Old Testament

© Marinus Jan Marijs
Index        (Click on the links here below to select the stories)

1. Paradise story
2. Tree of life
3. Flood
4. Ark
5. Abraham´s sacrifice
6. Exodus, Moses and the red sea
7. Moses and the burning bush
8. Mountain
9. Ten commandments
10. The covenant
11. The brazen serpent
12. Joseph
13. Samson
14. Jonah and the whale
15. Jacob’s ladder
16. Elijah on mount Carmel
17. Tower of Babylon
18. Sodom and Gomorra
19. Satan
20. The fall of Lucifer
21. The Fall
22. Isaiah
23. Ezekiel
24. Daniel in the lion den
25. Daniel’s visions
26. Zachariah
27. Leviathan 

 

1. Paradise story

Thomas Cole  (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848)  The Garden of Eden

Introduction:

The paradise story which is to be found in Genesis 2. 4-25 and 3. 1-24. It wasn’t included in the original book of Genesis. Fabre d’Olivet in his book:  “Hebraic Tongue Restored uses a literary source which is from about 1000 BC in which the paradise story is not included”.

The term paradise comes from an Persian source; Avestan: Pairidaeza “enclosure, park” which could be interpreted as an “orchard” or a “fruit garden”. The data seem to suggest that the story was added in the 6^th century BC. 

Synopsis and interpretation:

Genesis 2 
Adam and Eve

⁴ This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.⁵ Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, ⁶ but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. ⁷ Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The breath of life: The Hebrew word for it is Nephesj, animating force.

⁸ Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.¹⁰ A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.¹⁴ The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Garden of Eden symbolizes a transcendental reality where the soul and the spirit remain. The idea is that this reality does not relate to a physical world, but to a higher non-physical subtle reality. Both Christ and St. Paul did use the word  paradise for a supernatural world.
(The word paradise is usually used as a synonym for “heaven” (Revelation 2:7).
When Jesus was dying on the cross and one of the thieves being crucified with Him asked Him for mercy, Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus knew that His death was imminent and that He would soon be in heaven with His Father. Therefore, Jesus used “paradise” as a synonym for “heaven.” The apostle Paul wrote of someone (probably himself) who “was caught up to paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:3). In this context, paradise obviously refers to heaven).

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Here one finds for the first time the concept of immortality. If you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil then you become mortal. From which follows the conclusion that one isn’t mortal, as long as one does not eat of this tree. This immortality means that it is not a physical existence which is described here, because then, by definition, one is mortal.

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”¹⁹ Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

Here we find the name “Adam”. According to the Kabbalah Adam is the heavenly man, who portrays the divine in man: The divine spirit, the Atman, the monad, the highest aspect of the human being. According to the Kabbalah, Adam was clothed with light and not yet with meat, and therefore he is not considered to be physical.

²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

From a higher aspect, the spirit, the monad (personified as Adam), originates now another aspect, the soul (personified as Eve).

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. ²⁵ Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

When the spirit is united with the soul, it leaves its origin, the divine. That they were both naked refers to the state were the spirit and soul are not being “clothed” with a physical body. Genesis 3

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil symbolizes the pursuit of knowledge and further development, for which it is necessary that a physical body is been taken on. And by that one becomes mortal. The spirit and the soul become aware of the absence of a physical body.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” ¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” ¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The soul (Eve) draws the spirit (Adam) along toward materialization. Adam and Eve symbolize two aspects of one person. The snake symbolizes instinctive desire.

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” ¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow  you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” ²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

When the spirit and the soul take on a physical body, shall what they give birth to: Wishes and desires, bring conflicts with it.

²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

That God clothes Adam and Eve with garments of skin, indicates that they obtain a physical body.

Thomas Cole  (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848)
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

Thomas Cole  (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848)
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (detail)

This is also to be found within philosopher J.J.Poortman’s: Vehicles of consciousness: “……in the anthropological context, the text in Genesis in which we are told that ”the Lord made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them”(Gen.  3.  21).  It is obvious that these were a primitive kind of ordinary garment of the type that the Neanderthal man is often depicted as wearing, made of skins of animals…..a “last garment” of man has been perceived by a number of writers in these “garments of skins”, in other words, man’s ordinary body as a whole (the skin was something that he had in common with the animals) in contrast to other more subtle bodies or garments. In this, the point of departure was the idea of a descent through the spheres, in which case the whole point of departure was the idea of a descent through the spheres”.

That they are banished from the Garden of Eden symbolises that the spirit and the soul leave the higher ontological world and go into the physical world. When the spirit and the soul have taken on a physical body they cannot go back. That they cannot go back is symbolised by the cherubim with a flaming sword.

2. Tree of life

Synopsis:

The tree of life is a widespread myth or archetype in the world’s mythologies, related to the concept of sacred tree more generally, and hence in religious and philosophical tradition.

The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.

World tree, also called cosmic tree, centre of the world, a widespread motif in many myths and folktales among various preliterate peoples, especially in Asia, Australia, and North America, by which they understand the human and profane condition in relation to the divine and sacred realm. Two main forms are known and both employ the notion of the world tree as centre. In the one, the tree is the vertical centre binding together heaven and earth; in the other, the tree is the source of life at the horizontal centre of the earth. Adopting biblical terminology, the former may be called the tree of knowledge; the latter, the tree of life.

In the vertical, tree-of-knowledge tradition, the tree extends between earth and heaven. It is the vital connection between the world of the gods and the human world. Oracles and judgments or other prophetic activities are performed at its base.

In the horizontal, tree-of-life tradition, the tree is planted at the centre of the world and is protected by supernatural guardians. It is the source of terrestrial fertility and life. Human life is descended from it; its fruit confers everlasting life; and if it were cut down, all fecundity would cease. The tree of life occurs most commonly in quest romances in which the hero seeks the tree and must overcome a variety of obstacles on his way.

Interpretation:

Book Of Revelation

⁷ Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: those who prove victorious I will feed from the tree of life set in God’s paradise.”
The tree of life is a symbol that can be found in many cultures. It is a symbol for what the Hindus call the nadi’s. Paradise is the super-sensory world and the nadi’s are, although they are within the human body, not of a physical nature.
The tree of life is also the nadi system, the Menorah, the caduceus and so on.

