FROM BOOK SEVEN, MYTHS OF THE HOLY PEOPLE
428.
ABRAHAM’S GLOWING STONE
Abraham
wore a glowing stone around his neck. Some say that it was a pearl, others that
it
was a jewel. The light emitted by that jewel was like the light of the sun,
illuminating
the
entire world. Abraham used that stone as an astrolabe to study the motion of
the
stars,
and with its help he became a master astrologer. For his power of reading the
stars,
Abraham
was much sought after by the potentates of East and West. So too did that
glowing
precious stone bring immediate healing to any sick person who looked into it.
At the moment when Abraham took leave of
this world, the precious stone raised
itself
and flew up to heaven. God took it and hung it on the wheel of the sun.
This
talmudic legend about a glowing stone that Abraham wore around his neck is
a
part of the chain of legends about that glowing jewel, known as the Tzohar,
which
was
first given to Adam and Eve when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden
and
also came into the possession of Noah, who hung it in the ark. See “The Tzohar,
p.
85.
This version of the legend adds the detail that the glowing stone was also an
astrolabe,
with
which Abraham could study the stars.
Sources:
B.
Bava Batra 16b; Zohar 1:11a-11b,
Idra Rabbah.
Studies:
The
Jewish Alchemists by Raphael Patai.
434. GOD
BEGAT ISAAC
One
of the most sacred mysteries of the Torah concerns Isaac’s true father.
Although
Abraham
rejoiced when he learned that he was to become a father, the truth is that it
was
the
Lord who begat Isaac. For the Lord visited Sarah and did to her as He had
spoken,
and
she conceived. That is why God said, “I gave him
Isaac” (Josh. 24:3) and formed him in
the
womb of her who gave birth to him.” Nevertheless, Isaac resembled Abraham in
every
respect.
It is said that Sarah was accustomed to
bring forth children for God alone, restoring
with
gratitude the first fruit of all the blessings she had received, since she was
a virgin
when
God opened her womb (Gen. 29:31). For it does not say that Sarah did not give
birth
at all, only that she did not bring forth for Abraham, for she told him, “The
Lord has
kept
me from bearing” (Gen. 16:2).
So too is it said that Sarah herself was
not born of a human mother, but that she was
born
of God, the Father and Cause of all things. Indeed, she transcended the entire
world
of
bodily forms and exulted in the joy of God.
Others say that Sarah’s conception and the
birth of Isaac took place on the same day, as
it
is said, Sarah conceived and bore a son (Gen.
21:2). For unlike others, the soul of Isaac was
not
conceived at one time and born at another. A heavenly light appeared at his
birth, as
happened
with Noah.
So too was it God who named Isaac when He
said, “But My covenant I will maintain with
Isaac,
whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.”
(Gen. 17:21). For his name was
ordained
and written in the heavenly tablets. This was the only time that God named a
child
before he was born. Isaac was conceived on Rosh ha-Shanah, the New Year, and
his
birth
book place on the first day of Passover. On the day of Isaac’s birth the sun
shone with
a
splendor that had not been seen since the sin of Adam and Eve and will only be
seen
again
in the World to Come. So too did all creation rejoice: the earth, the heavens,
the sun,
the
moon, and the stars. For had Isaac not been born, the world would have ceased
to exist.
Here Philo brings yet another perspective
to the story of Isaac by revealing “one of
the
most sacred mysteries”—that it was God, not Abraham, who begat Isaac. Philo’s
belief
in this strange interpretation of the conception of Isaac appears in at least
six
texts
where Philo suggests that God was the true father of Isaac. Philo’s
interpretation
perhaps
influenced Christianity. Just as Jesus was said to be the son of God, so too is
Isaac
identified as a son of God. How does Philo arrive at this explanation? He
interprets
Sarah’s
comment that “God has caused me laughter”
(Gen. 21:6) to mean that the
Lord
has begotten Isaac. He interprets “has caused” to mean “begotten,” and he
substitutes
Isaac
for “laughter,” since “Isaac” means “laughter,” referring to Sarah’s laughter
in
Genesis 18:12, when the angel said that she would have a child even though
Sarah
was 90 years old.
Philo apparently wrote a now-lost text on
Isaac, entitled De Isaaco.
Goodenough
speculates
that “De Isaaco developed
as its central theme the fact that Isaac was so
completely
at one with the power behind the cosmos that he typified joy” (By
Light,
Light
p. 154).
