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

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

Post by stephan happy huller »

And now to continue my running conversation with myself, I wonder if the Marcionites or early Christians read the passage in the way pseudo-Ephrem is hinting here. In other words, Yahweh tells Moses 'the seed of Abraham suck. Tell you what, I am going to wipe them out and I will make a new nation from your seed (the way I did with Abraham).' The Christian race developed from 'spiritual adoption' from Jesus (= Ishu) is the fulfillment of that promise. This would imply if correct an early identification of Jesus as the heavenly Moses.
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Here is Kugel's discussion of the 'His Man' (= Man of God) tradition in Judaism.
A Godlike Man: Another factor encouraging Moses' Godlike depiction is the reference to him as a "man of God" in Deut. 33:1 and Ps. 90:1. What exactly this name means is still disputed (see Holstein, "The Case of 'is ha'elohim Reconsidered"), but it apparently suggested a sort of mediator (hence intermediate?) status to Philo:

When he [Moses] prays and blesses the people, he is a Man of God ... [since] to pray and bless is not for any chance person but for a man who has no eyes for his kinship to created being and has given himself to be the portion of Him who is ruler and father of all. — Philo, Change of Names 125-127

Note also that in Hebrew the genetive relationship of the two nouns is possible but not obligatory: the same phrase could be parsed as "Moses: a man, God." See Chapter 20, "Heavenly Moses." For more on Philo's reading, see Runia, "God and Men in Philo of Alexandria."

Another ancient writer held that Moses was a godlike man:

On account of these things then Moses was loved by the masses, and was deemed worthy of godlike honor by the priests and called Hermes, on account of the interpretation of the sacred letters. - Artapanus, Fragment 3 (in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 9.27.6)

Scholars disagree, however, as to whether this passage really belongs with the exegetical tradition in question. See Georgi, Die Gegner des Paulus im 2. Kornither-brief 147-151; Holladay, Theios Aner. The overall topic of Moses as a Godlike being is intertwined with a number of related issues to be discussed below, in particular Moses' ascent into heaven (Chapter 20, "Heavenly Moses"), as well as his presentation in early sources as a (divinely appointed) king of Israel. See the discussion by Meeks, "Moses as God and King."

The passage cited from Ezekiel the Tragedian, which recounts Moses' report of a vision wherein he is invited to sit on a heavenly throne and given a divine scepter, likewise suggests the tradition of Moses' divinity, though others have interpreted differently. See Jacobson, Exagoge, 89-97; van der Horst, "Moses' Throne Vision," which also discusses resemblances between the portrayal of Moses here and Enoch in 3 Enoch; Holladay, Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 2:439-440. (Note also van der Horst's critique of Jacobson in "Some Notes on the Exagoge of Ezekiel") Griinwald has suggested the connection of Ezekiel's Exagoge with the Jewish mystical tradition of the divine chariot, in Apocalyptic and Merkavah Beyond its direct connection with Moses' ascent into heaven at (or on) Mt. Sinai, Moses' Godlike nature is connected with another heavenly ascent, that implied by Deut. 34:1-3 (see Chapter 25, "Moses' Last Vision"). That ascent took place at the end of Moses' life.

In addition, however, at least one late text connects Moses' ascent to heaven with the theophany at the burning bush, a scenario roughly approximating that of Ezekiel the Tragedian: God said [to Moses] : You have humbled yourself by saying "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" [Exod. 3:11], therefore I will honor you, as it says "One who is humble in spirit will be honored" [Prov. 29:23] and I will give over all of the land of Egypt into your hands, and I will bring you up next to My glorious throne and I will and I will show you the angels of heaven. And God commanded Metatron, His angel of the Presence, and said to him: "Go bring Moses with harps and pipes and drums and dancing, with joy and song and celebration." And Metatron answered: "Master of the Universe! Moses cannot ascend and see the angels, for there are angels of fire and he is only flesh and blood. And God said: "Go and change his flesh into fire [too]" . . . And Metatron changed Moses' tongue into a tongue of fire, and his eyes he made like the wheels of the chariot . . . and in this way was Moses carried up to heaven. — The Greatness of Moses [Kugel The Bible as it was p. 560 - 1]

