08. Part 4 the Holy Spirit
Part 4
The Holy Spirit 1. Nathanael is led into the Inner Chamber of Light.
Having been instructed by the Holy Scriptures how the Middle Pillar in the Godhead, has revealed Himself as the WORD or as the ANGEL of the Covenant, or as the KEEPER of Israel, I became desirous to know how the third Subsistence in the Godhead, the Spirit who is below, called the Holy Spirit, has revealed Himself.
I did not go to our modern teachers, who have lost every trace of the way to the inner chambers of the pure truth, but kept close to the WORD of God and to my ancient teachers, as I had done hitherto, and received from them the following instruction.
2. The Holy Spirit is a Substantive Being in the Godhead, the Creator of the World. The Word of God, as expounded by R. Simeon ben Jochai, has taught me that there are three Spirits in the Godhead and that one is called the Upper Spirit to distinguish Him from the Spirit which is the Middle Pillar and from the Spirit below, which is called the Holy Spirit.
3. An inference drawn from the above.
If the Holy Spirit proceeds from Elohim (God), than He must proceed from the two other subsistences in the Godhead: the One whom we designate Heavenly Father, and the other BEING who is designated the Middle Pillar; otherwise there could be no Unity in the Godhead. And we know that in the Trinity none is afore or after other, none is greater or less than another; but all the Three BEINGS are co-eternal and co-equal.
"Three there are; each exists by Himself, though they are One." (Book of Creation, p. 89, versa, Mantua Edition) I sought instruction from R. Bechai, and found it written (p. 4. versa, Amsterdam Edition):
"The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the Messiah."
I went for advice to R. Simeon ben Jochai, who directed me to his Tikkune Zohar, where I also learnt the Unity of the Church of God with her Bridegroom, the Middle Pillar in the Godhead:
One and one make Two lilies. This is Jehovah, of whom it is said (Zechariah 14:9), In that day shall there be one Lord, and His name One. And He, the Middle Pillar, is considered to be One with these Lilies, among whom feeds, &c.* One Lily (i.e., the Church militant) is below, in the world; in her is the fear of God, and He (i.e., the Middle Pillar) is her fear. The Lily, which is above, in the heavens (i.e., the Church triumphant), is my dearly beloved: concerning her it is said, (Song of Solomon 2:7), "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till He (i.e. the Middle Pillar) please."
* Zohar, vol. iii., p. 286, versa, The Holy-One, blessed be He, is like an apple (Song of Solomon 2:3), and the congregation of Israel is as a lily. When shall they come to stir Her up, she being in His right hand (Song of Solomon 2:6), and He has no pleasure in it? When the faithful Shepherd shall come, of whom it is written (lit., "said") "and the Spirit of God is proceeding from Him," this is the Spirit of the Messiah, of whom it is written (Isaiah 9:2), (lit., "said") "the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him."
4. A query.
I asked R. Simeon ben Jochai whether the Holy Spirit may not be the effect of some invisible influence of God as the first cause of everything Holy? His answer was, That the Holy Spirit is Himself the primitive cause of all that is holy and good of all Divine knowledge. His words were these (Tikkune Zohar, p. 109, versa, Amsterdam Edition):
"It is the Spirit of the Messiah, as it is said, Yea, it is the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2).
5. The Holy Spirit has all the Divine attributes: He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.
I have been instructed in the Book of Creation, that the Holy Spirit, that is, Spirit of Spirit which is the living God, who is a Spirit. It follows, therefore, that the Holy Spirit must have the same Divine attributes as God; hence we read in Psalms 139:7-10: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into the heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me," &c. The Holy Spirit, being God, I am taught by our prophet Isaiah 40:13, that He is Almighty, and ordereth all things in heaven and earth after His sovereign will: "Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor, has taught Him?" That the Spirit of the Lord is the Holy Spirit, Jonathan ben Uziel teaches me in his Targum, rendering it thus: "Who has directed the Holy Spirit?"
6. What is the office of the Holy Spirit?
After having been taught by my teachers what the office of Metatron, the KEEPER of Israel was and is in the economy of God, my mind became engrossed with the thought of what office the Holy Spirit has.
I found the Holy Spirit in the divine dispensations, had to rule, to guide, and to instruct men in all that is holy and good; but that man, before and after the deluge, had, with only few exceptions, resisted and rebelled against Him. In Genesis 6:3, we read as follows: "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh," &c.
Modern writers, as quoted by R. Aben Ezra, take it to be the soul of man which is called the Spirit of God, but not so my venerable and ancient teachers. The Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan ben Uziel has these words:
"Have I not given My Holy Spirit in them, in order that they should do good works, but behold, they have corrupted their works?"
