Teologiczne znaczenie terminu „niebiosa” jako zastępczego określenia Boga w tradycji biblijnej oraz w literaturze rabinicznej

Abstract

In the Hellenistic-Roman period the term “heaven” is used in the theological meaning and becomes the substitute designation of God. Incorporating this kind of practice seems to have originated from the application of the composite title “God / Lord / King of heaven”, to God in the Persian times and later, which is testified by the biblical texts (Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Tobit, Judith) and the Elephantine papyri, as well as the fact that Persians and Greeks referred to their deities in this very way. The only fragment of the Hebrew Bible in which the term “heaven” appears as a substitute designation of God is Dan 4:23. With an unusual emphasis, the text accentuates the belief in an absolute and universal authority of God that surpasses everything, especially the rule of earthly kings. Later testimonies from 1-2 Maccabees, “Story of Susanna” (Dan 13) and the New Testament (Mark, Matthew, Luke, John), as well as the rabbinic literature (Mishnah, Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud, the earliest Midrashim, Targums), demonstrate that the usage of the term “heaven” as the substitute designation of God seems to have resulted from a more general tendency of the late Judaism to refer to God by means of various synonyms, and had likely nothing to do with avoiding pronouncing the name of God due to the respect and reverence for His holiness in conformity with one of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:7; Deut 5:11).