THEGLORY LORD
Philippians 2:11 explicitly identifies the proper confession of Christian initiates to be that “that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” Indeed there is repeated emphasis of Jesus as the kavod – i.e. the pillar of light which led the company of Israel out of Egypt.
Indeed I certainly don’t think that the identification of Jesus with the kavod among the first Christians was allegorical. In other words I don’t think that the early Church Fathers thought that the pillar of light was like Jesus. No not at all. Jesus was certainly the angelic being who Christians thanked for saving Israel in the past and now, at the end of times, as well. Moreover I don’t think that the casual reader is at all aware with regards to how firm the association was. Eusebius, the Church Father who presided over the transformation of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire openly says that Jesus was the divinity which Moses saw in the burning bush. The argument however does not begin with him – it goes right back to the Marqionite precursors of the Catholic tradition. In other words, the understanding undoubtedly goes back to the historical apostle himself.
If you want to get a feel for how important the angel kavod was for Mark all we have to do is open up some of his surviving works among the Samaritans and see for ourselves. There we see this “other power” in heaven actively assist God – assuming the very role of shopata which we hear repeatedly in rabbinic reports of early heresies. Marqeh speaks of the time “when God appeared to [Moses] in the Bush he found twenty two letters written before him with devouring fire; by means of these Moses expounded the Law. These are the elements of the words of Hebrew speech … Moses only expounded the holy Scripture when God commanded it.” The point of course is that “God” cannot appear in any particular place at any particular place as he is but rather is understood to send forth a “messenger” who manifests his divine presence. This is clearly the role of kavod in the early Samaritan tradition where, it is unmistakable for us to see the angel is greater than the heavenly Lord whom he serves.
We first should notice Marqeh understands kavod to be a separate hypostasis from the god of Israel proper noting in the lines which follow that “kavod and the assembly of all the heavenly angels and the Pristine God [emphasis mine] were gathered together when [Moses] wrote with his own hand while these stood and magnified the commandments and commanded what must be done.” The point of course is that the Samaritan tradition of Marqeh is not at all different from the “heresy” of Mark (i.e. Marqion) within Christianity nor the loosely defined “minim” of the rabbinic tradition who are grouped together under the umbrella of akher quite typically. The main difference of course is that the Samaritan writings of Marqeh, while certainly being reworked by the same Antoninian conspiracy, nevertheless retain enough clues about the original tradition which connected all three cultures in the period of 70 – 140 A.D. that we can I think begin to make out a little sense of what the underlying messianic tradition was all about.
We shall momentarily make our way back to the whole idea of the historical apostle himself being the “rock [who] was Christ.” This indeed was what was “going on” at the back of the company but let us instead see who was leading Israel “at the front” as it were – that is Jesus or kavod. Of course Mark would never have mentioned the name “Jesus” explicitly in his Samaritan treatise, but as we shall see shortly the reason is far more straightforward than anyone would have imagined hitherto. Instead, given the traditional emphasis of this northern people he almost exclusively referenced as “glory.” Yet we should not think for a moment that because the works of Marqeh only make specific mention of only the original Mosaic tradition that they should not surprise us in the manner in which they interpret the original material. For Marqeh takes it as his point of departure that not only was kavod a separate hypostasis (much like Philo’s logos) but that his specific function in the heavenly household comes as it were “at the end” of Creation. Let me explain what I mean.
There is a consistent line of reasoning in oldest sections of the Memar Marqeh that Creation as was first established up until the appearance of this hypostasis remained in an inherently “less than perfect state.” This doesn’t mean that Mark held that the world was “bad” or that the God who originally created was anything less than good. This was little more than the “spin” which later detractors put on the perceived implications of this messianic halakhoth. The point simply was that whatever was established “in the beginning” would somehow be “perfected” or “completed” in the end with the reappearance of kavod as we see implied in this same section where it continues:
Divinity [Alahotah] appeared and established the covenant.
Kavod appeared and magnified what was good.
The angels came to magnify what was glorious and they were all assembled for Adam.
Divinity formed him and the breath of life was breathed in him.
Kavod made him complete with a great spirit; the two of them were clad in two crowns of great light.
Divinity put in him a perfect mind and Kavod gave him powerful illumination.
Divinity also glorified him with speech and Kavod glorified him with perfect knowledge.
The angels were witnesses to him of what he would do and they are all mentioned gathered in every place where God is mentioned in Truth.
Yes indeed kavod is operating here as the very shopata of the Jewish minim but we should not overlook the fact that he is also the angel Jesus of the Marqionite tradition, the embodiment of the attribute “mercy” whose very presence when beheld not only “heals” but “perfects.”
