{"id":73020,"date":"2020-04-07T00:43:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T21:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73020"},"modified":"2020-04-07T00:43:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T21:43:41","slug":"lamassu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lamassu\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamassu"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"73020","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"453","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A magnificent image - even if not divine\r\n\r\n","content":"

In this chapter, Ezekiel described his prophetic initiation alongside the banks of the Chebar River in Babylonia. \u201cI saw,\u201d he said, \u201cvisions of God\u201d (<\/span>mar\u2019ot Elohim<\/span><\/i>, v.1). Two prime questions arise: What did he see, and what connection was there between what he saw and how God really appears?<\/span><\/p>\n

But first, Radak offered a linguistic note. He would have us take issue with the English translation we used for the object of Ezekiel\u2019s vision. Rather than taking <\/span>mar\u2019ot Elohim<\/span><\/i> as a construct (possessive) of two nouns (visions of God), he saw it as a noun and an adjective (godly, or divine visions), explaining:<\/span><\/p>\n

This means wonderful and magnificent visions, as it is the custom of Scripture to aggrandize something by relating it to God, such as \u201ca great godly city\u201d [describing metropolitan Nineveh], \u201cgodly mountains\u201d [lofty], \u201cgodly cedars\u201d [tall], \u201cgodly darkness\u201d [gloomy], and \u201cgodly flame\u201d [blazing].<\/span><\/p>\n

If we may add an example of our own, <\/span>tzelem Elohim<\/span><\/i> (Gen. 1:27) cannot mean \u201cthe image of God\u201d because, as Maimonides formulated it, \u201cHe is neither corporeal, nor can He be described through corporeal attributes\u201d (Article 3 of his 13 articles of faith). Following Radak, it should be rendered as a godly, or divine image, a recognized biblical form of hyperbole used for extravagant praise or stature.<\/span><\/p>\n

As to what Ezekiel saw, by his own admission\u2014through his repeated use of the word <\/span>mar\u2019eh<\/span><\/i> (appearance, or semblance)\u2014we do not have an exact description of what that was; it strongly implies that he did not see those items in reality, but things that resemble them. But if he indeed saw something \u201creal,\u201d the closest that biblical scholarship and archaeology have come to identifying that object is the <\/span>lamassu<\/span><\/i>, a composite human, eagle, bull, and lion (see v.10). It was regarded in Mesopotamia as a protective deity and was often found at the entrances to palaces or temples and was surely recognizable to the exiled Jews who lived in their proximity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later Jewish mystical tradition considered this vision to be God\u2019 s chariot (<\/span>merkavah<\/span><\/i>) with its four faces symbolizing universal sovereignty: The bull rules domesticated animals, the lion\u2014wild animals, the eagle\u2014birds, man rules all animals and birds, and God rules over man.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Lamassu from Dur-Sharrukin. University of Chicago Oriental Institute. 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