The Hebrew Bible is the primary source of symbolism and the promise of divine union for esoteric Judaism, Christianity and Islam, The Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam were not read by mystics, they were to an extent lived out and acted upon. The mystic, esoteric experience is an attempt to directly experience an unmediated relationship with the Divine. However, this experience is mediated by inherited symbols from earlier traditions and the need to have a shared symbolic language that is understood within the esoteric community. This language has its roots within the Hebrew bible, the TaNaK, or Old Testament, which is read both by Jews and Christians and indirectly through the Quranic retelling of the TaNaK narrative.We must remember that preceding the enlightenment, the Bible was read as a faithful record of actual events. The Israelites did walk through the Red Sea, Moses bought water from a roc, there was a great Flood. Scholars did note the difficulties and contradictions posed by the Scriptural account, and much debate and analysis was given my exoteric and esoteric writers alike. Historical critics today, attempt to demystify the bible and challenge the efficacy of the creation account, the miracles of Moses, the Davidic kingdom as well as biblical morals such as the practice of slavery and the treatment of woman. Whereas ancient readers were seeking wisdom of mans past, present and future. The life stories of the biblical hero is seen as revelatory of what is possible. If Moses can perform a miracle then why can not the mystic also experience Divine power? What the bible says about the prophet Moses is accurate and is a pattern for the mystic to follow. What the Bible describes of the world is true, whether literally or symbolically. For primarily the accounts are examples for mankind to follow. In later mystery traditions, the ecstatic experience of God and miracles were at times entwined.
The foremost and greatest influence is the prophet Moses. Although preceding biblical figures acted as prophets, Adam speaks with god (Gen. 3:8-19, as does Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) who is called a Navi or prophet (Gen 20:70, Hagar, the descendant of Islam, is helped by God (Gen. 21:14-21), Jacob sees the heavens open declaring the location Beth-el or the house of God (Gen. 28:10-15), Isaac and Jacob are refred to as prophets (Ps 105:9-15) and Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams (Gen 31:25-46). However, it is Moses directly relationship with God ‘face to face’ and his experiencing symbols that are repeated and expanded upon by later mystics that place Moses as greatest amidst the mystic writers.
Having fled Egypt, God appears to Moses on “Horeb, the mountain of God”, “in flames of fire from within a bush” that “did not burn up”(Exod. 3:1, 2). Moses is ordered to remove his sandals “for the place where you are standing is holy ground” and “Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” (Exod. 3:5,6). When Moses asks what he should say when asked what the n ame of God is, and in reply Moses is empowered to miraculously lead Israel out of Egypt, dry shod through the Red Sea “wall of water on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14: 22) before destructively turning the waters back on the pursuing Egyptian army. (Exodus 14:21-31)Notably, “then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.” (Exod. 15:20). Later mystics for example, the Sufi, would associate dancing the joyous experience of God. Another example is found in 18th century, Hasidic ceremonies described as “very noisy affairs….When they prayed, often at the top of their voices, they swayed and clapped their hands. They sang a tune called a niggun and danced to it.”(Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, Harper Perennial, 1988,p. 297).
On arriving back at Mount Sinai (Horeb) the people are told to prepare themselves for “the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai before all the people.” God had come to Moses ‘in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may have faith in you also” (Exod. 19:9) now they are to experience a great theophany. The mountain is declared off limits on pain of death until the sound of a rams horn calls them up the mountain.
They are to be sanctified and have not ‘intercourse with any woman’ (Exod. 19:14, 15). This theme of sexual asceticism before god would be later developed in some esoteric schools.Sinai was enshrouded in heavy cloud and smoke as if ‘from a furnace’ with great thunders and lightning’s and loud trumpet blasts. The people are afraid and Moses and Aaron ascend the mountain and in full hearing of the people the Ten Commandments, a series of laws and promised rewards for fidelity declared aloud by God. Following a communal sacrifice, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself." But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; "they saw God, and they ate and drank”(Exod. 24:9-11).
