One of the thoughts I have about the Bible is disturbing: humans lack autonomy. For clarification, when I say the Bible, I mean the Hebrew Bible from which it originally comes — not an edited, politically driven version reordered over the centuries by Gentiles. “Tanakh” rhymes with “bach.” In Judaism this is an acronym for the three categories that make up the Bible: Torah, Nevi’im (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings). There is really no such thing as the “Old Testament” as Christians use the term. They simply took one book from the Jews, added a book of their own, and then, seeking to distance themselves from the fact that the two cannot be fully reconciled, labeled it “Old” and the other “New.” I’ll say the obvious: it’s bizarre. On the positive side, it did bring them to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and taught them what Moses received at Mount Sinai. My observation, take the Matriarchs — Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. In the whole story of Abraham and Sarah having a child in old age, there is a funny passage that hints at something working at a deeper level than their consciousness to affect events. The Torah tells us angels visit Abraham and tells 99-year-old Abraham that his 90-year-old wife Sarah will become pregnant and give birth to a child. Sarah is eavesdropping on this conversation between her husband and the angels and starts laughing. Her exact words to herself: “Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment, with my husband so old?” Full stop. Whatever this intelligence is behind the Torah is aware of a woman’s own sexual thoughts. She didn’t say these words out loud — she thought them. And her mind doesn’t go to giving birth or having a child. The thought is about “enjoyment.” Presumably this means sex, which assumes they are old and no longer having sex, and she is well past menopause. So think through this. First, this entity has control over a biological being — humans in this case — and can change reality with its will. Second, it has access and ability to edit human thoughts. My initial question is: Is this intervention limited, or, if we step back and think about it, does this hint at an unseen reality where this entity (in Judaism we are taught this is G-d, Elohim) is aware of all thoughts of all humans simultaneously at all times? The second thing observed is that the course of reality and human history is flowing over time in one direction. But key here — there is intervention, biologically and sexually. And of course, in our world we would call it a sense of humor. Because hearing this, Sarah laughs. The son consequently produced from this sex between two ninety-year-olds is named Yitzchak, which in Hebrew means “He shall laugh.” A deeper question would be: Why would angels (note the plural, so more than one) be sent to appear — we do not know what they looked like — to Abraham and engage in a conversation? That means they have the ability to communicate in human language. Why would it not just be transmitted by thought, or simply motivate the two ninety-year-olds to try having sex again? There appears to be a need for this dialogue between angels and humans to occur. I have no clue — only speculation — as to what that could be. So we have an all-powerful entity that intervenes in human history and sends this message: it is going to intervene in a 90-year-old couple’s sex life by giving the woman the ability to become pregnant and give birth to a child through higher sentient beings than humans. The pure implausibility of such a story occurring is what gives me a level of comfort that it is based on something that actually happened. I’m just not sure anyone could make this up.
POSTED BY JON