BAT KOL (Mark
1:10-11)
10 And
straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the
Spirit like a dove descending upon Him:
11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved Son,
in Whom I am well pleased. (Mark 1:10-11)
a voice from
heaven - in Hebrew: Bat Kol (according
to tradition)
“A
sound proceeding from some invisible source was considered a heavenly voice,
since the revelation
on Sinai was given in that way: "Ye heard
the voice of the words, but saw no similitude;only ye heard a voice" (Deut
4:12). God reveals himself to man through his organs of hearing, not through
those of sight. Even Ezekiel, who sees many visions, "heard a voice of one
that spake" (Ezek 1:28); Elijah recognized God by a "still, small voice," and
a voice addressed him (I Kings 19:12–13; compare Job 4:16); sometimes God's
voice rang from the heights, from Jerusalem, from Zion (Ezek. 1:25; Jer 25:30… Amos
1:2, etc.); and God's voice was heard in the thunder and in the roar of the sea.[1]
The
concept appears in Dan 4:31:[2]
עוד מלתא בפם
מלכא קל מן־שׁמיא
נפל לך אמרין
נבוכדנצר
מלכא מלכותה
עדת מנך
[T]here fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee (emphasis added).” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Kol)
Tradition
"For our Rabbis have taught: When
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel;
nevertheless they made use of the Bath Kol. On one occasion [some Rabbis] were
sitting in the upper chamber of Gurya's house in Jericho; a Bath Kol was
granted to them from heaven which announced, 'There is in your midst one man
who is deserving that the Shechinah should alight upon him, but his generation
is unworthy of it'. They all looked at Hillel the elder; and when he died, they
lamented over him, 'Alas, the pious man! Alas, the humble man! Disciple of
Ezra!' " (Sotah 48b http://www.come-and-hear.com/sotah/sotah_48.html)
In Brit Chadasha there was heard Bat Kol:
- After tevilah (the immersion) of Messiah Yeshua;
- During the Transfiguration:
"While he yet
spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the
cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye
Him." (Matt. 17:5)
- Conversion of rav
Shaul:
“And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4)
“And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” (Acts 26:14)
- When Messiah Yeshua came in Jerusalem
"Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." (John 12:28)
- The instruction of Kepha (Peter) concerning the clean and unclean:
"And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." (Acts 10:15)
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