3. Flood

The Flood       Francis Danby (1793 – 1861)

Synopsis:

Genesis  ¹⁷ The flood lasted forty days on earth. The waters swelled, lifting the ark until it floated off the ground.¹⁸ The waters rose, swelling higher above the ground, and the ark drifted away over the waters.¹⁹ The waters rose higher and higher above the ground until all the highest mountains under the whole of heaven were submerged.²⁰ The waters reached their peak fifteen cubits above the submerged mountains.²¹ And all living things that stirred on earth perished; birds, cattle, wild animals, all the creatures swarming over the earth, and all human beings.²² Everything with the least breath of life in its nostrils, everything on dry land, died.²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out, people, animals, creeping things and birds; they were wiped off the earth and only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.²⁴ The waters maintained their level on earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Interpretation:

The great flood represents the transformation from one level of consciousness to another. It describes psychological processes within the human psyche on an individual level.

The sin or sinners which are drowned represent the lower elements in the psyche which are eliminated during this transformational process.

4. Ark

Synopsis:

Noah, is the hero of the biblical Flood story in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Noah is the image of the righteous man made party to a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, in which nature’s future protection against catastrophe is assured.

Noah appears in Genesis 5:29 as the son of Lamech and ninth in descent from Adam. In the story of the Deluge (Genesis 6:11–9:19), he is represented as the patriarch who, because of his blameless piety, was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. A righteous man, Noah “found favour in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). Thus, when God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in accordance with God’s instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world’s species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, according to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah’s three sons. Such a genealogy sets a universal frame within which the subsequent role of Abraham, as the father of Israel’s faith, could assume its proper dimensions.

The story of the Flood has close affinities with Babylonian traditions of apocalyptic floods in which Utnapishtim plays the part corresponding to that of Noah. These mythologies are the source of such features of the biblical Flood story as the building and provisioning of the ark, its flotation, and the subsidence of the waters, as well as the part played by the human protagonist. Tablet XI of the Gilgamesh epic introduces Utnapishtim, who, like Noah, survived cosmic destruction by heeding divine instruction to build an ark.

Thomas Cole The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge 1829

The religious meaning of the Flood is conveyed after Noah’s heroic survival. He then built an altar on which he offered burnt sacrifices to God, who then bound himself to a pact never again to curse the earth on man’s account. God then set a rainbow in the sky as a visible guarantee of his promise in this covenant. God also renewed his commands given at creation but with two changes: man could now kill animals and eat meat, and the murder of a man would be punished by men.

Noah and his family are commanded to undertake the renewal of history.

The symbolic figure of Noah was known in ancient Israel, before the compilation of the Pentateuch. Ezekiel (14:14, 20) speaks of him as a prototype of the righteous man who, alone among the Israelites, would be spared God’s vengeance. In the New Testament, Noah is mentioned in the genealogy of the Gospel According to Luke (3:36) that delineates Jesus’ descent from Adam. Jesus also uses the story of the Flood that came on a worldly generation of men “in the days of Noah” as an example of Baptism, and Noah is depicted as a preacher of repentance to the men of his time, itself a predominant theme in Jewish apocryphal and rabbinical writings.

Interpretation:

The Flood is a symbolical story about a transformation from one sociological period to another.
Humanity has gone through several collective developmental stages.

The flood is a metaphorical description of a collective transformation.
The flood indicates that old value systems and norms are discarded and new structures are activated.

5. Abraham´s sacrifice

Harold Copping (25 August 1863–1 July 1932)

Synopsis:

Genesis 22 New International Version (NIV)

Abraham Tested

22 Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspring^[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[c] because you have obeyed me.”

Interpretation:

The story of Abraham is a symbolic narrative which describes a psychological process.
Abraham’s sacrifice refers to the sacrifice of the ego, here personified as his son. The ego or self-structure is not destroyed but transcended.

6. Exodus, Moses and the red sea

Pharaoh’s Army Engulfed by the Red Sea – Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847-1928)

Synopsis:

The Delivery of Israel out of Egypt

The Exodus

The Israelite Exodus from Egypt, recounted in the Bible, tells of the oppression of the Israelites as slaves in Egypt, their flight from the country led by Moses and their journey through the wilderness before eventually settling in the “Promised Land”.

{The painting refers to the biblical story of Moses and his miraculous dividing of the Red Sea to enable the Israelites to flee Egypt. The scenes shows the waters closing to drown Pharaoh and his Egyptian army}.

Salvation

Biblical scholars describe the Bible’s theologically-motivated history writing as “salvation history”, meaning the redemptive activity of God within human history to effect his eternal saving intentions.

Interpretation:

The symbolism behind this story, is the transformation from a low level to a higher social and spiritual developmental level. The slavery in Egypt symbolises being a slave of the lower nature. The promised land refers to a new way of functioning, it symbolises the transition from mental slavery to freedom. According to the Exodus account, Moses held out his staff and the Red Sea was parted by God. The Israelites walked on dry ground and crossed the sea, followed by the Egyptian army. Moses again moved his staff once the Israelites had crossed and the sea closed again, drowning the whole of the Egyptian army. The drowning of the whole of the Egyptian army symbolises the elimination of the lower nature.
In a psychological interpretation, the pharaoh represents the ego and the Egyptian army represents the egocentric thoughts who both are eliminated.

7. Moses and the burning bush

Synopsis:

Moses and the Burning Bush Exodus 3:1-15

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Interpretation:

This narrative is a description of a the direct contact with the transcendent.

The Burning Bush refers to subtle energies of a higher non-physical level.

8. Mountain

Albert Bierstadt (Solingen, 7 January 1830 – New York, 18 februari 1902) 

Synopsis:

Mountains are mentioned frequently in the Bible because they dotted the landscape where the stories in the Bible take place. As a result, mountains and hills are mentioned more than 500 times in Scripture. Mountains have a logical religious symbolism for Jewish and Christian cultures since they are “closer to God” who dwells in the heavens (as in the sky). As a result, God often reveals himself on a mountaintop in the text.

