Re: Jacob: Was Evolution & Identity of the ID designer

From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Sat Dec 07 2002 - 10:33:56 EST

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    In a message dated 12/6/02 10:59:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,=20
    rjschn39@bellsouth.net writes:

    > The interpretation by Augustine is an allegorical one, and in my view it h=
    as=20
    > the same value as the interpretation of the rabbis in Midrash Genesis =3D
    > Rabbah; they suggested that God favored Jacob because he was a "dweller in=
    =20
    > tents," meaning, they said, that instead of running around and =3D
    > getting into trouble like Esau, he spent his time in Torah school! When=20
    > you interpret a text allegorically, you can make it mean anything you =3D
    > want.
    >=20
    >=20

    I find an interesting rhetorical device in these arguments. when I quote=20
    augustine I am told he didn't read the original hebrew, so his allegorical=20
    interpretation is suspect. Here above, I am told that the interpetation of=20
    the rabbis has the same value as augustine's. I am certain the rabbis read=20
    hebrew but here the rabbis' interpretation is suspect because they say=20
    (allegorically) Jacob was a "dweller in tents."=20
    You suggest when interpreting a text allegorically, one can create ANY=20
    allegory one wants, but is that what the authors of genesis did, create ANY=20
    allegory or did they create an allegory which has its own laws, its own=20
    science and runs as a thread through genesis?

    I suggest the allegories in genesis always conform to a Darwinian perspectiv=
    e=20
    because that is the secret knowledge hidden in the Bible. In Adolphe Frank's=
    =20
    The Kabbalah we find," The story of genesis (The creation) is not to be=20
    explained to two men, the story of the Merkaba (the heavenly chariot) not=20
    even to one, unless he be wise and can deduce the wisdom of his own accord."=
    =20
    And then we find, "If we are to believe Maimonides, the first half of the=20
    Kabbalah entitled "The story of Genesis" taught the "science of nature."=20
    from The Kabbalah, The Religious Philosphy of fthe Hebrews, Adolphe Frank,=20
    Bell, NY, translated from the French
      =20

    God always favors shepherds over landed agriculturalists (as in Cain and=20
    Abel) and there is an allegorical (and scientific) reason for that which I=20
    will not entertain right now but I would like to point out that you have=20
    unwittingly supported my allegorical interpretation by quoting Hebraists as=20=
    I=20
    have in quoting Adolphe Frank, also a Hebraist.

    Up until now, we have been speaking of an allegory underlying the story of=20
    Jacob and Esau and Jacob and Laban's flocks and continuing with Jacob's sons=
    =20
    all the way to Joseph's emergence as ruler over his elder brothers. We see=20
    that allegory in augustine's remark. The rule underlying the allegory is tha=
    t=20
    cunning or intelligence is favored by God but the allegorical thread begins=20
    earlier in genesis. The source of the allegory is the fall of adam and eve:

    from Natural Selection and the Nature of God

    richard faussette all rights reserved 2002

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