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Ausgabe: | 1961 Nr. 3 |
Spalte: | 179-184 |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Strobel, A. |
Titel/Untertitel: | Der gegenwärtige Stand der Erforschung der in Palästina neu gefundenen Hebräischen Handschriften 1961 |
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179
Theologische Literaturzeitung 1961 Nr. 3
180
"arm", "pillar", a phallic Symbol19. Dr. Derrett describes Indra
as a phallus-column "upholding the heavens for the good of
creatures" (p. 117), calling him "embodiment of brilliant power";
and in a note on p. 123 he says
'Nothing depicts the king's nature as phallus-pillar-Indra more
clcarly than the a x i s mundi pose of the king, about to be
'sprinkled', Standing erect on his throne (the navel of the Earth), with
both arms readiing to the sky.'
In this Indian myth we find both concepts — the cosmic
king and the pillar a6 phallus, organ of life-giving. The Indra-
phallus must represent the Father-principle and the 6emen in
Nasoraean secret texts is equated with Water of Life and hence
with the Jordan.
These Symbols appear to have passed into Kabbalistic mysti-
cism. In his study of the Sephira "Righteousness", under the
title Die Lehre vom „Gerechten" in der jüdischen
Mystik (Eranoe Jahr-Buch XXVII, 1959) Professor
Gershom Scholem traces its course in the history of Jewish my-
sticism. It appears on the Tree of the Sefiroth in a manner which
accentuates its character as „Fundament der Welt, das Fundament
der Seelen und der Sabbath, der als siebenter ,Urtag' zwischen
den sechs anderen Tagen, die die sechs vorangehenden Sefiroth
sind und deren Potenzen zum Teil im Widerstreit20 miteinander
liegen, den Ausgleich schafft" (p. 246). He quotes the Talmud,
'Auf einer Säule steht die Welt, und ihr Name ist Gerechter, denn
es heißt (Prov. 10 :26): „Der Gerechte ist der Grund der Welt."21 Dieser
Gerechte wird nun als die kosmische Potenz aufgefaßt, die die Welt
oben und unten erhält.'
Scholem also refers to the phallic nature of the column,
'Die Symbolik der Säule an dieser Stelle entspricht der des Lebensbaums
, der von Erde bis zum Himmel wächst und der den Autoren des
Bahir zum kosmischen Weltenbaum geworden ist, worauf ich noch zurückkomme
, und vielleicht auch schon der Phallus.'
In the Nasoraean Adam-Kasia the phallus holds the dhief
place of honour in the s t u n (the trunk of the Heavenly Man),
because it conveys Water of Life, "jordans of living water" to
the elect. (The idea is also implicit in the Zohar, which postulates
the sixth Sefirah (Tif'ereth) as the active masculine principle,
the receptive and nutritive principle being represented by the
Shecinah.) Almost equal Status is awarded to the cosmic Womb,
often called "the Wellspring", thereby seeming to confuse the
"Water of Life" theme, but not really, because it does not flow,
but concentrates, and produces within its depths all living creatures
. This concept of the Mother of all life is repeatedly present
in Manichaean hymns, e. g. Kephalaia p. 82 : 1 ff.:
"The second throne is that of the Mother of Life . . . who
is the original [source] of all emanations projected into this world.
The third throne is that set up for the Father . .."
19) That a phallic meaning attaches to the word I had proof when
visiting a cave-shrine in the Valley of Shaikh 'Adi in Kurdistan. It is
frequented by women who wish to remove the Stigma of childlessness.
A natural column in the centre of the cave between floor and roof was
called the stüna or ustüna (I did not See the word written).
Barren women who visit the cave are told to embrace the "ustüna
marädha"; and I photographed a lad who showed me how it was done.
(See Peacock Angel (Murray, 1941) p. 164 and opposite p. 155.)
20) The "pairs and opposites" of the Clementines?
21) In our revised Version of the O. T. verse 2 5, "the righteous is
an everlasting foundation."
The cosmic Father and Mother appear constantly in books
intended for initiates (the "secret books") I quote examples in
The Secret Adam. The symbolic "Wellspring" is paired with the
Palmtree (s i n d i r k a), understood as the male Datepalm. This
can also be included amongst s t u n Symbols, on account of its
uprightness, its fertilising pollen, and the fact that its stem or
trunk is still used for pillars and framework in architecture, as it
was in Sumerian and Babylonian times.
