Texts in Conversation
Philo reads the name Bezalel as 'in the shadow of God,' and identifies that shadow with God's Word, the instrument by which the world was made. Hebrews opens with the Son as the representation of God's essence and world-maker.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Philo Allegorical Interpretation 3:95
Classical
This, moreover, is the reason of God’s proclaiming Bezalel by name, and saying that He has given him wisdom and knowledge, and that He will appoint him artificer and chief craftsman of all the works of the Tabernacle, that is of the soul (Exod. xxxi. 2 ff.), though He has so far pointed to no work or deed of Bezalel’s, such as to win him even commendation. We must say, then, that here too we have a form which God has stamped on the soul as on the tested coin. What, then, the image impressed on it is we shall know if we first ascertain accurately the meaning of the name. Bezalel means, then, ‘in the shadow of God ’”’; but God’s shadow is His Word, which he made use of like an instrument, and so made the world. But this shadow, and what we may describe as the representation, is the archetype for further creations. For just as God is the Pattern of the Image, to which the title of Shadow has just been given, even so the Image becomes the pattern of other beings, as the prophet made clear at the very outset of the Law-giving by saying, ‘‘ And God made the man after the Image of God ” (Gen. i. 27), implying that the Image had been made such as representing God, but that the man was made after-the Image when it had acquired the force of a pattern.
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Hebrews 1:3
New Testament
1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.
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Notes and References
“... The stamp of that divine seal is the eternal Logos. This idea of Philo is seen in the passages quoted below: Allegorical Interpretation 3.95-96 [...] We must say, then, that here too we have a form which God has stamped on the soul as on the tested coin. What, then, the image impressed on it is we shall know if we first ascertain accurately the meaning of the name. Bezalel means, then, “in the shadow of God”; but God’s shadow is His Word, which he made use of like an instrument, and so made the world. But this shadow, and what we may describe as the representation, is the archetype for further creation. For just as God is the Pattern of the Image, to which the title of Shadow has just been given, even so the Image becomes the pattern of other beings ...”
McKnight, Edgar V., and Christopher Church
The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: Hebrews-James
(p. 34) Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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