“When gods were men”: Biblical theophany and anthropomorphic realism

Type Thesis

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Summary

In the remarkable text of Genesis 18:1–15, Yahweh appears to Abraham and the two share a meal and an intimate conversation. Throughout this encounter, the form which Yahweh assumes is described explicitly as that of a man. He is initially identified as one of three men ('ănāšîm , v. 2), and is then portrayed in graphically human terms throughout the passage. A similar phenomenon occurs in the text of Genesis 32:23–33, in which Jacob is attacked as he prepares to cross the ford of the Jabbok by a man ('îš) who is then revealed to be none other than God himself. These texts portray a specific type of theophany, here to be named the 'îš theophany, which will be seen to reveal an intriguing aspect of Israelite religious thought. The texts in question have, along with other archaic biblical texts, been assumed to recall certain features shared with Canaanite religion. Many scholars have claimed that the roots of Genesis 18:1–15 in particular can be located within the context of Canaanite religious thought, and have defined this by the material of Ugarit. The specific nature of the 'îš theophany, however, has no parallel in the Ugaritic literature and no equivalent in any known Canaanite or Syrian material. The phenomenon of the 'îš theophany cannot be categorized according to any known type of divine-human communication among Israel's neighbors.