Giovanni Pico della Mirandola on Genesis

At his excellent blog Reditus, Artruo Vasquez, a reader of Just Genesis, has written an informative and interesting piece on the 15th century Neo-Platonist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Here is what he has written:

Like many great religious thinkers, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola saw the end of all things in the beginning. Having retired to a villa near Fiesole in Italy around 1489, Pico della Mirandola began to write about many controversial topics that were on his mind. Here he wrote works that among other things refuted the use of astrology and tried to reconcile the differences between Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. Here as well he wrote a re-conciliatory meditation on the account of creation told in the Book of Genesis known as the Heptaplus. As in all works, it was Pico’s ambition to reconcile various seemingly divergent strands of human thought to harmonize them in a Neoplatonic synthesis. In Pico’s reading, as in many ancient authors, symbolism and the spiritual senses of Scripture are used to draw out the metaphysical richness of the Hebrew text. For Pico as with many Christian authors, Genesis does not just re-tell the beginning of history, but reveals its meaning and its end as well.

For Pico della Mirandola, the text of Genesis is not just historical, but also profoundly metaphysical. The order of Creation reveals the fundamental structure of the cosmos. The division of male and female, for example, represents, “two powers in the same substance, one of which is engaged in contemplation while the other rules the body”. For the phrase, “Let there be light”, Pico explains that:

…light was made in the angel, the light of intelligible forms; and the evening and the morning were one day since, as Averroes shows, from the intellect and the intelligible is made a greater unity than from matter and form, because… truth is grasped far better by angels than by men.

Dry land in Pico’s text does not just represent the earth, but matter itself. Pico’s reading then is not one of modern logical progression, but rather the pealing of various layers of meaning within the divine text.

Read it all here.

Women Rulers in Ancient Israel

Alice C. Linsley


In Genesis we note many women of high social standing. Some are known as the wives of rulers: Adah and Zillah, Sarah and Keturah, and Rachel and Leah . Others are known as the daughters of famous priests: Asenath and Zipporah. Some are remembered for doing something extraordinary, such a when Zipporah circumcised her son, or when Jael [1] drove a tent peg through the skull of an enemy commander. In this essay, we will consider women rulers in ancient Israel from Deborah and Huldah to Salome Alexandra who ruled from 76-67 B.C.

Deborah, a Ruler in Israel

Judges 4:4-6 tells us, “Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment."[2]

Ramah is where the prophet Samuel resided. The elders of Israel came to Ramah to demand that Samuel appoint a king to rule over them. David fled to Ramah for Samuel's help when Saul sought his life. Bethel also has numerous references, all indicating that it had cultic significance. Deborah is associated with a tree midway between these two important shrines. [3]

The idea of being at the center is reminiscent of Abraham's setting up his tent at the Diviner's tree (called the “Oak of Moreh”) between Ai and Bethel (Gen. 13). In this between place God visited Abraham in the heat of the day (Gen. 18). Here Abraham deliberated with the Lord about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. This information rounds out our picture of Deborah as one who deliberated with the Lord on behalf of Israel as a judge and a prophet, and we see the significance of sacred trees in connection to those elevated to leadership. She judged from her date nut palm [4] between Ramah (meaning high or lifted up) and Bethel (meaning house of God).

Though Deborah had great authority, she didn’t rule over all of Israel. She lived at a time before the monarchy in Israel. This period of time is described in the book of Judges, which records the deeds of a dozen judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jain, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon and Samson. Though they are presented in what appears to be chronological order, some of these judges were contemporaries, each with his or her tribal jurisdictions.

Deborah's duties would have been like those of other judges. We are told that judges were called by God, helped to settle disputes, gave direction to people from God, and were respected by all the people. Judges 4 and 5 tells us that under Deborah’s rule, the land had peace for forty years.

Palm Trees and Oaks

The association of palm trees with rulers and prophets is a common among many African tribes. Fresh palm tree fronds are used ceremonially at the installation of rulers. Palm tree branches are also used to decorate places of worship. The tamar is a sacred symbol in Africa and the Negev, analogous to the oak for the Jews and the Greeks.

In Africa, rulers and oracles sit in the shade of such trees. That Deborah did so indicates that she was indeed both a judge and a prophet in Israel. "Torah" [5] means that which is thrown by the hand of the Moreh (oracle or prophet). Abraham received guidance when he pitched his tent at the Oak of Moreh. The word "Torah" is usually rendered guidance or instruction, but the word is also associated with a prophet sitting under a tree.

