volgadon Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 The other day, whilst gathering material for a blog post, I found an interesting quote in the Midrash Tanhuma, which seems to be a dim memory of the concept of divine councils.In interpreting Deuteronomy 32:1 the author states that heaven and earth were witnesses summoned by God against Israel, as Israel is eternal and so are they, and that if Israel fails to uphold the Torah and the commandments, the witnesses will have it in their power to put Israel to death, as corroborated by Deuteronomy 11:17.I'm wondering if anyone else has come across this before.
maklelan Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 The other day, whilst gathering material for a blog post, I found an interesting quote in the Midrash Tanhuma, which seems to be a dim memory of the concept of divine councils.In interpreting Deuteronomy 32:1 the author states that heaven and earth were witnesses summoned by God against Israel, as Israel is eternal and so are they, and that if Israel fails to uphold the Torah and the commandments, the witnesses will have it in their power to put Israel to death, as corroborated by Deuteronomy 11:17.I'm wondering if anyone else has come across this before.I have seen this. Peter Hayman has suggested that Rabbinic literature is an untapped well of connections to early Syro-Palestinian literature. The Arslan Tash inscription is a close link to the ideology from Mid. Tanhuma.
volgadon Posted December 4, 2009 Author Posted December 4, 2009 Thank you, I found a link dealing with the plaque. Most interesting that heaven and earth are considered deities in their own right. That adds another dimension to arguments for ancient Hebrew henotheism or monolatry.
maklelan Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 Thank you, I found a link dealing with the plaque. Most interesting that heaven and earth are considered deities in their own right. That adds another dimension to arguments for ancient Hebrew henotheism or monolatry.I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I'm working on a paper concerning ??? ???? ???? in Gen 14:19, 22 as "Begetter of Heaven and Earth." It would have close links to Syro-Palestinian ideas of theogony, especially El's conception of Dawn and Dusk and Eusebius' fragments of Phoenician History.
volgadon Posted December 4, 2009 Author Posted December 4, 2009 When I read Josephus I always feel its such a pity that none of the Phoenician histories he polemicises against have survived.
Calm Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 I have seen this. Peter Hayman has suggested that Rabbinic literature is an untapped well of connections to early Syro-Palestinian literature. The Arslan Tash inscription is a close link to the ideology from Mid. Tanhuma.Totally off topic, but I found the name "Arslan Tash" quite interesting, even more so upon finding it means "stone lion" apparently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arslan_Tash Anyone know if there is a direct connection to CS Lewis?
etana Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 In Sumer, An and Ki were considered deities. This was a a few thousand years before any midrash though. There are similar themes in Gnostic creation accounts.
volgadon Posted December 5, 2009 Author Posted December 5, 2009 Calnmoriah, no connection as far as I know of, but Aslan is one of the variants (I think from the Caucasus) of the world Arsalan.
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