Jewish Mysticism

From Ancient Times through Today

Marvin A. Sweeney

• Editorial: Eerdmans
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781467458733
• Categoría: Theology & Religion
• Categoría: Jewish Theology

Questions of how the divine presence is understood and interacts within the world have been around since the time of the biblical prophets. The Jewish mystical tradition conceives God as active, just, powerful, and present while allowing for divine limitation so as to understand therelationship between G-d andthe Jewish people in their history.

Jewish Mysticism surveys Jewish visionary and mystical experience from biblical and ancient Near Eastern times through the modern period and the emergence of modern Hasidism. Marvin Sweeney provides a comprehensive treatment of one of the most dynamic fields of Jewish studies in the twenty-first century, providing an accessible overview of texts and interpretative issues.

Sweeney begins with the biblical period, which most treatments of Jewish mysticism avoid, and includes chapters on the ancient Near East, the Pentateuch, the Former Prophets and Psalms, the Latter Prophets, Jewish Apocalyptic, the Heikhalot Literature, the Sefer Yetzirah and early Kabbalistic Literature, the Zohar, Lurianic Kabbalah and the Shabbetean Movement, and the Hasidic Movement.

Placing Jewish apocalyptic literature into the larger development of ancient Jewish visionary and mystical experience, Sweeney fills gaps left by the important but outdated work of others in the field. Ideal for the scholar, student, or general reader, Jewish Mysticism provides readers with a fresh understanding of the particular challenges, problems, needs, and perspectives of Judaism throughout its history.

Chapter 1

VISIONARY EXPERIENCE
IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Origins and Development of Israel and Its Portrayals of G-d

Ancient Israel emerged as a discrete nation in Canaan during the latter portions of the Bronze Age in the fourteenth through the tenth centuries BCE.¹ The first known historical reference to Israel appears in the so-called victory stele of Pharaoh Merneptah (1224–1216 BCE) in which he claimed victory over a Canaanite coalition known as the Nine Bows.² Many familiar place names appear in Merneptah’s stele, e.g., Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, and others, but all of these place names indicated settled cities and the like, which is consistent with the socio-political structure of Canaan during this period as a collection of independent city-states lacking central authority. Israel appears among the list of Merneptah’s enemies, but it is unique in that the name Israel is identified not as a settled, landed nation or city, but as a semi-nomadic tribal group residing in Canaan. Such a view is consistent with the portrayal of Israel’s ancestors in Genesis, i.e., Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob, Rachel, and Leah; and the twelve sons of Jacob whose descendants would later constitute the tribes of Israel, even if there is no evidence to confirm the historicity of the ancestral narratives.

Egypt had dominated Canaan for much of the fifteenth through the thirteenth centuries BCE, which helped to ensure that Canaan did not unite; but by the time of Merneptah’s reign, Canaan was slipping from Egyptian control.³ Merneptah’s father, Pharaoh Rameses II (1290–1224 BCE), had been defeated by the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE and consequently retreated with his army to Egypt. Merneptah’s claim to victory rings rather hollow as archeological evidence confirms the decline of Egyptian influence in Canaan following his reign. Indeed, Egypt’s decline following the reign of Merneptah in the late thirteenth century BCE left a power vacuum in Canaan. Canaan was the trading crossroads of the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asian world; it sat astride the sea and land routes that connected the major superpowers of the day, i.e., Egypt, Hatti, and Mesopotamia. But none of the other powers were able to capitalize on Egypt’s decline. The Hittites collapsed as a result of invasion by the Sea Peoples, who originated in the Greek islands and traveled by sea and land along the eastern Mediterranean coast. The Sea Peoples destroyed the Hittite Empire, the port city of Ugarit, and other coastal cities before launching a failed invasion of Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses III (1186–1155 BCE) that forced them to settle along the coastal plain of southern Canaan where they would meld with the local Canaanite population to form the five-city coalition known in the Bible as the Philistines. The Mesopotamian empires of Assyria and Babylonia lacked the organization and power to move southward through Aram and into Canaan until the ninth and eighth centuries BCE. Thus, Canaan was largely left to develop on its own without major interference from the superpowers of the day from the late thirteenth through the late ninth centuries BCE.

