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| Simon Appeals to the Old Testament to Prove that There are Many Gods.
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Chapter VI.—Simon Appeals
to the Old Testament to Prove that There are Many Gods.
“For instance, in the very first words of
the law, He evidently speaks of them as being like even unto
Himself. For thus it is written, that, when the first man
received a commandment from God to eat of every tree that was in the
garden,1255
but not to eat of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent having
persuaded them by means of the woman, through the promise that they
would become gods, made them look up;1256
| 1256 ἀναβλέψαι.
It signifies either to look up, or to recover one’s sight.
Possibly the second meaning is the one intended here, corresponding to
the words of our version: “Then your eyes shall be
opened.” |
and then, when they had thus looked up, God said,1257
‘Behold, Adam is become as one of
us.’ When, then, the serpent said,1258
‘Ye shall be as gods,’ he
plainly speaks in the belief that gods exist; all the more as God also
added His testimony, saying, ‘Behold, Adam is become as one of
us.’ The serpent, then, who said that there are many gods,
did not speak falsely. Again, the scripture,1259
‘Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor
curse the rulers of thy people,’ points out many gods whom it
does not wish even to be cursed. But it is also somewhere else
written,1260
‘Did another
god dare to enter and take him a nation from the midst of another
nation, as did I the Lord God?’ When He says, ‘Did
another God dare?’ He speaks on the supposition that other gods
exist. And elsewhere:1261
‘Let
the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish;’ as
if those who had made them were not to perish. And in another
place, when it says,1262
‘Take heed
to thyself lest thou go and serve other gods whom thy fathers knew
not,’ it speaks as if other gods existed whom they were not to
follow. And again:1263
‘The names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy
lips.’ Here it mentions many gods whose names it does not
wish to be uttered. And again it is written,1264
‘Thy God is the Lord, He is God of
gods.’ And again:1265
‘Who
is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods?’ And
again:1266
‘God
is Lord of gods.’ And again:1267
‘God stood in the assembly
of gods: He judgeth among the gods.’ Wherefore I
wonder how, when there are so many passages in writing which testify
that there are many gods, you have asserted that we ought neither to
say nor to think that there are many.1268
| 1268 [Comp.
Recognitions, ii. 39.—R.] | Finally, if you have anything to
say against what has been spoken so distinctly, say it in the presence
of all.”
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