Moses is described as God’s ‘intimate friend’ who knows God ‘face to face” (Exod. 33:11, 12). In what appears to be an oddity in the text, Moses who asks to see God’s glory and is told “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." (Exod 33:19, 20) Of course chapter 24 described Moses and the elders seeing God with no ill effect. However, Moses is told “I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen" (Exod. 33:21-33) and God passes by declaring his attributes “"The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6, 7).
In these accounts we see a basic pattern repeated by later mystics. A person approaches God through ascent and pilgrimage from slavery to the promise land of freedom. Purification is demanded, the sea is crossed, a mountain ascended, cloud and darkness passed, fire and a sea of sapphire or glass described and a land of rest rewarded.
Other Jewish prophets would take up these themes and expand upon them. Isaiah of the 8th century BCE has a vision of the “Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled" the temple ‘house’ or hekal (a large house or palace) where he is commissioned as a prophet. Isaiah sees a group of seraphim, a type of angel, “each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying “ who declare God holy “At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke” (Isa 6:2, 4). Immediately Isaiah declares he is ‘ruined’ or as good as dead for he is unclean of lips and unworthy to see God at which a Seraph takes a coal from the altar and cleanses his lips declaring “your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" (Isa. 6:4-7) and Isaiah willingly accepts the call for someone to represent God declaring “Here I am, send me!”‘Again we see the theme of glory, holiness and the need for purification from uncleanness to approach God. Also we see the hekal , house, or palace, as a symbol which is taken up by later mystics.
Another Prophet whose visions became part of the symbolic language of esoteric Abrahamic Mysticism was Ezekiel, who lived as part of the of the Israelite community exiled to Babylon by the King Nebuchadnezzar exiled
Ezekiel hears “the word of the Lord” (Ezek. 1:3), the heavens open, he experiences a great vision visions (Ezek. 1:4−28), and is also commissioned to the role of prophet (2:1−4). “A whirlwind” comes “out of the north”, there is “a great cloud” and “a fire” “in folding it, and brightness was about it: and out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the resemblance of crystallite” From within this fire their appear 4 creatures called cherubim (cherubs) with four faces, four wings and a mixture of angelic human and animal features, the wings of each angel, which loudly emit “the noise of many waters, as it were the voice of the most high God” touches the other and they can go any direction without turning at the impulse of the spirit moving like ‘flashes of lightening” (Ezek. 1:5-12, 14). The cherubs are described as like “burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of torches” and “in the midst of the living creatures, a bright fire, and lightning going forth from the fire’ (Ezek. 1:13). A divine chariot is seen. It appears as “one wheel” “with four faces” that is in fact four wheels “like the appearance of the sea” “and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel.”Over this Heavenly Throne chariot, the merkabah,” “ was the likeness of the firmament, the appearance of crystal terrible to behold” (Ezek. 1:22) above which is a description of the enthroned rider of this chariot in a glory comparable to that used to describe The Lord in Exodus 24. Above the firmament “was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of the sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne, was the likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the appearance of fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round about. As the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day: this was the appearance of the brightness round about” (Ezek. 1:26-28).
From this vision of the wheeled Throne chariot, surrounded by angels, clouds, flashing fire we are symbolically taken to the presence of God.
Another prophet significant to Abrahamic Mysticism was Daniel. Daniel is also commissioned a prophet and experience highly encoded visions that include symbolic numbers, symbolic animals, cosmic symbols’ such as the sun, earth, moon, planets and stars communicating gods future purpose.
Daniel is taken to the heavenly court and he “beheld till thrones were placed, and the ancient of days sat: his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire” (Dan. 7:9). Note that again we see that the throne has wheels – an illusion to the Divine merkabah.
What happens next would be expanded on in Christian Mysticism. Daniel beholds “one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the ancient of days: and they presented him before him. And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed.” (Dan 7:13, 14). This vision of the “Son of Man” is seen as fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth as Christian Messiah.
