Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/21

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The Jewish Religion

garded as coming directly from God Himself to reveal His divine nature and His will and purpose with it and with the

whole human race. In all the events of its history, as interpreted by its spiritual leaders, Israel ever saw God's hand working, and through the interpretation of its history aright and life of it learned to know God and His true worship the chief been ever has history Israel's service for all men. source of

its

knowledge of God. Revelation

But

in a certain

pressed

in

the

sense there

one

is

still

word, Revelation.

a third source,

term

This

ex-

implies

knowledge of God is the result not only of individual and communal religious conexpanding his own but also, and perhaps even more, of thought, sciousness and revelation of Himself to Israel purposed God's actual and inspired men, whom we call and through divinely chosen that the Jew's

Certainly the prophets so conceived of themselves, They spoke and labored, not their message, and their work. as mere human beings, but as impersonal agents through prophets.

whom God

Himself was

irresistibly

working.

Volumes have

been written to explain prophetic inspiration and revelation

by natural law, and from a rationalistic and somewhat mechanical standpoint, and much light has been shed upon this very

difficult

that only the

Yet we are constantly made

problem.

human

side of the prophet's nature

to realize

and work

can be thus analyzed and explained; the divine element, the manner of God's willing and working, remains ever above

and beyond human analysis and comprehension. During a long period the prophets were the leaders in this wonderful through them unfolding of Israel's knowledge of God eternal truths were revealed, which were indispensable for

human knowledge and

spiritual

believe that these prophets

growth.

We

can scarcely

discovered these truths entirely