Sunday, June 9, 2013

Moses as אישו

My friend Benny Tsedaka has confirmed that אישו is specifically used as a title in the Hebrew prayers from the middle period of the Samaritan liturgy. The understanding that Moses was 'His (= God's) Man' appears throughout the Aramaic writings of Marqe:

The righteous one, who was from Isaac, He taught in the valley of the Yabbok when he stood with His man,176 and he touched the hollow of his thigh (Gen. xxxii. 25). (p. 79)

Blessed is our Lord who magnifies His beloved and cares for them in all their activity. It behoves us to walk in the ways of life and not depart from the True One, but to observe the command of Moses, His Man. (p. 149)

Always God extends His abundant goodness and grace, but Israel are provocative. God says, "That I may consume"160 (Ex. xxxii. 10; Targ.), but Moses His Man prays and says, " Turn from thy fierce wrath" (Ex. xxxii. 12; Targ.). By reason of his prayer God repents of all the affliction which threatened to take place. Praised be the Merciful One whose mercies are hidden from His servants, who guards them when they are repentant181 and for their sake preserves their children, that He may teach them of His grace, that they may walk in obedience to His will. Let us believe in Him and in Moses His prophet, and let us bow down before Him and testify, saying, "There is only one God." (p. 167)


Email stephan.h.huller@gmail.com with comments or questions.


 
Stephan Huller's Observations by Stephan Huller
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.