Mishnaic Musings 4 by slaveofone
If he that says the Tefillah falls into error it is a bad omen for him; and if he was the agent of the congregation it is a bad omen for them that appointed him, because a man’s agent is like to himself.
m. Berakoth 5:5
Agency is a fascinating concept that shows up throughout the Oral Law and its commentary. The basic saying is a man’s agent is like to himself.
What this means is an agent and the agent’s sender function as if they were the same person. So here we see that an error introduced by the agent is considered the error of the one who sent the agent. Whatever the agent does is considered the doing of the sender, for the agent has taken on the role, function, and identity of the sender. Sometimes the sender is an entire congregation:
Rabban Gamaliel says: The agent of the congregation fulfills the obligation that rests upon the many.
m. Rosh Hashanah 3:9
When an agent of the congregation fulfills an obligation on behalf of the congregation, the congregation is believed to have fulfilled that obligation itself.
I believe that Yeshua spoke often about himself and YHWH in terms of agency and because most people do not understand this ancient Jewish concept, they misunderstand what Yeshua is saying in the gospels either about himself or about his Father. The monumental error of Trinitarianism could have been avoided if ancient Christians understood Jewish agency more than they did NeoPlatonism. Instead of speaking about Yeshua being YHWH in terms of hypostases and other such Greek philosophic nonsense, they would have more easily understood that Yeshua was presenting himself as YHWH’s unique royal agent. I have written more on agency and Yeshua in my Introduction to Categoricalism.
The Mishnaic Musings are a periodic series of posts where I reflect on one thing or another in the compendium of the Oral Law (the Mishnah) as I read through it for the first time. Quoted portions are taken from Hebert Danby’s eminent single-volume edition, The Mishnah, published by Oxford University Press.