The historical origins of Israel may be traced back even before this period. The Amarna letters, a cache of cuneiform tablets discovered at the site of Amarna in Egypt in the nineteenth century, provide evidence of the origins of Israel.⁴ Most of the letters were written in Akkadian by many of the city-state rulers of ancient Canaan to their Egyptian overlords during the mid-fourteenth-century BCE reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1353–1336 BCE), otherwise known as Akhenaten, to request troops to defend against incursions by a semi-nomadic people identified as the Habiru. The Akkadian term, habiru (Egyptian rendering, apiru), is a term that means simply “barbarian,” and refers to the semi-nomadic, Semitic-speaking tribal groups from the Arabian Desert that would enter the settled agricultural areas known as the Fertile Crescent, ranging from Assyria and Babylonia to the north and east and Aram and Canaan to the west. Although the issue is disputed, many scholars maintain that the Hebrew word, ivri, “Hebrew,” is derived from the Akkadian word, habiru. In any case, the portrayal of the Habiru in the Amarna Letters points to their concentration around the city of Shechem, ruled by King Labayu and his sons during the mid-fourteenth century BCE. Many of Shechem’s neighbors, such as Megiddo and Jerusalem, complained to the Egyptian Pharaoh that Shechem had allied with the Habiru to threaten their own borders and requested archers to help defend against Habiru/Shechemite incursions. Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten was preoccupied with his own internal issues in Egypt, and it remains unclear whether he ever sent the requested support.

Shechem, situated on the border between the tribal territories of Ephraim and Manasseh in the Israelite hill country, served as a central political and religious focal point for early Israel. Deuteronomy 27 portrays Moses directing the tribes to gather the tribes at the site of Shechem between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim to affirm the covenant with YHWH; Joshua 8 and 24 portray Joshua’s assembly of the Israelite tribes at Shechem for similar reasons; Judges 9 portrays Shechem as the focal point for the failed campaign by Abimelech ben Gideon to assert his rule over Israel; and 1 Kings 12 portrays Shechem as the gathering point for the northern Israelite tribes to choose their leadership following the death of King Solomon ben David. These biblical examples of Israelites coalescing at Shechem appear consistent with the claim that the Habiru are the forerunners of ancient Israel.

Ancient Israel emerged as a nation—or better, a monarchy—from ancient Canaan.⁵ Although biblical sources, such as the wilderness narratives of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and the conquest narratives of Joshua, portray Israel as foreign conquerors of Canaan, other biblical sources, such as Judges 1, and archeological sources point to Israel’s cultural and linguistic ties to ancient Canaan. Indeed, the very name Israel (Hebrew, yisra᾽el) does not mean, “you have struggled with G-d and with humans,” as claimed in Gen 32:28. Instead, the theophoric name yisra᾽el means “G-d rules”; it employs the name of the Canaanite creator god, El, known already from Ugaritic texts of the fifteenth–fourteenth century BCE and later from the late ninth–early eighth century BCE in the Aramaic inscription of the vision of Balaam bar Beor from Transjordanian Deir Alla. Israel emerged as a Canaanite monarchy, and over the course of its history attributed characteristics of Canaanite gods, such as El, Baal, and others, to the distinctive Israelite and Judean G-d, YHWH. Indeed, the divine name, YHWH, appears to have originated among semi-nomadic tribal groups in Edom from where it became known as the name of the G-d of Judah and Israel from their formation during the premonarchic period (twelfth–tenth century BCE) through the monarchic period of Israelite and Judean kings (tenth–sixth century BCE) until the onset of the Babylonian Exile in 587 BCE.

Although Judah and Israel were self-standing monarchies throughout the tenth–sixth centuries BCE, they were heavily influenced by the Canaanite culture from which they emerged and by major powers, such as Egypt, Hatti, Aram, and the Mesopotamian empires of Assyria and Babylonia, which sought to control them and the trade routes on which they were situated. The structure of Solomon’s administration shows clear Egyptian influence; biblical sources, such as the narrative of Abraham’s purchase of the Machpelah Cave in Genesis 23, indicate Hittite influence; northern Israel’s abandonment of its treaty with Assyria indicates Aramean influence; and the conceptualization of the covenant between YHWH and Israel/Judah indicates heavy dependence on Mesopotamian models.

