Jewish priests,
in making a history for their race, have given us but a shadow of truth here and there; it is almost wholly mythical. The author of "The Religion of Israel," speaking on this subject, says:
"The history of the religion of Israel
must start from the sojourn of
the Israelites in Egypt. Formerly it was usual to take a much earlier starting-point, and to begin with a religious discussion of the religious ideas of the
Patriarchs. And this was perfectly right, so long as the accounts of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were considered
historical.
But now that a strict investigation has shown us that all these stories are entirely unhistorical, of course we have to begin the history later on."
[54:1]
The author of "The Spirit History of Man," says:
"The Hebrews came out of Egypt and settled among the Canaanites.
They need not be traced beyond the Exodus. That is their historical beginning. It was very easy to cover up this remote event by the recital of mythical traditions, and to prefix to it an account of their origin in which the gods (Patriarchs), should figure as their ancestors."
[54:2]
Professor Goldzhier says:
...
We have already seen, in the last chapter, that Bacchus was called the "
Law-giver," and that his laws were written on
two tables of stone.
[59:3] This feature in the Hebrew legend was evidently copied from that related of Bacchus, but, the idea of his (Moses) receiving the commandments from the Lord on a
mountain was obviously taken from the
Persian legend related of Zoroaster.
Prof. Max Müller says:
"What applies to the religion of Moses applies to that of Zoroaster. It is placed before us as a complete system from the first,
revealed by Ahuramazda (Ormuzd),
proclaimed by Zoroaster."
[59:4]
The disciples of Zoroaster, in their profusion of legends of the master, relate that one day, as he prayed
on a high mountain, in the midst of thunders and lightnings ("fire from heaven"), the Lord himself appeared before him, and delivered unto him the "Book of the Law." While the King of Persia and the people were assembled together, Zoroaster came down from the mountain unharmed, bringing with him the "Book of the Law," which had been revealed to him by Ormuzd. They call this book the
Zend-Avesta, which signifies the
Living Word.
[59:5]
[Pg 60]
According to the religion of the Cretans, Minos, their law-giver, ascended a
mountain (Mount Dicta) and there received from the Supreme Lord (Zeus) the sacred laws which he brought down with him.
[60:1]
Almost all nations of antiquity have legends of their holy men ascending a
mountain to ask counsel of the gods, such places being invested with peculiar sanctity, and deemed nearer to the deities than other portions of the earth.
[60:2]
According to Egyptian belief, it is Thoth, the Deity itself, that speaks and reveals to his elect among men the will of God and the arcana of divine things. Portions of them are expressly stated to have been written by the very finger of Thoth himself; to have been the work and composition of the great god.
[60:3]
Diodorus, the Grecian historian, says:
The idea promulgated by the ancient Egyptians that their
laws were received direct from the Most High God,
has been adopted with success by many other law-givers, who have thus insured respect for their institutions.
[60:4]
The Supreme God of the ancient Mexicans was
Tezcatlipoca. He occupied a position corresponding to the Jehovah of the Jews, the Brahma of India, the Zeus of the Greeks, and the Odin of the Scandinavians. His name is compounded of Tezcatepec, the name of a
mountain (
upon which he is said to have manifested himself to man)
tlil, dark, and
poca, smoke. The explanation of this designation is given in the
Codex Vaticanus, as follows:
[Pg 61]
Tezcatlipoca was one of their most potent deities; they say he once appeared on the top of a mountain. They paid him great reverence and adoration, and addressed him, in their prayers, as "Lord, whose servant we are." No man ever saw his face, for he appeared only "as a shade." Indeed, the Mexican idea of the godhead was similar to that of the Jews. Like Jehovah, Tezcatlipoca dwelt in the "midst of thick darkness."
When he descended upon the mount of Tezcatepec, darkness overshadowed the earth, while fire and water, in mingled streams, flowed from beneath his feet, from its summit.[61:1]
Thus, we see that other nations, beside the Hebrews, believed that their laws were actually received from God, that they had legends to that effect, and that a
mountain figures conspicuously in the stories.
Professor Oort, speaking on this subject, says:
"No one who has any knowledge of antiquity will be surprised at this, for similar beliefs were very common. All peoples who had issued from a life of barbarism and acquired regular political institutions, more or less elaborate laws, and established worship, and maxims of morality, attributed all this—their birth as a nation, so to speak—to one or more great men, all of whom, without exception,
were supposed to have received their knowledge from some deity.
"Whence did Zoroaster, the prophet of the Persians, derive his religion? According to the beliefs of his followers, and the doctrines of their sacred writings, it was from Ahuramazda, the God of light. Why did the Egyptians represent the god Thoth with a writing tablet and a pencil in his hand, and honor him especially as the god of the priests? Because he was 'the Lord of the divine Word,' the foundation of all wisdom, from whose inspiration the priests, who were the scholars, the lawyers, and the religious teachers of the people, derived all their wisdom. Was not Minos, the law-giver of the Cretans, the friend of Zeus, the highest of the gods? Nay, was he not even his son, and did he not ascend to the sacred cave on Mount Dicte to bring down the laws which his god had placed there for him? From whom did the Spartan law-giver, Lycurgus, himself say that he had obtained his laws? From no other than the god Apollo. The Roman legend, too, in honoring Numa Pompilius as the people's instructor, at the same time ascribed all his wisdom to his intercourse with the nymph Egeria. It was the same elsewhere; and to make one more example,—this from later times—Mohammed not only believed himself to have been called immediately by God to be the prophet of the Arabs, but declared that he had received every page of the Koran from the hand of the angel Gabriel."
[61:2]
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