Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Always God extends His abundant goodness and grace, but Israel are provocative. God says, "That I may consume"160 (Ex. xxxii. 10; Targ.), but Moses His Man prays and says, " Turn from thy fierce wrath" (Ex. xxxii. 12; Targ.). By reason of his prayer God repents of all the affliction which threatened to take place. Praised be the Merciful One whose mercies are hidden from His servants, who guards them when they are repentant181 and for their sake preserves their children, that He may teach them of His grace, that they may walk in obedience to His will. Let us believe in Him and in Moses His prophet, and let us bow down before him and testify, saying, "There is only one God." (MacDonald p. 167)
And then Tertullian's statement of Marcionite interest in the same passage:
Also, God swears with an oath. Is this oath perhaps by Marcion's god? 'No,' your answer is, 'much more pointlessly, he swears by himself.' What else could he have thought of doing, when he was unaware of the existence of any other god, and in fact was then and there swearing that besides himself there is
no other god at all?" Do you then charge him with false or perhaps pointless swearing? But he cannot be supposed to have sworn falsely if, as you allege, he did not know there was another god: for his swearing of what he knew of was not in a true sense false swearing. Neither is his swearing that there is no other god a pointless swearing: only so would it have been pointless swearing if there had not been people who believed there were other gods—in that age worshippers of idols, in our days also heretics. So he swears by himself, so that you may believe God, at least on his own oath, that there is no other god at all. And it is you, Marcion, who have forced God to do this: for even so long ago God had foreknowledge of you. Consequently if in his promises, and in his threatenings besides, God uses an oath in dragging forth that faith which in its beginnings is hard to attain to, there is nothing unworthy of God in that which causes men to believe in God. On that other occasion also God made himself little even in the midst of his fierce anger, when in his wrath against
the people because of the consecration of the (golden) calf he demanded of his servant Moses, Let me alone, and I will wax hot in wrath and destroy them, and I will make thee into a great nation.b On this you are in the habit of insisting that Moses was a better person than his own God—deprecating, yes and even forbidding, his wrath: for he says, Thou shalt not do this: or else destroy me along with them.c Greatly to be pitied are you, as well as the Israelites,
for not realizing that in the person of Moses there is a prefiguring of Christ, who intercedes with the Father, and offers his own soul for the saving of the people. But for the present it is enough that the people were granted even to Moses in his own person. Also, so that the servant might be in a position to make this request of his Lord, the Lord made that request of himself. That is why he said to his servant, Let me alone and I will destroy them, so that the servant might forestall this by his prayer and his offering of himself, and so that you by this might learn how much is permitted to one who has faith, and is a prophet, in the presence of God. [Tertullian Adv Marc. 2:27]
I don't think these citations are necessary hostile to one another. In the Samaritan tradition Moses = Ishu and is a divine figure who represents God to the people (= "Let us believe in Him and in Moses His prophet, and let us bow down before him i.e. Moses and testify, saying, "There is only one God.") In the Marcionite tradition Moses is better than the god whom he gets to swear an oath. But think about it. The Marcionites would only have argued that Yahweh must have swore by a power higher than himself - i.e. that there was another god (= the Father, Elohim etc) above him.
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Other examples of Moses as Ishu:
The righteous one, who was from Isaac, He taught in the valley of the Yabbok when he stood with His man,176 and he touched the hollow of his thigh (Gen. xxxii. 25). (p. 79)

Blessed is our Lord who magnifies His beloved and cares for them in all their activity. It behoves us to walk in the ways of life and not depart from the True One, but to observe the command of Moses, His Man. (p. 149)
Look carefully at this fucking material. The first passage identifies Jacob as standing (and wrestling) with Ishu. This closes the book on the Jesus connection because Clement already identifies Jesus as this figure and the Pentateuch identifies the figure as 'a man' (ish).

I don't know why no one listens to me but (a) mythicists approach this 'myth' completely incorrectly and (b) mainstream Christianity developed away from the original truth a long time ago. Jesus (= Ishu) was the mysterious 'man' figure who appeared throughout the Pentateuch and was ultimately represented by Moses the 'Man of God.' This obviously argues for some sort of relationship between Samaritanism and earliest Christianity and explains why 'heresy' vis a vis Simon Magus was connected with Samaritanism.
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Here is the critical passage for Marqe and Marcion:
But Moses sought (וַיְחַ֣ל) the face/person (פְּנֵ֖י) of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why does your wrath become hot (יֶחֱרֶ֤ה) against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power (בְּכֹ֥חַ) and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with for evil (בְּרָעָ֤ה) that he brought them out, to kill them (לַהֲרֹ֤ג) in the mountains and to consume them (וּ֨לְכַלֹּתָ֔ם) off the face of the earth’? Turn (שׁ֚וּב) from your fierce anger; relent (וְהִנָּחֵ֥ם) of this evil (הָרָעָ֖ה) on your people. 13 Remember (זְכֹ֡ר) your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore (נִשְׁבַּ֣עְתָּ) and said unto them: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented (וַיִּנָּ֖חֶם) of the harm he thought to do to his people. 15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
It is interesting the way the English translations gloss over many of the difficulties of this passage. Instead of making it clear that Yahweh was about to destroy Israel and Moses changed his mind we read "and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened" (i.e. it was just a threat from the beginning).
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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So the oath that Moses appeals to is the one Elohim made with Abraham in Genesis 22:
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I have sworn in myself ( בִּ֥ינִשְׁבַּ֖עְתִּי), declares the Lord (יְהוָ֑ה), that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”


