The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel.

• Author: Hurowitz, Victor
• Position: Book review

By Benjamin D. Sommer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. xv + 334. $85.

Traditional Jewish belief expressed in liturgy and philosophical writing posits that God has no form or body. God is incorporeal and any anthropomorphic depiction is metaphorical. In this new book, Benjamin Sommer disputes this belief, claiming that from the Bible until the present most Israelites, Judeans, and Jews have believed that God has a body and denial of such is a minority view (cf. Maimonides). Furthermore, most sources reflecting Israelite religious intuition assume God has more than one body. But all God's bodies are essentially a single body, for God's body is fluid and when He is embodied in one place He remains embodied in other places simultaneously without one body diminishing the other.

In the introduction Sommer defines "body" as "something located in a particular place at a particular time, whatever its shape or substance" (p. 2), and identifies many biblical passages (mainly Pentateuchal) locating God in a specific place at a specific time. Because God's presence in one place does not negate or diminish His simultaneous presence elsewhere His body must be "fluid."

Chapter one examines ancient Near Eastern concepts of divine fluidity including 1) "fragmentation," by which a particular god bearing a specific name and personality was at one and the same time one god and several gods (Ishtar of Arbela and Ishtar of Nineveh were both Ishtar, etc.); 2) overlapping identities of several deities (Ninurta's body or Marduk's attributes were identified with various, distinct gods; Enuma elis identifies Marduk with Ellil and Ea); 3) individual gods embodied simultaneously in various corporeal manifestations (Shamash was the heavenly solar disc, but also the cult statue standing in his temple(s) in Sippar or Larsa).

Similar beliefs occurred in West Semitic religions. Baal (Hadad) "fragmentized" into local, individually worshipped be'alim. Other gods were identified with him by being given the appellative sem-Ba'al or pan-Ba'al (Phoenician Tanit pan-Ba'al; Ugaritic Athrat pan-Ba'al). These gods enjoyed multiple corporeal embodiments without diminishing the god in heaven or on Mt. Zaphon. Stone pillars (byt'l, skn, sikkdnum, selem) embodied divinities without diminishing the heavenly body.

Chapter two discusses divine fluidity in ancient Israel. Fragmentation is evidenced by YHWH-Teman and YHWH-Shomron at Kuntillet Ajrud. YHWH's angels resemble the avatars of Hinduism. They are not independent messengers from the heavenly retinue but independently functioning parts of YHWH.

YHWH was embodied in wood or stone. YHWH's Asherah at Kuntillet Ajrud was not His consort goddess but His arboreal embodiment. The goddess Asherah (cf. 1 Kings 18:19) became a part of YHWH just as the Phoenician goddess Tanit was Sem-Bacal, and Asherah embodied as a tree was essentially a tree-like embodiment of YHWH. YHWH was also embodied as a stone massebdh. Jacob anointed a massebdh, turning it into a place where YHWH was present, just as the Mesopotamian Mouth Washing rite turned the statue into a god. In the Northern Kingdom YHWH was worshipped in the form of gillultm (stone idols), massekot (molten images), golden calves (2 Kings 17:12, 15-16), and perhaps an altar or Ephod. In Gen. 31:11-13 an angel says "I am ha'el bet'el where you anointed a massebdh? with YHWH calling Himself ha'el while He is both an angel and a massebdh.

Chapter three examines Pentateuchal sources rejecting YHWH's fluidity. In general, YWHW's name is His appellative and He Himself, so it can be YHWH's hypostasis or emanation and found anywhere. YHWH's Kdbod is both His fame and a tangible attribute indicating but not exhausting His presence (Sekinah in Rabbinic parlance).

However, in Deuteronomic (D) and the Deuteronomistic (Dtr) writings YHWH's name is just a name. Placing it on the temple indicates divine presence, ownership, or attention without embodying YHWH. YHWH's body is in heaven whence He looks down, but it does not descend. There is nothing in the temple apart from His name. YHWH's body is not fluid so that He cannot be incorporated in icons, pillars, and Asherot, and he can be worshipped in only one place lest one think that He is fluid or multiple. Negating divine fluidity leads to cult centralization. The pronouncement "Hear O Israel, YHWH is our God, YHWH...