The Five Books of
Moses (Torah)
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The Eight Books of
the Prophets (Neviim)
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The Eleven Books of
the Writings (Kesuvim)
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14. Psalms
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2. Exodus
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7. Judges
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15. Proverbs
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3. Leviticus
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8. Samuel
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16. Job
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4. Numbers
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9. Kings
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17. Song of Songs
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5. Deuteronomy
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10. Isaiah
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18. Ruth
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11. Jeremiah
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19. Lamentations
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12. Ezekiel
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20. Ecclesiastes
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13. The Twelve (minor prophets) Trei-Assar (1. Hosea, 2. Joel, 3. Amos, 4. Obadiah, 5.
Jonah, 6. Micah, 7. Nahum, 8. Habakkuk, 9. Zephaniah, 10. Haggai, 11.
Zechariah and 12. Malachi)
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21. Esther
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22. Daniel
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23. Ezra/Nehemia
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24. Chronicles
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The
eleventh book in Hebrew Bible and the fifth one under the eight books of
Prophets (Neviim) is Jeremiah with 52
chapters and 1364 verses.
Prophet Jeremiah is supposed to have lived during the time of King Josiah, King
Jehoiakim and at a time when the Jewish Kingdom fell to Babylonians (6th
to 7th century B.C.) (*, *).
Jeremiah is particularly known as a prophesier of bad things to come. It seems
the Yahweh had chosen him to covey the bad news of the impending punishment of
invasion and subjugation of the Jewish land by foreigners (Babylonians). What
runs through the Book of Jeremiah is prophecies regarding the fall of Jerusalem,
eventual captivity of Jews in Babylonia, on the impending God’s judgment and on
the fall of Egypt, to name a few. In his lifetime, Jeremiah had to deal with
the false prophets and their allegations as well and in the end prove their fallacies
to his people.
Oh
that my head were waters,
and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep
day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
(Jeremiah 9: 1) |
Prosecution
and suffering of prophets at the hands of detractors is nothing new and
Jeremiah was not an exception to this. However, no other prophet of the Old
Testament seems to have suffered so much like Jeremiah. These sufferings are narrated through the Book
of Jeremiah (Tamil: எரேமியா). He was cursed (15:10),
captured and threatened with capital punishment (26:8,24), imprisoned (32:2,3; 37:15),
bound to chains (40:1) and was even exiled to Egypt (43:6-7) where he supposed
to have died.
And this was largely due to his prophecies on the coming of capture of
Jerusalem by the Babylonians (25:11). Grieving over his people’s negligence of
the Lord’s covenant with them and the impending consequence the Lord has
destined on them, Jeremiah is supposed to have cried with tears rolling from
his eyes. The first verse in Chapter nine records this event and for this
reason Jeremiah is often called the “Weeping Prophet”.
(1) Similes that resemble those in Tirukkural
The Bible, both Old and New Testaments has many a
parallel with the Tamil classic Thirukkural. The parallels do not come in equal
proportion from all the books of the Bible. Thirukkural being an ethical treatise,
most of the similarities come from the Hebrew Books of Writings (Kesuvim) which includes the Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Job, Song of Songs, Psalms etc. The rest of the books in Hebrew
Bible is dominated with information on war, animal sacrifice, prophecies,
divine punishments, temple rituals, sundry laws and the like. Thirukkural has
nothing to do with all these. Though I came across a Kural like verse or two
scattered among the books of Torah
and Neviim, the Book of Jeremiah was
an exception. I found nearly 10 verses that resembled the Kural at least in the
level of the simile. Though many of them differed in “உவமேயம்”, they resembled a great deal in “உவமையணி”. Given below are seven of those similarities:
Verses in Jeremiah
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Couplets from Thirukkural
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1
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Dress up and lead
Now, gird up your loins and arise,
And speak to them all which I
command you.
(1:17)
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Lord
himself will lead the way……
The Lord himself will wrap his robes
And lead the one bent on social
service. * (SS, PS)
குடிசெய்வல் என்னும் ஒருவற்குத் தெய்வம்
மடிதற்றுத் தான்முந் துறும். (1023) |
2
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The wicked are like fowlers
For wicked men are found among my people;
They lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap; they catch men.
(5:26)
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A posting ascetic is one among
them…..
A posing ascetic
who sins secretly is like a fowler
Hiding in bush to trap birds. * (KV)
தவமறைந்து அல்லவை செய்தல் புதல்மறைந்து
வேட்டுவன் புள்சிமிழ்த் தற்று. (274) |
3
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Sense of shame
Are they ashamed of their loathsome
conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
They do not even know how to blush.
(6:15; 8: 12)
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“Being ashamed” (நாணுடைமை) is a quality…
Real shyness is to shy away from
shameful acts.
The rest are like shyness of pretty
women. (NV)
கருமத்தால் நாணுதல் நாணுந் திருநுதல்
நல்லவர் நாணுப் பிற. (1011) |
4
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Tongue and the heart
Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully;
With their mouths they speak cordially
to their neighbors,
But in their hearts they set traps for them.
