The Holy Scripture
Chapter XLII
Come and I will show thee, where the waters are suspended in the highest, where fire is burning in the midst of hail, *where lightnings lighten out of the midst of snowy mountains,? where: thunders are roaring in the celestial heights, where a flame is burning in the midst of the burning fire and where *voices make themselves heard in the midst of thunder and earthquake.
Then I went tby his sidet and he took me by his hand and lifted me up on his wings and showed me all those things. I beheld the waters suspended on high in ‘Araboth Ragia‘ by (force of) the name YAH 'EHYE 'ASHER 'EHYE (Jah, I am that I am), Sand their fruits going down from heaven. and watering the face of the world, as it is written (Ps. civ. 13): "(He watereth the mountains from his chambers :) the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work".
And I saw fire and snow and hailstone that were mingled to- gether within each other and yet were undamaged, by (force of) the name 'ESH 'OKELA (consuming fire), as it is written (Deut. iv. 24): “For the Lord, thy God, is a consuming fire” |
And I saw lightnings that were lightening out of “mountains of snow and yet were not damaged (quenched), by (force of) the name YAH 7 SUR ‘OLAMIM (Jah, the everlasting rock), as it is written (Is. xxvi. 4): “For in Jah, YHWH, the everlasting rock”.
And I saw thunders and voices that were roaring in the midst of fiery flames and were not damaged (silenced), by (force of) the name 9'EL-SHADDAI RABBA (the Great God Almighty) as it is written (Gen. xvii. 1): “I am God Almighty ".
And I beheld a flame (and) a glow (glowing flames) that were _ flaming and glowing in the midst of burning fire, and yet were not damaged (devoured), by (force of) the name! YAD ‘AL KES YAH (the hand upon the Throne of the Lord) as it is written (Ex. xvii. 16): '*3 And he said: for the hand is upon the Throne of the Lord”.
And I beheld rivers of fire in the midst of rivers of water !? and they were not damaged (quenched) by (force of) the name ‘OSE 6—6 E: ‘flames of fire’ 7 Eins.: ‘YHWH’ 8-8 E om. from ‘’EL-SHADDAI RABBA’ VS. 5. to ‘YAD ‘AL KES YAH’ vs. 6. 9-9 E om. 10 E adds: ‘and rivers of water running in the midst of rivers of fire’ '"'ESH 'OKELA (consuming fire). Here the name seems to be chosen simply with regard to the fire, which is represented as unquenched in spite of its surroundings of snow and ice. For the idea of fire and its opposites kept in balance see vs. 7. 'Esh ’Okéla as attribute of God, see Alph. In fact 'ESH 'OKELA, in later Qabbala, very often follows immediately on ’EHYE ’asher '" EH Y E in enumerations of the Divine Names, a fact that drew the special attention of Reuchlin who comments upon it in his De Verbo Mirifico, chh. xvii, xviii. 4) lightnings...out of mountains of snow. ..by (force of) the name VAH SUR ‘OLAMIM. This is only another instance of the contraries of fire—ice (snow, water). The connection between instance and name seems to be, that the word ‘SUR: Rock’ suggests a relation to the ‘mountains (of snow)’. Else this verse, Is. xxvi. 4, is the regular point of support for the statement: God created the worlds by the letters Yod He (of YaH). In that case the Sur’ is interpreted from the root ‘SUR: to form, to create. Cf. note on ch. xiii. I. (5) thunders and voices...roaring in the midst of flames of fire...by force of the name 'EL SHADDAI RABBA. The voice of God was thought to go forth in the midst of fire. The connection of the Voice with the name ’EL SHADDAT is established by Ezek. x. 5: “‘as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh”. Cf. 2 En. x. 2. (7) And I beheld rivers of fire in the midst of rivers of water.... Cf.2 En. xxix.2: “And fire is in the water and water in the fire and neither is the one quenched nor the other dried up”. The juxtaposition of fire and water is a frequent cosmo- logical simile. TB. Pes. 3a, Yer. Rosh. ha-shShana, 58a, Cant. R. to iii. 11: "the sky is made of water, the stars of fire and yet they do not damage each other”. Gen. R. iv. 9: ““The Holy One, blessed be He, took fire and water, mixed them together and out of them the heavens were created”. Gen. R.x. 3: “ The Holy One, blessed be He, took fire and snow, mixed them and so out of them the universe was created”. In the last two passages the cosmology is apparent. Emphasis is laid on the mediating function of the Divine Name, in this verse most significantly ‘OSE SHALOM, i.e. ‘maker of peace. ‘Peace’ is the technical term for the mediation, the synthetical agency or Divine activity. Cf. the ‘angels 9-2 SHALOM (Maker of Peace) as it 1s written (Job xxv. 2): "He maketh peace in his high places!?". For he makes peace between the fire and the water, between the hail and the fire,? between the wind and the cloud, between the earthquake and the sparks.