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.
Origin of the name The phrase
bat kol literally means "daughter of voice"—that is, a "small" voice—to distinguish it from an ordinary voice (, '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..." In contrast,
Exodus Rabbah 29, another midrashic work, implies that God's revelatory voice is actually not a
bat kol: Divine communication was also noted as vocal in
Daniel 4:28 ("There fell a voice from heaven..."). Occasionally in the Talmud, God's voice is given simply as
kol (voice). 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".
Its nature 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. 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. 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.
Content and examples 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,
Esau, the Israelites at the
Sea of Reeds,
Moses and
Aaron,
Saul,
David,
Solomon,
Manasseh of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar, the inhabitants of
Sheol, the
Rechabites,
Haman, and those feasting with
Ahasuerus. The
bat kol is frequently connected with Moses's death. 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". 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. In
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". It was said that whenever there is no law (
Halakha), no
high priesthood, and no
Sanhedrin, a
bat kol cries: "Strengthen ye the weak hands". 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. 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 ( CE) felt it necessary to oppose it and insist upon the supremacy and sufficiency of the
written law.
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. ==In Christianity==