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Mountains
Posted in: Spirituality by bill-o on May 22, 2009
In the Bible, mountains are often symbolic of kingdoms. Hills, in turn, are smaller kingdoms or principalities. Islands are symbols of democracies or republics, and the landless sea is a symbol either of outright anarchy or perhaps of tribal rule. Valleys are symbolic places of the weak and disadvantaged in society.
With this in mind, the biblical reader can discern parabolic meanings:
- In stories like Noah and the flood, where the flood is said to have covered even the highest mountains.
- The psalmist lifted up his eyes to the hills (mountains) in Psalm 121 in attempt to find help.
- The hills are said to melt like wax at the presence of the Lord in Psalm 97.
- The promise of the prophet Isaiah that every valley will be lifted up and every hill and mountain be made low.
- The devil tempted Jesus by taking him to “a very high mountain” and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world.
- Jesus’s bold statement about faith, where mountains would be flung into the sea at the command of someone speaking in faith.
- In the end of days, the Book of Revelation speaks of the islands and mountains “running away” and hiding.
But it is to the words of the prophets Micah and Isaiah that I would most like to draw your attention to here:
“And it will come about in the last days: The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the greatest mountain. It will be raised above the hills, and people will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty and distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.” (a modification of the NASB version)
What is this mountain of the house of the Lord that is somehow associated with the coming of peace on earth? How can something as mighty as a mountain (which is symbolic of a kingdom) be associated with a single house? What would induce all of the nations of the world to stop fighting each other and voluntarily go up to this “house of the Lord”?
We’ll explore more about this in the coming days ahead.