So there is an angel who swears on behalf of Yahweh or in place of Yahweh (?) or as Yahweh?

I wonder if this passage has been reworked. The understanding in Exodus 32 assumes I think that it was Yahweh who swore - i.e. that because of the oath made by Yahweh to Abraham, Moses says he can't destroy his people. How does Moses know that this oath even took place? Is he Ishu the angel who made the oath in the first place?

We read the material like it always existed and so we know what happened to Abraham and so we assume it was common knowledge. But the first time this text was introduced it must have been curious how Moses knew so much about what happened to the patriarchs. The only way would be if he was understood to be the angel who met with all the figures from Adam to Joseph (i.e. the contents of Genesis).
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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So to sum up:

1. the story of Genesis was understood to have an angelic figure named 'man' (ish) who visited the patriarchs at critical moments in their lives.
2. this 'man' belonged to another god beside Yahweh who is never seen in the Pentateuch.
3. this 'man' was understood to have visited Abraham and was a witness to Yahweh's oath to protect the children of Abraham
4. Jacob was transformed into this 'man' after wrestling with him; Clement takes this to be about Jesus
5. Moses knows about Abraham's covenant with Yahweh because he is the 'man'; this is why the most common epithet of Moses among the Samaritans is 'the man of God' (i.e. ishu 'his Man').
6. Presumably the Marcionites knew this tradition argued for the identification of Jesus as the 'man' and this is why the early Church Fathers assault against the Marcionites consistently focuses on the question of whether there is more than one god of Israel. As Clement notes (a) Jesus is the angel who wrestled with Jacob and (b) who visited Abraham.

The question now for me is what did the Marcionites (or any other tradition) understand the role of the 'man' as witness to Yahweh's swearing the oath. Yes they thought it proved there was a god higher than 'the Lord.' But I wonder whether Ephrem's many statements (Adv Haer 1, 2, 3) about the Marcionites understanding here should be connected - i.e. the 'man' forced Yahweh to swear the oath. This would explain the statement here that Moses was better than his god too (i.e. because he was the 'man').

In other words, the man overcame Yahweh in the manner in which Jacob overcame the man (wrestling etc).
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Philo on Moses and Exodus 32:11 - 17:
So Moses, being amazed, and being also constrained by this command, believes those incredible events, and springs down to be a mediator and reconciler; not however, in a moment, for first of all he addressed supplications and prayers on behalf of his nation to God, entreating God that he would pardon these their sins; then, this governor of and intercessor for his people, having appeased the Ruler of the universe, went down at the same time rejoicing and feeling sorrowful; he rejoiced indeed that God had admitted his supplication, but he was full of anxiety and depression, being greatly indignant at the lawless transgression of the multitude. [Vita Mos 2.166]
This idea of a heavenly and earthly Moses is very significant because presumably Jesus is the heavenly Moses:
Rightly, therefore, Jesus the son of Nave saw Moses, when taken up [to heaven], double, -- one Moses with the angels, and one on the mountains, honoured with burial in their ravines. And Jesus saw this spectacle below, being elevated by the Spirit, along also with Caleb. But both do not see similarly But the one descended with greater speed, as if the weight he carried was great; while the other, on descending after him, subsequently related the glory which he beheld, being able to perceive more than the other as having grown purer; the narrative, in my opinion, showing that knowledge is not the privilege of all. Since some look at the body of the Scriptures, the expressions and the names as to the body of Moses; while others see through to the thoughts and what it is signified by the names, seeking the Moses that is with the angels. [Clement Stromata 6 133 § 1 (p.499, l.14)]
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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It should be noted that the Samaritan text of Exodus cited above has an additional line:
And Shehmaa said to Mooshe, I have seen this people, and behold they are an obstinate people. 16 And therefore let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them. And I will make of you a great nation. And as for Aahrron, Shehmaa was very angry to destroy him. And Mooshe prayed for Aahrron. 11 And Mooshe entreated Shehmaa his Eloowwem and said, Shehmaa, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have have brought out from Missrem with great power and with a mighty arm.[Tsedaka trans. 205]
emboldened text not found in LXX or MT but it is present in the DSS http://books.google.com/books?id=BbabHj ... an&f=false
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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So when you start to ask yourself - what did Yahweh actually swear to? - or better yet, who was Moses trying to save? - the Jewish and Samaritan texts offer two distinct answers. The Jewish text makes it seem that Yahweh was going to kill all the people engaged in the idolatry of the Golden Calf:
Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.
But I find the "then I will make you into a great nation" a puzzle. If all of Israel were engaged in idolatry then who is Yahweh going to make into a great nation? This is why I think the Samaritan text seems to point to a solution. Moses is specifically trying to save his brother. It is Aaron whom God is going to destroy.
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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The Exodus text at Qurman Cave 4 written in Samaritan (Paleo Hebrew) script reads here:
[Moreover, the Lo]rd [was angry with Aaron,] enough to have destroyed him; so Moses interceded for A[aron].
Interestingly the Samaritan and Qumran texts are paralleled here by Deuteronomy 9:20:
Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8 At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. 9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. 10 The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

