God's Appearances in the Old Testament

by hooberus 22 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  hooberus

  YHWH's feet

  "And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:" Genesis 18:1-4

  comment: The LORD (Hebrew YHWH) appeared in the form of a man with feet to Abraham.

  "Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink." Exodus 24:9-11

  comment: The God of Israel appeared in the form of a man with feet, to the elders. The elders saw God in this form.

  "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Job 19:25-27

  comment: Job will see God standing on the earth in the later days.

  "Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." Zechariah 14:3-4

  comment: The LORD's (Hebrew YHWH) feet will someday stand upon the mount of Olives.

  "And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey." Acts 1:10-12

  comment: Jesus will return and will stand on the mount of Olives. Jesus is the YHWH spoken of in Zechariah 14:3-4
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  hooberus

  "And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Numbers 12:5-8
  

  "And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." Exodus 33:11

  comment: Moses (and the elders see above) could see the LORD (Hebrew YHWH) when he appeard in the form of a man.

  "And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." Exodus 33:18-23

  comment: Though Moses and others could see God in the form of a man and live, they could not see God in his absolute glory and live.

  "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." John 1:18

  comment: No man has seen God the Father in his absolue glory.

  "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." 1 Timothy 6:14-16

  comment: No man has seen the Lord Jesus in his absolute glory.
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  peacefulpete

  The earliest layers of Bible text describe a volcano/storm god named El who was worshipped by a variety of middle eastern cults. The next layer described this deity with the name Yahweh, choosing to anthropomorphize and masculinize him. In this layer we often find Yahweh speaking as a man to another. The later Deuteronomist redactors saw this as unbefitting. They adamently insisted that their god was not in the wind or ground nor does he have human form. Christianity budded under the influence of the last of these theological stages, hence they came to view God as spirit only and separate from the physical world.
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  hooberus

  Some of pete's points seem to be based on the JEDP "documentary" hypothesis. The reader should realize that none of these documents have ever been found, but have been deduced from the current Old Testament by means of various criterias and speculations by liberals.
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  funkyderek

  So your god has feet? Well done!
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  donkey

  Since God is a HE....does HE have a Mojo? If so what does he do with it?

  What's white and flashes across the sky? The coming of the Lord...
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  ClassAvenger

  I've always thought God was a man since he said "Lets make man in our image" when he created Adam. He then made the woman to help him, but didn't say "Lets make a woman to our image". I've never studied this though, I have a lot to learn.
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  peacefulpete

  by "liberals" I guess hooberus means textural scholarship of the last 100 years.
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  donkey

  Would it have been possible for Jesus to be sent to the earth as a female? Or does God have this penis obsession?

  I mean if all that were needed were one perfect human in exchange for another (the so called ransom) why didn't Jesus come to earth as Julie?
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  gumby

  why didn't Jesus come to earth as Julie

  Because girls never did anything of significance in the bible donkey! Besides.......Jesus parents would not have used that "honky" white girl name if he had been a girl.

  The bible in the N.T.said "no man has ever seen god". I guess god made an exception for abraham and moses and adam.

  Gumby