Note 817 — Chapter IX

Without the esoteric explanation, the “Old Testament” becomes an absurd jumble of meaningless tales—nay, worse than that, it must rank high with immoral books. It is curious that Professor Max Müller, such a profound scholar in Comparative Mythology, should be found saying of the pragâpatis and Hindu gods that they are masks without actors; and of Abraham and other mythical patriarchs that they were real living men; of Abraham especially, we are told (see “Semitic Monotheism”) that he “stands before us as a figure second only to one in the whole history of the world.”