The Three Bodies of God in the Hebrew Bible

Abstract

Considerable attention has been devoted to God's in Hebrew Bible, but its widely differing representations have not been addressed. This article sketches out a typology of three types of divine bodies, based on different scales, locations, and settings in life: a natural body; a superhuman-sized liturgical body; and a cosmic or mystical body.(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)I. INTRODUCTION TO GOD'S BODIESIn recent years, several scholars have discussed anthropomorphism of God's in Hebrew Bible. This has been subject of three books, not to mention topic of several articles.1 Generally, authors (myself included) have lumped together biblical references to God's body2 or have focused on a limited segment of these references.3 To date, there is no general typology for understanding biblical references to God's in Hebrew Bible. Before beginning, it is important to acknowledge contributions made to this topic by other scholars, most notably Esther J. Hamori, Benjamin D. Sommer, and Andreas Wagner,4 without which this essay would not be possible. Most of elements in discussion below appear in these works.This essay sketches out a typology of God's according to size or scale, which can be correlated to location and material. According to these categories, Hebrew Bible presents not one but three sorts of divine bodies. The first involves a human-scale manifest on earth. It is physical like a human body. The second entails a superhuman-sized manifest on earth that is not physical like a human body.5 The third likewise lacks physicality of a human body6 and is located at or above heavens. After surveying instances of these three types of divine bodies, I examine their backgrounds. Each case entails what may be called a double Sitz im Leben, namely, a traditional setting as well as further elaboration in a scribal context.7Before proceeding, it is important also to define word body, as it is a critical term for this discussion. In his important study The Bodies of God, Sommer defines a as something located in a particular place at a particular time, whatever its shape or substance.8 In his definition, Sommer includes priestly kabod (...) in Pentateuch as a divine body. Sommer's definition seems broader than either word's modern usage or biblical sense of human or divine bodies. According to Oxford English Dictionary, a is the physical or material frame or structure of man or of any animal.9 According to American Heritage Dictionary,10 a entails the entire material structure and substance of an organism, especially of a human being or an animal. A definition of body for biblical material without reference to human would not account for central role that human plays in biblical anthropomorphism generally and in biblical representation of God's in particular. Given these considerations, kabod in Priestly passages of Pentateuch does not qualify as a divine body.11 The concept of kabod is important, however, for topic of God's bodies, and so this essay concludes with how it fits into larger picture.II. GOD'S NATURAL HUMAN BODY IN GENESISGenesis 2-3 is first passage that endows God with a body.12 In this story, God breathed into his [Adam's] nostrils breath of life, perhaps in manner of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.13 In Gen 2:8, God plants a garden, a rather physical, human activity. There is also the sound of Lord God moving about in garden at breezy time of day (Gen 3:8 NJPS). Here God seems like a great king in his royal garden,14 and description perhaps conjures up depictions of kings not uncommonly represented in ancient Near Eastern art as taller than their royal subjects.15 This divine would seem to be on scale of human bodies, only somewhat taller. …