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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,12551255    παραδείσῳ, “paradise.”  Gen. ii. 16, 17. 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;12561256    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,12571257    Gen. iii. 22. ‘Behold, Adam is become as one of us.’  When, then, the serpent said,12581258    Gen. iii. 5. ‘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,12591259    Ex. xxii. 28. ‘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,12601260    Deut. iv. 34. ‘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:12611261    Jer. x. 11.  ‘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,12621262    Deut. xiii. 6. ‘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:12631263    Josh. xxiii. 7, LXX.  ‘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,12641264    Deut. x. 17. ‘Thy God is the Lord, He is God of gods.’  And again:12651265    Ps. xxxv. 10, lxxxvi. 8.  ‘Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods?’  And again:12661266    Ps. l. 1.  ‘God is Lord of gods.’  And again:12671267    Ps. lxxxii. 1.  ‘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.12681268    [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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