by Fr. Lionel GOH O.F.M.(吴岳清)
“... The Holy Spirit came to an end in Israel... ”
Some Aspects of the Holy Spirit in early Judaism
Abstract
The author analyzes the attitude to the Holy Spirit in the Hebrew Bible, with particular attention to the differences in Pre-exilic and Post-Exilic Israel. Before the exile the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was richer and more extensive, for there were the Prophets who spoke on behalf of God. After the Exile, given the absence of prophecy, there was a difference in attitude to the Holy Spirit but a greater theological openness.
摘要
本文從舊約中分析聖神的看法，尤其是在以色列民充軍前後都有不同。充軍前因為有先知作上主的代言人，故對聖神的看法很豐富也廣闊；在充軍後，因沒有了先知的預言，看法上又有不同，但神學的開放性比較大。
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In Israel’s history, the Second Temple Period (c.515 BCE-70 AD) and after marked an interesting development in the understanding of the Holy Spirit. Once considered the divine inspiring force behind the ministry of the prophets, the Spirit was active and common among the Jewish community. In Second Temple Judaism (till the end of the Tannaitic period, i.e. c.300 CE) a flourishing of various ideas regarding the Holy Spirit occured.
The common view is that the Holy Spirit during this period was said to cease. This cessation of the Spirit of prophecy occurred because prophecy had fallen badly into disrepute. The prophet Zechariah in 13:2-6 speaks of the Day of Yahweh when the prophetic ministry will end, possibly because of the abuses of false prophets. Such abuses are recorded as early as the time of Jeremiah (23:11-40). In the Second Temple period, 1Macc 9:27 affirmed the belief that prophecy had ceased. Hence the Holy Spirit, the source of prophecy, is said to have ceased to be active. The tractate Sotah 13:3a in the Tosefta.(1) reiterates this belief: When the latter prophets died, that is, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, then Holy Spirit came to an end in Israel. Interestingly, however, it also adds: ”but even so, they made them (Israel) hear [God] through an echo.
This “echo” or mysterious voice was identified in earliest Judaism as the Bat Kol or “daughter of a voice”. God’s communication with Israel was not totally severed by the absence of the Holy Spirit after the end of prophecy. This Bat Kol was a substitute means of communication. It was a disembodied voice and was so called probably to “avoid saying that men heard the actual voice of God”.(2) A Second Temple period example of the working of the Bat Kol is found in Dan 4:28-29, when a voice from heaven rebuked Nebuchadnezzar. Ancient records preserved in the Tosefta Sotah also tell of the time when the High Priest Yohanan (John Hyrcanus 135-104 BC) heard a Bat Kol in the Holy of Holies announcing the victory of the Jewish young men warring against Antiochus (13.5a). It also tells of a time in 41 AD when the High Priest Simon heard in Aramaic a Bat Kol announcing the death of the Emperor Caligula (13.6).
It is interesting to note that the Gospels record a voice from heaven during the baptism of Jesus (Mt 3:13-17; Mk 1:9-11; Lk 3:21-22) as well as during the Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36). What is striking about the Baptismal scene is that the Holy Spirit descends and then the voice speaks. Traditional Judaic belief, on the other hand, is that the Bat Kol speaks only because there is no Holy Spirit. The voice from heaven in Jn 12:28 is inferred from the context to be that of the Father, although in v. 30 Jesus refers to it as simply “this voice” and not “my Father’s voice”, as would have been expected. Judeo-christians accept this voice in the Gospels to be Bat Kol.(3) Acts 9:4 also records a disembodied voice speaking, but this time it is identified with Jesus.
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Bat Kol was noted to continue to function on several occasions in Judaic history. A gathering of sages in Jamnia to settle a halakhic dispute between the followers of Hillel and Shammai was ultimately settled in favour of the former by the intervention of a Bat Kol. In Jericho, a Bat Kol declared Hillel the Elder to be worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit.(4)
But contrary to this idea that “the Spirit ceased in Israel”, other alternative views of the Holy Spirit of prophecy also exist. These views maintain that the Spirit never really ceased in activity but existed or functioned differently from that of prophecy with which it is traditionally associated.
One such view holds that the Spirit of prophecy was given to a group of persons other than the prophets. This is tersely pronounced by Rabbi Yohanan ben Nappaha (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Bathra 121b) in the late 3rd century CE: Since the destruction of the Temple, the gift of prophecy has been taken away from the prophets and given to fools and children.
No doubt the “Temple” here refers to the Second Temple. That the gift of prophecy was taken away from the prophets was no doubt due to the reasons spelled out above. There is no Bat Kol. The Holy Spirit of prophecy does not cease but is said to be given to fools and children. No doubt this concept drew its inspiration partly from Joel 3:1 and perhaps also from Jeremiah as the “madman” who was the true prophet (Jer 29:26).
Lest it be said that this pronouncement regarding the Spirit of prohecy is dated to the late 3rd century CE, it should be noted that a parallel idea is found in Mt 11:25: I bless you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. We may also elicit 1Cor 1:26, where Paul explains the role of the foolish in God’s plans. The essence of the Spirit of prophecy as inherited by fools and children is hence an ancient concept developed before the destruction of the Second Temple.
