The translation to the Tablet of Joseph is by Anton Haddad and appears in a collection titled "Long tablets of the Manifestation", published in 1904 by the New York Baha'i Board of Counsel. A close facsimile of the original is found at the Baha'i Library Online. Because the original contains odd grammatical, spelling and usage choices, I edited it a little to make it easier for a modern reader to engage with the text. I am aware that this is a questionable thing to do, but I believe those oddities make the text difficult to follow. I therefore want to emphasise that the version on my site, Baha'u'llah Explore, does differ from the original.
Due to the difficulties of the translation, I have not written an introduction that focuses closely on the wording of the text. Instead, I have focused on what I see as two principal themes of the tablet, which are common in Baha'u'llah's writings:
Theme 1: Detaching from all save God is the key to recognising a new manifestation
The theme of detaching from all save God is central to Baha'u'llah's writings; for example, it is the theme Baha'u'llah sets up at the beginning of the Kitab-i Iqan:
"... they that tread the path of faith, they that thirst for the wine of certitude, must cleanse themselves of all that is earthly - their ears from idle talk, their minds from vain imaginings, their hearts from worldly affections, their eyes from that which perisheth. ... man can never hope to attain unto the knowledge of the All-Glorious ... unless and until he ceases to regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard for the true understanding and recognition of God and His Prophets." (para 2)
The two ideas here are that those who want to attain to God must detach from everything that is earthly, including earthly affections, and they must not adopt any other person's standard for assessing and understanding the Word of God. In Tablet of Joseph, Baha'u'llah restates these ideas and covers other, related, facets of them. I will identify each idea in turn.
Idea 1: As in the Iqan, Baha'u'llah begins by asking why people in history have missed recognising the manifestations when they appeared. The text tells us that this was because of the veils of "words", "imaginations", "invented proofs" and "superstitions". The people should not cling to "anything between created between earth and heaven" when fulfilling their duty to recognise the manifestation.
Here is a restating of the idea that, in order to recognise the manifestation, a person must detach from all that is earthly. Otherwise, those earthly things act as veils that obscure the person's insight.
Idea 2: The people should cling, instead, to the "root of the Cause" and what is "manifested through Him".
I assume that what is meant by the "root of the Cause" is the manifestation.
Idea 3: The people erred because they believed that the way to recognise the manifestation was to listen to others - "believing or disbelieving the people".
Here is a restating of the idea that, in order to recognise the manifestation, a person must detach from other people's opinions about the manifestation. These also act as veils.
Idea 4: The only way to know God is through God, not through anything in God's creation. It is impossible to know God through anything in creation because the only way anything in creation is known is through the Word of God. The Word cannot be known through anything that the Word creates.
As is often the case, Baha'u'llah is pointing to the difference between two separate levels of reality. For example, a character in a work of fiction cannot find out from another character in the same work about the reality of the author of the book. The author of the book and the two characters in the book exist on separate levels of reality. In comparison to the author, the two fictional characters do not exist. The only way to know about the two characters is through the author's words. The same is true of us in relation to God. It is pointless asking another person about the truth of Baha'u'llah's Reality, for everyone is created by the Word and is known only because of the Word. No one exists outside of the Word and therefore no one has privileged knowledge of the Word.
Idea 5: In this new revelation, God sees everyone "as being in one region". This idea is expanded on a little further on where Baha'u'llah says that God has no special relationship with any one creature. All people were created in exactly the same way: "by the breath of His order".
Idea 6: After this initial creation, the differences in the spiritual station of people emerge: "loftiness, exaltation and abasement appeared among the people after they had been created". That is, after we have been created, it is over to us to decide whether we believe.
Idea 7: Any soul that detaches from all save God in the way that Baha'u'llah describes above is considered faithful to God. All others are not. Any soul that accepts Baha'u'llah attains heaven, and those who reject attain hell. (More on this in theme 2.)
Idea 8: This judgement applies irrespective of whether a person is famous among the people.
I think this comment harks back to the idea that we should not allow ourselves to be swayed by the opinions of others. People often ask famous or popular people, or experts, for their opinions and are guided by them. Partly, people do this because they imagine that a person who is famous or 'knowledgeable' is favoured by God. Baha'u'llah is pointing out that this is not the case: famous people, or even those held up as experts, can be misguided and not favoured at all.
Again, in paragraphs 4 and 5, Baha'u'llah goes through the same theme, as if to emphasise what he has already said and to sum it up. I paraphrase it below; the central ideas itemised above are clearly restated.
If a person wants to be in relationship with God, she must withdraw from all on earth and heaven and advance to God with a pure heart and soul. If she tries to reach God by other means, she will never succeed because all save God are limited and created by God's power. God cannot be known by what is created and limited. She must look to the manifestations and not listen to what people say, so that she can hear what God says. She must purify herself from ideas of the past so that she can recognise the Word of God and be successful in her quest.
Theme 2: All concepts about resurrection relate to recognising a new manifestation
This theme consists of Baha'u'llah's explanation of terms that are associated with the Day of Resurrection. The terms that he mentions are "the beginning of creation", the end of creation, "resurrection", "path", "paradise", "fire", "assembling", but the text suggests that this is a short list of what is potentially a large number of terms found in scripture on this topic. Baha'u'llah lumps them all together because he sees them all as relating to one recurring event - the appearance of the manifestation.
Baha'u'llah says that those who have sharp insight are able to see these spiritual events in all things at all times. However, these events are associated particularly with the time of the appearance of a new manifestation. The scenario goes like this: when a new manifestation appears, that person speaks the Word of God. Every person who follows Baha'u'llah's counsel to detach from all save God, as outlined in theme 1, attains the benevolent promises of the terms listed above. For example, that person will find the path, be delivered from the fire, enter paradise and be assembled with the chosen ones. Conversely, a person who does not follow Baha'u'llah's counsel to detach from all save God will enter the fire and be assembled with the idolaters.
In this world, the term 'paradise' means to please God by accepting the latest manifestation. In the next world, people experience the fruits of their deeds in this life, as promised in the scriptures. These consequences are not all seen in this life because this world is not able to bear out those consequences fully. God has a fixed decree for each soul in the many worlds of God. There are infinite numbers of paradises that are much more idyllic that anything we can imagine in this world. Also, there are worlds of torment beyond this life that are more horrible than anything we witness here.
Paragraph 12 contains a long description of the Day of Resurrection using terms associated with the Day of Resurrection and showing how they play out when a manifestation comes. It acts as a summary of Baha'u'llah's analysis of this theme. I'll quote it here, as a conclusion to this introduction.
"Hereby, We bear witness that the path is lifted up in truth, the balance is laid in justice, the Manifestations assembled, the hidden issues disclosed, the clarion pealed, the trumpet sounded, the fire burst forth, the paradise brought nearer, the proclaimer announced, the heavens rolled together as a scroll, the ground leveled, the breeze of God wafted, the spirit of God sent, the beauteous damsels adorned, the youths beautified, the mansions assured, the securities of the upper apartments (of paradise) inlaid with precious stones, the waters spilt over, the fruits hung low (so as to be easily gathered), the fruits plucked, the texts revealed, the deeds of the deniers effaced, the deeds of the advancers confirmed, the tablet that was kept in heaven manifested in truth, the written tablet pronounced with authority, and the Desired One of all existence, the Beloved of all creatures, the Worshipped of those on earth and in heaven, hath been manifested in the Temple of a Youth, while the tongue of everything declares, 'Verily, blessed is God, the Creator of the creators.'"
An extended discussion of theme 2 can be found in paragraphs 121-130 of Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i Iqan.
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