Theophany - Jewish Views

Jewish Views

The Jewish view of the Bible is discerned through Judaism's oral law, which is recorded in various works of rabbinic literature, such as the Mishnah and Talmud.

Hashem's purpose in creating the world was so that He could reside amongst His creations. And, before Adam's sin, Hashem did just that. However, when Adam sinned, he drove Hashem to ascend to the lowest of the seven heavens. When Kayin sinned, Hashem ascended higher still, and so on due to the sins of the generation of Enosh, the generation of the flood, the generation of the Tower of Bavel, the S'domites, and the Egyptians. In all, Hashem ascended to the seventh heaven.

Then there came seven generations that managed to bring the Shechina down gradually to this world again. These generations were: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Levi, Kahat, Amram and Moshe.

“And Hashem descended onto Mount Sinai,” means that the Shechina finally returned to this lowest of worlds.

The Mishkan was built so that Hashem could again reside amongst men, as the Torah states (Shoot 25:8): "They will build Me a Mishkan so that I may reside amongst them." Thus, the day on which the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was dedicated was as joyous for Hashem as the day on which Hashem created the world.

The Rabbis say that until the erection of the Mishkan / Tabernacle in the wilderness, all nations had prophetic revelations from God. However, from that time forward, Israel was usually the only recipient of the divine truth. Only exceptionally did non-Jewish people prophets like Balaam attain prophetic powers, and at best they had only prophetic dreams (Midrash Leviticus Rabbah i. 12-13). According to R. Eliezer, each person among the Israelites, including even the least intelligent bond-woman, saw God's glory at the Red Sea in clearer form than did, afterward, prophets of the stamp of Ezekiel; wherefore they burst forth into the song, "This is my God" (Mek., l.c., with reference to Ex. xv. 2).

When asked by a Samaritan to explain how the words of God "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jer. xxiii. 24) could be reconciled with the words spoken to Moses, "I will meet with thee, and . . . commune with thee . . . from between the two cherubims" (Ex. xxv. 22), R. Meïr made his interlocutor look into two mirrors of different shapes and sizes, saying, "Behold, your own figure appears differently because the mirrors reflect it differently; how much more must the glory of God be mirrored differently by different human minds?" (Midrash Genesis Rabbah iv. 3).