In addition to Exodus 15:3, Yahweh is a man of war, God is described as a warrior in Psalm 24: Who is the King of glory?—Yahweh, mighty and valiant, Yahweh, valiant in battle (Ps. 24:8). Frank Moore Cross finds in this passage a strong echo of the Canaanite pattern, in which both El and Ba’al are described as a warrior gods. The ideology of holy war is also found in Numbers 10:35: Advance, O Lord! May Your enemies be scattered, and may Your foes flee before you!
Sources:
Exodus Rabbah 5:14; B. Sanhedrin 95b; Y. Sota 88; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, be-Shalah 82; Midrash Tehillim 18:15, 18:17.
Studies:
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic by Frank Moore Cross, pp. 39-43, 91-111. “The God Sedeq” by Roy A. Rosenberg.
Yahweh and the Sun: Biblical and Archeological Evidence for Sun Worship in Ancient Israel by J. Glen Taylor.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel by Mark Stratton Smith, pp. 115-124.
41. GOD’S SWORD
When God opens the book that is half fire, half ice, avenging angels go forth to execute judgment on the wicked with God’s sword, drawn from its sheath. Its splendor shines like lightning and pervades the world from one end to the other, with sparks and flashes the size of the stars going forth, as it is said, When I whet My flashing blade (Deut. 32:41).
The book that is half fire, half ice echoes the myth the Books of Life and Death that God opens on Yom Kippur. See “The Book of Life and the Book of Death,” p. 289. This myth offers God’s sword as a metaphor for the execution of his judgments. The image here is of a harsh God, who sees to it that His judgments are immediately carried out.
Sources:
3 Enoch 32:1
42. A STILL, SMALL VOICE
Elijah lay down and fell asleep under a broom bush. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” He looked about; and there, beside his head, was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water! He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” He arose and ate and drank; and with the strength from the meal he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb. There he went into a cave, and there he spent the night.
Then the word of the Lord came to him. He said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” He replied, “I am moved by the zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.” “Come out,” He called, “and stand on the mountain before the Lord.”
And lo, the Lord passed by. There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind—an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake—fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire—a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his mantle about his face and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice addressed him.
This is a famous and profound biblical passage in which Elijah does not find God in all the obvious places—not in the wind, and not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, but in a still, small voice. The implication seems to be that Elijah hears that voice within himself, and thus makes contact with God in this way. This might indicate a new stage in the understanding of God, in which God is sought and found within.
There are many parallels between the stories of Moses and Elijah, suggesting that the author of the Elijah narrative consciously shaped it to echo that of Moses. This episode has striking parallels with that of Moses’ supreme revelation of God in Exodus 33:17-23, where God passes by Moses as he is inside the cave, and Moses is able to glimpse God’s back. Elijah, like Moses, goes into the desert for 40 days and nights and arrives at Mount Horeb, which is Sinai. Further, the text strongly implies, this is the very same cave where Moses had his revelation. In both accounts there is storm wind, quaking, and fire on Sinai and both Moses and Elijah have a major revelation of God. For the account of Moses’s vision, see “God’s Back,” p. 25.
Sources:
1 Kings 19:5-12.
Studies:
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic by Frank Moore Cross, pp. 190-194.
43. GOD’S VOICE
God saved His full voice for a thousand generations. God did not create the heavens with this voice. Nor did He create the earth with this voice. When was God’s full voice heard? When God gave the Torah at Mount Sinai. When God spoke the whole earth became silent. The birds ceased to sing, and all the fowl stopped flying, the beasts of the earth were quiet and the oxen did not low; the wheels of the Chariot of the Lord did not revolve, and the angels were hushed, as was the sea. It was a silence such as had never been before and will never be again.
Some say that then God’s voice went forth and echoed throughout the world, as it is said, And the people perceived the voices (Exod. 20:15). And all the people who were in the camp trembled, and the earth shook, and the heavens fell down, and the mountains flowed. Israel first heard God’s voice coming from the South, so they ran in that direction. Then they heard it coming from the North, so they ran that way. Soon after this they heard it coming from the East, and they turned in that direction. Then they heard it coming from the West, and they turned that way. All at once they heard the voice coming from the heavens, and they looked up. Then they heard it coming from the earth, and they looked down. In this way they learned that no one knows where God is hidden.
Others say that not only did God’s voice come to them from everywhere, but God revealed Himself to them from all four directions.
It is said that each one heard God’s voice according to his ability. The old men according to their ability, and the young men according to theirs, and the women according to theirs, and the children and the infants according to theirs, and even Moses according to his, so that each and every one would be able to endure it.
As soon as the words issued from the mouth of God they became fire and flew upon the wind, and appeared in the sight of all the people. Then the angels of the Lord descended and took the words of God and brought them to each of the children of Israel and told them of the sanctity of the divine utterance. So too did God’s voice split into seven voices, and from these seven into seventy languages, and traveled to the ends of the earth, and entered into the heart of every man. When the voice came forth, each nation heard the voice of God, and its soul departed from it, but Israel was not harmed, as it is said, Has any people heard the voice of God speaking out of a fire, as you have, and survived? (Deut. 4:33).
