayed,
And by cold worldlings unforgiven,
Unto Her having wept and prayed,
Faces its fate, consoled and shriven.
The restless, fiercely probing mind
No honey gleans, though still it stings.
What comfort doth the spirit find
In Reason's endless reasonings?
They have no solace for my grief,
Compassion none for all my pain:
They toss me like the fluttering leaf,
And leave me to the wind and rain.
XXXII
If Conscience be God's Law to Man,
Then Conscience must perforce arraign
Whatever falls beneath the ban
Of that allotted Suzerain.
And He, who bids us not to swerve,
Whither the wayward passions draw,
From its stern sanctions, must observe
The limits of the self-same Law.
Yet, if obedient Conscience scan
The sum of wrongs endured and done
Neither by act nor fault of Man,
They rouse it to rebellion.
Life seems of life by life bereft
445
Through some immitigable curse,
And Man sole moral being left
In a non-moral Universe.
My Conscience would my Will withstand,
Did Will project a world like this:
Better Eternal vacuum still,
Than murder, lust, and heartlessness!
If Man makes Conscience, then being good
Is only being worldly wise,
And universal brotherhood
A comfortable compromise.
O smoke of War! O blood-steeped sod!
O groans of fratricidal strife!
Who will explain the ways of God,
That I may be at peace with life!
The moral riddle 'tis that haunts,
Primeval and unending curse,
Racking the mind when pulpit vaunts
A Heaven-created Universe.
Yet whence came Life, and how begin?
Rolleth the globe by choice or chance?
Dear Lord! Why longer shut me in
This prison-house of ignorance!
FLORENCE
XXXIII
City acclaimed ere Dante's days
Fair, and baptized in field of flowers,
Once more I scan with tender gaze
Your glistening domes, your storied towers.
I feel as if long years had flown
Since first with eager heart I came,
446
And, girdled by your mountain zone,
Found you yet fairer than your fame.
It was the season purple-sweet
When figs are plump, and grapes are pressed,
And all your sons with following feet
Bore a dead Poet to final rest.
You seemed to fling your gates ajar,
And softly lead me by the hand,
Saying, ``Behold! henceforth you are
No stranger in the Tuscan land.''
And though no love my love can wean
From native crag and cradling sea,
Yet Florence from that hour hath been
More than a foster-nurse to me.
When mount I terraced slopes arrayed
In bridal bloom of peach and pear,
While under olive's phantom shade
Lupine and beanflower scent the air,
The wild-bees hum round golden bay,
The green frog sings on fig-tree bole,
And, see! down daisy-whitened way
Come the slow steers and swaying pole.
The fresh-pruned vine-stems, curving, bend
Over the peaceful wheaten spears,
And with the glittering sunshine blend
Their transitory April tears.
O'er wall and trellis trailed and wound,
Hang roses blushing, roses pale;
And, hark! what was that silvery sound?
The first note of the nightingale.
Curtained, I close my lids and dream
Of Beauty seen not but surmised,
And, lulled by scent and song, I seem
Immortally imparadised.
447
When from the deep sweet swoon I wake
And gaze past slopes of grape and grain,
Where Arno, like some lonely lake,
Silvers the far-off seaward plain,
I see celestial sunset fires
That lift us from this earthly leaven,
And darkly silent cypress spires
Pointing the way from hill to Heaven.
Then something more than mortal steals
Over the wavering twilight air,
And, messenger of nightfall, peals
From each crowned peak a call to prayer.
And now the last meek prayer is said,
And, in the hallowed hush, there is
Only a starry dome o'erhead,
Propped by columnar cypresses.
XXXIV
Re-roaming through this palaced town,
I suddenly, 'neath grim-barred pile,
Catch sight of Dante's awful frown,
Or Leonardo's mystic smile;
Then, swayed by memory's fancy, stroll
To where from May-day's flaming pyre
Savonarola's austere soul
Went up to Heaven in tongues of fire;
Or Buonarroti's plastic hand
Made marble block from Massa's steep
Dawn into Day at his command,
Then plunged it into Night and Sleep.
No later wanderings can dispel
The glamour of the bygone years;
And, through the streets I know so well,
448
I scarce can see my way for tears.
XXXV
A sombre shadow seems to fall
On comely altar, transept fair;
The saints are still on frescoed wall,
But who comes thither now for prayer?
Men throng from far-off stranger land,
To stare, to wonder, not to kneel,
With map and guide-book in their hand
To tell them what to think and feel.
They scan, they prate, they marvel why
The figures still expressive glow,
Oblivious they were painted by
Adoring Frà Angelico.
Did Dante from his tomb afar
Return, his wrongs redressed at last,
And see you, Florence, as you are,
Half alien to your gracious Past,
Finding no Donatello now,
No reverent Giotto 'mong the quick,
To glorify ascetic vow
Of Francis or of Dominic;
Self-exiled by yet sterner fate
Than erst, he would from wandering cease,
And, ringing at monastic gate,
Plead, ``I am one who craves for peace.''
And what he sought but ne'er could find,
Shall I, less worthy, hope to gain,
The freedom of the tranquil mind,
The lordship over loss and pain?
More than such peace I found when I
Did first, in unbound youth, repair
449
To Tuscan shrine, Ausonian sky.
I found it, for I brought it there.
XXXVI
Yet Art brings peace, itself is Peace,
And, as I on these frescoes gaze,
I feel all fretful tumults cease
And harvest calm of mellower days.
For Soul too hath its seasons. Time,
That leads Spring, Summer, Autumn, round,
Makes our ephemeral passions chime
With something permanent and profound.
And, as in Nature, April oft
Strives to revert to wintry hours,
But shortly upon garth and croft
Re-sheds warm smiles and moistening showers,
Or, for one day, will Autumn wear
The gayer garments of the Spring,
And then athwart the wheatfields bare
Again her graver shadows fling;
So, though the Soul hath moods that veer,
And seem to hold no Rule in awe,
Like the procession of the year,
It too obeys the sovran Law.
Nor Art itself brings settled peace,
Until the mind is schooled to know
That gusts subside and tumults cease
Only in sunset's afterglow.
Life's contradictions vanish then,
Husht thought replacing clashing talk
Among the windy ways of men.
'Tis in the twilight Angels walk.
450
ROME
XXXVII
The last warm gleams of sunset fade
From cypress spire and stonepine dome,
And, in the twilight's deepening shade,
Lingering, I scan the wrecks of Rome.
Husht the Madonna's Evening Bell;
The steers lie loosed from wain and plough;
The vagrant monk is in his cell,
The meek nun-novice cloistered now.
Pedant's presumptuous voice no more
Vexes the spot where Caesar trod,
And o'er the pavement's soundless floor
Come banished priest and exiled God.
The lank-ribbed she-wolf, couched among
The regal hillside's tangled scrubs,
With doting gaze and fondling tongue
Suckles the Vestal's twin-born cubs.
Yet once again Evander leads
Æneas to his wattled home,
And, throned on Tiber's fresh-cut reeds,
Talks of burnt Troy and rising Rome.
From out the tawny dusk one hears
The half-feigned scream of Sabine maids,
The rush to arms, then swift the tears
That separate the clashing blades.
The Lictors with their fasces throng
To quell the Commons' rising roar,
As Tullia's chariot flames along,
Splashed with her murdered father's gore.
Her tresses free from band or comb,
Love-dimpled Venus, lithe and tall,
451
And fresh as Fiumicino's foam,
Mounts her pentelic pedestal.
With languid lids, and lips apart,
And curving limbs like wave half-furled,
Unarmed she dominates the heart,
And without sceptre sways the world.
Nerved by her smile, avenging Mars
Stalks through the Forum's fallen fanes,
Or, changed of mien and healed of scars,
Threads sylvan slopes and vineyard plains.
With waves of song from wakening lyre
Apollo routs the wavering night,
While, parsley-crowned, the white-robed choir
Wind chanting up the Sacred Height,
Where Jove, with thunder-garlands wreathed,
And crisp locks frayed like fretted foam,
Sits with his lightnings half unsheathed,
And frowns against the foes of Rome.
You cannot kill the Gods. They still
Reclaim the thrones where once they reigned,
Rehaunt the grove, remount the rill,
And renovate their rites profaned.
Diana's hounds still lead the chase,
Still Neptune's Trident crests the sea,
And still man's spirit soars through space
On feathered heels of Mercury.
No flood can quench the Vestals' Fire;
The Flamen's robes are still as white
As ere the Salii's armoured choir
Were drowned by droning anchorite.
The saint may seize the siren's seat,
The shaveling frown where frisked the Faun;
Ne'er will, though all beside should fleet,
The Olympian Presence be withdrawn.
452
Here, even in the noontide glare,
The Gods, recumbent, take their ease;
Go look, and you will find them there,
Slumbering behind some fallen frieze.
But most, when sunset glow hath paled,
And come, as now, the twilight hour,
In vesper vagueness dimly veiled
I feel their presence and their power.
What though their temples strew the ground,
And to the ruin owls repair,
Their home, their haunt, is all around;
They drive the cloud, they ride the air.
And, when the planets wend their way
Along the never-ageing skies,
``Revere the Gods'' I hear them say;
``The Gods are old, the Gods are wise.''
Build as man may, Time gnaws and peers
Through marble fissures, granite rents;
Only Imagination rears
Imperishable monuments.
Let Gaul and Goth pollute the shrine,
Level the altar, fire the fane:
There is no razing the Divine;
The Gods return, the Gods remain.
XXXVIII
Christ is arisen. The place wherein
They laid Him shows but cerements furled,
And belfry answers belfry's din
To ring the tidings round the world.
Grave Hierarchs come, an endless band,
In jewelled mitre, cope embossed,
Who bear Rome's will to every land
453
In all the tongues of Pentecost.
Majestic, along marble floor,
Walk Cardinals in blood-red robe,
Martyrs for Faith and Christ no more,
Who gaze as though they ruled the globe.
With halberds bare and doublets slashed,
Emblems that war will never cease,
Come martial guardians, unabashed,
And march afront the Prince of Peace.
Then, in his gestatorial Chair
See Christ's vicegerent, bland, benign,
To crowds all prostrate as in prayer
Lean low, and make the Holy Sign.
Then trumpets shrill, and organ peals,
Throughout the mighty marble pile,
Whileas a myriad concourse kneels
In dense-packed nave and crowded aisle.
Hark to the sudden hush! Aloft
From unseen source in empty dome
Swells prayerful music silvery-soft,
Borne from far-off celestial Home.
Then, when the solemn rite is done,
The worshippers stream out to where
Dance fountains glittering in the sun,
While expectation fills the air.
Now on high balcony He stands,
And-save for the Colonna curse,Blesses with high-uplifted hands
The City and the Universe.
Christ is arisen! But scarce as when,
On the third day of death and gloom,
Came ever-loving Magdalen
With tears and spices to His tomb.
454
XXXIX
The Tiber winds its sluggish way
Through niggard tracts whence Rome's command
Once cast the shadow of her sway,
O'er Asian city, Afric sand.
Nor even yet doth She resign
Her sceptre. Still the spell is hers,
Though she may seem a rifled shrine
'Mid circumjacent sepulchres.
One after one, they came, they come,
Gaul, Goth, Savoy, to work their will;
She answers, when She most seems dumb,
``I wore the Crown, I wear it still.
``From Jove I first received the gift,
I from Jehovah wear it now,
Nor shall profane invader lift
The diadem from off my brow.
``The Past is mine, and on the Past
The Future builds; and Time will rear
The next strong structure on the last,
Where men behold but shattered tier.
``The Teuton hither hies to teach,
To prove, disprove, to delve and probe.
Fool! Pedant! Does he think to reach
The deep foundations of the globe?''
For me, I am content to tread
On Sabine dust and Gothic foe.
Leave me to deepening silent dread
Of vanished Empire's afterglow.
In this Imperial wilderness
Why rashly babble and explore?
O, let me know a little less,
So I may feel a little more!
455
XL
For upward of one thousand years,
Here men and women prayed to Jove,
With smiles and incense, gifts and tears,
In secret shrine, or civic grove;
And, when Jove did not seem to heed,
Sought Juno's mediatorial power,
Or begged fair Venus intercede
And melt him in his amorous hour.
Sages invoked Minerva's might;
The Poet, ere he struck the lyre,
Prayed to the God of Song and Light
To touch the strings with hallowed fire.
With flaming herbs were altars smoked
Sprinkled with blood and perfumed must,
And gods and goddesses invoked
To second love or sanction lust.
And did they hear and heed the prayer,
Or, through that long Olympian reign,
Were they divinities of air
Begot of man's fantastic brain?
In Roman halls their statues still
Serenely stand, but no one now
Ascends the Capitolian Hill,
To render thanks, or urge the vow.
Through now long centuries hath Rome
Throned other God, preached other Creed,
That here still have their central home,
And feed man's hope, content his need.
Against these, too, will Time prevail?
No! Let whatever gestates, be,
Secure will last the tender tale
456
From Bethlehem to Calvary.
Throughout this world of pain and loss,
Man ne'er will cease to bend his knee
To Crown of Thorns, to Spear, to Cross,
And Doorway of Humility.
XLI
If Reason be the sole safe guide
In man implanted from above,
Why crave we for one only face,
Why consecrate the name of Love?
Faces there are no whit less fair,
Yet ruddier lip, more radiant eye,
Same rippling smile, same auburn hair,
But not for us. Say, Reason, why.
Why bound our hearts when April pied
Comes singing, or when hawthorn blows?
Doth logic in the lily hide,
And where's the reason in the rose?
Why weld our keels and launch our ships,
If Reason urge some wiser part,
Kiss England's Flag with dying lips
And fold its glories to the heart?
In this gross world we touch and see,
If Reason be no trusty guide,
For world unseen why should it be
The sole explorer justified?
The homing swallow knows its nest,
Sure curves the comet to its goal,
Instinct leads Autumn to its rest,
And why not Faith the homing soul?
Is Reason so aloof, aloft,
It doth not 'gainst itself rebel,
457
And are not Reason's reasonings oft
By Reason proved unreasonable?
He is perplexed no more, who prays,
``Hail, Mary Mother, full of grace!''
O drag me from Doubt's endless maze,
And let me see my Loved One's face!
XLII
``Upon this rock!'' Yet even here
Where Christian God ousts Pagan wraith,
Rebellious Reason whets its spear,
And smites upon the shield of Faith.
On sacred mount, down seven-hilled slopes,
Fearless it faces foe and friend,
Saying to man's immortal hopes,
``Whatso began, perforce must end.''
Not men alone, but gods too, die;
Fanes are, like hearths, left bare and lone;
This earth will into fragments fly,
And Heaven itself be overthrown.
Why then should Man immortal be?
He is but fleeting form, to fade,
Like momentary cloud, or sea
Of waves dispersed as soon as made.
Yet if 'tis Force, not Form, survives,
Meseems therein that one may find
Some comfort for distressful lives;
For, if Force ends not, why should Mind?
Is Doubt more forceful than Belief?
The doctor's cap than friar's cowl?
O ripeness of the falling leaf!
O wisdom of the moping owl!
Man's Mind will ever stand apart
458
From Science, save this have for goal
The evolution of the heart,
And sure survival of the Soul.
XLIII
The Umbilicum lonely stands
Where once rose porch and vanished dome;
But he discerns who understands
That every road may lead to Rome.
Enthroned in Peter's peaceful Chair,
The spiritual Caesar sways
A wider Realm of earth and air
Than trembled at Octavian's gaze.
His universal arms embrace
The saint, the sinner, and the sage,
And proffer refuge, comfort, grace
To tribulation's pilgrimage.
Here scientific searchers find
Precursors for two thousand years,
Who in a drouthy world divined
Fresh springs for human doubts and fears.
Here fair chaste Agnes veils her face
From prowlers of the sensual den,
And pity, pardon, and embrace
Await repentant Magdalen.
Princess and peasant-mother wend
To self-same altar, self-same shrine,
And Cardinal and Patriarch bend
Where lepers kneel, and beggars whine.
And is there then, in my distress,
No road, no gate, no shrine, for me?
The answer comes, ``Yes, surely, yes!
The Doorway of Humility.''
459
O rival Faiths! O clamorous Creeds!
Would you but hush your strife in prayer,
And raise one Temple for our needs,
Then, then, we all might worship there.
But dogma new with dogma old
Clashes to soothe the spirit's grief,
And offer to the unconsoled
Polyglot Babel of Belief!
XLIV
The billows roll, and rise, and break,
Around me; fixedly shine the stars
In clear dome overhead, and take
Their course, unheeding earthly jars.
Yet if one's upward gaze could be
But stationed where the planets are,
The star were restless as the sea,
The sea be tranquil as the star.
Hollowed like cradle, then like grave,
Now smoothly curved, now shapeless spray,
Withal the undirected wave
Forms, and reforms, and knows its way.
Then, waters, bear me on where He,
Ere death absolved at Christian font,
Removed Rome's menaced majesty
Eastward beyond the Hellespont.
Foreseeing not what Fate concealed,
But Time's caprice would there beget,
That Cross would unto Crescent yield,
Caesar and Christ to Mahomet.
Is it then man's predestined state
To search for, ne'er to find, the Light?
Arise, my Star, illuminate
These empty spaces of the Night!
460
XLV
Last night I heard the cuckoo call
Among the moist green glades of home,
And in the Chase around the Hall
Saw the May hawthorn flower and foam.
Deep in the wood where primrose stars
Paled before bluebell's dazzling reign,
The nightingale's sad sobbing bars
Rebuked the merle's too joyful strain.
The kine streamed forth from stall and byre,
The foal frisked round its mother staid,
The meads, by sunshine warmed, took fire,
And lambs in pasture, bleating, played.
The uncurbed rivulets raced to where
The statelier river curled and wound,
And trout, of human step aware,
Shot through the wave without a sound.
Adown the village street, as clear
As in one's wakeful mid-day hours,
Beheld I Monica drawing near,
Her vestal lap one crib of flowers.
Lending no look to me, she passed
By the stone path, as oft before,
Between old mounds Spring newly grassed,
And entered through the Little Door.
Led by her feet, I hastened on,
But, ere my feverish steps could get
To the low porch, lo! Morning shone
On Moslem dome and minaret!
CONSTANTINOPLE
461
XLVI
Now Vesper brings the sunset hour,
And, where crusading Knighthood trod,
Muezzin from his minaret tower
Proclaims, ``There is no God but God!''
Male God who shares his godhead with
No Virgin Mother's sacred tear,
But finds on earth congenial kith
In wielders of the sword and spear:
Male God who on male lust bestows
The ruddy lip, the rounded limb,
And promises, at battle's close,
Houri, not saint nor seraphim.
Swift through the doubly-guarded stream,
Shoots the caïque 'neath oarsmen brisk,
While from its cushioned cradle gleam
The eyes of yashmaked odalisque.
Unchanged adown the changing years,
Here where the Judas blossoms blaze,
Against Sophia's marble piers
The scowling Muslim lean and gaze;
And still at sunset's solemn hour,
Where Christ's devout Crusader trod,
Defiant from the minaret's tower
Proclaim, ``There is no God but God!''
XLVII
Three rival Rituals. One revered
In that loved English hamlet where,
With flowers in Vicarage garden reared,
She decks the altar set for prayer:
Another, where majestic Rome,
With fearless Faith and flag unfurled
462
'Gainst Doubt's ephemeral wave and foam,
Demands obedience from the world.
The third, where now I stand, and where
Two hoary Continents have met,
And Islam guards from taint and tare
Monistic Creed of Mahomet.
Yet older than all three, but banned
To suffer still the exile's doom
From shrine where Turkish sentries stand,
And Christians wrangle round Christ's tomb.
Where then find Creed, divine or dead,
All may embrace, and none contemn?Remember Who it was that said,
``Not here, nor at Jerusalem!''
ATHENS
XLVIII
To Acrocorinth's brow I climb,
And, lulled in retrospective bliss,
Descry, as through the mists of time,
Faintly the far Acropolis.
Below me, rivers, mountains, vales,
Wide stretch of ancient Hellas lies:
Symbol of Song that never fails,
Parnassus communes with the skies.
I linger, dream-bound by the Past,
Till sundown joins time's deep abyss,
Then skirt, through shadows moonlight-cast,
Lone strand of sailless Salamis,
Until Eleusis gleams through dawn,
Where, though a suppliant soul I come,
The veil remains still unwithdrawn,
463
And all the Oracles are dumb.
So onward to the clear white Light,
Where, though the worshippers be gone,
Abides on unmysterious height
The calm unquestioning Parthenon.
Find I, now there I stand at last,
That naked Beauty, undraped Truth,
Can satisfy our yearnings vast,
The doubts of age, the dreams of youth;
That, while we ask, in futile strife,
From altar, tripod, fount, or well,
Form is the secret soul of life,
And Art the only Oracle;
That Hera and Athena, linked
With Aphrodite, hush distress,
And, in their several gifts distinct,
Withal are Triune Goddesses?
That mortal wiser then was He
Who gave the prize to Beauty's smile,
Divides his gifts among the Three,
And thuswise baffles Discord's guile?
But who is wise? The nobler twain,
Who the restraining girdle wear,
Contend too often all in vain
With sinuous curve and frolic hair.
Just as one sees in marble, still,
Pan o'er Apollo's shoulder lean,
Suggesting to the poet's quill
The sensual note, the hint obscene.
Doth then the pure white Light grow dim,
And must it be for ever thus?
Listen! I hear a far-off Hymn,
Veni, Creator, Spiritus!
464
XLIX
The harvest of Hymettus drips
As sweet as when the Attic bees
Swarmed round the honey-laden lips
Of heavenly-human Sophocles.
The olives are as green in grove
As in the days the poets bless,
When Pallas with Poseidon strove
To be the City's Patroness.
The wine-hued main, white marble frieze,
Dome of blue ether over all,
One still beholds, but nowhere sees
Panathenaic Festival.
O'erhead, no Zeus or frowns or nods,
Olympus none in air or skies;
Below, a sepulchre of Gods,
And tombs of dead Divinities.
Yet, are they dead? Still stricken blind,
Tiresiaslike, are they that see,
With bold uncompromising mind,
Wisdom in utter nudity;
Experiencing a kindred fate
With the First Parents of us all,
Jehovah thrust through Eden's Gate,
When Knowledge brought about their Fall.
Hath Aphrodite into foam,
Whence She first flowered, sunk back once more,
And doth She nowhere find a home,
Or worship, upon Christian shore?
Her shrine is in the human breast,
To find her none need soar or dive.
Goodness or Loveliness our quest,
The ever-helpful Gods survive.
465
Hellas retorts, when Hebrew gibes
At Gods of levity and lust,
``God of Judaea's wandering tribes
Was jealous, cruel, and unjust.''
Godhead, withal, remains the same,
And Art embalms its symbols still;
As Poets, when athirst for Fame,
Still dream of Aganippe's rill.
Why still pursue a bootless quest,
And wander heartsore farther East,
Because unanswered, south or west,
By Pagan seer or Christian priest?
Brahma and Buddha, what have they
To offer to my shoreless search?
``Let Contemplation be,'' they say,
``Your ritual, Nothingness your Church.
``Passion and purpose both forsake,
Echoes from non-existent wall;
We do but dream we are awake,
Ourselves the deepest dream of all.
``We dream we think, feel, touch, and see,
And what these are, still dreaming, guess,
Though there is no Reality
Behind their fleeting semblances.''
Thus the East answers my appeal,
Denies, and so illudes, my want.
Alas! Could I but cease to feel,
Brahma should be my Hierophant.
But, hampered by my Western mind,
I cannot set the Spirit free
From Matter, but Illusion find,
466
Of all, the most illusory.
DELPHI
LI
The morning mists that hid the bay
And curtained mountains fast asleep,
Begin to feel the touch of day,
And roll from off both wave and steep.
In floating folds they curve and rise,
Then slowly melt and merge in air,
Till high above me glow the skies,
And cloudless sunshine everywhere.
Parnassus wears nor veil nor frown,
Windless the eagle wings his way,
As I from Delphi gaze adown
On Salona and Amphissa.
It was the sovran Sun that drew
Aloft and scattered morning haze,
And now fills all the spacious blue
With its own glorifying rays.
And, no less sovran than the sun,
Imagination brings relief
Of morning light to shadows dun,
To heart's distress, and spirit's grief.
Parnassus boasts no loftier peak
Than Poet's heavenward song; which, though
Harbouring among the sad and weak,
Lifteth aloft man's griefs below.
Though sun-bronzed Phocian maidens lave
Their kerchiefs in Castalia's spring,
The Muses linger round its wave,
And aid the pilgrim sent to sing.
467
And, listening there, I seem to hear
The unseen Oracle say, ``Be strong:
Subdue the sigh, repress the tear,
And let not sorrow silence Song.
``You now have learnt enough from pain;
And, if worse anguish lurk behind,
Breathe in it some unselfish strain,
And with grief's wisdom aid your kind.
``Who but of his own suffering sings,
Is like an eagle, robbed, distressed,
That vainly shrieks and beats its wings,
Because it cannot find its nest.
``Let male Imagination wed
The orphan, Sorrow, to console
Its virgin loneness, whence are bred
Serenity and self-control.
``Hence let the classic breezes blow
You to your Land beyond the sea,
That you may make, for others' woe,
Your own a healing melody;
``To wintry woe no more a slave,
But, having dried your April tears,
Behold a helpful harvest wave
From ridges of the fallow years.''
LII
Rebuked thus by the stately Past,
Whose solemn choruses endure
Through voices new and visions vast,
And centuries of sepulture,
Because, serene, it never blinked
At sheen or shadow of the sun,
But Hades and Olympus linked
468
With Salamis and Marathon;
Which held despondency at bay
And, while revering Fate's decree,
Reconciled with majestic lay
Man to the Human Tragedy;
To Gods of every land I vowed,
Judaea, Hellas, Mecca, Rome,
No more to live by sorrow bowed,
But, wending backward to my home,
Thenceforth to muse on woe more wide
Than individual distress,
The loftier Muses for my guide,
Minerva for my monitress;
Nor yet to scorn the tender aid
Of Christian martyr, virgin, sage,
And, meekly pondering in the shade,
Proffer ripe counsel to my Age.
And, haply, since 'tis Song alone
Can baffle death, and conquer time,
Maiden unborn in days unknown,
Under the leaves of fragrant lime,
Scanning the verse that here is writ,
While cherishing some secret smart
Of love or loss, may glean from it
Some comfort for her weary heart;
And, gently warned, grave minds may own
The world hath more to bear than they,
And, while I dream 'neath mossy stone,
Repeat my name, and love my lay.
LIII
Scarce to the all-indwelling Power
That vow was uttered, ere there came
469
A messenger in boyhood's flower,
Winged with his search, his face aflame.
From Amphissa he straight had clomb,
Thridding that devious mountain land,
With letter from my far-off home,
And written by my Loved One's hand.
``Come to me where I drooping lie.
None yet have died of Love, they say:
Withal, I sometimes think that I
Have prayed and sighed my life away.
``I want your absolution, dear,
For whatso wrong I may have done;
My conscience waneth less severe,
In softness of the setting sun.
``'Twas I, 'twas I, far more than you,
That stood in need, as now I see,
Stooping, to enter meekly through
The Doorway of Humility.
``In vain I turn to Throne of Grace,
Where sorrows cease, and tears are dry;
I fain once more would see your face,
And hear your voice, before I die.''
ENGLAND
LIV
The oak logs smoulder on my hearth,
Though round them hums no household talk;
The roses in the garden-garth
Hang mournfully on curving stalk.
My wolf-hound round me leaps and bays,
That wailed lost footsteps when I went:
He little knows the grief that weighs
470
On my return from banishment.
Half Autumn now, half Summer yet,
For Nature hath a human heart,
It seems as though they, having met,
To take farewell, are loth to part.
The splendour of the Year's decline
Hath not yet come. One still can see
Late honeysuckle intertwine
With Maiden's-Bower and briony.
The bracken-fronds, fast yellowing, tower
From out sere needles of the pine;
Now hawkweed blooms where foxgloves flower,
And bramble where once eglantine.
And, as I wend with hurrying feet
Across the park, along the lane
That leads unto the hamlet street,
And cradle of my bliss and bane,
In cottage plots on either side,
O'er mignonette and fragrant stock
Soar tiger-lilies lithe and tall,
And homely-sheltered hollyhock.
And when I reach the low grey wall
That skirts God's-acre on the hill,
I see, awaiting my recall,
The Little Door stand open still.
A dip, a slight descent, and then
Into the Vicarage Walk I passed;
It seemed as though the tongues of men
Had left it since I saw it last.
Round garden-plot, in westering sun,
Her agëd parents slowly stepped:
Her Mother had the face of one
Who oft hath prayed, and oft hath wept.
471
She wore the silent plaintive grace
Of Autumn just before its close,
And on her slowly fading face
The pathos of November rose.
With pitying gaze and accents kind,
``Go in,'' she said, ``and mount the stair;
And you through open door will find
That Monica awaits you there.''
LV
I mounted. At half-open door
Pausing, I softly called her name,
As one would pause and halt before
Heaven's Gateway. But no answer came.
She lies, methought, in Sleep's caress,
So, passing in, I seemed to see,
So saintly white the vision, less
A chamber than a Sanctuary.
Vestured in white, on snow-white bed,
She lay, as dreaming something sweet,
Madonna lilies at her head,
Madonna lilies at her feet.
A thought, I did not dare to speak,``Is this the sleep of life or death?''
And, with my cheek against her cheek,
Listening, I seemed to hear her breath.
'Twas Love's last blindness not to see
Her sinless soul had taken wing
Unto the Land, if such there be,
Where saints adore, and Seraphs sing.
And yet I felt within my heart,
Though lids were closed and lips were dumb,
That, for Love's sake, her soul in part
Had lingered here, till I should come.
472
I kissed her irresponsive hand,
I laid my lips on her cold brow,
That She, like me, should understand
'Twas thus I sealed our nuptial vow.
And then I saw upon her breast
A something writ, she fain had said
Had I been near, to me addressed,
Which, kneeling down, I took and read.
LVI
``I prayed I might prolong my years
Till you could come and hush my sighs,
And dry my penitential tears;
But Heaven hath willed it otherwise:
``That I may expiate the wrong
By me inflicted on us both,
When, yet Love's novice, feebly strong,
I sinned against Love's sovran troth.
``Now Death, the mirror unto Life,
Shows me that nought should keep apart
Those who, though sore perplexed by strife
'Twixt Faith and Doubt, are one in heart.
``For Doubt is one with Faith when they,
Who doubt, for Truth's sake suffering live;
And Faith meanwhile should hope and pray,
Withholding not what Love can give.
``We lead the blind by voice and hand,
And not by light they cannot see;
We are not framed to understand
The How and Why of such as He,
``But natured only to rejoice
At every sound or sign of hope,
And, guided by the still small voice,
473
In patience through the darkness grope;
``Until our finer sense expands,
And we exchange for holier sight
The earthly help of voice and hands,
And in His light behold the Light.
``Had my poor Love but been more wise,
I should have ta'en you to my breast,
Striving to hush your plaintive cries,
And rock your Reason back to rest.
``But, though alone you now must tread
Where we together should have trod,
In loneliness you may be led,
Through faith in me, to Faith in God.
``With tranquil purpose, fervent mind,
Foster, while you abide on earth,
And humbly proffer to your kind,
The gift assigned to you at birth.
``As in the far-off boyish year
When did your singing voice awake,
Disinterestedly revere
And love it for its own great sake.
``And when life takes autumnal hues,
With fervent reminiscence woo
All the affections of the Muse,
And write the poem lived by you.
``And should, until your days shall end,
You still the lyric voice retain,
With its seductive music blend
A graver note, a loftier strain.
``While buoyant youth and manhood strong
Follow where Siren sounds entice,
The Deities of Love and Song,
Rapture and loveliness, suffice.
474
``But when decay, and pain, and loss,
Remind one of the Goal forgot,
And we in turn must bear the Cross,
The Pagan Gods can help us not.
``Nor need you then seek, far and near,
More sumptuous shrines on alien strand,
But with domestic mind revere
The Ritual of your native Land.
``The Little Door stands open wide,
And, if you meekly pass therethrough,
Though I no longer kneel inside,
I shall be hovering near to you.
``Farewell! till you shall learn the whole
Of what we here but see in part.
Now I to God commend my soul,
And unto you I leave my heart.''
LVII
I wended up the slope once more
To where the Church stands lone and still,
And passed beneath the Little Door,
My will the subject of Her will.
The sunset rays through pictured pane
Fell, fretted into weft and woof,
On transept, nave, and aisle, to wane
On column cold and vaulted roof.
Within the carven altar screen
Were lilies tall, and white, and fair,
So like to those I late had seen,
It seemed She must be sleeping there.
Mutely I knelt, with bended brow
And shaded eyes, but heart intent,
To learn, should any teach me now,
What Life, and Love, and Sorrow meant.
475
And there remained until the shroud
Of dusk foretold the coming night;
And then I rose, and prayed aloud,
``Let there be Light! Let there be Light!''
~ Alfred Austin,

IN CHAPTERS [196/196]



   59 Poetry
   35 Occultism
   26 Christianity
   21 Integral Yoga
   11 Philosophy
   9 Psychology
   1 Thelema
   1 Sufism
   1 Mythology
   1 Kabbalah
   1 Fiction
   1 Education
   1 Alchemy


   27 Aleister Crowley
   16 Solomon ibn Gabirol
   14 Saint Augustine of Hippo
   9 Nolini Kanta Gupta
   8 Rabbi Abraham Abulafia
   6 Carl Jung
   6 Aldous Huxley
   5 Walt Whitman
   5 The Mother
   5 Jorge Luis Borges
   4 Saint John of Climacus
   4 Plato
   4 Mansur al-Hallaj
   4 Jordan Peterson
   4 George Van Vrekhem
   3 William Wordsworth
   3 Satprem
   3 Nachmanides
   3 James George Frazer
   3 Hafiz
   3 Anonymous
   2 Yannai
   2 Judah Halevi
   2 John Keats
   2 Eleazar ben Kallir
   2 A B Purani


   16 Liber ABA
   13 City of God
   12 Magick Without Tears
   10 The Bible
   8 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
   6 The Secret Doctrine
   6 The Perennial Philosophy
   5 Whitman - Poems
   4 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
   4 Preparing for the Miraculous
   4 Mysterium Coniunctionis
   4 Maps of Meaning
   4 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
   3 Wordsworth - Poems
   3 The Golden Bough
   3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
   2 Words Of Long Ago
   2 Labyrinths
   2 Keats - Poems
   2 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
   2 Aion


0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
     Mosheh, Moses, the founder of the Hebrew system.
     Dionysus, probably an ecstatic from the East.
  --
     Samson, the Hebrew Hercules, is said in the legend
    to have pulled down the walls of a music-hall where he
  --
     The number 31 refers to the Hebrew word LA, which
    means "not".
  --
    form of this word, but because "camel" is in Hebrew Gimel, and
    Gimel is the path leading from Tiphareth to Kether, uniting
  --
     The title of this chapter refers to a Hebrew legend,
    that of the prophet who heard "a going in the mulberry
  --
     This is the special number of Horus; it is the Hebrew
    blood, and the multiplication of the 4 by the 11, the
  --
     Haggai, a notorious Hebrew prophet, is a Second
    Officer in a Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons.
  --
   The number of this chapter refers to the Hebrew word Ain, the negative and
  Ani, 61.
  --
  sound of the word "pay" suggest the Hebrew letter Pe (see Liber XVI), which
  represents the final dissolution in Shivadarshana.
   I Hebrew, the letter which follows O is P; i therefore follows Ayin, the Devi
  of the Tarot.
  --
     Hebrew is Oin, 70.
     The "gnarled oak" and the "glacier torrent" refer
  --
    The Hebrews say that by uttering this Name the
    universe is destroyed. This statement means the same
  --
   The Hebrew letter Gimel adds up to 73; it means a camel.
   The title of the chapter is borrowed from the well-known lines of Rudyard
  --
     Carey Street is well known to prosperous Hebrews
    and poor Englishmen as the seat of the Bankruptcy
  --
     Through matter, because 77 is written in Hebrew Ayin
    Zayin (OZ), and He-Goat, the symbol of matter, Capri-

01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   This is spiritual matter and spiritual manner that can never be improved upon. This is spiritual poetry in its quintessence. I am referring naturally here to the original and not to the translation which can never do full justice, even at its very best, to the poetic value in question. For apart from the individual genius of the poet, the greatness of the language, the instrument used by the poet, is also involved. It may well be what is comparatively easy and natural in the language of the gods (devabhasha) would mean a tour de force, if not altogether an impossibility, in a human language. The Sanskrit language was moulded and fashioned in the hands of the Rishis, that is to say, those who lived and moved and had their being in the spiritual consciousness. The Hebrew or even the Zend does not seem to have reached that peak, that absoluteness of the spiritual tone which seems inherent in the Indian tongue, although those too breathed and grew in a spiritual atmosphere. The later languages, however, Greek or Latin or their modern descendants, have gone still farther from the source, they are much nearer to the earth and are suffused with the smell and effluvia of this vale of tears.
   Among the ancients, strictly speaking, the later classical Lucretius was a remarkable phenomenon. By nature he was a poet, but his mental interest lay in metaphysical speculation, in philosophy, and unpoetical business. He turned away from arms and heroes, wrath and love and, like Seneca and Aurelius, gave himself up to moralising and philosophising, delving 'into the mystery, the why and the how and the whither of it all. He chose a dangerous subject for his poetic inspiration and yet it cannot be said that his attempt was a failure. Lucretius was not a religious or spiritual poet; he was rather Marxian,atheistic, materialistic. The dialectical materialism of today could find in him a lot of nourishment and support. But whatever the content, the manner has made a whole difference. There was an idealism, a clarity of vision and an intensity of perception, which however scientific apparently, gave his creation a note, an accent, an atmosphere high, tense, aloof, ascetic, at times bordering on the supra-sensual. It was a high light, a force of consciousness that at its highest pitch had the ring and vibration of something almost spiritual. For the basic principle of Lucretius' inspiration is a large thought-force, a tense perception, a taut nervous reactionit is not, of course, the identity in being with the inner realities which is the hallmark of a spiritual consciousness, yet it is something on the way towards that.

0 1962-12-15, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   But to me this seems to come from his Jewish background. Because Thon was Jewish, even though he never mentioned the fact (the Tlemcen officials made it known: when he arrived he had to tell them who he was). He never spoke of it and he had changed his name. They said he was of Jewish origin, but they could never say whether he was Polish or Russian. At least the person who told me never knew. But for the Jews its the Unthinkable, whose name must not be uttered (it is uttered only once a year, on the Day of Atonement; I think thats what its called). Its the word Yahveh, and it must not be uttered. But the prayers speak of the Elohim, and the Hebrew word Elohim is plural, meaning the invisible lords. So there was no one and only God for Thon, only the unthinkable Formless; and all the invisible beings who claimed to be one and only gods were Asuras.
   He used to call Christ That young man! (Laughter) It was very funny.

0 1968-03-02, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   But were going to prepare a little brochure with the message and all these translationsinto Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, etc. It will all be photographed, and then well restore the German text. Oh, the Russian text
   But as a city of peace, its amusing! (Laughing) Its promising!

02.02 - Lines of the Descent of Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   All the ancient legends about a principle and a personalityof Denial and Ignorance, of an Everlasting Nayrefer to this fact of a descending consciousness, a Fall. The Vedantic my, spoken of sometimes as the Dark Mother, seems to be the personification of the lower Overmind, Jehovah and Satan of the Hebrews, Olympians and Titans of the Greeks, Ahriman and Ahura Mazda of old Iran, the sons of Diti and Aditi the Indian Puranas speak of, are powers and personalities of consciousness when it has descended entirely into the mind and the vital where the division is complete. These lower reaches have completely lost the unitary consciousness; still there are beings even here that have succeeded in maintaining it as a memory or an aspiration, although in a general way the living reality of the oneness is absent. It is significant that the term asura which came to mean in classical and mythological ages a + sura, not-god, the Titan, had originally a different connotation and etymology, asu + ra, one having force or strength, and was used as a general attri bute of all the gods. The degradation in the sense of the word is a pointer to the spiritual Fall: Satan was once Lucifer, the bringer or bearer of light. We may mention in this connection that these beings of which we are speaking, dwelling in unseen worlds, are of two broad categories(1) beings that are native to each plane and immutably confined and bound to that plane, and (2) those that extend their existence through many or all planes and assume on each plane the norm and form appropriate to that plane. But this is a problem of individual destiny with which we are not concerned at present.
   We were speaking of the descent into the Vital, the domain of dynamism, desire and hunger. The Vital is also the field of some strong creative Powers who follow, or are in secret contact with the line of unitary consciousness, who are open to influences from a deeper or higher or subtler consciousness. Along with the demons there is also a line of daimona, guardian angels, in the hierarchy of vital beings. Much of what is known as aesthetic or artistic creation derives its spirit from this sphere. Many of the gods of beauty and delight are denizens of this heaven. Gandharvas and Kinnaras are here, Dionysus and even Apollo perhaps (at least in their mythological aspectin their occult reality they properly belong to the Overmind which is the own home of the gods), many of the angels, seraphs and cherubs dwell here. In fact, the mythological heaven for the most part can be located in this region.

02.05 - Federated Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The present war puts the problem in the most acute way. Shall it be still a nation or shall it be a "commonwealth" that must henceforth be the dynamic unit? Today it is evident, it is a fact established by the sheer force of circumstances that isolated, self-sufficient nations are a thing of the past, even like the tribes of the Hebrews or the clans of the Hittites. A super-nation, that is to say, a commonwealth of nations is the larger unit that Nature is in travail to bring forth and establish. That is the inner meaning of the mighty convulsions shaking and tearing humanity today. The empire of the pastan empire of the Roman type and patternwas indeed in its own way an attempt in the direction of a closely unified larger humanity; but it was a crude and abortive attempt, as Nature's first attempts mostly are. For the term that was omitted in that greater synthesis was self-determination. Centralisation is certainly the secret of a large organic unity, but not over-centralisation; for this means the submission and sacrifice of all other parts of at! organism to the undue demands and interests of only one organ which is considered as the centre, the metropolis. Such a system dries up in the end the vitality of the organism: the centre, sucking in all nourishment from the outlying members suffers from oedema and the whole eventually decays and disintegrates. That is the lesson the Roman Empire teaches us.
   The autocratic empire is dead and gone: we need not fear its shadow or ghostly regeneration. But the ideal which inspired it in secret and justified its advent and reign is a truth that has still its day. The drive of Nature, of the inner consciousness of humanity was always to find a greater and larger unit for the collective life of mankind. That unit today has to be a federation of free peoples and nations. In the place of nations, several such commonwealths must now form the broad systems of the body politic of human collectivity. That must give the pattern of its texture, the outline of its configuration the shape of things to come. Such unit is no longer a hypothetical proposition, a nebula, a matter of dream and imagination. It has become a practical necessity; first of all, because of the virtual impossibility of any single nation, big or small, standing all by itself alonemilitary and political and economic exigencies demand inescapable collaboration with others, and secondly, because of the still stricter geographical compulsion the speed and ease of communication has made the globe so small and all its parts so interdependent that none can possibly afford to be exclusive and self-centred.

04.01 - The Divine Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The Christian mystics themselves, however, do not seem to have aimed at real physical transubstantiationalthough that might have been at the back of the older Hebrew sacrament of the Eucharist; the perfection sought by them was to be enjoyed in Heaven in company of the Father and not on this earth and in this human body: it was more a sublimation than a transformation that was their goal. The flesh for them was always too weak.
   The Gita, [IX. 33] (https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/19/equality#p9)

04.01 - The March of Civilisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   This knowledge remained at the outset scattered, hidden, confined to a few, a company of adepts: it had almost no direct contact with the main current of life. Its religious aspect too was so altered and popularised as to represent and serve the secular life. The systematisation and propagation of that knowledgeat least the aspiration for that knowledgewas attempted on an effective scale in the Hebrew Old Testament. But then a good amount of externalities, of the Inferior Knowledge was mixed up with the inner urge and the soul perception. The Christ with his New Testament came precisely with the mission of cleaning the Augean stables, in place of the dross and coverings, the false and deformed godheads, to instal something of the purest ray of the inner consciousness, the unalloyed urge of the soul, the demand of our spiritual personality. The Church sought to build up society on that basis, attempting a fusion of the spiritual and the temporal power, so that instead of a profane secular world, a mundane or worldly world, there maybe established God's own world, the City of God.
   The drive towards the building of Heaven upon earth and with earth, the materialisation of the Spirit on a cosmic scale, the remodelling of the whole human society in spiritual terms was the secret inspiring the other Semitic Revelation, that of Mohammed. The Arab Master sought to bring down and establish and express in life-force what the Rabi of Bethlehem saw and felt in the inner heartone was a lover, the other a servant warrior of God.

04.02 - A Chapter of Human Evolution, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The appearance of the Greeks on the stage of human civilisation is a mystery to historians. They are so different from all that preceded them. There does not seem to exist any logical link between them and the races from whom they are supposed to have descended or whose successors they were. The Minoan or Cretan civilisation is said to be cradle of the Greek, but where is the parallel or proportion between the two, judging from whatever relics have been left over from the older, the more ancient one. Indeed that is the term which best describes the situation. Whatever has gone before the Hellenic culture is ancient; they belong to the Old Regime. Egypt is old, Phoenicia is old, the Hebrews are old, all the other races of the old world are old, not merely chronologically, but psychologically. But Hellas is modern. There is a breath in the Ionian atmosphere, a breath of ozone, as it were, which wafts down to us, even into the air of today. Homer and Solon, Socrates and Aristotle, Pythagoras and Plato are still the presiding gods ruling over the human spirit that was born on Olympus and Ida.
   Human evolution took a decisive turn with the advent of the Hellenic culture and civilisation. All crises in evolution are a sudden revelation, an unexpected outburst, a saltum, a leap into the unknown. Now, what the Greeks brought in was the Mind, the luminous Reason, the logical faculty that is married to the senses, no doubt, but still suffused with an inner glow of consciousness. It is the faculty mediating between a more direct and immediate perception of things, Intuition and Instinct, on the one hand, and on the other, the perception given by the senses and a power of control over material things. Take Egypt or Israel or Chaldea, what one finds prominent there is the instinctive-intuitive man, spontaneousprime-sautierimaginative, mythopoeic, clairvoyant, clairaudient (although not very clear, in the modern and Greek sense), bringing into this world things of the other world and pushing this world as much as possible into the other, maintaining a kind of direct connection and communion between the two. The Greeks are of another mould. They are a rational people; they do not move and act simply or mainly by instinctive reactions, but even these are filtered in them through a light of the Mind of Intelligence, a logical pattern, a rational disposition of things; through Mind they seek to know Matter and to control it. It is the modern methodology, that of observation and experiment, in other words, the scientific procedure. The Greeks have had their gods, their mythology; but these are modelled somewhat differently: the gods are made more human, too human, as has often been observed. Zeus and Juno (Hera) are infinitely more human than Isis and Osiris or Moloch and Baal or even the Jewish Jehovah. These vital gods have a sombre air about them, solemn and serious, grim and powerful, but they have not the sunshine, the radiance and smile of Apollo (Apollo Belvedere) or Hermes. The Greeks might have, they must have taken up their gods from a more ancient Pantheon, but they have, after the manner of their sculptor Phidias, remoulded them, shaped and polished them, made them more luminous and nearer and closer to earth and men. 1 Was it not said of Socrates that he brought down the gods from heaven upon earth?

04.05 - The Immortal Nation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Another fact. The Asiatic peoples or nations endured generally longer than their European brethren. I have spoken of India and China, I may now refer to Persia, the old Persia that has a glorious story to tell for more than a thousand years (from Cyrus to the last of the Sassanides) ending or suffering a sea-change with the advent of the Arabs. The Arabs themselves and also the Hebrews were likewise long-lived peoples, although both of them have this especial characteristic that theirs is not a land-locked civilisation, that is to say, they were not peoples wedded to their own land, a mother-country of their own, theirs was a peripatetic genius which went abroad and sought to make their own or make themselves over to and enter into other countries and other cultures. Perhaps this is their way of securing a long life.
   The reason for a long life must necessarily be in the mode of life itself. The life lived by later nations had a very dominant politico-economic bias. The government, the political, that is to say, administrative power was of outstanding importance, the economic factor being necessarily an indispensable adjunct. On the other hand, in Egypt, in Greece and in all the Eastern countries, the main stream of life ran in another channel; it was cultural and ideative. What remains of Greece or even of Egypt, what the Eastern countries carry still here and there in a living manner is that element that which is immortal in mortality, as the Vedic Rishis say. The stone monuments bear a significance and a message even to us, because they embody and point to what moved, inspired and fashioned the consciousness, the inner life of these races. And it is that that outlives the glories of governments and rulers.

05.09 - Varieties of Religious Experience, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   There have been religions, approaches to the Divine, which did not believe in the divinity of man, the Chaldean line, the Semitic, for example. According to these, the Creator and the created are separate in nature and being; to call anything created as God himself is blasphemy. The ancient Egyptian, the Hebrew or the Muslim place God high in Paradise, and, in their view, man can be only his servant or slave, his worker or warrior. Man is too small and too earthly to be ever identified with God: he can only be a worshipper. Man can love God, at the most, as his Beloved. But this devotion is for something afar, like the desire of the moth for the star. And to equate the two is to confuse realities. Man as worshipper and devotee can attain certain divine qualities, but limited and modified and always humanized to a large extent. And God can never become man. He sends down his representative, his vicar, prophet or apostle who acts for him and in and through whom He acts, but He himself does not come down and put on the form or flesh. The universe is Gods handiwork and testifies to his miracle and glory; but the universe is not God. Between the watch and the watchmaker there is always a hiatus and an incommensurability.
   But can we say, I am born of God, and yet I am not God? So the Indian boldly declares, all this is the supreme Divine, there is nothing else than the Divinesarvam khalvidam brahma I am He, Thou are That, or again, that which is in me and the conscious being which is there in the Sun are one and the same thing. God has created man and the world, He is in man and in the world, He has become and is man and the world. Not only so. Not only does God become the clod of earth by reducing his potentialto zero, so to say; but He descends often enough in his own being and consciousness here below, assuming a human form for a special work and a special purpose. This is the Indian conception of Avatarhood.

