Voice of God#Talmud

File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 087.png]]

In the Hebrew Bible, the characteristic attributes of the voice of God are the invisibility of the speaker and a certain remarkable quality in the sound, regardless of its strength or weakness.

A sound proceeding from some invisible source was considered a heavenly voice, since the mass revelation at Sinai, as recorded in Deuteronomy 4:12 and referenced in Psalm 50:6, was given in that way: "Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice".{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|4:12|HE}}{{Bibleverse|Ps|50:6|HE}} In the Deuteronomic narrative, the manifestation of God to the Israelites occurs exclusively through auditory means rather than visual. Even the prophet Ezekiel, who is recorded as the recipient of many visions, "heard a voice of one that spoke".{{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|1:28|HE}} Similarly, Elijah recognized God by a "still, small voice", and a voice addressed him.{{Tanakhverse|1 Kings|19:12-13}}; compare {{Tanakhverse|Job|4:16}} God's voice is recorded as coming from the heavens, from Jerusalem, and Zion,{{Tanakhverse|Ezekiel|1:25}}{{Tanakhverse|Jeremiah|25:30}}{{Tanakhverse|Joel|3:16–17}}{{Tanakhverse|Amos|1:2}} with God's voice heard in thunder and the roar of the sea, as well.

File:Bat-Kol.png

The phrase bat kol appears in many Talmudic stories to represent a heavenly or divine voice to human beings. It proclaims God's will or judgment, deeds, and commandments to individuals or to a number of persons, rulers, communities, and even to whole nations.

The phrase bat kol literally means "daughter of voice"—that is, a "small" voice—to distinguish it from an ordinary voice ({{lang|he|קוֹל}}, 'voice'). The phrase also appears the midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah: "As oil has no bat kol [that is, gives no sound], so Israel is not heard of in this world..."Shir HaShirim Rabbah § 1 3:2 In contrast, Exodus Rabbah 29, another midrashic work, implies that God's revelatory voice is actually not a bat kol:

{{blockquote|text=Yohanan said, 'When God revealed the Torah, no sparrow chirped, no bird flew, no ox lowed;'... 'These words,' says Simeon ben Lakish, as follows: If one man calls to another, his voice has a bat kol; but the voice proceeding from God has no bat kol... For if a sound had been heard, the priests would have said: 'Baal has answered us.' On Sinai God caused the whole world to be silent, in order that mankind might know there is none besides Him.Exodus Rabbah 29}}

Divine communication was also noted as vocal in Daniel 4:28 ("There fell a voice from heaven...").{{Bibleverse|Daniel|4:28|HE}} Occasionally in the Talmud, God's voice is given simply as kol (voice).Sanhedrin 96b; compare Ta'anit 21b; Bava Metzia 85b, Rashi In the Aramaic versions of the Hebrew Bible and some midrashic and Talmudic sources, heavenly revelation is introduced variably with a formula: "A voice fell from heaven", "came from heaven", "was heard", or "proceeded from heaven".

The bat kol was considered to be divine in origin. In the narrative in Berachot 3a, the equivalent of "God" is used instead of "bat kol"; not infrequently, God, when using the bat kol, is represented as speaking in the first person. Sometimes bat kol is identified with the Holy Spirit.In Sifra, Leviticus 10:5 (ed. Weiss, 46a), it is the Holy Spirit which speaks; while in Keritot 5b and Horayot 12a (which give the same account), it is the bat kol. Also: "At three courts of justice the Holy Spirit beamed forth ... At the first a bat kol cried out... " (Makkot 23b; Genesis Rabbah 12, 85 et seq.)