The notion that God saved His voice for the giving of the Torah is problematic, in that God created the world by speaking the words, “Let there be light,” in Genesis 1:3. So too does God communicate with Abraham by speaking to him on several occasions. The rabbis seem to be making a fine distinction between “speaking” and “a voice.” In any case, God’s voice is an overwhelmingly powerful presence at Mount Sinai. The description of God’s voice coming from all directions is based on several biblical verses, especially From the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; on earth He let you see His great fire; and from amidst that fire you heard His words (Deut. 4:36), and God thunders marvelously with His voice (Job 37:5). The idea that God’s voice was heard and understood by each according to his ability derives from the verse Moses would speak, and God would answer him in a voice (Exod. 19:19). In this passage, “a voice” seems to indicate that each person would hear it in a different way. This becomes emblematic of the teachings of the Torah to be understood differently by different individuals, according to their knowledge and ability.
Exodus Rabbah 34:1 comments on this: “God only comes to them according to their power. When God gave the Torah to Israel, if He had come to them in the fullness of His power they would not have been able to withstand it. But He only came to them according to
their power.”
The tradition that the people of Israel heard God speak in many different voices raises the question of whether what they heard were the voices of many gods. Exodus Rabbah 29:1 replies to this concern: “God said to Israel: ‘Do not think because you heard many voices that there are many gods. But know that I alone am the Lord your God.’”
Likewise, God is said to have appeared to the people with many different faces. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 21:6 considers this issue in a similar way to that of God’s voice: “God appeared to them at Sinai with many faces: a defiant face, a joyous face, a laughing face, a kind and friendly face…. If a heretic says, ‘There are two different gods,’ answer him: ‘It is not written the gods (Elohim) have spoken face after face, but the Lord (YHVH) spoke with you face to face (Deut. 5:4).’”
There is a rabbinic tradition that God’s voice is still speaking from Mount Sinai. In Leviticus Rabbah 16:4, Ben Azzai tells Rabbi Akiba that he is hearing the words of the Torah and that they “are joyful even as they were on the day they were given at Sinai.” The Ba’al Shem Tov believed that if the people of Israel sanctify and purify themselves, they will always merit hearing the voice of God speaking to them as He did at Sinai (Keter Torah, Yitro). One story about the Ba’al Shem Tov recounts how when he taught schoolchildren, he caused them to experience the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, with the thunder and lightning. Later, at the time of Shavuot, when he spoke to them about the Giving of the Torah, he asked them if they remembered that event. All of them said yes, except for one, who eventually left the path of Judaism (Kovetz Eliyahu, edited by Hayim Eliyahu Sternberg). In Esh Kadosh, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (1889-1943) asserts, “Even now the voice of the Torah can be heard emerging everywhere, from within one’s own body as well as from the entire outside world.” Hizkuni claimed to have heard the voice of God pronouncing the Ten Commandments in a dream.
In his biblical commentary, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger, known as the Sefat Emet, comments about the verse All the people saw the voices (Ex. 20:15) that each of the people of Israel saw the divine soul within themselves, which was the root of his or her own life-force. Thus they did not require a leap of faith to believe the commandments, because they saw the voices.
In his Torah Discourses, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov expressed doubt that, “given the constrains of human understanding, whether it is possible to comprehend the notion of speech with regard to God.” He explained that “God’s speech can only be understood as a revelation of His inner will.” According to the Riminov Rebbe, only Moses experienced God’s true speech, by “drawing directly from God’s holiness to his own inner core.” That is the meaning of the verse about Moses, The Lord would speak to Moses face to face (Exod. 33:11). (Makhon Siftei Tzaddikim on Gen. 2:3).
For more on the theme of the seven voices of God, see “The Seven Voices of the Torah,” p. 260.
Sources:
B. Zevahim 116a; B. Shabbat 87a; Sifre on Deuteronomy 314; Midrash Tanhuma, Shemot 22; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Shemot 25; Yalkut Shim’oni 1:174; Exodus Rabbah 5:9, 29:1, 34:1; Midrash Shir ha-Shirim; Zohar 1:52b; Keter Torah, Yitro; Sefer Sefat Emet 2:91; Esh Kadosh pp. 162-163; IFA 17143.
44. GOD’S IMAGE
When God made His voice heard at Mount Sinai, all of Israel were listening and fearful. They said to Moses, “Draw near and listen, for we are afraid to do so.” So Moses drew near to the holy deep darkness where the Divine One was, and he saw the wonders of the unseen, a sight no one else could see. God’s image dwelt on him, the very face of God. How terrifying to anyone who beholds it, for no one is able to stand before it. With his hands Moses received the signature of God, and it was a treasure-house of all knowledge. His body mingled with the angels above and he dwelt with them, being worthy of doing so. His speech was like the speech of the Lord. His voice mingled with the voice of the Lord, and he was magnified above all the human race.