Now at last the reader can finally see why Ignatius was so named (= Seraph) and why Polycarp/Peregrinus wanted to die by fire so badly. There was always an angelic association with fire.
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Yes my interpretation seems to be confirmed by Philo's numerous references to Deut 33:1:
Lastly, those who are born of God are priests and prophets, who have not thought fit to mix themselves up in the constitutions of this world, and to become cosmopolites, but who having raised themselves above all the objects of the mere outward senses, have departed and fixed their views on that world which is perceptible only by the intellect, and have settled there, being inscribed in the state of incorruptible incorporeal ideas. (62) Accordingly, Abraham, as long as he was abiding in the land of the Chaldaeans, that is to say, in opinion, before he received his new name, and while he was still called Abram, was a man born of heaven, investigating the sublime nature of things on high, and all that took place in these regions, and the causes of them, and studying everything of that kind in the true spirit of philosophy; on which account he received an appellation corresponding to the pursuits to which he devoted himself: for the name Abram, being interpreted, signifies the sublime father, and is a name very fitting for the paternal mind, which in every direction contemplates sublime and heavenly things: for the mind is the father of our composite being, reaching as high as the sky and even farther. (63) But when he became improved, and was about to have his name changed, he then became a man born of God, according to the oracle which was delivered to him, "I am thy God, take care that thou art approved before me, and be thou Blameless."{15}{#ge 17:1.} (64) But if the God of the world, being the only God, is also by especial favour the peculiar God of this individual man, then of necessity the man must also be a man of God; for the name Abraham, being interpreted, signifies, "the elect father of sound," the reason of the good man: for he is chosen out of all, and purified, and the father of the voice by which we speak; and being such a character as this, he is assigned to the one only God, whose minister he becomes, and so makes the path of his whole life straight, using in real truth the royal road, the road of the only king who governs all things, turning aside and deviating neither to the left hand nor to the right. [Philo De gigantibus 61 - 64 (p.50 - 4, l.3 - P) BP8]

For there is in truth no created Lord, not even a king shall have extended his authority and spread it from one end of the world even to the other end, but only the uncreated God, the real governor, whose authority he who reverences and fears receives a most beneficial reward, namely, the admonitions of God, but utterly miserable destruction awaits the man who despises him; (23) therefore he is held forth as the Lord of the foolish, striking them with a terror which is appropriate to him as ruler. But he is the God of those who are improved; as we read now, "I am thy God, I am thy God, be thou increased and Multiplied."{15}{#ge 17:1, also 35:2.} And in the case of those who are perfect, he is both together, both Lord and God; as we read in the ten commandments, "I am the Lord thy God."{16}{#ex 20:2.} And in another passage it is written, "The Lord God of our Fathers."{17}{#de 4:1.} (24) For he thinks it right for the wicked man to be governed by a master as by a lord; that, being in a state of alarm and groaning, he may have the fear of a master suspended over him; but him who is advancing in improvement he thinks deserving to receive benefits as from God in order that by means of these benefits he may arrive at perfection; and him who is complete and perfect he thinks should be both governed as by the Lord, and benefited as by God; for the last man remains for ever unchangeable, and he is, by all means and in all respects, the man of God: (25) and this is especially shown to be the fact in the case of Moses; for, says the scripture, "This is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, Blessed."{18}{#de 33:1.} O the man that thus thought worthy of this all-beautiful and sacred recompense, to give himself as a requital for the divine Providence! (26) But do not thou think that he is in the same sense a man and the man of God; for he is said to be a man as being a possession of God, but the man of God as boasting in and being benefited by him. And if thou wishest to have God as the inheritance of thy mind, then do thou in the first place labour to become yourself an inheritance worthy of him, and thou wilt be such if thou avoidest all laws made by hands and voluntary. [Philo De mutatione nominum § 25 (p.42, l.27 - <) BP8]

