Part 15 (1/2)

When Moses came down from off the Mount, he found the children of Israel dancing around a golden calf, which his brother Aaron had made, and, as his ”anger waxed hot,” he cast the tables of stone on the ground, and broke them.[58:3] Moses again saw the Lord on the Mount, however, and received two more tables of stone.[58:4] When he came down this time from off Mount Sinai, ”the skin of his face did s.h.i.+ne.”[58:5]

These two tables of stone contained the _Ten Commandments_,[59:1] so it is said, which the Jews and Christians of the present day are supposed to take for their standard.

They are, in substance, as follows:

1--To have no other G.o.d but Jehovah.

2--To make no image for purpose of wors.h.i.+p.

3--Not to take Jehovah's name in vain.

4--Not to work on the Sabbath-day.

5--To honor their parents.

6--Not to kill.

7--Not to commit adultery.

8--Not to steal.

9--Not to bear false witness against a neighbor.

10--Not to covet.[59:2]

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 Muller 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 a.s.sembled 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]

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 G.o.ds, such places being invested with peculiar sanct.i.ty, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d.[60:3]

Diodorus, the Grecian historian, says:

The idea promulgated by the ancient Egyptians that their _laws_ were received direct from the Most High G.o.d, _has been adopted with success by many other law-givers, who have thus insured respect for their inst.i.tutions_.[60:4]

The Supreme G.o.d 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 Vatica.n.u.s_, as follows:

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 G.o.dhead 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 G.o.d, 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 inst.i.tutions, more or less elaborate laws, and established wors.h.i.+p, 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_.