1.00a - Introduction, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
    Note: In the "explanatory figures" referred to (omitted in the printed edition) Crowley spelt out the various Greek and Hebrew words mentioned with the numbers by each letter to indicate how they added to these values. Where this edition, following the printed version, gives the names of Hebrew letters in English transliteration, the original had the actual Hebrew letters.
  Letter No. F
  --
  If, however, you work at the Qabalah in the same way as I did myself, in season and out of season, you ought to get a very fair grasp of it in six months. I will now tell you what this method is: as I walked about, I made a point of attri buting everything I saw to its appropriate idea. I would walk out of the door of my house and reflect that door is Daleth, and house Beth; now the word "dob" is Hebrew for bear, and has the number 6, which refers to the Sun. Then you come to the fence of your property and that is Cheth number 8, number of Tarot Trump 7, which is the Chariot: so you begin to look about for your car. Then you come to the street and the first house you see is number 86, and that is Elohim, and it is built of red brick which reminds you of Mars and the Blasted Tower, and so on. As soon as this sort of work, which can be done in a quite lighthearted spirit, becomes habitual, you will find your mind running naturally in this direction, and will be surprised at your progress. Never let your mind wander from the fact that your Qabalah is not my Qabalah; a good many of the things which I have noted may be useful to you, but you must construct your own system so that it is a living weapon in your hand.
  I think I am fair if I say that the first step on the Qabalah which may be called success, is when you make an actual discovery which throws light on some problem which has been troubling you. A quarter of a century ago I was in New Orleans, and was very puzzled about my immediate course of action; in fact I may say I was very much distressed. There seemed literally nothing that I could do, so I bethought myself that I had better invoke Mercury. As soon as I got into the appropriate frame of mind, it naturally occurred to me, with a sort of joy, "But I am Mercury." I put it into Latin Mercurius sum, and suddenly something struck me, a sort of nameless reaction which said: "That's not quite right." Like a flash it came to me to put it into Greek, which gave me "' " and adding that up rapidly, I got the number 418, with all the marvellous correspondences which had been so abundantly useful to me in the past (See Equinox of the Gods, p. 138). My troubles disappeared like a flash of lightning.
  --
  II. The Qabalah, both Greek and Hebrew, also very likely Arabic, was used by the author of The Book of the Law. I have explained above the proper use of the Qabalah. I cannot tell you how the early Rosicrucians used it, but I think one may assume that their methods were not dissimilar to our own. Incidentally, it is not very safe to talk about Rosicrucians, because their name has become a signal for letting loose the most devastating floods of nonsense. What is really known about the original Rosicrucians is practically confined to the three documents which they issued. The eighteenth century Rosicrucians may, or may not, have been legitimate successors of the original brotherhood I don't know. But from them the O.T.O. derived its authority; The late O.H.O. Theodor Reuss possessed a certain number of documents which demonstrated the validity of his claim according to him; but I only saw two or three of them, and they were not of very great importance. Unfortunately he died shortly after the last War, and he had got out of touch with some of the other Grand Masters. The documents did not come to me as they should have done; they were seized by his wife who had an idea that she could sell them for a fantastic price; and we did not feel inclined to meet her views. I don't think the matter is of very great importance, the work being done by members of the Order all over the place is to me quite sufficient.
  III. The Ruach contains both the moral and intellectual worlds, which is really all that we mean by the conscious mind; perhaps it even includes certain portions of the subconscious.
  --
  777 is practically unpurchaseable: copies fetch 10 or so. Nearly all important correspondences are in Magick Table I. The other 2 books are being sent at once. "Working out games with numbers." I am sorry you should see no more than this. When you are better equipped, you will see that the Qabalah is the best (and almost the only) means by which an intelligence can identify himself. And Gematria methods serve to discover spiritual truths. Numbers are the network of the structure of the Universe, and their relations the form of expression of our Understanding of it.*[G1] In Greek and Hebrew there is no other way of writing numbers; our 1, 2, 3 etc. comes from the Phoenicians through the Arabs. You need no more of Greek and Hebrew than these values, some sacred words knowledge grows by use and books of reference.
  One cannot set a pupil definite tasks beyond the groundwork I am giving you, and we should find this correspondence taking clear shape of its own accord. You have really more than you can do already. And I can only tell you what the right tasks out of hundreds are by your own reactions to your own study and practice.

1.00 - Preface, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  Since the question of Magick has been slightly dealt with in the last chapter of this book, it is perhaps advisable here to state that the interpretations given to certain doctrines and to some of the Hebrew letters border very closely on magical formulae. I have purposely refrained, however, from entering into a deeper consideration of the Practical Qabalah, although several hints of value may be discovered in the explanation of the Tetragrammaton, for example, which may prove of no inconsiderable service. As I have previously remarked, this book is primarily intended as an elementary textbook of the Qabalah, interpreted as a new system for philosophical classification. This must consti- tute my sole excuse for what may appear to be a refusal to deal more adequately with methods of Attainment.
  - Israel Regardie.

1.00 - Preliminary Remarks, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  In the Bhagavadgita a vision of this class is naturally attributed to the apparition of Vishnu, who was the local god of the period. Anna Kingsford, who had dabbled in Hebrew mysticism, and was a feminist, got an almost identical vision; but called the divine figure which she saw alternately Adonai and Maria.
  Now this woman, though handicapped by a brain that was a mass of putrid pulp, and a complete lack of social status, education, and moral character, did more in the religious world than any other person had done for generations. She, and she alone, made Theosophy possible, and without Theosophy the world-wide interest in similar matters could never have been aroused. This interest is to the Law of Thelema what the preaching of John the Baptist was to Christianity.

1.01 - Adam Kadmon and the Evolution, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  wheeling again and again ad infinitum. (The Hebrews were
  the first for whom history had an aim, and therefore a direc-

1.01 - Historical Survey, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  The word " Qabalah " is derived from a Hebrew root
  Vap (QBL) meaning "to receive". The legend is that this philosophy is a knowledge of things first taught by the
  --
  To come down to more historic ground, the Qabalah is the Jewish mystical teaching concerning the initiated inter- pretation of the Hebrew scriptures. It is a system of spiritual philosophy or theosophy, using this word in its original implications of 0eo? 2 o$ia, which has not only exercised for centuries an influence on the intellectual development of so shrewd and clear-thinking a people as the Jews, but has attracted the attention of many renowned
  17
  --
  The confusion is also due to the efforts of those theo- logians in mediaeval times who, being desirous of saving their benighted Hebrew brethren from the pangs of eternal torture and damnation in the nether regions, muddled and tampered not only with the original texts but with extreme sectarian interpretations in order to show that the authors of the Qabalistic books were desirous that their Jewish posterity should become apostates to Christianity.
  The Qabalah taken in its traditional and literal form
  --
  Doctrine et Rituel de la Haute Magie, in which we find clear and unmistakable symptoms of an understanding of the underlying basis of the Qabalah- its ten Sephiros and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet as a suitable framework for the construction of a workable system for philosophical comparison and synthesis. It is said that he published this work at a time when information on all occult matters was strictly prohibited, for various reasons of its own, by the Esoteric School to which he belonged.
  We find, then, a companion volume issued but a short while after, La Histoire de la Magie, wherein - undoubtedly to protect himself from the censure levelled at him, and throw unsuspecting enquirers off the track - he contradicts his former conclusions and theorizations.

1.01 - MAPS OF EXPERIENCE - OBJECT AND MEANING, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
  metaphorical kernel of a road or path.... In the Bible way normally translates the Hebrew derek and the
  Greek hodos, and throughout the Bible there is a strong emphasis on the contrast between a straight way

1.02 - In the Beginning, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  In the beginning God. So runs the first word of all our occidental theology, using the formulas of the traditional conception which it has borrowed from the Hebrew Genesis.
  And by God when it emerges at all from its puerile anthropomorphic notions, that theology understands the first Unity, the pure Essence which is preexistent of all multiplicity. But by this conception it erects before it, in its very first affirmation, the most insoluble of problems. For out of absolute unity nothing at all can issue.
  --
  If, restoring to the Hebrew characters their numerical value and hidden sense, we analyse the text, then we must thus read the first word of Genesis, The primary duality was in the beginning. For the sign B which corresponds to the second figure in our numerical system, represents a double original principle which the succeeding letter Resh characterises as the very head and supreme Cause of formation. And by a remarkable, though fortuitous coincidence, we find that the sacred book of Islam, like the sacred book of Judaism commences, in the initial of its first word, with the sign of duality. The first word B-Sem-Lillah (Bismillah) placed at the head of the Koran can, when its elements are decomposed, be interpreted, Two is the name of Allah.
  And this name, Allah, itself contains the symbol of that union between the two complementary poles of being out of which the Universe is generated. Formed of twin syllables of which the first has for its initial letter Alif, the characteristic sign of the Masculine, and the second for its final letter He, the constant symbol of the Feminine, it seems to be merely the inversion in combination of one and the same essential article and can be mystically translated, as indeed it is translated by some of the Sufis,by the two pronouns He and She.

1.02 - MAPS OF MEANING - THREE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
  maturing Buddha and that encapsulated the Hebrew Eden. Conversely, however, the Great Father is the
  tyrant who forbids the emergence (or even the hypothetical existence) of anything new. The Archetypal
  --
  void, with darkness on the face of the deep (tehom). The Hebrew words are said to be etymologically
  cognate with Tiamat, and there are many other allusions in the Old Testament to the creation as a killing
  --
  Azi Dahaka, the primordial serpent of chaos.284 The enemies of the Old Testament Hebrews also suffer the
  same fate: they are regarded as equivalent to Rahab, or Leviathan, the serpent overcome by Yahweh in his
  --
  Western consciousness not least through the actions of the ancient Hebrew prophets. The philosopher of
  religion Huston Smith draws two examples from the Bible, to illustrate this point:

1.02 - The Magic Circle, #The Practice of Magical Evocation, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  The magician who is also acquainted with Quabbalah can draw another snake-like circle within the inner circle and divide it into 72 fields, giving each of these fields the name of a genius. These names of genii, together with their analogies, must be drawn magically by pronouncing them correctly. If working with a circle embroidered into a piece of cloth, the names inserted into the various fields must either be in Latin or in Hebrew. I shall give exact details about the genii and their analogies, use and effect in my next work called "The Key to the True Quabbalah". An embroidered circle has the advantage that it can easily be laid out and folded -together again without having to be drawn and charged anew each time it is to be used. The snake presented in the centre is not only the copy of an inner circle, but, above that, it is the symbol of wisdom. Besides this, other meanings may be attributed to this snake-symbol, for example the snake's strength, the power of imagination, etc. It is not possible to give a full description of all this, for this would go far beyond the aim of this book.
  A Buddhist magician drawing his Mandala, putting his five deities in the form of figures or diagrams on top of the relevant emanation, is, at that moment, meditating about each single deity whose influence he is trying to evoke. This magical ceremony, too, is, in our opinion, equivalent to the drawing of a magic circle, although it actually is a genuine prayer to the Buddhist deities. To say more about this matter in this book is quite unnecessary for enough material has already been published in Eastern literature about this kind of magical practice, either in exoteric or in secret manuscripts.

1.02 - THE NATURE OF THE GROUND, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  In Eckharts phrase, God, the creator and perpetual re-creator of the world, becomes and disbecomes. In other words He is, to some extent at least, in time. A temporal God might have the nature of the traditional Hebrew God of the Old Testament; or He might be a limited deity of the kind described by certain philosophical theologians of the present century; or alternatively He might be an emergent God, starting unspiritually at Alpha and becoming gradually more divine as the aeons rolled on towards some hypothetical Omega. (Why the movement should be towards more and better rather than less and worse, upwards rather than downwards or in undulations, onwards rather than round and round, one really doesnt know. There seems to be no reason why a God who is exclusively temporala God who merely becomes and is ungrounded in eternityshould not be as completely at the mercy of time as is the individual mind apart from the spirit. A God who becomes is a God who also disbecomes, and it is the disbecoming which may ultimately prevail, so that the last state of emergent deity may be worse than the first.)
  The ground in which the multifarious and time-bound psyche is rooted is a simple, timeless awareness. By making ourselves pure in heart and poor in spirit we can discover and be identified with this awareness. In the spirit we not only have, but are, the unitive knowledge of the divine Ground.

1.03 - PERSONALITY, SANCTITY, DIVINE INCARNATION, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  Can the many fantastic and mutually incompatible theories of expiation and atonement, which have been grafted onto the Christian doctrine of divine incarnation, be regarded as indispensable elements in a sane theology? I find it difficult to imagine how anyone who has looked into a history of these notions, as expounded, for example, by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, by Athanasius and Augustine, by Anselm and Luther, by Calvin and Grotius, can plausibly answer this question in the affirmative. In the present context, it will be enough to call attention to one of the bitterest of all the bitter ironies of history. For the Christ of the Gospels, lawyers seemed further from the Kingdom of Heaven, more hopelessly impervious to Reality, than almost any other class of human beings except the rich. But Christian theology, especially that of the Western churches, was the product of minds imbued with Jewish and Roman legalism. In all too many instances the immediate insights of the Avatar and the theocentric saint were rationalized into a system, not by philosophers, but by speculative barristers and metaphysical jurists. Why should what Abbot John Chapman calls the problem of reconciling (not merely uniting) Mysticism and Christianity be so extremely difficult? Simply because so much Roman and Protestant thinking was done by those very lawyers whom Christ regarded as being peculiarly incapable of understanding the true Nature of Things. The Abbot (Chapman is apparently referring to Abbot Marmion) says St John of the Cross is like a sponge full of Christianity. You can squeeze it all out, and the full mystical theory (in other words, the pure Perennial Philosophy) remains. Consequently for fifteen years or so I hated St John of the Cross and called him a Buddhist. I loved St Teresa and read her over and over again. She is first a Christian, only secondarily a mystic. Then I found I had wasted fifteen years, so far as prayer was concerned.
  Now see the meaning of these two sayings of Christs. The one, No man cometh unto the Father but by me, that is through my life. The other saying, No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him; that is, he does not take my life upon him and follow after me, except he is moved and drawn of my Father, that is, of the Simple and Perfect Good, of which St. Paul saith, When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

1.03 - Reading, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy
  English books will find how many with whom he can converse about it? Or suppose he comes from reading a Greek or Latin classic in the original, whose praises are familiar even to the so called illiterate; he will find nobody at all to speak to, but must keep silence about it. Indeed, there is hardly the professor in our colleges, who, if he has mastered the difficulties of the language, has proportionally mastered the difficulties of the wit and poetry of a Greek poet, and has any sympathy to impart to the alert and heroic reader; and as for the sacred Scriptures, or Bibles of mankind, who in this town can tell me even their titles? Most men do not know that any nation but the Hebrews have had a scripture. A man, any man, will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar; but here are golden words, which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered, and whose worth the wise of every succeeding age have assured us of;and yet we learn to read only as far as Easy Reading, the primers and class-books, and when we leave school, the Little Reading, and story books, which are for boys and beginners; and our reading, our conversation and thinking, are all on a very low level, worthy only of pygmies and manikins.
  I aspire to be acquainted with wiser men than this our Concord soil has produced, whose names are hardly known here. Or shall I hear the name of Plato and never read his book? As if Plato were my townsman and I never saw him,my next neighbor and I never heard him speak or attended to the wisdom of his words. But how actually is it? His Dialogues, which contain what was immortal in him, lie on the next shelf, and yet

1.03 - The Sephiros, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  It was only in the last century that we had the statement of Eliphaz Levi that were a man incarcerated in a dungeon cell in solitary confinement, without books or instructions of any kind, it would still be possible for him to obtain from this set of cards an encyclopaedic knowledge of the essence of all sciences, religions, and philosophies. Ignoring this specimen of typical Levi verbosity, it is only necessary to point out that instead of using the ten digits and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet for the basis of his magical alphabet, Levi adopted as his fundamental framework the twenty-two trump cards of the Book of
  Thoth, attri buting to them his knowledge and experience in a way similar to the attri butions of the thirty-two Paths of Wisdom.

1.04 - Magic and Religion, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  side of religion which the Hebrew prophets, inspired with a noble
  ideal of God's goodness and holiness, were never weary of

1.04 - On blessed and ever-memorable obedience, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
  2 Hebrews xii, 14.
  3 I.e. priest-confessor.
  --
  2 Hebrews vii, 7.
  About Isidore

1.04 - Religion and Occultism, #Words Of The Mother III, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  The historic part of the papers seems to be true. The founder must surely have been acquainted with the Kaballah and with some mystics of Asia Minor. The original appears to have been written in Latin with adjuncts of Hebrew words (probably taken
  Words of the Mother III

1.04 - THE APPEARANCE OF ANOMALY - CHALLENGE TO THE SHARED MAP, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
  suffering, in Eden or Paradise, in the walled garden of delight ( Eden, signifies in Hebrew delight, a
  place of delight our own English word Paradise, which is from the Persian, pairi around, daeza

1.04 - The Crossing of the First Threshold, #The Hero with a Thousand Faces, #Joseph Campbell, #Mythology
  Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, Indian, Jain, Japanese, Jewish, Moslem, Persian,
  Roman, Slavic, Teutonic, and Tibetan varieties), is an excellent introduction to

1.04 - The Paths, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  O NE of the several difficulties encountered in pre- senting a new scheme or a new interpretation of philosophy is the popular prejudice against new terminology. It is conceivable that objections will be raised against the Hebrew Alphabet and the terms utilized by the Qabalah by people who may overlook the fact that in the study of Astronomy, Physics, or Chemistry, for example, a completely new nomenclature must be mastered.
  Even commerce uses a whole system of words and terms meaningless without a knowledge of commercial methods and procedure. The terminology used by the Qabalah is so employed for several reasons.
  In Hebrew there are no numerals (which derive from the
  Moors), but each letter of the alphabet is used for a number.
  --
  Each Hebrew letter has a multiple value. First, it has its individual position in the alphabet ; second, it has a numerical value ; third, it is attributed to some one of the thirty -two Paths on the Tree of Life ; fourth, it has a Tarot card attri bution ; and fifth, it has a definite symbol or allegorical meaning when spelled in full.
  Blavatsky writes : " Every Cosmogony from the earliest to the latest is based upon, interlinked with, and most closely related to, numerals and geometrical figures. . . .
  Hence we find numbers and figures used as an expression and a record of thought in every archaic scripture." Ginsburg, referring to the Hebrew Alphabet, states : " Since the letters have no absolute value - nor can they be used as mere forms, but serve as the medium between essence and forms, and like words, assume the relation of form to the real essence, and of essence to the embryo and unexpressed
  65
  --
  The Tarot trumps furnish a complete set of symbols, but the great difficulty hitherto experienced in their attri bution to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet is that these trump cards are numbered from I to XXI, accom- panied by another card marked O, which has always been the stumbling-block, being attri buted by various people to various letters of the alphabet, depending - apparently - on their whim at any particular moment. It should be quite obvious that the only logical place for this Zero card is antecedent to I, and when so placed the cards assume a definite sequential meaning, profoundly explanatory of the letters.
  It is essential here to make a remark regarding the nature of the symbols revealed by the Tarot and utilized by the
  --
  First letter of the Hebrew Alphabet.
  Path No. Eleven on Tree of Life, joining Keser to Chokmah.
  --
  I must now refer to an important point of Hebrew grammar. The sounds of certain of the letters in the
   Hebrew Alphabet become changed when a dot, called the dogish, is placed within those letters. The letter B becomes changed to V, when the dot in the middle is omitted, thus
  --
  Sphinx bearing a sword. The wheel represents the ever- whirling Karmic cycle of Samsara, of existence after existence, at one moment elevating us above princes and the kings of the land, and at others throwing us below the level of slaves and the dust of the earth. On the wheel, at each of the cardinal points, are inscribed the letters taro, and in between them the four Hebrew letters of Tetragram- maton. At each of the four corners of the card, seated on a cloud, is one of the creatures seen in vision by the prophet
  Ezekiel.
  --
  The Sepher Yetsirah denominates " Resh," a " double letter ", but I have been unable to discover any sound other than " R " for this letter ; nor is any other so recognized by modern Hebrew grammarians. Perhaps the French form of " R " - pronounced with a decided roll - is the sound in question.
   fr-SII
  --
  Fire A is its Yetsiratic element (in Hebrew Esh is fire, the " sh " being most prominent in pronunciation), and is symbolized by this sibilant letter ts, because one char- acteristic of fire is its hissing sound ; and the equivalent in
   Hebrew for " sibilant " is a word which also means " hiss- ing "

1.04 - The Qabalah The Best Training for Memory, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Each of these ideas may be explained, investigated, understood, by means very various. Firstly, the Hebrew, Greek and Arabic numbers are also letters. Then, each of these letters is further described by one of the (arbitrarily composed) "elements of Nature; the Four (or Five) Elements, the Seven (or Ten) Planets, and the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac.
  All these are arranged in a geometrical design composed of ten "Sephiroth" (numbers) and twenty-two "paths" joining them; this is called the Tree of Life.
  --
  ("How many sets of attri butions?" Well, certainly, the Hebrew and Greek Alphabets with the names and numbers of each letter, and its mean- ing: a couple of lists of God-names, with a clear idea of the character, qualities, functions, and importance of each; the "King-scale" of colour, all the Tarot attri butions, of course; then animals, plants, drugs, per- fumes, a list or two of archangels, angels, intelligences and spirits that ought to be enough for a start.)
  Now you are armed! Ask yourself: why is the influence of Tiphareth transmitted to Yesod by the Path of Samekh, a fence, 60, Sagittarius, the Archer, Art, blue and so on; but to Hod by the Path of Ayin, an eye, 70, Capricornus, the Goat, the Devil, Indigo, K.T.L.

1.05 - 2010 and 1956 - Doomsday?, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  should be remembered that the Hebrews were the first to
  interpret history not as cyclic but as linear, with a begin-

1.05 - Adam Kadmon, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  The Commentary on the Ten Sephiros, written in Hebrew by
  Rabbi Azariel ben Menaham already mentioned. He dis- tinguished himself as a philosopher, Qabalist and Tal- mudist, and was a pupil of Isaac the Blind, the founder of the Qabalistic School of Gerona. His commentary, men- tioned above, is written in a remarkably lucid and academic manner, and the classification is extremely satisfactory.

1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
  And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiprah, and
  the name of the other Puah:
  And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if
  it be a son, then ye shall kill him538: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
  --
  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women: for
  they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
  --
  him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews children.
  Then said his sister to Pharaohs daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that
  she may nurse the child for thee?
  --
  After Moses reaches adulthood, he rejects his secondary Egyptian heritage, and rejoins the Hebrews in
  time, becoming their leader, and leading them away from Egypt and Egyptian servitude (from slavery
  --
  to exterminate the Hebrews goes into reverse with the slaughter of the Egyptian firstborn sons. This
  episode concludes with the crossing of the Red Sea, the separation of Israel from Egypt, and the
  --
  The Hebrews feed on manna during their desert sojourn. Such spiritual bread made, in its profane condition,
  from wheat, the metaphorical body of eternally dying and resurrecting corn god is later offered by and equated with
  --
  features. Such writers are as deeply pondered by readers as the Greek and Hebrew oracles were: like them, they
  shock and disturb; like them, they may be full of contradictions and ambiguities, yet they retain a curiously haunting
  --
  Bethlehem from which Jesus alone escapes. Moses similarly escapes from an attempt to destroy Hebrew children,
  as they in turn escape later from a slaughter of Egyptian firstborn. The infant Jesus is taken down into Egypt by

1.06 - Being Human and the Copernican Principle, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  The stuff of ancient Hebrew tribes and of the alleged
  reminiscences about Christ and primitive Christianity wasb e ing human an d the cope r nican princi ple
  --
  the decline of the angry and vengeful God of the Hebrews,
  whom Christs Father of Love had not succeeded in replac

1.06 - The Literal Qabalah, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
   secret sense of a word by means of the numerical equivalents of each letter. Its method of procedure depends on the fact that each Hebrew letter has a definite numerical value and may actually be used in place of a number. When the total of the numbers of the letters of any one word were identical with that of another word, no matter how different its meaning and translation, a close correspondence and analogy was seen.
  For example, the word CTO Nachosch, a " Serpent ", adds to 358 : w 300 + n 8 + 2 50 = 358. Also rpB
  --
  The Hebrew words d'rtb.s nn Ruach Elohim may be translated " The Spirit of the Gods ", By Gematria, its numerical value is ascertained to be 300. The numerical value of the letter Shin was also said to be 300, and we see, therefore, that they are identical.
  There is another method of applying the processes of
  --
  When transliterated into Hebrew, Fohat would be spelt :
  The Gematria of this would be S 80 +3?
  70-f-n 5 +n 1-fa 9 = 165. The Hebrew word
  C';rn Chazokim, which means Strength or Energy, also has the numerical value of 165. 40 + ' 10 + p 100 +
  --
  Still another method of spelling Fohat is tasns. Its value is D 80 -f n 5 -f n 1+ a 9=95, which is the number of a Hebrew word c'En HaMayim, meaning the
  Waters. The Great Sea has previously been mentioned as one of the correspondences of Binah, and Binah is not only
  --
  By adding the digits 9 and 5, we obtain 14. The Hebrew
  THE LITERAL QABALAH 109
  --
  Secret Wisdom. By taking the first letter of each of these two words we obtain in Chen, a Hebrew word meaning
  " Grace ". The implication is that the study of this arcane wisdom of the Qabalah endows one with the Grace or
  --
  Caph is spelt in Hebrew rp. The first letter 3 may be made to stand for the Greek word /crei?, and the last letter
  $ for <3?aAAo?, implying that the coition of the sexual organs
  --
  The well-known word Amen is composed of the first letters of the words jKSa qbo \nw, "Lord, Faith- ful King ", which open the Hebrew prayer called the
  Schemah.
  --
  Not having a Hebrew dictionary at my side at the moment of writing, I am not able to enquire as to whether there is such a Hebrew word as i But a little knowledge of Hebrew grammar and our Qabalistic corres- pondences will suffice, and the difficulty is soon overcome.
  The first letter a B may be construed to be the pre positional prefix meaning " in ", " with ", or " by ", leaving the three letters pw 1 Yishak. The numerical value of these letters is 410, viz: ^ 10 + tP 300 + P 100 =
  410. Now there is a Hebrew word tnp Qadosh, whose value is 410 also, and it means a " Saint ", or " Holiness ".
  Obviously, this is harmonious with our original word
  --
  Some little time after the above passage was written, the writer had the opportunity to consult a Hebrew lexicon in which he discovered much confirmatory matter ; that pan may be considered primarily as a verb in the future tense, third person singular, and in all probability derived from the root derivative meaning " to burn, kindle, or light ".
  All these words are very much in accord with the general implication of the Messiah or Adept who comes with sanctity, for these words symbolize the facts which apper- tain to the state of him who is God-Man, the regenerated and illuminated Adept. For within his heart, his Soul is enkindled, and upon his brows the lissome light of the Silver
  --
   the Hebrew letters also are most important. I shall give an example to illustrate the idea.
  One Qabalist of tremendous knowledge was endeavouring to transliterate into Hebrew the name of a preterhuman intelligence by the name of Aiwass. This is, of course neither the time nor the place to go into the reason for his desire to obtain this name in Hebrew, and yet have the numerical value of 418. Had this Qabalist, whom the writer greatly esteems, known of the remark made with regard to the letter of the thirty-second Path, n Tav, he would have been saved several years of effort. For that letter, when without a dSgish, is pronounced as an " S ". Aiwass should have been spelt :
   n 400 +n 1 + ) 6 +' 10 +N 1 =418.
  Those of my readers who are familiar with Qabalistic terminology will notice too that in this work nTY' 2 D has been rendered as " Sephiros " and not " Sephiroth ". The last letter does not, and cannot in Hebrew grammar, take a dSgish at the end of a word. Its pronunciation is therefore
  At the close of this exegetical chapter on the methods of

1.06 - The Three Schools of Magick 1, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  * [AC15] It is interesting to note that the three greatest influences in the world today are those of Teutonic Hebrews: Marx, Hertz, and Freud.
   [AC16] Unfortunately there is no translation at present published which is the work of an Initiate. All existing translations have been garbled by people who simply failed to understand the text. An approximately perfect rendering is indeed available, but so far it exists only in manuscript. One object of this letter is to create sufficient public interest to make this work, and others of equal value available to the public.[11]

1.07 - The Ego and the Dualities, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  1:IF ALL is in truth Sachchidananda, death, suffering, evil, limitation can only be the creations, positive in practical effect, negative in essence, of a distorting consciousness which has fallen from the total and unifying knowledge of itself into some error of division and partial experience. This is the fall of man typified in the poetic parable of the Hebrew Genesis. That fall is his deviation from the full and pure acceptance of God and himself, or rather of God in himself, into a dividing consciousness which brings with it all the train of the dualities, life and death, good and evil, joy and pain, completeness and want, the fruit of a divided being. This is the fruit which Adam and Eve, Purusha and Prakriti, the soul tempted by Nature, have eaten. The redemption comes by the recovery of the universal in the individual and of the spiritual term in the physical consciousness. Then alone the soul in Nature can be allowed to partake of the fruit of the tree of life and be as the Divine and live for ever. For then only can the purpose of its descent into material consciousness be accomplished, when the knowledge of good and evil, joy and suffering, life and death has been accomplished through the recovery by the human soul of a higher knowledge which reconciles and identifies these opposites in the universal and transforms their divisions into the image of the divine Unity.
  2:To Sachchidananda extended in all things in widest commonalty and impartial universality, death, suffering, evil and limitation can only be at the most reverse terms, shadow-forms of their luminous opposites. As these things are felt by us, they are notes of a discord. They formulate separation where there should be a unity, miscomprehension where there should be an understanding, an attempt to arrive at independent harmonies where there should be a self-adaptation to the orchestral whole. All totality, even if it be only in one scheme of the universal vibrations, even if it be only a totality of the physical consciousness without possession of all that is in movement beyond and behind, must be to that extent a reversion to harmony and a reconciliation of jarring opposites. On the other hand, to Sachchidananda transcendent of the forms of the universe the dual terms themselves, even so understood, can no longer be justly applicable. Transcendence transfigures; it does not reconcile, but rather transmutes opposites into something surpassing them that effaces their oppositions.

1.07 - The Literal Qabalah (continued), #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  Trumps attri buted to the Hebrew Alphabet ; four suits of fourteen cards each, entitled Wands, Cups, Swords, and
  Pantacles. The first ten of each suit, as we have already seen, were attri buted to the Sephiros. The remaining four in each suit are the Court cards, King, Queen, Prince or

1.08a - The Ladder, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
  These four, grades which precede Tipharas and the con- summation of the tasks related thereto, may be said to be the equivalent of the Hebrew laudatory title-Chassid.
  He now approaches the greatest crisis of his career.

1.09 - Sri Aurobindo and the Big Bang, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  tion: the Hebrews. Their holy book told about an absolute
  beginning, when Yahweh created heaven and earth, and

1.11 - GOOD AND EVIL, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  In the Hebrew-Christian tradition the Fall is subsequent to creation and is due exclusively to the egocentric use of a free will, which ought to have remained centred in the divine Ground and not in the separate selfhood. The myth of Genesis embodies a very important psychological truth, but falls short of being an entirely satisfactory symbol, because it fails to mention, much less to account for, the fact of evil and suffering in the non-human world. To be adequate to our experience the myth would have to be modified in two ways. In the first place, it would have to make clear that creation, the incomprehensible passage from the unmanifested One into the manifest multiplicity of nature, from eternity into time, is not merely the prelude and necessary condition of the Fall; to some extent it is the Fall. And in the second place, it would have to indicate that something analogous to free will may exist below the human level.
  That the passage from the unity of spiritual to the manifoldness of temporal being is an essential part of the Fall is clearly stated in the Buddhist and Hindu renderings of the Perennial Philosophy. Pain and evil are inseparable from individual existence in a world of time; and, for human beings, there is an intensification of this inevitable pain and evil when the desire is turned towards the self and the many, rather than towards the divine Ground. To this we might speculatively add the opinion that perhaps even subhuman existences may be endowed (both individually and collectively, as kinds and species) with something resembling the power of choice. There is the extraordinary fact that man stands alone that, so far as we can judge, every other species is a species of living fossils, capable only of degeneration and extinction, not of further evolutionary advance. In the phraseology of Scholastic Aristotelianism, matter possesses an appetite for formnot necessarily for the best form, but for form as such. Looking about us in the world of living things, we observe (with a delighted wonder, touched occasionally, it must be admitted, with a certain questioning dismay) the innumerable forms, always beautiful, often extravagantly odd and sometimes even sinister, in which the insatiable appetite of matter has found its satisfaction. Of all this living matter only that which is organized as human beings has succeeded in finding a form capable, at any rate on the mental side, of further development. All the rest is now locked up in forms that can only remain what they are or, if they change, only change for the worse. It looks as though, in the cosmic intelligence test, all living matter, except the human, had succumbed, at one time or another during its biological career, to the temptation of assuming, not the ultimately best, but the immediately most profitable form. By an act of something analogous to free will every species, except the human, has chosen the quick returns of specialization, the present rapture of being perfect, but perfect on a low level of being. The result is that they all stand at the end of evolutionary blind alleys. To the initial cosmic Fall of creation, of multitudinous manifestation in time, they have added the obscurely biological equivalent of mans voluntary Fall. As species, they have chosen the immediate satisfaction of the self rather than the capacity for reunion with the divine Ground. For this wrong choice, the non-human forms of life are punished negatively, by being debarred from realizing the supreme good, to which only the unspecialized and therefore freer, more highly conscious human form is capable. But it must be remembered, of course, that the capacity for supreme good is achieved only at the price of becoming also capable of extreme evil. Animals do not suffer in so many ways, nor, we may feel pretty certain, to the same extent as do men and women. Further, they are quite innocent of that literally diabolic wickedness which, together with sanctity, is one of the distinguishing marks of the human species.

1.1.2 - Commentary, #Kena and Other Upanishads, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  illiterate servant-girl hears daily her master reciting Hebrew in
  his study; the surface mind pays no attention to the unintelligible gibberish, but the subconscious mind hears, remembers and,

1.12 - TIME AND ETERNITY, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  God who is Spirit can only be worshipped in spirit and for his own sake; but God in time is normally worshipped by material means with a view to achieving temporal ends. God in time is manifestly the destroyer as well as the creator; and because this is so, it has seemed proper to worship him by methods which are as terrible as the destructions he himself inflicts. Hence, in India, the blood sacrifices to Kali, in her aspect as Nature-the-Destroyer; hence those offerings of children to the Molochs, denounced by the Hebrew prophets; hence the human sacrifices practised, for example, by the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Druids, the Aztecs. In all such cases the divinity addressed was a god in time, or a personification of Nature, which is nothing else but Time itself, the devourer of its own offspring; and in all cases the purpose of the rite was to obtain a future benefit or to avoid one of the enormous evils which Time and Nature for ever hold in store. For this it was thought to be worth while to pay a high price in that currency of suffering, which the Destroyer so evidently valued. The importance of the temporal end justified the use of means that were intrinsically terrible, because intrinsically time-like. Sublimated traces of these ancient patterns of thought and behaviour are still to be found in certain theories of the Atonement, and in the conception of the Mass as a perpetually repeated sacrifice of the God-Man.
  In the modern world the gods to whom human sacrifice is offered are personifications, not of Nature, but of mans own, home-made political ideals. These, of course, all refer to events in timeactual events in the past or the present, fancied events in the future. And here it should be noted that the philosophy which affirms the existence and the immediate realizableness of eternity is related to one kind of political theory and practice; the philosophy which affirms that what goes on in time is the only reality, results in a different kind of theory and justifies quite another kind of political practice. This has been clearly recognized by Marxist writers,* who point out that when Christianity is mainly preoccupied with events in time, it is a revolutionary religion, and that when, under mystical influences, it stresses the Eternal Gospel, of which the historical or pseudo-historical facts recorded in Scripture are but symbols, it becomes politically static and reactionary.

1.13 - Gnostic Symbols of the Self, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  98 These words occur in the Hebrew of Isaiah 28 : 10, where they describe what
  "men with stammering lips and alien tongue" speak to the people. [The Hebrew
  runs: "tsaw latsaw, tsaw latsaw, kaw lakaw, kaw lakaw, zeer sham, zeer sham."-
  --
  The relationship of the t to the self is the same as that of the Hebrew letter
  Yod 0) to the lapis in the cabala. The Original Man, Adam, signifies the small

1.14 - Bibliography, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  shu'ah ["Proclamation of Salvation"]. (In Hebrew.) Salonica, 1526.
  . Ma'yene ha-Yeshu'ah ["Sources of Salvation"]. (In Hebrew.)
  Ferrara, 1551.
  --
  Midrash Tanchuma (Shemoth). (In Hebrew.) Edited by Solomon
  Buber. Vilna, 1885.

1.14 - The Secret, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  254 - This ancient tradition, known also to the Hebrews, seems to have been revived, quite literally, by Christianity and the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary.
  255 - The material Inconscient.

1.17 - Astral Journey Example, How to do it, How to Verify your Experience, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Well then, he tells you that his name is Ottillia. Shall we try to spell it in Greek or in Hebrew. By the sound of the name and perhaps to some extent by his appearance one might plump for the former; but after all the Greek Qabalah is so unsatisfactory. We give Hebrew the first chance we start with Ayin Teth Yod Lamed Yod Aleph H. Let us try this lettering for a start. It adds up to 135. I daresay that you don't remember what the Sepher Sephiroth tells you about the number; but as luck will have it, there is no need to inquire; for 135 = 3 x 45. Three is the number, is the first number of Saturn, and 45 the last. (The sum of the numbers in the magic square of Saturn is 45.) That corresponds beautifully with everything you have got so far; but then of course you must know if he is "one of the beliving Jinn." Briefly, is he a friend or an enemy? You accordingly say to him "The word of the Law is " It turns out that he doesn't understand Greek at all, so you were certainly right in choosing Hebrew. You put it to him, "What is the word of the Law?" and he replies darkly. "The word of the Law is Thora." That means nothing to you; any one might know as much as that, Thora being the ordinary word for the Sacred Law of Israel, and you accordingly ask him to spell it to make sure you have heard aright; and he gives you the letters, perhaps by speaking them, perhaps by showing them: Teth, Resh, Ayin. You add these up and get 279. This again is divisible by the Saturnian 3, and the result is 93; in other words, he has been precisely right. On the plane of Saturn one may multiply by three and therefore he has given you the correct word "Thelema" in a form unfamiliar to you. You man now consider yourself satisfied of his good faith, and may proceed to inspect him more closely. The stars above his head suggest the influence of Binah, whose number also is three, while the most striking thing about him is the core of his being: the letter Yod. (One does not count the termination "AH": being a divine suffix it represents the inmost light and the outermost light.) This Yod, this spark of intense brilliance, is of the pale greenish gold which one sees (in this world) in the fine gold leaf of Tibet. It glows with ever greater intensity as you concentrate upon observing him, which you could not do while you were preoccupied with investigating his credentials.
  Confidence being thus established, you inquire why he as appeared to you at this time and at this place; and the answer to this question is of course your original idea, that is to say, he is presenting to you in other terms that "mountainous Fugue" which invoked him. You listen to him with attention, make such enquiries as seem good to you, and record the proceedings.

1.19 - GOD IS NOT MOCKED, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  IF THERE is freedom (and even Determinists consistently act as if they were certain of it) and if (as everyone who has qualified himself to talk about the subject has always been convinced) there is a spiritual Reality, which it is the final end and purpose of consciousness to know; then all life is in the nature of an intelligence test, and the higher the level of awareness and the greater the potentialities of the creature, the more searchingly difficult will be the questions asked. For, in Bagehots words, we could not be what we ought to be, if we lived in the sort of universe we should expect. A latent Providence, a confused life, an odd material world, an existence broken short in the midst and on a sudden, are not real difficulties, but real helps; for they, or something like them, are essential conditions of a moral life in a subordinate being. Because we are free, it is possible for us to answer lifes questions either well or badly. If we answer them badly, we shall bring down upon ourselves self-stultification. Most often this self-stultification will take subtle and not immediately detectable forms, as when our failure to answer properly makes it impossible for us to realize the higher potentialities of our being. Sometimes, on the contrary, the self-stultification is manifest on the physical level, and may involve not only individuals as individuals, but entire societies, which go down in catastrophe or sink more slowly into decay. The giving of correct answers is rewarded primarily by spiritual growth and progressive realization of latent potentialities, and secondarily (when circumstances make it possible) by the adding of all the rest to the realized kingdom of God. Karma exists; but its equivalence of act and award is not always obvious and material, as the earlier Buddhist and Hebrew writers ingenuously imagined that it should be. The bad man in prosperity may, all unknown to himself, be darkened and corroded with inward rust, while the good man under afflictions may be in the rewarding process of spiritual growth. No, God is not mocked; but also, let us always remember, He is not understood.
  Per nella giustizia sempiterna

1.21 - ON FREE DEATH, #Thus Spoke Zarathustra, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
  Verily, that Hebrew died too early whom the preachers of slow death honor; and for many it has become a
  calamity that he died too early. As yet he knew only
  tears and the melancholy of the Hebrew, and hatred of
  the good and the just-the Hebrew Jesus: then the
  longing for death overcame him. Would that he had

1.24 - RITUAL, SYMBOL, SACRAMENT, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  That very large numbers of men and women have an ineradicable desire for rites and ceremonies is clearly demonstrated by the history of religion. Almost all the Hebrew prophets were opposed to ritualism. Rend your hearts and not your garments. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. I hate, I despise your feasts; I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. And yet, in spite of the fact that what the prophets wrote was regarded as divinely inspired, the Temple at Jerusalem continued to be, for hundreds of years after their time, the centre of a religion of rites, ceremonials and blood sacrifice. (It may be remarked in passing that the shedding of blood, ones own or that of animals or other human beings, seems to be a peculiarly efficacious way of constraining the occult or psychic world to answer petitions and confer supernormal powers. If this is a fact, as from the anthropological and antiquarian evidence it appears to be, it would supply yet another cogent reason for avoiding animal sacrifices, savage bodily austerities and even, since thought is a form of action, that imaginative gloating over spilled blood, which is so common in certain Christian circles.) What the Jews did in spite of their prophets, Christians have done in spite of Christ. The Christ of the Gospels is a preacher and not a dispenser of sacraments or performer of rites; he speaks against vain repetitions; he insists on the supreme importance of private worship; he has no use for sacrifices and not much use for the Temple. But this did not prevent historic Christianity from going its own, all too human, way. A precisely similar development took place in Buddhism. For the Buddha of the Pali scriptures, ritual was one of the fetters holding back the soul from enlightenment and liberation. Nevertheless, the religion he founded has made full use of ceremonies, vain repetitions and sacramental rites.
  There would seem to be two main reasons for the observed developments of the historical religions. First, most people do not want spirituality or deliverance, but rather a religion that gives them emotional satisfactions, answers to prayer, supernormal powers and partial salvation in some sort of posthumous heaven. Second, some of those few who do desire spirituality and deliverance find that, for them, the most effective means to those ends are ceremonies, vain repetitions and sacramental rites. It is by participating in these acts and uttering these formulas that they are most powerfully reminded of the eternal Ground of all being; it is by immersing themselves in the symbols that they can most easily come through to that which is symbolized. Every thing, event or thought is a point of intersection between creature and Creator, between a more or less distant manifestation of God and a ray, so to speak, of the unmanifest Godhead; every thing, event or thought can therefore be made the doorway through which a soul may pass out of time into eternity. That is why ritualistic and sacramental religion can lead to deliverance. But at the same time every human being loves power and self-enhancement, and every hallowed ceremony, form of words or sacramental rite is a channel through which power can flow out of the fascinating psychic universe into the universe of embodied selves. That is why ritualistic and sacramental religion can also lead away from deliverance.

1.26 - On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
  2 Hebrews xii, 23.
  3 Abba Leo, who redeemed three captives. See John Moschus, Pratum Spirituale, ch. 111.
  --
  4 Cf. Hebrews xiii, 9.
  by reason of the constitution I have been given and the sordid and greedy corpulence with which I am girt about.

1.27 - On holy solitude of body and soul., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
  1 Hebrews x, 32. Cf. St. Matthew vi, 25-34.
  2 I.e. John, Abbot of Raithu.

1.28 - On holy and blessed prayer, mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset
  5 Hebrews xii, 29; St. John 1, 9.
  6 This refers to the power of the Body of Christ in Holy Communion.

1.31 - Adonis in Cyprus, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  Chittim of the Hebrews, down to the time of Alexander the Great.
  Naturally the Semitic colonists brought their gods with them from

1.32 - The Ritual of Adonis, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  burnt by the idolatrous Hebrews in honour of the Queen of Heaven,
  who was no other than Astarte. Again, the story that Adonis spent

1.35 - The Tao 2, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  The least abject asset in the intellectual bankruptcy of European thought is the Hebrew Qabalah. Properly understood, it is a system of symbolism indefinitely elastic, assuming no axioms, postulating no principles, asserting no theorems, and therefore adaptable, if managed adroitly, to describe any conceivable doctrine. It has been my continual study since 1898, and I have found it of infinite value in the study of the "Tao Teh King." By its aid I was able to attribute the ideas of Lao Tze to an order with which I was exceedingly familiar, and whose practical worth I had repeatedly proved by using it as the basis of the analysis and classification of all Aryan and Semitic religions and philosophies. Despite the essential difficulty of correlating the ideas of Lao Tze with any others, the persistent application of the Qabalistic keys eventually unlocked his treasure-house. I was able to explain to myself his teachings in terms of familiar systems.
  This achievement broke the back of my Sphinx. Having once reduced Lao Tze to Qabalistic form, it was easy to translate the result into the language of philosophy. I had already done much to create a new language based on English with the assistance of a few technical terms borrowed from Asia, and above all by the use of a novel conception of the idea of Number and of algebraic and arithmetical procedure to convey the results of spiritual experience to intelligent students.

1.37 - Death - Fear - Magical Memory, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  In the first place, I think that it means what it says. There may be, probably is, some Qabalistic inner meaning: Those four nouns most assuredly look as if there were; but I don't feel at all sure what the Greek (or Hebrew, or Arabic) words would be; in any case, I have not yet made any attempt in this direction.
  To the straightforward promise, then! Certainly no word more reassuring could be given. But avoid anxiety, of course; remember "without lust of result," and AL III, 16: "Deem not too eagerly to catch the promises; ..." Now, full speed ahead!

1.39 - Prophecy, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  For when the time came, and the Key was found, the finder's name in the Order was and had been from the moment of his admission as a probationer Achad, the Hebrew word for "One." And he came "after him" in the precise technical sense, that he was in fact the next person to undertake the Adventure of the Abyss.
  I hope you are not getting the idea that my Prophetic ambit is limited to these high-falutin' metaphysical masterpieces of Runic Lore. In case you do, I now propose to break your "seven green withs that were never dried" altogether, Delilah; for I shall keep my hair on. I shall go forth to war! From 1920 to 1923 my abode for a season was the house called the Horsel of the Abbey of Thelema that lieth upon Santa Barbara, overlooking the town of Telepylus see Homer and Samuel Butler II, but called later by the Romans Cephaloedium, and now Cefal. There did I toil to expand my little Part III of Book 4 to the portentous volume now more generally known as Magick in Theory and Practice. After numerous misadventures, it was published in 1928.[78]

1.43 - The Holy Guardian Angel is not the Higher Self but an Objective Individual, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  I do not think that I have anywhere mentioned how this is done. To take an example, let us have Qedemel the Hebrew letters as Q.D.M.A.L, and the numeration is 175, which is that of the sum of the 1st 49 numbers, as is proper to Venus.[82] We may then expect the head or head-dress of the spirit to be in some way characteristic of the Sign of Pisces. The general form of the body will be indicated by the Daleth, the letter of Venus, and the lower part (or perhaps the quality) will be determined by the watery Mem The termination Aleph Lamed is usually taken to indicate appropriate symbols. For instance, the Aleph might show a golden aura, and the Lamed a pair of balances. Some further detail might be indicated by taking the letters Daleth and Mem together, for Dam is the Hebrew word for blood. From such considerations one can build up a pictorial representation in one's mind which may serve as a standard to which any appearance of him should more or less conform.[83] The question then takes the form of inquiry into how far such beings are immortal or eternal.
  In the above case, evidently his existence depends on that of the planet Venus; and one might suppose that, if that planet were stricken from the solar system, there would be no more Qedemel. But this is to judge too rashly; for Venus himself is only an emanation of the number 7, and is therefore indestructible. {Handwritten note: Because she-he comes from ... who is [triangle] + [square], 3 + 4}

1.46 - Selfishness, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  P.P.S. The day after I had written the above postscript I came upon a copy of Graham Greene's The Ministry of Fear after a long search. He points out that pity is a mature emotion; adolescents do not feel it. Exactly; one step further, and he would have reached my own position as set forth above. It is the twin of "moral responsibility," of the sense of guilt or sin. The Hebrew fable of Eden and the "Fall" is clearly constructed. But remember that the serpent Nechesh {Nun-Cheth-Shin} is equivalent to Messiach, {Mem-Shin-Yod-Cheth}, the Messiah. The M is the "Hanged Man," the sinner; and is redeemed by the insertion of the Phallic Yod.
  P.P.P.S. An amusing coincidence. Just as I was polishing up this letter the lady whom I had just engaged to help me with some of my work irritated me to the point when my screams became so heartrending that the village will never sleep again as smoothly as its wont. They split the welkin in several places; and although invisible menders were immed- iately put on the job it is generally felt that it will never more be its original wholeness.

1.48 - Morals of AL - Hard to Accept, and Why nevertheless we Must Concur, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  The Book's meaning is "...not only in the English..." etc. (AL I, 36; I, 46; I, 54, 55; II, 76; III, 16; III, 39; III, 47; III, 63-68; and III, 73). These passages make it clear that there is a secret interpretation, which, being hidden as it is hidden, is presumably of even graver importance than the text as it stands. Such passages as I have been able to decipher confirm this view; so also does the discovery of the key number 31 by Frater Achad.[93] We must also expect a genius to arise who will accomplish all this work for us. Again we know that much information of the utmost value has been given through the Hebrew, the Greek and very probably the Arabic Qabalah.
  There is only one logical conclusion of these premises. We know (a) the Book means more than it appears to mean, (b) this inner meaning may modify, or even reverse, the outer meaning, (c) what we do understand convinces us that the Author of the Book is indeed what he claims to be; and, therefore, we must accept the Book as the Canon of Truth, seeking patiently for further enlightenment.