7. How can I know God from His Word?
Many who read the Word of God, and study it day and night, continue nevertheless to have very confused and imperfect ideas of the nature and government of God, though possessed of vigorous understandings and much learning. R. Simeon ben Jochai gave me this lesson, that none can know God, that Three Spirits can be one, except the Holy Spirit reveals this secret to him. His words are these:
"But how can three Names be one? Are they really one, because we call them one? How three can be one, can only be known through the revelation of the Holy Spirit," &c. (See part ii., section 7, p. 18) 8. The Holy Spirit was from the beginning, the Guide of the Israel of God. In Deuteronomy 32:12, it is said: "So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him." When I compare this passage with Isaiah 63:14, I find that this was the Lord, the Holy Spirit. "As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest: so didst Thou lead Thy people, to make Thyself a glorious name."
These words are thus explained by Aben Ezra:
"After having come out of the sea, has God led them through the wilderness; as a beast safely descends into the valley, so did the Spirit of God lead Israel." The Holy Spirit whom I have called Jehovah (Yud Hei Vav Hei), which He is, was Israel’s guide. But Israel, in the wilderness, sinned against the Holy Spirit, and had to bear His judgments, as we read, (Isaiah 63:10): "But they rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit, therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them." An Inference.
Only a living and substantive Being can be vexed, and not an inanimate and unintelligent power or attribute; therefore the Holy Spirit must be, as He is, one of the three Beings in the only true God.
9. The Holy Spirit has sent the Prophets, and spoken through them. In Isaiah 48:16 we read: "And now the Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent Me." To the three Sephiroth, or Beings, in the Unity of the Godhead, is here ascribed the act of sending the prophet, which is quite in agreement with what we read in Isaiah 6:8: "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who shall go for US? Then said I, Here am I; send me."
David’s last words were (2 Samuel 23:2): "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." Which Jonathan ben Uziel paraphrases thus:
"David said, By the Spirit of the prophecy of the Lord I am speaking these things, and the words of His holiness I set in order in my mouth."
Thus it is that R. Moses Butarili instructs me, in his commentary on the Book of Creation, p. 49, Mantua Edition:
"The excellency of the Holy Spirit was imparted to prophecy in three different degrees, and this is the mystery of voice, wind (breath), and speech."*
Compare:
1 Corinthians 12:4-12, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ ."
"R. Aaron the great, of blessed memory, wrote, (the Holy Spirit revealed Himself) by a voice, as in Deuteronomy 5:23 (English version v. 26), ’The voice of the living God’; by wind (breath), as in Psalms 33:6, ’All the hosts of them were made by the breath of His mouth’; by davar, in the same passage, ’By the speech (or Word) of the Lord were the heavens made.’"
10. The Holy Spirit shall quicken the dead. In the prophecies of Ezekiel (chapter 37), we read of the quickening of the dry bones. It is not necessary to touch upon the question whether this chapter refers to the resurrection of my beloved nation from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, or to the resurrection of the dead, or both. It is enough to know that our forefathers believed that this resurrection, this quickening of the dry bones, spoken of by Ezekiel, is to be brought about by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, as a Substantive Being, one of the Three exalted ones in Him who is without end, because he had no beginning—God.
R. Eliezer, the son of Hyrkan, a disciple of R. Gamaliel (who lived seventy-two years after Christ), in his Pirkei, ch. xxxiii, gave me the following instruction:
"R. Pinehas said, twenty years after the slaughter of the captives in Babylon, the Holy Spirit came (lit., dwelt) upon Ezekiel, and let him out into the valley of Durah; He shewed him very dry bones. He (the Holy Spirit) said unto him, Son of Man, what seest thou? He said unto Him, I see here dry bones. He said, Have I power to cause them to live? The prophet did not reply, O Lord of the universe! Thou hast power to do even more than this; but he said, O Lord God, Thou knowest; as if he did not believe that the Holy Spirit was able to give life to these dry bones. Therefore his bones were not buried in the land of Israel."* * R. Eliezer believed, as I see, in the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit.
I observed in the exposition given by R. Pinehas, that he believed that the Holy Spirit is a substantive Being. He calls Him the God of the Universe, and Lord God, according to the true faith of the fathers.
11. Nathanael takes a retrospective view, and entertains encouraging expectations. When I examine everything which is made known regarding the host of Patriarchs, Prophets, and Teachers, up to the time of the Maccabees, I perceive that the Holy Spirit had rested upon them. My teachers also shew me that in the days of the Messiah, He shall again be poured out in a fuller measure; that is, He shall reveal more fully the hidden mysteries of God, and of divine things. Thus R. Simeon ben Jochai imparted to me this encouraging expectation, in these words (Zohar, vol. iii., p. 289, Amsterdam Edition):
"And this is the Spirit who proceeds from the secret mind* (God), and is called the Spirit of Life. And this Spirit is ready to give knowledge of wisdom at the time of the King Messiah, as it is written (Isaiah 11:2), And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding," &c.
* Lit., marrow, brain, mind; medulla, the quintessence of anything. The teaching of R. Simeon is supported by that of all the prophets. For example, in Joel 3:1-21, English version, 2:28, 29 we read: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit."
Jonathan ben Uziel teaches me that no other Spirit but the Holy Spirit is meant. His words are:
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Holy Spirit," &c. In Zechariah 12:10, we also read: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."