Autor: Voegelin, Eric

Buch: Israel and Revelation

Titel: Israel and Revelation

Stichwort: Sinai; Konstitution Israels, Übergang: Ordnung d. Existenz - Geschichte,

Kurzinhalt: The gift of revelation requires acceptance in order to become the form of historical existence; order of existence -> historical: through the human response to revelation

Textausschnitt: ... The Sinaitic foundation, finally, occurs no more in a historical vacuum than does the thornbush episode, but opposes its new order to the symbols of the Egyptian empire. Hence, we shall again pay careful attention to parallels with, and differences from, the cosmological form. (415; Fs)
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70/12 The divine presence assures man that he can fulfill a command he feels beyond his human powers; and the fulfillment is the "token" of the presence. In the concrete case: Moses can fulfill his mission because God will be present with him; and the actual fulfillment, the service of the people at the mountain, will be the "token" of the presence. Since in historical time the "token" lies in the future, the end that in eternity is joined to the beginning through the knowledge of God can be joined in the human sphere only through the responsive trust of man in the presence of God. There is no revelation to Moses as a historical event, unless through the experience of revelation Moses becomes the servant of Yahweh; and no people will be brought forth from Egypt, unless in the act of leaving Egypt it enters the service of Yahweh at the mountain. The gift of revelation requires acceptance in order to become the form of historical existence. (417; Fs) (notabene)
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71/12 The Exodus, as it extends between the revelations from seneh and sinai, is the historical drama kat'exochen in so far as it brings the order of existence into historical form through the human response to revelation. Moses must accept the leadership of his people, as well as the mission to Pharaoh; the Pharaoh must be made willing to let the people go; the people must be induced to leave and to enter the service of Yahweh. At every stage of the drama the performance can break down if the proper response is not forthcoming; and it comes forth, indeed, only with reluctance, hesitations, retardations, and even with resistance that must be broken. The very substance of the drama is the molding of human action into the action known by God; and the main stages in overcoming the resistance of man determine, therefore, the literary construction of the Exodus story. The great individual protagonists are Moses and the Pharaoh, the creator of the new and the defender of the old order. Their stories are organized so as to balance each other. In the first story, God has to overcome the resistance of Moses; in the second one, Moses, who is set as "a god to Pharaoh," has to overcome the resistance of the Egyptian ruler.
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... History, in the sense of the perpetual task to regain the order under God from the pressure of mundane existence, has only begun. (417f; Fs) (notabene)