It must be admitted that there he retained a sense of that which is beyond our reason (there are more things in heaven and on earth than in our philosophy), a sensation which in Hellenism was dangerously obscured by its very successes. Was it not for this reason that Hellenism turned its eyes with envy to the East, feeling itself prematurely exhausted? The great Babylonian cosmogony, the savage mysticism of the Syrian cults, the ancient Egyptian religion of the dead, and then the grandiose cosmic epic of light and darkness that inspired Mazdaism—all these were worldviews full of inhuman horrors, the very ones that had been safely banished by Hellenism, but they also allowed man to regain a superhuman sense of mystery, which, alas, Hellenism had lost. The mystery of the world and of life, the mystery of man and that which surpasses him — is this not what fascinated a Greek-educated man in the Eastern initiations? {}

But there is no doubt that in all this the irrational principle has unfortunately not been able to free itself either from the slavery of magical rituals or from the childish fantasies of primitive cosmogonies. Is it to be regarded as a mere admission of failure, merely the fruit of despair, of the attraction of Greek thought, disillusioned with its overly intellectualized logic, to the myths of pre-logical times?

Not only, but whatever Plotinus thinks and says, for example, in his treatise Against the Gnostics. And his very contempt—does it not only prove how little he is aware of the anxiety which possesses him and creates his own greatness, so profoundly different from that of Aristotle or even of Plato? This general phenomenon of inspiration, of prophecy in the sense we have just defined, that is, in the sense of direct contact with the divinity who possesses man and speaks through him, and which is common to the whole group of Semitic peoples, may seem rather misleading when we observe and consider all its many results. But it can be said that all of them constitute only a kind of nebula enveloping one definite spiritual achievement, in which the simple irrational principle has reached a truly super-rational level

In Israel, as well as among the Canaanites, there have always been "nebiim". This was the name given to people who were suddenly overwhelmed by an inexplicable ecstatic ecstasy, ascribed to supernatural influence, and expressed in the irrepressible utterance of seemingly incoherent words. This is more or less exactly what Plato, for his part, describes under the name of enthusiasm. Among these people who went into ecstasy were, in Israel as elsewhere, mystics who claimed to be able to discern realities invisible to ordinary mortals, and, conversely, to penetrate into the depths of the visible world with a super-normal sighted eye. But now, the image of the Deity taking possession of them begins to emerge from their revelations with amazing clarity, and moreover with features of incomparable grandeur and with a purity that is not found anywhere else. At the same time, the general direction which they discern in events gradually acquires such distinctness and scope that are also unparalleled. In all this is reflected a mysterious design, and they call upon their countrymen to become its conscious and obedient executors, otherwise they will be crushed like an insignificant obstacle by that personal omnipotence which creates history.

With such prophets, we have something quite different from those isolated divine utterances, from which something coherent and instructive can be extracted only if all their religious content is removed, together with the mythological form. But here we are just as far from the plant forces, from the elements, and from the heavenly bodies, as the Canaanite or Assyro-Babylonian Baals were. The God of the Israelite prophets, Yahweh, is not a cosmic force or a mere glimpse of the inner world of men. He is the Lord of all things, free from His creation. It is revealed in the heavenly fire, but even more in a light and indefinable rustle, in which the man of God recognizes His personal presence, prostrating himself before Him who is Holy and Who is completely Different.

It is still less any spirit-lord of a given place, such as those who can be contacted and used by almost only magical agreement with them. Here is God, who does not dwell in any house built by human hands, since the heavens themselves, and the heavens of heavens, cannot contain Him. And yet, for all this royal majesty, this is the God closest to man that has ever been known. By His free will, He is immeasurably closer to Israel than to the other nations of their "ruler"—He is so close to Israel that Israel can no longer call Him "his Baal" but "his Spouse," giving the words—indeed, a meaning that is purer than tribal." In this intimacy, the voluntariness of which must be emphasized, Yahweh, unswervingly supporting it with Israel through the whole series of His inspired messengers, will lead the people of Israel along paths that also have no parallel to themselves. In the course of this history, and for the sake of its progressive development, which defies all human foresight, the consciousness of both the people and the individual will be forged to depths of which Greek humanism had no idea. By revealing Himself to man as the Almighty, as Lord in the most absolute sense of the word, God, however, reveals man to himself better than any investigation of his own consciousness would do. For He reveals Himself as the Creator of man and, in the end, as his Father, the One Whose Word created man in the image of God, and it is this Word that awakens in man the superconsciousness. Now that man has lost his way far from Paradise, from the primordial creation, when God has appeared to him without fear, as a friend can appear to his friends, the Word of the Invisible One has only one purpose: to restore this image in man and bring it to perfection, opening the heavens for this purpose and descending to man.

The Israelite prophets themselves were the first to be struck by the absolute originality of the experiential knowledge that they received about the God who spoke to them. Of these, the oldest who left us his own testimony recorded in writing was Amos. {} It appeared in the VIII century, in the Northern Kingdom (in the kingdom of the ten tribes). He was not, however, a native of the country, but a native of Judea. At first, he was a simple shepherd in the small village of Fekoya. In no way did he belong to the circle of professional prophets, so to speak, those who methodically came into ecstasy, entering into communion with a rather vague deity by various vague methods, like the Pythia, who sat on a tripod and chewed the laurel of Delphi. He himself tells us, or rather says to Amaziah the priest, who was in charge of the royal sanctuary at Bethel and may have lost the peace of mind with which God spoke to Amos, which was personally advantageous to him:

"I am not a prophet (Heb. = nabi) and not the son of the prophet; I was a shepherd and gathered sycamores; but the Lord (Yahweh) took me from the sheep and said to me, "Go and prophesy to my people Israel." Now hear the word of the Lord." {Amos 7:15-16}

The content of this Word, entrusted to a completely uneducated shepherd, is such a demanding and lofty concept of truth, identified with the true cult of Yahweh Himself, that the most sublime, abstract Greek thought has never even approached it.

Немного позже, мы в Иудее находим совсем другого человека, которым овладевает то же божественное Слово. Тут это — иерусалимский вельможа, аристократ, Исайя. Ему Ягве является в Храме, вне обрядов традиционной религии.{Ис.6…} Это видение повергает его ниц с подавляющим чувством божественной святости и того чистого и безусловного поклонения, которое ей подобает. Эта святость Всевышнего Бога предохраняет проповедь пророков, с их морализующими стремлениями, от впадения в отвлеченность и от обезличения Божества. Но это не препятствует тому, что в Слове, носителем которого становится Исайя, эта святость Бога отожествляется с правдой, свидетелем которой уже был Амос, — точнее, был Богом сделан ее свидетелем, хотя сам он того не просил и раньше никогда даже ни о чём подобном не думал.

Проходит еще одно столетие и та же сила овладевает анафофским священником Иеремией.{} Амос, простой крестьянин, трезвый и вместе с тем простодушный, поддался без сопротивления. Исайя, принадлежавший к очень знатному роду, привыкший нести ответственность, сам смело вызвался для божественного посланничества. Услыхав, как Ягве Самому Себе ставит вопрос о том, кто будет за Него говорить, Исайя воскликнул по собственному почину: "Вот я, пошли меня!"{Ис.6.8} Иеремия же, задумчивый, весь обращенный внутрь, чувствительный в высшей степени, тщетно пытается ускользнуть от божественного вдохновения. "О, Господи Боже! я не умею говорить, ибо я еще молод". Но Ягве отвечает ему:

"Не говори: я молод;

ибо ко всем, к кому пошлю Я тебя, пойдешь,

и всё, что повелю тебе, скажешь.