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Preface to Perfect Iconoclasm

The Hebrew masters were not fatalists. They did not worship the god of chance or fickle fortune. They had a scientific intuition of free will inasmuch as they knew very well that man can cause certain effects and is therefore responsible for them. Superstition ruins people; fools worship idols; that much is obvious to the superior intellect. The Hebrew masters placed no faith in the things themselves. They worshiped no stone nor mountain nor brute, horned power. Those forms, whether inert or energetic, were insufficient. But Hebrew iconoclasm was imperfect - it did not yet shatter anthropomorphic conceptions of the higher, social power. A tribal god cared for Hebrews, just as a father would care for his children: with rewards and punishments. He might seem abusive and terrifying at times, but surely this god must be reasonable.

The Hebrew masters disowned vulgar fetiches: they divested things of imagined spirits; they left matter behind. Ironically, they were denounced as materialists. After all, he who worships an unseen, ineffable god, must be worshiping Nothing, must have no god at all, therefore must be an atheist, reasoned the iconophiles as they adored their sacred things. But the Hebrews set out to master things because they knew that matter has a spiritual or moral master, hence matter is not worth worshiping.

Ironically, again, those who do not worship things may prosper in their frugality. If their god is willing to punish them for their sins, they might be plagued by others who would cremate them and relieve them of their goods, accusing them, of course, of being miserly, greedy Jews.

The charge is unjust because the entire human race might be indicted on the same charge. Everyone is born into an economic relationship with the world: the individual by definition is divided from the limited world that everyone needs to survive. The Jews are only to blame because they were one of the first peoples to define themselves as a group and to record their struggle with the world in the moral context of a history of progress to a certain future; the Promised Land ruled by the Messiah.

Wherefore we have all inherited the ideal of a Kingdom of God on Earth, but we are reluctant to share it, for each person would be an omnipotent god and there is not enough world to go around. Ironically, again, Judeo-Christian fundamentalists would send most of the founders of the Kingdom of God, the Jews, along with anyone else who does not accept their man Jesus as the only man-god, to the Lake of Fire instead of the Promised Land. In any event, we have here, in the concept of the Kingdom of God on Earth, the self-defeating paradox, that Hebrew idolatry ends in the grandest idolatry of all, the worship of land and personality; in other words, the World and Man.

But how could it be otherwise? Perfect iconoclasm realized spells the total annihilation of the human race. Man stands on the World with his head in Heaven, thus is Man the relation of World and God. The motto of the iconoclast is, "Smash everything in sight and what is left is good."  But something must be left for a mere man to stand on, something short of the total annihilation of all differences in the unity of the unbounded sphere of absolute love; that is to say, depending on your disposition, Being or Nothing.

In any event, total annihilation reminds us of the blinding incandescent form of the Almighty Father of Terrorism in Mesopotamia, where Abraham lived prior to his immigration to Canaan.



Who were the Hebrews?

Historians generally identify the Hebrews as those ancestors of the Israelites who conquered Canaan (Palestine) in the 2nd millennium B.C.E. Thereafter they are called 'Israelites', so named because Jacob's name changed to 'Israel' (literally, "wrestler with god") when he wrestled the blessed name from an angel. After conquering Canaan, the Israelite tribes were said to be twelve in number until Israel fought with itself (c. 930 B.C.E.) and divided into two parts: the Kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes of the  'Israelites'  in the north; and Judah, the tribes of 'Jews' in the south. After the Assyrians conquered Palestine, the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom of Israel were allegedly absorbed or "lost." Those who managed to return to Judah from Babylonian captivity ( late 6th century B.C.E.) and their descendants are known as 'Jews.' In short, the official sequence is: Hebrews, Israelites, Jews.

But again, Who were the Hebrews? We have but scanty evidence from which to divine our vague definition. We are not searching for a 'race' in its modern sense: there is no such thing as a biological race or groups of people with similar physical characteristics who inherit the same behavior. The 'Jewish race', for example, is as fictional as the Nazi's 'Aryan race.'  The Hebrews were Semites by language. Today's Semites include Arabs, Ethiopians, Israelis and others. The ancient Semitic language speakers included Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Hebrews.