In the Old Testament, the mountains of Sinai and Zion are most significant. Mount Sinai is the place where Moses received the gift of the law, the Ten Commandments. Thus, Mount Sinai is a symbol of God’s covenant with Israel. Zion, to the south, is the location of the Jerusalem Temple. In the New Testament (Mark and Luke to be precise), Jesus appoints the 12 disciples on a mountain. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus delivers the Beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount, conjuring an image of Moses who received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. (Matthew’s mostly Jewish audience would immediately pick up on the comparison between Moses and Jesus.) Matthew, in particular, has six significant mountain scenes in his gospel: Jesus’ temptation (Matthew 4:8), the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12), a number of healings (Matthew 15:29-31), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), Jesus’ final discourse (Matthew 24:3), and the commissioning of the Apostles (Matthew 28:16-20).

Perhaps the most significant mountain scene in the Gospels, however, is the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-13). Jesus appears with Moses and Elijah, who themselves encountered God on the mountaintop in the Old Testament. The Transfiguration is the moment when the disciples encounter God through Jesus, and Jesus, in turn, is seen as the fulfillment of the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah).

Interpretation:

The mountain stands for a higher level of consciousness.

In many religious writings one finds stories of prophets who climbed on a mountain and came back with deep insights and direct communication or union with the divine.

While it is possible that they went physically on a mountain, the deeper meaning is that they reached higher mystical levels of consciousness.

9. Ten commandments

Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden, 15 juli 1606 – Amsterdam, 4 oktober 1669)

Synopsis:

Ten Commandments, also called Decalogue , list of religious precepts that, according to various passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, were divinely revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai and were engraved on two tablets of stone. The Commandments are recorded virtually identically in Ex. 20: 2–17 and Deut. 5: 6–21.

Interpretation:

The story of a prophet who climes on a mountain, communicates with God and receives moral laws, refers to a person who has spiritual experience (symbolised by the mountain) and receives laws that are universal, eternal.
Metaphorically engraved on tablets of stone.

10. The covenant

Jean Leon Gerome (1840 – 1904)

Synopsis:

Covenant, a binding promise of far-reaching importance in the relations between individuals, groups, and nations. It has social, legal, religious, and other aspects. This discussion is concerned primarily with the term in its special religious sense and especially with its role in Judaism and Christianity.

Encyclopaedia Britannica:
The origin and development of biblical covenants: Judaism
The covenant at Sinai

The Decalogue (The Ten Commandments) given by Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, at Sinai, plus the various traditions associated with earliest Israel yield all of the important elements of the Hittite treaty form but in an extremely succinct and simple form. Yahweh is identified as the covenant giver, and the historical prologue is the only possible one according to the ancient traditions: the announcement that it is this God who delivered the assembled group from bondage in Egypt (in the 13th century bce). This delivery is a free, voluntary act of the deity that forms the basis of the obligations that the community can either accept together with a lasting relationship to that God or reject, thus entailing a permanent hostility (hatred) between the God and human beings. It is the common relationship to a single sovereign God that furnished the basis for a radically new kind of community, which grew with rapidity first in Transjordan, then in Palestine proper, until it included virtually all the nonurban population of the region.

The Sinai covenant, therefore, marked the beginnings of a systematic recognition that the well-being of a community cannot be based merely upon socially organized force, nor can the political power structure be regarded, as in ancient pagan states, as the manifestation of the divine, transcendent order of the universe.
The entire process from the covenant at Sinai to the unification of perhaps a quarter of a million people by a covenant involving a religious loyalty to a single deity took only a little over one generation. It began with a group of probably considerably less than 1,000 people who left Egypt with Moses.

The covenants of the Israelite monarchy (1020–587/586 bce)

Since the old Israel-Jacob (pre-Mosaic) traditions also could not furnish an ideological base for unifying the old Israelite and non-Israelite populations under the monarchy, pre-Mosaic epic traditions of Abraham (perhaps 19th–18th centuries bce) were appealed to to furnish the “common ancestor” symbol of unity, and the covenant tradition—no doubt, already a part of that epic—was readapted to bring it up to date. The deity (now identified with Yahweh) bound himself by oath to fulfill certain promises to Abraham, though the content of the promise, in the form now received, was by and large a description of the historical situation of the Davidic empire. Though it is difficult to see what the social or ideological function may have been, the covenant with Noah (the hero of the Flood) in Genesis exhibits the same structure. The result of all these radical changes in a very short time was a complete confusing of the religious tradition and structure and a permanent deposit of the pre-Mosaic pagan religious ideology into the biblical tradition. It seems virtually certain that the Sinai tradition was itself systematically reinterpreted in the so-called ritual decalogue of Exodus in which it is dogmatically stated that the Sinai obligations were entirely ritual in nature, rather than ethical-functional. The first tables of stone of the Ten Commandments, after all, had been “broken,” which in the ancient world was a customary phrase used to indicate the invalidation of binding legal documents. The next several centuries illustrate the constant battle between the Mosaic and the reintroduced pagan elements. The prophets proclaimed and supported the disintegration (c. 922 bce) of the Solomonic empire into a northern (Israel) and a southern (Judah) kingdom as the divine chastisement of Yahweh for gross disobedience. Particularly in the north, which did not retain the Davidic dynasty, the prophets periodically proclaimed the necessity and inevitability of wiping out one royal dynasty after another. Elijah, a 9th-century bce rustic prophet, ridiculed the idea that the Israelites could limp along on both legs—i.e., observe loyalty to both the Yahwistic and the Baal cults. Reforms were carried out occasionally, but not until the time of Josiah, the young king of Judah (late 7th century bce), and the discovery of an old copy of the Mosaic legal-ethical tradition (the Deuteronomic code) in c. 621 was serious reform undertaken—and there with little permanent success. The preservation of the Mosaic tradition was a function of the destruction of the monarchical state and its religious symbol, the temple, which nearly all the pre-exilic (before 587/586 bce) prophets had predicted.