11 At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

13 And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! 14 Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

15 So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 16 When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

18 Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. 19 I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. 20 And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. 21 Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.
Deuteronomy was written after the rest of the Pentateuch had long been established. This clearly proves that the Samaritan and Qumran readings were original (you will never believe how many scholars speak about the Samaritans and the Qumran community 'adding' material from Deuteronomy!).
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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the leadership of the people. "Give me leave, step aside, let me strike down, slay and exterminate the people, and I will make of you a great nation."311 But Moses did not deny that this too would occur for the sake of his glory, that on behalf of his few people he prayed that they be allowed to live, but he did not expect a great leadership, for in this too 5 He led them into a trial to test them. And when God saw his truthfulness, He turned an eye to his prayers and requests and said, "7 will make of you a great nation."31* And [Moses] did not wish to renounce those who had renounced him, [when they said], "Who made you a prince and judge over us?" 319 Do you not wish to proclaim to others that He is 10 proclaiming you a great nation? Which [others]? The nations. And are they mightier than the people? Yes, for [God] said concerning Israel, "You are the least of all the nations." 320 And His word bore witness that that nation was better than that one which Moses was conducting. And if he spoke about that generation, were not their children there, for 15 Moses had not become the leader of their children. And why did [God] say, "I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than those."321 Except for this reason, that Moses was in grief over them, just like Samuel when he was grieving over Saul, [God] said to him, "Go, anoint David."322 20 When they saw the heavens being rent, the brightness of the lightning, and the prodigious thickness of the clouds,323 and when they saw that it was only there and not in every place, in order to cast fear and dread of Him upon them, [Moses] said, be courageous, stand firm, for the Lord God has come to you to test you, to cast upon your hearts * fear and 25 dread of Him."324 Although he had done this for them, they were nevertheless unable to stand and remain there for forty days.

[God] said to Moses, "Your people have transgressed."325 And then Moses saw that they had sinned and that Aaron had violated [the covenant], but if Aaron had caused them to sin, why did he not receive 30 punishment? Because Moses had set Aaron and Hur over the people,326 and he himself went off, the word of Aaron makes clear to us that they had indeed stoned Hur, when he said, "They were on the verge of stoning me."321 And Moses grieved over [Aaron] for he was afraid that 5 [Aaron] would be stoned like his companion. But [Moses] was not in total grief over [Aaron], for God did not set any punishment upon him, nor did Moses compose any reproof for him according to the degree of his transgressions. And that he composed a fault afterwards as if there were not transgressions after him, is so that there be no scandal around 10 him, and that they not think that with [some] sign he had given permission and by it he did this negligently. By that which he said, "They were on the verge of stoning me,"327 [Aaron] made clear that he had opposed and stood against them beyond his strength, for their hearts were hardened, and that if he had died and been removed from their presence then another leader and head would have been appointed them by Moses. But if they had stoned them both, who would have stood before them? They would have gone back from there at that very moment and hastened to enter into Egypt. They had grown more numerous than the Egyptians, and Pharaoh and his armies had been drowned. Whereas 20 they might have given thanks, their hearts had begun to be torn by their sins, and by the signs and wonders that were round about them were not ashamed and they were not afraid that Moses might come down quickly.

Now if they had not done the will of Aaron, they would have returned 25 from there to Egypt, for which reason Aaron controlled himself and and consented to them, lest the people be killed by God for their obstinancy, and lest he himself be stoned and grief come to Moses.
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