There were all sorts of Semitic people in Mesopotamia. Some of them went to the other side of a river and lived in Canaan; for example, Abraham's family immigrated to Canaan. His name is only once referred to in the Old Testament as ivri, which is singular for Hebrews - ibrim is the plural form. Another possible derivation for 'Hebrew' is suggested by the word eber, which means "other side."  Still, the actual source of the term 'Hebrew' is unknown. As far as we know, the Hebrews did not call themselves Hebrews, and the name was almost always applied to them by others. However that may be, Abraham and other Semites ventured into Canaan where all sorts of people had been living since man first appeared there nearly a quarter of a million years prior; Neanderthal man apparently enjoyed the habitat 100,000 years ago. Canaan had many desirable places to inhabit when Abraham's wave of Semites arrived; since then the land has been denuded and devastated by humankind. Attractive as Canaan was, many people were just passing though because it was between the major centers of civilization. At any given time, a wide variety of people including Indo-Iranians and other Asians were to be found in the land that was eventually called Palestine by the Romans, just as a wide variety of people can be found to this very day: there is no biological Palestinian race.

Some of the Semitic people from Mesopotamia stayed in Canaan; others went further south, into southern Arabia and Egypt - their ancestors had inhabited southern Arabia long before. The nomads and semi-nomads coming into Egypt were regarded as barbarians by the Egyptians; yet accommodations were made: Egypt civilized many them over the centuries. A number of immigrants rose to high positions over time. And invaders such as the Hittites, Hyksos, and Amalekites actually ruled Egypt as pharaohs.

As for the Semitic peoples from Mesopotamia and Canaan, some lived well as semi-nomadic tribes on the fluctuating margin between the desert and the fertile land near the Nile, while others led an even more settled existence in villages and cities. No doubt many of them worked in Egypt on public projects such as irrigation canals and royal burial chambers, but we should not imagine the Semitic or other workers to be abject slaves. The life of an unskilled laborer on the pyramids must have been a very hard one. Egypt gives us our first record of labor strikes, by skilled labor, usually for unpaid wages. However, we should keep in mind that a carpenter's and a stone mason's normal wage in bread was enough to support a family of ten; the foreman made considerably more. Foremen, scribes, and skilled workmen took jobs on the side; many owned or leased property; all and all, the conditions were not as miserable as we might think. Be that is it may, all were not satisfied, especially during hard times; some picked up and left, wandering about the desert and into Canaan.

Therefore our 'Hebrews' are reputedly the descendants of certain Semitic people who 'came over the river' from Mesopotamia, eventually went on to Egypt and elsewhere, then left Egypt for the desert and Canaan. Now I have already stated that Hebrews did not call themselves Hebrews, but were so called by other people. The Egyptian records uncovered refer to a social status known as 'habirus.' They were 'rebels' or 'nomads' occasionally employed by the Egyptians as 'mercenaries.' It also appears the term 'habiru' may have denoted 'canal builders.' The broad term 'habirus' must have included many tribes- the Israelites claim only Abraham's legitimate issue by Sarah as their own. However that may be, an alliance of Hebrews, perhaps led by Abraham's descendants, the Israelites, filled a power vacuum in ancient Palestine when the Hittite Empire collapsed and the Egyptians withdrew. Their battles against the Amalekites, whose origin is obscure, and against the Phillistines, believed to be 'Greeks' or a people from the Aegean Sea, are well known. The courageous warrior, Saul, became the first king of Israel, and he was succeeded by King David, who has served ever since as a model for the Messiah. He was not an Asian despot; that was not the 'Hebrew' way: he was king by contract under the Israelite god, meaning he was subject to the law. However, David's tenth son, Solomon, displayed despotic tendencies.

We have looked for Hebrews and have vaguely outlined the migrations of a people who became Israelites and Jews. We might know our Hebrews better if we knew more about their mission.



The Hebrew Mission



The Hebrew mission was a moral mission. The Hebrews wanted to be personally responsible for their destiny. Albeit the universal deity in inner sanctum is highly abstract, impersonal and impartial, a concrete, personal and partial form of divinity is required to publicly dispense punishments and rewards. Moreover, a personal god was wanted in the beginning by human beings for the very good reason that man might walk upright, survey the heavens, and lead a righteous life or else. A god who cannot see Adam and Eve hiding, hence stomps about the orchard demanding that they reveal themselves, will do for starters, much more befitting to the dignity of man than the spirit of a randomly rampaging storm. Yes, totems might serve man's social or common sense nicely for awhile; he too is an animal; however, given his reasoning power, he has reason to believe he is more divine. Therefore he models semi-human gods, puts them in charge of the natural forces and muses thereupon; but alas for the musing, for he realizes his gods in their conflicts are as arbitrary and foolish as the squabbling men and women on Earth. The single, personal god at the head of a tribe, to the exclusion of all other gods, is a more suitable model despite his terrifying visage as he lords it over nature. Such a god, no matter how supreme or beyond good and evil he might be, is held responsible by people who in effect demand of god that good be rewarded and evil be punished.