The post-Exilic covenant tradition

Though the prophet Jeremiah (late 7th century bce) had predicted a “new covenant” written upon the heart (Jeremiah), not until the time of the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah in the 5th century bce is there another biblical narrative of covenant making, this time one of incalculable importance for the future of both postbiblical Judaism and Christianity

The origin and development of the covenant in Christianity
The New Testament tradition of the covenant

The cup of wine at the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples before Jesus’ crucifixion is identified in all New Testament sources as the (new) covenant by Jesus himself, but in spite of millennia-long controversy, theological elaboration, and discussion, the nature and meaning of the covenant has never been adequately understood historically, and the variety of interpretations regarding covenant in the New Testament itself indicates that very early in the tradition it had become a problem. Here it is possible only to indicate some significant associations that might explain why it was called a “covenant” and how the ancient Sinaitic tradition was radically renewed but the basic structure retained.

Interpretation:

A number of covenants is mentioned:
The Abrahamic covenant (430 year before the Exodus)
The Mosaic covenant (14th/13th century BC)
The Elijah covenant (9th century BC)
The 5th century BC post-Exilic covenant
The (new) covenant by Jesus himself

That the “Covenants” are not limited to Judaism and Christianity is shown here: Kosmic patterns
and here: Seriality.

11. The bronze serpent

Fyodor Bruni (1750 – 1830)

Synopsis:

Numbers 21:6-9 The Bronze Serpent

⁶ The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷ So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” ⁹ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Interpretation:

Within religious writings, the serpent is an ambivalent symbol.

On one hand the serpent is deceitful and dangerous.

But here a bronze serpent is a symbol of salvation.The serpent here is reminiscent to the kundalini snake and many other mythical snakes, which symbolise a high level of spirituality.

12. Joseph

                          Joseph interprets the dreams of the cupbearer (butler) and the baker
                                        Mariano Barbasán  (3 February 1864 – 22 July 1924)

Synopsis:

Joseph, in the Old Testament, son of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Rachel. As Jacob’s name became synonymous with all Israel, so that of Joseph was eventually equated with all the tribes that made up the northern kingdom. According to tradition, his bones were buried at Shechem, oldest of the northern shrines (Joshua 24:32). His story is told in Genesis (37–50).

Joseph, most beloved of Jacob’s sons, is hated by his envious brothers. Angry and jealous of Jacob’s gift to Joseph, a resplendent “coat of many colours,” the brothers seize him and sell him to a party of Ishmaelites, or Midianites, who carry him to Egypt. There Joseph eventually gains the favour of the pharaoh of Egypt by his interpretation of a dream and obtains a high place in the pharaoh’s kingdom. His acquisition of grain supplies enables Egypt to withstand a famine. Driven by the same famine, his brothers journey from Canaan to Egypt to obtain food. They prostrate themselves before Joseph but do not recognize him. After Joseph achieves a reconciliation with his brothers, he invites Jacob’s whole household to come to Goshen in Egypt, where a settlement is provided for the family and their flocks. His brothers’ sale of Joseph into slavery thus proves providential in the end, since it protected the family from famine. The family’s descendants grew and multiplied into the Hebrews, who would eventually depart from Egypt for Israel.

The story of Joseph, often called a novella, is a carefully wrought piece of literary craftsmanship. Though it features the personality of Joseph, it is introduced (Genesis 37:2) as the “history of the family of Jacob.” Authorities agree that parts of the story show dependence upon the ancient Egyptian “Tale of Two Brothers,” but in characteristically Hebraic fashion, the narrator in Genesis has ignored the mythical and magical motifs in the Egyptian tale, and the focus of the outcome is placed on its meaning for the whole house of Israel.

Interpretation:

Joseph’s story is the story of a pure soul who is thrown into the physical world, symbolised here as Egypt. (He is thrown into a pit and sold as a slave)
Becoming a slave here refers to life in the physical world.
The story is told as a testimony to the operation of divine providence:
“. . . you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good . . .” (Genesis 50:20).
It sums up its moral meaning.
Joseph, like among others Daniel and Zachariah, was involved in dream interpretation, which means he realised the symbolic, archetypical structure of dreams.

13. Samson

Samson and Delilah       José Echenagusía Errazquin (1844 – 1912)

Synopsis:

Samson (Shimshon, “man of the sun”) is sometimes considered to be an Israelite version of the popular Near Eastern folk hero also embodied by the Sumerian Enkidu and the Greek Heracles.

The biblical account states that Samson was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of Philistines using only the jawbone of an ass. However, if Samson’s long hair was cut, then his Nazirite vow would be violated, and he would lose his strength. Samson was betrayed by his lover Delilah, who ordered a servant to cut his hair while he was sleeping and turned him over to his Philistine enemies, who gouged out his eyes and forced him to grind grain in a mill at Gaza. When the Philistines took Samson into their temple of Dagon, Samson asked to rest against one of the support pillars; after being granted permission, he prayed to God and miraculously recovered his strength, allowing him to grasp hold of the columns and tear them down, killing himself and all the Philistines with him.

When he was a young adult, Samson left the hills of his people to see the cities of Philistia. He fell in love with a Philistine woman from Timnah, whom he decided to marry, ignoring the objections of his parents, who were concerned because the Israelites were forbidden to marry Gentiles. In the development of the narrative, the intended marriage was shown to be part of God’s plan to strike at the Philistines.

According to the biblical account, Samson was repeatedly seized by the “Spirit of the Lord,” who blessed him with immense strength. The first instance of this is seen when Samson was on his way to ask for the Philistine woman’s hand in marriage, when he was attacked by a lion. He simply grabbed it and ripped it apart, as the spirit of God divinely empowered him. However, Samson kept it a secret, not even mentioning the miracle to his parents. He arrived at the Philistine’s house and became betrothed to her. He returned home, then came back to Timnah some time later for the wedding. On his way, Samson saw that bees had nested in the carcass of the lion and made honey. He ate a handful of the honey and gave some to his parents.

At the wedding feast, Samson told a riddle to his thirty groomsmen (all Philistines). If they could solve it, he would give them thirty pieces of fine linen and garments, but if they could not solve it, they would give him thirty pieces of fine linen and garments. The riddle was a veiled account of two encounters with the lion, at which only he was present:

Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.

