The past three decades have seen a renaissance of popular interest in the Jewish roots of the New Testament faith. The Jewish face of Jesus (or Yeshua, His original Hebrew name), like some long-buried archeological mosaic, is gradually appearing out of the sands of antiquity. Today a significant minority of the Christian book-buying public is fascinated by titles dealing with the Jewishness of the Christian faith.
Some of these books offer captivating insights into the history, archeology and religious life of Yeshua’s’ contemporaries. Other books convey less than kosher teachings while nevertheless appealing to the same public. Not all that glitters is gold, and not all that is Jewish is necessarily praiseworthy. Numbers 16 points out that both Moses’ humility and Korah’s arrogance were intrinsically Jewish phenomena. It is, of course, only when Jewishness is combined with godliness that it is of much value in every way, as Paul succinctly states in Romans 3:1-2. Godly Jewishness must be faithful to the Apostles’ teaching and to all the Scriptures. This is our presupposition as we examine the world of the Kabbalah.
Kabbaláh (also spelled Cabbala, Qabbalah) is a Hebrew word which means ‘something received’ – in this case, a received tradition passed on from generation to generation. The kabbalistic tradition is a mystical tradition within Judaism which claims to possess mystical truths about the nature of God, heavenly realities, perspectives on the origins of evil, and both a detailed angelology and demonology. Furthermore, this tradition claims to be based on supernatural revelation.
How should believers in Yeshua relate to Kabbalah? Is there any spiritual advantage in studying its arcane secrets? Readers here are for the most part aware of the present reality of the Holy Spirit’s ministry, as well as the subtle deceptiveness of spiritual warfare. It is with pastoral concern and caution, therefore, that this article offers some instruction to those interested in passing safely through the minefields of kabbalistic mysticism.
A HISTORICAL THEOLOGY OF KABBALAH
Early roots of the Kabbalah (First – Eighth Centuries A.D.)
The late Second Temple period (100 B.C. – 70 A.D.) was a tumultuous time in Judea. A cruel and crushing ‘pax Romana’ (‘Roman peace’) caused the ancient Jewish Messianic hope to burst into flames. Various false messiahs rose up in Israel (e.g., Acts 5:36-37; 21:38) offering a military solution to Roman rule. In the end the Zealot revolt culminated in the destruction of both the Herodian Temple and Jerusalem, and led to a further scattering of the Jewish people across the Mediterranean basin.
Radical religious changes were occurring in Pharisaic (later called ‘Rabbinic’) Judaism, as well as in the budding Messianic (later called ‘Christian’) movement. These two hundred years were times of great religious creativity as well, witnessing the rise and proliferation of extracanonical books (books not part of Scripture). These scrolls and papyri dealt with the period of the last days (apocalyptic). ‘Apocalypse’ comes from the Greek apokalypsis and means the ‘unveiling of divine hidden revelation.’ Apocalyptic Bible books would include Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Revelation. These new books attempted to prepare the faithful for the soon-coming judgments of God and the speedy return of Messiah. Their style and content imitated the Bible’s prophetic and apocalyptic portions. Prophecies about the eschaton (final or last events) would include Genesis 49; Numbers 24; Deuteronomy 30; Isaiah 24-27, 56-66, etc.
This literature has been recognized as not meeting the grade of Scripture regarding both its prophetic accuracy and its theological content. These books are classified as either apocryphal (outside the Jewish and Protestant canon), pseudepigraphal (some of these writers forged the names of biblical heroes as the false authors of their works) or sectarian (e.g., the Essene/Qumran/ Dead Sea scroll literature).
During the middle second century B.C. the pseudepigraphic Book of Enoch attempts to bring new revelation about Yahweh’s awesome theophany (or ‘appearing’) in Ezekiel 1:4-28. This author speculated that Yahweh’s chariot (Heb., mérkaváh) is a mystical or symbolic key, representing the order of the unseen divine world and the hidden secrets of redemption. Within a few centuries these speculations would be deeply influenced by Oriental Gnosticism, and grow into Merkavah mysticism (Heb. ma’aséh mérkaváh).
