HOLY MOUNTAIN IMAGERY

Before commencing this session, take a look at the questions below and see if you can answer them.

1. Why were temples built on high places?
2. What was the Tower of Babel?
3. Where in Scripture is worship mentioned on high places?

This session reveals why temples were built on high places and how easily man reinterpreted God's revelation.

The beginnings of Holy Mountain Imagery 

Holy Mountain imagery is one of the most important religious ideas in the world, yet many Christians know little or nothing about it! The idea behind Holy Mountain imagery is that God should be properly worshipped on the top of a mountain because mountaintops were places of his special presence.

This idea appears in the earliest recorded literature of the world. Many mountains were venerated in the Ancient Near East.

People thought mountains were
1. a meeting place of the gods
2. a source of water and fertility
3. the meeting place of heaven and earth where divine decrees were issued.

But how did this 'Holy Mountain' imagery develop?

In 'Kingdom Prologue' (1993) Prof M.G. Kline points out that although "all of heaven and earth was God's holy dwelling, Eden was the special localised visible place of God's presence and rule." For example, in Genesis we read: "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden" Genesis3:8.

Note the difference between 'Lord' and 'God'). 'Lord' speaks of the close relationship God had with man and 'God' speaks of the greatness of the God of the universe.

 Eden was the place where God first established His kingdom and rule among men.

God created man, and regularly appeared to Adam in theophonic revelation. Therefore Adam saw God face-to-face. This would be the Pre-Incarnate Christ on the basis of 1 Tim 6:16: "who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen."

Eden was in the Mesopotamian region and four rivers (Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon and Gihon) divided from the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden (note Gen 2:10-14). This speaks of high ground, as does Ezekiel 28:13 linked with Ezekiel 28:14b. Hence Eden was in a mountainous region. This would also explain why Genesis speaks of cherubim being placed on one side of Eden (east) and not the rest, suggesting that other ways in were inaccessible.

After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life Genesis 3:24

The four rivers rise on the plateau heights of Eastern Turkey, and the height of this inland plateau varies from 3000-4000 feet. Around it is a rim of mountains rising to 12,000 ft and then the main peak - Mt Ararat, towers over them all.

Archaeology and Genesis

Looking into archaeology one finds that people originally migrated down from the great river valleys of the Near East into the Nile Valleys, whilst herdsmen from other mountain ranges moved south in the Tigris Euphrates Valley. In this we have the beginnings of human civilisation.

Eden was situated in a mountainous area, where Adam met God face to face. When thrown out of the Garden of Eden a cherubim blocked Adam and Eve's way, preventing them from entering. The presence of the cherubim suggests that man would come back to this particular place; but why?

In Genesis 4:2-4 we see the first two men born outside of Eden (Cain and Abel) bringing sacrifice to the LORD. Where would they have gone to do this? The Garden of Eden, where God's localised presence had been known by their parents. 

Note that the second mention of Cherubim in the Bible is in Exodus 25:18-20 which speaks of cherubim with wings spread over the mercy-seat on the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle. Hence the entrance to the Garden of Eden is a place where judgement was exercised, but also mercy shown.

Holy Mountain imagery has its origins in the Garden of Eden, yet became perverted as man started applying his own ideas to revelation from God.

Circa 4000 years BC the great river valleys of the ANE were settled and cattle raisers in Egypt moved their homes down into the Nile Valley.

As people moved into the river valleys they brought their religious traditions with them (some of which may have come from a knowledge of Eden - note that people were great story tellers in the ANE).

One of these traditions was that God should be worshipped on a mountaintop because this was God's dwelling place on earth. This idea stood behind the earliest worship site in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.

For example, when the Ziggurat at Urdu was traced down to its earliest level a small temple was found which was built on top of a sand hill on a brick platform. The temple was enlarged many times with each temple engulfing the other. These temples were elevated above ground level because they were based on Holy Mountain imagery.

The dwelling of the gods

 Each worship site was considered a local manifestation of the gods Holy Mountain dwelling place, and Temples were rebuilt higher and higher.

The 'need' for these places came from the belief that heaven and earth met on mountaintops and the building of Ziggurats was seen as necessary because the plains areas and beyond were flat. However, personal 'mountains' also meant meeting with a god or gods whom one could placate and get to do good things through right sacrifices.

The Tower of Babel would have been a Mesopotamian Ziggurat. However, Ziggurats are found all across the world (possibly testifying to the dispersion of Babel).

For example, Egyptian Temples were thought of as the god's houses on earth and as one walked through these temples one slowly walked up a hill with the 'holy of holies' on a high spot. Note also the Pyramids.

During the Manoan period on Crete both Zeus and the earth mother goddess were worshipped on mountain-top shrines. Holy Mountain imagery was also depicted in the sixteenth-century B.C., with frescoes on the island of Thera, and in ancient Turkey Holy Mountain sites were known to have dated back from 12-1800BC, some of which are described in ancient Hittite texts.

