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Chapter 17 The fourth weird device-4

I soon discovered the fact that the Freemasons, too, had a great deal of reverence for South.There is a very old Masonic legend that speaks of Soth "playing a major role in preserving the knowledge of the mason's craft and imparting it to mankind after the Deluge".There is also a solid scholarly treatise on the origins of Freemasonry, the author of which even argues that early Freemasons had Thoth as their patron saint. I have seen a close connection between the Templars and Freemasonry (see Chapter 7 of this book), since the Freemasons are almost descended from the Templars.Now I understand that what I saw at the time as a "Soth connection" was actually the background of a secret tradition of wisdom, ancient and enduring, going back to the time of the pharaohs.I therefore ask myself a question: Besides the Templars and the Freemasons, are there any other individuals or groups in history whose achievements and ideas appear to be so advanced that they might hold the same intellectual tradition?

I found that there are many such individuals.Copernicus was one.The Renaissance astronomer overturned the medieval self-centered "Earth-centered theory" with the "heliocentric theory".He has said quite candidly that he gained his revolutionary insights by studying the secret writings of the ancient Egyptians, including the hidden scrolls of Thoth.Similarly, the 17th-century mathematician Kepler also admitted that he only "stolen the gold of the Egyptians" when he proposed the laws of the laws of the movement of celestial bodies. Similarly, Sir Isaac Newton once declared his point of view: "The mysteries hidden by the Egyptians with religious rituals and hieroglyphic symbols cannot be revealed by the ability of ordinary people." In his opinion, among these mysteries are Include knowledge about the earth orbiting the sun, not the sun orbiting the earth: "The planets orbit the sun, and the earth, as a planet, orbits the sun once a year and rotates once a day, while the sun remains stationary."

Newton's profound wisdom and learning enabled him to lay the foundation for physics as the modern science.His special achievements include many epoch-making discoveries in mechanics, optics, astronomy and mathematics (the binomial theorem and calculus), as well as major advances in the understanding of the properties of light.Most importantly, he formulated the law of universal gravitation and changed human understanding of the universe forever. However, there is another aspect of this great British scientist that not many people know, that is: he spent a considerable part of his life studying occult and alchemical literature (at least in his private collection). 1/10 is a treatise on alchemy).Not only that, Newton also believed that the "Bible" contains a kind of secret knowledge.He pays particular attention to the Old Testament Book of Daniel and the New Testament Gospel of John, because "these writings of the prophets use symbolic and hieroglyphic language, and to understand them one must adopt a radically different interpretations".

I studied Newton further and gradually realized that Newton had studied more than 20 different versions of the "Old Testament Revelation" very carefully in order to find this method.He also learned Hebrew in order to study the original text of the Bible.Later, he also studied the "Old Testament Ezekiel" carefully. I also learned that Newton had carefully drawn up an architectural plan of Solomon's Temple based on information provided in the Book of Ezekiel.What is his purpose in doing this?Because he firmly believes that this magnificent building built for the Ark of the Covenant is some kind of code of the universe. If he can decipher these codes, he can understand God's thinking.

Newton's plan of the Temple is preserved today in the Babson College Library.In addition, the 17th-century scientist wrote more than a million words of personal journals in which he expressed other "theological" discoveries and insights. These amazing manuscripts were discovered in the mid-20th century and bought by John Maynard Keynes at an auction.Later, apparently astonished, the economist told the Royal Society: "He was the last magician, the last Babylonian and Sumerian, the last man to use our knowledge less than 10,000 years ago." A great thinker who saw the world through the eyes of its founders".Keynes studied these Newton's manuscripts with great care and concluded (which I think is significant) that:

Newton saw the whole universe and everything in it as a riddle, a mystery, which can only be understood by finding some evidence and some mysterious clues with pure thinking.God hid these evidences and clues all over the world, leaving treasure-seeking philosophers to find their secret colleagues.Newton believed that some of these clues could be found in the evidence provided by the heavens and in the composition of the elements, while others would be found in certain manuscripts and traditions--since the first occult revelations, those like-minded began to pass down these manuscripts and traditions from generation to generation without interruption.

indeed so!I will probably never be able to prove that the "comrades" mentioned here are directly related to the mysterious tradition of worshiping the moon god Thoth, and I will never be able to prove that they are directly related to the scientists and civilization communicators who were "rescued from the water".Knowing this, I feel that there is at least enough evidence for one fascinating fact. When Newton made his greatest discoveries, he pointed out several times that he relied not only on his own genius, but on a very ancient store of secret wisdom.For example, he once declared quite explicitly that the law of gravitation which he elaborated in his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy was not new but a principle well understood in antiquity; to arrive at this law.On another occasion, Newton described South as a believer in the Copernican system.Before that, Newton had also listed himself as a colleague of the German physician and alchemist Michael Maier (1568-1622), who noted: "Throughout all man, whose knowledge comes from the moon-god of Egypt."

