How the groundwork was laid for Bahá’u’lláh, from Göbekli Tepe to David.

This week’s topic: The Coming of the Glory: How the Hebrew Bible reveals the plan of God. Vol. 1 goes from Göbekli Tepe (9600 BCE) through to Elijah. The PowerPoint talk starts with the divinely inspired, the Paleolithic temple site of Göbekli Tepe (9600 to 7000s BCE) and animism, it then goes through the Neolithic phase with a tiered cosmos, to the Prophet Adam and Mesopotamia with its explosion of civilization of its spring/summer and the cults of the deities and the development of warfare as we know it during its fall/winter. Then the Prophet Abraham, and then the Prophet Moses and the Mosaic Code. Finishing with David, whom Bahá’u’lláh recognized as a prophet alongside Isaiah and Ezekiel, and his prophecy about Akka and the “strong city.”

NOTES re: "God Passes By" by Shoghi Effendi, a reference mentioned in this video:
Here are two items regarding the origin of the title "God Passes By." The first item is an excerpt from the biography "George Townsend", written by David Hoffman. George Townsend was appointed a Hand of the Cause in 1951.

"The choosing of the title for this ‘survey’, as all the Guardian’s correspondence called it, taxed George’s imaginative invention. Only after letters and two cables urging the point had been received did inspiration come to him. He cabled ‘God Passes By’ and received the instant reply ‘DELIGHTED TITLE EAGERLY AWAITING LETTER’."
(David Hofman, "George Townshend", p. 69)

The second item is the attached audio clip. This is Mr. Hoopder Dunbar speaking at the Bosch Baha'i School during a Q&A. I don't know the date, but I got in from Youtube about 8 or 9 years ago. He also says that George Townsend suggested the title to Shoghi Effendi.

George Townsend was a Biblical scholar. Some Baha'is have pointed out that there are verses in the Bible referring to God, or the Spirit, passing by. The speculation is that these may, or may not, have influenced George Townsend. Here a few of these excerpts:

From Exodus:
33:18 And he [Moses] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
33:19 And he [the LORD] said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee...
33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen…

34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth...

From I Kings:
19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains...
(King James Bible)