2.3. Anthropomorphism in the time of the Talmud
The Tannaim belong to the first generations that wrote down the Halakha. They wrote the Mishnah. They also wrote the Targumim, which were translations into Aramaic, the common language in the region at the time.
Many Targumim, such as Targum Onkelos, made frequent changes to the words of Tanakh. Many changes focused on anthropomorphic descriptions of God. Instead of saying, “Moses saw the Lord”, they would say, “Moses saw the glory of the Lord.” This way, it would no longer convey an anthropomorphic meaning. So the mainstream Tannaitic thought must have been against anthropomorphism – although there must have been less concern about anthropopathism because there were less edits on that topic.
But some Tannaim must not have rejected anthropomorphism. For instance, Yehuda bar Ilai, in the Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael, Khilta 3, (likely compiled around 200 ACE) quotes Rabbi Eliezer explaining “This is my God and I will glorify him” in Exodus 15:2: “From the word ‘this’ we know that the lowliest servant girl at the Red Sea perceived what the prophets Isaiah and Ezekaiah had not”. By that he means the actual sight of the Lord: when you say “this is a chair”, you are pointing at an actual chair. So Rabbi Eliezer must have believed in the materiality of a God who can be seen.
Born left-handed 