Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il>]

Ben,

Now that you've referred to the Garden of Eden Narrative, let me throw in a few more anthropomorphism. Remember that Adam, in eating from the Tree of Knowledge, became wise (omniscient?); had he eaten also from the Tree of Life, he would also have become immortal, thus erasing all differences between him and God, in the Weltanschauung of that particular author. For that reason God fired him from his job as gardener and kicked him out of his Garden where He enjoyed strolling and taking the afternoon breeze (and couldn't see Adam and Eve because they were hiding).

Sincerely,

--------------
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office
44905 Israel

 

"sha'alu shelom yerushalayim yishlayu kol 'ohavayikh"
.

----- Original Message -----

From: Ben and Jo Crick

To: Biblical Hebrew

Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 12:46 AM

Subject: Re: npsh

On Tue 27 Aug 2002 (10:50:49 +0200), yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il wrote:
> The Tanakh is replete with anthropomorphisms. Witness the discussion on
> this list of God's anger and his "burning nose". God has human emotions:
> love, hate, anger, goodwill, satisfaction. Leaving aside for a moment all
> the ANE parallels and possible polytheistic backgrounds, how else can one
> describe God as a Divine being except in human - or animal (in practice God
> is described as bovine) - terms? What other possibilities do we have ?

 God created man in His image; not we Him in ours. Even so, anthropomorphic
 language is entirely appropriate, provided we don't claim divine attributes
 of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence! "Dust thou art, and to dust
 shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).

 Just a thought...
 Ben
--
 Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm




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