The Meaning of Silence
or
The Meaning of Sigé
Kept in Silence through Times Eternal Romans 16:25
What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball
In this study we will look at the meaning of the word Silence in the Bible and how it came to be used as a name of one of the aeons. First we will have an opening reading from Pseuo-Philo and the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch
2. There were darkness and silence before the world was, and the silence spake, and the darkness became visible. And then was thy name created, even at the drawing together of that which was stretched out, whereof the upper was called heaven and the lower was called earth (Biblical Antiquities of Philo or Pseuo philo chapter 60)
2 Baruch 3:7 Or shall the world return to its nature of aforetime, and the age revert to primeval silence (2 Baruch 3:7)
The Meaning of Silence
The Greek word translated silence is the word Sigé (4602. σιγή), it is a feminine noun.
Definition: to keep silent, to keep secret, silence
1Cor 14:28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
There are two Hebrew words translated as "silence" דְּמָמָה (Strong's 01827) dᵉmâmâh and דמם dâmam (Strong's 01826),
The word dâmam (01826) is a verb and the word dᵉmâmâh (01827) is a feminine noun
01827. דממה d@mamah dem-aw-maw’; feminine from of 01826; quiet: — whisper, calm, silence, still.
Job 4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
1Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire ; but Yahweh was not in the fire : and after the fire a still <01827> small voice.
Heb. a voice of gentle silence. I think this could be an internal voice
The Hebrew word for Silence can also be translated rest
Psalm 37:7 Rest <01826> in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
01826 דמם damam daw-man’ a prim root [compare 01724, 01820]; v; [BDB-198b] {See TWOT on 439 }
AV-silence 6, still 6, silent 4, cut off 3, cut down 2, rest 2, cease 2, forbear 1, peace 1, quieted 1, tarry 1, wait 1; 30
figuratively of the unanswered prayers of the believer (#Ps 83:1; 35:22; Jer 8:14);
of awe in the presence of the Divine Majesty (#Isa 41:1; Zec 2:13).
Symbolic Meaning of Silence
Silence as a form of wisdom is frequently encouraged in Proverbs too. It can help wisely avoid transgression (Proverbs 10:19) and manifest respect and understanding (Proverbs 11:12; 17:27). It is part of wise and even-handed interactions (Proverbs 29:11; cf. Amos 5:13). Silence is so powerful that it can even make the fool at least appear wise and intelligent (Proverbs 17:28).
Silence, --A state of consciousness entered into for the purpose of putting believers in touch with the mind of Christ so that the believer may listen to the "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12).
Silence, or stillness “praise God in silence”
When one goes into the silence he enters the "secret place of the Most High," the house of prayer within. He closes the door and in the stillness of that meeting place he prays to God, he has fellowship with God, and he meditates on Truth. Then he listens to what God has to say to him.
Rev 8:1 And when he opened the seventh seal, a silence occurred in heaven for about a half hour.
Psa 65 There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God, And to You the vow will be performed.
For silence is the most excellent of offerings,
From 1Kings 19:12 we can see that silence is an attribute of the Deity is a feminine aspect.
silence can be compared to wisdom thus Sigé is also Sophia
When suddenly a Voice Divine
Rang through the silence of the shrine
During the Second Temple period silence took on a new and different meaning
Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 For while gentle silence enveloped all things
and night in its swift course was now half-gone,
15 your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne,
into the midst of the land that was doomed,
a stern warrior
16 carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command,
and stood and filled all things with death
and touched heaven while standing on the earth.
2. There were darkness and silence before the world was, and the silence spake, and the darkness became visible. And then was thy name created, even at the drawing together of that which was stretched out, whereof the upper was called heaven and the lower was called earth (Biblical Antiquities of Philo or Pseuo philo chapter 60)
2 Baruch 3:7 Or shall the world return to its nature of aforetime, and the age revert to primeval silence (2 Baruch 3:7)
Both these texts mention primordial Silence. In 2 Baruch the texts says "the age revert to its primeval silence" here the words age and silence are used together to refer to a time before the aeons began to speak (See the Odes of Solomon Ode 12:8.)
Ode 12:8 8 And by it the worlds (aeons) talk one to the other; and in the Word there were those that were silent;
Silence is also used with a primordial meaning in Romans 16:25
Rom 16:25 Now to him who can make YOU firm in accord with the good news I declare and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret which has been kept in silence for long-lasting times 26 but has now been made manifest and has been made known through the prophetic scriptures among all the nations in accord with the command of the everlasting God to promote obedience by faith; 27 to God, wise alone, be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret <4601> since the world began <166>,
Romans 16:25 ¶ Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence<4601> through times eternal <166>,
Here in Romans 16:25 the Greek words Aeon (Strong's 166) and Sige (Strong's 4601) are used together
In Romans 16:25 the sacred secret is HIDDEN in silence a secret in times of ages past has been concealed;
this sacred secret is dwelling in the silence of the Aeons it is the Christ
Therefore, the Father, being unknown, wished to be known to the Aeons, and through his own thought, as if he had known himself, he put forth the Only-Begotten, the spirit of Knowledge which is in Knowledge. So he too who came forth from Know ledge, that is, from the Father's Thought, became Knowledge, that is, the Son, because “through' the Son the Father was known.” (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)
Valentinian Understanding
Silence is an aeon in the Valentinian pleroma. who is paired in a syzygy with Bythos
the Father, that is, the Root of the All, the Ineffable One who dwells in the Monad. He dwells alone in silence, and silence is tranquility since, after all, he was a Monad and no one was before him. He dwells in the Dyad and in the Pair, and his Pair is Silence. And he possessed the All dwelling within him. And as for Intention and Persistence, Love and Permanence, they are indeed unbegotten. (Valentinian Exposition)
According to the Valentinian Exposition from the Nag Hammadi Library the Dyad is existing within the single Father--he is consequently without a female partner: "he was a Monad and no one was before him".