By the close of the second century A.D. the Gemara describes a child who received a revelation of the hidden meaning of the ‘glowing metal electrum’ (Heb., hashmál) referred to in Ezekiel 1:27 (“whereupon a fire went forth from hashmál and consumed him”) in Talmud Bavli, Hagigah 13a. Four rabbinic sages are similarly described as searching out spiritual experiences through ecstatic contemplation of Merkavah mysticism. One died; one became insane; one forsook rabbinic Judaism and only one returned both Orthodox and sane. (TB Hagigah 14b; Shabbat 80b; Sukkah 28a; Berachot 7a; Hullin 1b; Megillah 25b).
Due to these powerful and dangerous spiritual encounters, the rabbis sought to place severe limitations on Merkavah studies: “The ma’aséh bereshit should not be expounded before two persons, nor the ma’aséh mérkaváh before one person, unless he is a sage and already has an independent understanding of the matter” (Mishna Hagigah 2:1). Other conditions for study were eventually added – teachings should be communicated in a whisper; a high level of intellectual ability was required; the initiate had to be a male at least thirty years old; certain ethical qualities and later physical characteristics were also required. (see TB Hagigah 13b; Seder Eliyahu Rabbah, chapter 29).
Essentially what is being discussed here is a human attempt to obtain hidden or occult information about heavenly realities. The human writers of Merkavah mystical works assumed that they were able to accurately assess the truths of their own revelations. Yet the spiritual forces they unwittingly unleashed were potentially and frighteningly destructive. As well, the symbolic and allegorical interpretations of Scripture used by the mystics resulted in teachings which were diametrically opposed to the plain teaching of the Torah of Moses. Merkavah mystics were wooing Israel into a spiritual stupor, and though they were receiving real revelation, that revelation was coming from spiritual forces not obedient to Yahweh and to His word (n.b., Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Psalm 103:20-21; Isaiah 8:19-22).
Merkavah mysticism was the spiritual precursor of the Kabbalah. Its books give detailed descriptions of the spirit-world of ‘the Chariot’; the technical and magical means which assist the ascending soul through the eight levels of spirit-palaces and firmaments; the empty visions and angels of destruction which try to confound him; the magical seals, containing the secret names of God, which are presented to the spirit doorkeepers of each level; etc. These demonically inspired teachings are “very similar to a number of important texts preserved among the Greek magic papyri and to Gnostic literature of the Pistis Sophia type” (Gershom Scholem, “Kabbalah”; Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, p. 500,). Gershom Scholem, the world’s leading expert on Kabbalah, notes that “the growth of Merkabah mysticism among the rabbis constituted a Jewish and rabbinic Gnosticism” (ibid, p. 498).
Other beliefs peculiar to Merkabah mysticism include Shiúr Komáh (Heb., ‘the measurement of the body’), a description of God’s mystic body which is in turn a symbolic blueprint for a Gnostic view of Creation. This perspective re-interprets salvation to mean something very different from ‘the four spiritual laws’: God is separated from His creation; redemption/salvation occurs after the ascending soul attains sufficient magical and occult knowledge (Greek, gnosis); these keys allow the ascending soul to pass through successive layers of evolving spirit worlds, eventually arriving at his ultimate destination.
Merkavah mystics began to use the Torah and the Psalms in magical ways. Based on the occult teaching that each Hebrew alphabet letter has its own secret meaning (Heb. gemátria), these mystics reinterpreted the Scriptures, grouping biblical verses together not for their exegetical meaning but for their numerological values and magical powers.
Babylonian and German developments (Eighth – Ninth Century A.D.)
In Babylonia further developments included conjuring up angelic princes on the day before the Day of Atonement; the doctrine of middót (Heb., hypostatic beings) – lesser forces employed in the creation of the world (the result here, says Scholem, is that “the monotheistic theory of creatio ex nihilo loses its original meaning and is completely reversed by the esoteric content of the formula” [ibid., p. 569]); and the belief in the transmigration of souls. In Germany the Hasidéi Ashkenáz (Heb. ‘pious ones of Germany’) practiced stringent asceticism. Many were considered prophets or masters of the Holy Spirit and claimed divine revelation.
