"It is highly likely that Abraham's God was El, the High God of Canaan. The deity introduces himself to Abraham as El Shaddai (El of the Mountain), which was one of El's traditional titles. Elsewhere he is called El Elyon (The Most High God) or El of Bethel. The name of the Canaanite High God is preserved in such Hebrew names as Isra-El or Ishma-El. They experienced him in ways that would not have been unfamiliar to the pagans of the Middle East. We shall see that centuries later Israelites found the mana or "holiness" of Yahweh a terrifying experience. On Mount Sinai, for example, he would appear to Moses in the midst of an awe-inspiring volcanic eruption, and the Israelites had to keep their distance. In comparison, Abraham's god El is a very mild deity. He appears to Abraham as a friend and sometimes even assumes human form. This type of divine apparition, known as an epiphany, was quite common in the pagan world of antiquity."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Karen Armstrong: A History of God, pp. 14–15
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/El_Elyon
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
El Elyon
1 quote on TrueQuotesView all quotes by El Elyon →
Related Quotes
"Many times our fellow men are argued and even persuaded into a special turn of mind, and here we often learn by exper…"
"Edvige Carboni lived an ordinary life, from the outside the same as that of so many laypeople, but extraordinary in t…"
"There is a sense in which Ivan's love of that little girl [in The Brothers Karamazov] is always in danger of becoming…"
"(About the Magnificat) Union with God, the great aim of all prayer and all worship finds its clearest expression in t…"
"There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Ma…"
"Each one of us must seek God alone, Straining towards him both by reason And by renouncing our own will For the sake …"
"Medical morality should be set within constraints integral to aiming one’s life at holiness, at union with God."
"A divine philosopher is he who through ascetic purification and noetic contemplation has achieved a direct union with…"
"If a man does not think too much, he rejoices at rising in the morning, and at eating and drinking. He finds satisfac…"
"All birth means separation from the All, the confinement within limitation, the separation from God, the pangs of bei…"