Indeed I certainly don’t think that the identification of Jesus with the kavod among the first Christians was allegorical. In other words I don’t think that the early Church Fathers thought that the pillar of light was like Jesus. No not at all. Jesus was certainly the angelic being who Christians thanked for saving Israel in the past and now, at the end of times, as well. Moreover I don’t think that the casual reader is at all aware with regards to how firm the association was. Eusebius, the Church Father who presided over the transformation of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire openly says that Jesus was the divinity which Moses saw in the burning bush. The argument however does not begin with him – it goes right back to the Marqionite precursors of the Catholic tradition. In other words, the understanding undoubtedly goes back to the historical apostle himself.
If you want to get a feel for how important the angel kavod was for Mark all we have to do is open up some of his surviving works among the Samaritans and see for ourselves. There we see this “other power” in heaven actively assist God – assuming the very role of shopata which we hear repeatedly in rabbinic reports of early heresies. Marqeh speaks of the time “when God appeared to [Moses] in the Bush he found twenty two letters written before him with devouring fire; by means of these Moses expounded the Law. These are the elements of the words of Hebrew speech … Moses only expounded the holy Scripture when God commanded it.” The point of course is that “God” cannot appear in any particular place at any particular place as he is but rather is understood to send forth a “messenger” who manifests his divine presence. This is clearly the role of kavod in the early Samaritan tradition where, it is unmistakable for us to see the angel is greater than the heavenly Lord whom he serves.
We first should notice Marqeh understands kavod to be a separate hypostasis from the god of Israel proper noting in the lines which follow that “kavod and the assembly of all the heavenly angels and the Pristine God [emphasis mine] were gathered together when [Moses] wrote with his own hand while these stood and magnified the commandments and commanded what must be done.” The point of course is that the Samaritan tradition of Marqeh is not at all different from the “heresy” of Mark (i.e. Marqion) within Christianity nor the loosely defined “minim” of the rabbinic tradition who are grouped together under the umbrella of akher quite typically. The main difference of course is that the Samaritan writings of Marqeh, while certainly being reworked by the same Antoninian conspiracy, nevertheless retain enough clues about the original tradition which connected all three cultures in the period of 70 – 140 A.D. that we can I think begin to make out a little sense of what the underlying messianic tradition was all about.
We shall momentarily make our way back to the whole idea of the historical apostle himself being the “rock [who] was Christ.” This indeed was what was “going on” at the back of the company but let us instead see who was leading Israel “at the front” as it were – that is Jesus or kavod. Of course Mark would never have mentioned the name “Jesus” explicitly in his Samaritan treatise, but as we shall see shortly the reason is far more straightforward than anyone would have imagined hitherto. Instead, given the traditional emphasis of this northern people he almost exclusively referenced as “glory.” Yet we should not think for a moment that because the works of Marqeh only make specific mention of only the original Mosaic tradition that they should not surprise us in the manner in which they interpret the original material. For Marqeh takes it as his point of departure that not only was kavod a separate hypostasis (much like Philo’s logos) but that his specific function in the heavenly household comes as it were “at the end” of Creation. Let me explain what I mean.
There is a consistent line of reasoning in oldest sections of the Memar Marqeh that Creation as was first established up until the appearance of this hypostasis remained in an inherently “less than perfect state.” This doesn’t mean that Mark held that the world was “bad” or that the God who originally created was anything less than good. This was little more than the “spin” which later detractors put on the perceived implications of this messianic halakhoth. The point simply was that whatever was established “in the beginning” would somehow be “perfected” or “completed” in the end with the reappearance of kavod as we see implied in this same section where it continues:
Divinity [Alahotah] appeared and established the covenant.
Kavod appeared and magnified what was good.
The angels came to magnify what was glorious and they were all assembled for Adam.
Divinity formed him and the breath of life was breathed in him.
Kavod made him complete with a great spirit; the two of them were clad in two crowns of great light.
Divinity put in him a perfect mind and Kavod gave him powerful illumination.
Divinity also glorified him with speech and Kavod glorified him with perfect knowledge.
The angels were witnesses to him of what he would do and they are all mentioned gathered in every place where God is mentioned in Truth.
Yes indeed kavod is operating here as the very shopata of the Jewish minim but we should not overlook the fact that he is also the angel Jesus of the Marqionite tradition, the embodiment of the attribute “mercy” whose very presence when beheld not only “heals” but “perfects.”
# © 2006 by World Star International Inc. Marcus Julius Agrippa Jr. 
