Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Edgar Foster <questioning1 AT yahoo.com>]

Dear Jonathan,

I personally have no problem with the passages you cite as proof that
Yahweh revealed Himself in the Tanakh. The problems Pannenberg
delineates, however, are as follows:

(1) The Greek terms in the Bible translated "to reveal" do not have
God as their unqualified object.

(2) God always reveals "something" or "someone," never precisely
"himself" in the Bible.

(3) Any appearances mentioned in the Hebrew Bible are epiphanies, not
revelations per se.

I guess the issue that piques my curiosity is whether Gen. 35:7 makes
God the unqualified object of the revelation in question. Is there
really a difference between saying: "God appeared to Jacob" and "God
revealed Himself to Jacob"?

Sincerely,

Edgar Foster
Classics Major
Lenoir-Rhyne College
Hickory, NC




---"Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il> wrote:
>
> Edgar Foster wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > Recently I was reading _Revelation As History_ edited by Wolfhart
> > Pannenberg and I came across an interesting statement. This book
> > postulates the notion that Yahweh never revealed Himself in the
Hebrew
> > Scriptures. The writers claim that God may have revealed things
about
> > Himself, but there is no authentic self-disclosure in the OT. While
> > researching this subject, I came upon Gen. 35:7. This passage
tells us
> > that Elohim "appeared" (GALAH) to Jacob at Bethel. Could this verse
> > possibly be read as an example of God's self-disclosure? Did God
> > "reveal" Himself in this account, or simply "appear" to Jacob.
> >
> 
> The claim that YHWH never revealed himself in the Tanakh is odd,
especially in view of
> such passages as Deut. 34: 19, which states, about Moses, that "YHWH
knew him face to
> face", or Is. 6:1, in which Isaiah "saw YHWH sitting upon a high and
exalted throne".
> Sincerely,
> Jonathan D. Safren
> Dept. of Biblical Studies
> Beit Berl College
> 44905 Beit Berl Post Office
> Israel
> 

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