The Sabbatean Prophets

From Mystical Vision to Prophetic Eruption 127
David and our righteous redeemer, crowned on earth even as we have seen
him crowned in heaven with the triple crown.” Every day his house was
filled with people and he instructed them and gave them rules of virtue
[Scholem: penances.] By way of confirming his message he pointed to a
comet that had appeared in those days, and explained that the same sign
had appeared in the sky at the time of the exodus from Egypt, and that now
Jacob’s dream was fulfilled as the angels of God descended from heaven
and incarnated themselves in human bodies, and the earth was full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 97
These texts present a panoply of useful and interesting information about
the manner, function, and reception of Suriel’s prophecies. To begin with,
Suriel’s extremely close imitation of Nathan of Gaza is striking. Scholem
points it out without further comment, 98 but this mimesis is highly significant.
The authors actually compare Suriel with Nathan—they were
clearly aware of the similarity. Suriel began the prophetic process with musical
background (both instrumental and vocal) and dancing just as Nathan
did. The physical symptoms of his prophetic possession were exactly like
those of Nathan in almost every detail. 99 The similarities, however, go far beyond
his possession episodes. Suriel composed a new Zohar under heavenly
inspiration just as Nathan discovered ancient mystical treatises at the
prompting of celestial informants. Suriel was possessed of an exalted mystic’s
soul, that of R. Simeon bar Yohai, while Nathan’s soul apparently came
from R. Isaac Luria. Suriel, like Nathan (following Luria), was able to reveal
the soul-roots of others and their past sins, and to give them the appropriate
penances (tikkunim). In short, Suriel modeled himself thoroughly on Nathan
in an exemplary case of mimetic behavior.
The precise regularity of Suriel’s prophecies adds an important dimension
to their quality of sacred theater. Not only were the performances public, but
the audience could find out exactly when the show times were and attend
accordingly. An interesting precedent for this sort of precision-timed ecstasy
is the case of a sixteenth-century Spanish beata, Sor María of Santo
Domingo. “Not only was she said to be enraptured on request but her ecstasies
even marked the canonical hours: she was said to have been enraptured
in the morning at the hour of prime rather than matins so as to accommodate
the schedule of a certain lady.” 100 The theatricality of the possession, including
music and dance, a sudden trance, xenoglossia, the scribes writing
away furiously at his high-speed utterances, the subsequent bow to the