Franco-Iberian developments (Twelfth – Fourteenth Centuries A.D.)
The central transitional figure between Merkavah mysticism and Kabbalah was Isaac the Blind of Narbonne, France who died ca. 1235 A.D. He developed a contemplative mysticism leading to communion with spiritual forces through meditation on the ten Sefirót (enigmatic Hebrew word referring to emanations from God) and on the havayót (the heavenly essences). These Sefirot were gradually understood to be the Godhead divided into planes of existence which exist “as lights, potencies, and intelligences, each of unlimited richness and profundity, whose content man could study and seek to penetrate. Each one was like ‘a world unto itself’” (ibid., p. 569).
The highest Jewish legal and religious authority in Spain, Nachmanides (the RAMBAN, d. 1270), embraced kabbalistic doctrines and contributed to their spread among Jewish theologians of his day. Another great light of kabbalistic teaching was Abraham Abulafia (1240-1292) who wrote textbooks on how to practically apply kabbalistic principles including breathing exercises and trances so that the initiate would eventually move into a mystic state which he labeled “prophetic”. Finally, Isaac ha-Kohen of Spain developed the theory of a demonic parallel series of emanations, later known as the sitra áchra (Aramaic, ‘the other side’), which were the evil and opposite balance to the Sefirot in this dualistic worldview.
The Zohar and Moshe ben Shem Tov de Leon (Spain ca. 1285 A.D.)
The Séfer ha-Zóhar (Heb., Book of Radiance, Splendor or Emanation) was written largely between 1280 and 1286 by Moshe ben Shem Tov de Leon in Guadalajara (a small village northeast of Madrid). The book was pseudepigraphic, de Leon falsely crediting its revelations to Shimon bar Yohai, a second century A.D. Galilean sage. According to Scholem the aim of the Zohar was “to attack the literal conception of Judaism… (T)his was accomplished by emphasizing the supreme value and secret meaning of every word and Commandment of the Torah” (ibid., p. 534). Under the guise of ‘hidden revelation’, de Leon put the finishing touches on his intended heart-transplant operation for Judaism.
From now on, in Kabbalistic Judaism the literal meaning of the Bible that Yahweh gave to Moses would be supplanted by a secret and occult meaning representing a supposedly more spiritual and deeper significance – one, however, that would come not from the Bible but from demonic sources. “The Kabbalah represented a theological attempt, open to only a relative few, whose object was to find room for an essentially mystical world-outlook within the framework of traditional Judaism without altering the latter behavioral norms” (ibid, p. 638).
Lurianic Kabbalah and Safed (Upper Galilee ca. 1550 A.D.)
In the year that Columbus departed for the New World, Ferdinand and Isabella forced Spain’s Jewish population to flee across the Mediterranean to Turkish lands, or be forcibly converted to Catholicism. The Inquisition caused many Jews to wonder if a catastrophe of such magnitude could be the portent of the end of days. This resulted in the spread of kabbalistic hopes and a renewed eschatological emphasis in kabbalistic thinking. The rise of the false messiah David Molcho and the break-up of the Catholic Church due to Martin Luther were also seen as portents of the apocalypse. At this time the new center for kabbalistic studies was shifting to Safed in Palestine.
An unknown kabbalist summed up the times:
- “The decree from above that one should not discuss kabbalistic teaching in public was meant to last for a limited time — until 1490. We then entered into the period called the last generation, and then the decree was rescinded and permission given. And from 1540 onward the most important commandment will be for all to study it in public, both young and old, since this, and nothing else, will bring about the coming of the Messiah” (Scholem, ibid, p. 541).
Revelations now were coming from spirit-beings known as maggidim (Heb., ‘recounters’) – supposedly angels or sacred souls who spoke through the lips of the kabbalists or made them write down revelations. The most important kabbalist of this period was Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, the ‘Ari’; (Heb., ‘the lion’; 1534-72). Lurianic teachings were thoroughly Gnostic in character, stressing tzimtzum (Heb. contraction’) – a contraction of the divinity in order to make a vacuum within which divine emanations could create the universe.