1.65 - Man, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  This figure shows the Sephiroth with their numbers only, and the Paths with Hebrew letters corresponding. The first number on each Path is its "key scale" number, the second is the numerical value of the letter.
  {Click here for a larger version (1200 by 1528 pixels), 111K)}
  --
  This figure shows the name of the Sephiroth and the letters of the Paths in English, Hebrew and transliterated Hebrew. In the original edition the information on this and the above were combined into a single diagram which thus became unreadable in places.
  {Larger version (1400 x 2050, 179K)}

1.68 - The God-Letters, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Various modifications extend them to fifty-nine and there are twenty- seven vowels. I shall naturally concern myself only with those that matter to the subject: in practice, the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet will serve for this preliminary study, especially as in that case, we have already the attri butions. I will begin by classing them.[133]
  Gutturals:
  --
  All is not lost not even honour! Suppose you reflect that (after all) Hebrew is a late language, invented; far, far removed from the primitive grunts and groans (with their corresponding motions) that we set out to study. Let us take the high hand, and say that the Guttural Correspondence doesn't rime with anything, that it is just an amazing piece of sheer luck: nay, that it should serve us as a warning not to be led away like Macbeth you remember how Banquo warned him that
    "Oftentimes, to win us to our harms,
  --
  But at the moment I am especially desirous that you should compare and contrast this letter with the S Sound. (S or Sh combined with T is discussed rather fully in Magick, pp. 336-8)[135] You should find it child's play to determine the significance of the sibilant. It is the one letter which necessitates the exposure of the skeleton! (I.e., the Subconscious). Hence "Hush!" it is the hiss of the snake, great Lord of Life and Death (life? yes, the spermatozoon, child!) "Silence! Danger! There is a man somewhere about." The savage reaction. And, sure enough, Ish is the Hebrew for man (Mankind is ADM, Adam, Sanskrit Admi, the Father and Mother conjoined. "Male and Female created They Man.")
  The S-gods are innumerable. Asar (Asi, Isis, is his female twin) Astarte, Ishtar or Ashtoreth, Set, Saturn, Shu, Zeus, (into whom the D intrudes, because S is the male as N the female, and D the father as M the mother) and the Jesus group. Here is the idea of the South, or East, both quarters referring, in ways very slightly divergent, to the element of Fire, the Sun, the Father-God in his aspect as the Holy Ghost. The ancient tradition appears in the Gospels: the Lesser Mysteries of John, beheaded with the Sword, and consumed on a Disk, and the Greater Mysteries of Jesus, pierced with a Wand, and consumed in a Cup. All same Tarot!
  --
  The subject is closely bound up with Mantra-Yoga, and with Invocation. You will doubtless have noticed (for instance) that many chapters of the Q'uran have the letter L for a leit-motif. Islam attaches immense importance to this liquid L, as it appears in Allah (compare the Hebrew L-Gods, AL, Aloah, Elohim, A'alion, etc., and look up the L-idea in your Book of Thoth, and in Magick, pp. 331 sqq.[136]) and other peculiarly sacred names and words.
  Before cursing my way to dinner oh! how I hate the need of food unless I am practising the "Ninth Art" and disguise myself as a gourmet I must mention the letter M. This is the only letter that can be pronounced with the lips firmly closed; it is the beginning of speech, and so the Mother of the Alphabet. (Distinguish from N, the letter of the Female). Look up Magick again; Chapter VII (pp. 45-49) gives a good account of M in discussing AUM. Note, too, the root MU "to be silent," form which we have the words Mystic, Mystery and others. As the letter of the Mother it appears to this day in nature everywhere, the first call of the child to "Mamma." In nearly every language, moreover, the word for Mother is based on M. Madar, Mere, Mutter, Umm, AMA or AIMA and the rest.

1961 03 11 - 58, #On Thoughts And Aphorisms, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Of the Hebrew alphabet.
   ***

1f.lovecraft - The Horror at Red Hook, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   Roman, and Hebrew letters. Malone could not read much of it, but what
   he did decipher was portentous and cabbalistic enough. One frequently

1.fua - I shall grasp the souls skirt with my hand, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Persian/Farsi I shall grasp the soul's skirt with my hand and stamp on the world's head with my foot. I shall trample Matter and Space with my horse, beyond all Being I shall utter a great shout, and in that moment when I shall be alone with Him, I shall whisper secrets to all mankind. Since I shall have neither sign nor name I shall speak only of things unnamed and without sign. Do not delude yourself that from a burned heart I will discourse with palette and tongue. The body is impure, I shall cast it away and utter these pure words with soul alone. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.hs - Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Persian/Farsi Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine. Make haste, the heavenly sphere knows no delay. Before this transient world is ruined and destroyed, ruin me with a beaker of rose-tinted wine. The sun of the wine dawns in the east of the goblet. Pursue life's pleasure, abandon dreams, and the day when the wheel makes pitchers of my clay, take care to fill my skull with wine! We are not men for piety, penance and preaching but rather give us a sermon in praise of a cup of clear wine. Wine-worship is a noble task, O Hafiz; rise and advance firmly to your noble task. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.hs - Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Persian/Farsi Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy, garment torn, singing a love song, glass in hand, picking a quarrel, chanting a spell, yesterday at midnight she came and sat by my bed. She lowered her head to my ear, and whispered, sad-voiced, "My old lover, are you asleep?" The lover for whom such a nightfarer's drink is poured is an unbeliever of love if he does not worship wine. Come on, hermit, do not blame those who drink to the dregs, there was no other gift when God announced His Mastery. The smile of the wineglass, a girl's tangled tresses, have broken may penances, as they broke the penance of Hafiz. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.hs - If life remains, I shall go back to the tavern, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Persian/Farsi If life remains, I shall go back to the tavern and do no other work than serve the revelers. Happy day when, with streaming eyes, I shall go again to sprinkle the tavern floor. There is no knowledge among these folk, Suffer me, God, to offer my jewel of self to another buyer. If the Friend has gone, rejecting the claim of old friendship, God forbid I should go and look for another friend. If the turn of the heavenly wheel favor me I shall find some other craft to bring him back. My soul seeks wholeness, if that be permitted by his wanton glance and bandit tresses. See our guarded secret, a ballad sung with drum and flute at the gate of another bazaar. Every moment I sigh in sorrow, for fate, every hour strikes at my wounded heart with another torment. Yet truly I say: Hafiz is not alone in this plight; So many others were swallowed in the desert. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.ia - While the suns eye rules my sight, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Arabic While the sun's eye rules my sight, love sits as sultan in my soul. His army has made camp in my heart -- passion and yearning, affliction and grief. When his camp took possession of me I cried out as the flame of desire burned in my entrails. Love stole my sleep, love has bewildered me, love kills me unjustly, and I am helpless, love has burdened me with more than I can bear so that I bequeath him a soul and no body. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.jh - Lord, Where Shall I Find You?, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew Lord, where shall I find You? Your place is lofty and secret. And where shall I not find You? The whole earth is full of Your glory! You are found in man's innermost heart, yet You fixed earth's boundaries. You are a strong tower for those who are near, and the trust of those who are far. You are enthroned on the cherubim, yet You dwell in the heights of heaven. You are praised by Your hosts, but even their praise is not worthy of You. The sphere of heaven cannot contain You; how much less the chambers of the Temple! Even when You rise above Your hosts on a throne, high and exalted, You are nearer to them than their own bodies and souls. Their mouths attest that they have no Maker except You. Who shall not fear You? All bear the yoke of Your kingdom. And who shall not call to You? It is You who give them their food. I have sought to come near You, I have called to You with all my heart; and when I went out towards You, I found You coming towards me. I look upon Your wondrous power and awe. Who can say that he has not seen You? The heavens and their legions proclaim Your dread -- without a sound. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

1.jh - O My Lord, Your dwelling places are lovely, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Solomon Solis-Cohen Original Language Hebrew O My Lord, Your dwelling places are lovely Your Presence is manifest, not in mystery. My dream brought me to the Temple of God And I praised its delightful servants, And the burnt offering, its meal and libation Which rose up in great pillars of smoke. I delighted in the song of the Levites, In their secrets of the sacrificial service. Then I woke, and still I was with you, O Lord, And I gave thanks -- for to You it is pleasant to give thanks! [bk1sm.gif] -- from A Treasury of Jewish Poetry: From Biblical Times to the Present, Edited by Nathan Ausubel / Edited by Marynn Ausubel <
1.jk - Endymion - Book IV, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  (line 885-86): A curious importation from Hebrew theology into a subject from Greek mythology. Compare St. Matthew, X, 29: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." Or, as made familiar to our childhood by the popular hymn-wright,---
  'A little sparrow cannot fall,

1.jk - Isabella; Or, The Pot Of Basil - A Story From Boccaccio, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  As two close Hebrews in that land inspired,
  Paled in and vineyarded from beggar-spies,

1.jlb - Unknown Street, #Borges - Poems, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
  the Hebrews called the beginning of evening
  when the shadow does not mire the footsteps

1.jr - What can I do, Muslims? I do not know myself, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Persian/Farsi & Turkish What can I do, Muslims? I do not know myself. I am neither Christian nor Jew, neither Magian nor Muslim, I am not from east or west, not from land or sea, not from the shafts of nature nor from the spheres of the firmament, not of the earth, not of water, not of air, not of fire. I am not from the highest heaven, not from this world, not from existence, not from being. I am not from India, not from China, not from Bulgar, not from Saqsin, not from the realm of the two Iraqs, not from the land of Khurasan. I am not from the world, not from beyond, not from heaven and not from hell. I am not from Adam, not from Eve, not from paradise and not from Ridwan. My place is placeless, my trace is traceless, no body, no soul, I am from the soul of souls. I have chased out duality, lived the two worlds as one. One I seek, one I know, one I see, one I call. He is the first, he is the last, he is the outer, he is the inner. Beyond "He" and "He is" I know no other. I am drunk from the cup of love, the two worlds have escaped me. I have no concern but carouse and rapture. If one day in my life I spend a moment without you from that hour and that time I would repent my life. If one day I am given a moment in solitude with you I will trample the two worlds underfoot and dance forever. O Sun of Tabriz, I am so tipsy here in this world, I have no tale to tell but tipsiness and rapture. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.lyb - Where I wander -- You!, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Perle Besserman Original Language Hebrew Where I wander -- You! Where I ponder -- You! Only You everywhere, You, always You. You, You, You. When I am gladdened -- You! And when I am saddened -- You! Only You, everywhere You! You, You, You. Sky is You! Earth is You! You above! You below! In every trend, at every end, Only You, everywhere You! [2072.jpg] -- from The Way of the Jewish Mystics, Edited by Perle Besserman

1.mah - I am the One Whom I Love, #Mansur al-Hallaj - Poems, #Mansur al-Hallaj, #Sufism
  From Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, trans. Bernard Lewis

1.mah - I am the One whom I love, #Mansur al-Hallaj - Poems, #Mansur al-Hallaj, #Sufism
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Arabic I am the One whom I love, and the One whom I love is myself. We are two souls incarnated in one body; if you see me, you see Him, if you see Him, you see us. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

1.mah - You glide between the heart and its casing, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Arabic You glide between the heart and its casing as tears glide from the eyelid. You dwell in my inwardness, in the depths of my heart, as souls dwell in bodies. Nothing passes from rest to motion unless you move it in hidden ways, O new moon. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.mah - Your spirit is mingled with mine, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Arabic Your spirit is mingled with mine as wine is mixed with water; whatever touches you touches me. In all the stations of the soul you are I. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.mbn - From the beginning, before the world ever was (from Before the World Ever Was), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew From the beginning, before the world ever was, I was held on high with his hidden treasures. He brought me forth from nothing and in the end I will be withdrawn by the King. My being flowed from the spheres' foundation, which endowed it with form in evident fashion. The craftsmen's hands weighed its creation, so I would be brought to the vaults of the King. He appeared to reveal what once he concealed, on the left and on the right as well. He sent me down the stairway leading from Siloam's pool to the groves of the King. I was formed from dust, though your breath in me burns. You've known this stranger's thoughts in these lands. How long, my soul, until you return and meet with approval before your King? [2465.jpg] -- from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, Edited by Peter Cole <
1.mbn - Prayers for the Protection and Opening of the Heart, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew 1 May the Name send its hidden radiance to open the gates of deliverance to His servants -- and shine in their hearts, which now are shut in silent darkness. May the great King be moved to act in perfection and righteousness -- to open the gates of wisdom for us and waken the love of old, the love of ancient days. 2 By the power of the hidden name I-Am-That-I-Am, and by the dew of Desire and Blessing, the dead will live again.... 3 I-am is the power of your Name in concealment, and one who knows its mystery dwells in eternity's instant. Over the world, it pours forth abundance and favor, and on it all worlds hang, like grapes in a cluster. Send the dew of blessing, the dew of grace; renew my dispensation, and grant me length of days. Bring light to my eyes with your teaching, and let not the husks that surround your hosts obstruct me. May Heaven and Adam's children judge me with mercy. Sustain me with their strength and fortune -- but do not leave me in need of the gifts of men. [2610.jpg] -- from The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition, Edited by Peter Cole

1.mbn - The Soul Speaks (from Hymn on the Fate of the Soul), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew From the very beginning, before times long past, I was stored among His hidden treasures. He had brought me forth from Nothing, but at the end of time I shall be summoned back before the King. My life flowed out of the depth of the spheres which gave me form and order. Divine forces shaped me to be treasured in the chambers of the King. Then He shined his light to bring me forth in hidden well-springs, on the left and on the right. He made me descend the steps leading down from the Pool of Shelah to the garden of the King. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi <
1.nb - A Poem for the Sefirot as a Wheel of Light, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz Original Language Hebrew (the rim) & going 'round the ten sefirot of the ball & orbit of the world of first space . . . . . . . . . (the spokes) 1 crown light from light extreme light 2 wisdom splendor from splendor hidden light 3 understanding sparkle from sparkle sparkling light 4 greatness splendor from splendor pure light 5 power light from splendor of light pure 6 beauty sparkle from light light shining 7 victory light from sparkle light refined 8 majesty splendor from sparkle light bright 9 foundation sparkle from splendor purer light pure pure 10 kingdom most precious precious shining light is [bk1sm.gif] -- from A Big Jewish Book: Poems and Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to the Present, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg

1.raa - A Holy Tabernacle in the Heart (from Life of the Future World), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jewish Theological Seminary Original Language Hebrew However, the breath which is from the second one is a holy tabernacle in the heart. One ascends with the Unique Name to the sky to depict with Unifications the relationship between everything that is difficult in this science of pronunciation. It alone is life in the Name. It is remembered and sealed in the Book of Life to make the individual live with passion which enlightens constantly, when every thought, every soul is concentrated on it. [1741.jpg] -- from Meditation and Kabbalah, by Aryeh Kaplan <
1.raa - And the letter is longing, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew And the letter is longing, and sky desire to know the will that moves Him and lends grace to spirit and mercy to power to rectify action, Kingdom now foremost and Law behind, now Law foremost and Kingdom behind -- and the letter and vowels and song reveal the mystery of blood... [2465.jpg] -- from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, Edited by Peter Cole

1.raa - And YHVH spoke to me when I saw His name, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew And YHVH spoke to me when I saw His name spelled out and merged with the blood in my heart, separating blood from ink and ink from blood: and YHVH said to me: Bohold, blood is the name of your soul, and ink the name of your spirit: your father and mother are vessels for my name and a sign. And then I fathomed the tremendous difference between my spirit and soul, and a great joy came through me. For I knew my soul was dwelling in the redness as blood, and my spirit was dwelling in the blackness as ink. And there raged a war in my heart between the blood and the ink: the blood from the wind and the ink from dust, and the black ink over the blood was victorious -- as the Sabbath subdues all days of the week. And so my heart rested within me -- and I offer praise to the Lord, to the Name in my heart forever. [2465.jpg] -- from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, Edited by Peter Cole <
1.raa - Circles 1 (from Life of the Future World), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz Original Language Hebrew (circle 1 - inner rim) be very wary as your fathers warned you of the fire don't be burnt by it & water (spokes) not to drown in it & wind that it not harm you you not use (circle 2 - inner rim) it on condition anyone who takes the name for his own needs transgresses the command (spokes) about said name was formed to be for his own glory only thus the prophet said about its secret (circle 3 - inner rim) whatever has my name and I made it for my honor formed it worked it truly & concerning this the name informed (spokes) his prophets (be he blest) about his name by 3 ways of creation of the skies & earth & man (circle 4 - inner rim) & know according to the name the one most honored is the one of Israel because the name's own portion is his people & and the most honored one (spokes) of Israel is the Levite & the most honored of the Levites is the priest & the most honored of the priests is the Messiah [bk1sm.gif] -- from A Big Jewish Book: Poems and Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to the Present, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg <
1.raa - Circles 2 (from Life of the Future World), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz Original Language Hebrew (circle 5) o look here now this is the way itself (circle 6) by which you'll understand the gilgul metempsychosis complete (circle 7) the one I now write in the circle (circle 8) the intention of the explanation (center circle 9) way that may be understood as three-fold gilgul metempsychosis (spokes) the chosen way disclosing secrets of the world & man [bk1sm.gif] -- from A Big Jewish Book: Poems and Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to the Present, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg <
1.raa - Circles 3 (from Life of the Future World), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz Original Language Hebrew (circle 10) so are the letters in their true essentials & when joined to people & to books that carry them are made intelligible as wholes to world & public: forms that the lowly asses carry though their existence is eternal: so then manchild you be careful that you not forget that you are working transformation of the Torah (circle 11) making it exist inside your soul in its particulars: so turn through it o turn through it & what of it is fit for your fulfillment let your hand fulfill: do what I tell you here it is your life your length of days from which you come to know what isn't fitting that a wise man be without & then your ways will be successful (circle 12) & then you will be wise: the way that you must cleave to & be strong in all your days will be the way of turning letters & combining them: & understanding what is understood rejoicing in your understandings & eternally rejoicing this rejoicing further wakening your heart to keep on turning them & understanding: joy & pleasures as you rush to turn (circle 13) like one who turns the sword the flame that turns itself toward every side & wages war against the enemies around you: for the empty images & forms of thought born of the evil impulse are the first emerging into thought surrounding it like murderers to foul the gnosis of the lowly tortured man [bk1sm.gif] -- from A Big Jewish Book: Poems and Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to the Present, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg <
1.raa - Circles 4 (from Life of the Future World), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz Original Language Hebrew & the secret ITS MEASURE IS RIGHT & LEFT MEASURE OF ITS RIGHT ITS LEFT MEASURE OF ITS LEFT ITS RIGHT IT HAS NO IMAGE SKIES IMAGE OF ITS RIGHT LEFT IMAGE OF ITS LEFT RIGHT & ITS BIRTHPLACE BEING FROM NON-BEING FATHERING FROM NOTHING NAMES MY NAME IS OTHER THAN WHAT HAS NO IMAGE MY IMAGE IS OTHER THAN WHAT HAS NO NAME & I HAVE NO NAME OTHER THAN IMAGE & I HAVE NO IMAGE OTHER THAN NAME EN-EY-EM-EE WRITTEN OUT FULLY MY NAME AN IMAGINING FOR MY TRUTH [bk1sm.gif] -- from A Big Jewish Book: Poems and Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to the Present, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg <
1.raa - Their mystery is (from Life of the Future World), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Jewish Theological Seminary Original Language Hebrew Their mystery is: God my only One in them my heart will be worthy. And their mystery is Enough! Enough! Enough! [1741.jpg] -- from Meditation and Kabbalah, by Aryeh Kaplan <
1.rb - Holy-Cross Day, #Browning - Poems, #Robert Browning, #Poetry
  and ready-to-perish Hebrews! now maternally
  brought-nay (for He saith, `Compel them

1.rbk - Epithalamium, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew 'Bound by affection, may your joy increase, as you are wed today in love and gladness; be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God. 'Bridegroom, delight in your glorious marriage chambers; excel in beauty among your companions; may your heart rejoice in the wife of your youth. 'Your radiant face, O bride, shall glow like wine; your enemies shall be as nothing; My parapet, your love is sweeter than wine.' Like one drinking wine or hearing the song of a swallow or a crane, I shall revel in the Holy One! 'I shall crown My dove with grace and kindness, as once I did when I revealed Myself in the flame of the consuming fire; for you have ravished My heart, My sister, My bride. 'Your fountains are a place of running water; I have shaken all your tormentors from you; My treasured one, lift up your eyes and look about you. 'I shall shower her who comes up from the wilderness with favours; I shall envelop My cornerstone with clouds of glory; I have likened your neck to an ivory tower.' Like one drinking wine or hearing the song of swallows or a crane, I shall revel in the Holy One! 'Arise, My beloved, and be married in love; give hymns and thanks to your King; sing and make music in My bridal chamber: "under the apple tree You have awakened me!"' [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

1.rbk - He Shall be King!, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew Yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty and You are exalted over all. A king who says to the sea: 'Thus far shall you come' -- He shall be king! A king of abomination, who comes from a stinking drop and goes no further than the grave -- why should he be king? A king who builds his upper chambers and the chariot-throne in the heavens -- He shall be king! A king who returns to the dust like an expiring candle -- why should he be king? A king who redeems from harm all those who trust in him -- He shall be king! A king who flees like a driven leaf because of his heart's dread -- why should he be king? A king distinguished among ten thousand, who brings forth thousands and tens of thousands of angels -- He shall be king! A king who fears, dreads, and is terrified at the judgment of his Master -- why should he be king? A king Who every was and shall be, in His grace and His bounty -- He shall be king! [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi <
1.sig - Before I was, Thy mercy came to me, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Before I was, Thy mercy came to me, inverting void and being Thou madest me to be. Who wrought my image, poured my essence into the crucible and gave me shape? Who breathed a soul into me opened the belly of Sheol and took me out? Who led me from childhood until here? Who taught me to understand, caused me to marvel? Indeed I am clay in Thy hand. Thou didst make me, in truth, not I myself. I shall confess my sins, and not say to Thee "The serpent deceived me and led me astray." How can I hide my guilt from Thee? For indeed before I was, Thy mercy came to me. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

1.sig - Come to me at dawn, my beloved, and go with me, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Come to me at dawn, my beloved, and go with me, for my soul thirsts to see the sons of my people. For thee I shall lay golden couches in my chamber I shall spread for thee a table, I shall make ready for thee my bread I shall fill for thee a bowl, from the clusters of my vineyard -- Drink to thy heart's delight, may my taste be pleasing to thee for with thee I shall rejoice, as the scion of my people the son of thy servant Jesse, the prince of Bethlehem. [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.sig - Ecstasy, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Israel Zangwill Original Language Hebrew My thoughts astounded asked me why Towards the whirling wheels on high In ecstasy I rush and fly. The living God is my desire, It carries me on wings of fire, Body and soul to Him aspire. God is at once my joy and fate, This yearning me He did create, At thought of Him I palpitate. Shall song with all its loveliness Submerge my soul with happiness Before the God of Gods it bless? <
1.sig - Humble of Spirit, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Israel Zangwill Original Language Hebrew Humble of spirit, lowly of knee and stature, But in fear and awe abounding, I come before Thee. And in Thy presence to myself appear As a little earth-worm. O Thou, who fillest the earth and whose greatness is endless, Shall one like me laud Thee, And how shall he honour Thee? The angels of heaven do not suffice, How then one like me? Thou hast wrought good and hast magnified mercies, Wherefore the soul shall magnify praise of Thee. <
1.sig - I look for you early, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew I look for you early, my rock and my refuge, offering you worship morning and night; before your vastness I come confused and afraid for you see the thoughts of my heart. What could the heart and tongue compose, or spirit's strength within me to suit you? But song soothes you and so I'll give praise to your being as long as your breath-in-me moves. <
1.sig - I Sought Thee Daily, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Israel Zangwill Original Language Hebrew I have sought Thee daily at dawn and twilight, I have stretched my hands to Thee, turned my face, Now the cry of a heart athirst I will utter, Like the beggar who cries at my door for grace. The infinite heights are too small to contain Thee, Yet perchance Thou canst niche in the clefts of me. Shall my heart not treasure the hope to gain Thee, Or my yearning fail till my tongue's last plea? Nay, surely Thy name I will worship, while breath in my nostrils be. <
1.sig - Lord of the World, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Israel Zangwill Original Language Hebrew Lord of the world, He reigned alone While yet the universe was naught. When by His will all things were wrought. Then first his sovran Name was known. And when the All shall cease to be, In dread lone splendour He shall reign, He was, He is, He shall remain In glorious eternity. For He is one, no second shares His nature or His loneliness; Unending and beginningless, All strength is His, all sway He bears. He is the living God to save, My Rock while sorrow's toils endure, My banner and my stronghold sure, The cup of life whene'er I crave. I place my soul within His palm Before I sleep as when I wake, And though my body I forsake, Rest in the Lord in fearless calm. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi <
1.sig - Rise and open the door that is shut, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Rise and open the door that is shut, and send to me the roe that is fled. The day of his coming he shall lie all night between my breasts there his good smell shall rest upon me. How looks thy beloved, O lovely bride, that thou sayest to me 'Take him and send him!' Is he beautiful, ruddy, and goodly to look on? That is my beloved and my friend! Rise and anoint him! [1482.jpg] -- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis <
1.sig - The Sun, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Israel Zangwill Original Language Hebrew Like a bridegroom the sun Dons his robe that is spun Of light, Which from Thee emanated Yet in no wise abated Thy light. Taught to go westward round With obeisance profound To his Lord, He by service so loyal To a master so royal Is a lord. While his homage each day Serves to mark and display Thy glory, 'Tis Thy hand that investeth The robe on which resteth His glory. <
1.sig - Thou art One, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Thou art One, the beginning of all computation, the base of all construction. Thou art One, and in the mystery of Thy Oneness the wise of heart are astonished, for they know not what it is. Thou art One, and Thy Oneness neither diminishes nor increases, neither lacks nor exceeds. Thou art One, but not as the One that is counted or owned, for number and change cannot reach Thee, nor attribute, nor form. Thou art One, but my mind is too feeble to set Thee a law or a limit, and therefore I say: "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue." Thou art One, and Thou art exalted high above abasement and falling -- not like a man, who falls when he is alone. [1568.jpg] -- from The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, by Joseph Dan <
1.sig - Thou art the Supreme Light, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Thou art the supreme light, and the eyes of the pure soul shall see Thee, and clouds of sin shall hide Thee from the eyes of sinners. Thou art the light hidden in this world and revealed in the world of beauty, "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." Thou art the eternal light, and the inward eye yearns for Thee and is astonished -- she shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all. [1568.jpg] -- from The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, by Joseph Dan <
1.sig - Thou Livest, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Thou livest, but not from determined time or known epoch. Thou livest, but not with soul or breath, for Thou art soul of the soul. Thou livest, but not as the life of man that is like vanity, its end in moths and worms. Thou livest, and whoever attains Thy secret will find eternal delight -- "and eat, and live for ever." [1568.jpg] -- from The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, by Joseph Dan <
1.sig - Where Will I Find You, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew Where, Lord, will I find you: your place is high and obscured. And where won't I find you: your glory fills the world. You dwell deep within -- you've fixed the ends of creation. You stand, a tower for the near, refuge to those far off. You've lain above the Ark, here, yet live in the highest heavens. Exalted among your hosts, although beyond their hymns -- no heavenly sphere could ever contain you, let alone a chamber within. In being home above them on an exalted throne, you are closer to them than their breath and skin. Their mouths bear witness for them that you alone gave them form. Your kingdom's burden in theirs; who wouldn't fear you? And who could fail to search for you -- who sends down food when it is due? I sought your nearness. With all my heart I called you. And in my going out to meet you, I found you coming toward me, as in the wonders of your might and holy works I saw you. Who would say he hasn't seen your glory as the heavens' hordes declare their awe of you without a sound being heard? But could the Lord, in truth, dwell in men on earth? How would men you made from the dust and clay fathom your presence there, enthroned upon their praise? The creatures hovering over the world praise your wonders -- your throne borne high above their heads, as you beat all forever. [2610.jpg] -- from The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition, Edited by Peter Cole <
1.sig - Who can do as Thy deeds, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Bernard Lewis Original Language Hebrew Who can do as Thy deeds, when under the throne of Thy glory Thou madest a place for the spirits of Thy saints? There is the abode of the pure souls, that are bound in the bundle of life. Those who are tired and weary, there will they restore their strength. There shall the weary be at rest, for they are deserving of repose. In it there is delight without end or limitation, for that is the world-to-come. There are stations and visions for the souls that stand by the mirrors assembled, to see the face of the Lord and to be seen, Dwelling in the royal palaces, standing by the royal table, Delighting in the sweetness of the fruit of the Intelligence, which yields royal dainties. This is the repose and the inheritance, whose good and beauty are without limit, and "surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." [1568.jpg] -- from The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, by Joseph Dan <
1.sig - Who could accomplish what youve accomplished, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew Who could accomplish what you've accomplished in establishing under the Throne of Glory a level for all who were righteous in spirit? This is the range of pure soul gathered in the bond of all that's vital. For those who've worked to exhaustion -- this is the place of their strength's renewal, where the weary will find repose; these are the children of calm, of pleasure that knows no bound in the mind: this is the World to Come, a place of position and vision for souls that gaze into the mirrors of the palace's servants, before the Lord to see and be seen. They dwell in the halls of the king, and stand alongside his table taking delight in the sweetness of intellect's fruit which offers them majesty's savor. This is the rest and inheritance that knows no bounds in its goodness and beauty, flowing with milk and honey; this is its fruit and deliverance. [2610.jpg] -- from The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition, Edited by Peter Cole <
1.sig - You are wise (from From Kingdoms Crown), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Peter Cole Original Language Hebrew You are wise, and wisdom is a fountain and source of life welling up from within you, and men are too coarse to know you. You are wise, and prime to all that's primeval, as though you were wisdom's tutor. You are wise, but your wisdom wasn't acquired and didn't derive from another. You are wise, and your wisdom gave rise to an endless desire in the world as within an artist or worker -- to bring out the stream of existence from Nothing, like light flowing from sight's extension -- drawing from the source of that light without vessel, giving it shape without tools, hewing and carving, refining and making it pure: He called to Nothing -- which split; to existence -- pitched like a tent; to the world -- as it spread beneath sky. With desire's span He established the heavens, as His hand coupled the tent of the planets with loops of skill, weaving creation's pavilions, the links of His will reaching the lowest rung of creation -- the curtain at the outermost edge of the spheres... [2610.jpg] -- from The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition, Edited by Peter Cole <
1.whitman - A Broadway Pageant, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  The Norththe sweltering Southeastern Assyriathe Hebrewsthe
      Ancient of Ancients,

1.whitman - Proud Music Of The Storm, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   I hear the sound of the Hebrew lyre,
   I see the Crusaders marching, bearing the cross on high, to the

1.whitman - Salut Au Monde, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  I hear the Hebrew reading his records and psalms;
  I hear the rhythmic myths of the Greeks, and the strong legends of

1.whitman - Song Of The Broad-Axe, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Served the Hebrew, the Persian, the most ancient Hindostanee;
  Served the mound-raiser on the Mississippiserved those whose relics

1.whitman - With Antecedents, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  I respect Assyria, China, Teutonia, and the Hebrews;
  I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demi-god;

1.ww - A Jewish Family In A Small Valley Opposite St. Goar, Upon The Rhine, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
        From Hebrew fountains sprung;
       That gives this ragged group to cast

1.ww - The Excursion- IV- Book Third- Despondency, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  --With promises the Hebrew Scriptures teem:
  I felt their invitation; and resumed

1.ww - The Prioresss Tale [from Chaucer], #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  O Hebrew people!' said he in his wrath,
  'Is it an honest thing? Shall this be so?

1.yby - In Praise of God (from Avoda), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew I shall proclaim the mighty deeds of God, who is glorious in power. He alone is God and there is no other; there is none besides Him, none second to him; there will be none after Him on earth, there was none before Him in heaven; there was none but He of old, nor shall there be in the end. Lordly in thought, godly in action -- when He takes counsel, no one is absent; when He orders, no one delays. He speaks and does, designs and fulfills, bearing the world with strength, carrying it with might. He is celebrated in song by his creatures; from above and below He is given praise. The only God on earth, the Holy One in heaven, the Mighty One on high -- He receives songs from the waters, paeans from the deeps adoration from the luminaries, speech from the days, melody from the nights. Fire shouts out His name, the trees of the forest sing for joy, the animals teach the might of his terrible acts. [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

1.yni - Hymn from the Heavens, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew From Heaven to the Heaven of Heavens; from the Heaven of Heavens to the Dark Clouds; from the Dark Clouds to the Abode; from the Abode to the Dwelling-place; from the Dwelling-place to the Skies; from the Skies to the Plains; from the Plains to the height of the Throne; and from the height of the Throne to the Chariot -- who can be compared to You, who is your equal? who has seen You, who has reached You? who can hold his head high, who can lift up his eyes? who can question, who can defy? who can fathom, who can calculate? who can be proud, who can be haughty? who is like You? For You ride on a cherub and fly on the wind; Your road is in the whirlwind, Your way is in the storm; Your path is through waters. Fires are Your emissaries -- thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads, who are changed into men, changed into women, changed into winds, changed into demons; who assume all shapes and fulfill every mission, with fear, dread, awe, trembling, terror, trepidation, they open... [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi

1.yni - The Celestial Fire, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by T. Carmi Original Language Hebrew Now an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire -- a fire that devours fire; a fire that burns in things dry and moist; a fire that glows amid snow and ice; a fire that is like a crouching lion; a fire that reveals itself in many forms; a fire that is, and never expires; a fire that shines and roars; a fire that blazes and sparkles; a fire that flies in a storm wind; a fire that burns without wood; a fire that renews itself every day; a fire that is not fanned by fire; a fire that billows like palm branches; a fire whose sparks are flashes of lightning; a fire black as a raven; a fire, curled, like the colours of the rainbow! [1835.jpg] -- from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, Edited by T. Carmi <
2.01 - On Books, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Disciple: Promode Sen in his biography mentions that you knew Hebrew. There are other points in the book also which require clarification.
   Sri Aurobindo: Why not say that I know Amhari and other African languages? (Laughter)

2.07 - The Cup, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  17:This cup (crescent, sphere, cone) represents the three principles of the Moon, the Sun, and Fire, the three principles which, according to the Hindus, have course in the body. footnote: These "principles" are seen by the pupil when first he succeeds in stilling his mind. That one which happens to be in course at the moment is the one seen by him. This is so marvellous an experience, even for one who has pushed astral visions to a very high point, that he may mistake them for the End. See chapter on Dhyana. The Hebrew letters corresponding to these principles are Gimel, Resh, and Shin, and the word formed by them means "a flower" and also "expelled," "cast forth."
  18:This is the Cup of Purification; as Zoroaster says:
  --
  79:Since at the best this water footnote: The water in this Cup (the latter is also a heart, as shown by the transition from the ancient to the modern Tarot; the suit "Hearts" in old packs of cards, and even in modern Spanish and Italian cards, is called "Cups") is the letter "Mem" (the Hebrew word for water), which has for its Tarot trump the Hanged Man. This Hanged Man represents the Adept hanging by one heel from a gallows, which is in the shape of the letter Daleth - the letter of the Empress, the heavenly Venus in the Tarot. His legs form a cross, his arms a triangle, as if by his equilibrium and self-sacrifice he were bringing the light down and establishing it even in the abyss. Elementary as this is, it is a very satisfactory hieroglyph of the Great Work, though the student is warned that the obvious sentimental interpretation will have to be discarded as soon as it has been understood. It is a very noble illusion, and therefore a very dangerous one, to figure one's self as the Redeemer. For, of all the illusions in this Cup - the subtler and purer they are, the more difficult they are to detect. is but a reflection, how tremendously important it becomes that it should be still!
  80:If the cup is shaken the light will be broken up.

2.08 - The Sword, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  "The Lord" is Adonai-which is the Hebrew for "my Lord"; and He descends from heaven, the supernal Eden, the Sahasrara Cakkra in man, with a "shout," a "voice," and a "trump," again airy symbols, for it is air that carries sound. These sounds refer to those heard by the
  Adept at the moment of rapture.
  --
  Note that etymologically the word sun. "together with," is the Sanskrit Sam; and the Hebrew ADNI is the Sanskrit ADHI.
  The phrase "together with the Lord," is then literally identical with the word Samadhi, which is the Sanskrit name of the phenomenon described by Saint Paul, this union of the ego and the non-ego, subject and object, this chymical marriage, and thus identical with the symbolism of the Rosy Cross, under a slightly different aspect.

2.11 - The Crown, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  3:There is still another Crown, the Crown of Amoun, the concealed one, from whom the Hebrews borrowed their holy word "Amen." This Crown consists simply of the plumes of truth. But into the symbolism of these it is not necessary to go, for all this and more is in the Crown first described.
  4:The crimson cap implies concealment, and is also symbolical of the flood of glory that pours upon the Magician from above. It is of velvet for the softness of the divine kiss, and crimson for that it is the very blood of God which is its life. The band of gold is the eternal circle of perfection. The three pentagrams symbolize the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while the hexagram represents the Magician himself. Ordinarily, pentagrams represent the microcosm, hexagrams the macrocosm; but here the reverse is the case, because in this Crown of Perfction, that which is below has become that which is above, and that which is above has become that which is below. If a diamond be worn, it is for the Light which is before all manifestations in form; if an opal, it is to commemorate that sublime plan of the All, to fold and unfold in eternal rapture, to manifest as the Many that the Many may become the One Unmanifest. But this matter is too great for an elementary treatise on Magick.

2.11 - The Shattering And Fall of The Primordial Kings, #General Principles of Kabbalah, #Rabbi Moses Luzzatto, #Kabbalah
  two acrostics of the Hebrew verse of the opening section
  of the daily morning prayers ( tof zadi) which reads taz.
  The acrostic of the entire Hebrew verse reads abgitaz.*
  The descent of the hind part of Father and Mother

2.13 - On Psychology, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   There is the recorded instance of the servant girl of a famous French scholar of Hebrew. She used to hear, while at work, her master repeating the Bible in Hebrew. To her it was meaningless gibberish. Then when she was in an abnormal condition she repeated her masters recitation exactly, with the same accents and without a mistake. She knew nothing of the language that is, evidently the mind did not understand anything of it. But all the time it was being recorded in the subconscious being. Even the soles of our feet have got a memory of their own.
   We have divided and analysed these functions but it is, like all analyses, convenient only for understanding; things in reality are not so cut-and-dry. They don't work separately. There is a great deal of action and interaction among them and the being is much more complex in its actual working than may be supposed from this analysis.

30.06 - The Poet and The Seer, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   It may also be remembered in this connection that portraiture and image making are prohibited in the Hebrew and the Mohammedan religions. Do you not see what a low opinion of the gods is entertained by such a great poet as Homer? In what respect are such gods superior to men? All the weaknesses of men are found in them, perhaps on a bigger scale, in a more hideous form. These gods are recommended for worship by poets!
   The poet indulges imagination and is by nature human in the extreme. Poetry has no direct relation or inseparable connection at all with truth. The worshipper of truth will find in poetry no utterance worthy of acceptance. Especially the poet will not be able to furnish any clue to the truth that lies beyond the ken of the human mind, beyond all that can be grasped by the daily experiences and perceptions of men, and that truth which is really the deepest and supreme in men. Plato's reasoning amounts to this in modern terms.

3.02 - The Formulae of the Elemental Weapons, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  therefore to be preferred to the Hierarchical formula of the Hebrew
  with its tedious prayers, conjurations, and curses.
  --
  With regard to the Hebrew formul, it is doubtful whether most
  magicians who use them have ever properly grasped the principles
  --
  With this understanding we may rehabilitate the Hebrew system
  of invocations. The mind is the great enemy; so, by invoking

3.03 - The Formula of Tetragrammaton, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  1. #why : Yod, H, Vau, H, the Ineffable Name (Jehovah) of the Hebrews. The
  four letters refer respectively to the four elements, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, in the

3.04 - The Formula of ALHIM, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Holiness to the Lord. The Hebrews, in fact, conferred the title of Qadosh (holy)
  upon its adepts. Its effect is to consecrate the Magicians who perform it in a very

3.05 - SAL, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
   mentioned earlier. Just as the numerous synonyms and attri butes of the lapis stress now one and now another of its aspects, so do the symbols of the self. Apart from its preservative quality salt has mainly the metaphorical meaning of sapientia. With regard to this aspect the Tractatus aureus states: It is said in the mystic language of our sages, He who works without salt will never raise dead bodies. . . . He who works without salt draws a bow without a string. For you must know that these sayings refer to a very different kind of salt from the common mineral. . . . Sometimes they call the medicine itself Salt. 652 These words are ambiguous: here salt means wit as well as wisdom. As to the importance of salt in the opus, Johannes Grasseus says of the arcane substance: And this is the Lead of the Philosophers, which they also call the lead of the air. In it is found the shining white dove, named the salt of the metals, wherein is the whole magistery of the work. This [dove] is the pure, chaste, wise, and rich Queen of Sheba.653 Here salt, arcane substance (the paradoxical lead of the air), the white dove (spiritus sapientiae), wisdom, and femininity appear in one figure. The saying from the Gloria mundi is quite clear: No man can understand this Art who does not know the salt and its preparation.654 For the Aquarium sapientum the sal sapientiae comes from the aqua benedicta or aqua pontica, which, itself an extract, is named heart, soul, and spirit. At first the aqua is contained in the prima materia and is of a blood-red colour; but after its preparation it becomes of a bright, clear, transparent white, and is called by the sages the Salt of Wisdom.655 Khunrath boldly summarizes these statements about the salt when he says: Our water cannot be made without the salt of wisdom, for it is the salt of wisdom itself, say the philosophers; a fire, and a salt fire, the true Living Universal Menstruum. Without salt the work has no success.656 Elsewhere he remarks: Not without good reason has salt been adorned by the wise with the name of Wisdom. Salt is the lapis, a mystery to be hidden.657 Vigenerus says that the Redeemer chose his disciples that they might be the salt of men and proclaim to them the pure and incorruptible doctrine of the gospel. He reports the Cabalists as saying that the computatio658 of the Hebrew word for salt (melach) gives the number 78. This number could be divided by any divisor and still give a word that referred to the divine Name. We will not pursue the inferences he draws from this but will only note that for all those reasons salt was used for the service of God in all offerings and sacrifices.659 Glauber calls Christ the sal sapientiae and says that his favourite disciple John was salted with the salt of wisdom.660
  [330] Apart from its lunar wetness and its terrestrial nature, the most outstanding properties of salt are bitterness and wisdom. As in the double quaternio of the elements and qualities, earth and water have coldness in common, so bitterness and wisdom would form a pair of opposites with a third thing between. (See diagram on facing page.) The factor common to both, however incommensurable the two ideas may seem, is, psychologically, the function of feeling. Tears, sorrow, and disappointment are bitter, but wisdom is the comforter in all psychic suffering. Indeed, bitterness and wisdom form a pair of alternatives: where there is bitterness wisdom is lacking, and where wisdom is there can be no bitterness. Salt, as the carrier of this fateful alternative, is co-ordinated with the nature of woman. The masculine, solar nature in the right half of the quaternio knows neither coldness, nor a shadow, nor heaviness, melancholy, etc., because, so long as all goes well, it identifies as closely as possible with consciousness, and that as a rule is the idea which one has of oneself. In this idea the shadow is usually missing: first because nobody likes to admit to any inferiority, and second because logic forbids something white to be called black. A good man has good qualities, and only the bad man has bad qualities. For reasons of prestige we pass over the shadow in complete silence. A famous example of masculine prejudice is Nietzsches Superman, who scorns compassion and fights against the Ugliest Man the ordinary man that everyone is. The shadow must not be seen, it must be denied, repressed, or twisted into something quite extraordinary. The sun is always shining and everything smiles back. There is no room for any prestige-diminishing weakness, so the sol niger is never seen. Only in solitary hours is its presence feared.

3.05 - The Formula of I.A.O., #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  1. [Crowleys usual Hebrew spelling of IAO is way = 17.]
   28
  --
  Tiphareth. The Hebrew vau is referred to Tiphareth as (a) having the numerical
  value of 6, and (b) representing the Son in Tetragrammaton (see cap. III, supra).]

3.07 - The Formula of the Holy Grail, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  of the legend so grossly deformed in the Hebrew legend of the
  Garden of Eden, and its even more malignantly debased falsification in that bitterly sectarian broadside, the Apocalypse.

3.12 - Of the Bloody Sacrifice, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  connected with this one idea. In the Hebrew religion we find the
  same thing inculcated. The first ethical lesson in the Bible is that the
  --
  1. [ Hebrews, IX. 22. The Epistle to the Hebrews bears no internal statement of
  authorship (all the other canonical epistles attributed to Paul do). Paul was traditionally held to be the author but scholarship is by no means unanimous on the

3.14 - Of the Consecrations, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  1. The Hebrew legends furnish us with the reason for the respective virtues of
  water and fire. The world was purified by water at the Deluge, and will be

3.17 - Of the License to Depart, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  correspond to any of the variant Hebrew spellings of this name which are known
  to me, nor (contra the editorial note in the 1994 Blue Brick) is it the erroneous form

3.20 - Of the Eucharist, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Metzareph of the Hebrews to the Chariot of Antimony are deliberately
  couched in hieratic riddles. Ecclesiastical persecution, and the

3.21 - Of Black Magic, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Liberty. (Note that the Jehovah of the Hebrews is etymologically connected with
  these. The classical example of such antinomy, one which has led to such

4.02 - GOLD AND SPIRIT, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  [353] The striking analogy between certain alchemical ideas and Christian dogma is not accidental but in accordance with tradition. A good part of the symbolism of the king derives from this source. Just as Christian dogma derives in part from Egypto-Hellenistic folklore, as well as from the Judaeo-Hellenistic philosophy of writers like Philo, so, too, does alchemy. Its origin is certainly not purely Christian, but is largely pagan or Gnostic. Its oldest treatises come from that sphere, among them the treatise of Komarios (1st cent.?) and the writings of Pseudo-Democritus (1st to 2nd cent.) and Zosimos (3rd cent.). The title of one of the latters treatises is The True Book of Sophe16 the Egyptian and Divine Lord of the Hebrews, [and] of the Powers of Sabaoth.17 Berthelot thinks that Zosimos really was the author, and this is quite possible. The treatise speaks of a knowledge or wisdom that comes from the Aeons:
  Ungoverned (

4.02 - Humanity in Progress, #Hymn of the Universe, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
  presents it If the Hebrews kept their gaze fixed for
  three thousand years on the coming of the Messiah

4.41 - Chapter One, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
    *  In MS, the symbol found here is usually interpreted as the Hebrew letter Tzaddi.
    I,58: I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.

5.04 - THE POLARITY OF ADAM, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  [591] Already in Zosimos182 three sources can be distinguished: Jewish, Christian, and pagan. In later alchemy the pagan-syncretistic element naturally fades into the background to leave room for the predominance of the Christian element. In the sixteenth century, the Jewish element becomes noticeable again, under the influence of the Cabala, which had been made accessible to a wider public by Johann Reuchlin183 and Pico della Mirandola.184 Somewhat later the humanists then made their contri bution from the Hebrew and Aramaic sources, and especially from the Zohar. In the eighteenth century an allegedly Jewish treatise appeared, Abraham Eleazars Uraltes Chymisches Werck,185 making copious use of Hebraic terminology and claiming to be the mysterious Rindenbuch of Abraham the Jew, which, it was said, had revealed the art of gold-making to Nicholas Flamel (13301417).186 In this treatise there is the following passage:
  For Noah must wash me in the deepest sea, with pain and toil, that my blackness may depart; I must lie here in the deserts among many serpents, and there is none to pity me; I must be fixed to this black cross, and must be cleansed therefrom with wretchedness and vinegar187 and made white, that the inwards of my head may be like the sun or Marez,188 and my heart may shine like a carbuncle, and the old Adam come forth again from me. O! Adam Kadmon, how beautiful art thou! And adorned with the rikmah189 of the King of the World! Like Kedar190 I am black henceforth; ah! how long! O come, my Mesech,191 and disrobe me, that mine inner beauty may be revealed. . . . O that the serpent roused up Eve! To which I must testify with my black colour that clings to me, and that is become mine by the curse of this persuasion, and therefore am I unworthy of all my brothers. O Sulamith afflicted within and without, the watchmen of the great city will find thee and wound thee, strip thee of thy garments and smite thee, and take away thy veil. . . . Yet shall I be blest again when I am delivered from the poison brought upon me by the curse, and mine inmost seed and first birth comes forth. For its father is the sun, and its mother the moon. Yea, I know else of no other bridegroom who should love me, because I am so black. Ah! do thou tear down the heavens and melt my mountains! For thou didst crumble the mighty kingdoms of Canaan like dust, and crush them with the brazen serpent of Joshua and offer them up to Algir

5.06 - THE TRANSFORMATION, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  [619] In the Cabalistic view Adam Kadmon is not merely the universal soul or, psychologically, the self, but is himself the process of transformation, its division into three or four parts (trimeria or tetrameria). The alchemical formula for this is the Axiom of Maria: One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the Third comes the One as the Fourth.218 The treatise of Rabbi Abraham Cohen Irira (Hacohen Herrera) says: Adam Kadmon proceeded from the Simple and the One, and to that extent he is Unity; but he also descended and fell into his own nature, and to that extent he is Two. And again he will return to the One, which he has in him, and to the Highest; and to that extent he is Three and Four.219 This speculation refers to the essential Name, the Tetragrammaton, which is the four letters of Gods name, three different, and the fourth a repetition of the second.220 In the Hebrew word YHVH (written without vowels), he is feminine and is assigned as a wife to yod221 and to vau. As a result yod222 and vau223 are masculine, and the feminine he, though doubled, is identical and therefore a single unit. To that extent the essential Name is a triad. But since he is doubled, the Name is also a tetrad or quaternity224a perplexity which coincides most strangely with the Axiom of Maria. On the other hand the Tetragrammaton consists of a double marriage and thus agrees in an equally remarkable manner with our Adam diagrams. The doubling of the feminine he is archetypal,225 since the marriage quaternio presupposes both the difference and the identity of the feminine figures. This is true also of the two masculine figures, as we have seen, though here their difference usually predominatesnot surprisingly, as these things are mostly products of the masculine imagination. Consequently the masculine figure coincides with mans consciousness, where differences are practically absolute. Though the feminine figure is doubled it is so little differentiated that it appears identical. This double yet identical figure corresponds exactly to the anima, who, owing to her usually unconscious state, bears all the marks of non-differentiation.
  [620] If we apply these considerations to the alchemical schema, we shall be able to modify it in a way that was not possible with the psychological one. We thus arrive at a formula which reduces both to the same denominator:

7.08 - Sincerity, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  A Muslim writer, Abu Abbas, tells us of the glory of King Solomon, who reigned in Jerusalem, the holy city of the Hebrews.
  In his throne room there were six hundred seats, half of which were occupied by sages, the other half by Jinns or genies who assisted Solomon by their magic power.

