Friday, July 19, 2024

Edward L. Greenstein: The Bible's Portrayal of God as Physical, not merely "an idea or spirit"

  

KEEPING THE ENVIRONMENT PURE

 

The Torah’s religion focuses on nourishing the divine presence, providing an environment worthy of God. In order to establish and maintain a holy environment the Israelites had to do two general, yet multifaceted tasks: keep the atmosphere free of impurity and keep the laws of God.

 

Holy shall you be for holy am I, the Lord your God.

--LEV. 19.2

 

For the Torah God is more than an idea or spirit; God is a physical, though largely invisible presence. In the Garden of Eden, God’s afternoon stroll startled the main and woman by its rustling (Gen. 3.8). In Genesis 18, God and two of his messengers, or angels, visited Abraham in human guise. God’s locus could be seen in the wilderness and in the mishkan by the glowing aura or cloud that enveloped it. When the Israelites freshly completed and consecrated the mishkan, this is how the Torah describes the scene:

 

The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the aura of the Lord filled the mishkan. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting for there resided [shakan] upon it the cloud, and the aura of the Lord filled the mishkan. Upon the rising of the cloud off the mishkan, the Israelites journey, in all their journeys. But if the cloud does not rise, the Israelites do not journey, until the day of its rising. For the cloud of the Lord is upon the mishkan by day, and fire is by night upon it, before the eyes of all the House of Israel, in all their journeys.

--EXOD. 40.34-38

 

God’s substance is pure, but his purity is sensitive to invisible pollutants in the environment. God will always withdraw, as in an allergic reaction, when too many pollutants are drawn too near. Animals brought into the mishkan and the people who enter it must be examined for purity by the priests. Some animals are flawed or tainted—impure—by nature, and human beings can become tainted, requiring rites of purification. The concern for purity surrounding God dominates chapters 11-15 of Leviticus, which delineate the various sources of ritual pollution and their antidotes through acts of purification. (Edward L. Greenstein, “Biblical Law,” in Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, ed. Barry W. Holtz [New York: Summit Books, 1994], 90, emphasis in bold added)

 

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