And what is imperishable is superior to what is mortal, the efficient cause is better than that which is the object of action; and what is perfect is preferable to what is imperfect. (123) In this way the coinage of the above mentioned description was changed and received the stamp of a better kind of appearance. And Caleb himself was changed wholly and entirely; "For," as the scripture says, "a new spirit was in Him;"{42}{#nu 14:24.} as if the dominant part in him had been changed into complete perfection; for the name Caleb, being interpreted, means "the whole heart." (124) And a proof of this is to be gathered from the fact that the mind is changed, not by being biassed and inclining in one particular direction or the other, but wholly and entirely in the direction which is good; and that, even if there is any thing which is not very praiseworthy indeed, it makes that to depart by arguments conducive to repentance; for, having in this manner washed off all the defilements which polluted it, and having availed itself of the baths and purifications of wisdom, it must inevitably look brilliant. (125) But it happens to the arch-prophet to have many names: for when he interprets and explains the oracles which are delivered by God, he is called Moses; and when he prays for and blesses the people, he is called the man of God; {43}{#de 33:1.} and when Egypt is paying the penalty of its impious actions, he is then denominated the god of him who is the king of the country, namely, of Pharaoh.{44}{#ex 7:1.} And why is all this? (126) Because to alter a code of laws for the advantage of those who are to use them is the part of a man who is always handling divine things, and having them in his hands; and who is called a lawgiver by the allknowing God, and who has received from him a great gift--the interpretation of the sacred laws, and the spirit of prophecy in accordance with them. For the name Moses, being translated, signifies "gain," and it also means handling, for the reasons which I have already enumerated. (127) But to pray and to bless are not the duties of any ordinary man, but they belong to one who has not admitted any connection with created things, but who has devoted himself to God, the governor and the father of all men. (128) And any one must be content to whom it has been allowed to use the privilege of blessing. And to be able also to procure good for others belongs to a greater and more perfect soul, and is the profession of one who is really inspired by God, which he who has attained to may reasonably be called God. But also, this same person is God, inasmuch as he is wise, and as on this account he rules over every foolish person, even if such foolish person be established and strengthened by a haughty sceptre, and be ever so proud on this account[/b]; (129) for the Ruler of the universe, even though some persons are about to be punished for intolerable acts of wickedness, nevertheless is willing to admit some intercessors to mediate on their behalf, who, in imitation of the merciful power of the father, exercise their power of punishment with more moderation and humanity; but to do good is the peculiar attribute of God. [ibid § 125 (p.88, l.17) BP8]

And such an one before he practised was a pupil, having another to teach him; but when he became competent himself to guard what he had learnt, he then received the power and rank of a teacher, having appointed his brother, his own uttered discourse, to the ministration of teaching. For it is said that, "His brother shall Minister;"{25}{in quoting this passage above, I used the translation as given in the Bible, they "shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle;" but the Greek of the text was the same in that passage as it is here.} so that the mind of the good man is the guardian and steward of the doctrines of virtue. But his brother, that is to say, uttered discourse, shall minister instead of him, going through all the doctrines and speculations of wisdom to those who are desirous of instruction. (67) On which account Moses, also, in his praises of Levi, having previously said many admirable things, adds subsequently, "He has guarded thy oracles and kept thy Covenant."{26}{#de 33:9.} And presently he continues, "They shall show thy justification to Jacob, and thy law to Israel. (68) Therefore, he here clearly asserts that the good man is the guardian of the words and of the covenant of God. And, indeed, in another place he has shown that he is the best interpreter and declarer of his justifications and laws; the faculty of interpretation being displayed through its kindred organ--the voice, and guardianship being exerted through the mind, which having been made by nature as a great storehouse, easily contains the conceptions of all things, whether bodies or things. It would therefore have been worth the while of this self-loving Cain to have been the keeper of Abel; for if he had kept him he would have attained to a compounded and moderate kind of life, and would not have been filled with unmodified and absolute wickedness. [Philo Quod deterius potiori insidiari soleat § 67 (p.62, l.11 - >) BP8]