The Philistines were infuriated by the riddle. The thirty groomsmen told Samson’s new wife that they would burn her and her father’s household if she did not discover the answer to the riddle and tell it to them. At the urgent and tearful imploring of his bride, Samson told her the solution, and she told it to the thirty groomsmen.
Before sunset on the seventh day they said to him,
What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?
Samson said to them,
If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.

Samson then travelled to Ashkelon (a distance of roughly 30 miles) where he slew thirty Philistines for their garments; he then returned and gave those garments to his thirty groomsmen In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house. The family of his would-have-been bride instead gave her to one of the groomsmen as wife. Some time later, Samson returned to Timnah to visit his wife, unaware that she was now married to one of his former groomsmen. But her father refused to allow Samson to see her, offering to give Samson a younger sister instead.  Samson went out, gathered 300 foxes, and tied them together in pairs by their tails. He then attached a burning torch to each pair of foxes’ tails and turned them loose in the grain fields and olive groves of the Philistines. The Philistines learned why Samson burned their crops and burned Samson’s wife and father-in-law to death in retribution.

In revenge, Samson slaughtered many more Philistines, saying, “I have done to them what they did to me.” Samson then took refuge in a cave in the rock of Etam. An army of Philistines came to the Tribe of Judah and demanded that 3,000 men of Judah deliver them Samson. With Samson’s consent, they tied him with two new ropes and were about to hand him over to the Philistines when he broke free of the ropes. Using the jawbone of a donkey, he slew 1,000 Philistines.

Delilah: Later, Samson travels to Gaza, where he stays at a harlot’s house. His enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he tears the gate from its very hinges and frame and carries it to “the hill that is in front of Hebron”.

He then falls in love with Delilah in the valley of Sorek. The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her with 1,100 silver coins to find the secret of Samson’s strength so that they can capture their enemy, but Samson refuses to reveal the secret and teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength if he is bound with fresh bowstrings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her that he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says that he can be bound if his locks are woven into a weaver’s loom. She weaves them into a loom, but he simply destroys the entire loom and carries it off when he wakes.

Delilah, however, persists and Samson finally wears down and tells Delilah that God supplies his power because of his consecration to God as a Nazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head, and that if his hair is cut off he will lose his strength. Delilah then woos him to sleep “in her lap” and calls for a servant to shave his hair. Samson loses his strength and he is captured by the Philistines who blind him by gouging out his eyes. They then take him to Gaza, imprison him, and put him to work turning a large millstone and grinding corn.

                     William Brassey Hole  (7 November 1846 – 22 October 1917)

According to the biblical narrative, Samson died when he grasped two pillars of the Temple of Dagon and “bowed himself with all his might” (Judges 16:30, KJV). This has been variously interpreted as Samson pushing the pillars apart (left) or pulling them together (right).

One day, the Philistine leaders assemble in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, one of their most important deities, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson so that people can watch him perform for them. The temple is so crowded that people are even climbing onto the roof to watch—and all the rulers of the entire government of Philistia have gathered there too, some 3,000 people in all. Samson is led into the temple, and he asks his captors to let him lean against the supporting pillars to rest. He prays for strength and God gives him strength to break the pillars, causing the temple to collapse, killing him and the people inside. (Wikipedia)

Interpretation:

The story of Samson is a metaphorical allegorical narrative. It concerns archetypical representations of individual psychological transformative processes. All the persons and elements in the story are representations of psychological elements within one person.

Samson was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies, which means the ability to eliminate the lower elements in one’s own psyche.
However, if Samson’s long hair was cut, he would be violated, and he would lose his strength. His long hair is a symbol of his spiritual power.

Samson was attacked by a lion. He grabbed it and ripped it apart, as the spirit of God empowered him divinely. This refers to the elimination of the ego.

On his way, Samson saw that bees had nested in the carcass of the lion and made honey. He ate a handful of the honey and gave some to his parents.
The honey is symbolic for higher spiritual food.

Samson defeated the Philistines, which means the elimination of his lower impulses.

Delilah, who ordered a servant to cut his hair while he was sleeping and turned him over to his Philistine enemies, who gouged out his eyes and forced him to grind grain in a mill at Gaza, represents the lower nature, which takes away one’s spiritual power and makes one spiritually blind and limit one to mechanical functioning.

Finally the higher nature destroys the lower nature.

14. Jonah and the whale

Jonah and the Whale (1621) by Pieter Lastman

Synopsis:

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.  Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

⁷ And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹ And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard² to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴ Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

^17 3 And the Lord appointed⁴ a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah’s Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
³  For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
⁴  Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
⁵  The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
⁶  at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
⁷  When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
⁸  Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
⁹  But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,¹ three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

⁶ The word reached³ the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent ^wand turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Interpretation:

The sea represents the subconscious and the great fish symbolises a Jungian complex, which is a core pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions and wishes in the personal unconscious, organized around a common theme.

This complex traps the mind. After the mind has been freed from this complex, the mind can act conscious (on Dry land) and reach its destination.

15. Jacob’s ladder

Gustave Doré    (Strasburg, 6 January 1832 – Paris, 23 January 1883)

Synopsis:

The description of Jacob’s ladder appears in Genesis 28:10-19:

And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
And he lighted upon the place, and tarried there all night,
because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place,
and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth,
and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And, behold, the LORD stood beside him, and said:
‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac.
The land whereon thou lies’, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south.
And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goes, and will bring thee back into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.’
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: ‘Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.’
And he was afraid, and said: ‘How full of awe is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

— Genesis 28:10-17

Interpretation:

The ladder refers to the different ontological levels of existence, in which the angels of God ascend and descend.
This is the ladder on which the soul travels after death, climbing up the heavens towards the light of God.

16. Elijah on mount Carmel

Elijah’s Sacrifice at Mount Carmel  William Brassey Hole  (1846 – 1917)

Synopsis:

1 Kings 18:21-39 New International Version (NIV)

²¹ Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

²² Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. ²³ Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” ²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” ²⁸ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” ³² With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs^[a] of seed. ³³ He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

³⁴ “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. ³⁵ The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

³⁶ At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!

Interpretation:

This story is about the difference between a true prophet and many false prophets.

