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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Divine Embodiment - Peter Kirk

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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Divine Embodiment - Peter Kirk
  • Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 09:42:21 -0500

Dear Kevin,

== Who says it was a giant chair?

The Bible.

== Well, YHWH was certainly metaphorically enthroned, although in English "enthroned" does not mean that the monarch is literally sitting on the throne at that time, and a suitable symbol for that was a throne. Anyway, the "mercy seat" was not all that giant, so your hypothesis suffers from uncertainties of scale.

Scholars have noted that, “Isaiah 6:1 renders Yahweh after the fashion of an enthroned human king,” and according to 1 Kings 6:23-28, “the throne built for Yahweh in the Temple’s ‘Holy of Holies’ or ‘backroom’ was 10 cubits high and 10 cubits wide (5.3 square meters). Only a deity superhuman in scale could take a seat in such a throne.” (Smith, OBM, 85)

HH: Have you checked 1 Kings 6:23-28? There is no description of a throne 10 cubits by 10 cubits. The 10 cubits describes an image of a cherub and its wing span.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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