The Holy One Hidden and Revealed

Alice C. Linsley

Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215) believed that the writers of scripture practiced a "prophetic and venerable system of concealment." He explained: "For many reasons the scriptures conceal their meaning; primarily, with the aim of making us diligent and unresting in our study of the words of salvation and, secondly, because it is not in the province of all men to examine their meaning, lest they should receive hurt through a mistaken interpretation.” (Clement of Alexandria by R.B. Tollinton. 1914. Volume II, p. 302.)

I can relate to Clement's belief that concealment of meaning actually encourages truth-seekers to dig deeper. That's one explanation for why this writer should spent 32 years trying to unravel the mysteries of Genesis. But what about this idea that some people who might be "hurt through mistaken interpretation" are, in a sense, protected by the concealment of meaning?

And what is the nature of this "prophetic and venerable system of concealment" of meaning in the Scriptures? The rabbis believed that sacred mysteries were concealed by mystical symbols. I think of Rabbi Kaduri's pronouncements that Messiah had been revealed and His name is Yehoshua or Yeshua (Jesus).

Mark's Gospel seems to veil the Christ more than the other Evangelists. It is Mark's Gospel that tells us that Jesus' true identify was known in Tyre, not in Jerusalem.

The king of Tyre was allied by kinship with David and sent skilled artisans to help David build a palace in Jerusalem. Hiram is also known as "Huram" and "Horam," which are versions of the names Hur and Hor and related to the name Harun (Aaron), as in Jabal Harun, the Mountain of Aaron in Jordan. The area of Jabal Harun was extensively occupied and quarried in the Paleolithic Period.

According to Midrashic tradition, Hur was Moses’ brother-in-law, the husband of Miriam. Hur’s grandson was one of the builders of the Tabernacle. I Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur as the "father of Bethlehem," that is the patriarch of the place known as the "city of David." Bethlehem was in the heartland of Horite territory.

In other words, the king of Tyre and David were related. Their common ancestors were Horites, and as the Genesis genealogies indicate, the Horite Hebrew lineage can be traced back to Eden. The Horites believed that the Son of God would be born of their ruler-priest caste. They expected Him to come to visit them. This was fulfilled when Jesus, the Son of God, visited Tyre (Matt. 15:21-28; Mark 7: 24). Here the Markan mystery is revealed, for we are told that in Tyre Jesus "could not pass unrecognized."

The early Hebrew believed that the Son of God would be born of a woman of their ruler-priest caste, that he would be conceived by divine overshadowing, that he would die and rise on the third day, and that He would be God incarnate. They referred to the son as HR, which in ancient Egyptian means "Hidden One."


Related reading:  Why Jesus Visited Tyre; Who Were the Horite Hebrew?; Horite Territory; The Christ in Nilotic Mythology; The Motif of Hidden Sons; Sons and The Son