"You should know that the first book of Moses consists entirely of spiritual allegories. He who wants to know what such stories mean must figure in himself the old and the new man, and compare Christ and Adam (in him) with each other. He will then understand all that; but without this he will see merely a story for children: it being, however, so full of secrets, that no man could describe them all, from his childhood up to old age, even if he had come into the world with a full Comprehension of them.
Jacob Boehme.
What do people make of this assertion? It seems in the early days of the Christian faith some people (Marcion for example) went so far as to reject the Old Testament as being unworthy of God. If taken literally the text was almost impossible to integrate with the picture of God given by the NT. Maybe this was because they lacked the proper hermeneutic to understand the Old Testament?
Franz Hartmann in his book Jacob Boehme , Personal Christianity a Scienceexplains it this way:
Each individual man is a little world in itself, containing the types of everything that exists in the Macrocosm. A man may be regarded as being a whole kingdom full of many peoples and personalities.. Within himself is Moses and the Israelites, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the patriarchs and the kingdom of heaven and hell. Thus the events described in the Bible, and looked upon by the pious as being things of a past history, are actually descriptions of eternal processes taking place in the constitution of man
Hi there Ishraqiyun, this is My kind of thread!
Jacob is sort of right when He says that the first book of Moses is all allegories.
I assume though that He thinks they are just allegories and never really happened.
Is that correct?
The truth of the matter is that the everything in the old testament really happened and it is all an allegory.
Actually I would call it a parable on account the Jesus taught in parables and He never changes.
The Bible is a bunch of parables that really happened and it was written by the master play write.
The people that those things happened to were the actors on a stage that they couldn't see with a script they didn't understand.
Here's what Paul had to say about it.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The things that happened to those in the old testament happened so that We could understand who Christ really is.
Jacob is unfortunately wrong about merely being about to compare Adam to Christ to arrive at an understanding about what these things mean.
Christ is the only on Who hold the understanding of what these things mean and it is He Who must open our eyes to see and our ears to hear.
Hear is a couple of parables that describes exactly these to things.
Mar 8:22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
Mar 8:23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
Mar 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
Mar 8:25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Mar 7:32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
Mar 7:33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
Mar 7:34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
Mar 7:35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
Put these accounts together with ones like this then You start to understand.
Luk 7:22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
In this example a blind man is only a parable of us because We are blind and need to have our eyes opened by the only person who is able to open the seals on this very difficult book.
Rev 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
Rev 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Rev 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
We can read this book a million times and speak Hebrew and Greek fluently and it won't help us one bit because We a flesh and the book is spiritual and the flesh and the spirit a opposites.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
It seems incomprehensible to the vast majority that the Bible is giant series of parables, but Christ has always taught in parables and that is the way it will be until He speaks to us plainly of the Father.
Joh 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