But the tent of Moses being symbolically considered, the virtue of man shall be thought worthy of appellation, not of real existence, being only an imitation, a copy made after the model of that divine tabernacle, and consistent with these facts is the circumstance that Moses when he is appointed to be the God of Pharaoh, was not so in reality, but was only conceived of as such in opinion, "for I know that it is God who gives and bestows favours, (161) but I am not able to perceive that he is given, and it is said in the sacred scriptures, "I give thee as a God to Pharaoh," and yet what is given is the patient, not the agent; but he that is truly living must be the agent, and beyond all question cannot be the patient. (162) What then is inferred from these facts? Why, that the wise man is called the God of the foolish man, but he is not God in reality, just as a base coin of the apparent value of four drachmas is not a four drachma piece. But when he is compared with the living God, then he will be found to be a man of God; but when he is compared with a foolish man, he is accounted a God to the imagination and in appearance, but he is not so in truth and essence. [ibid § 162 (p.116, l.22) BP8]

All these things, therefore, the priest, that is to say, conviction, pollutes, and orders that they should be taken away and stripped off, in order that he may see the abode of the soul pure, 35 and, if there are any diseases in it, that he may heal them. (136) And the woman who met the prophet, 36 in the book of Kings, resembles this fact: "And she is a widow;" not meaning by that, as we generally use the word, a woman when she is bereft of her husband, but that she is so, from being free from those passions which corrupt and destroy the soul, as Thamar is represented by Moses. (137) For she also being a widow, was commanded to sit down in the house of the father, the only Saviour; 37 on whose account, having forsaken for ever the company and society of men, she is at a distance from and widowhood of all human pleasures, and receives a divine seed; and being filled with the seeds of virtue, she conceives, and is in travail of virtuous actions. And when she has brought them forth, she carries off the prize against her adversaries, and is enrolled as victorious, bearing the palm as the emblem of her victory. For the name Thamar, being interpreted, means the palm-tree. (138) And every soul that is beginning to be widowed and devoid of evils, says to the prophet, "O, man of God! hast thou come to me to remind me of my iniquity and of my sin?"38 For he being inspired, and entering into the soul, and being filled with heavenly love, and being amazingly excited by the intolerable stimulus of heaveninflicted frenzy, works in the soul a recollection of its ancient iniquities and offences: not in order that it may commit such again, but that, greatly lamenting and bitterly bewailing its former error, it may hate its own offspring, and reject them with aversion, and may follow the admonitions of the word of God, the interpreter and prophet of his will. (139) For the men of old used to call the prophets sometimes men of God, and sometimes seers, 39 affixing appropriate and becoming names to their enthusiasm, and inspiration, and to the foreknowledge of affairs which they enjoyed. [Quod Deus sit immutabilis § 139 (p.130, l.23 - P) BP8]
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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We need to note that among the Samaritans Moses was God's Man, who ruled the world and made intercessions for men. 11 The title was derived from Deuteronomy 33:1 (Memar Marqah VI, 6). It invested Moses with power as lord of the world. It was, at the same time, a name involved with divine revelation to suffering humanity, since Moses belonged to the righteous ones. 12 It was his function to intercede with God for the faithful ones in the judgment. He did so during what Samaritans called it the standing. [Martin Henry Scharlemann, Stephen a Singular Saint p. 14]
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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The picture of Moses as it appears in Samaritan literature - usually exaggerated and stressed — is determined by what is related of Moses in the Pentateuchal texts. According to Tibat Marqe (Mcd IV 7 = B-H IV 48) Deut 10:1 implies that Moses was brought into the sanctuary of the Unseen and it emphatically stresses that no one else but Moses has been "standing" by God (Mcd IV 12 = B-H IV 102 cf. Deut 5:28). This ascension to Mt Sinai and the 'standing" by God come very close to the idea of an apotheosis when considering the words in the Tibat Marqe (Mcd IV 12 = B-H IV 102) which indicate that Moses "was exalted above the whole human race and progresses until he was joined with the angels". This has to be considered in connection with Deut 33:1 where Moses is called the "Man of God".

