Anthropomorphic Antiquity

By: Jonathan Seidel

Rabbinic overt anthropomorphism 

The excessive anthropomorphism in rabbinic literature surpasses the biblical usage. The sages used human-like features at a far frequent rate and applied them way more intimately. The reason for this may have historical and ideological reasons. 

The common external rationales follow either paganistic affinities radical defence from hellenism and christianity or destruction of the temple. The former two relate to the religious atmosphere and attempting to survive in a cultured climate. While this may be true it likely a small factor for the rabbinic sages. To pursue a specific mantra to deface external invasion is difficult to prove and more difficult to assume. The temple rationale is akin to the celestial link following the travesty. Just as kabbalistic literature bargained a supernal ontology to cope with the suffering so too did the talmudic rabbis. The taanaitic mystics may also have contributed to this frame moulding their mystic positions 

The rabbinic model was more a source of philosophy than defence. The destruction played a role in attempt to reaffirm the lost intimacy with God. Allegories prompted intense narratives about divine linkage. Despite the lack of spiritual affinity in the atmosphere, God was still close. Even without the temple, God was still personal. He was personal before he was personal after. The rabbinic mentality brought God closer as to communicate and comprehend. 

Rabbinic exegesis furthered this phenomenon in sermonic inspiration. The narrative discourse deriving from biblical passages voided the systemic theology in early Christian circles. The narrative phase is akin to the biblical model that places God as a character to interact with. Who has a stake in the project. God is a powerful force that also is one to be trifled with. God is not some remote deity who one simply surrenders to but one to put a fight with. Confront God and talk to him. Narratively even without the temple God is still personal and close. 

The rabbinic project raised the scholar and sidelined the prophet. Scholarship was the new mode of religious leadership. The scholarly knowledge of halakhic expression was guarded as supreme. Rabbinic authority hinged on confronting God. If God is a foreign king to obey there his no rebelling. Humanising God made it tenable to argue with him. God’s law is as much our law as his. God is a judge to be bargained with. Rabbinic autonomy and engaged legislation poised a symbiotic religious law. The law is not celestial and remote but divinely personal. Man can handle and must handle the law. 

There is an element of divine concessions. The exegetical narratives remark that God’s will was altered by human protest. Propelling the human participation in the covenant. Human protest to divine will is not to demonstrate our power but our portion. Divine expression is no coercive nor tyrannical. God does demand and then we follow but we also have an opinion. We can argue. There is a democratic retaliation that the people do matter in the course of divine expression. 

There is a new level of divine corporeality. This exile sapped the spiritual haven and the narratives comforted the people. Man is on his own and it is his choice how to survive. The allegories disempower God not to say God stinks but that it is man’s job to grab the mantle. The divine pathos of the prophet is now the rabbinic pathos. The supernal power is lost and human activity is the mode of thriving. 

Unlike their successors they did not void the anthropomorphic labels displacing God and centralising humanity. The rabbis still wished to have God close and near. They did not give up on their corporeal heritage but they did shift the scales. The symbolism inherent in these texts upholds the biblical literary style but changes the trajectory. Man is now the husband and judge instead of God. God protected man in the past now it is man’s turn to protect God  his wife. tThe inferior roles designated God is an indebted attitude that man is to save God now that prophecy has ceased.     

The rabbinic transformation follows an ideological following the exile but instead dismantling their tradition they rewrote it to succeed in the unknown future. The metaphors highlight man’s newfound purpose and his protection of his heritage and his deity. The overzealousness was to cope with the harsh reality of spiritual decline opting for humanised notations to bolster the project as confident businessmen ensuring a profitable future.