Mountains in the Bible
Mountains play an important role in the Bible . Above all, they are places of special closeness to God and places of cultic veneration to which God descends from heaven .
background
Mountains already have a central position in ancient oriental cosmogony and are often found in the Bible as the foundations of heaven as well as in a mediator role between heaven and earth. In the case of Mount Tabor, the “ world mountain ”, the Hebrew tabbur means “navel (of the world)” and indicates very early Hellenic influences. Mountains are often associated with extraordinary natural events, such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Different cultures therefore had sacred mountains .
The central mountains of the biblical tradition, such as the Ararat , the Sinai , the Mount Zion ( cf.axis mundi ), the Carmel , the Tabor , the place of the Sermon on the Mount as well as Golgotha are important in addition to the written tradition for different names and settlements, Buildings, paths, works of art as well as literary and musical processing. From the Old Testament claim of the New Zion to modern Zionism , from the English hymn And did those feet in ancient time , the Taborites and Mormons, there are a multitude of historically relevant allusions and movements and myths linked to the mountains of the Bible.
Old testament
In the Old Testament , mountains are places where God is particularly close from the start. Altars and places for ritual sacrifices were therefore primarily erected on mountains, because people there wanted and could approach God in a special way, for example Noah on the Ararat mountains, the place where the ark came to rest ( Gen 8 EU ). When Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac , he climbed an unnamed mountain in the land of Morijah ( Gen 22 EU ).
In the Pentateuch the motif of the mountain is central to the theophany , that is, the appearance of God. First God appears to Moses in the burning bush on the "God's mountain Horeb " ( Ex 3 EU ). The mountain was the setting in which God revealed himself and his name to YHWH . Later this god came “down on Sinai ” to give the Ten Commandments to Moses .
Even after Moses, the mountain remained a preferred place from where instruction, teaching and judgment are spoken in divine legitimation. In Deut. 27 six tribes of Israel are commanded to stand on Mount Garizim for a blessing , while the other six tribes may go to the Ebal for a curse . Curse and blessing show faithfulness to God: observance or non-observance of the Torah means a blessing or a curse (cf. Jos 8). The Garizim is also mentioned in the framework of the Jotam fable (Ri 9), where Jotam stands on this mountain to criticize his murdering brother Abimelech.
In the books of the prophets since Isaiah , Mount Zion near Jerusalem has an eminently important meaning: there was the ark of the covenant . This mountain has been surrounded in biblical lore since the construction of the First Temple with an abundance of motifs and themes known as Zion theology. Various metaphors are used in the Psalms for this: Zion is the abode of God - "Sing to the Lord who is enthroned on Zion" (Ps 9:12), "Think [...] of Mount Zion, which you have chosen as your dwelling" (Ps 74,2) - and at the same time stands for the people of Israel - “Mount Zion rejoices, the daughters of Judah shall rejoice over your righteous judgments” (Ps 48,12), cf. "Daughter Zion". The mountain is therefore the place where God and his people come together, where (figuratively speaking) heaven and earth connect.
At the same time, the nature of the mountains serves to infer the power of God, which even surpasses that of the mountains: Micah prophesies: “The mountains melt under him like wax in the heat of the fire; the bottom of the valley is torn open, as if water falls down the slope ”(1,4). “Every valley should rise, every mountain and hill should sink. What is crooked should become straight, and what is hilly will become even, ”prophesies Isaiah (40.4), which will be taken up by Jesus (Lk 3.5). The second coming of God is also indicated by the destruction of the mountains (see, for example, “The eternal mountains burst, the ancient hills sink” (Hab 3: 6).
New Testament
In the New Testament , especially in the Gospels , Old Testament mountain motifs are taken up and continued. When Jesus prays in solitude, he often retreats to a mountain (e.g. Mt 14:23, Jn 6:15). Likewise, the called apostles are led up a mountain (Mk 3: 13-19).
Matthew chooses a mountain (the Mount of Beatitudes ) as the place where Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount . Jesus sits down on the mountain, from there to teach people with divine authority (Mt 7:29) and to preach his message. The mountain stands in a typological comparison with Mount Sinai. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the law of Moses is taken up in order to be interpreted by Jesus.
The transfiguration of the Lord also takes place on a mountain (a "high mountain" in Matthew 17: 1), which is not named in the Bible, but is equated with Mount Tabor in early Christian tradition . There Moses and Elijah appear - personifying the law and prophecy of the old covenant - and talk to Jesus.
The mountain motif is also indirectly taken up in Peter's confession of the Messiah , where Jesus said to him in the area of Caesarea Philippi : “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16:18). Caesarea Philippi lies at the foot of the Hermon Mountains . According to this word, Jesus does not build his altar or his church on one of the massive mountain cliffs, but in stark contrast to it on the "rock of Peter" (a play on words in Greek).
In the parable of the temptation of Jesus , the devil leads Jesus up a mountain (the mountain of temptation ) in order to let him look down on the world and make him the offer to rule over humanity in this way.
In the Passion story, Jesus and the disciples climbed the Mount of Olives , where he was speaking about the end times (Mk 13: 3); the crucifixion also took place on an elevation, the hill of Golgotha .
In John's Gospel, the conversation between Jesus and the woman at Jacob's well in Samaria (between Judea and Galilee) takes up the worship of God on the mountains. The conversation took place near Mount Gerizim , on which the Samaritans worshiped God (cf. Dtn 27: 4-8). It was an old dispute between Jews and Samaritans as to which is the right place to worship God. The temple of God on the Garizim was already 128 BC. Chr. Destroyed.
“Our fathers worshiped God on this mountain; but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship. Jesus said to her, Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. […] The woman said to him: I know that the Messiah is coming, that is: the Anointed One (Christ). When he comes, he will tell us everything. Then Jesus said to her: It is I, I who speak to you. "
Christologically, this statement releases the Jewish cultic worship of God from the temple and instead connects it to the worship of a person, namely the Messiah.
Jesus takes up the motif of the mighty mountains in his word about faith that moves mountains: If faith in God through Christ is “great”, “nothing will be impossible”; “If you say to this mountain: get up and throw yourself into the sea! It will happen.” (Matthew 17:20, cf. 21:21)
That God is stronger and stronger than mountains in his actions is also described in Revelation . B. "They said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the sight of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb" (6:16). The seer John sees the new Jerusalem on a "great, high mountain" (21:10).
See also
literature
- Gertrude Deninger-Polzer, Reinhold Bohlen : Mountains . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1993, Sp. 249 f .
- Karl-Heinz Fleckenstein: Mountains in the land of the Bible. Where heaven and earth meet. Be & Be-Verlag Heiligenkreuz 2017.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Isaac Leo Seeligmann, Rudolf Smend: Collected Studies on the Hebrew Bible. Mohr Siebeck, 2004, p. 392 ff.
- ^ A b Robert Barry Leal: Wilderness in the Bible: Toward a Theology of Wilderness. Peter Lang, 2004.
- ↑ Emil Quandt: The mountains of the Bible. Seven lectures given in the hall of the Evangelical Association, etc. 1866.
- ^ John Macfarlane (LL.D.): The Mountains of the Bible: Their Scenes and Their Lessons. 1849.