הַדְּבִיר

False door in rock, into inner (3rd) sanctum, with god emerging from "holy" mountain.

דְּבִיר  — contrary to some speculators (occasionally with an agenda, often religious-based), the etymology of Dᵊvir derives from the shōrꞋësh dã•vãrꞋ (דבר, "dbr"). This tracks back, via Semitic Aramaic (not the cousin parallel Arabic!) to Ugaritic cBCE 6000! While Dᵊvir converges with the speakings of a learned oracle whose dᵊvãr•ōtꞋ are "sweet as honey, the connotation paralleling the Egyptian in meaning, there seems to be no etymological connection between Hebrew "dbr" and Egyptian "biyt".

The connotational relationship is further cemented by the Egyptian coupling of with to refer to an Oracle. A fortiori, this strong connection is reinforced by the Hebrew DᵊvōrꞋãh—who, additionally, was a נְבִיאָ֔ה 

Keeping in mind the long history of the Sojourn in Egypt, and the effects of assimilation, the Egyptian connotation differed in connoting a Divine Oracle; particularly related to Tut dbr (“Oracle”). The connotation in Hebrew certainly differed according to the individual superstitiousness popular among much of the public.

In Temple architecture, Dᵊvir referred to the Divine god-Oracle, expressed as an icon. For Yi•sᵊr•ã•eilꞋ, this was the non-anthropomorphic A•rōnꞋ ha-Bᵊrit, in contrast to Egyptian and other religions whose icons were anthropomorphic (Hellenized to "idol"). In both cases, however, the Dᵊvir was believed to function as an ancient communication-oracle of the Divine.

Accordingly, for Yi•sᵊr•ã•eilꞋ, as well as for other goy•imꞋ, the Dᵊvir resided in the innermost sanctum of a Temple—named for its resident icon: the Dᵊvir!

History & Development

Temples Khat-shepset & Mentu-hotep Jr (Gérard Ducher, labels edited by YBD)

At first, humans believed that, at death, their ancestors became deified (apotheosized) into stars. Crudely drawn anthropomorphic figures, often memorializing ancestors, probably first appeared in caves. Later, they were painted, and still later sculpted into "false-halls" and "false doors", or on a rock platform or rock bench-throne; carved into the rock-face of "holy mountains"—located in the "innermost sanctum" of ancient temples across the ancient world. Ancients clearly were attempting to facilitate access for their hero ancestor-gods to make the transition back from within the earth (where they had been buried or entombed), via a holy mountain (periodic lightning, thundering, some mountains volcanic activity), to visit periodically (and when beckoned, to advise) as a Divine Oracle, to commune with—and Divinely Counsel the ruler.

As the earlier drawings proved feckless, "Oracle-shrines" then developed into wall-paintings, where mortals hoped to communicate with the depicted gods. When these, too, proved feckless, they carved gods into the stone walls of "holy" mountains. When that, too, proved feckless, they built man-made (pyramid) mountains to facilitate the transition from mortal to god—with a "false hall" or "false door" carved into the bedrock of the "holy mountain" in hopes that would enable their gods to come-and-go more freely, to become the Oracle, communing with and counseling the mortal ruler.

cBCE 1593—Egyptian Prince (□-M▫s▫z)

Mishkan diagram unsourced (edited by YBD)

By the tenure of Mōsh•ëhꞋ and Yi•sᵊr•ã•eilꞋ in Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim, this hope of communing with the gods had been refined to an innermost point of a temple (in the Temple of Khãt-shëpꞋsët, this was the "Amun Shrine"), carved into the rock face of a "holy mountain". The final attempt to coax gods out of a "holy mountain", found in a number of different countries, depicts god carved into the face of a "holy mountain", either emerging from a shallow "hall" or a "false door"—

The Dᵊvir was the increasingly elaborate pedestal the rock slab the identical purpose served by superstitious people today: orienting to statues and paintings and of their gods "for clarity" or "better focus". It's all physicomorphism!

The Hellenized Romans later called this the sanctum sanctorum (innermost sanctuary), originating in the room abutting the rock wall of a mountain in which gods were believed to reside.

BCE1504-1483 Paroh Khat-shepset mortuary temple-in-mountain. Only ≈45 years after Egyptian Prince [Tūt?]-Mosez led the Yᵊtzi•ãhꞋ out of Mi•tzᵊr•ayꞋim (cBCE  ). As Prince of Egypt <50 years earlier, he would have been instrumental in formulating the design theory of temple architectural attempts at bidirectional nëphꞋësh-transcendence—which he had, ≈40 years before her temple, already incorporated into the Mi•shᵊkãnꞋ (and subsequently in the Beit ha-Mi•qᵊdãshꞋ of ShᵊlōmꞋōh).

The Dᵊvir was the rock slab or bench was carved into the holy mountain: the rock slab or bench from which gods were believed to emerge from a "holy" mountain, via a false stone door, also carved in the rock face of the mountain. These were enclosed in the hindmost, innermost, room of a Temple built into a holy mountain.

This pattern originated with the Mortuary Temple of Mentū-hōtëp Jr. (cBCE 2000), enhanced with a xdebirGlosE in the architectural design of the Mi•shᵊkãnꞋ by Egyptian Prince [Tūt?]-Mosez; and built some 50 years later into the Egyptian Mortuary Temple of Khãt-shëpꞋsët—and later temples patterned after it, including the Beit ha-Mi•qᵊdãshꞋ of ShᵊlōmꞋōh!

This was the innermost sanctuary where the QōꞋdësh ha-Qã•dãsh•imꞋ in which the A•rōnꞋ hã-Eid•ūtꞋ rested on a stone bench carved into the side of the holy mountain; in the latter, atop the Dᵊvir: a flat section of bedrock on the summit of a holy mountain (e.g., Har ha-BaꞋyit).

In the Mi•shᵊkãnꞋ and both Bãt•eiꞋ ha-Mi•qᵊdãshꞋ the Dᵊvir was the metonym specifying the mortal spokesman of the Dᵊvir (like "White House" is to "President").

Apparently recognizing the fallacy of depending on an icon (physicomorphism, despite being non-anthropomorphic), Yi•rᵊmᵊyãhꞋū Bën-Būz•iꞋ, ha-Nã•viꞋ prophesied (3.15-16):

“¹⁵ Then I will permit youᵐᵖ ro•imꞋ like My Own Heart, who will pasture youᵐᵖ on knowledge and enlightenment.

“¹⁶ When youᵐᵖ have increased and multiplied bã-ÃrꞋëtz, in those days, declares יְהוָׂה {Existant}, youᵐᵖ shall no longer say, ‘ A•rōnꞋ Bᵊrit-יְהוָׂה’; nor shall it come up on your heart, nor shall you even remember it, nor יִפְקֹ֔דוּ it, nor shall you make another!”

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