Mele-i Âla in the Jewish Bible: The Divine Council

Yıl 2022, , 11 - 48, 30.06.2022

Eldar Hasanoğlu

https://doi.org/10.31834/ortadoguvegoc.1117102

Öz

In the sacred texts of Judaism which is a monotheistic belief, there is the depiction of God in an assembly atmosphere. This assembly is called Divine Council and is evaluated as a solid belief, in spite of that the sacred texs does not refer it conceptually. The concept of the Divine Council in Judaism can be compared with the concept of Mele-i Âla in Islam. The council is described with the terms of “edah”, “moed”, “qahal” and “sod” which express plurality and privicy. The head of the council is God and also several members such as Sons of God, Angel, Holy Ones, Satan participate in the meetings. The meeting place of this heavenly assembly is mentioned with a symbolic style. The sacred texts formerly described it had gathered on the mountains of Sinai and Zion but later the holy temple was accepted as a meeting place. It should not be forgotten that these descriptions are of symbolic meaning, since in Judaism God is not a physical one. The concept of the Divine Council was not unique to the Jews, but it was also seen in the religious culture of other nations of the region in ancient times. Thatswhy some researchers have brought this theme to the agenda in the context of the influence of Judaism by the nations of the region. Experts made comparative research on the expressions refer to the Divine Council, the structure of the council, its members, meeting places, etc and subsequently claimed that the early Hebrews were in polytheist belief like as the nations of the region while at 6th century B.C.E. they abondoned it and adopted monotheism. They put forward the Divine Council phenomenon as evidence for this approach. However, some who approached the issue from a religious perspective, analyzed the the content of the sacred texts and argued that those claims are inconsistent. They stated that the common religious discourse between Judaism and the nations of the region should not be considered as evidence of influence. They have refuted the claims of polytheism with various arguments.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Judaism, Divine Council, God, Polytheism, Monotheism, Ancient Middle East

Yahudi Kutsal Kitabında Mele-i Âlâ: İlahi Konsey

Öz

Monoteist inanca sahip olan Yahudiliğin kutsal metinlerinde Tanrı’nın bir meclis ortamında tasvirine rastlanır. İlahi Konsey adı verilen bu oluşum, Yahudilikte kavramsal olarak bulunmasa da kutsal metinlerdeki betimlemeler dolayısıyla yerleşik bir inanış olarak görülür. Yahudilikteki İlahi Konsey anlayışı İslamiyetteki Mele-i Âlâ kavramıyla karşılaştırılabilir. Kutsal metinlerde bu konsey “eda”, “moed”, “kahal” ve “sod” gibi topluluğu ve mahremiyeti ifade eden farklı tabirlerle anlatılır. Konseyin başkanı Tanrı’dır ve toplantılara katılımcı olarak Tanrı’nın Oğulları, Melek, Kutsallar, Şeytan gibi üyeler iştirak eder. Bu göksel meclisin toplantı mekânından sembolik bir dille bahsedilir. İlahi Konsey’in önceleri Sina ve Siyon dağlarında toplandığı anlatılırken daha sonra kutsal mabet de toplantı mekanı olarak kabul görmüştür. Yahudilikte Tanrı’nın fiziki varlığı olmaması dolayısıyla bu betimlemelerin sembolik anlam taşıdığı unutulmamalıdır. İlahi Konsey anlayışı sadece Yahudilere özgü olmayıp eski çağlarda bölgenin diğer halklarının din kültüründe de kendisine rastlanır. Bu nedenle bazı araştırmacılar bu motifi Yahudiliğin bölge halkından etkilenmesi bağlamında gündeme taşımışlardır. İlahi Konsey’i ifade eden kavramlar, konseyin yapısı, üyeleri, toplanma yerleri vs gibi hususlar üzerinde mukayeseli araştırmalar yapan uzmanlar eski İbranilerin de bölge halkları gibi çoktanrıcı olduklarını, ancak M.Ö. 6. yüzyılda onu bırakıp tektanrıcılığı benimsediklerini iddia etmiş ve İlahi Konsey olgusunu da bu yaklaşıma kanıt sunmuşlardır. Buna karşın, konuya dini perspektiften yaklaşan bazıları da kutsal metinlerin içeriğini analiz yaparak ileri sürülen iddiaların tutarsız olduğunu savunmuş ve Yahudilikle bölge halkları arasındaki müşterek dini söylemin etkilenmeye delil olarak değerlendirilmemesi gerektiğini belirtmiş, çeşitli argümanlarla politeizm iddialarını çürütmüşlerdir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Yahudilik, İlahi Konsey, Tanrı, Politeizm, Monoteizm, Eski Ortadoğu

Kaynakça

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