Previous
Chapter 35
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Leviathan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, War, and Civil Society
Power, Common-wealths, and Monarchies
Religion
Fear
Reason, Fact, and Philosophy
Summary
Analysis
Any word that is spoken by God or about God is considered to be the “Word of God” in scripture. In this way, the “Word of God” must be all scripture, since all scripture is about God. For instance, when God says to Moses: “I am the Lord thy God,” these words are considered the “Word of God.” And, when it is written: “God spake these words and said,” these words, too, are the “Word of God.” Hobbes disagrees and argues that while God’s words to Moses can be considered the “Word of God,” some words in the Bible are only “holy History.”
This passage points back to Hobbes’s argument about authority and authorship. As God’s Lieutenant, Moses has the authority to claim God’s words, therefore making those words the “Word of God.” However, words randomly attributed to God in the Bible or elsewhere do not carry the same authority; thus, such words cannot be the “Word of God” and instead are “holy History.”
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
The “Word of God,” then, can be understood as either metaphorical or proper. Proper words are those that are spoken directly by God, whereas metaphorical words are those that refer to God’s wisdom and power in creating the world. For example, in Hebrews 11:3, “The worlds were framed by the Word of God.” The “Word of God” is also used to produce a certain effect. God’s words have the power to affirm, command, or promise, as they do in Matthew 24:35. “Heaven and earth shal [sic] pass away, but my Words shall not pass away.”
Again, Hobbes implies that Holy Scripture has largely been misinterpreted as literal when it is in fact metaphorical. In this vein, much of what Christians have accepted as the “Word of God” in Holy Scripture is only hearsay and cannot be verified as God’s actual words. Such an assertion was highly controversial in Hobbes’s day and was considered sacrilegious.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
God’s words are also used for their attention to reason and equity; however, such words need not be spoken by God or his prophets. For instance, the words of Pharaoh Necho, an Idolater, to King Josiah were said to come from the mouth of God. Josiah did not heed the Pharaoh’s—or God’s—words, and Josiah later died in battle. Examples of equity in the holy canon are too many to name, Hobbes says, but they can be found in Psalm 36:31, Jeremiah 31:33, and Deuteronomy 30:11 and 14.
An Idolater is someone who worships a false god. Pharaoh Necho was an Egyptian King from the 6th century BCE and was not a Christian, but God still spoke through him. Hobbes’s main point here is that God does not speak only through his prophets or those thought to be “holy” in a Christian sense. Hobbes lists scripture that proves his point because he knows that his audience is very familiar with the Bible and that the book carries weight and authority.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
A prophet is someone who speaks God’s words, like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Elijah. The Prophets made certain predictions as the name suggests, but they were also “Gods [sic] Spokesmen.” In terms of prophets in general, there are many fakes who claim to divine past or future events, and Hobbes discusses such prophets in an earlier chapter. For Hobbes’s purposes now, he is concerned only with those prophets who actually spoke to God.
For Hobbes, there is a difference between “the Prophets,” like Moses and Samuel, and those who claim to be prophets. In this way, Hobbes implies that all prophets other than Moses, Samuel, and the like, are imposters who are not “God’s Spokesmen.”
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Get the entire Leviathan LitChart as a printable PDF.
It is reasonable to ask exactly how God spoke to his Prophets. If it is assumed that God spoke using “voice and language,” is it also assumed that God has “a tongue, or other organs, as a man?” The manner that God spoke to Adam and Eve is not known, but he appeared to Abraham as the ghost of three angels. “Jacob dreamed that he saw a ladder,” and Lot was visited by the ghost of two angels. Only Moses spoke more directly to God, and even that was mediated by angels.
Hobbes’s point here is that God is not a human in the traditional sense, and God doesn’t necessarily communicate using words and human speech organs. God is supernatural, Hobbes argues, and he communicates supernaturally. In most cases, God conjures an angel to communicate for him, which suggests that God’s voice perhaps cannot be understood by human ears.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Of the prophets in the Old Testament, some are “supreme” and others are “subordinate.” The supreme is Moses, and everyone else follows down a subordinate line. As the supreme, Moses is the prophet who spoke to God most directly, and Hobbes finds no evidence that proves God spoke supernaturally to subordinate prophets. Thus, God spoke to subordinate prophets “by the Spirit.” In fact, Moses was not the only prophet in his time: “The Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto Moses, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it to the seventy Elders.”
In claiming that God spoke to subordinate prophets “by the Spirit,” Hobbes means that God spoke to lesser prophets metaphorically through Moses and their faith in God’s existence. God spoke to Moses most directly (through “a cloud”), and Moses in turn spoke those words to “seventy Elders,” or subordinate prophets.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Everyone should consider the probability of any given prophet, which is exactly what God expects and what happens in the Old Testament. Everyone has the ability to use reason to decide if any given prophecy is true or false. In the absence of a miracle, each individual person must decide exactly who is a “Soveraign Prophet”—that is, who is “Gods Viceregent on Earth”—based on reason alone.
Hobbes implies it is probable that Moses was actually speaking the “Word of God,” and the words then spoken by the 70 lesser prophets were sound, too. However, beyond this, Hobbes suggests that the probability of a true prophet is less likely, and at times even impossible. Moses was “Gods Viceregent on Earth” (Hobbes calls Moses “God’s Lieutenant”), but Moses was the only one. Hobbes says there has not been a real miracle since the time of Christ, so it is not reasonable to say there has been a true prophet since then either.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
