Mythology

evidence, that Israel took over the Canaanite sanctuaries after their settlement in the land, and converted them to the worship of Yahweh. One of the most important of these cult-centres was Shechem, and in the twenty-fourth chapter of the book of Joshua we have an account of a gathering of all the tribes at Shechem, a recital of the Passover cult myth, and the performance of a covenant ritual at the sacred oak at Shechem, ‘that was in the sanctuary of Yahweh’ (24:26). We have also an account in Deut. 27 of a covenant ritual which was to be performed at the twin peaks of Ebal and Gerizim, i.e., at Shechem. It would seem, therefore, that early in the period of the settlement a covenant festival was celebrated at Shechem at which the cult myth of the epiphany on Sinai and the giving of the Law was recited.” In Jos. 8:30-35 we have an account of the performance of this ritual by Joshua at Shechem in the presence of ‘all Israel’, and it is recorded that he read all the words of the law to the people. ‘There was not a word of all that Moses commanded; which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel.’ We are also told that one of the features of this ceremony was a solemn reaffirmation of the covenant which, according to the tradition, had been established by Yahweh with Israel at Sinai. What actually took place at Sinai cannot be disentangled from the cult myth in which it has been embodied, neither has the exact site of Sinai ever been determined, but it is clear that all the details of the Exodus narrative, like those of the Passover myth, are intended to set forth the glory and unapproachable holiness of Yahweh. One of the prominent features of the epiphany is the myth of the Presence in the Shekinah, a myth which has been described as peculiar to Israel.” The beginnings of the myth are to be seen in the account in Gen. 15 of the first covenant with Abraham. After performing the very ancient ritual of the dividing of slain victims, Abraham in a trance sees Yahweh pass between the divided corpses of the victims in the form of ‘a smoking furnace and a flaming torch’ (Gen. 15:17). Then, at the crossing of the Red Sea, Yahweh appears in a pillar of cloud and fire and comes between Israel and their pursuers. In the cult myth of the epiphany on Sinai, Yahweh descends upon the burning mountain in a cloud and fire. This symbolic element in the myth persists throughout the history of Israel. In the oracles of Isaiah, the presence of Yahweh in Zion as a burning fire is declared by the prophet to be the protection of Jerusalem from her adversaries, as well as destruction for the ungodly (Isa. 31:9; 33:14). The most elaborate development of the myth is seen in the visions of Ezekiel. The prophet sees ‘a great cloud with fire flashing continually’ (Ezek. 1:4); the cloud opens to disclose the vision of the cherubim and the throne of Yahweh, and the prophet sees the whole epiphany of the glory of Yahweh leave the Temple and ultimately the city. In the New Testament the myth of the Shekinah reappears in the Synoptic account of the Transfiguration where ‘a shining cloud’ overshadows the disciples (Matt. 17:5). In I Cor. 10:1- 2 Paul tells the Corinthians that Israel had been ‘baptized’ unto Moses in the cloud, where the myth has become a symbol of Christian baptism. The myth of the epiphany on Sinai, preserved at Israel’s cult-centres, and recited at the festival of the renewal of the covenant, became as deeply embedded in the literary tradition of Israel

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