(9:8)
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But a slandering tongue reveals
a mean heart …
The meanness in the heart of one posing virtuous,
shall be known by his slanderous tongue. (NV)
அறஞ்சொல்லும் நெஞ்சத்தான் அன்மை புறஞ்சொல்லும்
புன்மையாற் காணப் படும். (185) |
5
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Bad habits die hard
Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard
its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are
accustomed to doing evil.
(13:23)
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That’s
why Valluvar said:
He is a fool, who tries to open the
eyes of a fool,
for a fool sees things only his own
way. * (VS)
காணாதான் காட்டுவான் தான்காணான் காணாதான்
கண்டானாம் தான்கண்ட வாறு. (849) |
6
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The path may be slippery
Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the
darkness,
into which they shall be driven and
fall,
For I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment…. (23:12)
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Slip not in life, so seek the
help of the upright….
Words from the lips of upright men
are like a steadying staff in a slippery place. (SS)
இழுக்கல் உடையுழி ஊற்றுக்கோல் அற்றே
ஒழுக்க முடையார்வாய்ச் சொல். (415) |
7
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An army can roar like the sea
They are armed with bows and
spears;
They are cruel and without mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride on
their horses;
They come like men in battle
formation
to attack you.
(50:42)
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So
what if they roar ……….
So what if an army of rats roar like
the sea?
The hiss of a cobra will silence it. (SS, PS)
ஒலித்தக்கால் என்னாம் உவரி எலிப்பகை
நாகம் உயிர்ப்பக் கெடும். (763) |
(2) The Prophetic call
In no major religious tradition of the world have I come across story of
God descending on earth and speaking directly to people. It has always been
through a prophet, avatar, sage or saint. "I will put My words in his mouth, and
he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." (Deut 18:18). In
other words, a prophet is a mouthpiece of God. Since he redirects the
transcendental message he received through inspiration, he is also called a
Messenger. In Arabic, both the words nabi
(نبي) and rasūl (رسول) are used
intermittently to mean Prophet and Messenger.
Most
prophets of the Semitic world were ordinary men and women. They were called
upon to be a spokesperson of God at a time when they were completely
unprepared. The Bible and the Quran contain information on how these prophetic
calls came to various prophets. Here is the one that narrates the first call
for prophet Jeremiah:
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
“…….I have appointed you a prophet to the nations”
Then I said, “”Alas, Lord God!
Behold I do not know how to speak,
Because I am a youth” (Jeremiah 1:
5-6)
A voice says, “Call out”.
Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”
(Isaiah 40: 6)
There is no doubt that this was indeed a prophetic
call. What about the following verse from the Book of Isaiah, I dealt last week?
The entire vision will be to you like the words of a
sealed book,
which when they give it to the one who is literate,
saying,
“Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is
sealed.”
Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate,
saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot
read.”
(Isaiah 29: 11:12)
Muslims have for long interpreted this reference in
the Old Testament as a prophecy about their prophet Muhammad. It is true that
this verse has a striking resemblance to the biographical information we have
about the prophet, supported by a verse in the Quran itself. Let us look at the
first verse from Chapter 96 (Name: Iqra
or Alaq):
Read [O Muhammad!] in the name of your Lord who created.
He created man from a clot.
Read, and your Lord is the Most Honorable
Who taught with the pen.
Taught man that which he knew not.
(Quran 96: 1-4)
This is widely recognized as the first verse
revealed to prophet Muhammad by Angel Gabriel during one of his days of
spiritual contemplation in the Hira’ cave in the hills of Mecca. It has been
said that Muhammad was taken aback by this command and responded saying “I cannot read”. As it is said in
Thirukkural “Though unlettered,
listen”
(கற்றிலனாயினும் கேட்க – Kural 414),
the prophet had to ‘listen’ to the commandment he received in his vision. This experience of
prophet Muhammad has been narrated in Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet) and
his ancient biographies. One of the Hadith compilers al-Bukhari
gives a version of this story which is attributed to ‘A’isha, the
wife of the Prophet:
Narrated
'Aisha:
The
commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Apostle was in the form of
good dreams which came true like bright day light, and then the love of
seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira
where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his
desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the
stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food like-wise again
till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira.
The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do
not know how to read”.
The
Prophet added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard
that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to
read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again
and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then
released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how
to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and
pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that
exists) has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous’
(96.1, 96.2, 96.3). Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration and with
his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said,
"Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and
after that he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that
something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah
will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your Kith and kin, help
the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the
deserving calamity-afflicted ones."
This event of the
frightened and sweating prophet being covered up has also been summed up in the
following verse in the Quran:
O you who covers himself [with a garment],
Arise and warn
And your Lord glorify
And your clothing purify
And un-cleanliness avoid.
(Quran 74: 1-5)
However, as I mentioned in my previous posting on
the Book of Isaiah last week, the Christians and Jews are not willing to accept
this verse (Isaiah 40: 6) as a prophecy about Muhammad. They claim that the
verse from Isaiah (29: 11-12) speaks about the Jews who make lame excuses for
not accepting Isaiah's prophecies (*).
