It may be added that expressions about the holiness of God are at first very rare. Ex 15" (‘ Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, terrible in exploits, doing wonders?’) should probably be assigned to the later Prophetical period. Jos 241% (‘ Ye cannot serve Jahweh, for he is a holy God’), from the pen of E, emphasizes, like 18 6%, the terrible and unapproachable nature of Jahweh. All that occurs in hanes apart from 4? (see above), is the reference in 2’ to the dishonouring of the holy name of Jahweh by shameless immorality. In Hos 11° (‘ For I am God, and not man; as nal I dwell among you’) ‘holy’ means raised above human passion and hasty anger.
It is in Isaiah that the notion of the holiness of God first comes to be frequently mentioned and is most sharply defined. Already in the vision that marked his prophetic call, he hears the antiphonal song of the seraphim that surround the throne ‘of Jahweh—
* Holy, holy, holy is Jahweh of Hosts,
The whole earth is full of his glory.’ These two parallel members contain two state- ments, which supplement one another, about the inmost being of Jahweh. The first concerns the immanent being—that elevation above everything earthly or creaturely which belongs in the highest degree* to Jahweh ; the second, again, the tran- scendent being—the glory that manifests itself over the whole earth (cf. above; p. 639 f.). In so far, now, as absolute elevation above everything earthly includes, as a matter of course, superiority to all
* On the expression of the superlative by repetition of the adjective, see Gesenius, Heb. Gram.?7 § 183 k.
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL
RELIGION OF ISRAEL 683
infirmity and sin, we may speak also of an ethical content of the notion of holiness. But even in Isaiah this does not yet make its appearance expressly or quite exclusively. The designation of Jahweh as ‘the Holy One of Israel’ (a favourite expression with Isaiah, 14 10% 177 etc.) implies that He is to be recognized and correspondingly venerated by Israel as the absolutely exalted and therefore terrible One, who is not to be provoked with impunity; for towards His despisers He shows Himself holy by His punitive justice (51).
The only pre-exilic prophet, besides Isaiah, who uses ‘holy’ as a predicate of Jahweh, is Habakkuk (1). Here the ethical quality of the Divine holi- ness comes pretty clearly into the foreground. Immediately after the question, ‘Art thou not from everlasting, Jahweh, my Holy One?’ comes the statement, ‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and thou canst not look on perverse- ness’ (v.?°),
We have already (p. 682*) pointed out that the holiness of God, which is so often urged in the ‘Law of Holiness’ as a motive why Israel should be holy, is, above all, the contrast to all Levitical impurity. This priestly notion of holiness is thus markedly inferior in depth and significance to Isaiah’s conception. But the latter did not on that account disappear from the language of religion. We meet with it frequently in the exilic and post - exilic prophets (especially Deutero - Isaiah), and no less in the Psalms. And we may say that it is the essential designation of the God of Israel, laying the greatest stress, as it does, on His uniqueness and incomparable character, before which all gods recognized elsewhere shrink into their nothingness. Holy things and persons (te. set apart for the exclusive service of a deity) are known to other religions as well ; but the holiness of its God is known to Israel only through the revelation given to it. Thus the application of the notion of holiness to Jahweh includes, when rightly understood, a kind of monotheistic con- fession, a far-reaching testimony to the surpassing greatness of the religion of Israel.
Although, as was remarked above, the idea of moral perfection and aversion to evil was not the primary one attaching to the notion of holiness, it is by no means strange to the Prophetical con- ception of God. This idea comes to light in the absolute truthfulness and fidelity of Jahweh, as well as in the unconditional character of the moral demands made on Israel; but, above all, in the attitude of Jahweh to heathen nations, for He avenges outrage and injustice everywhere on earth, even although these have not (as in Am 13+ 6-%11) been inflicted on Israel. Thus He once punished Sodom and Gomorrah ; thus, according to Am 21, will He chastise Moab for their sacrilegious treatment of the bones of the king of Edom. The prophet thus takes it as self-evident that there are moral principles which are binding upon all peoples, and on whose observance Jahweh, as an absolutely moral Being, and at the same time Ruler and Judge of all, keeps strict watch. But, above all, Israel itself must be taught that Jahweh is a God of right * (Is 30"8), and of right at any price. In
* We may take this opportunity of pointing out that the Hebrew words which are commonly rendered ‘ righteous’ (pts) and ‘righteousness’ (P7¥, 47s) have originally a different sense from that of forensic justice. pry or 777¥ denotes a way of acting or a condition corresponding to a standard (so quite clearly in P1¥ 31ND ‘ correct scales,’ p7¥ "328 ‘correct weights’). When used of men, it is mostly=‘ righteousness’ (O:zaiordvn), ‘piety’; used of God, it denotes the attitude corresponding to the norm of the Divine being. But to this norm belong not only strict justice, but also God’s covenant faithfulness, coupled with long-suffering and grace ; and hence 7})7¥ (esp. in Is 40-66) is used not infrequently of that aspect of Jahweh’s activity which has for its object the salvation of His people. See,