The Christian parallel to this
interpretation of Philo is obvious: God begat Isaac
through
Sarah just as God begat Jesus through Mary. Sarah herself is a kind of virgin
in
that she is childless. Did Philo mean to suggest a Jewish version of the myth
of the
birth
of a Jewish savior? Not necessarily, in that Philo is quick to reduce the myth
to
allegory,
by describing God as “perfect in nature, sowing and begetting happiness in
the
soul.” So too does Philo insist that Isaac was not born a man, but as a pure
thought.
As
a result, some readers might consider Philo’s interpretation pure allegory, but
Philo
cannot
escape the implications of his commentaries, making the mythic explanation
of
Isaac’s birth unavoidable.
In addition to the obvious Christian
parallel, there are also parallels from Greek
myth,
where Zeus takes many mortals as lovers.
There are other instances of supernatural
conception found in Jewish tradition.
The
verse in which Eve says, “I have received a man
from God” (Gen. 4:1) is interpreted
to
mean not that God
fathered Cain, but that the serpent begat Cain. See “How Cain
Was
Conceived.” p. 447. Also, there is the myth of the conception of Rabbi Ishmael,
the
High Priest, whose true father was said to be the angel Gabriel. See “How Rabbi
Ishmael
was Conceived,” p. 201.
Sources:
B.
Berakhot 1:6; B. Bava
Metzia 87a; B. Bava
Batra 17a; Bereshit
Rabbah 61:6; Midrash
Tanhuma-Yelammedenu,
Toledot 2; Midrash
ha-Gadol on Genesis 17:22; Targum
Yonathan
on Genesis 22:10; Shoher Tov 90:18;
The Book of Jubilees 16:3, 16:12;
Philo,
Legum
Allegoriarum 3:218-19; Philo, De
Somniis 2:10; Philo, De
Congressu
Eruditionis
Gratia 1:7-9; Philo, De
Cherubim 43-47; Philo, De
Fuga et Inventione 166-
168;
Philo, De Ebrietate 56-62;
Zohar 1:60a.
Studies:
By
Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism by
Erwin Ramsdell
Goodenough,
pp. 153-166.
2
Enoch in The Old
Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James
Charlesworth, p. 204,
note
71c.
The
Last Trial by Shalom Spiegel.
470. JACOB
THE ANGEL
Jacob
was no ordinary man. If the truth be known, his true name was Israel, and he
was
an
angel of God, the very archangel of the power of the Lord and the first
minister before
the
face of God. Indeed, he was the first living being to whom God gave life, with
the
beauty
of Adam.
When the angel Israel descended to earth
and became Jacob, he forgot his divine origin.
God
tried to remind him when He sent him the dream of the ladder reaching from
earth
to heaven, so that he might glimpse the celestial world he had left behind.
In
the dream angels of God were ascending and
descending on it (Gen. 28:12). For the angels
who
had accompanied him from his father’s house went up to heaven to announce to
the
angels
on high: “Come and see Jacob the pious, whose image is fixed upon the Throne of
Glory,
the one you have longed to see.” Then the rest of the holy angels of the Lord
came
down
to look at him. That is why the angels went up and down the ladder, for they
ascended
to
see the face carved on the celestial throne, and they descended to see the face
of
Jacob
as he slept, whose features were identical to those carved on high.
In the dream Jacob heard the voice of God
say, “You, too, Jacob, climb up the ladder.”
For
God was trying to remind Jacob that he was an angel, and that the time had come
for
him
to return to the heavenly realm. But Jacob said, “Master of the Universe, I am
afraid
that
if I climb up I will have to come down.” Nor did he ascend on high. Indeed, it
is said
that
if Jacob had climbed up the ladder, he would not have had to come down again,
and
Israel
would have been spared great suffering.
Thus when Jacob wrestled with the angel at
the River Yabbok, the struggle was not
that
of a man and angel, but that of two angels—Uriel and Israel. Some say that
Uriel had
been
sent to remind Jacob of his divine origin, saying, “Know that you were once an
angel,
who descended to earth and took up dwelling among humans and your name
became
Jacob. Now your name shall no longer be called
Jacob, but Israel” (Gen. 32:29). Others
say
that Uriel wrestled with Jacob, saying, “My name will take precedence over your
name
and the names of every other angel.” At first Jacob did not understand, but
suddenly
he
remembered that he once was an angel. And Jacob said, “Are you not Uriel?
