Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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billd89
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Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

Post by billd89 »

I wondered about this, when I first carefully noted the Therapeutae (who I suppose 'Sethians') worshipped 'Being', a word that gets awfully philosophical & quick! ("On" is impossible to search here, obviously.)

Who is this god, exactly? (I am vaguely familiar with the "I AM" speculations of theosophists.) Is this explanation correct? From Scriptural Research Institute, Dodeka: Book of the Prophets [2021], p.101:
The Septuagint continues the usage of the name On, introduced in Exodus, implying this was the name of a Hebrew or Canaanite god. The Semitic god with the most phonetically similar name is An (Anu), the Mesopotamian (Akkadian, the Mesopotamian (Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian) Sky-father deity. An is not documented in Canaan unless he was the god of On/Aven. The name On/Aven is believed to be the name of a Canaanite god, like most of the other places named after the ancient temples, such as Beth-Horon and Beth-Shemesh, however, the god On/Aven is currently unknown from the archaeological record, so the association of An and On/Aven cannot be confirmed.

I've actually mentioned it before, but (honestly) I'd never wondered about the Origin of this God-Name or God-Concept. I presumed it was an Alexandrian/Egyptian philosophical abstraction -- Not a God's Name. Is 'Horon' the 'Son of On'??? Who is the Wife of 'On'?
billd89 wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 5:00 pm Recall that Plutarch studied under Ammonius (c.66 AD), who had learned Alexandrian philosophy from yet older Neopythagorean teachers in Philo's day c.25 AD, (Link):
Ammonius taught that God is transcendent, above Time or Motion, but always Being. He is not composite but pure and indestructible. This Being (τὸ ὄν) is also One (τὸ ἕν).77 The identification of God as τὸ ἕν, amongst other things, positions Ammonius within the Neopythagorean tradition.78

On Philo's Jewish interpretation of 'The Being', see esp. De Vita Comtemplativa 2; cf. De Praemiis et Poenis 40, Quaestiones in Exodum 2.68; also τὸ ὄν and the ὁ ὤν (he who is [Exod 3:14]) with the τὸ ὄν of Platonism; e.g., Leg. 1.99; Det. 160 [cf. Exod 3:14]; Post. 21, 175; Deus. 11, 52, 55, 69, 108, 109; Plant. 21, 22; Ebr. 107, 108; Conf. 95; Migr. 169; Her. 95, 229; Mut. 11, 27; Mos. 2.161; Spec. 1.270, 313, 344,345; Virt. 34, 215; Praem. 27, 56; Prob. 43; QG 1.100; QE 2.47.
billd89 wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 7:48 pmAs stated here unequivocally, 'Being' is the 'God' that the Pythagorean Therapeutae worship. However, we need to remember that elsewhere Philo indicates other formulations, definite examples of 3-fold or 4-fold iterations of 'God'. This is illustrative of the Philonic context, a caution against gross oversimplification or blatant misunderstanding.

DVC 2: ἐπαιδεύθησαν θεραπεύειν #1: τὸ ὄν, ὃ καὶ #3: ἀγαθοῦ κρεῖττόν ἐστι καὶ #4 ἑνὸς εἰλικρινέστερον καὶ #2 μονάδος ἀρχεγονώτερον.

DVC 2: they are raised to worship 'Being' {#1: Προαρχή, Μονότης = Foresource, Monotes}, superior to 'The Good' {#3 Noetic Paradigm} and purer than 'The Unity' {#4 Ἑνότης The Henad: The All}, and primordial to 'The Monad' {#2 All-Source, One God}

The Four-fold Hypostases of 'God':
1. Primordial Being: Unknown/Unbegotten Absolute Being
2. Monad (Logos): First Son, Creator, Author
3. Divine Reality: Noetic Paradigm of Creation
4. Henad: Cosmic Reality (Creation: 'Heaven and Earth')
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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In classical Greek, ειμι can be used as a substantive verb. LSJ. of persons, exist, “οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἀνήρ, οὐδ᾽ ἔσσεται” Od.16.437. In fact in Homer, the substantive ειμι is usually in the future tense, i.e. ἔσσεται, ἔσσομαι and in Biblical Hebrew אהיה means "I will be".
cf. Genesis 31:3 אהיה עמך "I will be with thee" Gk. ἔσομαι μετὰ σοῦ.

There is no "Be" verbs in the present tense in Biblical Hebrew, so where you find "I am" in Old Testament, the Hebrew is just the pronoun אני "I".
cf. Genesis 35:11 ויאמר לו אלהים אני אל שדי "God said to him, i (am) Zeus".
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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Is this quoted statement correct in its assumptions?
The Septuagint continues the usage of the name On ...implying this was the name of a Hebrew or Canaanite god. ... The name On is believed to be the name of a Canaanite god ... however, the god On/Aven is currently unknown from the archaeological record, so the association of An and On/Aven cannot be confirmed.

Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)? Who is this god, exactly?

