MEDLEY: Moses 5 ~ Paper trail

Years ago I read a book by a religious scholar on the concept of 'Nazarene' in the Bible. He may have been German; I think he held seminars each summer (in Germany?) on his understanding of the Essene teachings. I searched online this morning and couldn't track it down, but what remains in my memory is the trail of vegetarian stories and references in the books attributed to Moses.


The author said, for example, that the Genesis creation story about God creating the world in six days, starting from a void and vast waters, has precursors in the creation myths of contemporary cultures in surrounding regions. But, he said, Genesis 1:29-30 is unique ~ the idea that the food of humans and all living creatures is vegetarian: nothing but plants and fruits.

²⁹ Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. [NIV=New International Version]

So where does that come from! Whoever wrote it, the passage encourages believers to understand that a vegetarian dietstyle is ordained for all without exception by divine decree. A small number of Christians follow the decree (7th Day Adventists, for example), but most refer to Noah's new covenant with God that allows you to eat meat. In the Jewish faith, apparently there are more religion-based vegetarians in Israel than in any other country in the world, aside from India. And here's an interesting archaeological find in the Dead Sea area about ten years ago, around 1999-2000:

South of Qumran, about halfway along the length of the Dead Sea, there was a spartan community (occupied during the 1st and 2nd, 4th to 6th centuries CE) consisting of twenty-eight 6'x 9' rooms with three larger (communal?) buildings ~ including a kitchen with three ovens ~ and a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath. The fascinating thing is there are no remains of animal bones, very different from the Ein Gedi village nearby with over 4,000 animal bones extant. Archaeologists conclude that a vegetarian Jewish community lived here, possibly the Essene sect: http://www.archaeology.org/9905/newsbriefs/vege.html

In my searches this morning, I came across the fascinating Bible blog of linguist John Hobbins, including his translation of Jeremiah 1:21-23:

... When I instructed your forefathers

and made demands on them

on the day I brought them out of Egypt...

I made this demand on them:

“Listen to my voice,

and I will be your God

and you will be my people.

Walk in all the ways I enjoin on you,

and it will go well for you.”

I like that "Listen to my voice" ~ it sounds like the ancient universal mystic practice of listening within, to or for the divine Sound, also called the Voice or Word or Command in various cultures and languages.