(3) Circumcision: Ritual and Spiritual
I am not here to dwell into the merits and demerits
of a physical circumcision here. Though invariably all Muslims are circumcised,
it is not act that needs to be compulsorily done. It is only a Sunnah. In fact
the word “circumcision” does not occur in the Qur’an and yet all Muslims
carryout this ritual without fail. It was only Jewish practice which the pagan
Arabs adopted upon conversion to the new Abrahamic religion called Islam. We
see such parallels of the followers of a faith adopting the practice or
avoiding a practice that is not in the scripture. The Sikhs for instance consider
beef eating an admonishment and avoid it though their scripture Guru Grant
Sahib does not forbid eating beef. In fact there is no sanctity attached to the
cow in Sikhism. It is only an dogma the Sikhs inherited from the community of
Hindus in whom the religion evolved. Now let’s see what the Book of Jeremiah
has to say about circumcision:
Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD;
Remove
the foreskin of your hearts,
O
men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Lest
my wrath go forth like fire,
And
burn with none to quench it,
Because
of the evil of your deeds.
(Jeremiah 4:4)
What
is this circumcision of the heart? When all Jews have been circumcised
physically, why is their Lord insisting on circumcising the heart? How can
that, something internal, be performed without performing a major surgery? Will
anyone survive if his/her heart is circumcised? In any case the heart has no
foreskin. There is one more verse in Jeremiah itself that speaks about
circumcision. Let’s see if this would throw more light on this dictum of cardiac
circumcision:
“Behold,
the days are coming, declares the LORD,
When
I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh—
Egypt,
Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab,
And
all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair,
For
all these nations are uncircumcised,
And
all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
(Jeremiah 9: 25-26)
Here
we get some clue to what the Israelite Lord is demanding from his followers. In
fact circumcision of the heart has been mentioned in Deuteronomy also (10: 16
and 30: 6). Literal circumcision is recommended because the foreskin is
said to be (ritually) unclean. When Jews were admitted to the covenant with
Yahweh, they were expected to be cleansed of their pagan or gentile background
and then get admitted to the fold. One of the symbolic ritualistic purification
of this covenant insisted upon by Yahweh was circumcision of the foreskin. However,
over the years during the Biblical times, the Jews followed all external rituals
but at the expense of internal cleanliness. Valluvar said “He who lives truly in his own heart, truly
lives in the hearts of all people” (294) but the Jews indulged in
idol workshop and forgot their Sabbath with the Lord in spite of being
physically circumcised. In other words, they were spiritually not circumcised.
And that’s what I believe is meant by circumcision of the heart.
We can explain this by citing parallels from the other religious traditions. The overindulgence in rituals at the expense spirituality has been emphasized in many religions. These are usually insisted upon by reformers who came at a later stage or rebels who opposed to dominance of priests who tried to restrict all religious activities to themselves. Undoubtedly, Jesus was one among them though he himself was circumcised. There are a number of New Testament references which imply that physical circumcision is no longer important. “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters” (1 Corinthians 7:19) (see also Galatians 5:6; Colossians 2:11; Romans 2:29).
If
circumcision makes one clean, one may ask, why did God create man with a
foreskin in the first place? In fact there is this interesting saying
attributed to Jesus in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas.
His students said to him, “Is
circumcision of benefit to us or not?”
He said to them,
“If it were of benefit, their father
would have them born from their mother already circumcised.
Rather, it is the
true circumcision in spirit that is worth something.”
(Gospel of Thomas, 53)
We
see an interesting parallel from the scripture of Sikhs, attributed to Saint
Kabir. What was attributed to Jesus in the first century A.D. is also
attributed to the 15th century saint Kabir. He also reiterates that
God should have created man circumcised if He wished men to be so.
Because of the love of woman, circumcision is done;
I don't believe in it, O Siblings of Destiny.
If God wished me to be a Muslim, it would be cut off by itself.
If circumcision makes one a Muslim, then what about a woman?
(Guru Grant Sahib, pg. 477)
Ceremonial
bathing in sacred tanks of Temples and sacred rivers is a ritual in some of the
religions of Indian religions. Everyone indulges in this ritual though, more
often than not, they are unclean internally. “புறந்தூய்மை நீரான் அமையும்; அகந்தூய்மை வாய்மையால் காணப் படும்” said the Tamil
sage Thiruvalluvar (It
means: “Water ensures external purity and truthfulness shows the
internal” – Kural 298). Likewise, the circumambulation of
the Ka’ba at Mecca is a ritual Muslims perform every year during their annual
pilgrimage but that in itself is not an end to ‘salvation.’ The great Persian saint,
Maulana Rumi wrote: "O man, circumambulate the secret Ka’ba of the heart, unlike the Ka’ba of Khalil - for God made the Ka’ba of the human heart."
Here we see a similarity between circumcision and circumambulation. If the
foreskin is flesh, heart is the spirit. And all those who circumcise,
circumambulate and bathe are directed to focus on cleansing their hearts
instead. And what is the specialty of the heart? As Thirumoolar said, “He is
the Great Light that fills the heart” (நெஞ்சு நிறைந்தங்கு
இருந்த நெடுஞ்சுடர்) (Tirumandiram,
2094).
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