The inability to interact with the transcendent is here expressed in the situation of the prophets of Baal who are not capable in calling the fire from heaven.
The story continues with Elijah calling the fire from heaven, meaning the ability to interact with the transcendent.

17. Tower of Babylon

Hendrick van Cleef (1525 – 1589)

Synopsis:

The great tower of babel was built under nimrod’s rule – “And the Lord said, Behold, the people are one, and they have one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth”. (Genesis 11:6-9) Babel means ‘confusion’

Interpretation:

The story indicates that when one tries to build a great self-ego centred structure, without being directed to the transcendental, the result will only be meaninglessness, confusion and miscommunication.

18. Sodom and Gomorra

John Martin   (1789 – 1854)

Synopsis:

Sodom and Gomorrah, notoriously sinful cities in the biblical book of Genesis, destroyed by “sulphur and fire” because of their wickedness (Genesis 19:24).

In the Genesis account, God reveals to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed for their grave sins (18:20). Abraham pleads for the lives of any righteous people living there, especially the lives of his nephew, Lot, and his family. God agrees to spare the cities if 10 righteous people can be found (18:23–32). Two angels are sent to Lot in Sodom but are met with a wicked mob who are then struck blind by the angelic guests (19:1–11). Finding only Lot and his family as righteous among the inhabitants, the angels warn Lot to quickly evacuate the city and to not look back. As they flee the destruction, Lot’s wife looks back upon the city and is turned into a pillar of salt (19:12–29).

The exact nature of the damning wickedness of the cities has been the subject of debate.

Modern scholarship, particularly in Judaism and certain branches of Christianity, has proposed that it is the inhabitants’ lack of hospitality that gives offence to God. According to this view, the mob’s deep-seated violence and inhospitality and is meant to stand in striking contrast to the gracious hospitality given by both Abraham and Lot to those same strangers. To further this claim, some cite the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:14–15:

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Here, it is argued, Christ is implying that the grave sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of any towns that refuse his disciples, is that of inhospitality. Additionally, Ezekiel 16:49 mentions the inhabitants’ refusal to care for the poor despite their prosperity.

Interpretation:

Sodom and Gomorra represent the material world.
In the Genesis account, God reveals to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed for their grave sins (18:20). Abraham pleads for the lives of any righteous people living there, especially the lives of his nephew, Lot, and his family. God agrees to spare the cities if 10 righteous people can be found (18:23–32).

This idea of the ten Righteous people is central in Judaism, but also in other cultures one will find similar ideas.
According to some forms of spiritual philosophy about the transformation of humanity, there must be a minimum of 5 enlightened persons at the same time, on the physical plane, such as happened at the axial period ( ±500 BC).

19. Satan

Mihály Zichy   1827 – 1906

Synopsis:

Satan, in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), the prince of evil spirits and adversary of God. Satan is traditionally understood as an angel who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven with other “fallen” angels before the creation of humankind. Ezekiel 20:14–18 and Isaiah 14:12–17 are the key Scripture passages that support this understanding, and, in the New Testament, in Luke 10:18 Jesus states that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. In all three Abrahamic religions, Satan is identified as the entity (a serpent in the Genesis account) that tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden and was thus the catalyst for the fall of humankind.

The word Satan is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word for “adversary” in the Bible. With the definite article, the Hebrew word denotes “the adversary” par excellence, mainly in the Book of Job, where the adversary comes to the heavenly court with the “sons of God.”

Among early Christian writers, the figure of Satan played a larger part in the discussion of the nature of evil, the meaning of salvation, and the purpose and efficacy of the atoning work of Christ. Early and medieval church writers discussed at length problems raised by belief in the existence of a spiritual being such as Satan in a universe created and sustained by an all-powerful, all-wise, and all-loving God. Under the influence of the 18th-century revolt against belief in the supernatural, liberal Christian theology tended to treat the biblical language about Satan as “picture thinking” not to be taken literally—as a mythological attempt to express the reality and extent of evil in the universe, existing outside and apart from humanity but profoundly influencing the human sphere.

In the monotheistic Western religions, the devil is viewed as a fallen angel who in pride has tried to usurp the position of the one and only God. In Judaism, and later Christianity, the devil was known as Satan. In the Old Testament, Satan is viewed as the prosecutor of Yahweh’s court, as in Job, chapters 1 and 2, but he is not regarded as an adversary of God.

Interpretation:                                       

Satan is the personification of instinctual forces who block higher developmental processes.
Be these processes social, moral or spiritual.

20. The fall of Lucifer

                         Gustave Doré    (Strasburg, 6 January 1832 – Paris, 23 January 1883)

Synopsis:

Because the angels are created as free spiritual beings in accordance with the image of God, the first fall takes place in their midst—the first misuse of freedom was in the rebellion of the highest prince of the angels, Lucifer (“Light-Bearer”), against God.

According to the view of Christian thinkers from the early Fathers to the reformers of the 16th century, humans are only the second-created. The creation of human beings serves to refill the kingdom of God with new spiritual creatures who are capable of offering to God the free love that the rebellious angels have refused to continue. In the realm of the first-created creatures, there already commences the problem of evil, which appears immediately in freedom or the misuse of freedom.

and the origin of evil

In the Book of Job, Satan appears as the partner of God, who on behalf of God puts the righteous one to the test. Only in postbiblical Judaism does the Devil become the adversary of God, the prince of angels, who, created by God and placed at the head of the angelic hosts, entices some of the angels into revolt against God. In punishment for his rebellion, he is cast from heaven together with his mutinous entourage, which were transformed into demons. As ruler over the fallen angels, he continues the struggle against the kingdom of God by seeking to seduce humans into sin, by trying to disrupt God’s plan for salvation, and by appearing before God as a slanderer and accuser of saints, so as to reduce the number of those chosen for the kingdom of God.

Thus, Satan is a creature of God, who has his being and essence from God; he is the partner of God in the drama of the history of salvation; and he is the rival of God, who fights against God’s plan of salvation. Through the influence of the dualistic thinking of Zoroastrian religion during the Babylonian Exile (586–538 bc) in Persia, Satan took on features of a countergod in late Judaism.