Tikkún (Heb., ‘repairing’ or ‘restoration’) involved a process whereby the sparks of the feminine aspect of divinity which are lodged in the klippót (Heb., ‘shells’ or ‘husks’) of matter can be liberated and fly upwards to re-unite with the masculine aspect of divinity. This ‘releasing of sparks’ results in ‘the sacred marriage’ between God and the feminine Shechináh (the glory or presence of God), and it has become the focus in many modern Hasidic movements. From this perspective salvation is not the redemption of human souls by atonement, but the releasing of imprisoned sparks which are trapped in nature or in people. This freeing is done either by magical techniques, or by outwardly obeying the Law of Moses and its rabbinical traditions, while inwardly focusing on kabbalistic and magical meanings and formulae. Scholem states: “The Gnostic character of these ideas, which constitute a new mythology in Judaism, cannot be doubted” (ibid, p. 547.)
MAGIC & PRACTICAL KABBALAH
Gershom Scholem states:
- “For the most part, the realm of practical Kabbalah is that of purely motivated or ‘white magic’, especially as practiced through the medium of the sacred, esoteric Names of God and the angels, the manipulation of which may affect the physical no less than the spiritual world. Such magical operations are not considered impossible in the Kabbalah, or even categorically forbidden, though numerous kabbalistic writings do stress the prohibitions against them. In any case, only the most perfectly virtuous individuals are permitted to perform them, and even then never for their private advantage, but only in times of emergency and public need. Whoever else seeks to perform such acts does so at his own grave physical and spiritual peril. Such warnings were generally observed in the breach, however, as is demonstrated by the extensive literature of practical Kabbalah that has survived . . . The ostensible lines drawn by the kabbalists to set the boundaries of permissible magic were frequently overstepped and obscured, with the consequent appearance in practical Kabbalah of a good deal of ‘black’ magic – that is, magic that was meant to harm others or that employed ‘the unholy names’ . . . of dark, demonic powers, and magic used for personal gain.” (Scholem, ibid, p. 632-33)
- “The practice of practical Kabbalah raised certain problems concerning occult phenomena . . . A number of these come under the category of gilúy eynáyim, whereby a man might be granted a vision of something that, generally speaking, only the rare mystic was permitted to see. Such visions included a glimpse of the ‘sapphiric ether’ that surrounds all men and in which their movements are recorded . . . (Also) invisible letters (might appear) that spelled out the secret nature of each man’s thoughts and deeds which hovered over every head and might be perceived by initiates. Other aspects include automatic writing (‘the mystic secret of writing with no hand’), levitating tables, the use of divining rods, the issuing of amulets, invoking angels or demons, and exorcising evil spirits (the Dibbúk of popular mythology)” (ibid, p. 632-33)
CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
Gershom Scholem gives us a brief historical perspective on the Christian use of Kabbalah:
- “From the late 15th century onward, in certain Christian circles of a mystical and theosophical persuasion a movement began to evolve with the object of harmonizing Kabbalistic doctrines with Christianity, and, above all, of demonstrating that the true hidden meaning of the teachings of the Kabbalah points in a Christian direction.
- Naturally, such views did not meet with a friendly reception from the kabbalists themselves, who expressed nothing but derision for the misunderstandings and distortions of kabbalistic doctrine of which Christian Kabbalah was full.
- Historically, Christian Kabbalah sprang from two sources. The first was the Christological speculations of a number of Jewish converts who are known to us from the end of the 13th century until the period of the Spanish expulsion, such as Abner of Burgos and Paul de Meredia, who pseudepigraphically composed several texts of Christian Kabbalah entitled Iggéret ha-Sodót and Galéi Rezayá in the name of Judah ha-Nasi and other tannaim.