7.10 - Order, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  The Hebrew Book of Genesis, in its own way, also tells a story of order.
  In the beginning there was chaos, that is, disorder and darkness. And the first act of God was to throw light upon this disorder, just as a man shines the light of his lamp into the gloom of the dark and dirty cellar he wants to enter.

APPENDIX I - Curriculum of A. A., #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
      The Bible, by various authors unknown. ::: The Hebrew and Greek Originals are of Qabalistic value. It contains also many magical apologues, and recounts many tales of folk-lore and magical rites.
      Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. ::: An admirable study of Eastern thought and life. Many other stories by this author are highly suggestive and informative.
  --
    Liber D. (500) [] - Sepher Sephiroth ::: A dictionary of Hebrew words arranged according to their numerical value. This is an Encyclopaedia of the Holy Qabalah, which is a Map of the Universe, and enables man to attain Perfect Understanding. Equinox VIII, Special Supplement.
    Liber DXXXVI.

BOOK III. - The external calamities of Rome, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  Of moral and spiritual evils, which are above all others to be deprecated, I think enough has already been said to show that the false gods took no steps to prevent the people who worshipped them from being overwhelmed by such calamities, but rather aggravated the ruin. I see I must now speak of those evils which alone are dreaded by the hea thenfamine, pestilence, war, pillage, captivity, massacre, and the like calamities, already enumerated in the first book. For evil men account those things alone evil which do not make men evil; neither do they blush to praise good things, and yet to remain evil among the good things they praise. It grieves them more to own a bad house than a bad life, as if it were man's greatest good to have everything good but himself. But not even such evils as were alone dreaded by the hea then were warded off by their gods, even when they were most unrestrictedly worshipped. For in various times and places before the advent of our Redeemer, the human race was crushed with numberless and sometimes incredible calamities; and at that time what gods but those did the world worship, if you except the one nation of the Hebrews, and, beyond them, such individuals as the most secret and most just judgment of God counted worthy of divine grace?[115] But that I may[Pg 92] not be prolix, I will be silent regarding the heavy calamities that have been suffered by any other nations, and will speak only of what happened to Rome and the Roman empire, by which I mean Rome properly so called, and those lands which already, before the coming of Christ, had by alliance or conquest become, as it were, members of the body of the state.
  2. Whether the gods, whom the Greeks and Romans worshipped in common, were justified in permitting the destruction of Ilium.

BOOK II. -- PART I. ANTHROPOGENESIS., #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  and at the same time a "prince on Earth," who reappears in Thoth-Hermes, and why Jesus (in Hebrew,
  Joshua) of Nazareth is recognised, cabalistically, in Joshua, the Son of Nun, as well as in other
  --
  of the ghost-world"; with the Egyptian Isis-Osiris and Thot; with the Hebrew Elohim, or again with
  Manco Capac and his Peruvian progeny -- the story varies nowhere. Every nation has Amshaspends*
  --
  quite extraordinary. Azazel and his "host" are simply the Hebrew "Prometheus," and ought to be
  viewed from the same standpoint. The Zohar shows the Ischin chained on the mountain in the desert,
  --
  The appellation Sa'tan, in Hebrew satan, "an adversary" (from the verb shatana, "to be adverse," to
  persecute) belongs by right to the first and cruelest "adversary of all the other gods" -- Jehovah, not to
  --
  reading of verse i. (chapter iv., Genesis), in the original Hebrew text; and the Rabbins teaching that
  "Kin (Cain), the Evil, was the Son of Eve by Samael, the devil who took Adam's place"; and the
  --
  works is the "Source of Measures, the Hebrew Egyptian Mystery."
  ** In the above-mentioned work (p. 233 App.), verse 26 of the 4th chap. of Genesis is correctly
  --
  one likes with Hebrew unvowelled names). In the Cainite line Enoch begets IRAD, Irad MEHUJAEL,
  the latter METHUSAEL, and Methusael, Lamech. In the Sethite line, Enoch begets Cainan, and this
  --
  own order" (See Hebrews, ch. v. 6, and vii. 1, et seq.); and finally, having seen what they all were
  spiritually, astronomically, psychically and cosmically, let us now see what they became rabbinically
  --
  and make the tenth, Kaimurath, identical with the Hebrew Adam. These kings answer to the ten
  antediluvian generations of kings as given by Berosus.
  --
  Egyptian, Greek, and even Hebrew traditions. The latter, disdaining in its exclusiveness to speak of preadamite nations, yet allows these to be clearly inferred, by sending out Cain -- one of the two only
  living men on earth -- into the land of Nod, where he gets married and builds a city (Gen. iv.), etc.
  --
  revelations the Persian legends were preserved and passed to posterity. Thus, one finds the Hebrews
  calling a week "seven days," and "a week of years" when each of its days represents 360 solar years,
  --
  contradicted each other. "The chronology of the Hebrew text has been grossly altered, especially in the
  interval next after the Deluge": -- says Whiston (Old Test., p. 20).
  --
  a finger to the lips; while the Hebrews taught that to divulge, after initiation into the Rabbinical
  mysteries, the secrets of Kabala, was like eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge: it was
  --
  while esotericism explains it as the divine Androgyne, or the mystic 10; in Hebrew 10 is the perfect
  number, or Jehovah. Arghya in Sanskrit is the libation cup, the navi-form or boat-shaped vessel in

BOOK II. -- PART III. ADDENDA. SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  we shall refer the reader to the New Testament, where St. Paul speaks (in Hebrews i.) of the Son (the
  manifested Power) whom (God) hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds
  --
  institution that dated from the earliest Atlanteans; it came to the Hebrews via the "Chaldees," who
  were the "wise men" of a caste, not of a nation, a community of great adepts come from their "Serpentholes," and who had settled in Babylonia ages before. And if this interpretation from Leviticus (full of
  --
  valley and preserved an ancient Semitic language quite distinct from the square Hebrew character -was of a very large stature. The English translations of the Bible can never be relied upon, even in their
  modern revised forms. They tell us of the Nephilim translating the word by "giants," and further
  --
  Ireland from Gibraltar, where I had studied Hebrew and Chaldaic under Jews of various countries,
  when I heard a peasant girl say to boor standing by her "Teach an Maddin Nag" (Behold the morning

BOOK II. -- PART II. THE ARCHAIC SYMBOLISM OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  the myths in the Hebrew Genesis in the sight of those, for whom they are no more divine revelation or
  the word of God, than Hesiod's Theogony is for Mr. Gladstone.
  --
   Hebrew lexicon, explains it thus: -- "[[Arche]] in this application answers to the Hebrew rasit or
  wisdom . . . . a word which had the meaning of the emblem of the female generative power, the Arg or
  --
  identical, as to the duties of their office, with the Nautch-girls of the later Hindu pagodas. The Hebrew
  Kadeshim, or galli, lived "by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove," or
  --
  as determinatives given, as the Coptic I O H, or I O H. The Hebrew
  O H, for the letter yau, or
  --
  ** In Hebrew the phallic symbol lingham and Yoni.
  [[Vol. 2, Page]] 466 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
  --
  Jehovah. That is, he personifies** him as entering the Holy of Holies. But by Hebrew
  Esotericism the chief function of Jehovah was child giving, etc., and that because, by the
  --
  of God -- a priapic image, therefore. The Hebrew words sacr and n'cabvah are, literally translated,
  lingham (phallus) and yoni, notwithstanding their translation in the Bible (Genesis i. v. 27.) "male and
  --
  called in Hebrew with that usual sincerity of language pre-eminently Biblical, sacr and n'cabvah*;
  these two being, therefore, the image under which the "Lord God" appeared usually to his chosen
  people. That this is so, is now undeniably proven by almost all the symbologists and Hebrew scholars
  as well as by the Kabala. Therefore Adam is in one sense Jehovah. This makes plain another general
  --
  as the Egyptian and Hebrew Mars, god of the generation; and (b) that Jehovah, or Jah, is
  [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
  --
  Noah, or Jehovah is Noah in Hebrew would be
  , or literally in English, Inch."
  --
  I am that I am, the Hebrew words being: --
  a variety reading of
  --
  For a clearer explanation for the benefit of non-Kabalists we put it thus: "I am that I am" is in Hebrew: -
  Add the numbers of these separate words and you have: --
  --
  common property. Neither has originated with the Hebrews; but owing to the too realistic handling of
  the half-initiated Levites, the symbol has with them acquired a significance which it hardly has with
  --
  the ancient Egyptians that spirit was and is entirely metaphysical and psychological; with the Hebrews
  it was realistic and physiological. It pointed to the first sexual separation of the human race (Eve
  --
  earth; the Semite Hebrew to the latest. One is nearly one
  [[Vol. 2, Page 471]] THE CRAFT OF THE RABBINS.
  --
  Judaeus shows what was the genuine Hebrew faith. The sacred Writings, he says, prescribe what we
  ought to do . . . commanding us to hate the hea then and their laws and institutions. They did hate Baal
  --
  Gnostic sects identical with the god of the Hebrews, who was the same with the Egyptian Horus. This
  is undeniably proven on "hea then" as on the Gnostic "Christian" gems. In Matter's collection of such
  --
  The Hebrew Elohim, called in the translations "God," and who create "light," are identical with the
  Aryan Asuras. They are also
  --
  But . . . they were anticipated by the Hebrews, who held that
  [[Vol. 2, Page]] 509 JEHOVAH, A PERSONATING SPIRIT.
  --
  Greek the "inner eye," or the Seer; in Hebrew, and with the help of Masoretic points it means the
  initiator and instructor,
  --
  was of Elijah (whose name means in Hebrew "God-Jah," Jehovah,
  ), and again of Elihu, which
  --
  cosmogonical construction. With the Hebrews, however, though the former conception is to be
  distinctly found in the Zohar, and the Sepher Jezirah -- or what remains of the latter -- that which has
  --
  Gabriel," the "Lord" of Iran, watch over his people; and Michael-Jehovah, over his Hebrews. These
  are not the gods of other nations, nor were they ever those of Jesus. As each Persian Dev is chained to
  --
  The Hebrew words for this expression are ahiye asher ahiye, and in the value of the sums of their
  letters stand thus:--
  --
  with the Gauls, "Helios" with the Greeks, "Baal," with the Phoenicians; "El" in Chaldean, hence "ELohim," "Emanu-EL," El, "god," in Hebrew. But even the Kabalistic god has vanished in the rabbinical
  workmanship, and one has now to turn to the innermost metaphysical sense of the Zohar to find in it
  --
  the Symbol of ONE (the figure 1), or of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph
  (bull or ox)
  --
  Vulgate. In the ancient Hebrew this sign was formed thus
  , but in the original Egyptian
  --
  shows the Targums handed down by the Hebrews, obscured by translation. In Joshua (viii. 29) read in
  Arabic, and in the Targum of Jonathan, it is said: "The king of Ai he crucified upon a tree." The
  --
  Let the reader who doubts the statement consult the Hebrew originals before he denies. Let him turn to
  some most suggestive Egyptian bas reliefs. One especially from the temple of Philoe, represents a
  --
  word possessed by the Hebrews, whoever they were, to carry the idea by sound of a man. The
  essential of this word was 113 (the numerical value of that word) from the beginning, and carried with
  --
  of the evolution of man. The Hebrews, whose prophet Moses was so learned in the esoteric Wisdom of
  Egypt, and who adopted their numerical system from the Phoenicians, and later from the Gentiles,
  --
  versed in Esoteric philosophy and the Hebrew occult metrology, and used it dexterously. Thus they
  took the word aish (one of the Hebrew word forms for MAN) and used it in conjunction with that of
  Shanah "lunar year," so mystically connected with the name of Jehovah, the supposed "father" of
  --
  most suggestive work on the Kabalistic meanings -- "The Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery," we read again: -"In symbol, the nails of the cross have for the shape of the heads thereof a solid
  pyramid, and a tapering square obeliscal shaft, or phallic emblem, for the nail. Taking
  --
  or form of letters; nor had [[pater Deus]] (vide Ragon). If we turn now to the Hebrew Alphabet, we
  shall find that while I or aleph,
  --
  workshop of Osiris, representing the T'sod Olaum of the Hebrews. The ancient name of this river was
  Eridanus, or the Hebrew Iardan, with the Coptic or old Greek suffix. This was the door of the Hebrew
  word Jared, or 'Source,' or Descent . . . of the river Jordan, which had the same mythical use with the
  --
  key to the symbolism of the Hebrews, which reveals numerically the geometrical relations of the
  Circle (All-Deity) to the Square, Cube, Triangle, and all the integral emanations of the divine area,
  --
  reminder to facilitate the comprehension of what follows. The question at issue is to show that JahNoah, or the Jehovah of the Hebrew Bible, the alleged Creator of our Earth, of man and all upon it, is: (a) The lowest Septenary, the Creative Elohim -- in his Cosmic aspect.
  (b) The Tetragrammaton or the Adam-Kadmon, "the Heavenly Man" of the Four letters -- in his
  --
  ***** "Source of Measures," p. 65. The author explains, "Note that in Hebrew, Jared, the father of
  Enoch, is construed to be 'the mount of descent,' and it is said to be the same with Ararat on which the
  cubical structure of Noah, or foundation measure rested. Jared, in Hebrew, is
  . The root
  derivations are the same with those of Ararat, of acre, of earth." As by Hebrew metrology "Jared,
  is, literally in British Y R D; hence in Jared is to be found literally our English word yard (and
  --
  middle world, which the Hebrews call the Supreme, the world of the (their) deity. It is
  termed Olympus, entirely light, and replete with separate forms, where is the seat of the
  --
  again in the Hebrew Sheba is the Oath (the Pythagorean Tetraktis) identical with number 7; or, as Mr.
  G. Massey has it, "taking an oath was synonymous with 'to seven,' and the 10 expressed by the letter
  --
  Rabbinical literature. The Phoenix* -- called by the Hebrews Onech [Heb char] (from Phenoch,
  Enoch, symbol of a secret cycle and initiation), and by the Turks, Kerkes -- lives a thousand years,
  --
  There is most assuredly an occult "chronological system in Hebrew Scripture" -- the Kabala being its
  warrant; there is in it "a system of
  --
  ** The Hebrew word for "week" is Seven; and any length of time divided by Seven would have been a
  "week" in their day, even 49,000,000 years, as it is seven times seven millions. But their calculation is
  --
  the Tetragrammaton, which is the Hebrew IHVH, is also both the "Sephirothal Tree"-- i.e., it contains
  all the Sephiroth except Kether, the crown -- and the united body of the "Heavenly man" (Adam

BOOK I. -- PART I. COSMIC EVOLUTION, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  the only original copy now in existence. The most ancient Hebrew document on occult
  learning -- the Siphrah Dzeniouta -- was compiled from it, and that at a time when the
  --
  became in symbology the sacr', and in Hebrew n'cabvah, of the first-formed races;* then it changed
  (emblem of life), and still later into the sign of Venus,
  --
  the Hebrew Elohim. It is the same hierarchy of Archangels to which St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and
  others belong, in the Christian theogony. Only while St. Michael, for instance, is allowed in dogmatic
  --
  name in Hebrew should also be One, Echod. "His name is Echod": say the Rabbins. The philologists
  ought to decide which of the two is derived from the other -- linguistically and symbolically: surely,
  --
  zigzags). The Kabala figures it with the Hebrew letter Teth , whose symbol is the serpent which
  played such a prominent part in the Mysteries. Its universal value is nine, for it is the ninth letter of the
  --
  to symbolize the ideas of Macroprosopus and Microprosopus in the Hebrew Qabalah. Hoa, "He," is
  applied to the hidden and concealed Macroprosopus; Atah, "Thou," to Microprosopus; and Ani, "I," to
  --
  Skinner, author of The Source of Measures, reads the Hebrew word Alhim in the same number values,
  by omitting, as said, the ciphers and by permutation -- 13,514: since
  --
  Sanskrit, as also in the Hebrew and all other alphabets, every letter has its occult meaning and its
  rationale; it is a cause and an effect of a preceding cause and a combination of these very often
  --
  materialistic uses than the Hebrews. With these it was pre-eminently the generative number and 9 the
  http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd1-1-06.htm (7 von 25) [06.05.2003 03:30:56]
  --
  of the 22 Hebrew letters are merely phallic symbols. Of the two letters -- as shown above -- one, the
  ayin, is a negative female letter, symbolically an eye; the other a male letter, tza, a fish-hook or a dart.
  --
  Aryan Esotericism, that "The Hebrew clear, short, terse and exact modes far and beyond measure
  surpass the toddling word-talk of the Hindus -- just as by parallelisms the Psalmist says, 'My mouth
  --
  of the Hebrew, shows the latter to have come down from a far more remote antiquity than any of these,
  and to have been the source (!?), or nearer the old original source than any of them." This is entirely
  --
  Egyptians. The Jewish glyphs -- and even their language, the Hebrew -- are not original. They are
  borrowed from the Egyptians, from whom Moses got his Wisdom; from the Coptic, the probable
  --
  philosophy, whereas in the Hebrew records we find only the most surprising ingenuity in inventing
  apotheoses for phallic worship and sexual theogony.
  --
  Christian Bible-interpreters say of the Cherubim: -- "The word signifies in Hebrew, fullness of
  knowledge; these angels are so called from their exquisite Knowledge, and were therefore used for the
  --
  out of the forty-seven translators of King James I. of England's Bible "only three understood Hebrew,
  and of these two died before the Psalms were translated" (Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia), and one may
  --
  of this visible universe. In Hebrew Occultism their name is both Achath, feminine, "One," and Achod,
  "One" again, but masculine. The monotheists have taken (and are still taking) advantage of the
  --
  thought. Thus may be traced the connection with, and even the origin of the Hebrew Bath-Kol, the
  "daughter of the Divine Voice," or Verbum, or the male and female Logos, the "Heavenly Man" or
  --
  CAUSE) as its chariot (Mercabah, in Hebrew; Vahan, in Sanskrit) or vehicle to descend into, and
  manifest through, in the phenomenal world. But the Kabalists neither make it plain how the
  --
  that the Nephesh chaiah (living soul), according to the Hebrews, "proceeded from, or was produced by,
  the infusion of the Spirit or Breath of Life into the quickening body of man, and was to supersede and
  --
  the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and even Latins, Ruach, Pneuma and Spiritus -- with the Jews
  undeniably, and with the Greeks and Romans very probably -- meant Wind; the Greek word Anemos
  --
  people, often relating, moreover, -- as in the Hebrew Scriptures -- merely to the terrestrial human, not
  divine life of that nation. That psychic and spiritual element belonged to MYSTERY and

BOOK I. -- PART III. SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  "angel Gabriel" watch over Iran and "Mikael-Jehovah" over the Hebrews. These are not the gods of
  other nations, and it is difficult to see why Christians
  --
  early Hebrews following in the steps of the Oriental philosophy -- Chaldean, Persian, Hindu, Arabic,
  etc. Their Primal Cause was designated at first "by the triadic Shaddai, the (triune) Almighty,
  --
  the Hebrew canon, certainly prior to Moses, and which speaks of the making "of Arcturus, Orion, and
  Pleiades (Ash, Kesil, and
  --
  atmospheric influence called by Job "sweet influences of the Pleiades"** (in Hebrew, Chimah, see
  Job xxxviii. 31); of the Cesil (Orion); and that of the desert rains with reference to Scorpio, the eighth

BOOK I. -- PART II. THE EVOLUTION OF SYMBOLISM IN ITS APPROXIMATE ORDER, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  mode with the Hebrews, for even to-day they calculate the calendar by means of the 354
  and 355 of the lunar year, and we possess a special evidence that it was the mode with
  --
  "The basic idea underlying the religious philosophy of the Hebrews was that God
  contained all things within himself*; and that man was his image, man including woman
  . . . The place of the man and woman with the Hebrews was among the Egyptians
  occupied by the bull and the cow, sacred to Osiris and Isis,** who were represented,
  --
  "But the use of the cow of the Egyptians for the women of the Hebrews was not intended
  as of any radical difference of signification, but a concurrence in the teaching intended,
  --
  Egyptians and old Hebrews. The natural symbols . . . would be either the phallus or the
  phallus and yoni, . . . or male and female. Indeed, the words translated by the
  --
  *** Hence the worship of the moon by the Hebrews.
  **** "Male and female, created he them."
  --
  generative faculty in nature. They have ever ignored even the Hebrew secret god of the Kabalists, AinSoph, as grand as Parabrahmam in the earliest Kabalistic and mystical conceptions. But it is not the
  Kabala of Rosenroth that can ever give the true original teachings of Simeon-Ben-Iochai, as
  --
  Cause.* With the Hebrews, the indirect conception of such was couched in a term of
  negation of comprehension -- viz., Ain-Soph, or the Without Bounds. But the symbol of
  --
  Holies of the Temple of Solomon. . . . . It is the picture of a double-womb, for in Hebrew
  the letter he
  --
  e.g., "Ardanari-Iswara, the Isis of the Hindus, Eridanus, or Ardan, or the Hebrew Jordan, or source of
  descent. She is standing on a lotus-leaf flowing on the water. But the signification is, that it is
  androgyne or hermaphrodite, that is phallus and yoni combined, the number 10, the Hebrew letter Jod
  , the containment of Jehovah. She, or rather she-he, gives the minutes of the same circle of 360
  --
  character of Jehovah or YHVH in the primitive conception of the Hebrew Kabalists. It is now found in
  the philosophy of I'bn Gebirol's Kabbalah, translated by Isaac Myer. "In the introduction written by
  --
  revengeful and exacting, Hecate-Luna is a worthy counterpart of the "Jealous God" of the Hebrew
  prophets.
  --
  Museum -- declaring, in one of his learned lectures, that "neither Hebrews nor Greeks borrowed any of
  their ideas from Egypt?"*
  --
  The Hebrew Kabalists give it in a shape which esoterically is
  [[Vol. 1, Page]] 429 THE ONE IS KNOWN BY THE MANY.
  --
  Greek and the Chaldean Hebrew. These personations and allegories may be viewed under four (chief)
  and three (lesser) aspects or seven in all, as in Esotericism. The para form is the ever subjective and
  --
  Catholicism the "Angel of the Face," and in Hebrew
  "who is (like unto, or the same) as
  --
  for the Hebrew or Chaldean Kabala as it does for Genesis, had the latter been ever thoroughly
  understood, and -- what is still more important -- correctly translated.** Everywhere there is either a
  --
  Nuctameron of the Hebrews). "There are twelve hours in the day," says the Mishna, "and it is during
  these that creation is accomplished." The "twelve hours of the day" are again the dwarfed copy, the
  --
  cyclic blind. Every "Day of Brahma" has 14 Manus, which the Hebrew Kabalists, following, however,
  in this the Chaldeans, have disguised into 12 "Hours."* The Nuctameron of Apollonius of Tyana is the
  --
  forms, and shall use for purposes of comparison the Pythagorean numbers side by side with Hebrew
  Metrology. The immense importance of the number seven will thus become evident, as the root
  --
  manifests the consideration and mystic significance in which they were held by the Hebrew Lawgiver,
  on every page of the Pentateuch. The tent which contained the Holy of Holies " was a Cosmic
  --
  the Hebrew temples -- according to Clemens Alexandrinus -- a gigantic curtain, supported by five
  pillars, separated the sanctum sanctorum (now represented by the altar in Christian churches) wherein
  --
  Whence came the four elements and the malachim of the Hebrews? They have been made to merge,
  by a theological sleight-of-hand on the part of the Rabbins and the later Fathers of the Church into
  --
  Roman Catholic fanatic of the French aristocracy, that in Hebrew lightning is a synonym of fury, and
  is always handled by an evil Spirit; that Jupiter Fulgur or Fulgurans is also called by the Christians

Book of Exodus, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  The book received the name of Exodus - - from the Greek word for "departure." Hebrew Scripture actually named its books from the first key word of each book, and thus the book is named Shemot, or "the names."
  The Book of Exodus, along with Genesis, is one of the best known books of Hebrew Scripture, our Old Testament of the Bible. The Book describes how God through Moses lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and led them across the Red Sea to freedom, towards the Promised Land. Beginning in Exodus 5:1, God repeatedly sends Moses to Pharaoh to advise him, "Let my people go."
  God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush (3:1-6), and commissioned Moses to free his people. God instructed Moses in his dealings with the obstinate Pharaoh. The solemn Jewish Feast of Passover or Pesach - , called or Pascha in the Greek Septuagint, was instituted by God as a Memorial to commemorate the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, where they had been slaves before God rescued them. On the night of First Passover (Exodus 12:1-28), Moses and the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a healthy year-old male lamb, and take hyssop and sprinkle the blood of the Paschal Lamb on the overhead and two doorposts, so that the destroying angel would pass over their houses and strike only the Egyptians. They were to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread - HaMatzot for seven days following Passover, during which they were to eat matsah, the unleavened bread (Exodus 12:15-17). After He led them across the Red Sea, God guided them by sending a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. To feed the Israelites, God told Moses he would rain down bread from heaven to feed the Israelites. God fed them manna - from heaven, and on the sixth day, God gave them a double portion of manna (Exodus 16:4-5), so that they could rest and observe the Sabbath of the Lord. God also had Moses strike a rock to give them water (Exodus 17:6).
  --
  15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
  17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
  18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
  CHAPTER 2
  --
  5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?
  8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. 9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
  --
  11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
  15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? 19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. 20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
  --
  18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
  19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
  --
  2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. 3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
  4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. 5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
  --
  14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. 15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 16 And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying,
  Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness:
  --
  Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
  2 For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. 4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel. 5 And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. 6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
  --
  Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
  14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. 16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. 17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? 18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. 19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. 20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: 21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.
  --
  3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews,
  How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me?
  --
  1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: 6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
  7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. 8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. 11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

Book of Genesis, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  Genesis, the first book of Hebrew Scripture, also serves as the first book of the Torah or Law of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch. The Torah was called the Law by Jesus, the concrete expression of God's will. The Law of Moses includes the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
   Hebrew Scripture or Tanakh is composed of the Law or Torah, the Prophets or Neviim, and the Writings, the Kethuvim or Hagiographa. The Torah is followed by the Prophets beginning with Joshua of the Former Prophets and Isaiah of the Latter Prophets, and then the Writings which begin with Psalms and the Wisdom Literature in Hebrew Scripture, our Old Testament of the Bible.
  The book was first called "Genesis" - - in the Greek Septuagint translation, as it presents both the origin of the world and mankind, and in particular, the Hebrew people. The book in Hebrew was known by its opening expression, "In the beginning" (as above). Genesis 1-11 traces the primeval history of creation, from Adam and Eve through Noah and his sons to Terah; and Genesis 12-50 recounts the patriarchal history of Israel, beginning with Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
  The Book of Genesis presents essential religious teachings about God and his relation to man: his creative activity through which all things are made and on which they all depend; the creation of man in God's image and likeness; the institution of marriage as the union of one man with one woman; the fall of man from his original state of innocence through pride and disobedience, and its consequences on Adam and Eve and the human race; and God's loving kindness and continual offer of reconciliation through covenants with Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
  Moses was the author - in the sense of originator and collector of traditions - of the Torah or . This is revealed in the text of the Law (Exodus 17:14, Exodus 24:4, Exodus 34:27-28, Leviticus 26:46, Numbers 33:2, Deuteronomy 31:9, Deuteronomy 31:24-26); the Prophets (Joshua 1:7-8, 8:31-32, 8:34, 23:6, I Kings 2:3, Daniel 9:11, 9:13); and as we learn from Jesus and the New Testament writers (John 1:45, John 5:46, Acts 3:22, Romans 10:5, Romans 10:19, First Corinthians 9:9, 2 Corinthians 3:15). Characteristics of ancient Hebrew language, as well as common themes that course through the Torah, support one original author for the Law of Moses or Pentateuch. Modern theory suggests the text of the Pentateuch developed through the ages.
  The primeval story of creation in Genesis has been compared to other ancient literatures, such as the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, the Atrahasis Epic, and the Babylonian Enuma Elish, as well as ancient writings of Egypt and Greece. These diverse writings indicate the universal concept of God and the creation of the world. What is unique is that the Book of Genesis records only one God, the Lord God of Israel.
  Seven key themes of Hebrew Scripture are initiated in the Book of Genesis and are developed throughout the Torah: God is one; the goodness of creation and the world; God's undying love for his creation mankind in spite of man's sin and disobedience; God presides with justice and mercy; God is active in history by making covenants with Israel, his chosen people; the proper response of obedience to God's Word through observance of traditions and institutions will bring blessings; the gift of Hope through prophecy of the coming Messiah.
  The first three chapters of Genesis are the best known of Hebrew Scripture: Chapter One presents God's creation of the world. In Genesis 1:14, God designated appointed times - - moadim - for His creation. Genesis 1:26-27 relates that God decided to make man in our image and likeness. The idea of human dignity, that we are created in the image of God (1:27), supports the theological basis for human equality and the core principle of liberty in Western Christian civilization, as found in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Chapter Two provides further detail on the creation of man and woman. Chapter Three records the temptation and fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. The first line of Genesis is truly one of the most famous lines of Hebrew Scripture:
  Genesis 1:1.
  Genesis 3:15 has been given a messianic interpretation, and has become known as the "First Gospel," or the Protoevangelium - the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. The presence of the ancient Hebrew epicene personal pronoun that begins the second sentence of Genesis 3:15 explains the Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims female interpretation of the word ("she" - referring to the Woman), and the Revised Standard Version and NIV male interpretation of the word ("he" - referring to the seed or offspring of the Woman).
  The fall of Adam and Eve led to a geometric progression of sin. Noah is introduced (Chapters 6-9) as the one righteous man. The history of Noah is marked by the Hebrew lunar calendar, for the word for new moon, month - - odesh - is recorded in Genesis 7:11. God finally brought judgement through the Flood, but saved Noah and made a Covenant (9:8) with Noah, his family, and all living creatures. Eber - - (an eponym for Hebrew) was a descendant of Shem (10:21, 11:16). In spite of man's disobedience, God remains faithful to his creation, the human race. The consistent pattern of covenant, fall, judgement, and redemption that is evident in Genesis persists throughout Hebrew Scripture.
  The Patriarchal History of Israel began with Abraham in Chapter 12:1-2, when God urged Abram to "Go forth from this land of your kinsfolk (Haran) and from your father's house to a land (Canaan) I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you." Abram is identified as "the Hebrew" - - in 14:13. In Chapter 14:18-20, we read of Melchizedek, the King and Priest of Salem, who brought out bread and wine, and who typified Christ ( Hebrews 7). The institution of slavery is recorded in Genesis, for the vanquished became slaves to the victors. God warns Abram - "Know for certain that your descendants shall be strangers in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years" (Genesis 15:13). The Lord God made his Covenant with Abraham first in 15:18 and changed his name to Abraham in 17:5. Abraham was called a "friend of God" throughout Scripture (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23). Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for the sin of sodomy (19). Abraham had two sons, Ishmael by Hagar and Isaac by his wife Sarah. Chapter 21 describes the birth of Isaac and the plight of Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham is tested through Isaac (22). Abraham bought land in Hebron (23) as a burial plot for Sarah. Isaac and Rebecca had Esau and Jacob (25). God first refers to his Commandments in Genesis 26:5. Jacob returned to Haran and had twelve sons by his wives Leah and Rachel and their maidservants. God renamed Jacob "Israel" (35:10), the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Chapters 37 to 50 primarily cover the saga of the virtuous Joseph, who is sold into slavery by his own brothers (Genesis 37:28)!
  The Book of Genesis is the subject of many artistic endeavors; the painting of Joseph's dream of the sun, moon, and eleven stars in Genesis 37:9 by Vincent Van Gogh entitled "Starry Night" in 1889 is one of the most famous.
  --
  13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. 14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. 17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.
  Melchizidek, King of Salem, Blesses Abram
  --
  11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. 12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. 13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, 14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: 15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. 16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home. 17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: 18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. 19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. 20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
  21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. 23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.
  --
  9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: 13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
  16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: 17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: 19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. 20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: 22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
  --
  9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: 10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker: 11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. 12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. 13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
  14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. 17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: 18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow: 19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: 20 And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: 21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: 23 And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: 24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.
  --
  26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. 27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? 28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. 29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. 30 And Joseph made haste; for his [heart] did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. 31 And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. 32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. 34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.
  CHAPTER 44

Book of Imaginary Beings (text), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  intensive plural form of the Hebrew bhemah, which means
  beast. As Fray Luis de Len wrote in his Exposicin del
  Libro de Job: Behemoth is a Hebrew word that stands for
  beasts; according to the received judgement of learned
  --
  Genesis in the original text, the Hebrew name for God,
  Elohm, is plural, though the form of the verb it takes is
  --
  For before Eve was Lilith, we read in an old Hebrew text.
  This legend moved the English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti
  --
  word layil, Hebrew for night, gave a new turn to the myth.
  Lilith is no longer a serpent; she becomes an apparition of
  --
  read: The old lion perisheth for lack of prey. The Hebrew
  text has layish for lion; this word, an uncommon one for the

Book of Proverbs, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  The Book of Proverbs is one of the Wisdom Books of Hebrew Scripture, along with Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon). The Greek Septuagint also includes the Books of Wisdom and Sirach. The Wisdom Literature is followed by the Prophets beginning with the Prophet Isaiah in the Greek Septuagint, Latin Vulgate, and the Christian Old Testament of the Bible.
  The primary purpose of the book is to teach wisdom, not only to the young and inexperienced but also to the learned. Proverbs personifies wisdom as an idealistic woman.

Book of Psalms, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  The Psalms are beautiful poetic songs of prayer. The Psalms convey three important themes of Hebrew Scripture - that God is active in history, the necessity of human response to God through praise and prayer, and the beginning of wisdom is to Trust in God and fear of the Lord. The Psalms of Hebrew Scripture are composed of songs of praise sung to God in divine worship, accompanied by a musical instrument. The word Psalm in Hebrew - - tehillah - actually means praise or song of praise. King David sang a song of praise to the Lord when he was delivered from the grasp of his enemies and from the hands of Saul (Second Samuel 22:1). Their time of composition wasprimarily pre-exilic (before 586 BC, the time of the Babylonian exile) and post-exilic (after 516 BC), but the time probably ranges over five centuries. The authorship of 73 of the Psalms is attributed to David, although it is likely that he composed one or more of the 48 anonymous Psalms. Psalm 90 is attri buted to Moses and Psalms 72 and 127 to Solomon.
  The Psalms begin the Writings or Hagiographa in the three-fold division of the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and Writings of Hebrew Scripture. In the four-fold division of the Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and the Christian Old Testament of the Bible, the Psalms are part of the Wisdom Literature, which includes in the following order: the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. The Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate also included the Books of Wisdom and Sirach.
  The Hebrew Psalms number 150, while the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the Greek Septuagint Old Testament both contain Psalm 151 of David. The numbering of Psalms often differ by one, the Hebrew Psalter being one more than the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate. The numbering here follows the original Hebrew. The Psalms are generally of three types: laments, both individual and communal; hymns; and songs of thanksgiving. Others are classified as royal psalms, some wisdom psalms, and others defy classification.
  At one time, the Psalms were divided into five books to correspond to the Pentateuch of Moses. Book I includes Psalms 1-41, attri buted to David. Book II comprises Psalms 42-72, authored by the Sons of Korah, Asaph, David, and Solomon. Book III has Psalms 73-89, composed primarily by Asaph and the Sons of Korah, with Psalm 86 by David and Psalm 89 by Ethan. Book IV contains Psalms 90-106 without named authors except for Psalm 90 (Moses) and Psalms 101 and 103 (David). Book V covers Psalms 107-150, which include Psalm 110 by David; Psalms 113-118, the Hallel sung during Passover; Psalms 120-134, the Songs of Ascents; and 138-145 composed by David. Unifying themes include contemplation and prayer to the Lord and Love.
  Placing our trust in God is found throughout the Scriptures, especially the Psalms. The Hebrew verb to trust - - baa - or its conjugates are recorded over 40 times in the Psalms alone, and to Trust in God is the primary theme of such Psalms as 4, 27, 56, and 62. Trusting in God means both to believe in God and to place our hope in Him. Thus in Greek one sees the word trust translated both with the verbs for faith - - I believe, have faith in, trust; and hope - - I hope, trust. Another Greek verb that conveys the meaning of trust is - I depend on, trust.
  The Psalms have had a profound influence on both Eastern and Western culture. The most famous Psalm is King David's Psalm 23. Christ repeats verse five of Psalm 31 on the Cross, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." Psalm 91 offers evidence of Guardian Angels. Psalm 95 (verse 1) contains the words Laus Deo, the Latin for Praise be to God, which is inscribed on top of the Washington Monument. Psalm 103 supports that Angels carry out the will of God. Psalm 104 (verse 19) confirms the Hebrew lunar calendar, for the moon - - yare - marks the appointed times and sacred seasons. Psalm 118 (verse 24) was the inspiration for the World War I liberation song of Jerusalem, the world-famous Hava Nagila. Psalm 119 is an alphabetical psalm that expresses love for the Word of God, each eight-verse stanza beginning with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 139 speaks of life in the womb!
  The Psalms are notable for Prophecies of the Messiah, such as Psalm 2, fulfilled in Matthew 3:17, Psalm 22, fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and Psalm 110. In fact, the greatest number of Old Testament quotations found in the New Testament are from the Book of Psalms, Psalm 110 being the most quoted by New Testament writers. For example, God declared his son Jesus Christ high priest according to the order of Melchizedek in Hebrews 5:10, which fulfilled Psalm 110, a Psalm of David, in which David announced to his royal successor - "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4). Melchizedek, whose name is found only twice in Hebrew Scripture, was the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, who brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram (Genesis 14:18). Psalm 76:2 locates Salem of Genesis 14:18 to Jerusalem.
  Following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 587 BC, when animal sacrifice could no longer be continued, a sacrifice of praise was instituted among the Jewish people during the Babylonian Exile, which included readings of the Torah, Psalms, and Hymns throughout the day. The risen Christ applied the Psalms to himself when he said to his disciples: "Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44). This sacrifice of praise continued within Christianity as the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office, of which the Psalms remain an essential part. The Divine Office has evolved throughout the centuries, and today is said five times throughout the day: Matins or Office of Readings; the Lauds or Morning Prayer; Daytime Prayer; Vespers or Evening Prayer; and Compline or Night Prayer.

BOOK VIII. - Some account of the Socratic and Platonic philosophy, and a refutation of the doctrine of Apuleius that the demons should be worshipped as mediators between gods and men, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  Certain partakers with us in the grace of Christ, wonder when they hear and read that Plato had conceptions concerning God, in which they recognise considerable agreement with the truth of our religion. Some have concluded from this, that when he went to Egypt he had heard the prophet Jeremiah, or, whilst travelling in the same country, had read the prophetic scriptures, which opinion I myself have expressed in certain of my writings.[301] But a careful calculation of dates, contained in chronological history, shows that Plato was born about a hundred years after the time in which Jeremiah prophesied, and, as he lived eighty-one years, there are found to have been about seventy years from his death to that time when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, requested the prophetic scriptures of the Hebrew people to be sent to him from Judea, and committed them to seventy Hebrews, who also knew the Greek tongue, to be translated and kept. Therefore, on that voyage of his, Plato could neither have seen Jeremiah, who was dead so long before, nor have read those same scriptures[Pg 322] which had not yet been translated into the Greek language, of which he was a master, unless, indeed, we say that, as he was most earnest in the pursuit of knowledge, he also studied those writings through an interpreter, as he did those of the Egyptians,not, indeed, writing a translation of them (the facilities for doing which were only gained even by Ptolemy in return for munificent acts of kindness,[302] though fear of his kingly authority might have seemed a sufficient motive), but learning as much as he possibly could concerning their contents by means of conversation. What warrants this supposition is the opening verses of Genesis: "In the beginning God made the heaven and earth. And the earth was invisible, and without order; and darkness was over the abyss: and the Spirit of God moved over the waters."[303] For in the Timus, when writing on the formation of the world, he says that God first united earth and fire; from which it is evident that he assigns to fire a place in heaven. This opinion bears a certain resemblance to the statement, "In the beginning God made heaven and earth." Plato next speaks of those two intermediary elements, water and air, by which the other two extremes, namely, earth and fire, were mutually united; from which circumstance he is thought to have so understood the words, "The Spirit of God moved over the waters." For, not paying sufficient attention to the designations given by those scriptures to the Spirit of God, he may have thought that the four elements are spoken of in that place, because the air also is called spirit.[304] Then, as to Plato's saying that the philosopher is a lover of God, nothing shines forth more conspicuously in those sacred writings. But the most striking thing in this connection, and that which most of all inclines me almost to assent to the opinion that Plato was not ignorant of those writings, is the answer which was given to the question elicited from the holy Moses when the words of God were conveyed to him by the angel; for, when he asked what was the name of that God who was commanding him to go and deliver the Hebrew people out of Egypt, this answer was[Pg 323] given: "I am who am; and thou shalt say to the children of Israel, He who is sent me unto you;"[305] as though compared with Him that truly is, because He is unchangeable, those things which have been created mutable are not,a truth which Plato vehemently held, and most diligently commended. And I know not whether this sentiment is anywhere to be found in the books of those who were before Plato, unless in that book where it is said, "I am who am; and thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Who is sent me unto you."
    12. That even the Platonists, though they say these things concerning the one true God, nevertheless thought that sacred rites were to be performed in honour of many gods.

BOOK VII. - Of the select gods of the civil theology, and that eternal life is not obtained by worshipping them, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  This mystery of eternal life, even from the beginning of the human race, was, by certain signs and sacraments suitable to the times, announced through angels to those to whom it was meet. Then the Hebrew people was congregated into one republic, as it were, to perform this mystery; and in that republic was foretold, sometimes through men who understood what they spake, and sometimes through men who understood not, all that had transpired since the advent of Christ until now, and all that will transpire. This same nation, too, was afterwards dispersed through the nations, in order to testify to the scriptures in which eternal salvation in Christ had been declared. For not only the prophecies which are contained in words, nor only the precepts for the right conduct of life, which teach[Pg 300] morals and piety, and are contained in the sacred writings,not only these, but also the rites, priesthood, tabernacle or temple, altars, sacrifices, ceremonies, and whatever else belongs to that service which is due to God, and which in Greek is properly called ,all these signified and fore-announced those things which we who believe in Jesus Christ unto eternal life believe to have been fulfilled, or behold in process of fulfilment, or confidently believe shall yet be fulfilled.
  33. That only through the Christian religion could the deceit of malign spirits, who rejoice in the errors of men, have been manifested.

BOOK V. - Of fate, freewill, and God's prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  Wherefore let us go on to consider what virtues of the Romans they were which the true God, in whose power are also the kingdoms of the earth, condescended to help in order to raise the empire, and also for what reason He did so. And, in order to discuss this question on clearer ground, we have written the former books, to show that the power of those gods, who, they thought, were to be worshipped with such trifling and silly rites, had nothing to do in this matter; and also what we have already accomplished of the present volume, to refute the doctrine of fate, lest any one who might have been already persuaded that the Roman empire was not extended and preserved by the worship of these gods, might still be attri buting its extension and preservation to some kind of fate, rather than to the most powerful will of God most high. The ancient and primitive Romans, therefore, though their history shows us that, like all the other nations, with the sole exception of the Hebrews, they worshipped false gods, and sacrificed victims, not to God, but to demons, have nevertheless this commendation bestowed on them by their historian, that they were "greedy of praise, prodigal of wealth, desirous of great glory, and content with a moderate fortune."[193] Glory they most ardently loved: for it they wished to live, for it they did not hesitate to die. Every other desire was repressed by the strength of their passion for that one thing. At length their country itself, because it seemed inglorious to serve, but glorious to rule and to command, they first earnestly desired to be free, and then to be mistress. Hence it was that, not enduring the domination of kings, they put the government into the hands of two chiefs, holding office for a year, who were called consuls, not kings or lords.[194] But royal pomp[Pg 199] seemed inconsistent with the administration of a ruler (regentis), or the benevolence of one who consults (that is, for the public good) (consulentis), but rather with the haughtiness of a lord (dominantis). King Tarquin, therefore, having been banished, and the consular government having been instituted, it followed, as the same author already alluded to says in his praises of the Romans, that "the state grew with amazing rapidity after it had obtained liberty, so great a desire of glory had taken possession of it." That eagerness for praise and desire of glory, then, was that which accomplished those many wonderful things, laudable, doubtless, and glorious according to human judgment. The same Sallust praises the great men of his own time, Marcus Cato, and Caius Csar, saying that for a long time the republic had no one great in virtue, but that within his memory there had been these two men of eminent virtue, and very different pursuits. Now, among the praises which he pronounces on Csar he put this, that he wished for a great empire, an army, and a new war, that he might have a sphere where his genius and virtue might shine forth. Thus it was ever the prayer of men of heroic character that Bellona would excite miserable nations to war, and lash them into agitation with her bloody scourge, so that there might be occasion for the display of their valour. This, forsooth, is what that desire of praise and thirst for glory did. Wherefore, by the love of liberty in the first place, afterwards also by that of domination and through the desire of praise and glory, they achieved many great things; and their most eminent poet testifies to their having been prompted by all these motives:
  "Porsenna there, with pride elate, Bids Rome to Tarquin ope her gate; With arms he hems the city in, neas' sons stand firm to win."[195]
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  These things being so, we do not attri bute the power of giving kingdoms and empires to any save to the true God, who gives happiness in the kingdom of heaven to the pious alone, but gives kingly power on earth both to the pious and the impious, as it may please Him, whose good pleasure is always just. For though we have said something about the principles which guide His administration, in so far as it has seemed good to Him to explain it, nevertheless it is too much for us, and far surpasses our strength, to discuss the hidden things of men's hearts, and by a clear examination to determine the merits of various kingdoms. He, therefore, who is[Pg 219] the one true God, who never leaves the human race without just judgment and help, gave a kingdom to the Romans when He would, and as great as He would, as He did also to the Assyrians, and even the Persians, by whom, as their own books testify, only two gods are worshipped, the one good and the other evil,to say nothing concerning the Hebrew people, of whom I have already spoken as much as seemed necessary, who, as long as they were a kingdom, worshipped none save the true God. The same, therefore, who gave to the Persians harvests, though they did not worship the goddess Segetia, who gave the other blessings of the earth, though they did not worship the many gods which the Romans supposed to preside, each one over some particular thing, or even many of them over each several thing,He, I say, gave the Persians dominion, though they worshipped none of those gods to whom the Romans believed themselves indebted for the empire. And the same is true in respect of men as well as nations. He who gave power to Marius gave it also to Caius Csar; He who gave it to Augustus gave it also to Nero; He also who gave it to the most benignant emperors, the Vespasians, father and son, gave it also to the cruel Domitian; and, finally, to avoid the necessity of going over them all, He who gave it to the Christian Constantine gave it also to the apostate Julian, whose gifted mind was deceived by a sacrilegious and detestable curiosity, stimulated by the love of power. And it was because he was addicted through curiosity to vain oracles, that, confident of victory, he burned the ships which were laden with the provisions necessary for his army, and therefore, engaging with hot zeal in rashly audacious enterprises, he was soon slain, as the just consequence of his recklessness, and left his army unprovisioned in an enemy's country, and in such a predicament that it never could have escaped, save by altering the boundaries of the Roman empire, in violation of that omen of the god Terminus of which I spoke in the preceding book; for the god Terminus yielded to necessity, though he had not yielded to Jupiter. Manifestly these things are ruled and governed by the one God according as He pleases; and if His motives are hid, are they therefore unjust?
  [Pg 220]

BOOK XIII. - That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  Olshausen and Ebrard on the Hebrews.
  Havernick's General Introduction to the Old Testament.
  --
  Delitzsch's Commentary on Epistle to the Hebrews. Vol. i. 1 1 0
  Harless' System of Christian Ethics. 1 vol.
  --
  Delitzsch's Commentary on Epistle to the Hebrews. Vol. ii.
  