Moses' proximity to the heavenly world is expressed in other titles given to Moses: “Son of the House” and “friend of God” (McD 4.1 I BH 4.7 [235,117—18]). The same title is given to Moses by Amra°m Ddre (4th cent. C. E.; Cowley 32,17). A cosmic dimension of Moses is introduced by this epithet which culminates in a list of similar epithets enumerated in the liturgy (cf. Cowley, SL 726 1 19-20) including "Lord of the World". The sum of all these attributes marks a clear difference from rabbinic Judaism [Companion to Samaritan Studies p. 161]
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Curious 'his man' passage in Irenaeus:

Quapropter necessarius nobis est ros Dei ut non comburamur neque infructuosieffi ciamur, et ubi accusatorem habemus illic habeamus et Paraclitum, commendante domino Spiritui sancto suum hominem qui inciderat in latrones, cuimisertus est et ligavit vulnera eius, dans duo denaria regalia ut, per Spiritum‘imaginem et inscriptionem’ patris et filii accipientes, fructificemus creditumnobis denarium, multiplicatum domino adnumerantes. (AH 3.17:3)

Wherefore we have need of the dew of God, that we be not consumed by fire, nor be rendered unfruitful, and that where we have an accuser there we may have also an Advocate, the Lord commending to the Holy Spirit His own man, who had fallen among thieves, whom He Himself compassionated, and bound up his wounds, giving two royal denaria; so that we, receiving by the Spirit the image and superscription of the Father and the Son, might cause the denarium entrusted to us to be fruitful, counting out the increase [thereof] to the Lord.’
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. [1 Corinthians 7:1 - 2]

De quibus autem scripsistis mihi: Bonum est homini mulierem non tangere: propter fornicationem autem unusquisque suam uxorem habeat, et unaquæque suum virum habeat.
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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The doctrine of "the man Jesus" in Origen's Commentary on John in the intro. First in the address to his patron Ambrose the former Marcionite:

But what is the bearing of all this for us? So you will ask when you read these words, Ambrosius , you who are truly a man of God, a man in Christ, and who seekest to be not a man only, but a spiritual man. [1 Corinthians 2:14] The bearing is this. Those of the tribes offer to God, through the levites and priests, tithes and first fruits; not everything which they possess do they regard as tithe or first fruit. The levites and priests, on the other hand, have no possessions but tithes and first fruits; yet they also in turn offer tithes to God through the high-priests, and, I believe, first fruits too. The same is the case with those who approach Christian studies. Most of us devote most of our time to the things of this life, and dedicate to God only a few special acts , thus resembling those members of the tribes who had but few transactions with the priest, and discharged their religious duties with no great expense of time . But those who devote themselves to the divine word and have no other employment but the service of God may not unnaturally, allowing for the difference of occupation in the two cases, be called our levites and priests. And those who fulfil a more distinguished office than their kinsmen will perhaps be high-priests, according to the order of Aaron, not that of Melchisedek . Here some one may object that it is somewhat too bold to apply the name of high-priests to men, when Jesus Himself is spoken of in many a prophetic passage as the one great priest, as Hebrews 4:14 "We have a great high-priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus , the Son of God." But to this we reply that the Apostle clearly defined his meaning, and declared the prophet to have said about the Christ, "You are a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedek ," and not according to the order of Aaron. We say accordingly that men can be high-priests according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchisedek only the Christ of God. [Comm John 3]

and again:

Indeed even one of the Corinthians to whom Paul declared that he knew nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, should he learn Him who for our sakes became man, and so receive Him, he would become identified with the beginning of the good things we have spoken of; by the man Jesus he would be made a man of God, and by His death he would die to sin. [ibid 11]

and again:

Paul and Peter were, at an earlier period, Jews outwardly and circumcised, but later they received from Christ that they should be so in secret, too; so that outwardly they were Jews for the sake of the salvation of many, and by an economy they not only confessed in words that they were Jews, but showed it by their actions . And the same is to be said about their Christianity. As Paul could not benefit those who were Jews according to the flesh, without, when reason shows it to be necessary , circumcising Timothy , and when it appears the natural course getting himself shaved and making a vow , and, in a word, being to the Jews a Jew that he might gain the Jews— so also it is not possible for one who is responsible for the good of many to operate as he should by means of that Christianity only which is in secret. That will never enable him to improve those who are following the external Christianity, or to lead them on to better and higher things. We must, therefore, be Christians both somatically and spiritually, and where there is a call for the somatic (bodily) Gospel, in which a man says to those who are carnal that he knows nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, so we must do. But should we find those who are perfected in the spirit , and bear fruit in it, and are enamoured of the heavenly wisdom, these must be made to partake of that Word which, after it was made flesh, rose again to what it was in the beginning, with God. [ibid 13]
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

