TWO VIEWS OF G-D IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Jews were divided into two kingdoms. To the north was Israel and to the south was Judea. Each had there own view of the Divine. The northern kingdom worshiped Elohim (Aramaic: “Alaha” – Unity) and the south worshiped YHVH/Adonai. These two views are present and distinguishable in the books that came to form the Jewish cannon; What Christians call the Old Testament.

Elohim was a more abstract G-d, one that was a part of the creation as well as creator. Adonai took on a more anthropomorphic guise as one standing apart from or over and above the cosmos. For the mystics, the kabbalists, this YHVH/Adonai became less anthropomorphic and more symbolic of the vast mysteries of creation. The Study of this mystery however was usually reserved for those over 40 years old and considering the lifespan of people of 2000 years ago, these secret teachings were seldom developed and did not filter down to the masses.

The statement in the Gospels about Jesus not yet being 50 years old and yet having the knowledge he did is likely a reference to the study of the kabbala. The “Father” (abba) of Jesus seems to be an anthropomorphic image of intimacy, yet is also contrasted with the objectified abstract view of Elohim as the Aramaic word Alaha (a derivation of Elohim) is used for G-d. In Jesus then is an attempt to reconcile these two views.

Historically it is the dominant view of Adonai – expressed for example as the image of an old man above the sky – which has caused the church to reject much of science as having any relevance to understanding the nature of the Divine. The rational nature of science and philosophy are likewise estranged of this religious literalism and have rejected any idea of personhood attributable to the cosmos nor even to mankind as we are simply a collection of natural substance and laws which need to be understood.

Both of these views are untenable to me and I take as my inspiration Jesus. The uni-verse is intensely personal, conscious, alive and a world of form. For example; the Jews considered that a soul without a “body” was unthinkable. In the resurrection body of Jesus we see that the “Life” he holds out to us is not as a disembodied spirit but a living form of some sort. This resurrection body need not be flesh. We can well think of this body as an energy form without the limitations of mass and its corruptibility. Likewise the idea of G-d as Alaha permits an understanding that Life indwells all form and that being so, one can even thing of the uni-verse as being the ‘body” of G-d. This may underlie the saying in the Gospel of Thomas to “cleave wood and I AM (is) there.”

So called liberal Christians who reject much of the literalness of the Bible may also find in this interpretation a way back to a deeper belief in the teachings of the Master. If all is energy and energy can neither be created nor destroyed and if Life as a personal intelligence indwells all things in a mysterious unity, then many things are reconcilable.

May we come to see a vision of a Jesus for all and scrap or religious and secular separatist views? I hope so.

Arjay