BOOK XIX. - A review of the philosophical opinions regarding the Supreme Good, and a comparison of these opinions with the Christian belief regarding happiness, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  For in his book called , in which he collects and comments upon the responses which he pretends were uttered by the gods concerning divine things, he says I give his own words as they have been translated from the Greek: "To one who inquired what god he should propitiate in order to recall his wife from Christianity, Apollo replied in the following verses." Then the following words are given as those of Apollo: "You will probably find it easier to write lasting characters on the water, or lightly fly like a bird through the air, than to restore right feeling in your impious wife once she has polluted herself. Let her remain as she pleases in her foolish deception, and sing false laments to her dead God, who was condemned by right-minded judges, and perished ignominiously by a violent death." Then after these verses of Apollo (which we have given in a Latin version that does not preserve the metrical form), he goes on to say: "In these verses Apollo exposed the incurable corruption of the Christians, saying that the Jews, rather than the Christians, recognised God." See how he misrepresents Christ, giving the Jews the preference to the Christians in the recognition of God. This was his explanation of Apollo's verses, in which he says that Christ was put to death by right-minded or just judges,in other words, that He deserved to die. I leave the responsibility of this oracle regarding Christ on the lying interpreter of Apollo, or on this philosopher who believed it or possibly himself invented it; as to its agreement with Porphyry's opinions or with other oracles, we shall in a little have something to say. In this passage, however, he says that the Jews, as the interpreters of God, judged justly in pronouncing Christ to be worthy of the most shameful death. He should have listened, then, to this God of the Jews to whom he bears this testimony, when that God says, "He that sacrificeth to any other god save to the Lord alone shall be utterly destroyed." But let us come to still plainer expressions, and hear how great a God Porphyry thinks the God of the Jews is. Apollo, he says, when asked whether word, i.e. reason, or law is the better thing, replied in the following verses. Then[Pg 335] he gives the verses of Apollo, from which I select the following as sufficient: "God, the Generator, and the King prior to all things, before whom heaven and earth, and the sea, and the hidden places of hell tremble, and the deities themselves are afraid, for their law is the Father whom the holy Hebrews honour." In this oracle of his god Apollo, Porphyry avowed that the God of the Hebrews is so great that the deities themselves are afraid before Him. I am surprised, therefore, that when God said, He that sacrificeth to other gods shall be utterly destroyed, Porphyry himself was not afraid lest he should be destroyed for sacrificing to other gods.
  This philosopher, however, has also some good to say of Christ, oblivious, as it were, of that contumely of his of which we have just been speaking; or as if his gods spoke evil of Christ only while asleep, and recognised Him to be good, and gave Him His deserved praise, when they awoke. For, as if he were about to proclaim some marvellous thing passing belief, he says, "What we are going to say will certainly take some by surprise. For the gods have declared that Christ was very pious, and has become immortal, and that they cherish his memory: that the Christians, however, are polluted, contaminated, and involved in error. And many other such things," he says, "do the gods say against the Christians." Then he gives specimens of the accusations made, as he says, by the gods against them, and then goes on: "But to some who asked Hecate whether Christ were a God, she replied, You know the condition of the disembodied immortal soul, and that if it has been severed from wisdom it always errs. The soul you refer to is that of a man foremost in piety: they worship it because they mistake the truth." To this so-called oracular response he adds the following words of his own: "Of this very pious man, then, Hecate said that the soul, like the souls of other good men, was after death dowered with immortality, and that the Christians through ignorance worship it. And to those who ask why he was condemned to die, the oracle of the goddess replied, The body, indeed, is always exposed to torments, but the souls of the pious abide in heaven. And the soul you inquire about has been the fatal cause of error to other souls which were not fated to receive the gifts[Pg 336] of the gods, and to have the knowledge of immortal Jove. Such souls are therefore hated by the gods; for they who were fated not to receive the gifts of the gods, and not to know God, were fated to be involved in error by means of him you speak of. He himself, however, was good, and heaven has been opened to him as to other good men. You are not, then, to speak evil of him, but to pity the folly of men: and through him men's danger is imminent."
  --
  When Porphyry or Hecate praises Christ, and adds that He gave Himself to the Christians as a fatal gift, that they might be involved in error, he exposes, as he thinks, the causes of this error. But before I cite his words to that purpose, I would ask, If Christ did thus give Himself to the Christians to involve them in error, did He do so willingly, or against His will? If willingly, how is He righteous? If against His will, how is He blessed? However, let us hear the causes of this error. "There are," he says, "in a certain place very small earthly spirits, subject to the power of evil demons. The wise men of the Hebrews, among whom was this Jesus, as you have heard from the oracles of Apollo cited above, turned religious persons from these very wicked demons and minor spirits, and taught them rather to worship the celestial gods, and especially to adore God the Father. This," he said, "the gods enjoin; and we have already shown how they admonish the soul to turn to God, and comm and it to worship Him. But the ignorant and the ungodly, who are not destined to receive favours from the gods, nor to know the immortal Jupiter, not listening to the gods and their messages, have turned away from all gods, and have not only refused to hate, but have venerated the prohibited demons. Professing to worship God, they refuse to do those things by which alone God is worshipped. For God, indeed, being the Father of all, is in need of nothing; but for us it is good to adore Him by means of justice, chastity, and other virtues, and thus to make life itself a prayer to Him, by inquiring into and imitating His nature. For inquiry," says he, "purifies and imitation deifies us, by moving us nearer to Him." He is right in so far as he proclaims God the Father, and the conduct by which we should worship Him. Of such precepts the prophetic books of the Hebrews are full, when they praise or blame the life of the saints. But in speaking of the Christians he is in error,[Pg 338] and calumniates them as much as is desired by the demons whom he takes for gods, as if it were difficult for any man to recollect the disgraceful and shameful actions which used to be done in the theatres and temples to please the gods, and to compare with these things what is heard in our churches, and what is offered to the true God, and from this comparison to conclude where character is edified, and where it is ruined. But who but a diabolical spirit has told or suggested to this man so manifest and vain a lie, as that the Christians reverenced rather than hated the demons, whose worship the Hebrews prohibited? But that God, whom the Hebrew sages worshipped, forbids sacrifice to be offered even to the holy angels of heaven and divine powers, whom we, in this our pilgrimage, venerate and love as our most blessed fellow-citizens. For in the law which God gave to His Hebrew people He utters this menace, as in a voice of thunder: "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed."[659] And that no one might suppose that this prohibition extends only to the very wicked demons and earthly spirits, whom this philosopher calls very small and inferior,for even these are in the Scripture called gods, not of the Hebrews, but of the nations, as the Septuagint translators have shown in the psalm where it is said, "For all the gods of the nations are demons,"[660]that no one might suppose, I say, that sacrifice to these demons was prohibited, but that sacrifice might be offered to all or some of the celestials, it was immediately added, "save unto the Lord alone."[661] The God of the Hebrews, then, to whom this renowned philosopher bears this signal testimony, gave to His Hebrew people a law, composed in the Hebrew language, and not obscure and unknown, but published now in every nation, and in this law it is written, "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord alone, he shall be utterly destroyed." What need is there to seek further proofs in the law or the prophets of this same thing? Seek, we need not say, for the passages are neither few nor difficult to find; but what need to collect[Pg 339] and apply to my argument the proofs which are thickly sown and obvious, and by which it appears clear as day that sacrifice may be paid to none but the supreme and true God? Here is one brief but decided, even menacing, and certainly true utterance of that God whom the wisest of our adversaries so highly extol. Let this be listened to, feared, fulfilled, that there may be no disobedient soul cut off. "He that sacrifices," He says, not because He needs anything, but because it behoves us to be His possession. Hence the Psalmist in the Hebrew Scriptures sings, "I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God, for Thou needest not my good."[662] For we ourselves, who are His own city, are His most noble and worthy sacrifice, and it is this mystery we celebrate in our sacrifices, which are well known to the faithful, as we have explained in the preceding books. For through the prophets the oracles of God declared that the sacrifices which the Jews offered as a shadow of that which was to be would cease, and that the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun, would offer one sacrifice. From these oracles, which we now see accomplished, we have made such selections as seemed suitable to our purpose in this work. And therefore, where there is not this righteousness whereby the one supreme God rules the obedient city according to His grace, so that it sacrifices to none but Him, and whereby, in all the citizens of this obedient city, the soul consequently rules the body and reason the vices in the rightful order, so that, as the individual just man, so also the community and people of the just, live by faith, which works by love, that love whereby man loves God as He ought to be loved, and his neighbour as himself,there, I say, there is not an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of right, and by a community of interests. But if there is not this, there is not a people, if our definition be true, and therefore there is no republic; for where there is no people there can be no republic.
    24. The definition which must be given of a people and a republic, in order to vindicate the assumption of these titles by the Romans and by other kingdoms.
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  Wherefore, as the life of the flesh is the soul, so the blessed life of man is God, of whom the sacred writings of the Hebrews say, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord."[663] Miserable, therefore, is the people which is alienated from God. Yet even this people has a peace of its own which is not to be lightly esteemed, though, indeed, it shall not in the end enjoy it, because it makes no good use of it before the end. But it is our interest that it enjoy this peace meanwhile in this life; for as long as the two cities are commingled, we also enjoy the peace of Babylon. For from Babylon the people of God is so freed that it meanwhile sojourns in its company. And therefore the apostle also admonished the Church to pray for kings and those in authority, assigning as the reason, "that we may live a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and love."[664] And the prophet Jeremiah, when predicting the captivity that was to befall the ancient people of God, and giving them the divine comm and to go obediently to Babylonia, and thus serve their God, counselled them also to pray for Babylonia, saying, "In the peace thereof shall ye have peace,"[665]the temporal peace which the good and the wicked together enjoy.
  27. That the peace of those who serve God cannot in this mortal life be apprehended in its perfection.

BOOK X. - Porphyrys doctrine of redemption, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  And who is so foolish as to suppose that the things offered to God are needed by Him for some uses of His own? Divine Scripture in many places explodes this idea. Not to be wearisome, suffice it to quote this brief saying from a psalm: "I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God: for Thou needest not my goodness."[377] We must believe, then, that God has no need, not only of cattle, or any other earthly and material thing, but even of man's righteousness, and that whatever right worship is paid to God profits not Him, but man. For no man would say he did a benefit to a fountain by drinking, or to the light by seeing. And the fact that the ancient church offered animal sacrifices, which the people of God now-a-days reads of without imitating, proves nothing else than this, that those sacrifices signified the things which we do for the purpose of drawing near to God, and inducing our neighbour to do the same. A sacrifice, therefore, is the visible sacrament or sacred sign of an invisible sacrifice. Hence that penitent in the psalm, or it may be the Psalmist himself, entreating God to be merciful to his sins, says, "If Thou desiredst sacrifice, I would give it: Thou delightest not in whole burnt-offerings. The sacrifice of God is a broken heart: a heart contrite and humble God will not despise."[378] Observe how, in the very words in which he is expressing God's refusal of sacrifice, he shows that God requires sacrifice. He does[Pg 389] not desire the sacrifice of a slaughtered beast, but He desires the sacrifice of a contrite heart. Thus, that sacrifice which he says God does not wish, is the symbol of the sacrifice which God does wish. God does not wish sacrifices in the sense in which foolish people think He wishes them, viz. to gratify His own pleasure. For if He had not wished that the sacrifices He requires, as, e.g., a heart contrite and humbled by penitent sorrow, should be symbolized by those sacrifices which He was thought to desire because pleasant to Himself, the old law would never have enjoined their presentation; and they were destined to be merged when the fit opportunity arrived, in order that men might not suppose that the sacrifices themselves, rather than the things symbolized by them, were pleasing to God or acceptable in us. Hence, in another passage from another psalm, he says, "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?"[379] as if He should say, Supposing such things were necessary to me, I would never ask thee for what I have in my own hand. Then he goes on to mention what these signify: "Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."[380] So in another prophet: "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Hath He showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"[381] In the words of this prophet, these two things are distinguished and set forth with sufficient explicitness, that God does not require these sacrifices for their own sakes, and that He does require the sacrifices which they symbolize. In the epistle entitled "To the Hebrews" it is said, "To do good and to communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."[382] And so,[Pg 390] when it is written, "I desire mercy rather than sacrifice,"[383] nothing else is meant than that one sacrifice is preferred to another; for that which in common speech is called sacrifice is only the symbol of the true sacrifice. Now mercy is the true sacrifice, and therefore it is said, as I have just quoted, "with such sacrifices God is well pleased." All the divine ordinances, therefore, which we read concerning the sacrifices in the service of the tabernacle or the temple, we are to refer to the love of God and our neighbour. For "on these two commandments," as it is written, "hang all the law and the prophets."[384]
  6. Of the true and perfect sacrifice.
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  I should seem tedious were I to recount all the ancient miracles, which were wrought in attestation of God's promises which He made to Abraham thousands of years ago, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed.[395] For who can but marvel that Abraham's barren wife should have given birth to a son at an age when not even a prolific woman could bear children; or, again, that when Abraham sacrificed, a flame from heaven should have run between the divided parts;[396] or that the angels in human form, whom he had hospitably entertained, and who had renewed God's promise[Pg 393] of offspring, should also have predicted the destruction of Sodom by fire from heaven;[397] and that his nephew Lot should have been rescued from Sodom by the angels as the fire was just descending, while his wife, who looked back as she went, and was immediately turned into salt, stood as a sacred beacon warning us that no one who is being saved should long for what he is leaving? How striking also were the wonders done by Moses to rescue God's people from the yoke of slavery in Egypt, when the magi of the Pharaoh, that is, the king of Egypt, who tyrannized over this people, were suffered to do some wonderful things that they might be vanquished all the more signally! They did these things by the magical arts and incantations to which the evil spirits or demons are addicted; while Moses, having as much greater power as he had right on his side, and having the aid of angels, easily conquered them in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. And, in fact, the magicians failed at the third plague; whereas Moses, dealing out the miracles delegated to him, brought ten plagues upon the land, so that the hard hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians yielded, and the people were let go. But, quickly repenting, and essaying to overtake the departing Hebrews, who had crossed the sea on dry ground, they were covered and overwhelmed in the returning waters. What shall I say of those frequent and stupendous exhibitions of divine power, while the people were conducted through the wilderness?of the waters which could not be drunk, but lost their bitterness, and quenched the thirsty, when at God's comm and a piece of wood was cast into them? of the manna that descended from heaven to appease their hunger, and which begat worms and putrefied when any one collected more than the appointed quantity, and yet, though double was gathered on the day before the Sabbath (it not being lawful to gather it on that day), remained fresh? of the birds which filled the camp, and turned appetite into satiety when they longed for flesh, which it seemed impossible to supply to so vast a population? of the enemies who met them, and opposed their passage with arms, and were defeated without the loss of a single Hebrew, when[Pg 394] Moses prayed with his hands extended in the form of a cross? of the seditious persons who arose among God's people, and separated themselves from the divinely-ordered community, and were swallowed up alive by the earth, a visible token of an invisible punishment? of the rock struck with the rod, and pouring out waters more than enough for all the host? of the deadly serpents' bites, sent in just punishment of sin, but healed by looking at the lifted brazen serpent, so that not only were the tormented people healed, but a symbol of the crucifixion of death set before them in this destruction of death by death? It was this serpent which was preserved in memory of this event, and was afterwards worshipped by the mistaken people as an idol, and was destroyed by the pious and God-fearing king Hezekiah, much to his credit.
  9. Of the illicit arts connected with demonolatry, and of which the Platonist Porphyry adopts some, and discards others.
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  On this account it was that the law of God, given by the disposition of angels, and which commanded that the one God of gods alone receive sacred worship, to the exclusion of all others, was deposited in the ark, called the ark of the testimony. By this name it is sufficiently indicated, not that God, who was worshipped by all those rites, was shut up and enclosed in that place, though His responses emanated from it along with signs appreciable by the senses, but that His will was declared from that throne. The law itself, too, was engraven on tables of stone, and, as I have said, deposited in the ark, which the priests carried with due reverence during the sojourn in the wilderness, along with the tabernacle, which was in like manner called the tabernacle of the testimony; and there was then an accompanying sign, which appeared as a cloud by day and as a fire by night; when the cloud moved, the camp was shifted, and where it stood the camp was pitched. Besides these signs, and the voices which proceeded from the place where the ark was, there were other miraculous testimonies to the law. For when the ark was carried across Jordan, on the entrance to the land of promise, the upper part of the river stopped in its course, and the lower part flowed on, so as to present both to the ark and the people dry ground to pass over. Then, when it was carried seven times round the first hostile and polytheistic city they came to, its walls suddenly fell down, though assaulted by no hand, struck by no battering-ram. Afterwards, too, when they were now resident in the land of promise, and the ark had, in punishment of their sin, been taken by their enemies, its captors triumphantly placed it in the temple of their favourite god, and left it shut up there, but, on opening the temple next day, they found the image they used to pray to fallen to the ground and shamefully shattered. Then, being themselves alarmed by portents, and still more shamefully punished, they restored the ark of the testimony to the people from whom they had taken it. And what was the manner of[Pg 408] its restoration? They placed it on a wagon, and yoked to it cows from which they had taken the calves, and let them choose their own course, expecting that in this way the divine will would be indicated; and the cows, without any man driving or directing them, steadily pursued the way to the Hebrews, without regarding the lowing of their calves, and thus restored the ark to its worshippers. To God these and such like wonders are small, but they are mighty to terrify and give wholesome instruction to men. For if philosophers, and especially the Platonists, are with justice esteemed wiser than other men, as I have just been mentioning, because they taught that even these earthly and insignificant things are ruled by Divine Providence, inferring this from the numberless beauties which are observable not only in the bodies of animals, but even in plants and grasses, how much more plainly do these things attest the presence of divinity which happen at the time predicted, and in which that religion is commended which forbids the offering of sacrifice to any celestial, terrestrial, or infernal being, and commands it to be offered to God only, who alone blesses us by His love for us, and by our love to Him, and who, by arranging the appointed times of those sacrifices, and by predicting that they were to pass into a better sacrifice by a better Priest, testified that He has no appetite for these sacrifices, but through them indicated others of more substantial blessing, and all this not that He Himself may be glorified by these honours, but that we may be stirred up to worship and cleave to Him, being inflamed by His love, which is our advantage rather than His?
  18. Against those who deny that the books of the Church are to be believed about the miracles whereby the people of God were educated.
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  It was by faith in this mystery, and godliness of life, that purification was attainable even by the saints of old, whether before the law was given to the Hebrews (for God and the angels were even then present as instructors), or in the periods under the law, although the promises of spiritual things, being presented in figure, seemed to be carnal, and hence the name of Old Testament. For it was then the prophets lived, by whom, as by angels, the same promise was announced; and among them was he whose grand and divine sentiment regarding the end and supreme good of man I have just now quoted, "It is good for me to cleave to God."[418] In this psalm the distinction between the Old and New Testaments is distinctly announced. For the Psalmist says, that when he saw that the carnal and earthly promises were abundantly enjoyed by the ungodly, his feet were almost gone, his steps had well-nigh slipped; and that it seemed to him as if he had served God in vain, when he saw that those who despised God increased in that prosperity which he looked for at God's hand. He says, too, that, in investigating this matter with the desire of understanding why it was so, he had laboured in vain, until he went into the sanctuary of God, and understood the end of those whom he had erroneously considered happy. Then he understood that they were cast down by that very thing, as he says, which they had made their boast, and that they had been consumed and perished for their iniquities; and that that whole fabric of temporal prosperity had become as a dream when one awaketh, and suddenly finds himself destitute of all the joys he had imaged in sleep. And, as in this earth or earthy city they seemed to themselves to be great, he says, "O Lord, in Thy city Thou wilt reduce their image to nothing." He also shows how beneficial it had been for him to seek even earthly blessings only from the one true God, in whose power are all things, for he says, "As a beast was I before Thee, and I am always with Thee." "As a beast," he says, meaning that he was stupid. For I ought to have sought from Thee such things as the ungodly could[Pg 417] not enjoy as well as I, and not those things which I saw them enjoying in abundance, and hence concluded I was serving Thee in vain, because they who declined to serve Thee had what I had not. Nevertheless, "I am always with Thee," because even in my desire for such things I did not pray to other gods. And consequently he goes on, "Thou hast holden me by my right hand, and by Thy counsel Thou hast guided me, and with glory hast taken me up;" as if all earthly advantages were left-hand blessings, though, when he saw them enjoyed by the wicked, his feet had almost gone. "For what," he says, "have I in heaven, and what have I desired from Thee upon earth?" He blames himself, and is justly displeased with himself; because, though he had in heaven so vast a possession (as he afterwards understood), he yet sought from his God on earth a transitory and fleeting happiness,a happiness of mire, we may say. "My heart and my flesh," he says, "fail, O God of my heart." Happy failure, from things below to things above! And hence in another psalm he says, "My soul longeth, yea, even faileth, for the courts of the Lord."[419] Yet, though he had said of both his heart and his flesh that they were failing, he did not say, O God of my heart and my flesh, but, O God of my heart; for by the heart the flesh is made clean. Therefore, says the Lord, "Cleanse that which is within, and the outside shall be clean also."[420] He then says that God Himself,not anything received from Him, but Himself,is his portion. "The God of my heart, and my portion for ever." Among the various objects of human choice, God alone satisfied him. "For, lo," he says, "they that are far from Thee shall perish: Thou destroyest all them that go a-whoring from Thee,"that is, who prostitute themselves to many gods. And then follows the verse for which all the rest of the psalm seems to prepare: "It is good for me to cleave to God,"not to go far off; not to go a-whoring with a multitude of gods. And then shall this union with God be perfected, when all that is to be redeemed in us has been redeemed. But for the present we must, as he goes on to say, "place our hope in God." "For that which is seen," says the apostle, "is not hope. For what[Pg 418] a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."[421] Being, then, for the present established in this hope, let us do what the Psalmist further indicates, and become in our measure angels or messengers of God, declaring His will, and praising His glory and His grace. For when he had said, "To place my hope in God," he goes on, "that I may declare all Thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion." This is the most glorious city of God; this is the city which knows and worships one God: she is celebrated by the holy angels, who invite us to their society, and desire us to become fellow-citizens with them in this city; for they do not wish us to worship them as our gods, but to join them in worshipping their God and ours; nor to sacrifice to them, but, together with them, to become a sacrifice to God. Accordingly, whoever will lay aside malignant obstinacy, and consider these things, shall be assured that all these blessed and immortal spirits, who do not envy us (for if they envied they were not blessed), but rather love us, and desire us to be as blessed as themselves, look on us with greater pleasure, and give us greater assistance, when we join them in worshipping one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, than if we were to offer to themselves sacrifice and worship.
  26. Of Porphyry's weakness in wavering between the confession of the true God and the worship of demons.
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  This, then, is the universal way of the soul's deliverance, the way that is granted by the divine compassion to the nations universally. And no nation to which the knowledge of it has already come, or may hereafter come, ought to demand, Why so soon? or, Why so late?for the design of Him who sends it is impenetrable by human capacity. This was felt by Porphyry when he confined himself to saying that this gift of God was not yet received, and had not yet come to his knowledge. For, though this was so, he did not on that account pronounce that the way itself had no existence. This, I say, is the universal way for the deliverance of believers, concerning which the faithful Abraham received the divine assurance, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed."[434] He, indeed, was by birth a Chaldan; but, that he might receive these great promises, and that there might be propagated from him a seed "disposed by angels in the hand of a Mediator,"[435] in whom this universal way, thrown open to all nations for the deliverance of the soul, might be found, he was ordered to leave his country, and kindred, and father's house. Then was he himself, first of all, delivered from the Chaldan superstitions, and by his obedience worshipped the one true God, whose promises he faithfully trusted. This is the universal way, of which it is said in holy prophecy, "God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations."[436] And hence, when our Saviour, so long after, had taken flesh of the seed of Abraham, He says of Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."[437] This is the universal way, of which so long before it had been predicted, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the[Pg 433] word of the Lord from Jerusalem."[438] This way, therefore, is not the property of one, but of all nations. The law and the word of the Lord did not remain in Zion and Jerusalem, but issued thence to be universally diffused. And therefore the Mediator Himself, after His resurrection, says to His alarmed disciples, "These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."[439] This is the universal way of the soul's deliverance, which the holy angels and the holy prophets formerly disclosed where they could among the few men who found the grace of God, and especially in the Hebrew nation, whose commonwealth was, as it were, consecrated to prefigure and fore-announce the city of God which was to be gathered from all nations, by their tabernacle, and temple, and priesthood, and sacrifices. In some explicit statements, and in many obscure foreshadowings, this way was declared; but latterly came the Mediator Himself in the flesh, and His blessed apostles, revealing how the grace of the New Testament more openly explained what had been obscurely hinted to preceding generations, in conformity with the relation of the ages of the human race, and as it pleased God in His wisdom to appoint, who also bore them witness with signs and miracles, some of which I have cited above. For not only were there visions of angels, and words heard from those heavenly ministrants, but also men of God, armed with the word of simple piety, cast out unclean spirits from the bodies and senses of men, and healed deformities and sicknesses; the wild beasts of earth and sea, the birds of air, inanimate things, the elements, the stars, obeyed their divine commands; the powers of hell gave way before them, the dead were restored to life. I say nothing of the miracles peculiar and proper to the Saviour's own person, especially the nativity[Pg 434] and the resurrection; in the one of which He wrought only the mystery of a virgin maternity, while in the other He furnished an instance of the resurrection which all shall at last experience. This way purifies the whole man, and prepares the mortal in all his parts for immortality. For, to prevent us from seeking for one purgation for the part which Porphyry calls intellectual, and another for the part he calls spiritual, and another for the body itself, our most mighty and truthful Purifier and Saviour assumed the whole human nature. Except by this way, which has been present among men both during the period of the promises and of the proclamation of their fulfilment, no man has been delivered, no man is delivered, no man shall be delivered.
  As to Porphyry's statement that the universal way of the soul's deliverance had not yet come to his knowledge by any acquaintance he had with history, I would ask, what more remarkable history can be found than that which has taken possession of the whole world by its authoritative voice? or what more trustworthy than that which narrates past events, and predicts the future with equal clearness, and in the unfulfilled predictions of which we are constrained to believe by those that are already fulfilled? For neither Porphyry nor any Platonists can despise divination and prediction, even of things that pertain to this life and earthly matters, though they justly despise ordinary soothsaying and the divination that is connected with magical arts. They deny that these are the predictions of great men, or are to be considered important, and they are right; for they are founded, either on the foresight of subsidiary causes, as to a professional eye much of the course of a disease is foreseen by certain premonitory symptoms, or the unclean demons predict what they have resolved to do, that they may thus work upon the thoughts and desires of the wicked with an appearance of authority, and incline human frailty to imitate their impure actions. It is not such things that the saints who walk in the universal way care to predict as important, although, for the purpose of commending the faith, they knew and often predicted even such things as could not be detected by human observation, nor be readily verified by experience. But there[Pg 435] were other truly important and divine events which they predicted, in so far as it was given them to know the will of God. For the incarnation of Christ, and all those important marvels that were accomplished in Him, and done in His name; the repentance of men and the conversion of their wills to God; the remission of sins, the grace of righteousness, the faith of the pious, and the multitudes in all parts of the world who believe in the true divinity; the overthrow of idolatry and demon worship, and the testing of the faithful by trials; the purification of those who persevered, and their deliverance from all evil; the day of judgment, the resurrection of the dead, the eternal damnation of the community of the ungodly, and the eternal kingdom of the most glorious city of God, ever-blessed in the enjoyment of the vision of God,these things were predicted and promised in the Scriptures of this way; and of these we see so many fulfilled, that we justly and piously trust that the rest will also come to pass. As for those who do not believe, and consequently do not understand, that this is the way which leads straight to the vision of God and to eternal fellowship with Him, according to the true predictions and statements of the Holy Scriptures, they may storm at our position, but they cannot storm it.

BOOK XVIII. - A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  13. What fables were invented at the time when judges began to rule the Hebrews.
  After the death of Joshua the son of Nun, the people of God had judges, in whose times they were alternately humbled by afflictions on account of their sins, and consoled by prosperity through the compassion of God. In those times were invented the fables about Triptolemus, who, at the comm and of Ceres, borne by winged snakes, bestowed corn on the needy lands in flying over them; about that beast the Minotaur, which was shut up in the Labyrinth, from which men who entered its inextricable mazes could find no exit; about the Centaurs, whose form was a compound of horse and man; about Cerberus, the three-headed dog of hell; about Phryxus and his sister Hellas, who fled, borne by a winged ram; about the Gorgon, whose hair was composed of serpents, and who turned those who looked on her into stone; about Bellerophon, who was carried by a winged horse called Pegasus; about Amphion, who charmed and attracted the stones by the sweetness of his harp; about the artificer Ddalus and his son Icarus, who flew on wings they had fitted on; about dipus, who compelled a certain four-footed monster with a human face, called a sphynx, to destroy herself by casting herself headlong, having solved the riddle she was wont to propose as insoluble; about Antus, who was the son of the earth, for which reason, on falling on the earth, he was wont to rise up stronger, whom Hercules slew; and perhaps there are others which I have forgotten. These fables, easily found in histories containing a true account of events, bring us down to the Trojan war, at which Marcus Varro has closed his second book about the race of the Roman people; and they[Pg 232] are so skilfully invented by men as to involve no scandal to the gods. But whoever have pretended as to Jupiter's rape of Ganymede, a very beautiful boy, that king Tantalus committed the crime, and the fable ascribed it to Jupiter; or as to his impregnating Dane as a golden shower, that it means that the woman's virtue was corrupted by gold: whether these things were really done or only fabled in those days, or were really done by others and falsely ascribed to Jupiter, it is impossible to tell how much wickedness must have been taken for granted in men's hearts that they should be thought able to listen to such lies with patience. And yet they willingly accepted them, when, indeed, the more devotedly they worshipped Jupiter, they ought the more severely to have punished those who durst say such things of him. But they not only were not angry at those who invented these things, but were afraid that the gods would be angry at them if they did not act such fictions even in the theatres. In those times Latona bore Apollo, not him of whose oracle we have spoken above as so often consulted, but him who is said, along with Hercules, to have fed the flocks of king Admetus; yet he was so believed to be a god, that very many, indeed almost all, have believed him to be the selfsame Apollo. Then also Father Liber made war in India, and led in his army many women called Bacch, who were notable not so much for valour as for fury. Some, indeed, write that this Liber was both conquered and bound; and some that he was slain in Persia, even telling where he was buried; and yet in his name, as that of a god, the unclean demons have instituted the sacred, or rather the sacrilegious, Bacchanalia, of the outrageous vileness of which the senate, after many years, became so much ashamed as to prohibit them in the city of Rome. Men believed that in those times Perseus and his wife Andromeda were raised into heaven after their death, so that they were not ashamed or afraid to mark out their images by constellations, and call them by their names.
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  During those times the kingdom of Argos came to an end, being transferred to Mycene, from which Agamemnon came, and the kingdom of Laurentum arose, of which Picus son of Saturn was the first king, when the woman Deborah judged the Hebrews; but it was the Spirit of God who used her as His agent, for she was also a prophetess, although her prophecy is so obscure that we could not demonstrate, without a long discussion, that it was uttered concerning Christ. Now the Laurentes already reigned in Italy, from whom the origin of the Roman people is quite evidently derived after the Greeks; yet the kingdom of Assyria still lasted, in which Lampares was the twenty-third king when Picus first began to reign at Laurentum. The worshippers of such gods may see what they are to think of Saturn the father of Picus, who deny that he was a man; of whom some also have written that he himself reigned in Italy before Picus his son; and Virgil in his well-known book says,
  [Pg 234]
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  19. That neas came into Italy when Abdon the judge ruled over the Hebrews.
  After the capture and destruction of Troy, neas, with twenty ships laden with the Trojan relics, came into Italy, when Latinus reigned there, Menestheus in Athens, Polyphidos in Sicyon, and Tautanos in Assyria, and Abdon was judge of the Hebrews. On the death of Latinus, neas reigned three years, the same kings continuing in the above-named places, except that Pelasgus was now king in Sicyon, and Sampson was judge of the Hebrews, who is thought to be Hercules, because of his wonderful strength. Now the Latins made neas one of their gods, because at his death he was nowhere to be found. The Sabines also placed among the gods their first king, Sancus, [Sangus], or Sanctus, as some[Pg 239] call him. At that time Codrus king of Athens exposed himself incognito to be slain by the Peloponnesian foes of that city, and so was slain. In this way, they say, he delivered his country. For the Peloponnesians had received a response from the oracle, that they should overcome the Athenians only on condition that they did not slay their king. Therefore he deceived them by appearing in a poor man's dress, and provoking them, by quarrelling, to murder him. Whence Virgil says, "Or the quarrels of Codrus."[506] And the Athenians worshipped this man as a god with sacrificial honours. The fourth king of the Latins was Silvius the son of neas, not by Cresa, of whom Ascanius the third king was born, but by Lavinia the daughter of Latinus, and he is said to have been his posthumous child. Oneus was the twenty-ninth king of Assyria, Melanthus the sixteenth of the Athenians, and Eli the priest was judge of the Hebrews; and the kingdom of Sicyon then came to an end, after lasting, it is said, for nine hundred and fifty-nine years.
  20. Of the succession of the line of kings among the Israelites after the times of the judges.
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  To be brief, the city of Rome was founded, like another Babylon, and as it were the daughter of the former Babylon, by which God was pleased to conquer the whole world, and subdue it far and wide by bringing it into one fellowship of government and laws. For there were already powerful and brave peoples and nations trained to arms, who did not easily yield, and whose subjugation necessarily involved great danger and destruction as well as great and horrible labour. For when the Assyrian kingdom subdued almost all Asia, although this was done by fighting, yet the wars could not be very fierce or difficult, because the nations were as yet untrained to resist, and neither so many nor so great as afterward; forasmuch as, after that greatest and indeed universal flood, when only eight men escaped in Noah's ark, not much more than a thousand years had passed when Ninus subdued all Asia with the exception of India. But Rome did not with the same quickness and facility wholly subdue all those nations of the east and west which we see brought under the Roman empire, because, in its gradual increase, in whatever direction it was extended, it found them strong and warlike. At the time when Rome was founded, then, the people of Israel had been in the land of promise seven hundred and eighteen years. Of these years twenty-seven belong to Joshua the son of Nun, and after that three hundred and twenty-nine to the period of the judges. But from the time when the kings began to reign there, three hundred and sixty-two years had passed. And at that time there was a king in Judah called Ahaz, or, as others compute, Hezekiah his successor, the best and most pious king, who it is admitted reigned in the times of[Pg 242] Romulus. And in that part of the Hebrew nation called Israel, Hoshea had begun to reign.
  23. Of the Erythran sibyl, who is known to have sung many things about Christ more plainly than the other sibyls.
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  While Romulus reigned, Thales the Milesian is said to have lived, being one of the seven sages, who succeeded the theological poets, of whom Orpheus was the most renowned, and were called , that is, sages. During that time the ten tribes, which on the division of the people were called Israel, were conquered by the Chaldeans and led captive into their lands, while the two tribes which were called Judah, and had the seat of their kingdom in Jerusalem, remained in the land of Judea. As Romulus, when dead, could nowhere be found, the Romans, as is everywhere notorious, placed him among the gods,a thing which by that time had already ceased to be done, and which was not done afterwards till the time of the Csars, and then not through error, but in flattery; so that Cicero ascribes great praises to Romulus, because he merited such honours not in rude and unlearned times, when men[Pg 245] were easily deceived, but in times already polished and learned, although the subtle and acute loquacity of the philosophers had not yet culminated. But although the later times did not deify dead men, still they did not cease to hold and worship as gods those deified of old; nay, by images, which the ancients never had, they even increased the allurements of vain and impious superstition, the unclean demons effecting this in their heart, and also deceiving them by lying oracles, so that even the fabulous crimes of the gods, which were not once imagined by a more polite age, were yet basely acted in the plays in honour of these same false deities. Numa reigned after Romulus; and although he had thought that Rome would be better defended the more gods there were, yet on his death he himself was not counted worthy of a place among them, as if it were supposed that he had so crowded heaven that a place could not be found for him there. They report that the Samian sibyl lived while he reigned at Rome, and when Manasseh began to reign over the Hebrews,an impious king, by whom the prophet Isaiah is said to have been slain.
    25. What philosophers were famous when Tarquinius Priscus reigned over the Romans, and Zedekiah over the Hebrews, when Jerusalem was taken and the temple overthrown.
  When Zedekiah reigned over the Hebrews, and Tarquinius Priscus, the successor of Ancus Martius, over the Romans, the Jewish people was led captive into Babylon, Jerusalem and the temple built by Solomon being overthrown. For the prophets, in chiding them for their iniquity and impiety, predicted that these things should come to pass, especially Jeremiah, who even stated the number of years. Pittacus of Mitylene, another of the sages, is reported to have lived at that time. And Eusebius writes that, while the people of God were held captive in Babylon, the five other sages lived, who must be added to Thales, whom we mentioned above, and Pittacus, in order to make up the seven. These are Solon of Athens, Chilo of Lacedmon, Periander of Corinth, Cleobulus of Lindus, and Bias of Priene. These flourished after the theological poets, and were called sages, because they excelled other men in a certain laudable line of life, and summed up some moral precepts in epigrammatic sayings. But they left posterity no literary[Pg 246] monuments, except that Solon is alleged to have given certain laws to the Athenians, and Thales was a natural philosopher, and left books of his doctrine in short proverbs. In that time of the Jewish captivity, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Xenophanes, the natural philosophers, flourished. Pythagoras also lived then, and at this time the name philosopher was first used.
    26. That at the time when the captivity of the Jews was brought to an end, on the completion of seventy years, the Romans also were freed from kingly rule.
  --
  In the time of our prophets, then, whose writings had already come to the knowledge of almost all nations, the philosophers of the nations had not yet arisen,at least, not those who were called by that name, which originated with Pythagoras the Samian, who was becoming famous at the time when the Jewish captivity ended. Much more, then, are the other philosophers found to be later than the prophets. For even Socrates the Athenian, the master of all who were then most famous, holding the pre-eminence in that department that is called the moral or active, is found after Esdras in the chronicles. Plato also was born not much later, who far outwent the other disciples of Socrates. If, besides these, we take their predecessors, who had not yet been styled philosophers, to wit, the seven sages, and then the physicists, who succeeded Thales, and imitated his studious search into the nature of things, namely, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Anaxagoras, and some others, before Pythagoras first professed himself a philosopher, even these did not precede the whole of our prophets in antiquity of time, since Thales, whom the others succeeded, is said to have flourished in the reign of Romulus, when the stream of prophecy burst forth from the fountains of Israel in those writings which spread over the whole world. So that only those theological poets, Orpheus, Linus, and Musus, and, it may be, some others[Pg 264] among the Greeks, are found earlier in date than the Hebrew prophets whose writings we hold as authoritative. But not even these preceded in time our true divine, Moses, who au thentically preached the one true God, and whose writings are first in the authoritative canon; and therefore the Greeks, in whose tongue the literature of this age chiefly appears, have no ground for boasting of their wisdom, in which our religion, wherein is true wisdom, is not evidently more ancient at least, if not superior. Yet it must be confessed that before Moses there had already been, not indeed among the Greeks, but among barbarous nations, as in Egypt, some doctrine which might be called their wisdom, else it would not have been written in the holy books that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,[573] as he was, when, being born there, and adopted and nursed by Pharaoh's daughter, he was also liberally educated. Yet not even the wisdom of the Egyptians could be antecedent in time to the wisdom of our prophets, because even Abraham was a prophet. And what wisdom could there be in Egypt before Isis had given them letters, whom they thought fit to worship as a goddess after her death? Now Isis is declared to have been the daughter of Inachus, who first began to reign in Argos when the grandsons of Abraham are known to have been already born.
    38. That the ecclesiastical canon has not admitted certain writings on account of their too great antiquity, lest through them false things should be inserted instead of true.
  --
  39. About the Hebrew written characters which that language always possessed.
  Now we must not believe that Heber, from whose name the word Hebrew is derived, preserved and transmitted the Hebrew language to Abraham only as a spoken language, and that the Hebrew letters began with the giving of the law through Moses; but rather that this language, along with its letters, was preserved by that succession of fathers. Moses, indeed, appointed some among the people of God to teach letters, before they could know any letters of the divine law.[Pg 266] The Scripture calls these men , who may be called in Latin inductores or introductores of letters, because they, as it were, introduce them into the hearts of the learners, or rather lead those whom they teach into them. Therefore no nation could vaunt itself over our patriarchs and prophets by any wicked vanity for the antiquity of its wisdom; since not even Egypt, which is wont falsely and vainly to glory in the antiquity of her doctrines, is found to have preceded in time the wisdom of our patriarchs in her own wisdom, such as it is. Neither will any one dare to say that they were most skilful in wonderful sciences before they knew letters, that is, before Isis came and taught them there. Besides, what, for the most part, was that memorable doctrine of theirs which was called wisdom but astronomy, and it may be some other sciences of that kind, which usually have more power to exercise men's wit than to enlighten their minds with true wisdom? As regards philosophy, which professes to teach men something which shall make them happy, studies of that kind flourished in those lands about the times of Mercury whom they called Trismegistus, long before the sages and philosophers of Greece, but yet after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and even after Moses himself. At that time, indeed, when Moses was born, Atlas is found to have lived, that great astronomer, the brother of Prometheus, and maternal grandson of the elder Mercury, of whom that Mercury Trismegistus was the grandson.
  40. About the most mendacious vanity of the Egyptians, in which they ascribe to their science an antiquity of a hundred thousand years.
  --
    42. By what dispensation of God's providence the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament were translated out of Hebrew into Greek, that they might be made known to all the nations.
  One of the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, desired to know and have these sacred books. For after Alexander of Macedon, who is also styled the Great, had by his most wonderful, but by no means enduring power, subdued the whole of Asia, yea, almost the whole world, partly by force of arms, partly by terror, and, among other kingdoms of the East, had entered and obtained Judea also, on his death his generals did not peaceably divide that most ample kingdom among them for a possession, but rather dissipated it, wasting all things by wars. Then Egypt began to have the Ptolemies as her kings. The first of them, the son of Lagus, carried many captive out of Judea into Egypt. But another Ptolemy, called Philadelphus, who succeeded him, permitted all whom he had brought under the yoke to return free; and, more than that, sent kingly gifts to the temple of God, and begged Eleazar, who was the high priest, to give him the Scriptures, which he had heard by report were truly divine, and therefore greatly desired to have in that most noble library he had made. When the high[Pg 271] priest had sent them to him in Hebrew, he afterwards demanded interpreters of him, and there were given him seventy-two, out of each of the twelve tribes six men, most learned in both languages, to wit, the Hebrew and Greek; and their translation is now by custom called the Septuagint. It is reported, indeed, that there was an agreement in their words so wonderful, stupendous, and plainly divine, that when they had sat at this work, each one apart (for so it pleased Ptolemy to test their fidelity), they differed from each other in no word which had the same meaning and force, or in the order of the words; but, as if the translators had been one, so what all had translated was one, because in very deed the one Spirit had been in them all. And they received so wonderful a gift of God, in order that the authority of these Scriptures might be commended not as human but divine, as indeed it was, for the benefit of the nations who should at some time believe, as we now see them doing.
    43. Of the authority of the Septuagint translation, which, saving the honour of the Hebrew original, is to be preferred to all translations.
  For while there were other interpreters who translated these sacred oracles out of the Hebrew tongue into Greek, as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, and also that translation which, as the name of the author is unknown, is quoted as the fifth edition, yet the Church has received this Septuagint translation just as if it were the only one; and it has been used by the Greek Christian people, most of whom are not aware that there is any other. From this translation there has also been made a translation in the Latin tongue, which the Latin churches use. Our times, however, have enjoyed the advantage of the presbyter Jerome, a man most learned, and skilled in all three languages, who translated these same Scriptures into the Latin speech, not from the Greek, but from the Hebrew. But although the Jews acknowledge this very learned labour of his to be faithful, while they contend that the Septuagint translators have erred in many places, still the churches of Christ judge that no one should be preferred to the authority of so many men, chosen for this very great work by Eleazar, who was then high priest; for even if there had not appeared in them one spirit, without doubt divine, and[Pg 272] the seventy learned men had, after the manner of men, compared together the words of their translation, that what pleased them all might stand, no single translator ought to be preferred to them; but since so great a sign of divinity has appeared in them, certainly, if any other translator of their Scriptures from the Hebrew into any other tongue is faithful, in that case he agrees with these seventy translators, and if he is not found to agree with them, then we ought to believe that the prophetic gift is with them. For the same Spirit who was in the prophets when they spoke these things was also in the seventy men when they translated them, so that assuredly they could also say something else, just as if the prophet himself had said both, because it would be the same Spirit who said both; and could say the same thing differently, so that, although the words were not the same, yet the same meaning should shine forth to those of good understanding; and could omit or add something, so that even by this it might be shown that there was in that work not human bondage, which the translator owed to the words, but rather divine power, which filled and ruled the mind of the translator. Some, however, have thought that the Greek copies of the Septuagint version should be emended from the Hebrew copies; yet they did not dare to take away what the Hebrew lacked and the Septuagint had, but only added what was found in the Hebrew copies and was lacking in the Septuagint, and noted them by placing at the beginning of the verses certain marks in the form of stars which they call asterisks. And those things which the Hebrew copies have not, but the Septuagint have, they have in like manner marked at the beginning of the verses by horizontal spit-shaped marks like those by which we denote ounces; and many copies having these marks are circulated even in Latin.[578] But we cannot, without inspecting both kinds of copies, find out those things which are neither omitted nor added, but expressed differently, whether they yield another meaning not in itself unsuitable, or can be shown to explain the same meaning in another way. If, then, as it behoves us, we behold nothing else in these Scriptures than what the Spirit of God has spoken through[Pg 273] men, if anything is in the Hebrew copies and is not in the version of the Seventy, the Spirit of God did not choose to say it through them, but only through the prophets. But whatever is in the Septuagint and not in the Hebrew copies, the same Spirit chose rather to say through the latter, thus showing that both were prophets. For in that manner He spoke as He chose, some things through Isaiah, some through Jeremiah, some through several prophets, or else the same thing through this prophet and through that. Further, whatever is found in both editions, that one and the same Spirit willed to say through both, but so as that the former preceded in prophesying, and the latter followed in prophetically interpreting them; because, as the one Spirit of peace was in the former when they spoke true and concordant words, so the selfsame one Spirit hath appeared in the latter, when, without mutual conference, they yet interpreted all things as if with one mouth.
    44. How the threat of the destruction of the Ninevites is to be understood, which in the Hebrew extends to forty days, while in the Septuagint it is contracted to three.
  But some one may say, "How shall I know whether the prophet Jonah said to the Ninevites, 'Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,' or forty days?"[579] For who does not see that the prophet could not say both, when he was sent to terrify the city by the threat of imminent ruin? For if its destruction was to take place on the third day, it certainly could not be on the fortieth; but if on the fortieth, then certainly not on the third. If, then, I am asked which of these Jonah may have said, I rather think what is read in the Hebrew, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Yet the Seventy, interpreting long afterward, could say what was different and yet pertinent to the matter, and agree in the selfsame meaning, although under a different signification. And this may admonish the reader not to despise the authority of either, but to raise himself above the history, and search for those things which the history itself was written to set forth. These things, indeed, took place in the city of Nineveh, but they also signified something else too great to apply to that[Pg 274] city; just as, when it happened that the prophet himself was three days in the whale's belly, it signified besides, that He who is Lord of all the prophets should be three days in the depths of hell. Wherefore, if that city is rightly held as prophetically representing the Church of the Gentiles, to wit, as brought down by penitence, so as no longer to be what it had been, since this was done by Christ in the Church of the Gentiles, which Nineveh represented, Christ Himself was signified both by the forty and by the three days: by the forty, because He spent that number of days with His disciples after the resurrection, and then ascended into heaven, but by the three days, because He rose on the third day. So that, if the reader desires nothing else than to adhere to the history of events, he may be aroused from his sleep by the Septuagint interpreters, as well as the prophets, to search into the depth of the prophecy, as if they had said, In the forty days seek Him in whom thou mayest also find the three days,the one thou wilt find in His ascension, the other in His resurrection. Because that which could be most suitably signified by both numbers, of which one is used by Jonah the prophet, the other by the prophecy of the Septuagint version, the one and selfsame Spirit hath spoken. I dread prolixity, so that I must not demonstrate this by many instances in which the seventy interpreters may be thought to differ from the Hebrew, and yet, when well understood, are found to agree. For which reason I also, according to my capacity, following the footsteps of the apostles, who themselves have quoted prophetic testimonies from both, that is, from the Hebrew and the Septuagint, have thought that both should be used as authoritative, since both are one, and divine. But let us now follow out as we can what remains.
    45. That the Jews ceased to have prophets after the rebuilding of the temple, and from that time until the birth of Christ were afflicted with continual adversity, to prove that the building of another temple had been promised by prophetic voices.
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  This house of God is more glorious than that first one which was constructed of wood and stone, metals, and other precious things. Therefore the prophecy of Haggai was not fulfilled in the rebuilding of that temple. For it can never be shown to have had so much glory after it was rebuilt as it had in the time of Solomon; yea, rather, the glory of that house is shown to have been diminished, first by the ceasing of prophecy, and then by the nation itself suffering so great calamities, even to the final destruction made by the Romans, as the things above-mentioned prove. But this house which pertains to the new testament is just as much more glorious as the living stones, even believing, renewed men, of which it is constructed are better. But it was typified by the rebuilding of that temple for this reason, because the very renovation of that edifice typifies in the prophetic oracle another testament which is called the new. When, therefore, God said by[Pg 281] the prophet just named, "And I will give peace in this place,"[591] He is to be understood who is typified by that typical place; for since by that rebuilt place is typified the Church which was to be built by Christ, nothing else can be accepted as the meaning of the saying, "I will give peace in this place," except I will give peace in the place which that place signifies. For all typical things seem in some way to personate those whom they typify, as it is said by the apostle, "That Rock was Christ."[592] Therefore the glory of this new testament house is greater than the glory of the old testament house; and it will show itself as greater when it shall be dedicated. For then "shall come the desired of all nations,"[593] as we read in the Hebrew. For before His advent He had not yet been desired by all nations. For they knew not Him whom they ought to desire, in whom they had not believed. Then, also, according to the Septuagint interpretation (for it also is a prophetic meaning), "shall come those who are elected of the Lord out of all nations." For then indeed there shall come only those who are elected, whereof the apostle saith, "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world."[594] For the Master Builder who said, "Many are called, but few are chosen,"[595] did not say this of those who, on being called, came in such a way as to be cast out from the feast, but would point out the house built up of the elect, which henceforth shall dread no ruin. Yet because the churches are also full of those who shall be separated by the winnowing as in the threshing-floor, the glory of this house is not so apparent now as it shall be when every one who is there shall be there always.
  49. Of the indiscriminate increase of the Church, wherein many reprobate are in this world mixed with the elect.
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  I do not think, indeed, that what some have thought or may think is rashly said or believed, that until the time of Antichrist the Church of Christ is not to suffer any persecutions besides those she has already suffered,that is, ten, and that the eleventh and last shall be inflicted by Antichrist. They reckon as the first that made by Nero, the second by Domitian, the third by Trajan, the fourth by Antoninus, the fifth by Severus, the sixth by Maximin, the seventh by Decius, the eighth by Valerian, the ninth by Aurelian, the tenth by Diocletian and Maximian. For as there were ten plagues in Egypt before the people of God could begin to go out, they think this is to be referred to as showing that the last persecution by Antichrist must be like the eleventh plague, in which the Egyptians, while following the Hebrews with hostility, perished in the Red Sea when the people of God passed through on dry land. Yet I do not think persecutions were prophetically signified by what was done in Egypt, however nicely and ingeniously those who think so may seem to have compared the two in detail, not by the prophetic Spirit, but by the conjecture of the human mind, which sometimes hits the truth, and sometimes is deceived. But what can those who think this say of the persecution in which the Lord Himself was crucified? In which number will they put it? And if they think the reckoning is to be made exclusive of this one, as if those must be counted which pertain to the body, and not that in which the Head Himself was set upon and slain, what can they make of that one which, after Christ ascended into heaven, took place in Jerusalem, when the blessed Stephen was stoned; when James the brother of John was slaughtered with the sword; when the Apostle Peter was imprisoned to be killed, and was set free by the angel; when the brethren were driven away and scattered from Jerusalem; when Saul, who afterward became the Apostle Paul, wasted the Church; and when he himself, publishing[Pg 287] the glad tidings of the faith he had persecuted, suffered such things as he had inflicted, either from the Jews or from other nations, where he most fervently preached Christ everywhere? Why, then, do they think fit to start with Nero, when the Church in her growth had reached the times of Nero amid the most cruel persecutions, about which it would be too long to say anything? But if they think that only the persecutions made by kings ought to be reckoned, it was king Herod who also made a most grievous one after the ascension of the Lord. And what account do they give of Julian, whom they do not number in the ten? Did not he persecute the Church, who forbade the Christians to teach or learn liberal letters? Under him, the elder Valentinian, who was the third emperor after him, stood forth as a confessor of the Christian faith, and was dismissed from his comm and in the army. I shall say nothing of what he did at Antioch, except to mention his being struck with wonder at the freedom and cheerfulness of one most faithful and stedfast young man, who, when many were seized to be tortured, was tortured during a whole day, and sang under the instrument of torture, until the emperor feared lest he should succumb under the continued cruelties and put him to shame at last, which made him dread and fear that he would be yet more dishonourably put to the blush by the rest. Lastly, within our own recollection, did not Valens the Arian, brother of the foresaid Valentinian, waste the catholic Church by great persecution throughout the East? But how unreasonable it is not to consider that the Church, which bears fruit and grows through the whole world, may suffer persecution from kings in some nations even when she does not suffer it in others! Perhaps, however, it was not to be reckoned a persecution when the king of the Goths, in Gothia itself, persecuted the Christians with wonderful cruelty, when there were none but catholics there, of whom very many were crowned with martyrdom, as we have heard from certain brethren who had been there at that time as boys, and unhesitatingly called to mind that they had seen these things? And what took place in Persia of late? Was not persecution so hot against the Christians (if even yet it is allayed) that some of the fugitives from it came even to[Pg 288] Roman towns? When I think of these and the like things, it does not seem to me that the number of persecutions with which the Church is to be tried can be definitely stated. But, on the other hand, it is no less rash to affirm that there will be some persecutions by kings besides that last one, about which no Christian is in doubt. Therefore we leave this undecided, supporting or refuting neither side of this question, but only restraining men from the audacious presumption of affirming either of them.
  53. Of the hidden time of the final persecution.