This is a Samaritan myth about Moses approaching God on Mount Sinai and seeing God’s image—the ultimate experience of seeing God face to face. As important as Moses is in Jewish tradition, he is elevated even higher in Samaritan tradition, to a near-divine status. Indeed, it was the rabbinic fear of Moses being regarded as a messianic figure that led the rabbis to minimize his role in the Exodus in the Passover Haggadah. The image of God that Moses sees is a reference to Genesis 1:27: In the image of God He created them. Humans were created in God’s image, but here Moses is able to see not only God’s reflection, but God’s actual image; thus he is able to encounter God face to face.
Sources:
Memar Markah 6:3 (Samaritan).
45. THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL BEHOLD GOD
Then God said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel, and bow low from afar. Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him… Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended, and they saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity. Yet He did not raise His hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.
Although God warns Moses at one point that “You cannot see My face, for man may not see me and live” (Exod. 33:20), in Exodus 24 God invites Moses to bring Aaron, his sons, and 70 of the elders of Israel to Mount Sinai, and there God reveals Himself to them. Further, they are permitted to eat and drink in God’s presence. This takes place
just before Moses ascends Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, and the purpose of ascending with them is to convince the elders that God truly exists, and that the Torah God is about to reveal is a work of truth.
Rashi comments that because they saw God, they deserved death, but God did not want to mar the rejoicing of the receiving of the Torah.
Sources:
Exodus 24:1-2, 9-11.
Studies:
Moses by Martin Buber.
46. GOD STUDIES THE TORAH
God is occupied in studying the Torah day and night, as it is said, A God of knowledge is the Lord (1 Sam. 2:3). This means that God studies the Written Torah by day and the Oral Torah at night. When He studies the Written Torah by day, His face is as radiant as snow, and when He studies the Oral Torah at night, his face is ruddy.
According to this myth, God studies the very texts that are the primary focus of Jewish study. The description of God’s face alludes to the verse My beloved is white and ruddy, from the Song of Songs 5:10. This is based on Rabbi Akiba’s reading of the Song of Songs not as an erotic love poem or poems, but as an allegory of God’s love for Israel, in which God is identified as the Bridegroom and Israel as the bride.
Here God is said to study both the Written and the Oral Torah. The first five books of the Torah are known as the Written Torah. According to Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 46, God dictated the Torah to Moses during the day and at night He explained it to him. These nightly explanations are known as the Oral Torah, and in time it came to be identified with the Talmud, which was understood to contain within itself the Oral Torah.
Nor does God limit his study to the Written and Oral Torah. He also studies the interpretations of the sages, as recounted in B. Hagigah 15b, where it is reported that Rabbah bar Shila once encountered Elijah and asked him, “What is the Holy One, blessed be He, doing?” Elijah replied, “He is saying the teachings of each of the sages.”
For other examples of God’s observance of Jewish ritual, see “God Puts on Tallit and Tefillin,” p. 34, and “God Keeps the Sabbath,” p. 314.
Sources:
B. Avodah Zarah 3b; B. Hagigah 15b; Pesikta Rabbati 19:7; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 46; Midrash Tehillim 19:7.
47. GOD PUTS ON TALLIT AND TEFILLIN
God dons tallit and tefillin. How is this known? That God dons a tallit is known from the verse, Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment (Ps. 104:2). That God puts on tefillin is known from the verse Yahweh has sw
orn by His right hand, and by the arm of his strength (Isa. 62:8). Here, by His right hand refers to the Torah, and by the arm of His strength refers to the tefillin.
Indeed, it was God who taught Moses how to tie the knot of the tefillin.
What is written in God’s tefillin? Who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth (1 Chron. 17:21).
Some say that the angel Michael binds tefillin to God’s head each day, while others say that this is done by Metatron, and still others say that it is done by Sandalphon.
In a series of myths, God is portrayed taking part in the same prayer rituals as the men of Israel. God prays, puts on a tallit, a prayer shawl with fringed garments (tzitzit), and puts on tefillin, the phylacteries that men don for the morning prayer service. What is the point of God taking part in such rituals? This creates a parallel in the ritual practices of God and of His people, Israel, as well as a sense of mutuality, an indication that God gives back the prayers that He receives.
The knowledge that God teaches Moses how to knot tefillin is linked to the verse Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back (Exod. 33:23). This is certainly a mysterious verse, with two strongly personified elements of God, His hand and His back. But it seems a long way to link this to God teaching Moses how to tie the knot of the tefillin.
The central text inside the tefillin is the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This is an unambiguous statement of devotion to God: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And the text described as being inside God’s tefillin, Who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth? (1 Chron. 17:21), is a clear statement of God’s devotion to Israel. Together the two texts form a kind of ketubah—a wedding contract. They are a further example of the covenant between God and Israel. See “The Wedding of God and Israel,” p. 305. For other examples of God performing Jewish ritual activity, see “God Studies the Torah,” p. 34, and “God Keeps the Sabbath,” p. 314.
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