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The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Facts of Jesus Christ. search tips & recommendations
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
AACH - ABDI ABDI - ABRA ABRA - ABRA ABRA - ADLE ADLE - AINM AIRE - ALGA ALGE - AMOR AMOS - ANTU ANTW - ARTA ARTA - ASSE ASSE - AZZU

MEMRA (= "Ma'amar" or "Dibbur," "Logos"): Tweet Like 50 Send Read Later

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"The Word," in the sense of the creative or directive word or speech of Get Closer to Jesus Christ
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God manifesting His power in the world of matter or mind; a term used
especially in the Targum as a substitute for "the Lord" when an —Biblical Data:
anthropomorphic expression is to be avoided. Personification of the Word. The End-Time is Here
—In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature: 2008 was God's last warning, 2012 is
—Biblical Data: —In the Targum: economic collapse & WW III
In Scripture "the word of the Lord" commonly denotes the speech Mediatorship. www.the -e nd.com
addressed to patriarch or prophet (Gen. xv. 1; Num. xii. 6, xxiii. 5; I Sam. The Logos.
iii. 21; Amos v. 1-8); but frequently it denotes also the creative word: "By
the word of the Lord were the heavens made" (Ps. xxxiii. 6; comp. "For He spake, and it was done"; "He sendeth his Pharisees... still aro und
word, and melteth them [the ice]"; "Fire and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word"; Ps. xxxiii. 9, cxlvii. New forms, new disguises... but
18, cxlviii. 8). In this sense it is said, "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven" (Ps. cxix. 89). "The Word," underneath still as bad as ever
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heard and announced by the prophet, often became, in the conception of the seer, an efficacious power apart from God,
as was the angel or messenger of God: "The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel" (Isa. ix. 7 [A.
V. 8], lv. 11); "He sent his word, and healed them" (Ps. cvii. 20); and comp. "his word runneth very swiftly" (Ps. cxlvii.
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15).
Personification of the Word. Recommendations
—In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature:
While in the Book of Jubilees, xii. 22, the word of God is sent through the angel to Abraham, in other cases it becomes Create an account or log in to s ee
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more and more a personified agency: "By the word of God exist His works" (Ecclus. [Sirach] xlii. 15); "The Holy One,
blessed be He, created the world by the 'Ma'amar'" (Mek., Beshallaḥ, 10, with reference to Ps. xxxiii. 6). Quite NAMES OF GOD
frequent is the expression, especially in the liturgy, "Thou who hast made the universe with Thy word and ordained man 185 people recommend this .
through Thy wisdom to rule over the creatures made by Thee" (Wisdom ix. 1; comp. "Who by Thy words causest the
evenings to bring darkness, who openest the gates of the sky by Thy wisdom"; . . . "who by His speech created the Leader of the Rebellious Angels. - AZA
heavens, and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts"; through whose "words all things were created"; see Singer's 5 people recommend this .
"Daily Prayer-Book," pp. 96, 290, 292). So also in IV Esdras vi. 38 ("Lord, Thou spakest on the first day of Creation:
'Let there be heaven and earth,' and Thy word hath accomplished the work"). "Thy word, O Lord, healeth all things"
(Wisdom xvi. 12); "Thy word preserveth them that put their trust in Thee" (l.c. xvi. 26). Especially strong is the
personification of the word in Wisdom xviii. 15: "Thine Almighty Word leaped down from heaven out of Thy royal throne
as a fierce man of war." The Mishnah, with reference to the ten passages in Genesis (ch. i.) beginning with "And God
said," speaks of the ten "ma'amarot" (= "speeches") by which the world was created (Abot v. 1; comp. Gen. R. iv. 2: Facebook social plugin
"The upper heavens are held in suspense by the creative Ma'amar"). Out of every speech ["dibbur"] which emanated
from God an angel was created (Ḥag. 14a). "The Word ["dibbur"] called none but Moses" (Lev. R. i. 4, 5). "The Word
["dibbur"] went forth from the right hand of God and made a circuit around the camp of Israel" (Cant. R. i. 13).