BOOK XVII. - The history of the city of God from the times of the prophets to Christ, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  In the preceding book we said, that in the promise of God to Abraham two things were promised from the beginning, the one, namely, that his seed should possess the land of Canaan, which was intimated when it was said, "Go into a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation;"[344] but the other far more excellent, concerning not the carnal but the spiritual seed, by which he is the father, not of the one nation of Israel, but of all nations who follow the footsteps of his faith, which began to be promised in these words, "And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."[345] And thereafter we showed by yet many other proofs that these two things were promised. Therefore the seed of Abraham, that is, the people of Israel according to the flesh, already was[Pg 167] in the land of promise; and there, not only by holding and possessing the cities of the enemies, but also by having kings, had already begun to reign, the promises of God concerning that people being already in great part fulfilled: not only those that were made to those three fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and whatever others were made in their times, but those also that were made through Moses himself, by whom the same people was set free from servitude in Egypt, and by whom all bygone things were revealed in his times, when he led the people through the wilderness. But neither by the illustrious leader Jesus the son of Nun, who led that people into the land of promise, and, after driving out the nations, divided it among the twelve tribes according to God's command, and died; nor after him, in the whole time of the judges, was the promise of God concerning the land of Canaan fulfilled, that it should extend from some river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates; nor yet was it still prophesied as to come, but its fulfilment was expected. And it was fulfilled through David, and Solomon his son, whose kingdom was extended over the whole promised space; for they subdued all those nations, and made them tri butary. And thus, under those kings, the seed of Abraham was established in the land of promise according to the flesh, that is, in the land of Canaan, so that nothing yet remained to the complete fulfilment of that earthly promise of God, except that, so far as pertains to temporal prosperity, the Hebrew nation should remain in the same land by the succession of posterity in an unshaken state even to the end of this mortal age, if it obeyed the laws of the Lord its God. But since God knew it would not do this, He used His temporal punishments also for training His few faithful ones in it, and for giving needful warning to those who should afterwards be in all nations, in whom the other promise, revealed in the New Testament, was about to be fulfilled through the incarnation of Christ.
    3. Of the threefold meaning of the prophecies, which are to be referred now to the earthly, now to the heavenly Jerusalem, and now again to both.
  --
  Of which thing I do not doubt what follows is to be understood, "And will divide Israel in twain," to wit, into Israel pertaining to the bond woman, and Israel pertaining to the free. For these two kinds were at first together, as Abraham still clave to the bond woman, until the barren, made, fruitful by the grace of God, cried, "Cast out the bond woman and her son."[401] We know, indeed, that on account of the sin of Solomon, in the reign of his son Rehoboam Israel was divided in two, and continued so, the separate parts having their own kings, until that whole nation was overthrown with a great destruction, and carried away by the Chaldeans. But what was this to Saul, when, if any such thing was threatened, it would be threatened against David himself, whose son Solomon was? Finally, the Hebrew nation is not now divided internally, but is dispersed through the earth indiscriminately, in the fellowship of the same error. But that division with which God threatened the kingdom and people in the person of Saul, who represented them, is shown to be eternal and unchangeable by this which is added, "And He will not be changed, neither will He repent: for He is not as a man, that He should repent; who threatens and does not persist,"that is, a man threatens and does not persist, but not[Pg 188] God, who does not repent like man. For when we read that He repents, a change of circumstance is meant, flowing from the divine immutable foreknowledge. Therefore, when God is said not to repent, it is to be understood that He does not change.
  We see that this sentence concerning this division of the people of Israel, divinely uttered in these words, has been altogether irremediable and quite perpetual. For whoever have turned, or are turning, or shall turn thence to Christ, it has been according to the foreknowledge of God, not according to the one and the same nature of the human race. Certainly none of the Israelites, who, cleaving to Christ, have continued in Him, shall ever be among those Israelites who persist in being His enemies even to the end of this life, but shall for ever remain in the separation which is here foretold. For the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,[402] profiteth nothing, unless because it bears witness to the New Testament. Otherwise, however long Moses is read, the veil is put over their heart; but when any one shall turn thence to Christ, the veil shall be taken away.[403] For the very desire of those who turn is changed from the old to the new, so that each no longer desires to obtain carnal but spiritual felicity. Wherefore that great prophet Samuel himself, before he had anointed Saul, when he had cried to the Lord for Israel, and He had heard him, and when he had offered a whole burnt-offering, as the aliens were coming to battle against the people of God, and the Lord thundered above them and they were confused, and fell before Israel and were overcome; [then] he took one stone and set it up between the old and new Massephat (Mizpeh), and called its name Ebenezer, which means "the stone of the helper," and said, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."[404] Massephat is interpreted "desire." That stone of the helper is the mediation of the Saviour, by which we go from the old Massephat to the new,that is, from the desire with which carnal happiness was expected in the carnal kingdom to the desire with which the truest spiritual happiness is expected in the kingdom of heaven; and since nothing is better than that, the Lord helpeth us hitherto.
  --
  The other kings of the Hebrews after Solomon are scarcely found to have prophesied, through certain enigmatic words or actions of theirs, what may pertain to Christ and the Church, either in Judah or Israel; for so were the parts of that people styled, when, on account of Solomon's offence, from the time of Rehoboam his son, who succeeded him in the kingdom, it was divided by God as a punishment. The ten tribes, indeed, which Jeroboam the servant of Solomon received, being appointed the king in Samaria, were distinctively called Israel, although this had been the name of that whole people; but the two tribes, namely, of Judah and Benjamin, which for David's sake, lest the kingdom should be wholly wrenched from his race, remained subject to the city of Jerusalem, were called Judah, because that was the tribe whence David sprang. But Benjamin, the other tribe which, as was said, belonged to the same kingdom, was that whence Saul sprang before David. But these two tribes together, as was said, were called Judah, and were distinguished by this name from Israel, which was the distinctive title of the ten tribes under their own king. For the tribe of Levi, because it was the priestly one, bound to the servitude of God, not of the kings, was reckoned the thirteenth. For Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Israel, did not, like the others, form one tribe, but two, Ephraim and Manasseh. Yet the tribe of Levi also belonged more to the kingdom of Jerusalem, where was the temple of God whom it served. On the division of the people, therefore, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Jerusalem as the first king of Judah, and Jeroboam, servant of Solomon, in Samaria as king of Israel. And when Rehoboam wished as a tyrant to pursue that separated part with war, the people were prohibited from fighting with their brethren by God, who told them through a prophet that He had done this; whence it appeared that in this matter there had been no sin either of the king or people of Israel, but the accomplished will of[Pg 214] God the avenger. When this was known, both parts settled down peaceably, for the division made was not religious but political.
    22. Of Jeroboam, who profaned the people put under him by the impiety of idolatry, amid which, however, God did not cease to inspire the prophets, and to guard many from the crime of idolatry.
  --
    23. Of the varying condition of both the Hebrew kingdoms, until the people of both were at different times led into captivity, Judah being afterwards recalled into his kingdom, which finally passed into the power of the Romans.
  So also in the kingdom of Judah pertaining to Jerusalem prophets were not lacking even in the times of succeeding kings, just as it pleased God to send them, either for the prediction of what was needful, or for correction of sin and instruction in righteousness;[495] for there, too, although far less than in Israel, kings arose who grievously offended God by their impieties, and, along with their people, who were like them, were smitten with moderate scourges. The no small merits of the pious kings there are praised indeed. But we read that in Israel the kings were, some more, others less, yet[Pg 215] all wicked. Each part, therefore, as the divine providence either ordered or permitted, was both lifted up by prosperity and weighed down by adversity of various kinds; and it was afflicted not only by foreign, but also by civil wars with each other, in order that by certain existing causes the mercy or anger of God might be manifested; until, by His growing indignation, that whole nation was by the conquering Chaldeans not only overthrown in its abode, but also for the most part transported to the lands of the Assyrians,first, that part of the thirteen tribes called Israel, but afterwards Judah also, when Jerusalem and that most noble temple was cast down,in which lands it rested seventy years in captivity. Being after that time sent forth thence, they rebuilt the overthrown temple. And although very many stayed in the lands of the strangers, yet the kingdom no longer had two separate parts, with different kings over each, but in Jerusalem there was one prince over them; and at certain times, from every direction wherever they were, and from whatever place they could, they all came to the temple of God which was there. Yet not even then were they without foreign enemies and conquerors; yea, Christ found them tri butaries of the Romans.

BOOK XVI. - The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  It remains to mention the sons of Shem, Noah's eldest son; for to him this genealogical narrative gradually ascends from the youngest. But in the commencement of the record of Shem's sons there is an obscurity which calls for explanation, since it is closely connected with the object of our investigation. For we read, "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Heber, the brother of Japheth the elder, were children born."[235] This is the order of the words: And to Shem was born Heber, even to himself, that is, to Shem himself was born Heber, and Shem is the father of all his children. We are intended to understand that Shem is the patriarch of all his posterity who were to be mentioned, whether sons, grandsons,[Pg 110] great-grandsons, or descendants at any remove. For Shem did not beget Heber, who was indeed in the fifth generation from him. For Shem begat, among other sons, Arphaxad; Arphaxad begat Cainan, Cainan begat Salah, Salah begat Heber. And it was with good reason that he was named first among Shem's offspring, taking precedence even of his sons, though only a grandchild of the fifth generation; for from him, as tradition says, the Hebrews derived their name, though the other etymology which derives the name from Abraham (as if Abrahews) may possibly be correct. But there can be little doubt that the former is the right etymology, and that they were called after Heber, Heberews, and then, dropping a letter, Hebrews; and so was their language called Hebrew, which was spoken by none but the people of Israel among whom was the city of God, mysteriously prefigured in all the people, and truly present in the saints. Six of Shem's sons then are first named, then four grandsons born to one of these sons; then it mentions another son of Shem, who begat a grandson; and his son, again, or Shem's great-grandson, was Heber. And Heber begat two sons, and called the one Peleg, which means "dividing;" and Scripture subjoins the reason of this name, saying, "for in his days was the earth divided." What this means will afterwards appear. Heber's other son begat twelve sons; consequently all Shem's descendants are twenty-seven. The total number of the progeny of the three sons of Noah is seventy-three, fifteen by Japheth, thirty-one by Ham, twenty-seven by Shem. Then Scripture adds, "These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations." And so of the whole number: "These are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the isles of the nations dispersed through the earth after the flood." From which we gather that the seventy-three (or rather, as I shall presently show, seventy-two) were not individuals, but nations. For in a former passage, when the sons of Japheth were enumerated, it is said in conclusion, "By these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his language, in their tribes, and in their nations."
  [Pg 111]
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  But to avoid needless prolixity, we shall mention not the number of years each member of this series lived, but only the year of his life in which he begat his heir, that we may thus reckon the number of years from the flood to Abraham, and may at the same time leave room to touch briefly and cursorily upon some other matters necessary to our argument. In the second year, then, after the flood, Shem when he was a hundred years old begat Arphaxad; Arphaxad when he was 135 years old begat Cainan; Cainan when he was 130 years begat Salah. Salah himself, too, was the same age when he begat Eber. Eber lived 134 years, and begat Peleg, in whose days the earth was divided. Peleg himself lived 130 years, and begat Reu; and Reu lived 132 years, and begat Serug; Serug 130, and begat Nahor; and Nahor 79, and begat Terah; and Terah 70, and begat Abram, whose name God afterwards changed into Abraham. There are thus from the flood to Abraham 1072 years, according to the Vulgate or Septuagint versions. In the Hebrew copies far fewer years are given; and for this either no reason or a not very credible one is given.
  When, therefore, we look for the city of God in these seventy-two nations, we cannot affirm that while they had but one lip, that is, one language, the human race had departed from the worship of the true God, and that genuine godliness had survived only in those generations which descend from Shem through Arphaxad and reach to Abraham;[Pg 121] but from the time when they proudly built a tower to heaven, a symbol of godless exaltation, the city or society of the wicked becomes apparent. Whether it was only disguised before, or non-existent; whether both cities remained after the flood,the godly in the two sons of Noah who were blessed, and in their posterity, and the ungodly in the cursed son and his descendants, from whom sprang that mighty hunter against the Lord,is not easily determined. For possibly and certainly this is more credible there were despisers of God among the descendants of the two sons, even before Babylon was founded, and worshippers of God among the descendants of Ham. Certainly neither race was ever obliterated from earth. For in both the Psalms in which it is said, "They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one," we read further, "Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord."[249] There was then a people of God even at that time. And therefore the words, "There is none that doeth good, no, not one," were said of the sons of men, not of the sons of God. For it had been previously said, "God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if any understood and sought after God;" and then follow the words which demonstrate that all the sons of men, that is, all who belong to the city which lives according to man, not according to God, are reprobate.
    11. That the original language in use among men was that which was afterwards called Hebrew, from Heber, in whose family it was preserved when the confusion of tongues occurred.
  Wherefore, as the fact of all using one language did not secure the absence of sin-infected men from the race,for even before the deluge there was one language, and yet all but the single family of just Noah were found worthy of destruction by the flood,so when the nations, by a prouder godlessness, earned the punishment of the dispersion and the confusion of tongues, and the city of the godless was called Confusion or Babylon, there was still the house of Heber in which the primitive language of the race survived. And therefore, as I have already mentioned, when an enumeration is made of the[Pg 122] sons of Shem, who each founded a nation, Heber is first mentioned, although he was of the fifth generation from Shem. And because, when the other races were divided by their own peculiar languages, his family preserved that language which is not unreasonably believed to have been the common language of the race, it was on this account thenceforth named Hebrew. For it then became necessary to distinguish this language from the rest by a proper name; though, while there was only one, it had no other name than the language of man, or human speech, it alone being spoken by the whole human race. Some one will say: If the earth was divided by languages in the days of Peleg, Heber's son, that language, which was formerly common to all, should rather have been called after Peleg. But we are to understand that Heber himself gave to his son this name Peleg, which means Division; because he was born when the earth was divided, that is, at the very time of the division, and that this is the meaning of the words, "In his days the earth was divided."[250] For unless Heber had been still alive when the languages were multiplied, the language which was preserved in his house would not have been called after him. We are induced to believe that this was the primitive and common language, because the multiplication and change of languages was introduced as a punishment, and it is fit to ascribe to the people of God an immunity from this punishment. Nor is it without significance that this is the language which Abraham retained, and that he could not transmit it to all his descendants, but only to those of Jacob's line, who distinctively and eminently constituted God's people, and received His covenants, and were Christ's progenitors according to the flesh. In the same way, Heber himself did not transmit that language to all his posterity, but only to the line from which Abraham sprang. And thus, although it is not expressly stated, that when the wicked were building Babylon there was a godly seed remaining, this indistinctness is intended to stimulate research rather than to elude it. For when we see that originally there was one common language, and that Heber is mentioned before all Shem's sons, though he belonged to the fifth generation from[Pg 123] him, and that the language which the patriarchs and prophets used, not only in their conversation, but in the authoritative language of Scripture, is called Hebrew, when we are asked where that primitive and common language was preserved after the confusion of tongues, certainly, as there can be no doubt that those among whom it was preserved were exempt from the punishment it embodied, what other suggestion can we make, than that it survived in the family of him whose name it took, and that this is no small proof of the righteousness of this family, that the punishment with which the other families were visited did not fall upon it?
  But yet another question is mooted: How did Heber and his son Peleg each found a nation, if they had but one language? For no doubt the Hebrew nation propagated from Heber through Abraham, and becoming through him a great people, is one nation. How, then, are all the sons of the three branches of Noah's family enumerated as founding a nation each, if Heber and Peleg did not so? It is very probable that the giant Nimrod founded also his nation, and that Scripture has named him separately on account of the extraordinary dimensions of his empire and of his body, so that the number of seventy-two nations remains. But Peleg was mentioned, not because he founded a nation (for his race and language are Hebrew), but on account of the critical time at which he was born, all the earth being then divided. Nor ought we to be surprised that the giant Nimrod lived to the time in which Babylon was founded and the confusion of tongues occurred, and the consequent division of the earth. For though Heber was in the sixth generation from Noah, and Nimrod in the fourth, it does not follow that they could not be alive at the same time. For when the generations are few, they live longer and are born later; but when they are many, they live a shorter time, and come into the world earlier. We are to understand that, when the earth was divided, the descendants of Noah who are registered as founders of nations were not only already born, but were of an age to have immense families, worthy to be called tribes or nations. And therefore we must by no means suppose that they were born in the order in which they were set down; otherwise, how could the twelve sons of Joktan,[Pg 124] another son of Heber's, and brother of Peleg, have already founded nations, if Joktan was born, as he is registered, after his brother Peleg, since the earth was divided at Peleg's birth? We are therefore to understand that, though Peleg is named first, he was born long after Joktan, whose twelve sons had already families so large as to admit of their being divided by different languages. There is nothing extraordinary in the last born being first named: of the sons of Noah, the descendants of Japheth are first named; then the sons of Ham, who was the second son; and last the sons of Shem, who was the first and oldest. Of these nations the names have partly survived, so that at this day we can see from whom they have sprung, as the Assyrians from Assur, the Hebrews from Heber, but partly have been altered in the lapse of time, so that the most learned men, by profound research in ancient records, have scarcely been able to discover the origin, I do not say of all, but of some of these nations. There is, for example, nothing in the name Egyptians to show that they are descended from Misraim, Ham's son, nor in the name Ethiopians to show a connection with Cush, though such is said to be the origin of these nations. And if we take a general survey of the names, we shall find that more have been changed than have remained the same.
  12. Of the era in Abraham's life from which a new period in the holy succession begins.
  Let us now survey the progress of the city of God from the era of the patriarch Abraham, from whose time it begins to be more conspicuous, and the divine promises which are now fulfilled in Christ are more fully revealed. We learn, then, from the intimations of holy Scripture, that Abraham was born in the country of the Chaldeans, a land belonging to the Assyrian empire. Now, even at that time impious superstitions were rife with the Chaldeans, as with other nations. The family of Terah, to which Abraham belonged, was the only one in which the worship of the true God survived, and the only one, we may suppose, in which the Hebrew language was preserved; although Joshua the son of Nun tells us that even this family served other gods in Mesopotamia.[251] The[Pg 125] other descendants of Heber gradually became absorbed in other races and other languages. And thus, as the single family of Noah was preserved through the deluge of water to renew the human race, so, in the deluge of superstition that flooded the whole world, there remained but the one family of Terah in which the seed of God's city was preserved. And as, when Scripture has enumerated the generations prior to Noah, with their ages, and explained the cause of the flood before God began to speak to Noah about the building of the ark, it is said, "These are the generations of Noah;" so also now, after enumerating the generations from Shem, Noah's son, down to Abraham, it then signalizes an era by saying, "These are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah."[252] This Iscah is supposed to be the same as Sarah, Abraham's wife.
    13. Why, in the account of Terah's emigration, on his forsaking the Chaldeans and passing over into Mesopotamia, no mention is made of his son Nahor.
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  Having received this oracle of promise, Abraham migrated, and remained in another place of the same land, that is, beside the oak of Mamre, which was Hebron. Then on the invasion of Sodom, when five kings carried on war against four, and Lot was taken captive with the conquered Sodomites, Abraham delivered him from the enemy, leading with him to battle three hundred and eighteen of his home-born servants, and won the victory for the kings of Sodom, but would take nothing of the spoils when offered by the king[Pg 135] for whom he had won them. He was then openly blessed by Melchizedek, who was priest of God Most High, about whom many and great things are written in the epistle which is inscribed to the Hebrews, which most say is by the Apostle Paul, though some deny this. For then first appeared the sacrifice which is now offered to God by Christians in the whole wide world, and that is fulfilled which long after the event was said by the prophet to Christ, who was yet to come in the flesh, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek,"[271]that is to say, not after the order of Aaron, for that order was to be taken away when the things shone forth which were intimated beforeh and by these shadows.
    23. Of the word of the Lord to Abraham, by which it was promised to him that his posterity should be multiplied according to the multitude of the stars; on believing which he was declared justified while yet in uncircumcision.
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  Now when a promise so great and clear was made to Abraham, in which it was so plainly said to him, "I have made thee a father of many nations, and I will increase thee exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall go forth of thee. And I will give thee a son of Sarah; and I will bless him, and he shall become nations, and kings of nations shall be of him,"[291]a promise which we now see fulfilled in Christ,from that time forward this couple are not called in Scripture, as formerly, Abram and Sarai, but Abraham and Sarah, as we have called them from the first, for every one does so now. The reason why the name of Abraham was changed is given: "For," He says, "I have made thee a father of many nations." This, then, is to be understood to be the meaning of Abraham; but Abram, as he was formerly called, means "exalted father." The reason of the change of Sarah's name is not given; but as those say who have written interpretations of the Hebrew names contained in these books, Sarah means "my princess," and Sarai "strength." Whence it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength[Pg 144] to conceive seed."[292] For both were old, as the Scripture testifies; but she was also barren, and had ceased to menstruate, so that she could no longer bear children even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is advanced in years, yet still retains the custom of women, she can bear children to a young man, but not to an old man, although that same old man can beget, but only of a young woman; as after Sarah's death Abraham could of Keturah, because he met with her in her lively age. This, then, is what the apostle mentions as wonderful, saying, besides, that Abraham's body was now dead;[293] because at that age he was no longer able to beget children of any woman who retained now only a small part of her natural vigour. Of course we must understand that his body was dead only to some purposes, not to all; for if it was so to all, it would no longer be the aged body of a living man, but the corpse of a dead one. Although that question, how Abraham begot children of Keturah, is usually solved in this way, that the gift of begetting which he received from the Lord, remained even after the death of his wife, yet I think that solution of the question which I have followed is preferable, because, although in our days an old man of a hundred years can beget children of no woman, it was not so then, when men still lived so long that a hundred years did not yet bring on them the decrepitude of old age.
  29. Of the three men or angels, in whom the Lord is related to have appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mamre.
  God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mamre in three men, who it is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them was Christ, and assert that He was visible before He put on flesh. Now it belongs to the divine power, and invisible, incorporeal, and incommutable nature, without changing itself at all, to appear even to mortal men, not by what it is, but by what is subject to it. And what is not subject to it? Yet if they try to establish that one of these three was Christ by the fact that, although he saw three, he addressed the Lord in the singular, as it is written, "And, lo, three men stood by him: and, when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and worshipped[Pg 145] toward the ground, and said, Lord, if I have found favour before thee,"[294] etc.; why do they not advert to this also, that when two of them came to destroy the Sodomites, while Abraham still spoke to one, calling him Lord, and interceding that he would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom, Lot received these two in such a way that he too in his conversation with them addressed the Lord in the singular? For after saying to them in the plural, "Behold, my lords, turn aside into your servant's house,"[295] etc., yet it is afterwards said, "And the angels laid hold upon his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, because the Lord was merciful unto him. And it came to pass, whenever they had led him forth abroad, that they said, Save thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all this region: save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be caught. And Lot said unto them, I pray thee, Lord, since thy servant hath found grace in thy sight,"[296] etc. And then after these words the Lord also answered him in the singular, although He was in two angels, saying, "See, I have accepted thy face,"[297] etc. This makes it much more credible that both Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two recognised the Lord, addressing Him in the singular number, even when they were addressing men; for they received them as they did for no other reason than that they might minister human refection to them as men who needed it. Yet there was about them something so excellent, that those who showed them hospitality as men could not doubt that God was in them as He was wont to be in the prophets, and therefore sometimes addressed them in the plural, and sometimes God in them in the singular. But that they were angels the Scripture testifies, not only in this book of Genesis, in which these transactions are related, but also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where in praising hospitality it is said, "For thereby some have entertained angels unawares."[298] By these three men, then, when a son Isaac was again promised to Abraham by Sarah, such a divine oracle was also given that it was said, "Abraham shall become a great and numerous nation, and all[Pg 146] the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him."[299] And here these two things are promised with the utmost brevity and fulness,the nation of Israel according to the flesh, and all nations according to faith.
  30. Of Lot's deliverance from Sodom, and its consumption by fire from heaven; and of Abimelech, whose lust could not harm Sarah's chastity.
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  Among other things, of which it would take too long time to mention the whole, Abraham was tempted about the offering up of his well-beloved son Isaac, to prove his pious obedience, and so make it known to the world, not to God. Now every temptation is not blameworthy; it may even be praiseworthy, because it furnishes probation. And, for the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation; when, if it has acknowledged the gift of God, it is pious, and is consolidated by stedfast grace and not puffed up by vain boasting. Of course Abraham could never believe that God delighted in human sacrifices; yet when the divine commandment thundered, it was to be obeyed, not disputed. Yet Abraham is worthy of praise, because he all along believed that his son, on being offered up, would rise again; for God had said to him, when he was unwilling to fulfil his wife's pleasure by casting out the bond maid and her son, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." No doubt He then goes on to say, "And as for the son of this bond woman, I will make him a great nation, because he is thy seed."[303] How then is it said, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," when God calls Ishmael also his seed? The apostle, in explaining this, says, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but[Pg 148] the children of the promise are counted for the seed."[304] In order, then, that the children of the promise may be the seed of Abraham, they are called in Isaac, that is, are gathered together in Christ by the call of grace. Therefore the father, holding fast from the first the promise which behoved to be fulfilled through this son whom God had ordered him to slay, did not doubt that he whom he once thought it hopeless he should ever receive would be restored to him when he had offered him up. It is in this way the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews is also to be understood and explained. "By faith," he says, "Abraham overcame, when tempted about Isaac: and he who had received the promise offered up his only son, to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: thinking that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;" therefore he has added, "from whence also he received him in a similitude."[305] In whose similitude but His of whom the apostle says, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all?"[306] And on this account Isaac also himself carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he was to be offered up, just as the Lord Himself carried His own cross. Finally, since Isaac was not to be slain, after his father was forbidden to smite him, who was that ram by the offering of which that sacrifice was completed with typical blood? For when Abraham saw him, he was caught by the horns in a thicket. What, then, did he represent but Jesus, who, before He was offered up, was crowned with thorns by the Jews?
  But let us rather hear the divine words spoken through the angel. For the Scripture says, "And Abraham stretched forth his hand to take the knife, that he might slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him from heaven, and said, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy beloved son for my sake."[307] It is said, "Now I know," that is, Now I have made to be known; for God was not previously ignorant of this. Then, having offered up that ram[Pg 149] instead of Isaac his son, "Abraham," as we read, "called the name of that place The Lord seeth: as they say this day, In the mount the Lord hath appeared."[308] As it is said, "Now I know," for Now I have made to be known, so here, "The Lord sees," for The Lord hath appeared, that is, made Himself to be seen. "And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham from heaven the second time, saying, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy beloved son for my sake; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess by inheritance the cities of the adversaries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."[309] In this manner is that promise concerning the calling of the nations in the seed of Abraham confirmed even by the oath of God, after that burnt-offering which typified Christ. For He had often promised, but never sworn. And what is the oath of God, the true and faithful, but a confirmation of the promise, and a certain reproof to the unbelieving?
  --
  Jacob being dead, and Joseph also, during the remaining 144 years until they went out of the land of Egypt that nation increased to an incredible degree, even although wasted[Pg 162] by so great persecutions, that at one time the male children were murdered at their birth, because the wondering Egyptians were terrified at the too great increase of that people. Then Moses, being stealthily kept from the murderers of the infants, was brought to the royal house, God preparing to do great things by him, and was nursed and adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh (that was the name of all the kings of Egypt), and became so great a man that heyea, rather God, who had promised this to Abraham, by himdrew that nation, so wonderfully multiplied, out of the yoke of hardest and most grievous servitude it had borne there. At first, indeed, he fled thence (we are told he fled into the land of Midian), because, in defending an Israelite, he had slain an Egyptian, and was afraid. Afterward, being divinely commissioned in the power of the Spirit of God, he overcame the magi of Pharaoh who resisted him. Then, when the Egyptians would not let God's people go, ten memorable plagues were brought by Him upon them,the water turned into blood, the frogs and lice, the flies, the death of the cattle, the boils, the hail, the locusts, the darkness, the death of the first-born. At last the Egyptians were destroyed in the Red Sea while pursuing the Israelites, whom they had let go when at length they were broken by so many great plagues. The divided sea made a way for the Israelites who were departing, but, returning on itself, it overwhelmed their pursuers with its waves. Then for forty years the people of God went through the desert, under the leadership of Moses, when the tabernacle of testimony was dedicated, in which God was worshipped by sacrifices prophetic of things to come, and that was after the law had been very terribly given in the mount, for its divinity was most plainly attested by wonderful signs and voices. This took place soon after the exodus from Egypt, when the people had entered the desert, on the fiftieth day after the passover was celebrated by the offering up of a lamb, which is so completely a type of Christ, foretelling that through His sacrificial passion He should go from this world to the Father (for pascha in the Hebrew tongue means transit), that when the new covenant was revealed, after Christ our passover was offered up, the Holy Spirit came from heaven on the fiftieth day; and He is called[Pg 163] in the gospel the Finger of God, because He recalls to our remembrance the things done before by way of types, and because the tables of that law are said to have been written by the finger of God.
  On the death of Moses, Joshua the son of Nun ruled the people, and led them into the land of promise, and divided it among them. By these two wonderful leaders wars were also carried on most prosperously and wonderfully, God calling to witness that they had got these victories not so much on account of the merit of the Hebrew people as on account of the sins of the nations they subdued. After these leaders there were judges, when the people were settled in the land of promise, so that, in the meantime, the first promise made to Abraham began to be fulfilled about the one nation, that is, the Hebrew, and about the land of Canaan; but not as yet the promise about all nations, and the whole wide world, for that was to be fulfilled, not by the observances of the old law, but by the advent of Christ in the flesh, and by the faith of the gospel. And it was to prefigure this that it was not Moses, who received the law for the people on Mount Sinai, that led the people into the land of promise, but Joshua, whose name also was changed at God's command, so that he was called Jesus. But in the times of the judges prosperity alternated with adversity in war, according as the sins of the people and the mercy of God were displayed.
  We come next to the times of the kings. The first who reigned was Saul; and when he was rejected and laid low in battle, and his offspring rejected so that no kings should arise out of it, David succeeded to the kingdom, whose son Christ is chiefly called. He was made a kind of starting-point and beginning of the advanced youth of God's people, who had passed a kind of age of puberty from Abraham to this David. And it is not in vain that the evangelist Matthew records the generations in such a way as to sum up this first period from Abraham to David in fourteen generations. For from the age of puberty man begins to be capable of generation; therefore he starts the list of generations from Abraham, who also was made the father of many nations when he got his name changed. So that previously this family of God's people was[Pg 164] in its childhood, from Noah to Abraham; and for that reason the first language was then learned, that is, the Hebrew. For man begins to speak in childhood, the age succeeding infancy, which is so termed because then he cannot speak.[342] And that first age is quite drowned in oblivion, just as the first age of the human race was blotted out by the flood; for who is there that can remember his infancy? Wherefore in this progress of the city of God, as the previous book contained that first age, so this one ought to contain the second and third ages, in which third age, as was shown by the heifer of three years old, the she-goat of three years old, and the ram of three years old, the yoke of the law was imposed, and there appeared abundance of sins, and the beginning of the earthly kingdom arose, in which there were not lacking spiritual men, of whom the turtle-dove and pigeon represented the mystery.
  [Pg 165]

BOOK XV. - The progress of the earthly and heavenly cities traced by the sacred history, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  Therefore, although it is written, "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch, and he builded a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch,"[158] it does not follow that we are to believe this to have been his first-born; for we cannot suppose that this is proved by the expression "he knew his wife," as if then for the first time he had had intercourse with her. For in the case of Adam, the father of all, this expression is used not only when Cain, who seems to have been his first-born, was conceived, but also afterwards the same Scripture says, "Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare a son, and[Pg 63] called his name Seth."[159] Whence it is obvious that Scripture employs this expression neither always when a birth is recorded nor then only when the birth of a first-born is mentioned. Neither is it necessary to suppose that Enoch was Cain's first-born because he named his city after him. For it is quite possible that though he had other sons, yet for some reason the father loved him more than the rest. Judah was not the first-born, though he gives his name to Juda and the Jews. But even though Enoch was the first-born of the city's founder, that is no reason for supposing that the father named the city after him as soon as he was born; for at that time he, being but a solitary man, could not have founded a civic community, which is nothing else than a multitude of men bound together by some associating tie. But when his family increased to such numbers that he had quite a population, then it became possible to him both to build a city, and give it, when founded, the name of his son. For so long was the life of those antediluvians, that he who lived the shortest time of those whose years are mentioned in Scripture attained to the age of 753 years.[160] And though no one attained the age of a thousand years, several exceeded the age of nine hundred. Who then can doubt that during the lifetime of one man the human race might be so multiplied that there would be a population to build and occupy not one but several cities? And this might very readily be conjectured from the fact that from one man, Abraham, in not much more than four hundred years, the numbers of the Hebrew race so increased, that in the exodus of that people from Egypt there are recorded to have been six hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms,[161] and this over and above the Idumans, who, though not numbered with Israel's descendants, were yet sprung from his brother, also a grandson of Abraham; and over and above the other nations which were of the same stock of Abraham, though not through Sarah,that is, his descendants by Hagar and Keturah, the Ishmaelites, Midianites, etc.
  9. Of the long life and greater stature of the antediluvians.
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  10. Of the different computation of the ages of the antediluvians, given by the Hebrew manuscripts and by our own.[166]
  Wherefore, although there is a discrepancy for which I cannot account between our manuscripts and the Hebrew, in the very number of years assigned to the antediluvians, yet the discrepancy is not so great that they do not agree about their longevity. For the very first man, Adam, before he begot his son Seth, is in our manuscripts found to have lived 230 years, but in the Hebrew mss. 130. But after he begot Seth, our copies read that he lived 700 years, while the Hebrew give 800. And thus, when the two periods are taken together, the sum agrees. And so throughout the succeeding generations, the period before the father begets a son is always made shorter by 100 years in the Hebrew, but the period after his son is begotten is longer by 100 years in the Hebrew than in our copies. And thus, taking the two periods together, the result is the same in both. And in the sixth[Pg 66] generation there is no discrepancy at all. In the seventh, however, of which Enoch is the representative, who is recorded to have been translated without death because he pleased God, there is the same discrepancy as in the first five generations, 100 years more being ascribed to him by our mss. before he begat a son. But still the result agrees; for according to both documents he lived before he was translated 365 years. In the eighth generation the discrepancy is less than in the others, and of a different kind. For Methuselah, whom Enoch begat, lived, before he begat his successor, not 100 years less, but 100 years more, according to the Hebrew reading; and in our mss. again these years are added to the period after he begat his son; so that in this case also the sum-total is the same. And it is only in the ninth generation, that is, in the age of Lamech, Methuselah's son and Noah's father, that there is a discrepancy in the sum-total; and even in this case it is slight. For the Hebrew mss. represent him as living twenty-four years more than ours assign to him. For before he begat his son, who was called Noah, six years fewer are given to him by the Hebrew mss. than by ours; but after he begat this son, they give him thirty years more than ours; so that, deducting the former six, there remains, as we said, a surplus of twenty-four.
  11. Of Methuselah's age, which seems to extend fourteen years beyond the deluge.
  From this discrepancy between the Hebrew books and our own arises the well-known question as to the age of Methuselah;[167] for it is computed that he lived for fourteen years after the deluge, though Scripture relates that of all who were then upon the earth only the eight souls in the ark escaped destruction by the flood, and of these Methuselah was not one. For, according to our books, Methuselah, before he begat the son whom he called Lamech, lived 167 years; then Lamech himself, before his son Noah was born, lived 188 years, which together make 355 years. Add to these the age of Noah at the date of the deluge, 600 years, and this gives a total of 955 from the birth of Methuselah to the[Pg 67] year of the flood. Now all the years of the life of Methuselah are computed to be 969; for when he had lived 167 years, and had begotten his son Lamech, he then lived after this 802 years, which makes a total, as we said, of 969 years. From this, if we deduct 955 years from the birth of Methuselah to the flood, there remain fourteen years, which he is supposed to have lived after the flood. And therefore some suppose that, though he was not on earth (in which it is agreed that every living thing which could not naturally live in water perished), he was for a time with his father, who had been translated, and that he lived there till the flood had passed away. This hypothesis they adopt, that they may not cast a slight on the trustworthiness of versions which the Church has received into a position of high authority,[168] and because they believe that the Jewish mss. rather than our own are in error. For they do not admit that this is a mistake of the translators, but maintain that there is a falsified statement in the original, from which, through the Greek, the Scripture has been translated into our own tongue. They say that it is not credible that the seventy translators, who simultaneously and unanimously produced one rendering, could have erred, or, in a case in which no interest of theirs was involved, could have falsified their translation; but that the Jews, envying us our translation of their Law and Prophets, have made alterations in their texts so as to undermine the authority of ours. This opinion or suspicion let each man adopt according to his own judgment. Certain it is that Methuselah did not survive the flood, but died in the very year it occurred, if the numbers given in the Hebrew mss. are true. My own opinion regarding the seventy translators I will, with God's help, state more carefully in its own place, when I have come down (following the order which this work requires) to that period in which their translation was executed.[169] For the present question, it is enough that, according to our versions, the men of that age had lives so long as to make it quite possible that, during the lifetime of the first-born of the two sole parents then[Pg 68] on earth, the human race multiplied sufficiently to form a community.
  12. Of the opinion of those who do not believe that in these primitive times men lived so long as is stated.
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  By these plausible arguments certain persons, with no desire to weaken the credit of this sacred history, but rather to facilitate belief in it by removing the difficulty of such incredible longevity, have been themselves persuaded, and think they act wisely in persuading others, that in these days the year was so brief that ten of their years equal but one of ours, while ten of ours equal 100 of theirs. But there is the plainest evidence to show that this is quite false. Before producing this evidence, however, it seems right to mention a conjecture which is yet more plausible. From the Hebrew manuscripts we could at once refute this confident statement; for in them Adam is found to have lived not 230 but 130 years before he begat his third son. If, then, this mean thirteen years by our ordinary computation, then he must have begotten his first son when he was only twelve or thereabouts. Who can at this age beget children according to the ordinary and familiar course of nature? But not to mention him, since it is possible he may have been able to beget his like as soon as he was created,for it is not credible that he was created so little as our infants are,not to mention him, his[Pg 70] son was not 205 years old when he begat Enos, as our versions have it, but 105, and consequently, according to this idea, was not eleven years old. But what shall I say of his son Cainan, who, though by our version 170 years old, was by the Hebrew text seventy when he beget Mahalaleel? If seventy years in those times meant only seven of our years, what man of seven years old begets children?
  13. Whether, in computing years, we ought to follow the Hebrew or the Septuagint.
  But if I say this, I shall presently be answered, It is one of the Jews' lies. This, however, we have disposed of above, showing that it cannot be that men of so just a reputation as the seventy translators should have falsified their version. However, if I ask them which of the two is more credible, that the Jewish nation, scattered far and wide, could have unanimously conspired to forge this lie, and so, through envying others the authority of their Scriptures, have deprived themselves of their verity; or that seventy men, who were also themselves Jews, shut up in one place (for Ptolemy king of Egypt had got them together for this work), should have envied foreign nations that same truth, and by common consent inserted these errors: who does not see which can be more naturally and readily believed? But far be it from any prudent man to believe either that the Jews, however malicious and wrong-headed, could have tampered with so many and so widely-dispersed manuscripts; or that those renowned seventy individuals had any common purpose to grudge the truth to the nations. One must therefore more plausibly maintain, that when first their labours began to be transcribed from the copy in Ptolemy's library, some such misstatement might find its way into the first copy made, and from it might be disseminated far and wide; and that this might arise from no fraud, but from a mere copyist's error. This is a sufficiently plausible account of the difficulty regarding Methuselah's life, and of that other case in which there is a difference in the total of twenty-four years. But in those cases in which there is a methodical resemblance in the falsification, so that uniformly the one version allots to the period before a son and successor is born 100 years more than the other, and to the[Pg 71] period subsequent 100 years less, and vice vers, so that the totals may agree, and this holds true of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh generations,in these cases error seems to have, if we may say so, a certain kind of constancy, and savours not of accident, but of design.
  Accordingly, that diversity of numbers which distinguishes the Hebrew from the Greek and Latin copies of Scripture, and which consists of a uniform addition and deduction of 100 years in each lifetime for several consecutive generations, is to be attributed neither to the malice of the Jews nor to men so diligent and prudent as the seventy translators, but to the error of the copyist who was first allowed to transcribe the manuscript from the library of the above-mentioned king. For even now, in cases where numbers contri bute nothing to the easier comprehension or more satisfactory knowledge of anything, they are both carelessly transcribed, and still more carelessly emended. For who will trouble himself to learn how many thousand men the several tribes of Israel contained? He sees no resulting benefit of such knowledge. Or how many men are there who are aware of the vast advantage that lies hid in this knowledge? But in this case, in which during so many consecutive generations 100 years are added in one manuscript where they are not reckoned in the other, and then, after the birth of the son and successor, the years which were wanting are added, it is obvious that the copyist who contrived this arrangement designed to insinuate that the antediluvians lived an excessive number of years only because each year was excessively brief, and that he tried to draw the attention to this fact by his statement of their age of puberty at which they became able to beget children. For, lest the incredulous might stumble at the difficulty of so long a lifetime, he insinuated that 100 of their years equalled but ten of ours; and this insinuation he conveyed by adding 100 years whenever he found the age below 160 years or thereabouts, deducting these years again from the period after the son's birth, that the total might harmonize. By this means he intended to ascribe the generation of offspring to a fit age, without diminishing the total sum of years ascribed to the[Pg 72] lifetime of the individuals. And the very fact that in the sixth generation he departed from this uniform practice, inclines us all the rather to believe that when the circumstance we have referred to required his alterations, he made them; seeing that when this circumstance did not exist, he made no alteration. For in the same generation he found in the Hebrew MS. that Jared lived before he begat Enoch 162 years, which, according to the short year computation, is sixteen years and somewhat less than two months, an age capable of procreation; and therefore it was not necessary to add 100 short years, and so make the age twenty-six years of the usual length; and of course it was not necessary to deduct, after the son's birth, years which he had not added before it. And thus it comes to pass that in this instance there is no variation between the two manuscripts.
  This is corroborated still further by the fact that in the eighth generation, while the Hebrew books assign 182[172] years to Methuselah before Lamech's birth, ours assign to him twenty less, though usually 100 years are added to this period; then, after Lamech's birth, the twenty years are restored, so as to equalize the total in the two books. For if his design was that these 170 years be understood as seventeen, so as to suit the age of puberty, as there was no need for him adding anything, so there was none for his subtracting anything; for in this case he found an age fit for the generation of children, for the sake of which he was in the habit of adding those 100 years in cases where he did not find the age already sufficient. This difference of twenty years we might, indeed, have supposed had happened accidentally, had he not taken care to restore them afterwards as he had deducted them from the period before, so that there might be no deficiency in the total. Or are we perhaps to suppose that there was the still more astute design of concealing the deliberate and uniform addition of 100 years to the first period and their deduction from the subsequent period,did he design to conceal this by doing something similar, that is to[Pg 73] say, adding and deducting, not indeed a century, but some years, even in a case in which there was no need for his doing so? But whatever may be thought of this, whether it be believed that he did so or not, whether, in fine, it be so or not, I would have no manner of doubt that when any diversity is found in the books, since both cannot be true to fact, we do well to believe in preference that language out of which the translation was made into another by translators. For there are three Greek mss., one Latin, and one Syriac, which agree with one another, and in all of these Methuselah is said to have died six years before the deluge.
  14. That the years in those ancient times were of the same length as our own.
  --
  But that discrepancy of numbers which is found to exist between our own and the Hebrew text does not touch the longevity of the ancients; and if there is any diversity so great that both versions cannot be true, we must take our ideas of the real facts from that text out of which our own version has been translated. However, though any one who pleases has it in his power to correct this version, yet it is not unimportant to observe that no one has presumed to emend the Septuagint from the Hebrew text in the many[Pg 75] places where they seem to disagree. For this difference has not been reckoned a falsification; and for my own part I am persuaded it ought not to be reckoned so. But where the difference is not a mere copyist's error, and where the sense is agreeable to truth and illustrative of truth, we must believe that the divine Spirit prompted them to give a varying version, not in their function of translators, but in the liberty of prophesying. And therefore we find that the apostles justly sanction the Septuagint, by quoting it as well as the Hebrew when they adduce proofs from the Scriptures. But as I have promised to treat this subject more carefully, if God help me, in a more fitting place, I will now go on with the matter in hand. For there can be no doubt that, the lives of men being so long, the first-born of the first man could have built a city,a city, however, which was earthly, and not that which is called the city of God, to describe which we have taken in hand this great work.
    15. Whether it is credible that the men of the primitive age abstained from sexual intercourse until that date at which it is recorded that they begat children.
  Some one, then, will say, Is it to be believed that a man who intended to beget children, and had no intention of continence, abstained from sexual intercourse a hundred years and more, or even, according to the Hebrew version, only a little less, say eighty, seventy, or sixty years; or, if he did not abstain, was unable to beget offspring? This question admits of two solutions. For either puberty was so much later as the whole life was longer, or, which seems to me more likely, it is not the first-born sons that are here mentioned, but those whose names were required to fill up the series until Noah was reached, from whom again we see that the succession is continued to Abraham, and after him down to that point of time until which it was needful to mark by pedigree the course of the most glorious city, which sojourns as a stranger in this world, and seeks the heavenly country. That which is undeniable is that Cain was the first who was born of man and woman. For had he not been the first who was added by birth to the two unborn persons, Adam could not have said what he is recorded to have said, "I have gotten a man by[Pg 76] the Lord."[176] He was followed by Abel, whom the elder brother slew, and who was the first to show, by a kind of foreshadowing of the sojourning city of God, what iniquitous persecutions that city would suffer at the hands of wicked and, as it were, earth-born men, who love their earthly origin, and delight in the earthly happiness of the earthly city. But how old Adam was when he begat these sons does not appear. After this the generations diverge, the one branch deriving from Cain, the other from him whom Adam begot in the room of Abel slain by his brother, and whom he called Seth, saying, as it is written, "For God hath raised me up another seed for Abel whom Cain slew."[177] These two series of generations accordingly, the one of Cain, the other of Seth, represent the two cities in their distinctive ranks, the one the heavenly city, which sojourns on earth, the other the earthly, which gapes after earthly joys, and grovels in them as if they were the only joys. But though eight generations, including Adam, are registered before the flood, no man of Cain's line has his age recorded at which the son who succeeded him was begotten. For the Spirit of God refused to mark the times before the flood in the generations of the earthly city, but preferred to do so in the heavenly line, as if it were more worthy of being remembered. Further, when Seth was born, the age of his father is mentioned; but already he had begotten other sons, and who will presume to say that Cain and Abel were the only ones previously begotten? For it does not follow that they alone had been begotten of Adam, because they alone were named in order to continue the series of generations which it was desirable to mention. For though the names of all the rest are buried in silence, yet it is said that Adam begot sons and daughters; and who that cares to be free from the charge of temerity will dare to say how many his offspring numbered? It was possible enough that Adam was divinely prompted to say, after Seth was born, "For God hath raised up to me another seed for Abel," because that son was to be capable of representing Abel's holiness, not because he was born first after him in point of time. Then because it is written, "And Seth lived 205 years," or, according to the Hebrew reading,[Pg 77] "105 years, and begat Enos,"[178] who but a rash man could affirm that this was his first-born? Will any man do so to excite our wonder, and cause us to inquire how for so many years he remained free from sexual intercourse, though without any purpose of continuing so, or how, if he did not abstain, he yet had no children? Will any man do so when it is written of him, "And he begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died?"[179] And similarly regarding those whose years are afterwards mentioned, it is not disguised that they begat sons and daughters.
  Consequently it does not at all appear whether he who is named as the son was himself the first begotten. Nay, since it is incredible that those fathers were either so long in attaining puberty, or could not get wives, or could not impregnate them, it is also incredible that those sons were their first-born. But as the writer of the sacred history designed to descend by well-marked intervals through a series of generations to the birth and life of Noah, in whose time the flood occurred, he mentioned not those sons who were first begotten, but those by whom the succession was handed down.
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  Since, then, Adam was the father of both lines,the father, that is to say, both of the line which belonged to the earthly, and of that which belonged to the heavenly city,when Abel was slain, and by his death exhibited a marvellous mystery, there were henceforth two lines proceeding from two fathers, Cain and Seth, and in those sons of theirs, whom it behoved to register, the tokens of these two cities began to appear more distinctly. For Cain begat Enoch, in whose name he built a city, an earthly one, which was not from home in this world, but rested satisfied with its temporal peace and happiness. Cain, too, means "possession;" wherefore at his birth either his father or mother said, "I have gotten a man through God." Then Enoch means "dedication;" for the earthly city is dedicated in this world in which it is built, for in this world it finds the end towards which it aims and aspires. Further, Seth signifies "resurrection," and Enos his son signifies "man," not as Adam, which also signifies man but is used in Hebrew indifferently for man and woman, as it is written, "Male and female created He them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam,"[184] leaving no room to doubt that though the woman was distinctively called Eve, yet the name Adam, meaning man, was common to both. But Enos means man in so restricted a sense, that Hebrew linguists tell us it cannot be applied to woman: it is the equivalent of the "child of the resurrection," when they neither marry nor are given in marriage.[185] For there shall be no generation in that place to which regeneration shall have brought us. Wherefore I think it not immaterial to observe that in those generations[Pg 82] which are propagated from him who is called Seth, although daughters as well as sons are said to have been begotten, no woman is expressly registered by name; but in those which sprang from Cain at the very termination to which the line runs, the last person named as begotten is a woman. For we read, "Methusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of the shepherds that dwell in tents. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah."[186] Here terminate all the generations of Cain, being eight in number, including Adam,to wit, seven from Adam to Lamech, who married two wives, and whose children, among whom a woman also is named, form the eighth generation. Whereby it is elegantly signified that the earthly city shall to its termination have carnal generations proceeding from the intercourse of males and females. And therefore the wives themselves of the man who is the last named father of Cain's line are registered in their own names,a practice nowhere followed before the deluge save in Eve's case. Now as Cain, signifying possession, the founder of the earthly city, and his son Enoch, meaning dedication, in whose name it was founded, indicate that this city is earthly both in its beginning and in its end,a city in which nothing more is hoped for than can be seen in this world,so Seth, meaning resurrection, and being the father of generations registered apart from the others, we must consider what this sacred history says of his son.
  18. The significance of Abel, Seth, and Enos to Christ and His body the Church.
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  For that line also of which Seth is the father has the name "Dedication" in the seventh generation from Adam, counting Adam. For the seventh from him is Enoch, that is, Dedication. But this is that man who was translated because he pleased God, and who held in the order of the generations a remarkable place, being the seventh from Adam, a number signalized by the consecration of the Sabbath. But, counting from the diverging point of the two lines, or from Seth, he was the sixth. Now it was on the sixth day God made man, and consummated His works. But the translation of Enoch prefigured our deferred dedication; for though it is indeed already accomplished in Christ our Head, who so rose again that He shall die no more, and who was Himself also translated, yet there remains another dedication of the whole house, of which Christ Himself is the foundation, and this dedication is deferred till the end, when all shall rise again to die no more. And whether it is the house of God, or the temple of God, or the city of God, that is said to be dedicated, it is all the same, and equally in accordance with the usage of the Latin language. For Virgil himself calls the city of widest empire "the house of Assaracus,"[191] meaning the Romans, who were descended through the Trojans from Assaracus. He also calls them the house of neas, because Rome was built by those Trojans who had come to Italy under neas.[192] For that poet imitated the sacred writings, in which the Hebrew nation, though so numerous, is called the house of Jacob.
    20. How it is that Cain's line terminates in the eighth generation, while Noah, though descended from the same father, Adam, is found to be the tenth from him.
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  Why, then, is so small a number of Cain's generations registered, if it was proper to trace them to the deluge, and if there was no such delay of the date of puberty as to preclude the hope of offspring for a hundred or more years? For if the author of this book had not in view some one to whom he might rigidly trace the series of generations, as he designed in those which sprang from Seth's seed to descend to Noah, and thence to start again by a rigid order, what need was there of omitting the first-born sons for the sake of descending[Pg 86] to Lamech, in whose sons that line terminates,that is to say, in the eighth generation from Adam, or the seventh from Cain,as if from this point he had wished to pass on to another series, by which he might reach either the Israelitish people, among whom the earthly Jerusalem presented a prophetic figure of the heavenly city, or to Jesus Christ, "according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever,"[194] the Maker and Ruler of the heavenly city? What, I say, was the need of this, seeing that the whole of Cain's posterity were destroyed in the deluge? From this it is manifest that they are the first-born sons who are registered in this genealogy. Why, then, are there so few of them? Their numbers in the period before the deluge must have been greater, if the date of puberty bore no proportion to their longevity, and they had children before they were a hundred years old. For supposing they were on an average thirty years old when they began to beget children, then, as there are eight generations, including Adam and Lamech's children, 8 times 30 gives 240 years; did they then produce no more children in all the rest of the time before the deluge? With what intention, then, did he who wrote this record make no mention of subsequent generations? For from Adam to the deluge there are reckoned, according to our copies of Scripture, 2262 years,[195] and according to the Hebrew text, 1656 years. Supposing, then, the smaller number to be the true one, and subtracting from 1656 years 240, is it credible that during the remaining 1400 and odd years until the deluge the posterity of Cain begat no children?
  But let any one who is moved by this call to mind that when I discussed the question, how it is credible that those primitive men could abstain for so many years from begetting children, two modes of solution were found,either a puberty late in proportion to their longevity, or that the sons registered in the genealogies were not the first-born, but those through whom the author of the book intended to reach the point[Pg 87] aimed at, as he intended to reach Noah by the generations of Seth. So that, if in the generations of Cain there occurs no one whom the writer could make it his object to reach by omitting the first-borns and inserting those who would serve such a purpose, then we must have recourse to the supposition of late puberty, and say that only at some age beyond a hundred years they became capable of begetting children, so that the order of the generations ran through the first-borns, and filled up even the whole period before the deluge, long though it was. It is, however, possible that, for some more secret reason which escapes me, this city, which we say is earthly, is exhibited in all its generations down to Lamech and his sons, and that then the writer withholds from recording the rest which may have existed before the deluge. And without supposing so late a puberty in these men, there might be another reason for tracing the generations by sons who were not first-borns, viz. that the same city which Cain built, and named after his son Enoch, may have had a widely extended dominion and many kings, not reigning simultaneously, but successively, the reigning king begetting always his successor. Cain himself would be the first of these kings; his son Enoch, in whose name the city in which he reigned was built, would be the second; the third Irad, whom Enoch begat; the fourth Mehujael, whom Irad begat; the fifth Methusael, whom Mehujael begat; the sixth Lamech, whom Methusael begat, and who is the seventh from Adam through Cain. But it was not necessary that the first-born should succeed their fathers in the kingdom, but those would succeed who were recommended by the possession of some virtue useful to the earthly city, or who were chosen by lot, or the son who was best liked by his father would succeed by a kind of hereditary right to the throne. And the deluge may have happened during the lifetime and reign of Lamech, and may have destroyed him along with all other men, save those who were in the ark. For we cannot be surprised that, during so long a period from Adam to the deluge, and with the ages of individuals varying as they did, there should not be an equal number of generations in both lines, but seven in Cain's, and ten in Seth's; for as I have already said, Lamech is the seventh[Pg 88] from Adam, Noah the tenth; and in Lamech's case not one son only is registered, as in the former instances, but more, because it was uncertain which of them would have succeeded when he died, if there had intervened any time to reign between his death and the deluge.
  --
  But that those angels were not angels in the sense of not being men, as some suppose, Scripture itself decides, which unambiguously declares that they were men. For when it had first been stated that "the angels of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose," it was immediately added, "And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with these men, for that they also are flesh." For by the Spirit of God they had been made angels of God, and sons of God; but declining towards lower things, they are called men, a name of nature, not of grace; and they are called flesh, as deserters of the Spirit, and by their desertion deserted [by Him]. The Septuagint indeed calls them both angels of God and sons of God, though all the copies do not show this, some having only the name "sons of God." And Aquila, whom the Jews prefer to the other interpreters,[212] has translated neither angels of God nor sons of God, but sons of gods. But both are correct. For they were both sons of God, and thus brothers of their own fathers, who were children of the same God; and they were sons of gods, because begotten by gods, together with whom they themselves also were gods, according to that expression of the psalm: "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High."[213] For the Septuagint translators are justly believed to have received the Spirit of prophecy; so that, if they made any alterations under His authority, and did not adhere to a strict translation, we could not doubt that this was divinely dictated. However, the Hebrew word may be said to be ambiguous, and to be susceptible of either translation, "sons of God," or "sons of gods."
  Let us omit, then, the fables of those scriptures which are called apocryphal, because their obscure origin was unknown to the fathers from whom the authority of the true Scriptures has been transmitted to us by a most certain and well-ascertained[Pg 96] succession. For though there is some truth in these apocryphal writings, yet they contain so many false statements, that they have no canonical authority. We cannot deny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle. But it is not without reason that these writings have no place in that canon of Scripture which was preserved in the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive priests; for their antiquity brought them under suspicion, and it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings, and they were not brought forward as genuine by the persons who were found to have carefully preserved the canonical books by a successive transmission. So that the writings which are produced under his name, and which contain these fables about the giants, saying that their fathers were not men, are properly judged by prudent men to be not genuine; just as many writings are produced by heretics under the names both of other prophets, and, more recently, under the names of the apostles, all of which, after careful examination, have been set apart from canonical authority under the title of Apocrypha. There is therefore no doubt that, according to the Hebrew and Christian canonical Scriptures, there were many giants before the deluge, and that these were citizens of the earthly society of men, and that the sons of God, who were according to the flesh the sons of Seth, sunk into this community when they forsook righteousness. Nor need we wonder that giants should be born even from these. For all of their children were not giants; but there were more then than in the remaining periods since the deluge. And it pleased the Creator to produce them, that it might thus be demonstrated that neither beauty, nor yet size and strength, are of much moment to the wise man, whose blessedness lies in spiritual and immortal blessings, in far better and more enduring gifts, in the good things that are the peculiar property of the good, and are not shared by good and bad alike. It is this which another prophet confirms when he says, "These were the giants, famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and so expert in war. Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave He the way of knowledge[Pg 97] unto them; but they were destroyed because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness."[214]
  24. How we are to understand this which the Lord said to those who were to perish in the flood: "Their days shall be 120 years."
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  But we have not now time to pursue this subject; and, indeed, we have already dwelt upon it in the work we wrote against Faustus the Manichean, who denies that there is anything prophesied of Christ in the Hebrew books. It may be that one man's exposition excels another's, and that ours is not the best; but all that is said must be referred to this city of God we speak of, which sojourns in this wicked world as in a deluge, at least if the expositor would not widely miss the meaning of the author. For example, the interpretation I have given in the work against Faustus, of the words, "with lower, second, and third storeys shalt thou make it," is, that because the church is gathered out of all nations, it is said to have two storeys, to represent the two kinds of men,the circumcision, to wit, and the uncircumcision, or, as the apostle otherwise calls them, Jews and Gentiles; and to have three storeys, because all the nations were replenished from the three sons of Noah. Now any one may object to this interpretation, and may give another which harmonizes with the rule of faith. For as the ark was to have rooms not only on the lower, but also on the upper storeys, which were called "third storeys," that there might be a habitable space on the third floor from the basement, some one may interpret these to mean the three graces commended by the apostle,faith, hope, and charity. Or even more suitably they may be supposed to represent those three harvests in the gospel, thirty-fold, sixtyfold, an hundredfold,chaste marriage dwelling in the ground floor, chaste widowhood in the upper, and chaste virginity in the top storey. Or any better interpretation may be given, so long as the reference to this city is maintained. And the same statement I would make of all the remaining[Pg 100] particulars in this passage which require exposition, viz. that although different explanations are given, yet they must all agree with the one harmonious catholic faith.
    27. Of the ark and the deluge, and that we cannot agree with those who receive the bare history, but reject the allegorical interpretation, nor with those who maintain the figurative and not the historical meaning.

