- On the notion of imitatio hominis in rabbinic literature, see Michael A. Fishbane, Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 73–94; S. Schechter, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (New York: Schocken Books, 1961), 37; David Stern, “Imitatio Hominis:
- YHWH wanted to kill everyone but Israel argued that they shouldn’t and YHWH agreed, and abided by their words. God then commands Moses to limit the rights of the blood avenger with the cities of refuge.
- For this claim, see David Stern, “Imitatio Hominis: Anthropomorphism and the Characters of God in Rabbinic Literature,” Prooftexts 12 (1992): 151–74; Arthur Green, “The Children in Egypt and the Theophany at the Sea,” Judaism 24 (1975): 446–56; Elliot R. Wolfson, Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994), 33.
- In the monotheistic anthropomorphism of rabbinic Judaism, YHWH fills multiple roles within society at once. Thus, God is the metaphorical slave owner, king, father, mother, judge, husband, wife, friend, and sibling. Consequently, the shifting image of God in rabbinic literature lends itself to shifting and inconsistent attitudes toward theological protest. Whereas the image of God as slave owner or king would demand silence and submissiveness, God as sibling, friend, or spouse might allow for, or even require, rebuke and assertiveness. Because the rabbis for pedagogical reasons maintain all these relational models, the natural consequence is an ambivalent attitude toward confrontation.
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