I also learned some other strange things about Newton, one of which is: Newton was surprised to find that "the ancient peoples have a legend about a great flood".He is also very interested in a point expressed in the Bible, that is: Noah is the common ancestor of all human beings. Not only that, but Newton, despite his deep religious beliefs, sometimes saw Christ as a man of special talents, as the interpreter of God's intentions, rather than as the Son of God.But what interests me most in all of this is this: The real pivotal figure in Newton's theology and early science was none other than the prophet Moses.He regarded Moses as a master of the mysteries of the universe, as a master of alchemy, and as a witness of God's double revelation (that is, God's revelation is expressed in God's word and God's work).

Newton believed that Moses, many long centuries before the beginning of our prosperous age, understood that matter is composed of atoms, which are hard, eternal entities: "Gravity corresponds to these atoms and to the substances of which they are composed; It is directly proportional to the amount of matter in each entity.” Newton also regarded the description of creation in the "Old Testament Genesis" (he believed that the describer was Moses) as a metaphor for the alchemical process: Moses, the ancient theologian, described the strangest creation of this great world, telling us that the Spirit of God moved over the waters, and that the waters were a formless, formerly created matter.

Later, the great British scientist spoke of the work of alchemists: By bringing light, and separating the sky above, and the water from the earth, the world was created out of the chaos of darkness.Likewise, our work is also the first to separate the various elements and luminosity of matter, to make the beginnings out of the dark chaos, to create the first matter. Last but not least: Newton's favorite passage from the Bible hints at a secret knowledge that only the enlightened can grasp: I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden treasures, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who has called you by name. ("Old Testament Isaiah" Chapter 45 Section 3)

I think that if Newton got the same "treasures of darkness" and the same "hidden treasures" as Moses did, it would at least mean: there has been a secret religion or belief that has existed for thousands of years, Its function is to pass on from generation to generation an exclusive knowledge that can only be mastered by specially enlightened people. Although this inference may sound far-fetched, it is by no means impossible.Quite the contrary. Historically, knowledge and skills have often been successfully passed from one part of the world to another without us finding any concrete evidence of these processes. For example: It is said that Rhabdas, a mathematician in Constantinople in the 12th century AD, used a method of finding square roots, and that method only existed in ancient Egypt more than 2,000 years ago. No one used it anywhere else in the 1900s (J.A. West: Ancient Egypt, p. 33).Where and by what means did Ladas obtain this technology?It's hard to explain. Likewise, I am well aware that for centuries secret messages and teachings concerning ancient rituals and ceremonies have been handed down from generation to generation within the various Masonic societies of the world, of which we cannot find any public record. It is, therefore, a dauntingly difficult task to sketch the outlines of a truly secret religion.Even more daunting, I found, was the task of guessing the nature of such long-secret science and technology (such as the secret system of learning that might be preserved in the cult of Thoth).The task is all the more difficult when the science and technology comes from a culture so remote in history that it is now all but forgotten.I wrote in my notebook: It would be a mistake to think that our own twentieth-century machinery and inventions are the norm.Conversely, if there was indeed an advanced society in antiquity, its intelligence was likely to be very different from anything we know.It is reasonably conceivable that its machinery worked on principles unknown to us. terrible appliance It was this thought that brought my attention to some curious passages in the Old Testament and in Deuteronomy in the next step of my research.These passages describe the meeting between God