In the Christian historical consciousness the figure of Satan plays an important role, not least of all through the influence of the Revelation to John. The history of salvation is understood as the history of the struggle between God and the demonic antagonist, who with constantly new means tries to thwart God’s plan of salvation.

Interpretation:

The heart of this theological issue is a process called involution: Involution is a process by which the emanating force or potential gradually descends from the Spirit into different dimensions of reality, with the physical dimension being the last in the sequence.

Involution, or emanation, is central to the neo-platonic philosophy and can also be found in Platonism, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, the Kabbalah, Catharism, esoteric Christianity, Pythagoreanism and some forms of Hinduism and Buddhism.

These different dimensions laid down after involution are undeveloped and not activated. The process of involution is followed by the process of evolution, which proceeds through successive stages.

This process of involution all the way to the physical world is supported by the highest available energies.

These energies become now trapped and lose contact with their origin.

This has been described as a fall.

These high level energies have been personified as: Lucifer (“Light-Bearer”),
the highest of the angels.
So this involutionary process can be described metaphorically as the fall of Lucifer.

21. The Fall

Rubens, Peter Paul   (1577-1640)

Synopsis:

The fall of man, or the fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. Although not named in the Bible, the doctrine of the fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis chapter 3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life and becoming immortal.

For many Christian denominations, the doctrine of the fall is closely related to that of original sin. They believe that the fall brought sin into the world, corrupting the entire natural world, including human nature, causing all humans to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the grace of God. The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts the concept of the fall but rejects the idea that the guilt of original sin is passed down through generations, based in part on the passage Ezekiel 18:20 that says a son is not guilty of the sins of his father. Calvinist Protestants believe that Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for the elect, so they may be redeemed from their sin. Judaism does not have a concept of “the fall” or “original sin” and has varying other interpretations of the Eden narrative.

The story of the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man represents a tradition among the Abrahamic peoples, with a presentation more or less symbolical of certain moral and religious truths.^[1]

Genesis creation narrative

The doctrine of the fall of man is extrapolated from Christian exegesis of Genesis 3. According to the narrative, God creates Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. God places them in the Garden of Eden and forbids them to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tempts Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree, which she shares with Adam and they immediately become ashamed of their nakedness. Subsequently, God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, condemns Adam to working in order to get what he needs to live and condemns Eve to giving birth in pain, and places cherubim to guard the entrance, so that Adam and Eve will not eat from the “tree of life”.

Interpretation:

Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden lest they eat of the second tree, the tree of life, and gain immortality [Gen. 3:22].

Genesis 3:22 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV):

²² Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

Mortality

Here it is put forward that when man eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, on becomes mortal and:

Immortality

Genesis 2:17 (“for in the day that you eat of it you shall die”) but when on eats from the tree of life one will live forever,

The fall means that the soul now takes on a physical body, it is now born into the physical world.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil, is the connection from the higher world to the physical world.

That the tree of life makes the connection from the physical world to the divine world, means that the soul which has gone through the physical incarnation, despite the deep involvement, can go to a higher level of existence than would otherwise had been the case.

(This is symbolised in the parable of the prodigal son).

This conceptualisation provides a metaphysical framework within which the one can interpret the entire pattern of creation, the Fall of humanity, the incarnation, redemption, and last things.

22. Isaiah

Synopsis:

Isaiah 6:1-7

King James Version (KJV)

6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

³ And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

⁶ Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Interpretation:

“Above Him were seraph, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.'”

A description of what is called a seraph, deva. The “wings” are streams of subtle energies (“and the house was filled with smoke”, which refers to subtle energies) generally of three different colours.

The placing of a matrix. (About the matrix click here).

23. Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1:1-28

¹ Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

² In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,

³ The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

⁴ And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵ Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

⁶ And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

⁷ And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

⁸ And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

⁹ Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

¹¹ Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

¹² And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴ And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

¹⁵ Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

¹⁶ The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

¹⁷ When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

¹⁸ As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

¹⁹ And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰ Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²² And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³ And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

²⁴ And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁵ And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

²⁶ And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

²⁷ And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

²⁸ As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

Interpretation:

An elaborate description of four seraphim and the wheels, the energy chakras. The figurative perceptions are ideoplastic structures.
The chakras are universal structures of objective energetic spatial patterns on a ontological higher level of existence. So are the “wings” which are streams of subtle energy.
The “faces” of which some are animal like, are ideoplastic, which are culturally determined.     
The placing of multiple matrices. (About the matrices click here).

24. Daniel in the lion den

Riviere, Briton    (1840-1920) 

Synopsis:

The story of Daniel in the lions’ den (chapter 6 in the Book of Daniel) tells how Daniel is raised to high office by his royal master Darius the Mede, but jealous rivals trick Darius into issuing a decree which condemns Daniel to death. Hoping for Daniel’s deliverance, but unable to save him, the king has him cast into the pit of lions. At daybreak he hurries back, asking if God had saved his friend. Daniel replies that God had sent an angel to close the jaws of the lions, “because I was found blameless before him.”

Interpretation:

The lions represent the lower emotions, the lower nature, which cannot harm a spiritual person, a prophet a mystic.

25. Daniel’s visions

Synopsis:

Daniel 7:1–28  Vision of the Four Beasts

7 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel ¹had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling ²the main facts.

² Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. ³ And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. ⁴ The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.

⁵ “And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’

⁶ “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

⁷ “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.

Vision of the Ancient of Days

⁹ “I watched till thrones were ⁴put in place,

And the Ancient of Days was seated;

His garment was white as snow,

And the hair of His head was like pure wool.

His throne was a fiery flame,

Its wheels a burning fire;

¹⁰ A fiery stream issued

And came forth from before Him.

A thousand thousands ministered to Him;

Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.

The ⁵court was seated,

And the books were opened.

¹¹ “I watched then because of the sound of the ⁶pompous words which the horn was speaking; ^tI watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. ¹² As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

¹³ “I was watching in the night visions,

And behold, One like the Son of Man,

Coming with the clouds of heaven!

He came to the Ancient of Days,

And they brought Him near before Him.

¹⁴ Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,

That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

Which shall not pass away,

And His kingdom the one

Which shall not be destroyed.