From the Hebrew Bible we see a number of repeating symbols. One ascends the mountain , through the darkness to the presence of God experienced with fire and lightening, a shining floor of glass, sapphire, or gleaming bronze. God is a king in a throne room, on a wheeled Heavenly Throne Chariot.
The Bible also uses erotic imagery. The use of erotic symbolism and imagery found in later mysticism derives from the mystical description of mans relationship to god. The tradition of describing God and Israel as effectively a husband and wife permeates the Jewish prophetic literature of Isaiah (Isa 5:1-7; 45:4-8), Jeremiah (Jer. 2:2, 32) and Ezekiel (Ez. 16:23) where Israel is a wife given to unfaithfulness.
The prophet Hosea takes ‘a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms’ (Hos. 1:2) and has 2 sons and a daughter given prophetic names (Hos. 1:3-11). Hosea’s choice of a prostitute mirrors God’s choice of Abraham’s descendants who would become the unfaithful nation of Israel. Hosea pleads with his children that they also “Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.” (Hos. 2:-3).
The desolation of the desert, a place of intimacy within the mystic traditions, would be a place of restoration. Using the language of the heart, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. …. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me husband; and shalt call me no more (the false god) Baal ” (a word meaning owner which was also a title used for a man’s husbandly ownership of his wife) (Hos. 2:14, 16). They are betrothed anew “in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies” (Hos. 2:21).
Jeremiah also speaks of the heart in his personal relationship with God: “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (Jer. 8:21-22). Jeremiah feels hurt in the performance of his prophetic commission “O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; …. I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. … Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer 20:7,9).
The prophet Ezekiel describes Israel’s history in terms of marital infidelity. Seen first as a new born rejected at birth, covered in blood Israel is taken in and later when “thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned …I looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness” in sexual union and I “washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil” (Ezek. 16:7-9). Although made famous as the wife of God (Ezek. 16:9-14) Israel “didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pourest out thy fornications on every one that passed by” (Ezek. 16:15) and suffer violent punishment “I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy” (Ezek 16:38) as a destroyed nation later to be restored and the covenant renewed (Ezek 16:62), just as was Gomer was restored to Hosea.
The most powerful erotic symbolism is found in the Song of Songs, also called Song of Solomon or Canticles. This book describes the intimate love and devotion of a Shulamite maiden and her shepherd boy. The book does not mention God, or the divine Name, and was challenged by some as not belonging to the divine Canon. Yet read within the literary tradition describing the mystical union of God and man in Marriage that would be expounded upon in Judaic. Christian and Islamic Mysticism.The opening words “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” would form the basis of four of Bernard of Clairvaux’s sermons. Why not just say “Let him kiss me”? why say “with the kisses of his mouth’. Such was the intense development of the erotic imagery in mysticism.
The opening words “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” would form the basis of four of Bernard of Clairvaux’s sermons. Why not just say “Let him kiss me”? why say “with the kisses of his mouth’. The 6th century C.E Midrash (1:1) we read: "R. Johanan said 'Wherever King Solomon is mentioned in this scroll, the reference is to the actual King Solomon; whenever the word "King" appears [alone], the reference is to God.' The sages say: 'Wherever King Solomon is mentioned the reference is to the King who is (the Lord) of peace; wherever King is mentioned the reference is to the congregation of Israel.'"
Such was the intense development of the erotic imagery in mysticism.
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.” (Ca. 1:2-4).
“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.”
Christian and Jewish love poetry owes much to the Song of Songs. Consider the words of St. Clare of Assisi (1193? – 1254, Italy):
Draw me after You!
We will run in the fragrance of Your perfumes,
O heavenly Spouse!
