Scientific Miracles in the Quran: Difference between revisions

Aside from controversies concerning exactly in what sense, when and by whom the pharaohs were considered to be divine, Jewish traditions in the centuries before the Quran maintained a trope that the pharaoh made such a claim for himself. These were based on Rabbinic exegesis of two verses in the Biblical book of Ezekiel.<ref>Even the direct verses from Ezekiel (29:3, 29;9) can by themselves in a way be seen to be making Pharaoh a divine figure, as put by Daniel I. Block in his commentary on Ezekiel: "But this leaves open the question of what Pharaoh has made. Is it the Nile? While more subtle than the claims of the prince of Tyre (28:2), the image of Pharaoh as owner and creator of the Nile fits perfectly with Egyptian doctrines of divine kingship." (Block, D. I. [1998]. "The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter 25-48." Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 137.)</ref>

The earliest known Rabbinic tradition of this nature occurs in the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (2th-3th century CE).<ref>Tilly, M & Visotzky, L. B. (2021). Judaism II: Literature. Kohlhammer. p. 105; Stemberger, G. & Strack, H. L. (1996). Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. Fortress Press. p. 255.</ref> The pharaoh is one of four Biblical figures together chastised in a number of sections for claiming to be a god:

{{Quote|[https://www.sefaria.org/Mekhilta_DeRabbi_Yishmael%2C_Tractate_Shirah.8.7?lang&#61;bi Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Tractate Shirah 8:7.]

|''Who Is Like unto Thee Among the Gods, 0 Lord'' (Exod. 15:11). Who  is  like  unto Thee  among  those  who  call  themselves gods? Pharaoh called himself a god, as it is said: 'The river is mine" (Ezek 29:9}; "And I have made myself" (Ezek. 29.3) [...]}}

We see similar exegesis occuring a number of times in the midrash Tanhuma, a name given to three texts, of which the relevant one is the Yelammedenu (also known as Tanhuma B), though also occuring in later texts such as Exodus Rabba. The earliest date for the final redactive layer of the Tanhuma Yelammedenu is the eigth or nineth century CE.<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Tanchuma%2C_Introduction?lang=bi Midrash Tanchuma introduction] - Sefaria.org</ref> However, its first phase seems to have existed by the sixth century.<ref>Myron B. Lerner, "The works of Aggadic Midrash and Esther Midrashim" in Eds. Sefrai et. al. (2006) [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Aed5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150 The literature of the Sages: Second Part] Netherlands: Royal van Gorcum and Fortress Press, p.150</ref> Generally newer research, however, has shown that a good chunck of the material in Midrash Tanhuma can be said to be pre-Islamic in their nature. <ref>Bregman, M. (2021). A Bibliographical Survey of Tanhuma- Yelammedenu Research: Past, Present, and Future. In Nikolsky, R. & Atzmon, A. (eds.) "Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature" Brill. p. 25.</ref>

Another midrash on this topic from the the Yelammedenu, occurs in multiple instances in Midrash Tanhuma:

{{Quote|[https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Tanchuma%2C_Bereshit.7.12?lang&#61;bi&with&#61;all&lang2&#61;en Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshit 7:12.] |Observe that everyone who desired to be worshipped as a divine being constructed a palace for himself in the midst of the sea. Pharaoh erected a palace in the midst of the water and dammed up the water of the Nile to keep it from flowing into the Mediterranean."}}{{Quote|1=[https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Tanchuma%2C_Vaera.5.6?lang=bi Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 5:6.]|2=[...] He said to them: “You have been speaking falsehood from the start! For I am the lord of the world, and I created myself and the Nile, as is written: The Nile is mine, I made it (Ezek. 29:3).” At that moment he gathered all the wise men of Egypt, and said to them: “Perhaps you have heard about the god of these?” They said to him: “We have heard that he is the son of wise men and the son of early kings.” The Holy One, blessed be He said: They call themselves wise men, but Me (they call) a son of wise men! [...]}}{{Quote|[https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Tanchuma%2C_Vaera.9.1?lang&#61;bi&with&#61;all&lang2&#61;en Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 9:1.]|See, I have set thee in God’s stead to Pharaoh (Exod. 7:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: The wicked Pharaoh boasts that he is a god. Make him realize that he is an insignificant being. Indeed, I will make you appear as a god to him. Whence do we know that he claimed to be divine? It is said: My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself (Ezek. 29:3). Therefore, he will look at you and say: “Surely this one is god.”

}}

{{Quote|[https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Tanchuma%2C_Vaera.14.1?lang&#61;bi Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 14:1.]|Why was he going out to the water? Because the wicked man was boasting of himself, for he had said that he was a god and had no need to relieve himself. Therefore he went out to the water in the morning, so that no one would see he was a (mere) man.}}