God came forth: the Son, Mind of the All, that is, it is from the Root of the All that even his Thought stems, since he had this one (the Son) in Mind. For on behalf of the All, he received an alien Thought since there were nothing before him. From that place it is he who moved [...] a gushing spring. Now this is the Root of the All and Monad without any one before him. Now the second spring exists in silence and speaks with him alone. And the Fourth accordingly is he who restricted himself in the Fourth: while dwelling in the Three-hundred-sixtieth, he first brought himself (forth), and in the Second he revealed his will, and in the Fourth he spread himself out.(Valentinian Exposition)
While these things are due to the Root of the All, let us for our part enter his revelation and his goodness and his descent and the All, that is, the Son, the Father of the All, and the Mind of the Spirit; for he was possessing this one before [...]. He is a spring. He is one who appears in Silence, and he is Mind of the All dwelling secondarily with Life. For he is the projector of the All and the very hypostasis of the Father, that is, he is the Thought and his descent below.(Valentinian Exposition)
That Tetrad projected the Tetrad which is the one consisting of Word and Life and Man and Church. Now the Uncreated One projected Word and Life. Word is for the glory of the Ineffable One while Life is for the glory of Silence, and Man is for his own glory, while Church is for the glory of Truth (Valentinian Exposition)
The Father has the principle of procreation in himself, being androgynous both male-female or above sexual distinctions
If this one, who is unknowable in his nature, to whom pertain all the greatnesses which I already mentioned - if, out of the abundance of his sweetness, he wishes to grant knowledge, so that he might be known, he has the ability to do so. He has his Power, which is his will. Now, however, in silence he himself holds back, he who is the great one, who is the cause of bringing the Totalities into their eternal being.The tripartite Tractate
It is in the proper sense that he begets himself as ineffable, since he alone is self-begotten, since he conceives of himself, and since he knows himself as he is. What is worthy of his admiration and glory and honor and praise, he produces because of the boundlessness of his greatness, and the unsearchability of his wisdom, and the immeasurability of his power, and his untasteable sweetness. He is the one who projects himself thus, as generation, having glory and honor marvelous and lovely; the one who glorifies himself, who marvels, <who> honors, who also loves; the one who has a Son, who subsists in him, who is silent concerning him, who is the ineffable one in the ineffable one, the invisible one, the incomprehensible one, the inconceivable one in the inconceivable one. Thus, he exists in him forever. The Father, in the way we mentioned earlier, in an unbegotten way, is the one in whom he knows himself, who begot him having a thought, which is the thought of him, that is, the perception of him, which is the [...] of his constitution forever. That is, however, in the proper sense, the silence and the wisdom and the grace, if it is designated properly in this way. The tripartite Tractate
And just as the admirations of the silences are eternal generations and they are mental offspring, so too the dispositions of the word are spiritual emanations. Both of them admirations and dispositions, since they belong to a word, are seeds and thoughts of his offspring, and roots which live forever, appearing to be offspring which have come forth from themselves, being minds and spiritual offspring to the glory of the Father. The tripartite Tractate
It is by virtue of his will that the Father, the one who is exalted, is known, that is, (by virtue of) the spirit which breathes in the Totalities and it gives them an idea of seeking after the unknown one, just as one is drawn by a pleasant aroma to search for the thing from which the aroma arises, since the aroma of the Father surpasses these ordinary ones. For his sweetness leaves the aeons in ineffable pleasure and it gives them their idea of mingling with him who wants them to know him in a united way and to assist one another in the spirit which is sown within them. Though existing under a great weight, they are renewed in an inexpressible way, since it is impossible for them to be separated from that in which they are set in an uncomprehending way, because they will not speak, being silent about the Father's glory, about the one who has power to speak, and yet they will take form from him. He revealed himself, though it is impossible to speak of him. They have him, hidden in a thought, since from this one [...]. They are silent about the way the Father is in his form and his nature and his greatness, while the aeons have become worthy of knowing through his spirit that he is unnameable and incomprehensible. It is through his spirit, which is the trace of the search for him, that he provides them the ability to conceive of him and to speak about him.The tripartite Tractate
So that it might be in this way, the one who wished to give honor does not say anything to him about this, except only that there is a limit to speech set in the Pleroma, so that they are silent about the incomprehensibility of the Father, but they speak about the one who wishes to comprehend him. It came to one of the aeons that he should attempt to grasp the incomprehensibility and give glory to it and especially to the ineffability of the Father. Since he is a Logos of the unity, he is one, though he is not from the agreement of the Totalities, nor from him who brought them forth, namely, the one who brought forth the Totality, the Father. The tripartite Tractate