And is 'Horon' the 'Son of On' (associated with Horus!!! Hor-On)??? Who is the Wife of 'On'?
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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ὄν is the present participle of the verb εἰμί
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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You probably confusing ὄν with און i.e. Genesis 41:50 כהן און "Priest of On" which is διάκονος Ζανός "Priest of Zeus" cf. Διόσπολις (αρχαία πόλη της Αιγύπτου)
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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Horon is written as a dual, Horonaim (חרנים) and Jeremiah 48:34 associates it with Zoar (צער) which means ἀγορά which suggests Horonaim (חרנים) means ἀγοραῖν "of two assemblies" i.e a city ruled by two assemblies, probably a people's assembly and a council of chiefs.
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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** Why Bother **
Last edited by billd89 on Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

Post by Ethan »

Also the verb ὂν is neuter thus doesn't specify a gender, but in LXX Exodus 3:14 it is ὢν (masculine).
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

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Now, back to this ...
billd89 wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:19 pm Is this quoted statement correct in its assumptions?
The Septuagint continues the usage of the name On ...implying this was the name of a Hebrew or Canaanite god. ... The name On is believed to be the name of a Canaanite god ... however, the god On/Aven is currently unknown from the archaeological record, so the association of An and On/Aven cannot be confirmed.

Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)? Who is this god, exactly?

And is 'Horon' the 'Son of On' (associated with Horus!!! Hor-On)??? Who is the Wife of 'On'?
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billd89
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Re: Who or What is the God 'On' (Ων, ὄν)?

Post by billd89 »

According to one myth about Simon Magus, Dositheus (supposed successor to John the Baptist and contemporary and competing Samaritan c.50 AD) queries Simon: "If you are 'The Standing One' I also will worship you." If Simon claimed to be God, or a god, which deity is it precisely? I was curiously about that both visually or metaphorically: where does 'The Standing One' come from, what does this mean?

Clementine Homilies 2.22: ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ χριστὸν ἑαυτὸν αἰνισσόμενος, ἑστῶτα προσαγορεύει is translated by Thomas Smith, in From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8 (1886) as: “And sometimes intimating that he is Christ, he styles himself The Standing One.”
ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ χριστὸν ἑαυτὸν αἰνισσόμενος, = Sometimes, and of Christ riddling himself
ἑστῶτα προσαγορεύει = called himself The One Who Has Stood.

2.24: τοῦ μὴ αὐτὸν εἶναι νομίζειν τὸν ἑστῶτα = they who did not think he was The One Who Has Stood
Εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ ἑστώς, καὶ προσκυνῶ σε = If you are 'The One Who Has Stood', I will also prostrate before you.
Ἐγώ εἰμι, ὁ Δοσίθεος ἑαυτὸν γνοὺς οὐκ ὄντα τὸν ἑστῶτα = Dositheus, the ego himself knowing he was not 'The One Who Has Stood'.

This god is unclear to me. Christ was called 'The Standing One', or is this merely saying 'Christ is Divine Stability'? And why should Dositheus be greatly afeared of this Name? I'm still baffled.

On ἑστῶτα, ἑστώς, etc. perhaps we have some related Philonic evidence (ergo: Alexandrian theology, again) for clarification?
Philo makes the same point, saying that God moves everything, though He is “the one who always stands,” ὁ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἑστώς (Mut. 54).50 The paradox of divine immovability, Philo says, is that “whereas the heavenly bodies as they go past moving objects (τὰ κινούμενα) are themselves in motion (κινούμενοι), God who outstrips them all is motionless (ἑστώς)” (Post. 19; trans. F.H. Colson and G.H. Whitaker).

“The standing one,” ἑστώς, is one of Philo's favorite epithets of God that refers to the divine stability (see, e.g., Somn. 1.246; 2.221; Mut. 57). It is this stability that is implied whenever the Pentateuch speaks of God “taking His stand.” For instance, εἱστήκει in Exod 24:10 is Moses’ testimony to God’s immutability, τὸ μὴ τρέπεσθαι τὸ θεῖον, “for by the standing (στάσις) or establishment (ἵδρυσις) he indicates His immutability (τὸ μὴ μεταβάλλειν)” (Somn. 2.222; trans. F.H. Colson and G.H. Whitaker).

In CH 2 "The Acelpius", the Godhead is described (among other traits) as αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἑστώς
Mead [1906], p.65: "self stayed in self".
Copenhaver [1992] cited in DeConick [1996] p.94: "at rest in itself."

Yet another (or more precise) translation would see ἑστώς as “Eternal/Immutable Being” (aka: τὸ ὄν or τὸ ἕν), after the Neo-Pythagorean tradition. Neo-Platonist Numenius of Apamea (c.125 AD) referred to the Primordial God as the Standing One (ἑστώς) (Eusebius, Praep. ev. 11.18.20–2). The First Principle is immovable, see Miroshnikov [2018], p.147: “for both Philo and Numenius immovability is intimately related to tranquility and peace. [...] Thus, 'standing' is a distinctive feature of that which is; it is 'standing' that distinguishes the noetic realm, which is, from matter, which is not.” We must understand the term metaphysically, and this (aspect of) god is Absolute Serenity, Pure Tranquility.

In a simpler formulation, perhaps erroneous, ‘the appearance of God’ (i.e. Simon) is a Thrice Great manifestation of 1) Supreme God, 2) His Great Power, in 3) His Appointed One. Another alternative, in Hermetic terms, ἑστώς is Supreme Nous/Sovereign Mind, where ἑστώς might also define as "placed in the balance" which evokes Thoth weighing the heart. In this way, perhaps, multiple meanings of ἑστώς could explain how and why different innovators seized upon this abstracted term for their nuanced interpretations. But that also presupposes a general convention, by at least 50 BC, of a certain class/group of Greek-speakers across the Mediterranean using this noetic term and grasping its meaning instantly.
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