From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Wed Jun 25 2003 - 20:08:36 EDT
RFaussette@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 6/25/03 9:39:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time, gmurphy@raex.com
> writes:
>
> > But Halevi also shows one of the pitfalls of the 2 books metaphor, the idea
> > that
> > the "book of nature" is to be read _before_ the "book of scripture." He
> > made use of the
> > tradition that Abraham engaged in astronomical studies, and that only after
> > this
> > received the call described in Genesis 12. But there is absolutely no
> > biblical support
> > for this notion.
>
> I found the following in Barnavi's Historical Atlas of the Jewish People:
>
> 1800 BC to 1700 BC - Presumably when Abraham lived. Post Biblical Jewish
> literature ascribes the Patriarch's conversion to an intuition which preceded the
> revelation. "When he was three years old Abraham came out of the cave. He
> reflected: who created heaven and earth and myself? And all through the day he
> prayed to the sun. But in the evening the sun set in the west and the moon rose
> in the east. when he saw the moon surrounded by stars, he said to himself,
> here is the creator of heaven and earth and myself and these stars are his
> ministers and servants. And all through the night he prayed to the moon. In the
> morning the moon set in the west and the sun rose in the east. He said these two
> are powerless. They have one master, it is to Him that I shall pray, before
> him that I shall prostrate myself."
>
> Harran, where Abraham's kin lived had a temple dedicated to the moon god Sin,
> a god who was also worshipped in UR. The egyptians worshipped a sun god.
> This may be an allusion to the gods of Mesopotamia and Egypt which were both
> rejected by Abraham.
>
> This is "post-Biblical support" though a source is not given in the text
> beyond that.
>
> rich
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> In a message dated 6/25/03 9:39:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> gmurphy@raex.com writes:
>
> But Halevi also shows one of the pitfalls of the 2 books
> metaphor, the idea that
> the "book of nature" is to be read _before_ the "book of
> scripture." He made use of the
> tradition that Abraham engaged in astronomical studies, and
> that only after this
> received the call described in Genesis 12. But there is
> absolutely no biblical support
> for this notion.
>
> I found the following in Barnavi's Historical Atlas of the Jewish
> People:
>
> 1800 BC to 1700 BC - Presumably when Abraham lived. Post Biblical
> Jewish literature ascribes the Patriarch's conversion to an intuition
> which preceded the revelation. "When he was three years old Abraham
> came out of the cave. He reflected: who created heaven and earth and
> myself? And all through the day he prayed to the sun. But in the
> evening the sun set in the west and the moon rose in the east. when
> he saw the moon surrounded by stars, he said to himself, here is the
> creator of heaven and earth and myself and these stars are his
> ministers and servants. And all through the night he prayed to the
> moon. In the morning the moon set in the west and the sun rose in the
> east. He said these two are powerless. They have one master, it is to
> Him that I shall pray, before him that I shall prostrate myself."
>
> Harran, where Abraham's kin lived had a temple dedicated to the moon
> god Sin, a god who was also worshipped in UR. The egyptians worshipped
> a sun god.
> This may be an allusion to the gods of Mesopotamia and Egypt which
> were both rejected by Abraham.
>
> This is "post-Biblical support" though a source is not given in the
> text beyond that.
Yes, there are a number of texts which have some version of this story, such as
"The Apocalypse of Abraham." As you note, it has some superficial plausibility
because of the known connection of Mesopotamia with astronomy, but it goes without
saying that not all Mesopotamians were astronomers. The attribution of this to
Abraham centuries after he lived derives ultimately from the notion that there must have
been something about Abraham's intelligence, virtue, piety &c which caused God to choose
him. But the Bible has absolutely zero about this. It is just one more fallacy of
belief in the efficacy of independent natural theology.
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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