—In the Targum:

In the Targum the Memra figures constantly as the manifestation of the divinepower, or as God's messenger in place of
God Himself, wherever the predicate is not in conformity with the dignity or the spirituality of the Deity.
Instead of the Scriptural "You have not believed in the Lord," Targ. Deut. i. 32 has "You have not believed in the word of
the Lord"; instead of "I shall require it [vengeance] from him," Targ. Deut. xviii. 19 has "My word shall require it." "The
Memra," instead of "the Lord," is "the consuming fire" (Targ. Deut. ix. 3; comp. Targ. Isa. xxx. 27). The Memra "plagued
the people" (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxii. 35). "The Memra smote him" (II Sam. vi. 7; comp. Targ. I Kings xviii. 24; Hos. xiii.
14; et al.). Not "God," but "the Memra," is met with in Targ. Ex. xix. 17 (Targ. Yer. "the Shekinah"; comp. Targ. Ex. xxv.
22: "I will order My Memra to be there"). "I will cover thee with My Memra," instead of "My hand" (Targ. Ex. xxxiii. 22).
Instead of "My soul," "My Memra shall reject you" (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 30; comp. Isa. i. 14, xlii. 1; Jer. vi. 8; Ezek. xxiii.
18). "The voice of the Memra," instead of "God," is heard (Gen. iii. 8; Deut. iv. 33, 36; v. 21; Isa. vi. 8; et al.). Where
Moses says, "I stood between the Lord and you" (Deut. v. 5), the Targum has, "between the Memra of the Lord and
you"; and the "sign between Me and you" becomes a "sign between My Memra and you" (Ex. xxxi. 13, 17; comp. Lev.
xxvi. 46; Gen. ix. 12; xvii. 2, 7, 10; Ezek. xx. 12). Instead of God, the Memra comes to Abimelek (Gen. xx. 3), and to
Balaam (Num. xxiii. 4). His Memra aids and accompanies Israel, performing wonders for them (Targ. Num. xxiii. 21;
Deut. i. 30, xxxiii. 3; Targ. Isa. lxiii. 14; Jer. xxxi. 1; Hos. ix. 10 [comp. xi. 3, "the messenger-angel"]). The Memra goes
before Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 12). The Lord swears by His Memra (Gen. xxi. 23, xxii. 16, xxiv. 3; Ex. xxxii. 13; Num. xiv. 30;
Isa. xlv. 23; Ezek. xx. 5; et al.). It is His Memra that repents (Targ. Gen. vi. 6, viii. 21; I Sam. xv. 11, 35). Not His
"hand," but His "Memra has laid the foundation of the earth" (Targ. Isa. xlviii. 13); for His Memra's or Name's sake does
He act (l.c. xlviii. 11; II Kings xix. 34). Through the Memra God turns to His people (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 90; II Kings xiii.
23), becomes the shield of Abraham (Gen. xv. 1), and is with Moses (Ex. iii. 12; iv. 12, 15) and with Israel (Targ. Yer. to
Num. x. 35, 36; Isa. lxiii. 14). It is the Memra, not God Himself, against whom man offends (Ex. xvi. 8; Num. xiv. 5; I
Kings viii. 50; II Kings xix. 28; Isa. i. 2, 16; xlv. 3, 20; Hos. v. 7, vi. 7; Targ. Yer. to Lev. v. 21, vi. 2; Deut. v. 11); through
His Memra Israel shall be justified (Targ. Isa. xlv. 25); with the Memra Israel stands in communion (Targ. Josh. xxii. 24,
27); in the Memra man puts his trust (Targ. Gen. xv. 6; Targ. Yer. to Ex. xiv. 31; Jer. xxxix. 18, xlix. 11).