When the people used palm fronds to greet Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, they greeted him as one to be enthroned. The connection between rulers and trees at sacred centers is found among the tribal peoples of West Africa. Among the Yoruba, fresh palm tree leaves are “employed on occasions of installation to the position and rank of a sovereign, and to the office of a priest of high rank.”[6]

Palm tree branches are commonly employed to decorate places and objects of worship in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The palm tree’s height, strength, durability and the upward direction of its younger branches represents the righteous heart. The palm tree was regarded as sacred both by the Etrurians and the Greeks, just as the oak was considered sacred by Jews, Greeks, and the ancient Celts of Gaul and Britain.

Huldah

Huldah lived approximately 655 years after Deborah. She too served as a judge in Israel. We read in 2 Kings 22:14 that King Asaiah sent his priests to consult the “prophetess” Huldah. She was living in Jerusalem, in the new section. Her name indicates that she belonged to the tribe of Hul, a son of Aram (Gen. 10:23).

Queen Salome Alexandra

The August '08 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review reports on a Judean queen named Salome Alexandra who ruled alone from 76-67 BC. Here is an excerpt:

When people hear the name Salome, they immediately think of the infamous dancing girl of the Gospels. Herod Antipas—the man Jesus denounced as a “fox”—had married his brother’s wife, Herodias. When John the Baptist denounced this illicit union, Herod Antipas cast him into prison. It was Herodias’s daughter, Salome, who danced before Herod at his drunken birthday gala. Her performance so pleased Herod that he promised her anything she wished: up to half his kingdom! At her mother’s urging, Salome asked for the head of Herod’s most famous prisoner on a platter. Fearful of breaking his word before his guests, Herod granted ­Salome’s request and ordered John the Baptist beheaded.

In antiquity there was a considerably more famous Salome, however, who was revered for centuries. She was so admired that generations of mothers named their daughters Salome in her honor. This Salome was the only woman ever to govern Judea as its sole ruler. She is even mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls: the sole woman, and one of only 18 people named in the scrolls. She presided over a number of religious reforms that shaped the Judaism of Jesus’ day as well as our own. During a time of chaos, men chose her to lead their nation and fight their battles. Centuries later, the authors of the Talmud regarded her reign as a golden age. Yet this remarkable woman has been largely erased from history. Her name is Queen Salome Alexandra.

The BAR article provides information about Salome from the Nahum Pesher which alludes to her as a prostitute. We recall that this same accusation was brought against Tamar when she sought to claim her rights (Gen. 38).


Related reading:  Deborah Warrior Bee; Mary's Ruler-Priest Lineage; The Daughters of Horite Priests


NOTES

1. Read the story of Jael in Judges 4:17-22.

2. The population centers referred to in Judges 4–9 can be identified with reasonable certainty. These include Hazor, Ramah, Bethel, Kedesh-Naphtali, Taanach, Ophrah, Tabbath, Succoth, Shechem, Arumah, and Thebez. Hazor, Bethel, Taanach, Succoth, Shechem, and Thebez have been excavated thoroughly.

3. Mircea Eliade, a Romanian sociologist of religion, wrote about the significance of the sacred center for primitive peoples. See his Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. Many ancient cultures regarded their most sacred places as the center of the cosmos. The ancient Incas regarded Cuzco as the “ombligo” (navel) of the earth.

4. The date nut palm is called a “tamar”. Tamar is also the name of two prominent females in the Old Testament: David’s ancestor, and David’s sister.

5. Torah is "what is thrown by the Moreh". This can be the 'arrow' from the archer or the 'direction' (teachings and instructions) from the teacher. The true Hebraic understanding of Torah is "instructions" and "teachings" such as from a father to his children. Read more about the meaning of Torah, here: http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/5_torah.html

6. To Read more about the palm tree in connection with rulers, priests and shrines, go here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/mind/mind24.htm

Leon Kass on Genesis

Alice C. Linsley

In The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, bioethicist Leon Kass explores the philosophical and ethical dimensions of Genesis. He does this as a medical doctor committed to engaging the wisdom of the text, holding it close, and teaching it to one's children as a defense against the "antiwisdoms" of modernity (p. 4). He explores the Genesis text as a coherent whole and wastes no time teasing out sources. His approach is to gain practical wisdom for our lives today and his method, while called "philosophical" is dependent upon psychological insights as well as spiritual insights from the Talmud.

