ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the divine image traditions found in biblical and Jewish pseudepigraphical accounts by exploring the function of the imago Dei as the personified divine knowledge. It demonstrates that in the Hebrew Bible, the divine image was intended to be a visual revelation of the deity’s nature, attributes, and shape. Often, in these traditions the divine image is understood as a cultic divine statue. The study argues that although idolatry was discouraged in the Jewish religious milieu, the idea of the cultic statue as a manifestation of the divine presence and a deposit of the iconic divine knowledge was paradoxically perpetuated in Israelite traditions about the imago Dei. This chapter then closely explores Adam’s role as the imago Dei. It shows that in the earliest Jewish accounts, Adam’s role as the deity’s icon was closely related to the symbolism of the divine Glory or Kavod. In this epistemological setting, Adam is often understood as a hypostasis or a personification of the iconic divine knowledge through which the concealed God is revealed to creation. The study demonstrates that the tradition of the divine image as the personified divine knowledge became developed further in the stories of Enoch, Jacob, and Moses.