Have
you forgotten that I am Israel, the chief commander among the heavenly hosts?”
And
Jacob called out God’s secret Name and thus defeated him.
Still others insist that Jacob did not
become an angel until after his death; only then
did
he become an immortal angel.
Sometime before or after his death, Jacob
himself said, “For I who speak to you, I
Jacob-Israel,
am an angel of God and a ruling spirit, the first servant before the presence
of
God. It was God who gave me the name Israel, which means, ‘the man who sees
God,’
because
I am the firstborn of all living beings that God brought to life.”
Of the many theories about the meaning of
Jacob’s struggle with a mysterious figure
at
the River Yabbok (Gen. 33:25-31), one of the most interesting is that Jacob was
not
only wrestling with an angel, but that he himself was the angel Israel. This
explains
why
the angel with whom he wrestled tells Jacob Your
name shall be called Jacob
no
more, but Israel (Gen. 32:29). This suggests that the
reason the angel Uriel had been
sent
was to remind Jacob of his true identity as an angel, something he had
apparently
forgotten
during his foray among humans.
This myth grows out of an extensive, if
somewhat obscure, tradition that identifies
Jacob
as an angel or some other kind of divine being. It is primarily found in
magical
and
mystical literature, and in these texts Jacob’s identity as the angel Israel
sometimes
converges
with that of the nation of Israel. Such identification grows first out of
the
fact that Jacob is also known as Israel. Thus, just as Abram became Abraham and
Sarai
became Sarah, so the angel with whom he wrestled announced to Jacob that his
name
would now be Israel. Of course, this is also the name of the nation of Israel.
Thus
the special traditions linked to Jacob may derive from this identification of
man
and
nation.
In addition, Jacob is often identified as
the ideal man, who represents the human
race
(much as does Adam), and whose face appears on the divine throne (see Ezek.
1:10,
1:26). Further, it is suggested several times that Jacob was made wholly of
fire,
and
that his ability to withstand the power of the angel demonstrated his divine
nature.
Further
evidence is found in Jacob’s ability to cause Laban’s flocks to bring forth
streaked,
speckled, and spotted young (Gen. 30:39). For this reason Midrash
Tehillim
interprets
the verse You have made him little less than divine
(Ps. 8:6) as referring to
Jacob,
“thereby proving that Jacob was less than God only in that he had not the power
to
put the breath of life into them” (Midrash
Tehillim 8:6).
Further, according to Midrash
Tehillim 31:7, Jacob was said to have been one of
the
two
to whom God revealed the time of redemption. The other was Daniel. (See Daniel
10:14).
Jacob’s divine knowledge is said to have been revealed by his final words to
his
sons, where he says, “Gather yourselves together, that I may
tell you what shall befall
you
in the end of days” (Gen. 49:1). This phrase, “the end of
days,” became the primary
term
for the messianic era which was so eagerly awaited. In fact, Midrash
Tehillim 14:7
suggests
that Jacob alone, among the patriarchs, will be invited to the feast of
redemption:
“When
the Lord brought His people out of captivity, then Jacob
will exult, Israel
will
rejoice (Ps. 14:7). Of all the patriarchs, why is
it that Jacob is named as rejoicing? R.
Shimon
ben Lakish answered: ‘When the children of Israel sin, only Jacob in the Cave
of
Machpelah feels defiled. So when the gladness of redemption comes, Jacob will
rejoice
in it more than any of the other patriarchs. For he alone of the patriarchs
will be
called
to the feast, as it is said, Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called (Isa. 48:12).
What
does ‘Israel whom I have called’ mean? It means Israel, who will be called to
the
feast.’”
There is also a legend that Jacob is the
man in the moon, which probably derives
from
the myth that Jacob’s face appears on the divine throne. See Louis Ginzberg,
Legends
of the Jews, vol. 5, p. 305, note 248.
In identifying Jacob as the “first minister
of the face of God,” Jacob is given the role
traditionally
played by Metatron, the angel of the Presence. This is the only angel who
is
said to be permitted to see God face to face. It would seem likely that there
were
early
mystical circles in which Jacob played a Metatron-like role as the primary
angel.
But
all that remains of the evidence of these circles are pseudepigraphal
fragments,
especially
the Prayer of Joseph.
See also the Wolfson article listed below.