The "King of Greatness" is referred to often in the
Manichaean texts. He is the Mara d-Rabutha of Nasoraean hymns
and ritual commentaries. Here is a quotation from bk. II, part iv
of "A Thousand and Twelve Questions", p. 23 3 of the trans-
lation:
'And Mara d-Rabutha set Himself above (all), for He is the
Head, the Sign", the Crown and the Wreath: the Word dwelleth
in Him, and Vision and fragrant perfume and the Ear which
heareth everything.'
Again, he seems to be the Great M a n a or its vehicle.
The expression "Lord of Greatness" is Jewish, for it is found in
the Genesis Apocryphon, one of the manuscripts discovercd in
the Jordan Valley caves.
' ... Swear to me by the Most High, the Lord of Greatness, King
of all worlds . . .'
(I quote from the translation of Nahman Avigad and Yigael
Yadin) (Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1956, p. 40).
In Nasoraean mystic writings we see him as Creator,
'And it was Mara d-Rabutha who brought these mysteries
(g i n z i a)23 into the Second World, wrote them down, delivered all
these mysteries into the hands of Hibil-Ziwa and raised Adam the First
Man and all his progeny from the black darkness and set him up in
lovely light.' (1012 Questions, bk. I. pt. II, p. 191, No. 288.)
For it was the earthly double (dmuta, ebedw) of the
Light-Adam which feil into darkness, a theme whidi we find
elaborated greatly in the Manichaean books.
A great deal remains to be discerned and much to be kamt
from comparison of the two great gnostic literatures which can
still be studied by us. From them emerges, if faintly, the image
of a far older gnosis, in which remnants of lost wisdom show as
dim writing in a palimpsest. It is that of a theosophy half-under-
stood, sub-consciously believed, and wholly influencing the
minds of men of the earliest centuries of our era.
Humanism, in the twentieth Century vocabulary, has come
to mean a System of thought which rejects the "supernatural"
and concerns itself wholly with the advancement of Man. The
Adam-gnosis was also concerned with the advancement of man,
but its hopes and beliefs were translated into numinous terms,
not far from those expressed in a recent book by Teilhard de
Chardin24.
22) R u s u m a, a word used for a "sign" made with m i 2 a (oil).
The root MSH for '"anoint" is avoided most carefully because of
Jewish and Christian associations. Adam is never called m s i h a
(Messiah).
**) G i n z i a (secret) trea6ure6, or my6teries.
2*) The Phenomenon of Man (Nelson), or in the original
French Le Phenomene Humain, Pierre Teilhard du Chardin,
(Editions du Seuil, Paris).
Der gegenwärtige Stand der Erforschung der in Palästina neu gefundenen hebräischen Handschriften
45. Zur kalendarisch-chronologischen Einordnung der Qumran-Essener
Von A. S t r o
Wie ich vor kurzem auf Grund einer ins Frühchristentum
hineinragenden Überlieferung zu zeigen versucht habe1, war der
in jüngster Zeit so heftig diskutierte esseni6che Sonnenkalender2
*) Vgl. A. Strobel, Der Termin des Todes Jesu. Überschau und
Lösungsvorschlag unter Einschluß des Qumrankalenders, ZNW 51, 1960,
S. 69 ff.
2) Vgl. jetzt zuletzt K. G. Kuhn, ThLZ 85, 1960, Sp. 654 £E.; auch
G. Ogg, Rez. von A. Jaubert, La Date de la Cene, in NovTest 3, 1959,
S. 149 ff. (dagegen ohne Neues zu bieten mit bloßer Emphase N. Walker,
bei, Erlangen
nicht minder funktionsfähig als der julianische. Er beruhte nämlich
, was auch schon A. Jaubert vermutete, auf der Kenntnis des
28jährigen Sonnenzirkels. Dieser war wahrscheinlich schon im
frühen 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr., vermutlich durch Ägypten vermittelt
, im syrisch-seleukidischen Herrschaftsbereich der Kalenderpraxis
zugrundegelegt worden. Auch in Palästina fand er Abnehmer
. Vor allem in zadokidisch-essenischen Sektenkrei6en
Concerning the Jaubertian Chronology of the Passion, NovTest 3, 1959,
S. 317 ff.).