Episode:Melchizedek Gospel—Response Among the Hebrews (Part 1)
Sublime concepts of monotheism matured all over the world not long after the appearance of Machiventa Melchizedek at Salem in Palestine. The progress of the Hebrews was not an unbroken and continuous development; and they borrowed freely from the religion, morality, and philosophy of the entire Levant. It is through the Hebrew religion that much of the morality and religious thought of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iran was transmitted to the Occidental peoples.
Keywords: Urantia, Melchizedek of Salem, El Elyon, Abraham, Yahweh
Summary by Kermit
As we prepared to delve into the development of Yahweh—God of the Hebrews, the point was made that both Ikhnaton and Zoroaster had incorporated male and female elements into their concept of the one God, that transcended a purely male anthropomorphic God.
We also made some parting comments concerning the forces behind the rise of Mohammedanism that have led to their repudiation of the guidance of the faculties of the inner life in favor of the interpretations of religious authorities. It is a sad historical note that the initial unifying concept in Mohammedanism was a negative rejection of internal moral consciousness.
The revelators characterize Mohammedanism, in one place [92:5.14(11)] as a protest against the “social demands of the faiths of foreigners.” In another [5:4.5] they write, “Mohammedanism provides deliverance from the rigorous moral standards of Judaism and Christianity.” These forces continue to animate the dynamics of the religious and political life on our planet.
96. Yahweh—God of the Hebrews
Man’s concepts of Deity evolve from a polytheism, to a henotheism, and finally to monotheism. This evolutionary philosophy of inclusion, subordination, and exclusion led to ideas of monotheism which matured all over the world not long after Melchizedek’s appearance in Palestine. However, Melchizedek’s concept of Deity was based exclusively on creative power. One of the purposes of the Melchizedek incarnation was to foster a religion of one God so as to prepare the world for the bestowal of Michael, Son of this one God.
This Salem religion, as we shall see, subject to influence from Egyptian moral teachings, Babylonian theologic thought and Iranian concepts of good and evil, was later adopted by the Hebrews. The Hebrew religion is factually predicated on the covenant between Abraham and Melchizedek. Culturally, the Hebrew religion developed from the religion, morality and philosophy of the entire Levant. And it is through the Hebrew religion that the Occidental peoples received much of the morality and religious thought of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iran.
We questioned how successful Machiventa’s mission really was. Even with the setbacks and apparent missteps, the sixth-century B.C. spiritual awakening happened, revitalizing many of Melchizedek’s teachings. We conjectured that one of the greatest lessons we can learn from our history is to trust in the evolutionary progress of the Supreme. Can we live out this trust today in the midst of the vicissitudes and turmoil of our planetary conditions? The appearance of revelation is always preceded by an evolutionary readiness.
We also made note that many of the precise details presented here can be seen in light of the role of revelation in “the restoration of important bits of lost knowledge concerning epochal transactions of the distant past”, and “the supplying of information which will fill in vital missing gaps in otherwise earned knowledge.” [101:4]
Note also the authors’ use of capitalization or not, of the words deity and god. Listen to the archive of the show for interesting discussion of this.
96:1. Deity Concepts Among the Semites
The early Semites were animistic, regarding everything as being indwelt by a spirit. Melchizedek’s teaching concerning the Universal Creator never fully eradicated these beliefs. The progression from polytheism, through henotheism to monotheism was not continuous and unbroken. This path was characterized by advances and retrogression among different groups. Our author provides a review of the various Deity titles found in the evolution of Jewish theology.
- Yahweh was the god (lower case “g”) associated with the Sinai volcano. Originally one of the thousands of nature gods, Yahweh evolved in concept, exalted by Moses to the Lord God of Israel.
- El Elyon the Most High God of heaven, was skillfully proclaimed by Melchizedek to embody both the old traditions of the Constellation Fathers taught to Abraham and the Most High God of the manifold tribal gods of the Hebrews.
- El Shaddai was a composite of teachings from Amenemope and Ikhnaton and Melchizedek’s El Elyon. It was subsequently thoroughly colored with the early Yahweh beliefs.
- El became a composite of the many vague and hazy evolving ideas of divinity.
- Elohim was a three-in-one God concept going back to the traditions of the days of Adam and Melchizedek. This Trinitarian belief, while held by many of Moses’ advisors at the time of the exodus, only became a real part of the Hebrew theology after being under the political influence of the Babylonians.
- Sundry names. The Semites were disinclined to speak the name of their Deity and therefore used a plethora of appellations as: The Spirit of God, The Lord, The Angel of the Lord, The Almighty, The Holy One, The Most High, Adonai, The Ancient of Days, The Lord God of Israel, The Creator of Heaven and Earth, Kyrios, Jah, The Lord of Hosts, and The Father in Heaven.
The name Jehovah only came into use fifteen hundred years after the times of Jesus and designates the completed concept of Yahweh. As previously noted, during the evolutionary path, beginning with polytheism, to henotheism and eventually to monotheism, the idea of Yahweh progressed eventually culminating in the idea of the Universal Father. We are told that the idea of Yahweh had undergone the most extensive development of all mortal theories of God. Yet, during these changes the name Yahweh remained unchanged.
96:2. The Semitic Peoples
In this section our author, in a few paragraphs clarifies the early history of the Jews. Again, in keeping with the revelatory mandate, they provide key facts concerning Jewish history that are buried in the complexity of our incomplete records. So it is that at the time of the Hebrew enslavement in Egypt, the rank and file embraced a modified version of the old Yahweh ritual and sacrifice.
The stage is now set for the arrival of the matchless Moses and the inauguration of the beginning of the evolution of the Hebraic concepts and ideals of a Supreme Creator.