All of these traditions concern the divine
origin or divine nature of Jacob. In some it
appears
that Jacob was originally the angel Israel (Prayer
of Joseph), while others suggest
that
Jacob’s soul made a heavenly journey through the palaces of heaven (“Blessed
are
you
... for you entered the palace above and remained alive.”—Midrash
Avkir). See “Jacob’s
Ascent
on High,” p. 361. Jacob is also identified as the human face that Ezekiel saw
on
the
Divine Chariot (Merkavah)
(Ezek. 1:10, 1:26). This reference, Targum
Neophyti, says
about
Jacob that his “likeness is set upon the divine throne.” A similar tradition is
also
found
in Genesis Rabbah (68:12)
where it is said about Jacob that “You are the one whose
features
are engraved on high.” In the same source God is said to have shown Jacob a
throne
of three legs, and God said to him: “You are the third leg,” i.e., Jacob is the
third
patriarch.
The primary sources of this unusual
interpretation of the account of Jacob wrestling
with
the angel are two pseudepigraphical texts, Prayer
of Joseph and The Ladder of
Jacob.
Prayer of Joseph, a fragment,
begins: “I, Jacob, who am speaking to you, am also
Israel,
an angel of God.” This fragment also recounts that “I am the firstborn of every
living
thing to whom God gives life.” This suggests that Jacob was a kind of
protohuman,
an
Adam-like figure, or even something similar to the kabbalistic figure of Adam
Kadmon,
whose creation was said to have preceded that of the earthly Adam.
While
most texts link Jacob’s face with the face carved on the throne on high, Pirkei
de-Rabbi
Eliezer 35 has the ministering angels say, “This
is a face like the face of the
holy
beast on the Throne of Glory.” This identifies of Jacob with one of the hayyot,
the
celestial
beasts, who are said to reside in the highest heavens. Thus while most texts
identify
the face of Jacob with the mysterious human face on God’s throne—a face
that
is intimately linked to God Himself—the text from Pirkei
de-Rabbi Eliezer avoids
this
direct link with God.
The identification of the angel with whom
Jacob wrestles as Uriel also derives from
Prayer
of Joseph 1:5-9, which supplies the reason for the
wrestling—jealousy on the
part
of Uriel: “He envied me and fought with me and wrestled with me, saying that
his
name and the name that is before every angel was to be above mine. I told him
his
name
and what rank he held among the songs of God. `Are you not Uriel, the eighth
after
me? and I am Israel, the archangel of the power of the Lord and the chief
captain
among
the songs of God. Am I not Israel, the first minister before the face of God? I
called
upon my God by the ineffable Name.’ ”
The model for an angelic descent into this
world is found in the midrashim concerning
Genesis
6, the Sons of God and the daughters of men. Here two angels, Shemhazai
and
Azazel, are said to have convinced God to let them descend to this world to
demonstrate
that
they would not be swayed by the Yetzer ha-Ra,
the Evil Inclination. See “The
Star
Maiden,” p. 455. The fragment in Prayer of
Joseph suggests a similar scenario, with
the
angel Israel having descended to earth to become the patriarch Jacob.
The cult of Jacob worship extended beyond
the Jews. It is a theme found in Gnostic
and
Manichean texts; in the latter, it is stated that “we worship the Lord Jacob,
the angel.”
It
is interesting to note that there is an apocryphal Christian tradition about
Jesus
being
an angel. According to The Gospel of the Ebionites,
Jesus was not begotten of God
the
Father, but was created as one of the archangels, and he rules over the angels
and all
the
creatures of God (Epiphanius, Haer. 30.16.4f).
See “Jacob the Divine,” following.
Sources:
Targum
Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 28:12; Targum
Neophyti, Fragment Targum
(Ms. P)
Gen
28:12; Prayer of Joseph,
Fragment A; Philo, De Somniis 1:150,
153-156; B. Hullin
91b;
Genesis Rabbah 68:12; Hekhalot
Rabbati 9; Midrash
Tehillim 78:6; Pirkei
de-Rabbi
Eliezer
35; Midrash Avkir;
Sha’arei ha-Gilgulim, Sha’ar ha-Shorashim 24.
Studies:
“Jacob
as an Angel in Gnosticism and Manicheism” by Alexander Bohlig.
“The
Face of Jacob in the Moon: Mystical Transformations of an Aggadic Myth” by
Elliot
R. Wolfson.
“The
Image of Jacob Engraved upon the Throne: Further Reflections on the Esoteric
Doctrine
of the German Pietists” by Elliot R. Wolfson.
Along
the Path by Elliot R. Wolfson, pp. 1-62.