Examination of ancient Near Eastern conceptualizations of the gods and of texts concerning interrelations with the gods, including visionary texts, dream reports, and omen interpretation, indicates that ancient Israel and Judah owed much to these cultures in their own understandings of the characterization of YHWH and their understandings of interaction with YHWH through visionary and dream experience. It is therefore imperative that interpreters understand such ancient Near Eastern conceptualization and experience as a means to understand the unique forms of Israelite and Judean conceptualization and experience that develop from them. A major issue in understanding this development is the recognition that ancient Near Eastern cultures understood their gods to be embodied, i.e., that they could be perceived and experienced in tangible form, particularly through the widespread portrayals of the embodiment of their gods in literature and art forms.⁶ Ancient Near Eastern cultures were well-known for vivid portrayals of the physical forms of their gods in literature and pictorial art, particularly the construction of idols of their gods from wood, stone, precious metals and stones, and fabrics. Although recent scholarly discussion points to the understanding in Israel and Judah of the embodied nature of G-d or YHWH, Israel and Judah tended to avoid detailed portrayal of a tangible form of YHWH and chose instead to employ metaphorical imagery, such as that of smoke or cloud, fire, and water, to portray the presence of YHWH. There is ongoing concern with the unwarranted construction of idols, whether of YHWH or of foreign gods, but Israel and Judah eschewed tangible description of the body of YHWH and attempts to construct tangible images of YHWH’s divine presence.

Discussion now turns to the conceptualization of the gods and the visionary and dream experience of the gods in Egypt, Canaan, Hatti, Aram, and Mesopotamia as background for the understanding of such issues in ancient Israel and Judah.

Seeing and Hearing the Gods of Egypt

Egyptian religion includes a large variety of gods and goddesses from the origins of Egyptian society in the Archaic Period (Dynasties 1–2, 3000–2650 BCE) through the end of the Roman period in 324 CE.⁷ The origins of the various gods and goddesses apparently lie in the local cultural areas that were ultimately incorporated into the larger Egyptian civilization through the course of unification that produced Upper and Lower Egypt, i.e., the highlands of Southern Egypt and the Nile River Plain and Delta of Northern Egypt ca. 3000 BCE. Egyptian religion includes multiple creator gods that form their own respective hierarchies that differ and change depending upon the shifting fortunes of Egyptian political centers. Thus, Ptah, the early Egyptian creator deity, is worshiped in Memphis during the Old Kingdom period (Dynasties 3–8; ca. 2650–2135 BCE) when Memphis served as the principal city and capital of ancient Egypt. During the New Kingdom period (Dynasties 18–20; ca. 1550–1080 BCE), the sun deity, Amun-Re, a synthesis of the gods Amun and Re, emerges as the chief creator deity of Thebes at a time when it served as the dominant city of Egypt. Khnum, the Egyptian creator god of southern Egypt, is often viewed as an aspect of Amun-Re, which likely reflects Memphite domination over Esna and Elephantine, locations where Khnum was worshiped.

The Egyptian gods are generally portrayed in a combination of human and animal forms, depending upon the specific qualities and characters of each deity. Ptah, the patron god of craftsmen, woodworkers, metalworkers, etc., is often portrayed in human form as a man with green skin and the divine beard, wrapped in a shroud, and holding a scepter that combines was (“power”), ankh (“life”), and djed (“stability”) to symbolize the interplay of change and stability in the world of creation. Following his merger with Osiris, the god of the underworld, he can appear as half-human and half-hawk or as a falcon as he accompanies the dead on their journey to the west. When identified as the sun god, Re or Aten, Ptah appears as two birds with human heads, each of which supports a sun disk, to portray the two souls of Re, i.e., Shu and Tefnut.

