Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

In what manner God spake to Adam, and Eve, and Cain, and Noah is not
expressed; nor how he spake to Abraham, till such time as he came
out of his own country to Sichem in the land of Canaan, and then God
is said to have appeared to him.* So there is one way whereby God made
His presence manifest; that is, by an apparition, or vision. And
again, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision";*(2) that
is to say, somewhat, as a sign of God's presence, appeared as God's
messenger to speak to him. Again, the Lord appeared to Abraham by an
apparition of three angels;*(3) and to Abimelech in a dream;*(4) to
Lot by an apparition of two angels;*(5) and to Hagar by the apparition
of one angel;*(6) and to Abraham again by the apparition of a voice
from heaven;*(7) and to Isaac in the night*(8) (that is, in his sleep,
or by dream); and to Jacob in a dream;*(9) that is to say (as are
the words of the text), "Jacob dreamed that he saw a ladder," etc. And
in a vision of angels;*(10) and to Moses in the apparition of a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush;*(11) and after the time of
Moses, where the manner how God spake immediately to man in the Old
Testament is expressed, He spake always by a vision, or by a dream; as
to Gideon, Samuel, Eliah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the rest of the
prophets; and often in the New Testament, as to Joseph, to St.
Peter, to St. Paul, and to St. John the Evangelist in the Apocalypse.
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* Genesis, 12. 7
*(2) Ibid., 15. 1
*(3) Ibid., 18. 1
*(4) Ibid., 20. 3
*(5) Ibid., 19. 1
*(6) Ibid., 21. 17
*(7) Ibid., 22. 11
*(8) Ibid., 26. 24
*(9) Ibid., 28. 12
*(10) Ibid., 32. 1
*(11) Exodus, 3. 2
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Only to Moses He spake in a more extraordinary manner in Mount
Sinai, and in the Tabernacle; and to the high priest in the
Tabernacle, and in the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple. But Moses, and
after him the high priests, were prophets of a more eminent place
and degree in God's favour; and God Himself in express words declareth
that to other prophets He spake in dreams and visions, but to His
servant Moses in such manner as a man speaketh to his friend. The
words are these: "If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will
make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a
dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house;
with him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, not in dark
speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold."* And,
"The Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his
friend."*(2) And yet this speaking of God to Moses was by mediation of
an angel, or angels, as appears expressly, Acts 7. 35 and 53, and
Galatians, 3. 19, and was therefore a vision, though a more clear
vision than was given to other prophets. And conformable hereunto,
where God saith, "If there arise amongst you a prophet, or dreamer
of dreams,"*(3) the latter word is but the interpretation of the
former. And, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old
men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions":*(4)
where again, the word prophesy is expounded by dream and vision. And
in the same manner it was that God spake to Solomon, promising him