BOOK XXII. - Of the eternal happiness of the saints, the resurrection of the body, and the miracles of the early Church, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  And so, when I am asked how the saints shall be employed in that spiritual body, I do not say what I see, but I say what I believe, according to that which I read in the psalm, "I believed, therefore have I spoken."[1032] I say, then, they shall in the body see God; but whether they shall see Him by means[Pg 536] of the body, as now we see the sun, moon, stars, sea, earth, and all that is in it, that is a difficult question. For it is hard to say that the saints shall then have such bodies that they shall not be able to shut and open their eyes as they please; while it is harder still to say that every one who shuts his eyes shall lose the vision of God. For if the prophet Elisha, though at a distance, saw his servant Gehazi, who thought that his wickedness would escape his master's observation and accepted gifts from Naaman the Syrian, whom the prophet had cleansed from his foul leprosy, how much more shall the saints in the spiritual body see all things, not only though their eyes be shut, but though they themselves be at a great distance? For then shall be "that which is perfect," of which the apostle says, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." Then, that he may illustrate as well as possible, by a simile, how superior the future life is to the life now lived, not only by ordinary men, but even by the foremost of the saints, he says, "When I was a child, I understood as a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."[1033] If, then, even in this life, in which the prophetic power of remarkable men is no more worthy to be compared to the vision of the future life than childhood is to manhood, Elisha, though distant from his servant, saw him accepting gifts, shall we say that when that which is perfect is come, and the corruptible body no longer oppresses the soul, but is incorruptible and offers no impediment to it, the saints shall need bodily eyes to see, though Elisha had no need of them to see his servant? For, following the Septuagint version, these are the prophet's words: "Did not my heart go with thee, when the man came out of his chariot to meet thee, and thou tookedst his gifts?"[1034] Or, as the presbyter Jerome rendered it from the Hebrew, "Was not my heart present when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee?" The prophet said that he saw this with his heart, miraculously[Pg 537] aided by God, as no one can doubt. But how much more abundantly shall the saints enjoy this gift when God shall be all in all? Nevertheless the bodily eyes also shall have their office and their place, and shall be used by the spirit through the spiritual body. For the prophet did not forego the use of his eyes for seeing what was before them, though he did not need them to see his absent servant, and though he could have seen these present objects in spirit, and with his eyes shut, as he saw things far distant in a place where he himself was not. Far be it, then, from us to say that in the life to come the saints shall not see God when their eyes are shut, since they shall always see Him with the spirit.
  But the question arises, whether, when their eyes are open, they shall see Him with the bodily eye? If the eyes of the spiritual body have no more power than the eyes which we now possess, manifestly God cannot be seen with them. They must be of a very different power if they can look upon that incorporeal nature which is not contained in any place, but is all in every place. For though we say that God is in heaven and on earth, as He Himself says by the prophet, "I fill heaven and earth,"[1035] we do not mean that there is one part of God in heaven and another part on earth; but He is all in heaven and all on earth, not at alternate intervals of time, but both at once, as no bodily nature can be. The eye, then, shall have a vastly superior power,the power not of keen sight, such as is ascribed to serpents or eagles, for however keenly these animals see, they can discern nothing but bodily substances,but the power of seeing things incorporeal. Possibly it was this great power of vision which was temporarily communicated to the eyes of the holy Job while yet in this mortal body, when he says to God, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and melt away, and count myself dust and ashes;"[1036] although there is no reason why we should not understand this of the eye of the heart, of which the apostle says, "Having the eyes of your heart illuminated."[1037] But that God shall be seen with these eyes no Christian doubts who believingly accepts what our God and Master says, "Blessed[Pg 538] are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."[1038] But whether in the future life God shall also be seen with the bodily eye, this is now our question.
  The expression of Scripture, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God,"[1039] may without difficulty be understood as if it were said, "And every man shall see the Christ of God." And He certainly was seen in the body, and shall be seen in the body when He judges quick and dead. And that Christ is the salvation of God, many other passages of Scripture witness, but especially the words of the venerable Simeon, who, when he had received into his hands the infant Christ, said, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."[1040] As for the words of the above-mentioned Job, as they are found in the Hebrew manuscripts, "And in my flesh I shall see God,"[1041] no doubt they were a prophecy of the resurrection of the flesh; yet he does not say "by the flesh." And indeed, if he had said this, it would still be possible that Christ was meant by "God;" for Christ shall be seen by the flesh in the flesh. But even understanding it of God, it is only equivalent to saying, I shall be in the flesh when I see God. Then the apostle's expression, "face to face,"[1042] does not oblige us to believe that we shall see God by the bodily face in which are the eyes of the body, for we shall see Him without intermission in spirit. And if the apostle had not referred to the face of the inner man, he would not have said, "But we, with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."[1043] In the same sense we understand what the Psalmist sings, "Draw near unto Him, and be enlightened; and your faces shall not be ashamed."[1044] For it is by faith we draw near to God, and faith is an act of the spirit, not of the body. But as we do not know what degree of perfection the spiritual body shall attain,for here we speak of a matter of which we have no experience, and upon which the authority of Scripture does not definitely pronounce,it is[Pg 539] necessary that the words of the Book of Wisdom be illustrated in us: "The thoughts of mortal men are timid, and our forecastings uncertain."[1045]
  For if that reasoning of the philosophers, by which they attempt to make out that intelligible or mental objects are so seen by the mind, and sensible or bodily objects so seen by the body, that the former cannot be discerned by the mind through the body, nor the latter by the mind itself without the body,if this reasoning were trustworthy, then it would certainly follow that God could not be seen by the eye even of a spiritual body. But this reasoning is exploded both by true reason and by prophetic authority. For who is so little acquainted with the truth as to say that God has no cognisance of sensible objects? Has He therefore a body, the eyes of which give Him this knowledge? Moreover, what we have just been relating of the prophet Elisha, does this not sufficiently show that bodily things can be discerned by the spirit without the help of the body? For when that servant received the gifts, certainly this was a bodily or material transaction, yet the prophet saw it not by the body, but by the spirit. As, therefore, it is agreed that bodies are seen by the spirit, what if the power of the spiritual body shall be so great that spirit also is seen by the body? For God is a spirit. Besides, each man recognises his own life that life by which he now lives in the body, and which vivifies these earthly members and causes them to growby an interior sense, and not by his bodily eye; but the life of other men, though it is invisible, he sees with the bodily eye. For how do we distinguish between living and dead bodies, except by seeing at once both the body and the life which we cannot see save by the eye? But a life without a body we cannot see thus.

BOOK XX. - Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments, #City of God, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  Daniel prophesies of the last judgment in such a way as to indicate that Antichrist shall first come, and to carry on his description to the eternal reign of the saints. For when in prophetic vision he had seen four beasts, signifying four kingdoms, and the fourth conquered by a certain king, who is recognised as Antichrist, and after this the eternal kingdom of the Son of man, that is to say, of Christ, he says, "My spirit was terrified, I Daniel in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me,"[794] etc. Some have interpreted these four kingdoms as signifying those of the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. They who desire to[Pg 394] understand the fitness of this interpretation may read Jerome's book on Daniel, which is written with a sufficiency of care and erudition. But he who reads this passage, even half-asleep, cannot fail to see that the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the Church before the last judgment of God shall introduce the eternal reign of the saints. For it is patent from the context that the time, times, and half a time, means a year, and two years, and half a year, that is to say, three years and a half. Sometimes in Scripture the same thing is indicated by months. For though the word times seems to be used here in the Latin indefinitely, that is only because the Latins have no dual, as the Greeks have, and as the Hebrews also are said to have. Times, therefore, is used for two times. As for the ten kings, whom, as it seems, Antichrist is to find in the person of ten individuals when he comes, I own I am afraid we may be deceived in this, and that he may come unexpectedly while there are not ten kings living in the Roman world. For what if this number ten signifies the whole number of kings who are to precede his coming, as totality is frequently symbolized by a thousand, or a hundred, or seven, or other numbers, which it is not necessary to recount?
  In another place the same Daniel says, "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as was not since there was born a nation upon earth until that time: and in that time all Thy people which shall be found written in the book shall be delivered. And many of them that sleep in the mound of earth shall arise, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting confusion. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and many of the just as the stars for ever."[795] This passage is very similar to the one we have quoted from the Gospel,[796] at least so far as regards the resurrection of dead bodies. For those who are there said to be "in the graves" are here spoken of as "sleeping in the mound of earth," or, as others translate, "in the dust of earth." There it is said, "They shall come forth;" so here, "They shall arise." There, "They that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection[Pg 395] of judgment;" here, "Some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting confusion." Neither is it to be supposed a difference, though in place of the expression in the Gospel, "All who are in their graves," the prophet does not say "all," but "many of them that sleep in the mound of earth." For many is sometimes used in Scripture for all. Thus it was said to Abraham, "I have set thee as the father of many nations," though in another place it was said to him, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed."[797] Of such a resurrection it is said a little afterwards to the prophet himself, "And come thou and rest: for there is yet a day till the completion of the consummation; and thou shalt rest, and rise in thy lot in the end of the days."[798]
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  There are many allusions to the last judgment in the Psalms, but for the most part only casual and slight. I cannot, however, omit to mention what is said there in express terms of the end of this world: "In the beginning hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth, O Lord; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; and as a vesture Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."[799] Why is it that Porphyry, while he lauds the piety of the Hebrews in worshipping a God great and true, and terrible to the gods themselves, follows the oracles of these gods in accusing the Christians of extreme folly because they say that this world shall perish? For here we find it said in the sacred books of the Hebrews, to that God whom this great philosopher acknowledges to be terrible even to the gods themselves, "The heavens are the work of Thy hands: they shall perish." When the heavens, the higher and more secure part of the world, perish, shall the world itself be preserved? If this idea is not relished by Jupiter, whose oracle is quoted by this philosopher as an unquestionable authority in rebuke of the credulity of the Christians, why does he not similarly rebuke the wisdom of the Hebrews as folly, seeing that the[Pg 396] prediction is found in their most holy books? But if this Hebrew wisdom, with which Porphyry is so captivated that he extols it through the utterances of his own gods, proclaims that the heavens are to perish, how is he so infatuated as to detest the faith of the Christians partly, if not chiefly, on this account, that they believe the world is to perish?though how the heavens are to perish if the world does not is not easy to see. And, indeed, in the sacred writings which are peculiar to ourselves, and not common to the Hebrews and us,I mean the evangelic and apostolic books,the following expressions are used: "The figure of this world passeth away;"[800] "The world passeth away;"[801] "Heaven and earth shall pass away,"[802]expressions which are, I fancy, somewhat milder than "They shall perish." In the Epistle of the Apostle Peter, too, where the world which then was is said to have perished, being overflowed with water, it is sufficiently obvious what part of the world is signified by the whole, and in what sense the word perished is to be taken, and what heavens were kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.[803] And when he says a little afterwards, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great rush, and the elements shall melt with burning heat, and the earth and the works which are in it shall be burned up;" and then adds, "Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be?"[804]these heavens which are to perish may be understood to be the same which he said were kept in store reserved for fire; and the elements which are to be burned are those which are full of storm and disturbance in this lowest part of the world in which he said that these heavens were kept in store; for the higher heavens in whose firmament are set the stars are safe, and remain in their integrity. For even the expression of Scripture, that "the stars shall fall from heaven,"[805] not to mention that a different interpretation is much preferable, rather shows that the heavens themselves shall remain, if the stars are to fall from them. This expression, then, is either figurative, as[Pg 397] is more credible, or this phenomenon will take place in this lowest heaven, like that mentioned by Virgil,
  "A meteor with a train of light Athwart the sky gleamed dazzling bright, Then in Idan woods was lost."[806]
  But the passage I have quoted from the psalm seems to except none of the heavens from the destiny of destruction; for he says, "The heavens are the works of Thy hands: they shall perish;" so that, as none of them are excepted from the category of God's works, none of them are excepted from destruction. For our opponents will not condescend to defend the Hebrew piety, which has won the approbation of their gods, by the words of the Apostle Peter, whom they vehemently detest; nor will they argue that, as the apostle in his epistle understands a part when he speaks of the whole world perishing in the flood, though only the lowest part of it, and the corresponding heavens were destroyed, so in the psalm the whole is used for a part, and it is said "They shall perish," though only the lowest heavens are to perish. But since, as I said, they will not condescend to reason thus, lest they should seem to approve of Peter's meaning, or ascribe as much importance to the final conflagration as we ascribe to the deluge, whereas they contend that no waters or flames could destroy the whole human race, it only remains to them to maintain that their gods lauded the wisdom of the Hebrews because they had not read this psalm.
  It is the last judgment of God which is referred to also in the 50th Psalm in the words, "God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence: fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call the heaven above, and the earth, to judge His people. Gather His saints together to Him; they who make a covenant with Him over sacrifices."[807] This we understand of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we look for from heaven to judge the quick and the dead. For He shall come manifestly to judge justly the just and the unjust, who before came hiddenly to be unjustly judged by the unjust. He, I say, shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence, that is, shall[Pg 398] make Himself known by His voice of judgment, who before, when He came hiddenly, was silent before His judge when He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and, as a lamb before the shearer, opened not His mouth, as we read that it was prophesied of Him by Isaiah,[808] and as we see it fulfilled in the Gospel.[809] As for the fire and tempest, we have already said how these are to be interpreted when we were explaining a similar passage in Isaiah.[810] As to the expression, "He shall call the heaven above," as the saints and the righteous are rightly called heaven, no doubt this means what the apostle says, "We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."[811] For if we take the bare literal sense, how is it possible to call the heaven above, as if the heaven could be anywhere else than above? And the following expression, "And the earth to judge His people," if we supply only the words, "He shall call," that is to say, "He shall call the earth also," and do not supply "above," seems to give us a meaning in accordance with sound doctrine, the heaven symbolizing those who will judge along with Christ, and the earth those who shall be judged; and thus the words, "He shall call the heaven above," would not mean, "He shall catch up into the air," but "He shall lift up to seats of judgment." Possibly, too, "He shall call the heaven," may mean, He shall call the angels in the high and lofty places, that He may descend with them to do judgment; and "He shall call the earth also" would then mean, He shall call the men on the earth to judgment. But if with the words "and the earth" we understand not only "He shall call," but also "above," so as to make the full sense be, He shall call the heaven above, and He shall call the earth above, then I think it is best understood of the men who shall be caught up to meet Christ in the air, and that they are called the heaven with reference to their souls, and the earth with reference to their bodies. Then what is "to judge His people," but to separate by judgment the good from the bad, as the sheep from the goats? Then he turns to address the angels: "Gather His saints together unto Him." For certainly a[Pg 399] matter so important must be accomplished by the ministry of angels. And if we ask who the saints are who are gathered unto Him by the angels, we are told, "They who make a covenant with Him over sacrifices." This is the whole life of the saints, to make a covenant with God over sacrifices. For "over sacrifices" either refers to works of mercy, which are preferable to sacrifices in the judgment of God, who says, "I desire mercy more than sacrifices;"[812] or if "over sacrifices" means in sacrifices, then these very works of mercy are the sacrifices with which God is pleased, as I remember to have stated in the tenth book of this work;[813] and in these works the saints make a covenant with God, because they do them for the sake of the promises which are contained in His new testament or covenant. And hence, when His saints have been gathered to Him and set at His right hand in the last judgment, Christ shall say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat,"[814] and so on, mentioning the good works of the good, and their eternal rewards assigned by the last sentence of the Judge.
  --
  The prophet Malachi or Malachias, who is also called Angel, and is by some (for Jerome[815] tells us that this is the opinion of the Hebrews) identified with Ezra the priest,[816] others of whose writings have been received into the canon, predicts the last judgment, saying, "Behold, He cometh, saith the Lord Almighty; and who shall abide the day of His entrance? ... for I am the Lord your God, and I change not."[817] From these words it more evidently appears that some shall in the last judgment suffer some kind of purgatorial punishments; for what else can be understood by the word, "Who shall abide the day of His entrance, or who shall be able to look upon Him? for He enters as a moulder's fire, and as the herb of fullers: and He shall sit fusing and purifying as if[Pg 400] over gold and silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and pour them out like gold and silver?" Similarly Isaiah says, "The Lord shall wash the filthiness of the sons and daughters of Zion, and shall cleanse away the blood from their midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning."[818] Unless perhaps we should say that they are cleansed from filthiness and in a manner clarified, when the wicked are separated from them by penal judgment, so that the elimination and damnation of the one party is the purgation of the others, because they shall henceforth live free from the contamination of such men. But when he says, "And he shall purify the sons of Levi, and pour them out like gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord sacrifices in righteousness; and the sacrifices of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord," he declares that those who shall be purified shall then please the Lord with sacrifices of righteousness, and consequently they themselves shall be purified from their own unrighteousness which made them displeasing to God. Now they themselves, when they have been purified, shall be sacrifices of complete and perfect righteousness; for what more acceptable offering can such persons make to God than themselves? But this question of purgatorial punishments we must defer to another time, to give it a more adequate treatment. By the sons of Levi and Judah and Jerusalem we ought to understand the Church herself, gathered not from the Hebrews only, but from other nations as well; nor such a Church as she now is, when "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,"[819] but as she shall then be, purged by the last judgment as a threshing-floor by a winnowing wind, and those of her members who need it being cleansed by fire, so that there remains absolutely not one who offers sacrifice for his sins. For all who make such offerings are assuredly in their sins, for the remission of which they make offerings, that having made to God an acceptable offering, they may then be absolved.
  26. Of the sacrifices offered to God by the saints, which are to be pleasing to Him, as in the primitive days and former years.
  --
  In like manner the Lord, speaking by the same prophet, says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and mercy; and they shall look upon me because they have insulted me, and they shall mourn for Him as for one very dear, and shall be in bitterness as for an only-begotten."[845] To whom but to God does it belong to destroy all the nations that are hostile to the holy city Jerusalem, which "come against it," that is, are opposed to it, or, as some translate, "come upon it," as if putting it down under them; or to pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and mercy? This belongs doubtless to God, and it is to God the prophet ascribes the words; and yet Christ shows that He is the God who does these so great and divine things, when He goes on to say, "And they shall look upon me because they have insulted me, and they shall mourn for Him as if for one very dear (or beloved), and shall be in bitterness for Him as for an only-begotten." For in that day the Jewsthose[Pg 409] of them, at least, who shall receive the spirit of grace and mercywhen they see Him coming in His majesty, and recognise that it is He whom they, in the person of their parents, insulted when He came before in His humiliation, shall repent of insulting Him in His passion: and their parents themselves, who were the perpetrators of this huge impiety, shall see Him when they rise; but this will be only for their punishment, and not for their correction. It is not of them we are to understand the words, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and mercy, and they shall look upon me because they have insulted me;" but we are to understand the words of their descendants, who shall at that time believe through Elias. But as we say to the Jews, You killed Christ, although it was their parents who did so, so these persons shall grieve that they in some sort did what their progenitors did. Although, therefore, those that receive the spirit of mercy and grace, and believe, shall not be condemned with their impious parents, yet they shall mourn as if they themselves had done what their parents did. Their grief shall arise not so much from guilt as from pious affection. Certainly the words which the Septuagint have translated, "They shall look upon me because they insulted me," stand in the Hebrew, "They shall look upon me whom they pierced."[846] And by this word the crucifixion of Christ is certainly more plainly indicated. But the Septuagint translators preferred to allude to the insult which was involved in His whole passion. For in point of fact they insulted Him both when He was arrested and when He was bound, when He was judged, when He was mocked by the robe they put on Him and the homage they did on bended knee, when He was crowned with thorns and struck with a rod on the head, when He bore His cross, and when at last He hung upon the tree. And therefore we recognise more fully the Lord's passion when we do not confine ourselves to one interpretation, but combine both, and read both "insulted" and "pierced."
  When, therefore, we read in the prophetical books that God is to come to do judgment at the last, from the mere mention[Pg 410] of the judgment, and although there is nothing else to determine the meaning, we must gather that Christ is meant; for though the Father will judge, He will judge by the coming of the Son. For He Himself, by His own manifested presence, "judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son;"[847] for as the Son was judged as a man, He shall also judge in human form. For it is none but He of whom God speaks by Isaiah under the name of Jacob and Israel, of whose seed Christ took a body, as it is written, "Jacob is my servant, I will uphold Him; Israel is mine elect, my Spirit has assumed Him: I have put my Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor cease, neither shall His voice be heard without. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: but in truth shall He bring forth judgment. He shall shine and shall not be broken, until He sets judgment in the earth: and the nations shall hope in His name."[848] The Hebrew has not "Jacob" and "Israel;" but the Septuagint translators, wishing to show the significance of the expression "my servant," and that it refers to the form of a servant in which the Most High humbled Himself, inserted the name of that man from whose stock He took the form of a servant. The Holy Spirit was given to Him, and was manifested, as the evangelist testifies, in the form of a dove.[849] He brought forth judgment to the Gentiles, because He predicted what was hidden from them. In His meekness He did not cry, nor did He cease to proclaim the truth. But His voice was not heard, nor is it heard, without, because He is not obeyed by those who are outside of His body. And the Jews themselves, who persecuted Him, He did not break, though as a bruised reed they had lost their integrity, and as smoking flax their light was quenched; for He spared them, having come to be judged and not yet to judge. He brought forth judgment in truth, declaring that they should be punished did they persist in their wickedness. His face shone on the Mount,[850] His fame in the world. He is not broken nor overcome, because neither in Himself nor in His[Pg 411] Church has persecution prevailed to annihilate Him. And therefore that has not, and shall not, be brought about which His enemies said or say, "When shall He die, and His name perish?"[851] "until He set judgment in the earth." Behold, the hidden thing which we were seeking is discovered. For this is the last judgment, which He will set in the earth when He comes from heaven. And it is in Him, too, we already see the concluding expression of the prophecy fulfilled: "In His name shall the nations hope." And by this fulfilment, which no one can deny, men are encouraged to believe in that which is most impudently denied. For who could have hoped for that which even those who do not yet believe in Christ now see fulfilled among us, and which is so undeniable that they can but gnash their teeth and pine away? Who, I say, could have hoped that the nations would hope in the name of Christ, when He was arrested, bound, scourged, mocked, crucified, when even the disciples themselves had lost the hope which they had begun to have in Him? The hope which was then entertained scarcely by the one thief on the cross, is now cherished by nations everywhere on the earth, who are marked with the sign of the cross on which He died that they may not die eternally.
  That the last judgment, then, shall be administered by Jesus Christ in the manner predicted in the sacred writings is denied or doubted by no one, unless by those who, through some incredible animosity or blindness, decline to believe these writings, though already their truth is demonstrated to all the world. And at or in connection with that judgment the following events shall come to pass, as we have learned: Elias the Tishbite shall come; the Jews shall believe; Antichrist shall persecute; Christ shall judge; the dead shall rise; the good and the wicked shall be separated; the world shall be burned and renewed. All these things, we believe, shall come to pass; but how, or in what order, human understanding cannot perfectly teach us, but only the experience of the events themselves. My opinion, however, is, that they will happen in the order in which I have related them.

BS 1 - Introduction to the Idea of God, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Theres four sources in the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Biblefour stories that we know came together. The first one was called the Priestly. It used the name Elohim, or El Shaddai, for God. I believe el is the root for allah, as well. This is usually translated as God, or the gods, because Elohim is utilized as plural in the beginning books of the Bible. Its newer than the Jahwist version. The reason Im telling you that is because Genesis 1, which is the first story, isnt as old as Genesis 2. Genesis 2 contains the Jahwist version. It contains the story of Adam and Eve. Thats older than the very first book in the Bible, but they decided to put the newer version first. I think its because it deals with more fundamental abstractions. Its something like that. It deals with the most basic of abstractionshow the universe was created and then segues into what the human environment is like. That seems to be the logic behind it.
  The Jahwist version uses the name YHWH , which, apparently, people didnt say, but we believe was pronounced something like Yahwa. It has a strongly anthropomorphic God, that takes human form. It begins with Genesis 2:4. This is the account of the heavens and the earth, and it contains the story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, and Noah, and the Tower of Babel, and Exodus, and Numbers, along with the Priestly version. It also contains the law in the formjust the formof the Ten Commandments, which is like a truncated form of the law.

COSA - BOOK XI, #The Confessions of Saint Augustine, #Saint Augustine of Hippo, #Christianity
  mouth. And should he speak Hebrew, in vain will it strike on my senses,
  nor would aught of it touch my mind; but if Latin, I should know what
  --
  the chamber of my thoughts, Truth, neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin,
  nor barbarian, without organs of voice or tongue, or sound of syllables,

ENNEAD 06.05 - The One and Identical Being is Everywhere Present In Its Entirety.345, #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04, #Plotinus, #Christianity
  1294 Did Greek philosophy die with Proclus? The political changes of the time forced alteration of dialect and position; but the accumulations of mental achievements could not perish. This again we owe to Proclus. Besides being the first great commentator he precipitated his most valuable achievements in logical form, in analytic arrangement, in the form of crystal-clear propositions, theorems, demonstrations, and corollaries. Such a highly abstract form was inevitable, inasmuch as Numenius had turned away from Aristotelian observation of nature. Just like the Hebrew thinkers, who finally became commentators and abstract theorizers, nothing else was left for a philosophy without connection with experiment, when whittled down by the keenest intellects of the times.
  This abstract method, still familiarly used by geometry, reappeared among the School-men, notably in Thomas Aquinas. Later it persisted with Spinoza and Descartes. However, rising experimentalism has gradually terminated it, its last form appearing in Kant and Hegel. Kant's "Ding in sich," reached after abstracting all qualities, is only a re-statement of Numenius and Plotinos's "subject," or, definition of matter; and Hegel's dialectic, beginning with Being and Not-being, more definitely proclaimed by Plotinos, goes as far back as the Eleatics and Heraclitus, not to mention Plato. However, Kant and Hegel are the great masters of modern thought; and although at one time the rising tide of materialism and cruder forms of evolution threatened to obscure it, Karl Pearson's "Grammar of Science," generous as it is in invective against Kant and Hegel, in modern terms clinches Berkeley's and Kant's demonstration of the reality of the super-sensual, thus vindicating Plotinos, and, before him, Numenius.
  --
  The Christian origins in Numenius are quite explicit; mention of the Hebrews as among the races whose scriptures are important, of Moses among the great religious teachers, of the Spirit hovering over the waters, of the names of the Egyptian magicians which, together with Pliny, he hands down to posterity. He also was said to have told many stories about Jesus, in an allegorical manner.
  The Christian origins in Stoicism have been widely discussed; for instance, by Chaignet. But it is likely that this influence affected Christianity indirectly through Plotinos, along with the other Christian ideas we shall later find. At any rate Plotinos is the philosopher who uses the term "spiritual body" most like the Christians.510 The soul is a slave to the body,511 and has a celestial body512 as well as a spiritual body.513 Within us are two men opposing each other,514 the better part often being mastered by the worse part, as thought St.1309 Paul,515 in the struggle between the inner and outer man.516

Gorgias, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  The idealizing of suffering is one of the conceptions which have exercised the greatest influence on mankind. Into the theological import of this, or into the consideration of the errors to which the idea may have given rise, we need not now enter. All will agree that the ideal of the Divine Sufferer, whose words the world would not receive, the man of sorrows of whom the Hebrew prophets spoke, has sunk deep into the heart of the human race. It is a similar picture of suffering goodness which Plato desires to pourtray, not without an allusion to the fate of his master Socrates. He is convinced that, somehow or other, such an one must be happy in life or after death. In the Republic, he endeavours to show that his happiness would be assured here in a well-ordered state. But in the actual condition of human things the wise and good are weak and miserable; such an one is like a man fallen among wild beasts, exposed to every sort of wrong and obloquy.
  Plato, like other philosophers, is thus led on to the conclusion, that if 'the ways of God' to man are to be 'justified,' the hopes of another life must be included. If the question could have been put to him, whether a man dying in torments was happy still, even if, as he suggests in the Apology, 'death be only a long sleep,' we can hardly tell what would have been his answer. There have been a few, who, quite independently of rewards and punishments or of posthumous reputation, or any other influence of public opinion, have been willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of others. It is difficult to say how far in such cases an unconscious hope of a future life, or a general faith in the victory of good in the world, may have supported the sufferers. But this extreme idealism is not in accordance with the spirit of Plato. He supposes a day of retri bution, in which the good are to be rewarded and the wicked punished. Though, as he says in the Phaedo, no man of sense will maintain that the details of the stories about another world are true, he will insist that something of the kind is true, and will frame his life with a view to this unknown future. Even in the Republic he introduces a future life as an afterthought, when the superior happiness of the just has been established on what is thought to be an immutable foundation. At the same time he makes a point of determining his main thesis independently of remoter consequences.

Liber 111 - The Book of Wisdom - LIBER ALEPH VEL CXI, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   Recall, o my Son, the Fable of the Hebrews, which they brought from the
   City Babylon, how Nebuchadnezzar the Great King, being afflicted in his

Liber 46 - The Key of the Mysteries, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   There exists an occult and sacred alphabet which the Hebrews attribute
   to Enoch, the Egyptians to Thoth or to Hermes Trismegistus, the Greeks
  --
   the Zohar, the great dogmatic treatise of the Qabalah of the Hebrews.
   The Clavicles of Solomon, forgotten in the course of time, and supposed
  --
   serpent circles. Five Hebrew letters are along the sword, only the
   topmost upon the blade and the others beneath: Top quarter --- HB:Yod ,
  --
   the bottom to admit crude Hebrew letters, evidently
   Yod-Shin-Heh-Vau-Heh or something similar with the doubt being on the
  --
   This light, whose Hebrew name is HB:Aleph-Vau-Resh, "aour," is the
   fluidic and living gold of the hermetic philosophy. Its positive
  --
   "This is to introduce to you an old savant, who wants to gabble Hebrew
   sorcery with you. Receive him like myself --- I mean as I myself
  --
     "I do not know, but I suppose it was in Hebrew."
   "There," said the Professor of Transcendental Magic, after having
   traced two words in the Hebrew language in the beginning and at the end
   of the book. "Here are two words which the spirits of darkness will
  --
   Hebrews.
   The Logos, or the word, being according to the initiates of that
  --
   Now, this is what we find in all Hebrew grammars.<    deliberately wrong. That Levi knew the correct attri butions is evident
  --
   easily, and more fortunately, Hebrew; but what would one say if it were
   neither Hebrew nor Coptic? If it were, for example, the universal
   primitive language? Now, this language, which was that of the
  --
   the base of Hebrew itself, and of all the oriental languages which
   derive from it; this language is that of the sanctuary, and the columns
  --
   the Hebrew calls OD, as did the Chevalier de Reichenback, which we,
   with the School of Pasqualis Martinez, call astral light, which Mr. de
  --
   word for "gold") comes from the Hebrew "AOUR" which signifies "light."
   "What do you wish?" they asked the candidate in every initiation: "To
  --
   only in Hebrew, without vowel points, in the "Rituel de la haute
   magie." Here is the complete text in Latin, as one finds in on page 144
  --
   Here is the French translation of the Hebrew text which we have
   transcribed in our ritual:
  --
   symbols of Eros and Anteros, and the Hebrews by the antagonism of Cain
   and Abel. It is the war of the Titans and the Gods. The two armies are
  --
   and either represent stars or fires. The Hebrew letters are formed by
   straight line segments connecting the dots. The Hays have three dots

Liber, #Liber Null, #Peter J Carroll, #Occultism
  Liber D. (500) [B] - Sepher Sephiroth ::: A dictionary of Hebrew words arranged according to their numerical value. This is an Encyclopaedia of the Holy Qabalah, which is a Map of the Universe, and enables man to attain Perfect Understanding. Equinox VIII, Special Supplement.
  Liber DXXXVI.

Phaedo, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  1. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul has sunk deep into the heart of the human race; and men are apt to rebel against any examination of the nature or grounds of their belief. They do not like to acknowledge that this, as well as the other 'eternal ideas; of man, has a history in time, which may be traced in Greek poetry or philosophy, and also in the Hebrew Scriptures. They convert feeling into reasoning, and throw a network of dialectics over that which is really a deeply-rooted instinct. In the same temper which Socrates reproves in himself they are disposed to think that even fallacies will do no harm, for they will die with them, and while they live they will gain by the delusion. And when they consider the numberless bad arguments which have been pressed into the service of theology, they say, like the companions of Socrates, 'What argument can we ever trust again?' But there is a better and higher spirit to be gathered from the Phaedo, as well as from the other writings of Plato, which says that first principles should be most constantly reviewed (Phaedo and Crat.), and that the highest subjects demand of us the greatest accuracy (Republic); also that we must not become misologists because arguments are apt to be deceivers.
  2. In former ages there was a customary rather than a reasoned belief in the immortality of the soul. It was based on the authority of the Church, on the necessity of such a belief to morality and the order of society, on the evidence of an historical fact, and also on analogies and figures of speech which filled up the void or gave an expression in words to a cherished instinct. The mass of mankind went on their way busy with the affairs of this life, hardly stopping to think about another. But in our own day the question has been reopened, and it is doubtful whether the belief which in the first ages of Christianity was the strongest motive of action can survive the conflict with a scientific age in which the rules of evidence are stricter and the mind has become more sensitive to criticism. It has faded into the distance by a natural process as it was removed further and further from the historical fact on which it has been supposed to rest. Arguments derived from material things such as the seed and the ear of corn or transitions in the life of animals from one state of being to another (the chrysalis and the butterfly) are not 'in pari materia' with arguments from the visible to the invisible, and are therefore felt to be no longer applicable. The evidence to the historical fact seems to be weaker than was once supposed: it is not consistent with itself, and is based upon documents which are of unknown origin. The immortality of man must be proved by other arguments than these if it is again to become a living belief. We must ask ourselves afresh why we still maintain it, and seek to discover a foundation for it in the nature of God and in the first principles of morality.

Symposium translated by B Jowett, #Symposium, #Plato, #Philosophy
  But Diotima, the prophetess of Mantineia, whose sacred and superhuman character raises her above the ordinary proprieties of women, has taught Socrates far more than this about the art and mystery of love. She has taught him that love is another aspect of philosophy. The same want in the human soul which is satisfied in the vulgar by the procreation of children, may become the highest aspiration of intellectual desire. As the Christian might speak of hungering and thirsting after righteousness; or of divine loves under the figure of human (compare Eph. 'This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church'); as the mediaeval saint might speak of the 'fruitio Dei;' as Dante saw all things contained in his love of Beatrice, so Plato would have us absorb all other loves and desires in the love of knowledge. Here is the beginning of Neoplatonism, or rather, perhaps, a proof (of which there are many) that the so-called mysticism of the East was not strange to the Greek of the fifth century before Christ. The first tumult of the affections was not wholly subdued; there were longings of a creature moving about in worlds not realized, which no art could satisfy. To most men reason and passion appear to be antagonistic both in idea and fact. The union of the greatest comprehension of knowledge and the burning intensity of love is a contradiction in nature, which may have existed in a far-off primeval age in the mind of some Hebrew prophet or other Eastern sage, but has now become an imagination only. Yet this 'passion of the reason' is the theme of the Symposium of Plato. And as there is no impossibility in supposing that 'one king, or son of a king, may be a philosopher,' so also there is a probability that there may be some fewperhaps one or two in a whole generationin whom the light of truth may not lack the warmth of desire. And if there be such natures, no one will be disposed to deny that 'from them flow most of the benefits of individuals and states;' and even from imperfect combinations of the two elements in teachers or statesmen great good may often arise.
  Yet there is a higher region in which love is not only felt, but satisfied, in the perfect beauty of eternal knowledge, beginning with the beauty of earthly things, and at last reaching a beauty in which all existence is seen to be harmonious and one. The limited affection is enlarged, and enabled to behold the ideal of all things. And here the highest summit which is reached in the Symposium is seen also to be the highest summit which is attained in the Republic, but approached from another side; and there is 'a way upwards and downwards,' which is the same and not the same in both. The ideal beauty of the one is the ideal good of the other; regarded not with the eye of knowledge, but of faith and desire; and they are respectively the source of beauty and the source of good in all other things. And by the steps of a 'ladder reaching to heaven' we pass from images of visible beauty (Greek), and from the hypotheses of the Mathematical sciences, which are not yet based upon the idea of good, through the concrete to the abstract, and, by different paths arriving, behold the vision of the eternal (compare Symp. (Greek) Republic (Greek) also Phaedrus). Under one aspect 'the idea is love'; under another, 'truth.' In both the lover of wisdom is the 'spectator of all time and of all existence.' This is a 'mystery' in which Plato also obscurely intimates the union of the spiritual and fleshly, the interpenetration of the moral and intellectual faculties.

The Act of Creation text, #The Act of Creation, #Arthur Koestler, #Psychology
  the Hebrew word for earth. The reverse transformation life into
  mechanism has equally rich varieties: the pedant whom enslavement
  --
  was created out ofadamah, earth. Eve's Hebrew name is Havvah, life;
  while ahavvah is love; esh, a synonym for man, has the same root as
  --
  and Hebrew. He exhibited typical sound associations, and with every
  word of the operator broke into a flight of ideas. Thus, on hearing the
  --
  Tragic and Trivial planes more intensely felt than by the Hebrews.
  The first was represented by the endless succession of invasions and
  --
  stage in their languages; Hebrew and Greek have retained separate
  grammatical forms for the singular, the dual, and the plural. Koffka

The Aleph, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  I want to add two final observations: one, on the nature of the Aleph; the other, on its name. As is well known, the Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its use for the strange sphere in my story may not be accidental. For the Kabbala, the letter stands for the En Soph, the pure and boundless godhead; it is also said that it takes the shape of a man pointing to both heaven and earth, in order to show that the lower world is the map and mirror of the higher; for Cantor's Mengenlehre, it is the symbol of transfinite numbers, of which any part is as great as the whole. I would like to know whether Carlos Argentino chose that name or whether he read it -- applied to another point where all points converge - - in one of the numberless texts that the Aleph in his cellar revealed to him. Incredible as it may seem, I believe that the Aleph of Garay Street was a false Aleph.
  Here are my reasons. Around 1867, Captain Burton held the post of British Consul in Brazil. In July, 1942, Pedro Henrquez Urea came across a manuscript of Burton's, in a library at Santos, dealing with the mirror which the Oriental world attributes to Iskander Zu al-Karnayn, or Alexander Bicornis of Macedonia. In its crystal the whole world was reflected. Burton mentions other similar devices -- the sevenfold cup of Kai Kosru; the mirror that Tariq ibn-Ziyad found in a tower (Thousand and One Nights, 272); the mirror that Lucian of Samosata examined on the moon (True History, I, 26); the mirrorlike spear that the first book of Capella's Satyricon attri butes; Merlin's universal mirror, which was "round and hollow... and seem'd a world of glas" (The Faerie Queene, III, 2, 19) -- and adds this curious statement: "But the aforesaid objects (besides the disadvantage of not existing) are mere optical instruments. The Faithful who gather at the mosque of Amr, in Cairo, are acquainted with the fact that the entire universe lies inside one of the stone pillars that ring its central court... No one, of course, can actually see it, but those who lay an ear against the surface tell that after some short while they perceive its busy hum... The mosque dates from the seventh century; the pillars come from other temples of pre-Islamic religions, since, as ibn-Khaldun has written: 'In nations founded by nomads, the aid of foreigners is essential in all concerning masonry.'"