- Another matter entirely, however, was the Christian speculation … that first developed around the Platonic Academy endowed by the Medicis in Florence… These Florentine circles believed that they had discovered in the Kabbalah an original divine revelation to mankind that had been lost and would now be restored, and with the aid of which it was possible not only to understand the teachings of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Orphics … but also the secrets of the Catholic faith…These theses – especially the daring claim that no science can better convince us of the divinity of Jesus Christ than magic and the Kabbala – first brought the Kabbalah to the attention of many Christians” (ibid, p. 643-44).
Dr. Jakob Jocz adds a Messianic Jewish perspective:
- “It is unfortunate that excess of zeal . . . has led to extending the field of evidence from the Old Testament first to the Talmud and then to Jewish mysticism. In the search for a starting-point the temptation to elaborate any affinity of ideas is very natural… (When the mystical literature of the Synagogue became more widely known amongst Christian scholars, the apparent affinity with Christianity led to the conviction that it actually contained in esoteric language the doctrines of the Church. Thus, the Zohar was held to be an important witness to the truth of the Christian faith. Some resemblance to the Christian doctrines of the Atonement, Mediation, the Holy Trinity, etc, and the metaphysical speculations of the Cabbalah has led to the assumption of an internal harmony between Christianity and Jewish mysticism. Medieval scholasticism was specially attracted by the speculative, fanciful method of exegesis employed by the Zohar. Fascination for Jewish mysticism has survived to our days” (Jakob Jocz, The Jewish People and Jesus Christ: The Relationship Between Church and Synagogue [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979], p. 209).
A modern example of such excessive zeal is seen in the work The Great Mystery or How Can Three Be One? by Tzvi Nassi (a.k.a. Hirsch Prinz; Rabbi Tzvi Nassi, 91 pp., no date, publishing house or city given, p. 89.). Prinz quotes liberally from the Zohar and from other kabbalistic writings, coming to his final conclusion:
- I now appeal to every candid and unprejudiced Israelite or Christian, who has read these pages, whether I am not right in maintaining that the Jewish Church before the Christian era, and in the first two centuries of the same, held ráza d’shalishá, the Doctrine of the Trinity, as a fundamental and cardinal article of the true faith?
Prinz’s conclusion, based on the Zohar, is that the doctrine of the Trinity was a cardinal article of faith of the Pharisaic and Rabbinic Jewish Synagogues prior to Yeshua and up until the 200’s A.D.! Since Prinz’s dating of the Zohar is inaccurate by a minimum of 1200 years, his hypothesis cannot stand the test of scrutiny.
Dr. Jocz again makes a valuable contribution:
- “The association of Cabbalah with Christian theology throws a shadow of suspicion upon the Church. Christianity is more than speculative mysticism . . . Besides, the Cabbalah itself owes some debt to Christian ideas, having drawn upon a large variety of sources. Orthodox Judaism, on the whole, has looked upon its mystical speculations with suspicion. Judaism, though making room for a certain amount of mysticism, is essentially a religion of law and reason . . . While there is an undeniable affinity of outlook between Jewish and Christian mysticism, Jewish mystical speculations cannot serve as a bridge leading to Christian orthodoxy. The underlying principles of Judaism and Christianity are such that they automatically exclude each other . . . The divergence between Jewish mysticism and the Christian Faith is fundamental. Spiegel rightly says ‘The Kabbalah teaches nothing less than that this deliverance of God can be brought about by man and by man alone.’ It is here that the disparity appears in all its force” (Jocz, op. cit., pp. 210-11).
CONCLUSION
The Kabbalah and its traditions are an admixture of men’s thoughts and spiritual revelation from the second heaven – revelation from the enemy of our souls. Its presuppositions are Gnostic and magical – philosophies condemned by the Apostles Paul (1 Timothy 6:20; Colossians 1:15-18; 2:1-10, 15-23) and John (1 John 2:18-23; 4: 1-6; 2 John 7-11).
Though temptation may come upon us, wakening within us a curiosity to consider revelation from demonic sources, “the people who know their God will display strength and take action, and those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many” (Daniel 11:32b – 33a). “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
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