"These verbs do not denote a greater or lesser intimacy in G-d’s revelation to the individual human being. It is a fact that Numbers 12:6 states with respect to the lower degree of prophecy, “I make Myself known to him in a vision” (using both the roots, r-a-h, to see, and y-d-‘, to know)… This is not the sense in which G-d’s revelation to the patriarchs differed from His revelation to Moses; rather, here one sort of revelation is contrasted with another, where the second kind of revelation [that given to Moses] could not yet have occurred [in the time of the fathers], insofar as it is destined only for an entire people and not for individuals. This sort of revelation necessitates that the Lord’s might be revealed in deeds of such magnitudes that only the name Y-H-W-H suits them."
I think that the highlighted sentence is an important fact even with regards to the New Testament and speaking of Jesus comments in John 14. Noting that before Abraham went to Eretz Yisrael, God merely spoke to him; only in Eretz Yisrael did God appear to him.
I think that the highlighted sentence is an important fact even with regards to the New Testament and speaking of Jesus comments in John 14. Noting that before Abraham went to Eretz Yisrael, God merely spoke to him; only in Eretz Yisrael did God appear to him.
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