ST627 Lesson 14
Update: 2016-08-26
1
Description
Consider that the second power was identified with Yahweh but also distinguished. A Pseudepigrapha is a text that a writer would not claim authorship on but attribute its authorship to a noteworthy or famous figure. Consider Jacob as Fragment A of the Prayer of Joseph is significant for its deification of Jacob in the form of the angel Israel: "I, Jacob, who is speaking to you, am also Israel, an angel of God and a ruling spirit. . .I am he whom God called Israel, which means 'a man seeing God,' because I am the firstborn of every living thing to whom God gives life" (lines 1,3). "I, Israel, the archangel of the Power of the Lord and the chief captain among the sons of God. Am I not Israel, the first minister before the presence (lit., face) of God." Consider Adam as 2 Enoch 30:11-12 explicitly identifies Adam as one of God's chief angels over creation. Adam is also elevated higher than a principal angel in the Life of Adam and Eve (14:2) where Michael commands Satan to worship Adam, "the image of God." In the Testament of Abraham 11:4, Abraham is shown a man "seated on a golden throne" who has a "terrifying" appearance "like the Master's." Consider 1 Enoch 71:1 and 2 Enoch 22:4. We read about Moses in Ezekiel the Tragedian (68-80). Explore important angels. Michael was also considered by some Jewish writers to be Yahweh's co-regent in heaven and on earth due to his status as the chief intercessor for Israel (Daniel 12:1-3), a position that placed him nearest to God in Jewish belief. Explore the Testament of Dan 6:1-2. Consider the term Ya'el (Yahoel) and the Apocalypse of Abraham 17:4-13 as Abraham is commanded to worship God. The same deified figure appears in the Life of Adam and Eve 29:4-5. Ya'el (Yahoel) here equals an angel. Consider the Apocalypse of Abraham 10:1-7, 15-17. Consider what Philo says of the Logos, "[God] sustained the universe to rest firm and sure upon the mighty Logos who is my viceroy.” The Logos is "that power of his [God] by which he made and ordered all things." Not only is God between the two primary Powers, but so is the Logos: Cherubim 27-28. Consider that Philo refers to the Logos as: "God" (theos); Sam I (On Dreams) and "the second god" (deteron theon); Questions on Genesis 2. Around 100 AD, the Jewish community declared the second power a heresy. They also decided to standardize the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The Jewish community basically outlawed the use of the Septuagint.
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