Re: Bear, a Magdalenian test case
- From: Franz Gnaedinger <frgn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 01:45:08 -0800 (PST)
On Nov 29, 9:36 pm, Adam Funk <a24...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You might (or might not!) be interested in this entry from G S
Gaskell's _Dictionary of Scripture and Myth_ (Dorset Press, 1988); I
think the best way to describe it is as a fairly eccentric book on
comparative religion).
BEARS
Symbolic of passions or illusions which hug the mind and stifle
effort.
"And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty
and two children of them." 2 Kings ii.24.
The young undeveloped min (children) is unable to appreciate a
higher mental state, and is also lacking in faith and hope, hence
it is condemned to be buffeted by the passions and illusions of the
lower life of desire and sensation.
"Bears signify fallacies,--- the literal sense of the Word, read
indeed, but not understood." Swedenborg, Apoc.Rev., n.573.
See ANIMALS, APE AND TIGER, BEASTS (WILD).
2 Kings 2 tells in epic language and symbols how
the prophet Elijah dies, how Elisha succeeds him
in the role of the prophet, and how people who don't
believe in the Lord mock him. The latter event is told
very briefly: 42 children mock Elisha, are cursed by
him in the name of the Lord, whereupon two she-bears
from the forest tear them apart, and Elisha leaves for
Mount Carmel ... What a monster that watches bears
kill children without imploring the Lord to have merci!
Who would follow such a cruel prophet? I think we have
to understand the passage in a symbolic way. The
number 42 evokes the 42 judges in the Hall of Judgment
of the Ancient Egyptian beyond who weigh the souls of
the dead for their sins. Now the people are children,
basically innocent. As children they don't know better,
their sins don't weigh much, their souls will be saved,
they will live on in the beyond, or even be given a new
life in this world? Their old religion will die, but not they
themselves. The two bears are she-bears, known for
their motherly devotion; moreover, bears that go on
hibernation were worshipped as symbols of regeneration
--- the corpse laid on a bier covered in bear furs, placed
to rest in a barrow evoking the hibernation cave, and then
born again, and the newborn laid on the fur called BIR
in the Hellenistic world, and in East Slavic regions until
the twentieth century (Marija Gimbutas). One may now
see the end of 2 Kings 2 in a new light: the old religion
will die, while the people who don't believe in the Lord
are like children who don't know better, their religion
comes to an end, the Lord will prevail, while the souls
of those 'children' will survive in the beyond, or even
given a new life in the new religion on earth ... This
(hypothetical) meaning would have been known when
the Bible was written, some 2,500 years ago, but by
and by it was lost, and replaced by new interpretations
as the one given above. - Thanks for an interesting
question, it was a pleasure to answer it from my
vantage point.
.
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