The Hebrews were reasonable to presume that the transcendental cause of both good and evil has a good reason or cause for creating a moral division below, a reason favorable to man providing he carefully attend to it. Otherwise, what good is god to man? The root of 'man' is 'ma', the mother of his formal existence and of his grammar; and 'manu' is 'he who measures out thought', he who thinks. He who thinks may self-consciously choose his own way for good or ill: thus thought is fundamentally a moral process. However, an omnipotent god does not have to reason in self-defense; the Creation is a gratuity. But why is it not perfect? Wherefore evil? Why have so many good public works been highways to hell on Earth? Perhaps this one god in heaven is the devil on earth. Or there may be no god but some impersonal force. Why be grateful to a creator who turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to his devotees? or rather one who has no eye or ear? Raging against an absurd or 'deaf' universe that does not need humankind is absurd.

Alas, anyone who is praised by man is also subject to blame. A personal god is needed for that. The universe does not need us, but god certainly does. The Hebrews struggled with their god, became Israelites, and constantly considered the cause of their wounds. Indeed, Hebrews were 'chosen' because they were annointed with wit, in order to choose between good and evil, and with will, in order to determine particular outcomes. Order is the key concept in stark contrast to the disorganizing conflicts leading to the nothingness of incomprehensible chaos. If only the community can be brought into right order, the order corresponding to the heavenly mandate, then, at the end of its history of conflicts with god's iron rod (the forces of evil), the community shall have peace on Earth. In the final analysis, the saved community fortunately includes all peoples Jewish and non-Jewish who keep the seven simple commandments given to Noah.

Like desert bedouins who grow weary of long and dangerous treks between oases and therefore dream of settling down in Paradise, the Hebrews dreamed of the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God or Realm of Universal Peace ruled by their Ideal Deliverer, the Messiah who sits on a Throne in the Capital of Religion and Politics. Residence of god and king, seat of divine and national power, the temple was of course the central bank of Treasure and the stronghold of Arms. Nomads grow fond of moving about regularly, but 'civilization' has its attractions, its wealth and walls, hence semi-nomads camp about the towns and live in villages from time to time: to this very day a bedouin might keep a tent on the roof of his house in town and a few camels in the countryside. The Hebrew ancestors of the Israelites were familiar with the great cities of Mesopotamia. A city would flourish for awhile as booty from war was accumulated, then decline to where it provided only a slightly higher standard of living than the countryside; but still the residents clung desperately to at least the memory of urban civilization if not to the sacred rubble itself. Of course there was an opposing view, that the city was a corrupt place, a seed-mixing whore, a den of iniquity, a culture of cowardice and weakness, and so on, a view shared by a few desert prophets disgusted by the elaborate mummery of city priests. In any case, despite the various habitual dispositions of the Hebrews, in their alliance they recognized themselves as an independent nation under god in need of its own ground to stand on; therefore, they made a real estate deal with the Landlord. Not only would the contract secure them against terrifying land-shaking events and other unpredictable natural disasters, but it would protect them from the most dangerous and unpredictable of all natural forces; to wit, man.

Providing that the Hebrew observes the main condition of the contract, that from fear he shall love his oppressor even more than himself, and therefore in the process love himself more to boot as he lifts himself up by his boots, he shall have his cake and eat it too. Undoubtedly there shall be setbacks along the way, even many centuries of silence due to self-hating, groundless breaches of contract; but no doubt the breaches shall be remedied, and Jerusalem will be at hand next year. Otherwise, without progress from evil to good, from fear to love, there would be no human history. Wherefore the Almighty Father of Terrorism shall reign supreme even during peaceful interregna, each interlude to be punctuated by supernatural interventions that include premature mass murder of innocents - just for good measure - they were doomed to die a natural death anyway. Thus even in peace basic anxiety lurks underground pending the outbreak of the next terrifying cataclysm, so that man may progress from hell to heaven, from fear to love. Absent what we now call a natural instead of a supernatural catastrophe, men will manufacture their own apocalypse to unveil living hell. Nevertheless, the Hebrews, not yet Israelites or Jews, had good reason to believe that the history of the crimes against humanity would eventually end in the Promised Land. Whether that land is a particular plot of earth or is the Earth at large remains to be seen. Thus far it seems unreasonable to expect, either here on Earth or beyond in Heaven, a miraculous reprieve from the universal death sentence.