and Moses on Mount Sinai, in which it is said: In the midst of thunder, fire, lightning storm, and cloud of smoke, the Lord revealed to Moses, the Hebrew mage, the blueprint of the Ark, and wrote "Ten The stone commandment board of the "Commandment" was given to Moses.Later, the craftsman Bezalel strictly followed the blueprint inspired by "God" to make the Ark of the Covenant, and seemed to know that he was making a terrible utensil. I think this may be the essence of the Ark of the Covenant. It is actually a terrible instrument that can release terrible energy.If mishandled or misused, it releases uncontrollable energy that can cause disaster.In fact, this instrument was not designed by God as the Bible teaches, but by Moses. Moses was a great mage of his day, when magic and science were indistinguishable from each other.Moses probably possessed the technical knowledge and ability to design such a device, not only probable, but almost factual. Of course, there is no material to support this statement.Nevertheless, I think that only those who view history with a pedantic and exacting attitude will insist that the ancient Egyptian wisdom tradition does not contain any special skill or thought of a technology, and that the prophet Moses did not use it. This technique imbues the Ark with all those terrifying powers described in the Old Testament. It is certainly useful to speculate on these questions.If the reader is interested and intends to delve deeper into this mystery, I will gladly offer them the following hypotheses and inferences as food for thought. motivation and opportunity Let's assume for a moment that Moses did have the technical knowledge to create "a terrible instrument" capable of destroying walls (as in Jericho) and killing people (as in Uzziah and the Besmeirs) , capable of infecting those who approached it unprotected with tumors (such as the Philistines after the battle of Ezer), and defying gravity (such as the bearers of the ark of the covenant were once "thrown into the sky and fell to the ground, repeated several times"). If Moses could have built such a machine, we have only one question left to ask: Did he have the motivation to do so, did he have the opportunity to do so? I would like to point out that he had a very strong motive for doing so.Moses was one of many civilizing heroes who were "raised from the water", and there is evidence that his primary goal in life may not have been the establishment of Judaism (although he did) but rather the attainment of the Israelites Civilization, because they were nothing more than a group of immigrant laborers exiled to Egypt before the Exodus, without organization. Suppose the prophet Moses decides to motivate (and thus mobilize) this primitive, almost unruly vagrant by convincing them that he will lead them to "Canaan, the promised land of God."He described Canaan as fascinating, saying that it is "beautiful and wide... flowing with milk and honey" ("Old Testament Exodus" Chapter 3, Section 8).Moses, if he had done so, was far from being a prudent leader, and far from being a sober judge of human frailties, for he intended to bring a largely disorganized mob directly to the blessed land of Canaan .Moses knew that when they finally reached Canaan they would meet some terrible enemies, so to defeat these enemies, he must first make the Israelites disciplined and morale, he must make them submit to his will, he must use discipline to restrain them them. This reasoning fascinates me because it seems to rationalize the seemingly unnecessary fact that the Israelites are said to have wandered for 40 years in the harsh wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula (see Chapter 16, Section 35).At the time there were at least two well-known caravan routes along which travelers traveled across the desert between Egypt and Canaan, usually in a matter of days.I therefore think that Moses' decision not to take these two ready-made paths, but to subject the Israelites to long-term hardship, can only be a deliberate strategy: presumably he thought it was to sharpen the Israelites so that they could occupy that land. The best way to do it in the Promised Land. However, there are obstacles to this strategy - Moses must solve a difficult problem, which is to persuade the tribes of Israel to unite in the desert wilderness and overcome all the difficulties and severe challenges of nomadic life