Kass hopes with this book to help the Jewish “children of skeptics” to understand why their predecessors found Genesis compelling and illuminating. By shifting the conversation to what he calls “wisdom-seeking”, Kass avoids the view of many skeptics that science has proven Scripture to be false. He is critical of how science abandoned "the large metaphysical-theological questions and spiritual-moral concerns that preoccupied" its ancestors (p. 5).

Kass is not interested in a politically correct interpretation. For example, he argues that male and female gender roles are not a cultural construct but an expression of real biological differences. Concerning homosex and incest, he holds up the story of Sodom, explaining: "This city's special band of injustice is, in fact, epitomized in its own sexual perversions: the acts of sodomy (practiced by the citizens) and the acts of incest (later practiced by Lot's daughters on their father)" (p. 329).

Kass explores the Genesis text as a coherent whole and wastes no time teasing out "sources". His approach is to gain practical wisdom for our lives today and his method, while called "philosophical" is more dependent upon psychological insights than upon spiritual insights that come from observing the repetition of patterns.

Kass sees the patterns in Genesis and explains that Genesis speaks not about "what happened, but what always happens" (pp. 10, 54). He sees the parallels between Joseph and Solomon, for example, and he maintains that Genesis is "instructional narrative" (p. 79). Both Joseph and Solomon married women of the royal court of Egypt and both men embody wisdom in the Old Testament.

The Serpent

Kass' method is evident at the start where he discusses the distinct purposes of the two creation accounts. The first story (Gen. 1) reveals that God's creation, while good, is not to be worshiped. The second story (Genesis 2-3) speaks of the dangers inherent in human freedom and reason. The discussion stresses ethics more than metaphysics, therefore the reality signaled by the serpent is less significant than the question of human freedom, will and rationality.

The serpent for Kass represents the "sibilant and seductive" voice of human reason (p. 80). He never considers that the serpent, while a creature able to communicate like Man, may represent forbidden occult activities. Instead the serpent speaks "as unaided reason naturally does" (note, p. 81). He is correct that "There is no textual basis for identifying the serpent with Satan."

Kass sees the organization of Genesis as hinging on the destruction of the Tower of Babel (symbol of the limits of human reason) and the calling of Abraham. From this point, the stage is set for the eventual emergence of the nation of Israel from the pre-political world of Abraham's ancestors to the law given at Sinai. Kass seems unaware of the evidence that places Abraham's ancestors in the Afro-Asiatic Dominion with its sophisticated social structures and political networks.

Another weakness of the book is Kass' designation of Abraham as Terah's first-born son. This is factually wrong. Analysis of the kinship pattern shown in Genesis 4 and 5 reveals that Abraham was Terah's youngest son. Terah's had 2 wives. By his half-sister wife (daughter of Nahor) he had Nahor, the first-born son, and then Abraham. By his patrilineal parallel cousin wife (daughter of Haran) Terah had Haran, the first-born son, and Sarah. Sarah and Abraham had the same father but different mothers, as Abraham explains to Abimelech in Genesis 20:12. Kass has missed the distinctive bride's naming prerogative among Abraham's people. (It seems a curious omission since he takes 5 pages to address Noah's naming prerogative.)

Casting Abraham as Terah's first-born son causes Kass to miss one of the most significant ethical dilemmas posed by Genesis: the conflict between brothers and their tribes over the question of who should rule. Two tribal areas compete for the right to be known as Jacob’s final resting place. One is Hebron in Judah, and the other is Shechem in Israel. These competing tribal claims point to conflicts between brothers. Kass states that the rivalry becomes greatest when sons seek to establish neolocal residence (p. 447). However, the custom of rulers among Abraham's people was for ruling first-born sons to stay with the fathers. These rulers inherited the territories of their fathers by maintaining 2 wives on a north-south axis.

The recurring theme of fraternal conflict involves Abraham and Lot, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his brothers. The archtypical example is between Cain and Abel, which results in bloodshed. The conflict between brothers (indeed between all classes of people) finds promise of resolution in Messiah, who is traced through David, the shepherd chosen to rule over Israel though he was Jesse's youngest son.

Kass often refers to numerological symbolism and one notes that the book has exactly 666 pages. I loved that he did this. He is sending a message that there is still much more to be said. Clearly, Kass does not claim this expansive volume to be exhaustive. It is however, influential. In his book The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, Yoram Hazony makes frequent reference to Kass book.