but the redemption also is an ascent to the degrees which are in the Pleroma and to those who have named themselves and who conceive of themselves according to the power of each of the aeons, and (it is) an entrance into what is silent, where there is no need for voice nor for knowing, nor for forming a concept, nor for illumination, but (where) all things are light, while they do not need to be illumined. The tripartite Tractate
(Baptism) is called "silence" because of the quiet and the tranquility. It is also called "bridal chamber" because of the agreement and the indivisible state of those who know they have known him. It is also called "the light which does not set and is without flame," since it does not give light, but those who have worn it are made into light. They are the ones whom he wore. (Baptism) is also called "the eternal life," which is immortality; and it is called "that which is, entirely, simply, in the proper sense, what is pleasing, inseparably and irremovably and faultlessly and imperturbably, for the one who exists for those who have received a beginning." For, what else is there to name it apart from "God," since it is the Totalities, that is, even if it is given numberless names, they are spoken simply as a reference to it. Just as he transcends every word, and he transcends every voice, and he transcends every mind, and he transcends everything, and he transcends every silence, so it is Dittography with those who are that which he is. The tripartite Tractate
Certainly, if these things have happened to each one of us, it is fitting for us, surely, to think about the All so that the house may be holy and silent for unity. (Gospel of Truth)
Here in the Gospel of Truth Bythos or depth is an attribute of the Father with no suggestion of independence as the depth ‘of Him’ (22:25 compare romans 12) or ‘of His thought’ (37:7)
Several of the other attributes and qualities of God from which the thirty aeons of the Pleroma bore their names in the system of Ptolemy's disciples occur either in transparent Coptic translation or left as Greek, but they occur as attributes and qualities of God, not as independent mythological persons.
The Monad or the One is androgynous it has two eternal co-existent principles, a male and a female. The male was called Bythos the unfathomable depth or the Ineffable One. the female had the names Ennoea, Charis and Sige.
Sophia is the daughter of Sige or "silence", (Greek σιγή) Sophia is the youngest Aeon she was elevated to the position of the firstborn
29 They say that Silence, who is the mother of all who were put forth by Depth, with regard to what she had nothing to say kept silence about the inexpressible and with regard to what she did not understand she called it incomprehensible.(Extracts from the Works of Theodotus )
29 They say that Silence, who is the mother of all who were put forth by Depth, with regard to what she had nothing to say kept silence about the inexpressible and with regard to what she did not understand she called it incomprehensible.(Extracts from the Works of Theodotus )
30 Then forgetting the glory of God, they impiously say he suffered. For inasmuch as the Father shared in suffering, though he is, says Theodotus, rigid and unyielding in nature, by showing himself yielding, in order that Silence might understand this, it was suffering. For sympathy is the suffering of one for the sake of another's suffering. Moreover when the Passion took place, the whole shared in the same suffering for the recovery of the sufferer. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus )
Sige or Silence an attribute of the Deity or The Monad
The aspect through which the Father provides the universe with substance can be understood as feminine. In this aspect he is called Silence, Grace and Thought. Silence is God's primordial state of tranquillity (Valentinian Exposition 22:24: He dwells alone in silence, and silence is tranquility since, after all, he was a Monad and no one was before him.)
and self-awareness (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus 7:1 Therefore, the Father, being unknown, wished to be known to the Aeons, and through his own thought, as if he had known himself, he put forth the Only-Begotten, the spirit of Knowledge which is in Knowledge.).
She is the active creative Thought that makes all subsequent states of being (or "Aeons") substantial.
Sige is the Mother of All. She existed before anything else, the true feminine within all of us. Her partner, Bythos, was the original masculine principle. Together, they emanate Nous (Nus, Mind) and Aletheia (Veritas, Truth).
Sige or Silence an attribute of the Deity or The Monad
and self-awareness (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus 7:1 Therefore, the Father, being unknown, wished to be known to the Aeons, and through his own thought, as if he had known himself, he put forth the Only-Begotten, the spirit of Knowledge which is in Knowledge.).
She is the active creative Thought that makes all subsequent states of being (or "Aeons") substantial.
Sige is the Mother of All. She existed before anything else, the true feminine within all of us. Her partner, Bythos, was the original masculine principle. Together, they emanate Nous (Nus, Mind) and Aletheia (Veritas, Truth).
1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep (Bythos the Ineffable male ). And the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit or Sigé female) moved upon the face of the waters.
3 ¶ And God said (a voice, a word, logos), Let there be light: and there was light.
Both the physical and spiritual universe was created by the Deity the waters are the pleroma the spiritual heavens
The One, finally, is known in ineffable silence.