together. It's a tough conundrum, and the passages in the Bible that describe the wanderings in the wilderness clearly illustrate the painful fact that Moses had a hard time gaining the trust of the Israelites and had to force them to obey his commands.In fact, every time Moses performed a new miracle (and he had to perform many), the Israelites listened to him.But there were times, especially in times of calamity, when they complained and complained sharply against Moses, and sometimes openly rebelled against him. Let us make a reasonable assumption: in this case, the prophet Moses may have thought that he must be armed with a portable "miracle machine".In this way, whenever and wherever, whenever a little "magic" is needed, he can use this machine to confuse and tame the Israelites.Wouldn't he think so?That's what the Ark of the Covenant actually is, a portable miracle machine that Moses uses to ensure that the people will obey his commands no matter how difficult the circumstances.Wasn't the Ark just such a machine? It is not difficult to find examples in the Bible of the use of the ark for this purpose.In fact, after the ark was made, Moses' behavior changed significantly.Previously, Moses had dealt with the constant demands and complaints of the Israelites with little magic—for example, striking a rock in the desert with his staff so that water would flow from it (chapter 17:6-7); into bitter water to make it sweet (chapter 15, verses 23-25); 436), etc.But when the ark was finished, the prophet didn't bother to rely on such little tricks.Whenever the crowd complained and rebelled against him, or dared to question his leadership in any way, he used the ark against them—with dire results, as can be imagined. There is a fairly typical case to illustrate this situation.Once Miriam, Moses' sister, doubted his authority, and he gave her a skin disease. The "Bible" says that the disease is called "leprosy" (see "Old Testament Numbers" Chapter 12, Sections 1, 2, and 10).However, when Miriam was properly purified, her illness disappeared.Miriam contracted the skin disease from exposure to the cloud that so often appeared between the winged angels on the cover of the ark, so her disease was not leprosy.Couldn't that skin disease have been caused by some chemical or other pollutant released from the Ark itself? Miriam was not the only one who fell ill after provoking Moses.Not only that, some dissidents who were not lucky enough to become members of the high priest's family were often punished more severely.Some staged a mutiny, openly challenging the authority of Moses and Yahua.In response to this mutiny, a particularly interesting sequence of events took place: Two hundred and fifty of the leaders of the community of Israel, those who had been chosen in honor, rose up together before Moses, and assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You presumptuously set your own power, and every one of the community is holy, and the LORD Why do you exalt yourself above the congregation of the Lord among them?" (Numbers 16:2,3) Moses was at first appalled by the rebellious rhetoric, so much so that he "fell prostrate to the ground" (v. 4), but he soon recovered and offered the following "test"—he proposed that in order to test the 250 rebels Is it "holy" as they say, requiring each of them to fill the copper censer with incense, light the incense, and then go to the front of the ark.This, he says, allows the Lord to "holy sanctify the man he chooses" (vv. 5-7). Moses' challenge was accepted by the rebels, "then they each took a censer, filled it with fire, added incense, and stood with Moses and Aaron in front of the door of the Tent of Meeting." These people just stood still, "the glory of the LORD He appeared to the whole congregation." It seems that God wanted to let his "beloved elect" know what he was going to do 3 seconds in advance: "The LORD knew beyond Moses and Aaron and said: You leave this congregation, so that in a blink of an eye I will Destroy them." At these words, Moses, the prophet and high priest, "fell on his face... and fire came out of the ark and consumed the two hundred and fifty who offered incense." (cf. Numbers "Chapter 16, verses 18-35, in which "from the ark of the covenant" is "from the Lord" in some versions——Translator's Note) Later, the Israelites said to Moses, "We are dead! We are perishing! All are perishing! Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Will we all die?" ("Numbers i6") Chapter 17, Chapters 12 and 13 Festival) It appears they have learned a salutary lesson.They were overwhelmed by the power of the ark, and afterward dared not engage in any serious rebellion.On the contrary, during the rest of their wanderings in the wilderness, except for occasional murmurs, everyone obeyed Moses and followed his orders meticulously. The above was Moses' motivation for making the ark of the covenant.Moses clearly needed a miracle-making machine like the Ark desperately.Besides, once he had the machine (if it was a machine at all), he would not hesitate to use it. However, mere motivation and ability are not enough to achieve satisfactory results.So the next question is: Did Moses have the opportunity to prepare the proper blueprint for the Ark, and was there any opportunity to produce some kind of "reserve energy material" for the Ark, that is, some kind of energy for the Ark to release? The answer is yes: Moses had every opportunity to do so.To understand why this is said, it is necessary to review the main events of Moses' life.In chronological order, these experiences are as follows: 1.He was born in Egypt. 2.He was put into a straw box covered with asphalt and tar and set adrift on the Nile. 3.He was "lifted out of the water" by Pharaoh's daughter. 4.He was brought up in the court of the pharaoh, learned "all the learning of the Egyptians," became a master mage, and almost certainly a high priest. 5. The "Bible" says that when Moses was 40 years old, he heard that his fellow Israelites were being oppressed by the Egyptians, so he left the court to experience the plight of the Israelites.He saw the Israelites living as captives, forced to do hard labor day and night.Indignant at the cruel treatment of his countrymen and at the arrogance of the Egyptians, he lost his temper, killed an Egyptian overseer, and fled. 6. After 40 years, the 80-year-old Moses returned to Egypt from exile and led the Israelites out of slavery. What was Moses doing during the 40 years of his disappearance? The Bible is of no help in answering this question, since it describes this period in only intervening verses (see Chapter 2, verses 15-25 - Translator's Note).However, the "Bible" still shows one thing very clearly: the key event in this long period is that Moses saw the Lord in the burning bush, at the foot of Mount Sinai, where the Ark of the Covenant was later made of. That was long before Moses persuaded the Israelites to cross the Red Sea with him, so Moses wasn't quite used to life in the terrible wasteland of Sinai.Is it not possible? Seeing the Lord in the Burning Bush, the location of the event has convinced me that Moses spent at least part of his forty years in exile in these remote mountainous deserts.He may even have spent most or all of his exile in these places. The academic community also agrees with this view.A knowledgeable Egyptologist has said that Moses may have lived in Sinai for 25 years, at a place in Sinai called Mount Serabit, only 50 miles from Mount Sinai. In June 1989, I visited Serabit Mountain, which stands on the precipitous and desolate plateau south of the center of the Sinai region.On the mesas of this hill (nearly known to tourists) are the remains of what is said to be the dwelling of Moses.There are mainly obelisks, altars, and elegant stelae, and there must have been a spacious Egyptian temple there.I think that as a high priest of ancient Egyptian religion, Moses was probably very satisfied with this place.If he had killed an Egyptian overseer and fled, as the Bible says, then this remote and unknown place would have been safer for him. I decided to investigate Serabit Mountain further.So, after my first visit there, I set out to investigate.In the course of my work, I discovered two interesting facts. First, I learned that the ruins of the temple I saw there had been thoroughly examined in 1904 and 1905 by the great British archaeologist William Flinders Petrie.At that time, he also unearthed some fragments of stone slabs.Strange hieroglyphic phrases were inscribed on those tablets, which later turned out to be Semitic-Canaanite, related to ancient Hebrew. Second, I discovered that the area around Moses' residence on Serabit Mountain was once an important mining and smelting center, from about 1990 BC to 1190 BC, where brass and turquoise were