Despite being identified with the Holy Spirit or God directly, the bat kol differed essentially from prophecy. The Holy Spirit was said to rest upon the prophets, and the conversations between them were personal and intimate. Those who heard the bat kol had no relation whatever to the Holy Spirit. The prophets possessed the Holy Spirit; in contrast, the bat kol could not be possessed: God spoke through it as he did through the prophets. For this reason, the bat kol addressed not only righteous individuals but also sinners, common people, or multitudes, both in the Land of Israel and the diaspora.Bava Metzia 86a; Bava Batra 73b, 74b Prophecy was a gift of which the prophet and his generation had to be worthy to receive. From this point of view, the bat kol was explained as a lesser gift to Israel than prophecy, but not, as some said, as a lower degree of prophecy.Yoma 9b; Pes. R. 160a

The bat kol revealed the divine will in commonly accessible language, usually in the form of a passage from the Hebrew Bible. According to rabbinical tradition, the bat kol coexisted with prophecy (that is, when the Holy Spirit rested upon Israel and Babylonia). The bat kol spoke to Abraham,Leviticus Rabbah 20:2 Esau,Genesis Rabbah 67:8 the Israelites at the Sea of Reeds,Targum to Song of Songs 2:14 Moses and Aaron,Sifra Leviticus 10:5, etc. Saul,Yoma 22b David,Shabbat 56b; see also Moed Kattan 16b Solomon,Rosh Hashana 21b; see also Moed Kattan 9a; Genesis Rabbah 35:3, Targum to Shir Hashirim 4:1; Shabbat 14b Manasseh of Judah,Sanhedrin 99b Nebuchadnezzar,Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:13; Pesachim 94a; Sanhedrin 96b the inhabitants of Sheol,Shabbat 149b the Rechabites,Mekhilta, Yitro, 2 Haman,Targum on Esther 5:14; Esther Rabbah 5:3 and those feasting with Ahasuerus.Megillah 12a The bat kol is frequently connected with Moses's death.Targum Yerushalmi on Deuteronomy 34:5; Sifre, Deuteronomy 357; Sotah 13b; Numbers Rabbah 14:10; Midrash Yelamdenu, in "Likkutim", v. 104b

Rabbinic sources state that "after the death of the last three prophets—Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi—the Holy Spirit departed from Israel; but the bat kol was still heard".Tosefta, Sotah 13:2, which is nearer to the original than Sotah 48b; Bavli Sanhedrin 11a Many stories of its later appearance appear in rabbinic literature. A bat kol decided between the Houses of Hillel and Shammai in favor of the House of Hillel, according to a Talmudic sugya in Eruvin 13b in which the bat kol said, "Elu ve-elu ('these and those are the words of the living God')". Shimon bar Yochai emerged from his stay in a cave only after receiving permission from a bat kol.Shabbat 33b In the the Oven of Akhnai story, a bat kol declared that the halakha was in accordance with Rabbi Eliezer. Yet, the other rabbis rejected this declaration on the grounds that the "Torah is not in Heaven".Bava Metzia 59b It was said that whenever there is no law (Halakha), no high priesthood, and no Sanhedrin,{{Bibleverse|2 Chronicles|15:3|HE}} a bat kol cries: "Strengthen ye the weak hands".Leviticus Rabbah 19:5, following Isaiah 35:3

Notably, the rabbinical conception of bat kol sprang up in the period of the decline of Jewish prophecy and flourished in the period of extreme traditionalism.{{cn|date=June 2025}} Where the gift of prophecy was believed to be lacking—perhaps even because of said lack—there grew an inordinate desire for special divine manifestations. Often, a voice from Heaven was looked for to clear up matters of doubt and even to decide between conflicting interpretations of the law. So strong had this tendency become that Rabbi Joshua ({{circa|100}} CE) felt it necessary to oppose it and insist upon the supremacy and sufficiency of the written law.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

Josephus relates that John Hyrcanus (135–104 BCE) heard a voice while offering a burnt sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem, which Josephus expressly interprets as the voice of God.Antiquities, 13,10,3

In the New Testament mention of “a voice from heaven” occurs in the following passages: {{bibleverse||Matt|3:17}}; {{bibleverse||Mark|1:11}};And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."{{bibleverse|Mark|1:11|NIV}} {{bibleverse||Luke|3:22}} (at the baptism of Jesus); {{bibleverse||Matt|17:5}}; {{bibleverse||Mark|9:7}}; {{bibleverse||Luke|9:35}} (at the transfiguration); {{bibleverse|John|12:28}} (shortly before the Passion); {{bibleverse||Acts|9:4}}; {{bibleverse||Acts|22:7}}; {{bibleverse||Acts|26:14}} (conversion of Paul), and {{bibleverse||Acts|10:13}}, {{bibleverse||Acts|10:15}} (instruction of Peter concerning the clean and unclean).