One ancient Hittite text noted that when a certain king went to the mountain to raise the great sun he had to perform various charms and incantations. Gods were then met on the top of the mountain who needed a good drink of wine. The Hittites often turned their mountains into gods and also recognised the importance of a mountaintop dwelling of story gods like Baal.

 The most important Holy Mountain texts come from the ancient Syrian city of Uggarit. Uggarit was an ancient Canaanite city where many texts were written in Uggaritic, now known to be an ancient form of Hebrew. The texts speak of the mountain top dwellings of El and Baal (El being just a generic name of God). Baal's temple was said to be on Mt Zephon, this being mentioned, on occasion, in the O.T. Note, for example, Exodus 14:9.

Mt Zephon is located on the shore of the Med Sea in Syria, north of Israel. Zephon is the dominant peak, seen for miles.

Baal worship was widespread in the ANE, as Baal was considered to be the most important of the Canaanite gods. He was regarded as the storm god for two reasons: (1) storms sank ships, (2) Mt Zephon was perceived as a great lighthouse that could easily be seen. 

 Baal was worshipped in many temples across the ANE, each being seen as a local manifestation of Zephon, they being built on raised platforms or on the tops of hills and mountains. By walking into the temples people thought that, spiritually, they were walking into heaven.

The Babylonians (along with most people in the ANE) thought that the tops of mountains were where heaven met with earth, or even heaven on earth. Ziggurat mountains were the political and religious centres of Babylon.

By going up stairways on the Ziggurats the priests/people thought they were ascending the 'holy mountain,' into heaven itself and that this was a meeting place of the gods.

Note how God addresses Babylon through Jeremiah:

Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion" declares the LORD. "I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth" declares the LORD. "I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burnt-out mountain." Jer 51:24-25.

In Numbers 22:41 and 23:1-4 we read of Balek, King of Moab, seeking to get Balaam the prophet to curse the people of Israel. Balaam went to the high places in order to sacrifice - the place where heaven and earth supposedly met. Note also that Leviticus 26:30-31 speaks of judgement on any who worshipped idols in such high places.

In 2 Kings 17:29-33 we read of Assyrians settling foreigners in Palestine and erecting their own idols in the high place of Baal, resulting in syncretism creeping into Israel.

The place of worship for the Lord God

On a more positive note we see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob worshipping on top of the 'spine' of mountains in Palestine (Gen 22ff). For example, we read of sacrifice on Mt Moriah outside of Jerusalem, and of the altar at Bethel in Gen 35, Jacob recognised that this was a proper place of worship to God, it was where God had spoken a promise to him concerning his offspring (Gen 28).

Four centuries later when Israel entered the promised land under Joshua, they continued the patriarchal practice of worshipping on high places, and during the Judges almost all of the corporate worship of Israel occurred on high places.

1 Sam 9 informs us of Samuel making sacrifice to the Lord on the high places above Ramah.

In 1 Kings 3:2-5 we find (at the time of David) Israel still worshipped on high places because no house had been built for the Lord. We also read that Gibeon was the 'great high place' at that time where the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant were present.

In 1 Kings 18:30 we read of Elijah rebuilding the altar of the Lord on Mt Carmel, it having been replaced by Baal worship in previous years, whilst 2 Chron 3:17 speaks of the restoring of old ways after the repentance of the evil King Manasseh.

Note these words in Isaiah:

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Isaiah 2:2-3

Isaiah 11:9 speaks of no evil being able to destroy God's holy mountain and Isaiah 65:25 says:

"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain" says the LORD. Isaiah 65:25

 So! Ezek 28:13ff places the Garden of Eden on a mountain, and Abraham shows his willingness to sacrifice Isaac and then encounters God on a mountain (Gen 22:1-4). Hundreds of years later we read of God appearing to Moses and speaking from a bush on Horeb, the mountain of God (Ex 3:1-2), and God encounters Elijah on the same site (1 Kings 19:8-18).

Throughout the Psalms Zion is mentioned circa 50 times as the mountain of the Lord, God's dwelling place among men. For example:

Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. Psalm 9:11

Note also Ps 132:13-14. "Mountains and hills are a master image of the Bible through which one can trace the whole course of biblical history and doctrine in microcosm. They are literal landscape in which a broad spectrum of human activity occurs."
Note: The curse began on top of Eden with the revolt against God, it was defeated on Mt Calvary and ended forever on Mt Zion (Rev 21:10).

This session has impressed upon us the significance of Holy Mountain Imagery in the ancient world. It was on high mountains that man went to worship either the false gods or the one true God.

Now return to the questions at the beginning of this session and see if you can add to your answers.