mined and processed.These dates imply that Moses may have settled here in the 13th century B.C., just before he led the Israelites out of Egypt—a conjecture that is chronologically correct. This relic also used a set of letters related to Hebrew, and its time was roughly at this time, which also shows that this view is more credible.What really interested me, however, was the point highlighted above that the Serabit Mountains also served as a sort of industrial and metallurgical complex, where the mineral deposits of the entire area were extensively exploited.It seems to me that if Moses had really lived there for any length of time, it would have been almost impossible for him not to have knowledge of the mineral and metal deposits of the southern Sinai region. In June 1989, after visiting Mount Serabit, I drove a rented jeep across the desert to Mount Sinai.In one sense, it would be a mistake to call this region a "desert," because although there are large expanses of sand, the countryside is mostly steep, withered red ridges on which little grass grows.Occasional small oases dotted the valley, one of which was lined with ancient palm trees and stretched to the foot of Mount Sinai. In the 4th century AD, a small Christian church was built here, and its location is said to be on the original site of the so-called "burning bush".The chapel was later greatly expanded, and by the 5th century AD it had become a veritable cathedral, under the protection of the Christian Church of Alexandria, Egypt.In the 6th century AD, the Roman emperor Justinian greatly thickened the walls of the monastery, making it more resistant to raids by raiding Arabian nomads.By the 11th century, the entire church complex was finally dedicated to St. Catherine ("Catherine of Alexandria", martyred in 307 AD and later became the patron saint of the Virgin - Translator's Note).It is still known as the "St. Catherine's Monastery", many of which were built in the 5th and 6th centuries and are still there today. Before climbing to the precipitous 7,450-foot summit of Mount Sinai, I visited the ancient monastery for a while.The main church contains several outstanding icons, as well as mosaics and paintings, some of which are almost 1,500 years old. On the square outside the church, there is a walled field with dense raspberry bushes, which the monks believe is the "burning bush" mentioned in the Bible.This statement is of course wrong, and people know that Mount Sinai is the "Mount Sinai" mentioned in the "Bible", which has not been conclusively proved at all.But in fact, some legends told by the monks here can be traced back to at least the 4th century AD, and those legends connect this special mountain with the "God's Mountain" in the Bible, and, The source of information on which this connection is said to be based is long lost today. Not only that, I also learned that some legends of the local tribes also believe that in the language of the Arab nomads, Mount Sinai is called "Jebel Musa" (Jebel Musa), which means "Moses' mountain".Academic circles also link the "Mount Sinai" in the Bible with the mountain of the same name today.Although a few dissenting opinions also agree that the "Mount Sinai" mentioned in the "Bible" is in this area, they think that it is several other peaks of the same mountain range nearby (such as Jebel Sebal Mountain). To be honest, after climbing Mount Sinai in June 1989, I have no doubt that this mountain is indeed the mountain that Moses reached in the "third month" after leading the Israelites out of Egypt. I stood on the edge of a bluff at the top of a mountain, and miles of rugged and desolate plateaus descended far below into dry plains.There is a mist suspended in the light blue air, as if it is still - to be precise, it is not silence, but stillness.Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and it was very cool and dry on the plateau.I saw a goshawk circling upwards, reached the level of my eyes, flashed in the sun for a moment, and disappeared from my sight. I stood on the top of the hill for a moment, in that relentless and aggressive place.I remember thinking at the time that Moses chose this place to take over the "Ten Commandments" from God. This is really imaginative and appropriate. However, the purpose of Moses, the Hebrew mage, really came here to accept the commandment board?It seems to me that there are other explanations for his actions.Hadn't Moses' real purpose always been to make the Ark and put in it some great energy material, that natural substance?He already knew that the substance could be found on this mountain top. This proposition is highly speculative, but we indulge in this kind of speculation from time to time, and it also leaves a little room for our imagination.If Moses knew that there was some kind of powerful substance buried in the main peak of Mount Sinai, then what exactly was that substance? In the third chapter of this book, I have already put forward an answer, that is: the so-called slate on which God wrote the "Ten Commandments" are actually two meteorites.This conclusion is far in line with Wolfram's "Holy Grail Stone" (he said that a group of angels brought the Holy Grail Stone to the earth).Some of the leading scholars of the Bible have also taken this intriguing possibility seriously, pointing to some meteorite worship beliefs in ancient Semitic cultures, saying: It seems unreasonable to seal the commandments written on the commandment board in the confinement container... The purpose of engraving the law on the stone must be for everyone to see... (Therefore) we can assume: the ark of the covenant Instead of two commandment tablets, it contains a sacred stone, a meteorite found on Mount Sinai. (M. Harlan: Temples and Rituals in Ancient Israel, Oxford Edition, 1978, p. 246) If this inference is true, then it is possible to guess what elements are contained in "a meteorite found on Mount Sinai".This element is radioactive, or has certain chemical properties, and if Moses really wanted to make a powerful and long-lasting energy material and put it in the ark, he would probably use this element.In any case, this guess is not beyond the reasonable range. Moses may have worked something on Mount Sinai, and the Bible doesn't rule that out.On the contrary, there are quite a few passages that are so unusual and confusing that they just might be interpreted as such. Soon after the Israelites "encamped under the mountain there (Sinai)," the so-called "appearance" (that is, the appearance of God in the form of a mortal) appeared.Then, "Moses went to God, and the Lord called him from the mountain." (Chapter 19, verse 3) At this early stage, the Bible doesn't mention smoke, fire, and every other special effect that came along shortly thereafter.The prophet Moses just climbed Mount Sinai and had a secret conversation with the Lord, which no one had ever witnessed.Significantly, one of Moses' first instructions from God was: Set boundaries around the mountain for the people, and say, "Be careful not to go up the mountain, nor touch the border of the mountain; whoever touches the mountain must be put to death...he must be stoned, or shot with arrows. No one can survive." (Chapter 19, verses 12, 13) If Moses really intended to process a substance on Mount Sinai, it hardly goes without saying that he must have had a strong reason for demarcating a martial law zone, which was clearly defined and "God" had demarcated it. "Stoned to death, or shot through with an arrow," this fate certainly deters the daring curious from peeking at what he was doing up the hill.Only then can he continue to convince people that he is meeting God on the mountain. In any case, the scene began three days after Moses had gone up the mountain.Then, on the third morning, there were thunders and lightnings and clouds over the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet was so loud that all the people in the camp trembled... All Mount Sinai was ablaze with smoke, because the LORD came down on the mountain in fire, and the The smoke rose up, like a kiln, and the whole mountain shook greatly. (Chapter 19, Sections 16 and 18) Initially, Moses seemed to be alone on the mountain only part of the time, and most of the time in the camp.However, shortly afterward, God said to Moses: Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone and the Law and the Commandments that I have written. (Chapter 24, Section 12) And that's the prologue to the pivotal event that's going to happen on Mount Sinai, where Moses gets the two tablets that he's going to put into the ark of the covenant.The verses describing Moses also come with more special effects: Moses went up to the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.The glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered the mountain for