Mediatorship.
Like the Shekinah (comp. Targ. Num. xxiii. 21), the Memra is accordingly the manifestation of God. "The Memra brings
Israel nigh unto God and sits on His throne receiving the prayers of Israel" (Targ. Yer. to Deut. iv. 7). It shielded Noah
from the flood (Targ. Yer. to Gen. vii. 16) and brought about the dispersion of the seventy nations (l.c. xi. 8); it is the
guardian of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 20-21, xxxv. 3) and of Israel (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xii. 23, 29); it works all the wonders in
Egypt (l.c. xiii. 8, xiv. 25); hardens the heart of Pharaoh (l.c. xiii. 15); goes before Israel in the wilderness (Targ. Yer. to
Ex. xx. 1); blesses Israel (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxiii. 8); battles for the people (Targ. Josh. iii. 7, x. 14, xxiii. 3). As in ruling
over the destiny of man the Memra is the agent of God (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxvii. 16), so also is it in the creation of the
earth (Isa. xlv. 12) and in the execution of justice (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxxiii. 4). So, in the future, shall the Memra be the
comforter (Targ. Isa. lxvi. 13): "My Shekinah I shall put among you, My Memra shall be unto you for a redeeming deity,
and you shall be unto My Name a holy people" (Targ. Yer. to Lev. xxii. 12). "My Memra shall be unto you like a good
plowman who takes off the yoke from the shoulder of the oxen"; "the Memra will roar to gather the exiled" (Targ. Hos. xi.
5, 10). The Memra is "the witness" (Targ. Yer. xxix. 23); it will be to Israel like a father (l.c. xxxi. 9) and "will rejoice
over them to do them good" (l.c. xxxii. 41). "In the Memra the redemption will be found" (Targ. Zech. xii. 5). "The holy
Word" was the subject of the hymns of Job (Test. of Job, xii. 3, ed. Kohler).

The Logos.
It is difficult to say how far the rabbinical concept of the Memra, which is used now as a parallel to the divine Wisdom
and again as a parallel to the Shekinah, had come under the influence of the Greek term "Logos," which denotes both
word and reason, and, perhaps owing to Egyptian mythological notions, assumed in the philosophical system of
Heraclitos, of Plato, and of the Stoa the metaphysical meaning of world-constructive and world-permeating intelligence
(see Reizenstein, "Zwei Religionsgeschichtliche Fragen," 1901, pp. 83-111; comp. Aall, "Der Logos," and the Logos
literature given by Schürer, "Gesch." i. 3, 542-544). The Memra as a cosmic power furnished Philo the corner-stone
upon which he built his peculiar semi-Jewish philosophy. Philo's "divine thought," "the image" and "first-born son" of
God, "the archpriest," "intercessor," and "paraclete" of humanity, the "arch type of man" (see Philo), paved the way for
the Christian conceptions of the Incarnation ("the Word become flesh") and the Trinity. The Word which "the unoriginated
Father created in His own likeness as a manifestation of His own power" appears in the Gnostic system of Marcus
(Irenæus, "Adversus Hæreses," i. 14). In the ancient Church liturgy, adopted from the Synagogue, it is especially
interesting to notice how often the term "Logos," in the sense of "the Word by which God made the world, or made His
Law or Himself known to man," was changed into "Christ" (see "Apostolic Constitutions," vii. 25-26, 34-38, et al.).
Possibly on account of the Christian dogma, rabbinic theology, outside of the Targum literature, made little use of the
term "Memra." See Logos.
Bibliography:
Bousset, Die Religion des Judenthums im Neutestamentlichen Zeitalter, 1903, p. 341;
Weber, Jüdische Theologie, 1897, pp. 180-184.

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Alton Headley · St. Andrew Technical High School

the memra is the word of the.
s peaker but before the word is s poken it is firs t in the thought then s poken into exis tence, egs .:- let there be light
and light came into exis tence!
Reply · Like · February 29 at 6:12pm

Charles Lojko
Except for the las t bit about The Logos , this is a great article. The Memra of HaShem is clearly vis ible in the
Scriptures to one with eyes to s ee. If anything, Greek philos ophy borrowed from there, not the other way around.
Reply · Like · February 19 at 10:23am

Daniel Calcagno · Works at Minacs

In clear and concis e language, do you believe the Memra (Word) of HaShem is an individual created or
emanating from God? This individual then became a human being (Yes hua)?
Reply · Like · February 19 at 11:37am

Charles Lojko
Read Yochannan (John) 1. Ins ert Memra in place of Word ("Logos "). This is what the s hlichim of Yes hua
are declaring. This is what Yes hua s ays of hims elf.
Reply · Like · February 19 at 11:39am

Daniel Calcagno · Works at Minacs

That does n't ans wer my ques tion becaus e you would s till have to interpret what the Memra (Word) is .
The Memra is not an actual pers on. It's a poetic way of referring to the will and wis dom of God.
Sometimes it is pers onified like in John 1 but that does n't mean it's an ACTUAL pers on. Like in Proverbs
8, Wis dom is pers onified but that does n't mean Wis dom is literally a pers on.
Reply · Like · February 19 at 11:44am

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