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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

only ye heard a voiee " (Deut. iv. 12). God reveals Himself to man through his organs of hearing, not through those of sight. Even Ezekiel,

Sound,

jah recognized God by a "still, small voice," and a voiee addressed him (I

travelers in the wilderness. The " munadi," a similar voice, came in the solitude of night

among

the nations.

" '

Jose entered a ruin

and encountered there the prophet Elijah, who asked him " .My son, what voice didst thou hear in the ruins?" He answered: "I heard a Bat Kol; it murmured like a dove (ri3V3 nonJO) and at Jerusalem



duality of tile

Bat ?ol. ple

exclaimed: 'Wo unto the children,' etc." In the course of the con versation God is spoken of instead of the Bat Kol (Ber. 3a). Elisha b. Abuyah heard a voice chirping behind the Tem-

(mow nsvavD,

Ecci. n. vk.

8).

When God

wishes to announce harm, but good proceeds from His

He

uses the

Bat Kol own mouth (Targ. on Lam. iii. 38). Nebuchadnezzar hears a But Kol which sounds like the shout of a nation (Ex. R. xxx. 20). When Moses died, a Bat Kol rang through the camp of twelve square miles and proclaimed: " Moses is dead " (Sifre ii. 307; Somali 136,

!

below,

etc.).

Josephus in telling the portents of

the- destruction J." vi. 5, §3; compare Rev. xix. 1, 6): "Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] Temple, as their custom

of the

Temple says ("B.

was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that in the first place they felt a quaking, and heard a noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'Let us remove hence.' " Hullin 596 tells of the great strength of God's voice. From these passages it is evident that the strength of the Bat Kol was adapted to circumstances, as the divine word of the Ten Commandments on Sinai was spoken with a strength that adapted itself to children, youths, etc. (Tan. on Deut., in Grllnhut, "Likkutim," v. 1116, 112«: "The word called from heaven "). The original conception undoubtedly was that the heavenly voice whispered or chirped, as is indicated by the expression which (viii. 19; compare x. 14, xxix. 4, xxxviii. 14) uses in regard to the veiled voice of the familiar spirit, and several times in regard to the Bat Kol. Bat Kol could come from under the earth and from the nether world, and is heard on heights (Targ. Yer.

Isaiah

A

Num.

Since such sounds supposedly came world, Jewish monotheism could conceive of it as springing only from heaven, from the Holy Spirit, from angels, or from God Himself. All nations regarded such sounds as the voices of spirits (Tylor, "Primitive Culture," i. 469; Blau, xxi.

from the

The hear

sounds promising comfort in sorrow Parallel and misfortune. The Arabs tell of Instances, a voice, "hatif," which calls to lost

Kings xix. 12, 13; compare Job iv. 16); sometimes God's voice rang from the heights, from Jerusalem, from Zion (Ezek. i. 25; Jer. xxv. 30; Joel iv. 16, 17; Amos i. a, etc.); and His voice was heard in the thunder and in the roar of the sea. The But Kol was loud or soft according to circumstances; but the quality of the tone was peculiar. Rab said: "God roars like a lion, and says: 'Wo unto the children on whose account I have destroyed My house, and burnt My Temple, and whom I have dispersed

"Altjlidisches Zauberwesen," p. fio, n. 2). troubled mind, the soul in despair, would

sees many visions, " heard a voice of one that spake " (Ezek. i. 28); Eli-

Revelation who

Through

Bat Bat Kol

6).

spirit

the Persian poet Nizami when discontented with his lot (Bacher, "Leben und Werke Nizamis," p. 11; Goldziher, " Abhandlungen zur Arabischen

to

Philologie,"

i.

6).

As shown by

the name, this heavenly voice was often considered divine. In the course of the narrative in Ber. 3a, "God" is put instead of "Bat Kol";

and not infrequently God, when using the Bat Kol, is represented as speaking in the first person. Sometimes Bat Kol is identified with the Holy Spirit. In Sifra, Lev. x. 5 (ed. Weiss, 4G»), it is the Holy Spirit which speaks; while in Ker. 56 and Hor. 12a, which give the same account, it is the Bat Kol. " At three courts of justice the Holy Spirit beamed forth: at the courts of Shem, of Samuel, and of Solomon. At the first a Bat Kol cried: She [Tamar] hath been more righteous than I' (Gen. xxxviii. 26); at the '

I am a witness (Muk. 236, referring to I Sam. xii. 5) and at the third She is the mother " (I Kings iii. 27; Mak. 236; Gen. R. xii., lxxxv. etseq.). The Bat Kol usually makes its announcements by means of a passage from the Law or the Scriptures and, to judge from the instances that are related, it was heard oftenest in Biblical times, when the Holy Spirit rested upon the chosen people. At the death of Moses a Bat Kol was heard saying: "Fear thou not, Moses! I myself will care for thy burial"

second:

'

'

'

'





(Deut. R., end). When R. Bannaa visited the graves of the Patriarchs, and wished also to see Adam's grave, a Bat Kol called out: "Thou Voice hast seen the likeness of My image,

of the

Holy

Spirit.

but

My

(B.

B. 58a).

image thou mayest not see

When

Israel

at

"

Sinai

We

" said will do and we will hear " (Ex. xxiv. 7, Hebrew), a Bat Kol called out: "Who has revealed to children the secret which the angels alone possessed " that is, to do before hearing (Shab. 88a; compare Sotah 104). From the foregoing it is evident that the Bat Kol was identified with the Holy Spirit, even with God

My



it differed essentially from the Prophets, though these spoke as the medium of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit rested upon the Prophets, and the intercourse was personal and intimate; while those that

but

heard the Bat K°l stood in no relation whatever to The Prophets again possessed the the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit but the Bat Kol could not be possessed God spoke through it as He did through the ProphFor this reason the Bat Kol addressed not only ets. favored mortals, but sinners, individuals, or multitudes, within or without the Holy Land (B. M. 86a; It revealed the higher Will, not in B. B. 736, 746). the unintelligible speech of the Christian gift of tongues, but in perfectly intelligible words. " After the death of the last three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel but the Bat Kol was yet heard " (Tos. So(ah, xiii. 2, where fJJ'DK'D is nearer the original than Sotah Prophecy was a 486; Bab. Sanh. lie-., ptyeriK'D);



,