Daniel’s Visions Interpreted

¹⁵ “I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit ⁷within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶ I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷ ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four ⁸kings which arise out of the earth. ¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’

¹⁹ “Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; ²⁰ and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke ⁹pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

²¹ “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

²³ “Thus he said:

‘The fourth beast shall be

^bA fourth kingdom on earth,

Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,

And shall devour the whole earth,

Trample it and break it in pieces.

²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings

Who shall arise from this kingdom.

And another shall rise after them;

He shall be different from the first ones,

And shall subdue three kings.

²⁵ He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,

Shall persecute ¹the saints of the Most High,

And shall intend to change times and law.

Then the saints shall be given into his hand

For a time and times and half a time.

²⁶ ‘But the court shall be seated,

And they shall take away his dominion,

To consume and destroy it forever.

²⁷ Then the kingdom and dominion,

And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,

Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.

His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’

²⁸ “This is the end of the ²account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart.”

Riviere, Briton    (1840-1920) 

Interpretation:

“His throne was a fiery flame,

Its wheels a burning fire”;

This is a description of a Seraphim, with a chakra that interconnects the different subtle energy fields of this creature.

26. Zachariah

                                       Death on the Pale Horse, 1796 Benjamin West  (1738-1820)  

Synopsis:

In Zechariah 1:7–6:8, the prophet Zechariah receives eight visions in one night:
1. The horseman among the myrtle trees (1:7-17)
2. The four horns and four craftsmen (1:18-21)
3. The surveyor (2:1-13)
4. The vision of Joshua the high priest (3:1-10)
5. The golden lampstand and two olive trees (4:1-14)
6. The flying scroll (5:1-4)
7. The woman in the basket (5:5-11)
8. The four chariots (6:1-8)

Zechariah begins his book with a strong call for Israel to repent (1:1-6). This theme of repentance is developed more fully through the subsequent eight visions. In general, these visions speak of God’s plans for Israel and especially for Jerusalem and the temple. Another major theme is the coming of the future Messiah. The prophet also had a mission of encouraging the post-exilic Jews to continue their work to rebuild the temple.

Here is a brief look at each of these divine visions:

1. The horseman among the myrtle trees (1:7-17): Zechariah sees a man and horses among the trees. The man explains that they had gone throughout the whole earth and found peace. An angel then tells the prophet that God still loved Israel and would restore Jerusalem. Verse 17 summarizes: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”

2. The four horns and four craftsmen (1:18-21): Zechariah is shown four horns and four craftsmen. The angel tells him that the horns are four kingdoms that opposed Israel (Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Medo-Persia) and the craftsmen are coming to “throw down these horns”; i.e., God would defeat Israel’s enemies.

3. The surveyor (2:1-13): Zechariah sees a man holding a measuring line. When the prophet asks the man where he is going, the man says he is going to measure the city of Jerusalem. This vision represents God’s promise that Jerusalem will be expanded and its people will one day live in safety as the Lord judges Israel’s enemies.

4. The vision of Joshua the high priest (3:1-10): Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest standing in filthy clothes; he is before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan stands to the side. Satan is rebuked, and Joshua is given rich, clean clothes. God Himself explains the vision: Joshua will be blessed in his service to the Lord. The vision is also symbolic of Israel’s restoration as God’s “priestly” nation (cf. Exodus 19:6). This vision of Joshua ends with a prediction of the ultimate high priest—the coming Messiah, symbolized by a Branch and an all-seeing Stone.

5. The golden lampstand and two olive trees (4:1-14): An angel shows Zechariah a golden lampstand being fed oil from two olive trees. The two olive trees are symbolic of Zerubbabel the governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest. The golden lampstand represents the temple and temple-worshiping community. God was making the point that He would once again work through His people to lay the foundation of the temple and finish the work.

6. The flying scroll (5:1-4): Zechariah sees a large scroll, written on both sides, flying over the whole land. This vision speaks of God’s judgment upon those who disobeyed His law.

7. The woman in the basket (5:5-11): The angel shows the prophet a basket that could hold an ephah (three-fifths of a bushel). On the basket is a lead cover. The angel opens the basket to reveal a woman sitting inside. The angel says, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land,” and seals the basket again with the heavy lid. Two other women appear with stork-like wings; they pick up the basket and carry it to Babylon. This strange vision pictures suppressed wickedness to be banished to Babylon where it would eventually be freed (cf. Revelation 17).

8. The four chariots (6:1-8): Zechariah sees four horses of different colours pulling four chariots. They quickly run through the entire earth, with the result that God’s Spirit has “rest.” This vision represents a judgment upon the enemies of Israel. After the judgment, God’s wrath will be appeased, and “rest” ensues. This final vision brings the series of visions full circle: the first vision had pictured these horses at the end of their mission. A similar vision of judgment, also using the imagery of horses, is found in Revelation 6:1-8.

The two middle visions, numbers 4 and 5, emphasize God’s blessing. As Israel returns to Jerusalem and rebuilds the temple, they will find God’s favour. The work will be accomplished, “‘not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (4:6).

Interpretation:

The golden lampstand and two olive trees (4:1-14): An angel shows Zechariah a golden lampstand being fed oil from two olive trees.

This refers also to the chakras, (for more information about the chakras click here) and their connecting channels, called nadis, (for more information about the nadis click here).

27. Leviathan 

Gustave Doré    (Strasburg, 6 January 1832 – Paris, 23 January 1883)

Synopsis:

Leviathan already figures in the Hebrew Bible as a metaphor for a powerful enemy, notably Babylon (Isaiah 27:1). The word later came to be used as a term for “great whale” as well as of sea monsters in general.

Leviathan is identified figuratively with both the primeval sea (Job 3:8, Psalms 74:13) and in apocalyptic literature – describing the end-time – as that adversary, the Devil, from before creation who will finally be defeated. In the divine speeches in Job, Behemoth and Leviathan may both be seen as composite and mythical creatures with enormous strength, which humans like Job could not hope to control.

Interpretation:

The Leviathan represents the forces of the subconsciousness, individual as well as collective. The sea is generally a symbol for the subconsciousness.

                                         Ilya Repin  1844 –1930      Job and his friends