an
_inner_ process in the mind of the prophet. According to their mystical or
rationalistic viewpoint, they describe it as the result of the divine
spirit, working upon the soul either from within or from without. These
two standpoints betray either the Platonic or the Aristotelian
influence.(83) Indeed, the rabbis themselves showed traces of
neo-Platonism when they described the ecstatic state of the prophets, or
when they spoke of the divine spirit speaking through the prophet as
through a vocal instrument, or when they made distinctions between seeing
the Deity "in a bright mirror" or "through a dark glass."(84)

The view most remote from the simple one of the Bible is the rationalistic
standpoint of Maimonides, who, following altogether in the footsteps of
the Arabic neo-Aristotelians, assumed that there were different degrees of
prophecy, depending upon the influence exerted upon the human intellect by
the sphere of the Highest Intelligence. He enumerates eleven such grades,
of which Moses had the highest rank, as he entered into direct
communication with the supreme intellectual sphere. Still bolder is his
explanation of the revelation on Sinai. He holds that the first two words
were understood by the people directly as logical evidences of truth, for
they enunciated the philosophical doctrines of the existence and unity of
God, whereas the other words they understood only as sounds without
meaning, so that Moses had to interpret them.(85) In contrast to this
amazing rationalism of Maimonides is the view of Jehuda ha Levi, who
asserts that the gift of prophecy became the specific privilege of the
descendants of Abraham after their consecration as God's chosen people at
Sinai, and that the holy soil of Palestine was assigned to them as the
habitation best adapted to its exercise.(86) The other attempt of some
rationalistic thinkers of the Middle Ages to have a "sound created for the
purpose"(87) of uttering the words "I am the Lord thy God," rather than
accepting the anthropomorphic Deity, merits no consideration whatever.

7. It is an indisputable fact of history that the Jewish people, on
account of its peculiar religious bent, was predestined to be the people
of revelation. Its leading spirits, its prophets and psalmists, its
law-givers and inspired writers differ from the seers, singers, and sages
of other nations by their unique and profound insight into the moral
nature of the Deity. In striking contrast is t