Yet another Second Temple concept of the Holy Spirit holds that while prophecy is ended, the Holy Spirit now is given to only the virtuous. This seems to be a reaction against unworthy persons who claimed to be prophets. In Wis 1:4-5, we hear of the Holy Spirit of instruction as shunning deceit, and disassociating itself from reckless purpose and iniquity. An interesting fact suggested by the Book of Wisdom is worthy of note: the Spirit is now identified with Wisdom (1:4.6). It does not reside in crafty souls “nor stay in a body that is in debt to sin” (1:4). Wisdom is a spirit and a friend to man (1:6), i.e. the virtuous man. It refuses to pardon the blasphemer. In 7:22-23, Wisdom is described as a spirit with 21 positive attributes. Taking up the concept of spirit as ruah, 7:25 says that Wisdom is a breath of the power of God.
This identification of Wisdom with the Spirit continued after the destructuion of the temple in 70 AD. It functions primarily as an instructor, as the Canticle of Canticle Rabbah (5) notes in 1.8: Rabbi Judan said: It is to teach you that whoever preaches on the Torah in public merits that the Holy Spirit should rest on him. From whom do you learn this? From Solomon; for, because he discoursed on the Torah in public, he earned the privilege that the Holy Spirit rested on him and he composed three books, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Songs of Songs.
The virtuous here are said to be those who preached or taught the Torah publicly, and the reward for such an act was the gift of the Holy Spirit. In keeping with tradition, the Spirit here is understood to be the inspirer of Holy Scriptures.
This concept of the Holy Spirit as gift is found also in the synoptic Gospels and especially in John’s Gospel. However a major difference is immediately noted. While in the gospels the gift of the Holy Spirit is totally gratuitous, in Judaic literature it is a reward to be merited by virtuous persons. A virtuous life hence is a prerequisite to the attainment of the Holy Spirit.
Rabbi Phinehas ben Jair (2nd century CE) adds an interesting note in his famous “steps of holiness” (Sotah 9.15): (6) Heedfulness leads to cleanliness, and cleanliness leads to purity, and purity leads to abstinence, and abstinence leads to holiness, and holiness leads to humility, and humility leads to the shunning of sin, and the shunning of sin leads to saintliness, and saintliness leads to the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead. And the resurrection of the dead shall come through Elijah of blessed memory. Amen.
The Holy Spirit is seen as a gift but based on the requisite of saintliness, of a virtuous life wihtout sin. But in turn this Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead. That the Spirit is life-giving is nothing new in ancient Judaism. Genesis presents the creative, life-giving power of the ruah of God. In Ezekiel 37, the role of the Spirit to revive the dry bones is noted, albeit a metaphor for the restoration of the House of Israel. These texts have not been explicit in associating the role of the Holy Spirit with the resurrection. R. Phinehas’ dictum spells out in no uncertain terms the direct relationship between the resurrection of the dead and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Frederic Manns *10* has done extensive research on another view of the Holy Spirit. No longer a gift to prophets, this Spirit is described through the image of water. Based on ancient biblical texts, e.g. Isaiah 32:15-20; 44:3-4; Joel 3:1 etc., it can be seen that, from the Second Temple period onwards, this Spirit-Water functioned to purify people (Qumran), and acted to bring about a virtuous life (not the reward) of justice and integrity. *11* An interesting aspect of the Holy Spirit is associated with the Water Libation Ritual celebrated on the last day of Sukkot (Sukkah 5.4). According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 5.1, 55a) the joy of the participants during this festival was the result of the Holy Spirit. Such joy was possible only when one was inspired by the Spirit. The Spirit-Water image also assumes the other various views of the Holy Spirit mentioned above but always in terms of water.
This cursory look at the many aspects of the Holy Spirit as understood during the Second Temple period and beyond has merely scraped the surface of the prolific literature that merits greater study on this topic: from the Deuterocanonicals and the Apocrypha to the Jewish legends of the Tannaitic period. To those who were disillusioned with the abuses of the false prophets, the Spirit ceased in Israel. No one was found worthy of this gift. To others, more optimistic of God’s fidelity and love for his Chosen People, the Spirit continued to exist though no longer for the purpose of prophecy. Prophecy ceased but the Spirit of joy, wisdom and life continued to be active.
*10* Le Symbole Eau-Esprit dans le Judaisme Ancien. Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1983.
*11* Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18, 116-117.
Note
Neusner, The Tosefta translated from the Hebrew: Third Division Nashim. New York: Ktav, 1979. All quotations from the Tosefta are taken from this series by Neusner.
G. F. Moore, Judaism, vol. 1. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 1960. p. 422.
D. H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary. Maryland: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1992.
Tosefta Sotah 13:3c
Midrash Rabbah. Song of Songs. (H. Freedman & M. Simon eds., M. Simon trans.). London / New York: Soncino, 1983.
The Midrash (H. Danby ed.). London: Oxford Uni.versity Press, 1933.