Nevertheless, one thing is patent: the “Lord's [Jehovah's] portion” is his “chosen people” and none else, for, Jacob alone is the lot of his inheritance. What, then, have other nations, who call themselves Âryans, to do with this Semitic Deity, the tribal God of Israel? Astronomically, the “Most High” is the Sun, and the “Lord” is one of his seven planets, whether it be Iao, the Genius of the Moon, or Ildabaoth-Jehovah, the Genius of Saturn, according to Origen and the Egyptian Gnostics.[1261] Let the “Angel Gabriel,” the “Lord” of Iran, watch over his people, and Michael-Jehovah, over his Hebrews. These are not the Gods of other nations, nor were they ever those of Jesus. As each Persian Dev is chained to his planet,[1262] so each Hindû Deva (a “Lord”) has its allotted portion, a world, a planet, a nation or a race. Plurality of worlds implies plurality of Gods. We believe in the former, and may recognize, but will never worship the latter.[1263]
It has been repeatedly stated in this work that every religious and philosophical symbol had seven meanings attached to it, each pertaining to its legitimate plane of thought, i.e., either purely metaphysical or astronomical; psychic or physiological, etc. These seven meanings and their applications are difficult enough to learn when taken by themselves; but the interpretation and the right comprehension of [pg 568] them become tenfold more puzzling, when, instead of being correlated, or made to flow consecutively out of, and to follow, each other, each, or any one of these meanings, is accepted as the one and sole explanation of the whole symbolical idea. An instance may be given, as it admirably illustrates the statement. Here are two interpretations, given by two learned Kabalists and scholars, of one and the same verse in Exodus. Moses beseeches the Lord to show him his “glory.” Evidently it is not the crude dead-letter phraseology as found in the Bible that is to be accepted. There are seven meanings in the Kabalah, of which we may give two as interpreted by the said two scholars. One of them translates while explaining:
“Thou canst not see My face;... I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and I will cover thee with My hand while I pass by. And then I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My a'hoor,” i.e., My back.[1264]
And then the translator adds in a gloss:
That is, I will show you “My back,” i.e., My visible universe, My lower manifestations, but, as a man still in the flesh, thou canst not see My invisible nature. So proceeds the Qabbalah.[1265]
This is correct, and is the cosmo-metaphysical explanation. And now speaks the other Kabalist, giving the numerical meaning. As it involves a good many suggestive ideas, and is far more fully given, we may allow it more space. This synopsis is from an unpublished MS., and explains more fully what was given in Section III, on the “Holy of Holies.”[1266]
The numbers of the name “Moses” are those of “I am that I am,” so that the names Moses and Jehovah are at one in numerical harmony. The word Moses is משה (5 + 300 + 40), and the sum of the values of its letters is 345; Jehovah—the Genius par excellence of the Lunar Year—assumes the value of 543, or the reverse of 345.
In the third chapter of Exodus, in the 13th and 14th verses, it is said: And Moses said, ... Behold I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them. The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say unto me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses,
I Am That I Am.
The Hebrew words for this expression are âhiyé asher âhiyé, and in the value of the sums of their letters stand thus: