A Son is Given

Christianity is a composite of its religious philosophy and that of others.

Courtesy: oneyearbibleimages.com

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Isaiah was part of a group that, because its thinking rose above the bonds of tradition, exceeded the bounds of its community. When he wrote his prophecy the details were already worked out, and the "essential man" [Jesus] selected:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;” Jesus was the son of Mary, whose personal commitment to Christianity she passed on to her son. The birth was of a prepared individual from the body politic; not the issuance of a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

The Immaculate Conception is a metaphor, the Christmas story an emotional fantasy on a level equal to Santa Claus who, when my brother was little, swore came down a crooked six-inch stove pipe, into and out of a small wood burning stove to reveal himself to him. His dream was a product of his sub-conscious, not his reality, but it was real to him. And who am I to say he was wrong?

Isaiah's way of speaking drew upon the oral and poetic traditions that lends itself to ease of recollection, but can lead an unsuspecting person astray. There is a harmonic rhythm of verbiage and delivery that is appealing to many who get so caught up in it, that they miss the point completely.

The consequence is a contribution to the artificiality of lives; something Plato was loath to accept. By the same token, Plato's argument against it may have made poetry the preferred medium for delivery by those whose object was to confound and amaze.

Isaiah’s message needs to be filtered from his style if it is to be understood. His prophecy was the introduction to the Order intended to supersede the Judaic order. Was he foretelling the future when he says “ to us a child is born,“ or saying what already has occurred? And if the birth was a known, isn’t it logical he would have mentioned the Christmas Story? Instead, he adds, “to us a son is given,” a statement closer to the truth if we can believe what follows [Isaiah: 11, fwd - with additions]:

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse [Judaism-past; the shoot is a ref. to Jesus], and a branch of the House of David shall grow out of his roots. I have stirred up one from the north [Jesus of Galilee] and he has come, and he shall call on my name. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. And the spirit of the Lord [the Coterie] will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear [respect for] the Lord.”

Christianity is a composite of its religious philosophy and that of others. The Book of Isaiah is a work that presumes to draw upon the past to promote an event by predicting the transition from Judaism to Christianity.

Implied in Isaiah's utterances are two of the thrice-great attributes of Hermes, Supreme Knowledge and the Practice of Divine Cults from the Hermetic Tradition; the third, Administration of Laws, also from the Tradition, pretends to be of ancient origin, but was written by authors who finished it as late as the 2nd Century A.D. [coincident with the Gospel of John].

Isaiah says nothing about a virgin birth, but only of one who “has come, and he shall call on my name." It is reasonable to suspect Jesus was taught by his mother Mary, and that the Coterie “chose” and helped prepare Jesus for the role he was to play, then tested him to be sure he was up to the demands of the Christ, as he would be called when he committed fully to his fate.

Jews, according to Isaiah, are what they are taught [which is true of all]. With the evidence of history to guide them, and based on their experience, the Christian Coterie must have anticipated their proposal would be resisted, and when the elders refused to go along, Isaiah responded with vigor. [I presume readers are familiar with Isaiah‘s text]:

“So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail . . . the elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail, for those who lead the people lead them astray. Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly.”

To Jews who had not completely accepted the concept of Oneness, a spiritual God whose power is greater than the sum of its parts, Isaiah speaks historically for God with words that suggest that traditions die slowly:

“As my hand has reached to the kingdom of the idols whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and to her images?” Obviously, Judaism was a religion still in process, composed of factions whose beliefs varied. As the Prophetic Christian voice, Isaiah cautiously began to introduce Jesus, the essential man already selected for his role, and present him to his audience:

“With righteousness shall he judge . . . and decide equity; he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay [persuade] the wicked [non-believers]. In that day the root of Jesse will stand as an ensign to the peoples [of the Old Testament]; him [Jesus’ New Testament] shall the nations seek, and his dwellings will be glorious,” [as it was imagined to be above the earth as well].

The Great Chain of Being was a concept modeled on known planets, plus the moon and the sun as a perceived ascending-hierarchy of divinities. Planets were named for the Roman divinities Mars [Martes], Mercury [Miercoles], Jupiter [Jueves], Venus, [Viernes], and Saturn [Sabado] that when added to the Sun [Domingo] and the Moon [Lunes] became the named seven days of a week [in Spanish].

The Coterie pretended each heavenly body was home to a group of blessed [demons, saints, angles, etc.] who conformed to its preferred arrangement of an earthly Order, in which they assumed for themselves the loftiest and invisible level of God, “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Writing was an art as mysterious and powerful to the ignorant as was the religion it expounded. Those who were able to write could invoke the force of the written word to impress listeners, not only because of their skill, but also because writing enjoyed an Immortal [permanent] quality. The Jews may have been first to use the written word as sacred utterances in a book.

The Jewish Diaspora from Babylonian Captivity [6th Century B.C.] proved the value of writing especially as used in the Torah. For each segmented part of the Jewish Community carried with it a copy of the Torah by which it was able to preserve its heritage and identity wherever on earth it settled.

The lesson was not lost on Christians who saw in the Torah a vehicle for spreading its own Gospel. “And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is Sealed” [not meant for common usage until Protestants changed the rules].

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Kenneth G. Ramey was a 79-year old "writer without a Website" who is generating excellent, provocative articles on the subject of religion and world affairs. We are pleased that Ken's "lone wolf" presence as a writer in the world has been replaced by a spot on our team of writers at Salem-News.com. Raised in Minnesota and California during the dark years of the Great American Depression, Ken is well suited to talk about the powerful forces in the world that give all of us hope and tragedy and everything in between. You can write to Ken at: kgramey@sbcglobal.net