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Jesus as 'the Man' referenced in the early Jewish writings. Justin Dialogue:
"And the same sentiment was expressed, my friends, by the word of God[written] by Moses, when it indicated to us, with regard to Him whom it has pointed out, that God speaks in the creation of man (τῆς ποιήσεως τοῦ ἀνθρώπου) with the very same design, in the following words:'Let Us make man after our image and likeness (Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν). And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creeping things that creep on the earth.

And God created man: after the image of God did He create him (καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν); male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and said, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have power over it. And that you may not change the words just quoted, and repeat what your teachers assert,--either that God said to Himself,'Let Us make,'just as we, when about to do something, oftentimes say to ourselves,'Let us make;'or that God spoke to the elements, to wit, the earth and other similar substances of which we believe man was formed,'Let Us make,' (ἐξ ὧν νοοῦμεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον γεγονέναι, θεὸν εἰρηκέναι Ποιήσωμεν)

I shall quote again the words narrated by Moses himself, from which we can indisputably learn that conversed with some one who was numerically distinct from Himself, and also a rational Being. These are the words:'And God said, Behold, Adam has become as one of us, to know good and evil.' In saying, therefore,'as one of us,'[Moses] has declared that[there is a certain] number of persons associated with one another, and that they are at least two.

For I would not say that the dogma of that heresy which is said to be among you is true, or that the teachers of it can prove that[God] spoke to angels, or that the human frame was the workmanship of angels (ἀγγέλων ποίημα ἦν τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἀνθρώπειον). But this Offspring, which was truly brought forth from the Father, was with the Father before all the creatures, and the Father communed with Him (ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τὸ τῷ ὄντι ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς προβληθὲν γέννημα πρὸ πάντων τῶν ποιημάτων συνῆν τῷ πατρί, καὶ τούτῳ ὁ πατὴρ προσομιλεῖ); even as the Scripture by Solomon has made clear, that He whom Solomon calls Wisdom, was begotten as a Beginning before all His creatures and as Offspring by God, who has also declared this same thing in the revelation made by Joshua the son of Nave (καὶ δι' ἀποκαλύψεως τῆς γεγενημένης Ἰησοῦ τῷ τοῦ Ναυῆ τοῦτο αὐτὸ εἰπόντος). Listen, therefore, to the following from the book of Joshua, that what I say may become manifest to you; it is this: 'And it came to pass, when Joshua was near Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and sees a man (ἄνθρωπον) standing over against him. And Joshua approached to Him, and said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He said to him, I am Captain of the Lord's host: now have I come (Ἐγὼ ἀρχιστράτηγος δυνάμεως κυρίου, νῦν παραγέγονα). And Joshua fell on his face on the ground, and said to Him, Lord, what commandest Thou Thy servant? And the Lord's Captain says to Joshua, Loose the shoes off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And Jericho was shut up and fortified, and no one went out of it. And the Lord said to Joshua, Behold, I give into thine hand Jericho, and its king,[and] its mighty men.'" [Dialogue 62]
It should come to no one's surprise that the 'man' in the Hebrew text is אִישׁ. Clearly the man is identified as 'of God' = ishu
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Re: Moses as 'His Man' (Ishu = אישו) in Marcion and Marqe

Post by outhouse »

Your busy taking text that has been compiled over hundreds and hundreds of years and so fragmented from polytheism to monotheism.

Reason and logic and not going to apply no matter how hard or detailed one breaks this down.


You add the multi cultural nature of these early text and it adds even more confusion for the religious to pervert beyond context and meaning.


Good luck, its beyond mental masturbation.
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