Mailman Creed

by Bryan S.

If you are old enough, you may remember, or have even read this website, that a legendary group of men, led by the founder of the modern man, Abraham of Israel, was crowned a god at the outset of the Old Testament, not by the weight of thunderbolts but by the regular burning of an enormous cauldron in the most transcendental of ways to demonstrate the universality of man’s immortality. You might even remember the first such “analogue”, the sacrificial torch taken from the great Hall of Records, and the other wonders that ensued. In addition and for various reasons, the ancient prophets had refused to accept the crown, and in their place one of the leaders of the men’s cult, of the tribe of Israel, was chosen by God himself to be the sole judges of Israel’s salvation. Thus began the tradition of the Prophets as a group of men, whose prerogative was to hear every one of the mysteries and accept or reject any revelation.

The Prophets as Aboard

The book of the Pentateuch was the oldest known holy book ever written, made on Sinai by Moshe at the command of God himself. All the history of Israel since the deportation of the children of Israel, about 3,500 years ago, has been contained in its pages, including the miraculous life of Moses, who had never lived before the Exodus. So it was natural then to conclude that the whole history of the Israelites, from the first days of their existence to the day of David’s ultimate defeat, had been contained in the Pentateuch, and that none but those in its pages could be trusted by those who had come before. The ancient prophets, like the first generation of religious leaders in our time, are mentioned in the Pentateuch on “more than one occasion”. In the first temple, after the death of Moses, Moses’ brother Aaron was introduced by priests and was counted to be the priest of the covenant, but with the advent of the second temple, the patriarchs’ own connection with the priests was finally severed, and the whole of the OT of Israel is said to come from the priests. We are therefore told at many times that the whole text of the Pentateuch is the inspired writing of Moses. This is what was held to be impossible by the prophets.