These passages show a conception of the nature and means of divine revelation that is distinctly different from the Old Testament descriptions, for even in the Old Testament passages where mention is made of the voice from heaven, all that is really essential to the revelation is already present, at least in principle, without the audible voice.{{ISBE|article=Bath Kol}}

Christian scholars interpreted Bath Kol as the Jews' replacement for the great prophets when, "after the death of Malachi, the spirit of prophecy wholly ceased in Israel" (taking the name to refer to its being "the daughter" of the main prophetic "voice").[https://books.google.com/books?id=r5c5yDLwnu8C&dq=talmud+%22ben+lachish%22&pg=PA215 The Old and New Testament connected in the history of the Jews]

The generic term "voice of God" is commonly used in theatrical productions and staging, and refers to any anonymous, disembodied voice used to deliver general messages to the audience. Examples may include speaker introductions, audience directions and performer substitutions.

The origin of the "Voice of God" narration style was most probably in Time Inc's "March of Time"Fielding, Raymond. The March of Time, 1935–1951. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978 news-radio and news-film series, for which Orson Welles was an occasional voice-over actor, and was subsequently duplicated in Welles' "Citizen Kane"{{cite web|url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma04/wood/mot/html/kane.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828025812/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/wood/mot/html/kane.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 28, 2006|title=Citizen Kane and other imitators|publisher=University of Virginia|author=Mary Wood|access-date=2010-02-27}} News On The March sequence (the first reel of the film), much to the delight of Henry R. Luce, Time's president.

Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz wrote in The Second Sin (1973): "If you talk to God, you are praying; if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic."{{cite web | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00010592| title=Thomas Szasz 1920–2012 Hungarian-born psychiatrist}}

• Bob Sheppard, public-address announcer for New York Yankees baseball games from 1951 to 2007 and for New York Giants football games from 1956 to 2005{{cite web|url=https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/voice-of-god-bob-sheppard-dies-at-99-1.2096118|title = 'Voice of God' Bob Sheppard dies at 99}}
• Don LaFontaine, narrator of many film trailers{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/arts/television/03lafontaine.html|title = Don LaFontaine, Voice of Trailers and TV Spots, is Dead at 68|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 3 September 2008|last1 = Hevesi|first1 = Dennis}}
• John Facenda, Philadelphia newscaster who narrated several NFL Films Productions from 1966 to 1984{{cite web|last=Schaffer |first=Peter |url=http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/panelists/2009/04/harry-kalas-voice-nfl-films-facenda-schaffer.html |title=The League Panelists: John Facenda voice of God better than Harry Kalas in NFL history - Peter Schaffer |publisher=Views.washingtonpost.com |date=2009-04-14 |accessdate=2022-06-11}}
• Morgan Freeman, actor, narrator of films and a portrayer of God in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/19/morgan-freeman-hollywoods-voice-of-god-narrates-ad-for-hillary-clinton/|title = Morgan Freeman, Hollywood's 'Voice of God,' Narrates Ad for Hillary Clinton|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 19 February 2016|last1 = Chozick|first1 = Amy}}
• Don Pardo, television personality and former announcer on Saturday Night Live{{cite news|last=Nadia |first=Soraya |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/19/don-pardo-voice-of-saturday-night-live-dead-at-96/ |title=Celebrities react to the death of Don Pardo, voice of 'Saturday Night Live' |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2014-08-19 |accessdate=2022-06-11}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• This page draws text from [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713031908/http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/3/8/11387/11387.htm 'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction', Vol. 10, Issue 273, September 15, 1827], a text now in the public domain.
• Humphrey Prideaux, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rH8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA354 The Old and New Testament connected in the history of the Jews], 1851.
• Thomas de Quincey, [https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/Narrative-And-Miscellaneous-Papers-Vol-II2/ Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, Vol. II.]
• Free Prophecy, [https://www.freeprophecy.org/the-voice-of-god/ The Voice of God]
• {{JewishEncyclopedia|article=BAT ḲOL|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=417&letter=B|author=Kaufmann Kohler and Ludwig Blau}}

{{ISBE|article=Bath Kol}}

Category:Revelation

Category:Jewish mysticism

Category:Jewish theology