The Dwellings of the Philosophers, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  in Gothic cursive writing: Az.oth et ignis tibi sufficient (3) , Hebrew characters; circles
  intersected with triangles, interspersed with quadrilateral figures in the manner of Gnostic
  --
  author writs, "knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic; thereby putting himself in a position to
  draw a rich education from ancient literature, he had acquired a reasoned knowledge of the
  --
  physiognomy, wearing a Hebrew turban; and to the one who emerges so vigorously from a
  painted bulls eye window, while his arm pierces the thickness of the entablature; and to a
  --
  Mazadaens, and even of the Hebrews, for the Jews kept a perpetual fire in the temple of
  Jerusalem. The twelve custodians recall the twelve signs of the Zodiac annually crossed by
  --
  using the Hebrew tongue, which was less widespread in these days, he could have avoided
  casting the anathema, and shouting out Maranatha to all those who tried study it. Finally, in
  --
  wrath of God, Salut, cries out the Levite, prince, priest and Hebrew astrologer at the
  beginning of his book.
  --
  venerable ancestor of the Hebrews, means Father of a multitude. He is therefore the first
  author of created things, the source of all that lives on earth, the unique primordial substance
  --
  Hoefer (10) turned to the Hebrew Cabala. "Iesod ([*356-1])", he writes, "signifies at once the
  basis and the mercury, because mercury is the basis, the foundation of the art of
  --
  Greek, and Hebrew, 1,140 books, taken in Naples by Charles VIII and that were given to the
  queen... We could perhaps be surprised to see Greek and Hebrew books represented in the
  collection of the Queen Duchess; but we should remember that she had studied these two
  --
  elements of the secret idiom. In the Hebrew kabbala, three meanings can be discovered in
  each sacred word, hence there are three different interpret ations of kabbalas. The first, called
  --
  known that he tried to reconcile the writings of Plato with the Hebrew texts by interpreting the
  latter allegorically, which agrees perfectly with objective pursued by the Hebrew kabbala. Be
  that as it may, according to the works of very serious authors, we cannot assign to the Jewish

The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
  Righteousness through Faith in Christ Jesus

the Eternal Wisdom, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  4) What is man?... Thou crownedst him with glory and honour.... thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. ~ Hebrews
  5) By the assemblage of all that is exalted and all that is base man was always the most astonishing of mysteries. ~ Farid-uddin-attar
  --
  14) Obey them that guide you and submit yourselves; for they watch over your souls. ~ Hebrews XIII. 17
  15) And we beseech you to know them which labour among you and are over you and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. ~ I Thessalonians V. 12. 13
  --
  30) Others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and unprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tortured, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. ~ Hebrews XI. 36-38
  31) Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.-Only by hope can one attain to unhoped-for things. ~ Romans V. 3, 4
  --
  22) Let us lay aside every weight and run with patience the race that is set before us. ~ Hebrews XII. I
  23) The pilgim should never be discouraged; though he should struggle for a hundred thousand years without success to behold the beauty of the Beloved, still he should not give way to despair. ~ Baha-ullah
  --
  3) Lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. ~ Hebrews HI. 12
  4) Be strong; fear not. ~ Isaiah XXXV. 4
  --
  14) Let your behaviour be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. ~ Hebrews. XIII. 5
  15) In vain are you rich if you do not quell your passions; if an insatiable cupidity eats you up, if you are the prey of fears and anxieties, of what use to you is your opulence?. ~ Plutarch
  --
  23) Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. ~ Hebrews XII. 4
  24) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts there of. ~ Romans VI. 12
  --
  1) Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come ~ Hebrews XIII
  2) Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ~ II Coriothians IV. 16
  --
  7) Thou remainest the same and thy years shall not fail. ~ Hebrews I. 12
  8) The moment that this mystery has been unveiled to thy eyes that thou art no other than Allah, thou shalt know that thou a it thine own end and aim and that thou hast never ceased and canst never cease to be. ~ Mohyddin-ibu-arabi
  --
  44) Let brotherly love continue. ~ Hebrews XIII
  45) Cherish in your hearts a love without any limit for the whole world and make your love to radiate over the world in all directions without any shadow of animosity or hate. ~ Metta Sutta
  --
  1) The love for all that lives: all the religions teach it to us, the religion of the Brahmins, of the Bud- dhists, of the Hebrews, of the Chinese, of the Chris- tians, of the Mohammedans. Therefore the most necessary thing in the world is to learn to love. ~ Tolstoi
  2) Faith may vary with different men, in different epochs, but love is invariable in all. The true faith is ~ Ibrahim of Cordova,
  --
  11) Follow peace with all men. ~ Hebrews XII. 14
  12) Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. ~ Matthew V. 23

The Gospel According to John, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
  10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
  --
  13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" 15 They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
  The Crucifixion of Jesus
  17 So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
  19 Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
  20 Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate, "Do not write, `The King of the Jews,' but, `This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."
  23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; 24 so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfil the scripture, "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." 25 So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
  --
  14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
  17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 18 Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

The Gospel According to Mark, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  John "whose other name was Mark" was noted in the Acts of the Apostles - in 12:12 as the son of Mary, in whose house the first Christians used to gather and whose land included the Garden of Gethsemane. He was a companion of his cousin Barnabas and Saul on the return from Jerusalem to Antioch in Acts 12:25, and then as a companion of Barnabas and Saul on the first missionary journey to Cyprus. He was called by his Hebrew name John while in Cyprus in Acts 13:5 and on his return to Jerusalem in Acts 13:13. John called Mark was the source of a dispute between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:37. John Mark was finally called Mark in Acts 15:39 when he accompanied Barnabas to Cyprus, and thereafter was known as Mark in the Letters of Paul (Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11, Philemon 1:24). Mark knew Jesus Christ personally, and in fact, the episode of the young man in Mark 14:51-52 fleeing in the Garden when Jesus was arrested is considered by many writers to be autobiographical, as this appears only in the Gospel of Mark.
  Peter was especially fond of Mark, calling Mark his "son" (I Peter 5:13). In fact, post-Apostolic writers such as Papias of Hierapolis and others in the second century considered Peter a primary source of Mark's Gospel (Eusebius 2:15:1-2), as Mark was Peter's "interpreter." It is now thought the Gospel of St. Mark was written after St. Peter's martyrdom in 64 AD, but before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. It is believed Mark composed his Gospel in Rome or Alexandria. From Rome, Mark went to Egypt and converted many to Christianity there, both in Alexandria and in the countryside. On his return several years later, he was captured and martyred. St. Mark is called the founder and first martyr of the Church of Alexandria by the Coptic Churches of Egypt.

The Gospel According to Matthew, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  Matthew's Gospel is directed to an audience steeped in Hebrew tradition. The Gospel of Matthew stressed that Jesus is the Christ (1:16, 16:16) foretold in Hebrew Scripture, our Old Testament, and that the Kingdom of the Lord is the Kingdom of Heaven. For example, Jesus fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 7:14, that the Lord is to be born of a virgin; and Micah 5:2, that the Lord is to be born in Bethlehem. He was named "Jesus because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Yeshua, his very name in Hebrew, means "the Lord Saves." Jesus grew up in Nazareth of Galilee and was called a Nazarene (2:23). Jesus calls himself the Son of Man thirty times, fulfilling the destiny of the Messianic figure in Daniel 7:13. He is called the Son of David nine times in the Gospel of Matthew. Just as the twelve sons of Jacob were the origin of the twelve tribes of Israel, Jesus as the Christ chose Twelve Apostles to inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven.
  The Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham (1:1). Matthew names five women in the Genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), and Mary, the mother of Jesus. The genealogy regularly notes the male who fathers a child, but Matthew delivers an exact statement when he reaches Joseph, "the husb and of Mary, of whom Jesus was born" (1:16). The relative pronoun "of whom" in Greek is , which clearly refers to Mary, for it is specific to the feminine gender! And the passive voice of the verb - "was born" - is the only passive among the forty occurrences of in the genealogy, which prepares the way for the divine conception and natural birth of Jesus Christ in 2:1.
  --
  Our New Testament of the Bible in the West was written in Greek. There are indications in the writings of the Fathers of the Church (Papias of Hierapolis, St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, and St. Jerome) that "Matthew put together the sayings of the Lord in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as best he could" (Papias, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, III, 39, 16). St. Irenaeus of Lyons in 180 AD wrote "Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and laying the foundations of the Church" (Against Heresies Book III, 1:1). Origen about 240 AD wrote in his Commentary on Matthew: "I have learned by tradition that the Gospel according to Matthew, who was at one time a publican and afterwards an Apostle of Jesus Christ, was written first; and that he composed it in the Hebrew tongue and published it for the converts from Judaism" (Eusebius 6:25). Eusebius in 325 AD in his Ecclesiastical History wrote "when Matthew, who had first preached among the Hebrews, decided also to reach out to other peoples, he wrote down the Gospel he preached in his mother tongue" (III, 24, 6). St. Jerome noted that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew ("Ad Damasum", xx), but said that it is not known who translated it into Greek. It is not known whether Matthew's writings were in Hebrew or Aramaic, for while Hebrew was the formal language of Israel, daily language was in the Western Aramaic dialect of Palestine, as with Jesus and the Apostles. The oldest manuscripts available to us are the Curetonian and Sinaiticus texts of the Old Syriac Gospels, the Greek Codex Sinaiticus from St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai, Egypt, and the Codex Vaticanus in Greek from the fourth century AD.
  Was Matthew or Mark written first? There must be a reason for St. Augustine and the Church Fathers to have placed Matthew first in the New Testament!

The Letter to the Hebrews, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  object:The Letter to the Hebrews
  subject class:Christianity
  --
  THE LETTER TO THE HebrewS
  CHAPTER 1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ or the Apocalypse, #The Bible, #Anonymous, #Various
  7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
  The Sixth Trumpet
  --
  12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
  17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

The Theologians, #Labyrinths, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
  chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is said that Jesus was not
  sacrificed many times since the beginning of the world, but now, once, in the
  --
  teaches that the earth is quadrangular, like the Hebrew tabernacle.
  Unfortunately, to the four corners of the earth another tempestuous heresy

The Zahir, #Labyrinths, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
  Clementina Villar died on the sixth of June. Around 1930, her pictures were clogging the society magazines: perhaps it was this ubiquity that contri buted to the legend that she was extremely pretty, although not every portrait bore out this hypothesis unconditionally. At any rate, Clementina Villar was interested less in beauty than in perfection. The Hebrews and the Chinese codified every conceivable human eventuality; it is written in the Mishnah that a tailor is not to go out into the street carrying a needle once the Sabbath twilight has set in, and we read in the Book of Rites that a guest should assume a grave air when offered the first cup, and a respectfully contented air upon receiving the second. Something of this sort, though in much greater detail, was to be discerned in the uncompromising strictness which Clementina Villar demanded of herself. Like any Confucian adept or Talmudist, she strove for irreproachable correctness in every action; but her zeal was more admirable and more exigent than theirs because the tenets of her creed were not eternal, but submitted to the shifting caprices of Paris or Hollywood. Clementina Villar appeared at the correct places, at the correct hour, with the correct appuretenances and the correct boredom; but the boredom, the appurtenances, the hour and the places would almost immediately become pass and would provide Clementina Villar with the material for a definition of cheap taste. She was in search of the Absolute, like Flaubert; only hers was an Absolute of a moment's duration. Her life was exemplary, yet she was ravaged unremittingly by an inner despair. She was forever experimenting with new metamorphoses, as though trying to get away from herself; the color of her hair and the shape of her coiffure were celebratedly unstable. She was always changing her smile, her complexion, the slant of her eyes. After thirty-two she was scrupulously slender. . . The war gave her much to think about: with Paris occupied by the Germans, how could one follow the fashions? A foreigner whom she had always distrusted presumed so far upon her good faith as to sell her a number of cylindrical hats; a year later it was divulged that those absurd creations had never been worn in Paris at all! -- consequently they were not hats, but arbitrary, unauthorized eccentricities. And troubles never come singly: Dr. Villar had to move to Araoz Street, and his daughter's portrait was now adorning advertisements for cold cream and automobiles. (The cold cream that she abundantly applied, the automobiles she no longer possessed.) She knew that the successful exercise of her art demanded a large fortune, and she preferred retirement from the scene to halfway effects. Moreover, it pained her to have to compete with giddy little nobodies. The gloomy Araoz apartment was too much to bear: on the sixth of June Clementina Villar committed the solecism of dying in the very middle of the Southern district. Shall I confess that I -- moved by that most sincere of Argentinian passions, snobbery -- was enamored of her, and that her death moved me to tears? Probably the reader has already suspected as much.
  At a wake, the progress of corruption brings it about that the corpse reassumes its earlier faces. At some stage of that confused night of the sixth, Clementina Villar was magically what she had been twenty years before: her features recovered that authority which is conferred by pride, by money, by youth, by the awareness of rounding off a hierarchy, by lack of imagination, by limitations, by stolidity.

Timaeus, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  There is no use in attempting to define or explain the first God in the Platonic system, who has sometimes been thought to answer to God the Father; or the world, in whom the Fathers of the Church seemed to recognize 'the firstborn of every creature.' Nor need we discuss at length how far Plato agrees in the later Jewish idea of creation, according to which God made the world out of nothing. For his original conception of matter as something which has no qualities is really a negation. Moreover in the Hebrew Scriptures the creation of the world is described, even more explicitly than in the Timaeus, not as a single act, but as a work or process which occupied six days. There is a chaos in both, and it would be untrue to say that the Greek, any more than the Hebrew, had any definite belief in the eternal existence of matter. The beginning of things vanished into the distance. The real creation began, not with matter, but with ideas. According to Plato in the Timaeus, God took of the same and the other, of the divided and undivided, of the finite and infinite, and made essence, and out of the three combined created the soul of the world. To the soul he added a body formed out of the four elements. The general meaning of these words is that God imparted determinations of thought, or, as we might say, gave law and variety to the material universe. The elements are moving in a disorderly manner before the work of creation begins; and there is an eternal pattern of the world, which, like the 'idea of good,' is not the Creator himself, but not separable from him. The pattern too, though eternal, is a creation, a world of thought prior to the world of sense, which may be compared to the wisdom of God in the book of Ecclesiasticus, or to the 'God in the form of a globe' of the old Eleatic philosophers. The visible, which already exists, is fashioned in the likeness of this eternal pattern. On the other hand, there is no truth of which Plato is more firmly convinced than of the priority of the soul to the body, both in the universe and in man. So inconsistent are the forms in which he describes the works which no tongue can utterhis language, as he himself says, partaking of his own uncertainty about the things of which he is speaking.
  We may remark in passing, that the Platonic compared with the Jewish description of the process of creation has less of freedom or spontaneity. The Creator in Plato is still subject to a remnant of necessity which he cannot wholly overcome. When his work is accomplished he remains in his own nature. Plato is more sensible than the Hebrew prophet of the existence of evil, which he seeks to put as far as possible out of the way of God. And he can only suppose this to be accomplished by God retiring into himself and committing the lesser works of creation to inferior powers. (Compare, however, Laws for another solution of the difficulty.)
  Nor can we attach any intelligible meaning to his words when he speaks of the visible being in the image of the invisible. For how can that which is divided be like that which is undivided? Or that which is changing be the copy of that which is unchanging? All the old difficulties about the ideas come back upon us in an altered form. We can imagine two worlds, one of which is the mere double of the other, or one of which is an imperfect copy of the other, or one of which is the vanishing ideal of the other; but we cannot imagine an intellectual world which has no qualities'a thing in itself'a point which has no parts or magnitude, which is nowhere, and nothing. This cannot be the archetype according to which God made the world, and is in reality, whether in Plato or in Kant, a mere negative residuum of human thought.
  --
  Leaving the further explanation of details, which the reader will find discussed at length in Boeckh and Martin, we may now return to the main argument: Why did God make the world? Like man, he must have a purpose; and his purpose is the diffusion of that goodness or good which he himself is. The term 'goodness' is not to be understood in this passage as meaning benevolence or love, in the Christian sense of the term, but rather law, order, harmony, like the idea of good in the Republic. The ancient mythologers, and even the Hebrew prophets, had spoken of the jealousy of God; and the Greek had imagined that there was a Nemesis always attending the prosperity of mortals. But Plato delights to think of God as the author of order in his works, who, like a father, lives over again in his children, and can never have too much of good or friendship among his creatures. Only, as there is a certain remnant of evil inherent in matter which he cannot get rid of, he detaches himself from them and leaves them to themselves, that he may be guiltless of their faults and sufferings.
  Between the ideal and the sensible Plato interposes the two natures of time and space. Time is conceived by him to be only the shadow or image of eternity which ever is and never has been or will be, but is described in a figure only as past or future. This is one of the great thoughts of early philosophy, which are still as difficult to our minds as they were to the early thinkers; or perhaps more difficult, because we more distinctly see the consequences which are involved in such an hypothesis. All the objections which may be urged against Kant's doctrine of the ideality of space and time at once press upon us. If time is unreal, then all which is contained in time is unrealthe succession of human thoughts as well as the flux of sensations; there is no connecting link between (Greek) and (Greek). Yet, on the other hand, we are conscious that knowledge is independent of time, that truth is not a thing of yesterday or tomorrow, but an 'eternal now.' To the 'spectator of all time and all existence' the universe remains at rest. The truths of geometry and arithmetic in all their combinations are always the same. The generations of men, like the leaves of the forest, come and go, but the mathematical laws by which the world is governed remain, and seem as if they could never change. The ever-present image of space is transferred to timesuccession is conceived as extension. (We remark that Plato does away with the above and below in space, as he has done away with the absolute existence of past and future.) The course of time, unless regularly marked by divisions of number, partakes of the indefiniteness of the Heraclitean flux. By such reflections we may conceive the Greek to have attained the metaphysical conception of eternity, which to the Hebrew was gained by meditation on the Divine Being. No one saw that this objective was really a subjective, and involved the subjectivity of all knowledge. 'Non in tempore sed cum tempore finxit Deus mundum,' says St. Augustine, repeating a thought derived from the Timaeus, but apparently unconscious of the results to which his doctrine would have led.
  The contradictions involved in the conception of time or motion, like the infinitesimal in space, were a source of perplexity to the mind of the Greek, who was driven to find a point of view above or beyond them. They had sprung up in the decline of the Eleatic philosophy and were very familiar to Plato, as we gather from the Parmenides. The consciousness of them had led the great Eleatic philosopher to describe the nature of God or Being under negatives. He sings of 'Being unbegotten and imperishable, unmoved and never-ending, which never was nor will be, but always is, one and continuous, which cannot spring from any other; for it cannot be said or imagined not to be.' The idea of eternity was for a great part a negation. There are regions of speculation in which the negative is hardly separable from the positive, and even seems to pass into it. Not only Buddhism, but Greek as well as Christian philosophy, show that it is quite possible that the human mind should retain an enthusiasm for mere negations. In different ages and countries there have been forms of light in which nothing could be discerned and which have nevertheless exercised a life-giving and illumining power. For the higher intelligence of man seems to require, not only something above sense, but above knowledge, which can only be described as Mind or Being or Truth or God or the unchangeable and eternal element, in the expression of which all predicates fail and fall short. Eternity or the eternal is not merely the unlimited in time but the truest of all Being, the most real of all realities, the most certain of all knowledge, which we nevertheless only see through a glass darkly. The passionate earnestness of Parmenides contrasts with the vacuity of the thought which he is revolving in his mind.

WORDNET



--- Overview of noun hebrew

The noun hebrew has 2 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
                    
1. (1) Hebrew ::: (the ancient Canaanitic language of the Hebrews that has been revived as the official language of Israel)
2. Jew, Hebrew, Israelite ::: (a person belonging to the worldwide group claiming descent from Jacob (or converted to it) and connected by cultural or religious ties)

--- Overview of adj hebrew

The adj hebrew has 2 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
                    
1. (1) Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew ::: (of or relating to or characteristic of the Hebrews; "the old Hebrew prophets")
2. Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew ::: (of or relating to the language of the Hebrews; "Hebrew vowels")


--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebrew
   => Canaanitic, Canaanitic language
     => Semitic
       => Afroasiatic, Afro-Asiatic, Afroasiatic language, Afrasian, Afrasian language, Hamito-Semitic
         => natural language, tongue
           => language, linguistic communication
             => communication
               => abstraction, abstract entity
                 => entity

Sense 2
Jew, Hebrew, Israelite
   => person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
     => organism, being
       => living thing, animate thing
         => whole, unit
           => object, physical object
             => physical entity
               => entity
     => causal agent, cause, causal agency
       => physical entity
         => entity


--- Hyponyms of noun hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebrew
   => Modern Hebrew

Sense 2
Jew, Hebrew, Israelite
   => Ashkenazi
   => Conservative Jew
   => Essene
   => Jewess
   => kike, hymie, sheeny, yid
   => Levite
   HAS INSTANCE=> Lot
   => Orthodox Jew
   => Pharisee
   => Reform Jew
   => Sadducee
   => Sephardi, Sephardic Jew
   => Wandering Jew
   => Zealot
   => Zionist
   HAS INSTANCE=> Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the Nazarene, Jesus Christ, Christ, Savior, Saviour, Good Shepherd, Redeemer, Deliverer


--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebrew
   => Canaanitic, Canaanitic language

Sense 2
Jew, Hebrew, Israelite
   => person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul


--- Similarity of adj hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew

Sense 2
Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew


--- Antonyms of adj hebrew
                                    


--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebrew
  -> Canaanitic, Canaanitic language
   => Hebrew
   => Canaanite
   => Phoenician
   => Ugaritic

Sense 2
Jew, Hebrew, Israelite
  -> person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
   => self
   => adult, grownup
   => adventurer, venturer
   => anomaly, unusual person
   => applicant, applier
   => appointee, appointment
   => capitalist
   => captor, capturer
   => changer, modifier
   => color-blind person
   => commoner, common man, common person
   => communicator
   => contestant
   => coward
   => creator
   => disputant, controversialist, eristic
   => engineer, applied scientist, technologist
   => entertainer
   => experimenter
   => expert
   => face
   => female, female person
   => individualist
   => inhabitant, habitant, dweller, denizen, indweller
   => native, indigen, indigene, aborigine, aboriginal
   => native
   => innocent, inexperienced person
   => intellectual, intellect
   => juvenile, juvenile person
   => lover
   => loved one
   => leader
   => male, male person
   => money handler, money dealer
   => national, subject
   => nonreligious person
   => nonworker
   => peer, equal, match, compeer
   => perceiver, percipient, observer, beholder
   => percher
   => precursor, forerunner
   => primitive, primitive person
   => religious person
   => sensualist
   => traveler, traveller
   => unfortunate, unfortunate person
   => unwelcome person, persona non grata
   => unskilled person
   => worker
   => African
   => person of color, person of colour
   => Black, Black person, blackamoor, Negro, Negroid
   => White, White person, Caucasian
   => Amerindian, Native American
   => Slav
   => gentile
   => Jew, Hebrew, Israelite
   => Aries, Ram
   => Taurus, Bull
   => Gemini, Twin
   => Cancer, Crab
   => Leo, Lion
   => Virgo, Virgin
   => Libra, Balance
   => Scorpio, Scorpion
   => Sagittarius, Archer
   => Capricorn, Goat
   => Aquarius, Water Bearer
   => Pisces, Fish
   => abator
   => abjurer
   => abomination
   => abstainer, abstinent, nondrinker
   => achiever, winner, success, succeeder
   => acquaintance, friend
   => acquirer
   => active
   => actor, doer, worker
   => adjudicator
   => admirer
   => adoptee
   => adversary, antagonist, opponent, opposer, resister
   => advisee
   => advocate, advocator, proponent, exponent
   => affiant
   => agnostic, doubter
   => amateur
   => ancient
   => anti
   => anti-American
   => apprehender
   => appreciator
   => archaist
   => arrogator
   => assessee
   => asthmatic
   => authority
   => autodidact
   => baby boomer, boomer
   => baby buster, buster
   => bad guy
   => bad person
   => baldhead, baldpate, baldy
   => balker, baulker, noncompliant
   => bullfighter, toreador
   => bather
   => beard
   => bedfellow
   => bereaved, bereaved person
   => best, topper
   => birth
   => biter
   => blogger
   => blond, blonde
   => bluecoat
   => bodybuilder, muscle builder, muscle-builder, musclebuilder, muscleman
   => bomber
   => brunet, brunette
   => buster
   => candidate, prospect
   => case
   => cashier
   => celebrant, celebrator, celebrater
   => censor
   => chameleon
   => charmer, beguiler
   => child, baby
   => chutzpanik
   => closer
   => clumsy person
   => collector, aggregator
   => combatant, battler, belligerent, fighter, scrapper
   => complexifier
   => compulsive
   => computer user
   => contemplative
   => convert
   => copycat, imitator, emulator, ape, aper
   => counter
   => counterterrorist
   => crawler, creeper
   => creature, wight
   => creditor
   => cripple
   => dancer, social dancer
   => dead person, dead soul, deceased person, deceased, decedent, departed
   => deaf person
   => debaser, degrader
   => debtor, debitor
   => defecator, voider, shitter
   => delayer
   => deliverer
   => demander
   => dieter
   => differentiator, discriminator
   => disentangler, unraveler, unraveller
   => dissenter, dissident, protester, objector, contestant
   => divider
   => domestic partner, significant other, spousal equivalent, spouse equivalent
   => double, image, look-alike
   => dresser
   => dribbler, driveller, slobberer, drooler
   => drug user, substance abuser, user
   => dyslectic
   => ectomorph
   => effecter, effector
   => Elizabethan
   => emotional person
   => endomorph
   => enjoyer
   => enrollee
   => ethnic
   => explorer, adventurer
   => extrovert, extravert
   => faddist
   => faller
   => fastener
   => fiduciary
   => first-rater
   => follower
   => free agent, free spirit, freewheeler
   => friend
   => fugitive, runaway, fleer
   => gainer
   => gainer, weight gainer
   => gambler
   => gatekeeper
   => gatherer
   => good guy
   => good person
   => granter
   => greeter, saluter, welcomer
   => grinner
   => groaner
   => grunter
   => guesser
   => handicapped person
   => hater
   => heterosexual, heterosexual person, straight person, straight
   => homosexual, homophile, homo, gay
   => homunculus
   => hope
   => hoper
   => huddler
   => hugger
   => immune
   => insured, insured person
   => interpreter
   => introvert
   => Jat
   => jewel, gem
   => jumper
   => junior
   => killer, slayer
   => relative, relation
   => kink
   => kneeler
   => knocker
   => knower, apprehender
   => large person
   => Latin
   => laugher
   => learner, scholar, assimilator
   => left-hander, lefty, southpaw
   => life
   => lightning rod
   => linguist, polyglot
   => literate, literate person
   => liver
   => longer, thirster, yearner
   => loose cannon
   => machine
   => mailer
   => malcontent
   => man
   => manipulator
   => man jack
   => married
   => masturbator, onanist
   => measurer
   => nonmember
   => mesomorph
   => mestizo, ladino
   => middlebrow
   => miracle man, miracle worker
   => misogamist
   => mixed-blood
   => modern
   => monolingual
   => mother hen
   => mouse
   => mutilator, maimer, mangler
   => namer
   => namesake
   => neglecter
   => neighbor, neighbour
   => neutral
   => nondescript
   => nonparticipant
   => nonpartisan, nonpartizan
   => nonperson, unperson
   => nonresident
   => nonsmoker
   => nude, nude person
   => nurser
   => occultist
   => optimist
   => orphan
   => ostrich
   => ouster, ejector
   => outcaste
   => outdoorsman
   => owner, possessor
   => pamperer, spoiler, coddler, mollycoddler
   => pansexual
   => pardoner, forgiver, excuser
   => partner
   => party
   => passer
   => personage
   => personification
   => perspirer, sweater
   => philosopher
   => picker, chooser, selector
   => pisser, urinator
   => planner, contriver, deviser
   => player
   => posturer
   => powderer
   => preserver
   => propositus
   => public relations person
   => pursuer
   => pussycat
   => quarter
   => quitter
   => radical
   => realist
   => rectifier
   => redhead, redheader, red-header, carrottop
   => registrant
   => reliever, allayer, comforter
   => repeater
   => rescuer, recoverer, saver
   => rester
   => restrainer, controller
   => revenant
   => rich person, wealthy person, have
   => right-hander, right hander, righthander
   => riser
   => romper
   => roundhead
   => ruler, swayer
   => rusher
   => scientist
   => scratcher
   => second-rater, mediocrity
   => seeder, cloud seeder
   => seeker, searcher, quester
   => segregate
   => sentimentalist, romanticist
   => sex object
   => sex symbol
   => shaker, mover and shaker
   => showman
   => signer, signatory
   => simpleton, simple
   => six-footer
   => skidder, slider, slipper
   => slave
   => slave
   => sleepyhead
   => sloucher
   => small person
   => smasher
   => smiler
   => sneezer
   => sniffer
   => sniffler, sniveler
   => snuffer
   => snuffler
   => socializer, socialiser
   => sort
   => sounding board
   => sphinx
   => spitter, expectorator
   => sport
   => sprawler
   => spurner
   => squinter, squint-eye
   => stifler, smotherer
   => stigmatic, stigmatist
   => stooper
   => stranger
   => struggler
   => subject, case, guinea pig
   => supernumerary
   => surrenderer, yielder
   => survivalist
   => survivor
   => suspect
   => tagger
   => tagger
   => tapper
   => tempter
   => termer
   => terror, scourge, threat
   => testator, testate
   => thin person, skin and bones, scrag
   => third-rater
   => thrower
   => tiger
   => totemist
   => toucher
   => transfer, transferee
   => transsexual, transexual
   => transvestite, cross-dresser
   => trier, attempter, essayer
   => turner
   => tyrant
   => undoer, opener, unfastener, untier
   => user
   => vanisher
   => victim, dupe
   => Victorian
   => visionary
   => visually impaired person
   => waiter
   => waker
   => walk-in
   => wanter, needer
   => ward
   => warrior
   => watcher
   => weakling, doormat, wuss
   => weasel
   => wiggler, wriggler, squirmer
   => winker
   => withholder
   => witness
   => worldling
   => yawner


--- Pertainyms of adj hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew
   Pertains to noun Hebrew (Sense 2)
   =>Jew, Hebrew, Israelite
   => person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul

Sense 2
Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew
   Pertains to noun Hebrew (Sense 1)
   =>Hebrew
   => Canaanitic, Canaanitic language


--- Derived Forms of adj hebrew

2 senses of hebrew                          

Sense 1
Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew
   RELATED TO->(noun) Hebrew#2
     => Jew, Hebrew, Israelite

Sense 2
Hebraic, Hebraical, Hebrew
   RELATED TO->(noun) Hebrew#1
     => Hebrew


--- Grep of noun hebrew
hebrew
hebrew alphabet
hebrew calendar
hebrew lesson
hebrew script
hebrew scripture
hebrews
modern hebrew



IN WEBGEN [10000/637]

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Wikipedia - Hebrew name
Wikipedia - Hebrew punctuation
Wikipedia - Hebrew Roots -- Religious movement
Wikipedia - Hebrew Scriptures
Wikipedia - Hebrew Scripture
Wikipedia - Hebrews -- Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period
Wikipedia - Hebrew Union College
Wikipedia - Hebrew University bombing
Wikipedia - Hebrew University of Jerusalem -- Israeli University in Jerusalem
Wikipedia - Hebrew University Stadium
Wikipedia - Hebrew University
Wikipedia - Hebrew verb conjugation
Wikipedia - Hebrew
Wikipedia - Hebrew Wikipedia -- Hebrew edition of Wikipedia
Wikipedia - Help:IPA/Hebrew
Wikipedia - Hexapla -- Ancient critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions with four of those being into Greek
Wikipedia - Hilkiah -- Hebrew priest at the time of King Josiah
Wikipedia - History of Hebrew grammar
Wikipedia - Immanuel -- A Hebrew name that appeared in the Book of Isaiah
Wikipedia - Isaiah 1 -- First chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Isaiah 53 -- 53rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Ishmael -- Hebrew Prophet of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Wikipedia - Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ -- an organization of Black Hebrew Israelites
Wikipedia - Jacob Weingreen -- Hebrew professor in Dublin
Wikipedia - James (name) -- Masculine given name of Hebrew Sim shi'ya origin
Wikipedia - Jedidah -- In the Hebrew Bible, the mother of Josiah, the King of Judah
Wikipedia - Jesse -- Person in Hebrew Bible and New Testament; father of David
Wikipedia - Jewish magical papyri -- Papyri with Jewish magical uses, with text in Aramaic, Greek, or Hebrew, produced during the late Second Temple Period and after in Late Antiquity
Wikipedia - Johann Reuchlin -- German humanist and scholar of Greek and Hebrew
Wikipedia - Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Wikipedia - Joshua -- Central figure in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua
Wikipedia - Judah Bezalel Eliasberg -- Russian Hebrew writer and translator.
Wikipedia - Judgement of Solomon -- Story from the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Judith (given name) -- Feminine given name of Hebrew origin
Wikipedia - Kaige revision -- Group of revisions to the Septuagint made in order to more closely align its translation with the proto-Masoretic Hebrew
Wikipedia - Kanai (Judaism) -- Zealot or fanatic in Hebrew
Wikipedia - Ktav Ashuri -- Talmudic or traditional Hebrew name for the Hebrew alphabet
Wikipedia - Kubutz and Shuruk -- Hebrew signs respectively representing a short and long u
Wikipedia - Land of Goshen -- The place in Egypt given to the Hebrews by the pharaoh of Joseph
Wikipedia - Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew
Wikipedia - Lashon Hakodesh -- Jewish term attributed to the Hebrew language
Wikipedia - Law of Moses -- The Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Leningrad Codex -- 11th-century Hebrew Bible manuscript
Wikipedia - Leo Aryeh Mayer -- Israeli scholar of Islamic art and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1895-1959)
Wikipedia - List of Chief Rabbis of the United Hebrew Congregations -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of English words of Hebrew origin -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Hebrew dictionaries -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Hebrew-language authors -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Hebrew-language playwrights -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Hebrew-language poets -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - LMLK seal -- Hebrew seals stamped on the handles of large storage jars dating from reign of King Hezekiah (circa 700 BC)
Wikipedia - Maaseh Merkabah -- A Hebrew-language Jewish mystical text dating from the Gaonic period
Wikipedia - Mahalalel -- Patriarch named in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Masih (title) -- The Arabic translation of the Hebrew title messiah
Wikipedia - Matzevah -- Sacred pillar in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Medieval Hebrew
Wikipedia - Messianic Bible translations -- Bibles widely used in the Messianic Judaism and Hebrew Roots communities.
Wikipedia - Mishnaic Hebrew
Wikipedia - Mizrahi Hebrew
Wikipedia - Modern Hebrew grammar
Wikipedia - Modern Hebrew phonology
Wikipedia - Modern Hebrew poetry
Wikipedia - Modern Hebrew
Wikipedia - Moses Raphael de Aguilar -- Rabbi, Hebrew scholar and author
Wikipedia - Nagid -- Hebrew term meaning a prince or leader
Wikipedia - Nash Papyrus -- Jewish Hebrew manuscript
Wikipedia - Nasi (Hebrew title) -- Hebrew title
Wikipedia - Nathan (prophet) -- Person in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Nazir (Talmud) -- Hebrew treatise of the Mishnah and the Tosefta and in both Talmuds
Wikipedia - Nephesh -- Hebrew word for aspects of sentience
Wikipedia - Nephilim -- beings from the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Niqqud -- System of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet
Wikipedia - Nisan -- Month of the Hebrew calendar
Wikipedia - Old Testament -- First part of Christian Bibles based on the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Orlah -- Forbidden fruit in the Hebrew Bible.
Wikipedia - Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Wikipedia - Oxford Hebrew Bible -- Critical edition of the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Paleo-Hebrew alphabet -- Script used in the historic kingdoms of Israel and Judah by Israelites
Wikipedia - Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus scroll (11QpaleoLev)
Wikipedia - Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus scroll -- Ancient Jewish religious manuscript found in 1956 among the Dead Sea scrolls
Wikipedia - Paleo-Hebrew
Wikipedia - Passover -- Jewish holiday which begins on 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan
Wikipedia - Patach -- Hebrew niqqud vowel sign
Wikipedia - Peace offering -- Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - People of God -- Description in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible that applies to the Israelites and that in the New Testament applies to Christians
Wikipedia - Philip Wexler -- Professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wikipedia - Pluralis excellentiae -- In Hebrew grammar, certain morphologically plural forms (-im, -oth etc.) that are grammatically/semantically singular, interpreted as due to the M-bM-^@M-^\excellenceM-bM-^@M-^] of these morphemes; e.g. elohim, behemoth; words for M-bM-^@M-^XuprightnessM-bM-^@M-^Y, M-bM-^@M-^XblessednessM-bM-^@M-^Y, etc.
Wikipedia - Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works -- Israeli Hebrew-language literary prize
Wikipedia - Qal (linguistics) -- Hebrew verb form
Wikipedia - Qere and Ketiv -- Differences between how the Hebrew Bible is spoken versus read
Wikipedia - Q+/Papias hypothesis -- Hypothesis about the synoptic problem that Mark knew Q, Mathew knew Q and Mark, and Luke knew Q, Mark, and Matthew, and that Papias' mention of a Hebrew Matthew actually refers to Q
Wikipedia - Rabbinical translations of Matthew -- Rabbinical versions of the Gospel of Matthew that are written in Hebrew
Wikipedia - Rama Ayalon -- Israeli French-to-Hebrew translator
Wikipedia - Rape in the Hebrew Bible -- Sexual violence in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Regius Professor of Hebrew (Oxford)
Wikipedia - Relative hour -- Hebrew term ascribed to an hour of a 12-hour day and how it is to be reckoned
Wikipedia - Reuven Fahn -- Hebrew scholar and writer
Wikipedia - Riddles (Hebrew) -- Traditional form of word-play in Hebrew
Wikipedia - Rosh Chodesh -- First day of each Hebrew month
Wikipedia - Ruth (biblical figure) -- Protagonist of the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Saadia (given name) -- Arabic, Hebrew and Berber masculine proper name
Wikipedia - Samaritan Hebrew
Wikipedia - Samaritan Pentateuch -- Text of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in the Samaritan alphabet and considered as the holy scriptures by the Samaritans
Wikipedia - Sanctum sanctorum -- Translation of the Hebrew term QM-aM-9M-^SM-aM-8M-^OeM-EM-! HaQM-EM-^OM-aM-8M-^OaM-EM-!M-CM-.m (Holy of Holies
Wikipedia - Sefer (Hebrew) -- Hebrew term for book
Wikipedia - Sefer Yetzirah -- Hebrew book on metaphysics
Wikipedia - Sephardi Hebrew language
Wikipedia - Sephardi Hebrew
Wikipedia - Septuagint -- Greek translation of Hebrew scriptures
Wikipedia - Setaceous Hebrew character -- Species of moth
Wikipedia - Seven Wise Masters -- Cycle of stories of Sanskrit, Persian or Hebrew origins
Wikipedia - Sex in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Shalom aleichem -- Traditional Jewish Hebrew-language greeting
Wikipedia - Shalom -- Hebrew word and greeting
Wikipedia - Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew -- Oldest extant Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew
Wikipedia - Shiloh (biblical figure) -- Figure mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the benediction given by Jacob to his son Judah
Wikipedia - Shishak -- Personage in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Sivan -- Month of the Hebrew calendar
Wikipedia - Solomon's Temple -- Legendary temple described in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Song of Songs -- Book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament
Wikipedia - Sons of God -- Phrase used in the Hebrew Bible and apocrypha
Wikipedia - Susan Ackerman (biblical scholar) -- American Hebrew Bible scholar
Wikipedia - Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew -- Recorded Tamil loanwoods in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Tammuz (Hebrew month) -- Month of the Hebrew calendar
Wikipedia - Tannin (monster) -- Sea monster in Canaanite, Phoenician, and Hebrew mythology
Wikipedia - Template talk:Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wikipedia - Terah -- Figure in the Hebrew Bible; son of Nahor
Wikipedia - Textual variants in the Epistle to the Hebrews -- Textual variants in the Epistle to the Hebrews
Wikipedia - The Bible Unearthed -- 2001 book about the archaeology of Israel and its relationship to the origins of the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - The Book of Giants -- Apocryphal Jewish book expanding a narrative in the Hebrew Bible, discovered at Qumran
Wikipedia - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wikipedia - The Nature Park > Galleries, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wikipedia - The Racah Institute of Physics -- Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wikipedia - Tiberian Hebrew
Wikipedia - Torah -- First five books of the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Tushlaba -- Hebrew acronym meaning "Finished and Complete, Praise be to God, Creator of the Universe
Wikipedia - Tzena, Tzena, Tzena -- Song in Hebrew
Wikipedia - Um-Shmum -- Derogatory Hebrew/Israeli term for United Nations
Wikipedia - Urtext (biblical studies) -- Assumed uniform text of the Hebrew Bible that preceded both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text.
Wikipedia - William Chomsky -- Hebrew grammarian, father of Noam
Wikipedia - Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible -- Various forms of witchcraft and divination mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Yahshua -- Proposed transliteration of the original Hebrew or Aramaic name Jesus
Wikipedia - Yehudah Leib Levin -- Hebrew poet
Wikipedia - Yemenite Hebrew -- Pronunciation system for Hebrew traditionally used by Yemenite Jews
Wikipedia - Yeshua -- A common alternative form of the name Joshua in books of the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University
Wikipedia - Yohanan Levi -- Hebrew linguist and historian
Wikipedia - Zechariah 3 -- Chapter in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)
Wikipedia - Ze'ev Yavetz -- Polish-Jewish historian, teacher and Hebrew linguist
Wikipedia - Zevi Scharfstein -- Hebrew-language educator and lexicographer
Wikipedia - Ziba (biblical figure) -- Man in 2 Samuel in the Hebrew Bible
Wikipedia - Zmanim -- Hebrew terminology regarding appointed times
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10885016-classical-hebrew-poetry
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https://calendars.wikia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar
https://judaism.wikia.org/wiki/Hebrew
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Antinomianism#Antinomianism_in_the_Hebrew_Bible
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Bible_(American_Standard)/Hebrews
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Bible_(World_English)/Hebrews
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Biblical_Hebrew
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Books_of_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Deities_in_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Early_Hebrew_Christians
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_chapters
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_cities
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_events
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_people
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_places
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_stubs
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_templates
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_topics
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_Bible_words_and_phrases
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_calendar
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_language
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew-language_names
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_words_and_phrases
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_words_and_phrases_in_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Monarchs_of_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:New_Testament_Hebrew_words_and_phrases
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Prophets_of_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category_talk:Books_of_the_Hebrew_Bible
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Day_of_Atonement_(Christian_holiday)#Book_of_Hebrews
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Deluge_(mythology)#Hebrew_.28Genesis.29
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Demon#Demons_in_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Devil#Hebrew_Apocrypha
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Divine_Council#Hebrew
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Divine_Grace#Ideas_of_grace_in_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Divine_grace#Ideas_of_grace_in_the_Hebrew_Bible
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Hebrews
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Ethan_(Hebrew_Bible)
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/File:Hebrew_Bible.jpg
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Gabriel#Hebrew_Bible_and_Judaism
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Genetics_and_the_Book_of_Mormon#Statements_regarding_the_Hebrew_ancestry_of_Book_of_Mormon_people
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Genetics_and_the_Book_of_Mormon#The_Q-P36_genetic_haplotype_as_evidence_linking_Hebrew_and_Native_American_DNA
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Biblical_figures_identified_in_extra-Biblical_sources#Hebrew_Bible_.28Old_Testament.29
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#1_.26_2_Samuel.2C_1_.26_2_Kings.2C_1_.26_2_Chronicles
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#Esther
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#Jeremiah.2FLamentations.2FDaniel
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#Jonah
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#Judges
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#Leviticus
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/List_of_Hebrew_Bible_events#Numbers
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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Mishnaic_Hebrew
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Integral World -
https://esotericotherworlds.blogspot.com/2013/11/brains-bosons-and-hebrew-letter-bet.html
Psychology Wiki - Hebrew_Bible
Psychology Wiki - Hebrew_language
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/TheBrewingNetwork
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Cretaor/TheBrewingNetwork
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/BookOfHebrews
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBrewingNetwork
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Radio/TheBrewingNetwork
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bible/Hebrews
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Category:Hebrew_poets
Little Nick (2009 - Current) - Based from French books of Le petit Nicolas. This animated series attracted young viewers. This show was shown in French as "Le Petit Nicolas", German as "Der Kleine Nick", Hebrew, Arabic and other languages in different countries but was never released in the United States.
The Ten Commandments(1956) - The Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramesses I has ordered the death of all firstborn Hebrew males, but a Hebrew woman sets her infant son adrift on the Nile in order to save him. The infant is rescued from the Nile by an Egyptian princess who decides to adopt the boy even though her servant recognizes that the c...
The Hebrew Hammer(2003) - A Jewish blaxploitation crime fighter known as the Hebrew Hammer must save Hanukkah from the evil son of Santa Claus, who wants to destroy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and make everyone celebrate Christmas.
The Prince of Egypt (1998) ::: 7.1/10 -- PG | 1h 39min | Animation, Adventure, Drama | 18 December 1998 (USA) -- Egyptian Prince Moses learns of his identity as a Hebrew and his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people. Directors: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner | 1 more credit Writers: Philip LaZebnik, Nicholas Meyer (additional screenplay material)
The Ten Commandments (1956) ::: 7.9/10 -- G | 3h 40min | Adventure, Drama | 5 October 1956 (USA) -- Moses, an Egyptian Prince, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people. Director: Cecil B. DeMille (as Cecil B. de Mille) Writers: Dorothy Clarke Wilson (this work contains material from the book
https://christianity.fandom.com/wiki/Classical_Hebrew
https://christianity.fandom.com/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Hebrews
https://christianity.fandom.com/wiki/Hebrews
https://kabbalah.fandom.com/wiki/Hebrew
https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Hebrew_National
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Hebrew
https://unicode.fandom.com/wiki/Hebrew
https://wcl.fandom.com/wiki/New_World_Translation_of_the_Hebrew_Scriptures,_Volume_I(Genesis_to_Ruth)
https://xfce.fandom.com/wiki/Hebrew
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Academy of the Hebrew Language
African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
American Friends of the Hebrew University
Ancient Hebrew language
Ancient Hebrew writings
Ashkenazi Hebrew
Authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation
Bible translations into Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew
Black Hebrew Israelites
Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation
Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum
Bury Hebrew Congregation
Cemetery for Hebrew Confederate Soldiers
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
Cuban Hebrew Congregation
Cursive Hebrew
DEC Hebrew
Development of the Hebrew Bible canon
Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning
Dublin Hebrew Congregation
Early editions of the Hebrew Bible
East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
East Side Hebrew Institute
Elwood Talmud Torah Hebrew Congregation
Epistle to the Hebrews
Epstein Hebrew Academy
Gospel of the Hebrews
Greenfield Hebrew Academy
Hebrew abbreviations
Hebrew Academy
Hebrew Academy (Montreal)
Hebrew Academy of Cleveland
Hebrew Academy of Long Beach
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway
Hebrew accents
Hebrew Actors' Union
Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament
Hebrew and Aramaic papyri
Hebrew astronomy
Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing
Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible (Alter)
Hebrew birthday
Hebrew Braille
Hebrew calendar
Hebrew cantillation
Hebrew Catholics
Hebrew Cemetery
Hebrew character
Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain
Hebrew Christian movement
Hebrew Communists
Hebrew culture
Hebrew diacritics
Hebrew dialects
Hebrew (disambiguation)
Hebrew Free Burial Association
Hebrew Gospel
Hebrew Gospel hypothesis
Hebrew Hammer
Hebrew Institute of Boro Park
Hebrew Israelites
Hebrew keyboard
Hebrew labor
Hebrew language
Hebrew literature
Hebrew mythology
Hebrew name
Hebrew National
Hebrew National Orphan Home
Hebrew numerals
Hebrew Old Testament Text Project
Hebrew Orphan Asylum
Hebrew Orphan Asylum (Baltimore, Maryland)
Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York
Hebrew phonology
Hebrew poetry
Hebrew Printing in America
Hebrew punctuation
Hebrew religion
Hebrew republic
Hebrew Roots
Hebrews
Hebrews 1
Hebrews 10
Hebrews 11
Hebrews 13
Hebrews 2
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 4
Hebrews 5
Hebrews 6
Hebrews 7
Hebrews 8
Hebrews 9
Hebrews (album)
Hebrew Scouts Movement in Israel
Hebrew spelling
Hebrew Technical Institute (New York City)
Hebrew Theological College
Hebrew (Unicode block)
Hebrew Union College Annual
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Hebrew University Bible Project
Hebrew University bombing
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew Wikipedia
Help:Hebrew
Help:IPA/Hebrew
Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium
History of Hebrew grammar
History of the Hebrew alphabet
Homosexuality in the Hebrew Bible
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy
Israelian Hebrew
Israeli Annual Hebrew Song Chart
Italian Hebrew
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
John Barrett (Hebrew scholar)
List of Chief Rabbis of the United Hebrew Congregations
List of English words of Hebrew origin
List of Hebrew abbreviations
List of Hebrew Bible events
List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts
List of Hebrew-language authors
List of Hebrew-language playwrights
List of Hebrew-language poets
List of Hebrew place names
List of meters in medieval Hebrew poetry
List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar
List of people in the Hebrew Bible called Shemaiah
Medieval Hebrew
Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy
Mishnaic Hebrew
Mizrahi Hebrew
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew grammar
Modern Hebrew phonology
Modern Hebrew verbs
Nasi (Hebrew title)
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
Overture on Hebrew Themes
Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Oxford Hebrew Bible
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus scroll
Paulus Aemilius (Hebrew scholar)
Politz Hebrew Academy
Prayer in the Hebrew Bible
Prefixes in Hebrew
Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works
Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages
Quotations from the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament
Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy
Rape in the Hebrew Bible
Regius Professor of Hebrew
Regius Professor of Hebrew (Cambridge)
Regius Professor of Hebrew (Oxford)
Revival of the Hebrew language
Riddles (Hebrew)
Robert Whitehill (Hebrew poet)
Romanization of Hebrew
Samaritan Hebrew
Sefer (Hebrew)
Sephardi Hebrew
Setaceous Hebrew character
Sex in the Hebrew Bible
Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew
Study of the Hebrew language
Suffixes in Hebrew
Tag (Hebrew writing)
Tammuz (Hebrew month)
Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto
The American Hebrew
The Hebrew Hammer
Tiberian Hebrew
Unicode and HTML for the Hebrew alphabet
Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations
United Hebrew Congregation
United Hebrews of Ocala
Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible
Yemenite Hebrew
Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association Building
Young Men's Hebrew Association (Jacksonville)
Zeboim (Hebrew Bible)
Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)



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