A Covenant with two kind of bloods
At first I want to repeat my view that syncretism can be an extremely dangerous approach, how seductive it may appear, and that one should stick, when studying religions in a comparative manner, to each of those religions as a whole
This being said, I shall kind of transgress this rule here: some parallelisms (here Judaism and Christianism) may appear productive when deploying comments for a mystical concept.
For instance, from the Christian side, there is no doubt (REF) that the Last Supper was a jewish Seder for Pessah, where one of the most important parts happen with this glass of wine, taken by Jesus (was this glass the special untouched cup that is spared at each Seder for Elias?). This glass “becomes” a glass of Jesus blood (becomes for real on the Catholic side, this is seen as a symbol on the Reformed side
Our present days are also times where the Catholic Church takes huge steps – looking at them from the scale of two thousand years of history - towards jewish religion, where a catholic is now asked to call a jew an “older brother” (REF), and where repentance declarations have been put into wrinting and issued by the Vatican (REF). Catholics study now Talmud in many places.
Back to the blood, I have tried to see how the jewish culture relates to this concept of blood, and I will try to show how I hint that it can give a special light to the Christian side, especially with the Last Supper moments.
I personally feel very uncomfortable by the restriction of christianism to a huge ball of suffering, pain, death and resurrection of Jesus, as regularly shown by some movies from Hollywood. As I said, I like to see a cross, not only as a torture instrument, but also as a deployed cube (see oldest posts)
1) from the jewish side
Jewish mysticism suggests a very impressive model of "layers" of mystical abstraction. Maimonide (Middle Ages - A Guide For The Perplexed – REF) comments on language used by prophets, explaining how "higher insight" language can be incomprehensible from lower layers, thus making interpretation and comments very difficult. I think that “blood” is one of those "higher insight" words that need this approach!
The very first covenant between CW and Noah does not mention any circumcision. It has to do with a rainbow. However, Talmud (VERIFY) suggests that Noah was also circumcised.
The second covenant, between CW and Moses, is very specific:
Gen 17:11 - And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
But, together with the blood from circumcision, there is a second type of blood, which is the blood of sacrifice from animals to CW. Moses sprays this second sacrifice blood to the altar, to the audience, etc.
Exd 24:8 - And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Deu 12:23 - Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood [is] the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
Deu 12:24 - Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.
In the Middle Ages, Rabbi Eliezer comments in his Pirque (REF) on those two bloods, quoting Ezechiel 16:6, pointing to the fact that “blood for life” is mentioned twice: he interprets it as one from circumcision, one from animal sacrifice.
Eze 16:6 - And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee [when thou wast] in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee [when thou wast] in thy blood, Live.
I have also read (and lost the REF) an interesting comment (Middle Ages again?) suggesting that the Temple rises and lives from the blood of circumcision spread on the floor. Blood (from sacrifices) is taken in Deu 12:16 as a kind of water to help grow a seed:
Deu 12:16 - Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water
2) from the Christian side
I suggest to apply this view to a huge christian Mystery, the wine from the mass cup, to remember one of the wine cups of Pessah Seder.
One could say that the wine that is inside the cup, during a christian mass, at the moment of elevation, becomes the real blood from Jesus (hey, check the DNA)
Now, if one uses Maimonide cautious approach (“don’t try to use a prophet’s words as everyday words”), this wine/blood stuff should not have been a subject of huge slaughters (in the past) between Reformed and Catholic christian churches.
Checking the cup contents DNA looks very much like a “lowest” layer approach (Saint Thomas type, I want to check for real). That wine becomes blood, as a concept, is clearly a much upper layer. Last, from an higher mystical side, that wine becomes identical to Jesus-Christ blood makes sense, “identical” is a word used in the semantic sense of this upper layer.
Blood mysticism can also be used to enlighten a comment for Jesus words on the Temple being destroyed and raised again in three days (which was one of the main causes of his being arrested, taken to trial and condemned to his final death):
Jhn 2:19 - Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Jesus himself says "raised" in Jhn, witnesses say "built".
Mat 26:60- But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, [yet] found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,
Mat 26:61 - And said, This [fellow] said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.
From the Christian side, I think that one could consider Jesus death, and His blood spreading, as a kind of CW “circumcising” Himself, for a new (and third) covenant. I think that one could see then the “CW circumcision” blood flowing on the floor, and a new Temple arising from it.
It is interesting to note that in some modern jewish traditions, one buries the piece of flesh from a circumcised boy after three days, as a seed for a new rise.
So Jesus appears to me (from the Christian side), as mentioning those two bloods: the blood from “CW circumcision”, which is similar to the blood of the Covenant (REF), and the blood of the lamb, the second blood spread from animal sacrifice, the two bloods mentioned by Ezechiel.
This “token in return” for a new “double blood” Covenant from CW is very close to Saint Paul approach, where classical jewish circumcision is replaced by the faith in Jesus being the Christ/Messiah, etc.. (REF)
Please note: this was for me an extremely difficult post, I hope that comments and further references will be posted, and I shall myself post the exact references for quotations in the near future.
Pic 1: artist Faytene Kryskow
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