I will run and not tire,
until You bring me into the wine-cellar,
until Your left hand is under my head
and Your right hand will embrace me happily
and You will kiss me with the happiest kiss of Your mouth
Describing intense adoration for the lover, some of the most beautiful poetry ever written extols the beauty of the beloved with an intensity that would be paralleled in later writers such as the Sufi poet Jalal al-Din al-Balkhi al-Rumi. "Sufism is poverty toward God. To be poor toward him is to acknowledge one's need for him, and the deeper and more sincere that acknowledgement becomes, the more it turns into an overpowering drive to reach the beloved" (William Chittick, Sufism, A Short Introduction).We will run in the fragrance of Your perfumes,
O heavenly Spouse!
I will run and not tire,
until You bring me into the wine-cellar,
until Your left hand is under my head
and Your right hand will embrace me happily
and You will kiss me with the happiest kiss of Your mouth
"What are we to make of the Song of Songs which, in spite of its antiquity and its archaic images, still carries with it such charm and power, is still so touching to those who fall under its spell? The subject of love, even physical, erotic love, when it is conveyed with such beauty strikes a chord deep within us all. We have a profound longing to be whole, to be united with another, but this longing carries with it something more than just physical desire. The Sufi poet, Rumi, in the first part of his Masnavi, describes that longing as the plaintive song of the reed flute, lamenting its abrupt removal when it was cut from the reed bed, longing to be back again from where it came. It is the primordial longing of the created to be back, united with our origins, at one with the Creator" wrote Judith Ernst in Song of Songs: Erotic Love Poetry, by Judith Ernst
Rumi wrote:
“Listen to the story told by the reed of being separated. Since I was cut from the reed bed, I have made this crying sound. Anyone apart from someone he loves understands what I say. Anyone pulled from a source longs to go back. At any gathering, I'm there, lingering and laughing and grieving, a friend to each, but few will hear the secrets hidden within the notes. No ears for that. Body flowing out of spirit, spirit out from body, no concealing that mixing. But it's not given us to see, so the reed flute is fire, not wind. Leave that empty.“- The Reed Flute's Song.
and
“If anyone asks you about the houris, show your face, say: like this. If anyone asks you about the moon, climb up on the roof, say: "Like this." If anyone seeks a fairy, let them see your countenance. If anyone talks about the aroma of musk, untie your hair and say: "Like this." If anyone asks: "How do the clouds uncover the moon?" untie the front of your robe, knot by knot, say: "Like this." If anyone asks: "How did Jesus raise the dead?' kiss me on the lips, say: "Like this." If anyone asks: "What are those killed by love like?" direct him to me, say: "Like this." If anyone kindly asks you how tall I am, show him your arched eyebrows, say: "Like this.""
The whole poem is a description of the physical beauty of the lover, for Rumi, In the end, all human beings can get to that candle of purity and reach God,
An example of the intense theological speculation is found in the Song of Songs Rabbah:
“YOUR TWO BREASTS: these are Moses and Aaron. Just as the breasts are the beauty and the adornment of a woman, so Moses and Aaron were the beauty and adornment of Israel. Just as the breasts are the appeal of a woman, so Moses and Aaron were the appeal of Israel. Just as the breasts are full of milk, so Moses and Aaron filled Israel with Torah. Just as whatever a woman eats helps to feed the child at the breast, so all the Torah that Moses our teacher learned he taught to Aaron, as it is written, "And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord (Exodus 4:28)." The Rabbis say, "He revealed to him the ineffable Name." Just as one breast is not greater than theother, so it was with Moses and Aaron, for it is written, "These are that Moses and Aaron (Exodus 4:27)," and it is also written, "These are that Aaron and Moses (ib. 26)," showing that Moses was not greater than Aaron nor was Aaron greater than Moses in knowledge of Torah. R. Abba said,"They were like two fine pearls belonging to a king which he put in a balance, finding that neither weighed down the other. So were Moses and Aaron just equal." (Song of Songs Rabbah IV:13)
Thus the mystical union of man and God is portrayed with erotic allusions that would be expanded by the mystics of Judaism. Christianity and Islam.
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