Although Ptah appears in tangible forms, it is clear that Ptah’s underlying character is intangible, insofar as he infuses creation with his divine presence. The multiplicity of his forms is telling; his character shifts in relation to the shifting relationships of geographical regions and cities in Egypt and the deities that represent them. Fundamentally, Ptah’s shifting forms must be understood as metaphorical portrayals that enable his human worshipers to understand his underlying, intangible character and powers. The Memphite Theology of Creation portrays Ptah’s underlying intangible qualities.⁸ The Memphite Theology of Creation is a text that was originally written early in the Old Kingdom period on leather, but it was copied on stone ca. 710 BCE by Pharaoh Shabaka (Twenty-Fifth Dynasty) due to the deteriorated state of the original text. It describes Ptah as the early deity who employed his heart (mind) and tongue (spoken word) to create the kas or life forces of other deities, such as Atun, the early form of the above-mentioned sun deity. The initial focus on heart and tongue points to an indigenous Egyptian form of philosophical idealism akin to later Platonic philosophy that sees creation initially dependent upon the conceptualization of creation in the mind, and the naming of such conceptualization by the tongue or spoken word. Having conceptualized and named the deity in question, Ptah’s act of creation then turns to the tangible forms. Ptah vocalizes creation as an act of masturbation in which the semen and hand combine to create the physical form of Ptah’s Ennead, i.e., the nine initial deities from whom creation proceeds, in tangible form. Through conceptualization, vocalization, and tangible formation, the Ennead then brings all of creation into being.

Such an understanding of Ptah and his role as creator points to an important aspect of the Egyptian deities and world of creation that they produce, viz., the deities and all creation are a combination of intangible conceptualization and vocalization on the one hand and tangible form on the other. In such an understanding, Egyptian deities and all creation are ultimately intangible and unseen principles which become embodied in a changing physical and tangible form. Such tangible portrayal of Ptah—as human, as half-human and half-hawk, as falcon, as two birds with sun disks, etc.—must be understood as metaphorical devices intended to personalize and concretize the abstract qualities contained within, so as to make the intangible qualities of the deities and creation at large comprehensible to human observers and readers.

Similar considerations apply to Amun-Re. Amun emerged as the king of the gods in the city of Thebes during the course of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1305 BCE) when Thebes became the capital of Egypt. He merged with the sun god Re to become the sun deity Amun-Re, who in turn became the chief deity of Egypt and the new creator god. Amun-Re is typically portrayed in human form, much like a Pharaoh, wearing a double crown that symbolized the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Because of Thebes’s political power, Amun-Re tended to absorb other deities as Egypt moved toward an early form of monotheism. As the sun god, Amun-Re was understood to be self-created as a hidden presence or principle in the world of creation at large that enabled creation to grow and thrive.

During the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1365–1349 BCE), also known as Akhenaten, the Pharaoh turned to the worship of Aten in a bid to challenge the power of the priests of Amun-Re. Aten was the sun disk, which means he was the pupil in the eye of Amun-Re and thereby represented the true intangible character, power, and essence of Amun-Re on which Akhenaten wanted to focus. Past scholars have posited that Akhenaten’s religious reforms represented a form of nascent monotheism, but interpreters must recognize that Akhenaten’s reforms never denied the reality or power of other gods; they forbade the worship of such gods to focus instead on Aten in a bid to marginalize the others and thereby strengthen Akhenaten’s political hand.⁹ Both the religious and political dimensions of Akhenaten’s reforms failed, and after his death his reforms were abolished.

Nevertheless, the characterization of Amun-Re as a sun deity and Aten as the sun disk point to the importance of the intangible character of both deities and the role of the sun and light, both very real but very intangible phenomena, as the metaphorical means to portray that character to human observers and readers.

A hymn to Amun from the Eighteenth Dynasty makes clear the interplay between his unseen but very real power in creation and his physical form portrayed as a sun chariot coursing across the heavens.¹⁰ He is lauded for rising at dawn and shining his rays on the faces of those who toil on earth. Such a description of course invokes the the sun itself. The hymn portrays Amun as self-made: he formed his own body; but the imagery of light and sun rays indicates a less tangible, although very real, presence in the world. The hymn turns to the imagery of a race—whether by foot, horse, or chariot, the hymn does not say—but it nevertheless depicts Amun in terms of the sun making its daily course across the sky as it moves from rising in the east to setting in the west. The hymn closes by noting that, by Amun’s daily presence, all eyes on earth can see; and without Amun’s presence at night, they cannot. A second ...