six days, and on the seventh day he called Moses from the cloud.The glory of the LORD was on the top of the mountain in the form of a consuming fire before the eyes of the Israelites.Moses went up into the clouds and went up to the mountain, and he stayed on the mountain for forty days and nights. (Chapter 24, Sections 15-18) Did it take forty days and nights for the Almighty God to deliver the two tablets of stone to Moses?Such a long period of time seemed unnecessary.However, if Moses wasn't taking the "commandment board" at all, but was processing or refining some kind of concentrated, stone-like energy material to put in the Ark, then it's all too likely that he would have done the job It takes so much time. 从这个角度看,被以色列人解释为"耶和华的荣耀"的山顶"烈火",大概真的就是一种可怕的放射光,它或者来自于某种装置,或者来自于某种化学反应过程,而先知摩西正在用它们加工提炼那种能源材料。尽管这个假说听上去有些牵强,但它的离奇,肯定不及《旧约》、《米什纳书》、《犹太法典》和大多数古代犹太传说对那两块石头诫板的描述。 两块石板吗? 对这两块板最清晰的描述,见于《犹太法典》和《犹太解经》等文献。它们透露了以下的信息:(1)它们是"用蓝宝石模样的石头做的";(2)虽然它们的"长度和宽度均不到六掌",但异常沉重;(3)它们虽然坚硬,却很柔韧;(4)它们是半透明的(见L·金斯伯格《犹太人的传说》卷3,第118、119页)。 据说,"十诫"的律条就写在这种特殊的东西上,并且是上帝亲手书写的。正像《圣经》着意强调的那样: 耶和华在西奈山和摩西说完了话,就把两块法版交给他,是神用指头写的石版。……摩西转身下山,手里拿着两块法版,这版是两面写的,这面那面都有字。是神的工作,字是神写的,刻在版上。(第31章第18节、第32章第15-16节) 因此,从神学上说,先知摩西接到诫板无比圣洁,意义非凡,这是不用怀疑的——这两块诫板上有上帝亲手书写的律条,因此可以被看作神的一部分。从《圣经》的角度看,在上帝交给凡人的东西当中,没有什么比这两块诫板更珍贵的了。有人或许会以为摩西必定会悉心照管它们。但他并没有如此。相反,他在一次暴怒中摔碎了这些纯洁完美的上帝馈赠。 摩西为什么要做出这个无法理解的举动呢?解释说,那是因为不守信义的以色列人不相信摩西上山四十天后还会回来,于是做出一头金牛犊,并去崇拜。摩西一回到营地,就当场看见以色列人正在那偶像前献祭、跳舞和膜拜。这位先知目睹这个怪异的叛教活动场景,"便发烈怒,把两块版扔在山下摔碎了。"(第32章第19节)接着,他又焚毁了金牛犊,处死了大约3000名最恶劣的叛教者,恢复了秩序(参见第32章第20-28节)。 以上就是《圣经》对摩西摔碎石头诫板的经过及其原因的官方叙述。不过,诚板上的这些戒律显然生死攸关,无比重要,因此必须用新的来替代。于是,上帝便吩咐摩西回到西奈山顶上,去接两块新诫板。摩西按上帝的吩咐行事,"在耶和华那里四十昼夜……耶和华将这约的话,就是十条诫,写在两块版上。"(第34章第28节) 后来,摩西带着两块诫板下了山,像前一次一样。但是,仔细研究《圣经》的有关段落,便可以发现,摩西两次下山,其间的确有个意义重大的差异。他第二次下山时,"面皮发光"(第34章第29节),而对他第一次下山,《圣经》却没有提到这个奇特现象。 是什么使摩西的脸发光呢?《圣经》的作者们自然会认为那是因为摩西接近了上帝,于是解释说:"(摩西的)面皮因耶和华和他说话就发了光。"(第34章第29节)可是,摩西此前也有几次站在上帝附近(可以一直追溯到很早,即他在燃烧的荆棘丛中见到上帝),却没有得到这种结果。其中一个典型的例子,刚好发生在摩西再次到西奈山上40天探险之前。当时他在以色列人的营地里,和上帝有过一次长时间的密切会面。会面的地点是在一个特别圣洁的帐篷里,那帐篷被称为"会幕"。在那里,"耶和华与摩西面对面说话,好像人与朋友说话一般。"(第33章第11节)但是,经文里并没有提到摩西的脸发光。 那么,这个结果到底是什么原因造成的呢?难道没有理由推测说,原因就在那两块诫板上吗?《犹太法典》和《犹太解经》里就可以找到这个推测的间接证据,因为其中说两块诫板灌注着"神的光辉"。上帝把诫板交给摩西的时候,"他握住它们的上1/3处,摩西握住下1/3处,但中间的113却露着,而神的光辉就这样射到了摩西脸上。" 第一对诫板(即被摩西摔碎的两块诫板)的情况并不是这样,因此,我们有理由提出这样一个问题:第二对诫板何以如此不同?这是不是因为,恰恰是由于第一对诫板没有灼伤摩西的脸,他才发现作为能源材料的第一对诫板存在技术缺陷?这能够解释摩西摔碎它们的原因。不过,摩西确实被第二对诫板灼伤了。这也许向他证明了一点:他加工这对诫板的方法起了作用。这也使他相信,将它们放进约柜以后,它们必定会发挥正确的功能。 摩西脸上的光辉其实可能并不是某种灼伤造成的,这个看法当然纯属推测,《圣经》中也没有相应的证据。尽管如此,根据《圣经》中不多的几处证据,我还是认为这个推测是完全合理的,像其他的推测一样合情合理。 在第34章里,描述摩西带着第H对诫板下山的经文虽然只有7节,但它们已经十分清楚地表明:摩西到达营地后的模样极为古怪,以致于所有的以色列人都"怕挨近他"(第30节)。为了消除百姓的这种感觉,摩西"就用帕子蒙上脸"(第33节)——从此,摩西除了独自在自己的帐篷里,始终都蒙着这个帕子(第34、35节)。 听上去,这些话不像在描述一个被上帝光辉照射者的行为,倒更像在描述一个被某种强大的能源材料严重灼伤者的行为。Is it not? 失落真相的见证 对于约柜的真正性质可以做出无尽的推断,对约柜里的东西也是如此。我已经沿着这个思路尽量前进了。 然而,愿意做出进一步推断的读者却可能会发现,首先考察一下制作约柜的材料,这将是非常有趣的事情。做约柜似乎使用了大量的黄金。黄金既美丽又高贵,且不起化学反应,并且格外厚重。具体地说,有一位渊博的拉比(他生活在公元12世纪)认为,约柜"施恩座"(即这件圣物的盖子)的厚度足足有一掌。根据古代传统,一掌的长度是从拇指尖到伸开的小指指尖。换句话说,约柜的柜盖是一块笨重的实心金板,厚达9英寸。为什么非要使用这么多贵金属呢?提供这个信息的谢洛莫·伊兹沙奇拉比(以及其他许多和这件圣物有关的智者)诞生在法国香帕涅区中部的特罗耶城,并在那里度过了一生的大部分时光,这难道不是个巧合吗? 特罗耶城是克雷蒂昂·德·特罗耶的故乡,他那部关于圣杯的作品(写于这位拉比去世75年之后)创立了一种文学体裁,而沃尔夫拉姆·冯·埃森巴赫很快就对它加以效仿。也正是在特罗耶城,克莱沃的圣·伯纳德为圣殿骑士教拟定了章程。这样一来,其中的奥秘和关联便大大增加了。 好奇者或许还想思考一下古代以色列的大祭司们接近约柜时穿的那种特殊服装。他们认为,不穿那样的服装就有生命危险(例见第28章第43节和《利未记》第10章第6节)。这难道仅仅是出于迷信和礼仪吗?它们会不会是出于某种原因而不得不穿的防护服,而那原因或许和约柜本身的性质有关呢? 与此有关的还有一点:运送约柜之前,必须用一种奇特的外罩把它包裹起来,那外罩有两层,一层是布,一层是皮革(见《旧约·民数记》第4章第5、6节)。这分明是为了防止有人在搬运中因误触约柜而被它击杀。不过,即使采取了所有这些防范措施,约柜有时还是会造成搬运者的死亡。它用"火花"击杀他们(L·金斯伯格《犹太人的传说》卷3,第228页上说:约柜"能够放射毁灭以色列的敌人的火花")。可是,这些火花到底是什么呢?全部用非导体材料做成的约柜防护罩,其用途难道不会是作为绝缘体么? 《圣经》里还有一个故事会引起我们的兴趣,那就是约柜被放进会幕不久,亚伦的两个儿子拿答和亚比户被约柜击杀。我在本书第12章已经描述了这个事件,《圣经》上说,从约柜冒出火,"把他们烧灭,他们就死在耶和华面前。"(《旧约·利未记》第10章第2节)令人惊讶的是,这两人死后,摩西根本不按照希伯来人传统的冗长葬礼仪式安葬他们,而是下令立即把尸体"抬到营外很远的地方"(《利未记》第10章第4、5节,耶路撒冷《圣经》译文)。Why did he do this?他究竟害怕什么呢? 在此,我要及时地提醒那些打算深究的读者,只要仔细看看《圣经》的一些段落就够了。那些段落叙述了以便以谢战役后,约柜在非利士人手中的七个月间给他们造成的种种灾祸(见《旧约·撒母耳记上》第5章)。同样,在本书第12章,我也描述了这些事件,不过我当时还有一些可说的话没有说。 从非利士人把约柜还给以色列人,到所罗门王最后把约柜放进耶路撒冷圣殿内殿,其间的几年发生了一些事件。仔细研究这些事件,有可能解开许多谜团。我认为,对于约柜在这个时期制造的奇迹和恐怖有个解释,而这个合理的解释和约柜的实质有关,因为它是一台人造装置。因此,这个解释和任何神明或者超自然力毫无瓜葛。 我自己的调查的确已经使我得出了一个结论:只有把约柜看作是人制造出来的工具,而不是超自然力的储存库,才有可能正确地理解这件圣物。 毫无疑问,这个工具和我们今天所知道的任何工具都截然不同,但它依然是人类才智的产物,是人发明的,其作用也是为实现人的目标服务。 在我眼里,即使约柜是一种人造工具,其魔力和奥妙也丝毫未减。它是一门古老的、秘密的科学留给我们的礼物,而我认为,这门科学是一把钥匙,可以把我们引向我们人类被封存的、被遗忘的历史——它是一个标记,标志着人类被遗忘的荣耀,它是我们人类自身失落的真相的见证。 追寻约柜或者圣杯,如果不是追寻知识,追寻智慧,追寻启迪,还会是什么呢?
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