2. Closely allied in meaning, though unconnected m origin with D^'OO, is the oft-recurring D'n^, marum'. This word is never Englished heaven, but " heights," or " high place," or " high places." There can, however, be no doubt of its celestial signification (and that in the grandest degree) in such passages as Psa. Ixviii, 18 [Hebr. 19] ; xciii, 4; cii, 19 [or in the Hebr. Bib. 20, where idip O'l-iJari is equal to the 3'!''?"^"? of the parallel clause]; similarly. Job xxxi, 2; Isa. Ivii, 15; Jer. XXV, 30. Dr. Kalisch (Genesis, Introd. p. 21) says.
HEAVEN
124
HEAVEN
" It was a common belief among all ancient nations that at the summit of the sliadow oi' the earth, or on the top of the higlie.st mountain of the earth, which reaches with its crest into heaven . . . the gods have their pal- ace or hall of assembly," and he instances " the Babylo- nian Albordsh, the chief abode of Ormuzd, among the heights of the Caucasus; and the Hhidoo Meru; and the Chinese Kulkun (or Kaen-lun) ; and the Greek Olym- pus (and Atlas); and the Arabian Caf; and the Parsee Tinfi." He, however, while strongly and indeed most properly censuring the identification of JNIount Meru with jMount Moriuh (which had hastily been conjec- turetl from " the accidental resemblance of tlie names"), deems it improbable that the Israelites should have en- tertained, like other ancient nations, the notion of local heii/ht for the abode of him whose "glory the heaven anil the heaven of heavens cannot contain ;" and this he supposes on the ground that such a notion " rests es- sentialh/ on polijtiieistic ideas." Surely the learned com- mentator is i)remature in both these statements. (1.) No such improbability, in fact, unhappily, can be predi- cated of the Israehtes, v.ho in ancient times (notwith- standing the divine prohibitions) exhibited a constant tendenc}' to the ritual of their niTsa, or ^'^ high places." Gesenius makes a more correct statement when he savs [/Mr. Lex. by Robinson, p. 138], "The Hebrews, like most other ancient nations, supposed that sacred rites |)erf(irmed on hi<ih jilaces were particularly acceptable to the Deity. Hence they were accustomed to offer sacri- fices upon mountains and hills, both to idols and to God himself (1 Sam. ix, 12 sq. ; 1 Chron. xiii, 29 sq. ; 1 Kings iii, 4 ; 2 Kings xii, 2, .3 ; Isa. xlv, 7) ; and also to build there chapels,fanes, tabernacles (riTSatl iri3, 1 Kings xiii, 32; 2 Kings xvii,29), with their priests 'and other ministers of the sacred rites ("irstl "^Itir, 1 Kings xii, 32 ; 2 Kings x vii, 32). So tenacious of this ancient cus- tom were not only the ten tribes, but also all the Jews, that, even after the building of Solomon's Temple, in spite of the exjiress law of Dcut. xii, they continued to erect such chaijcls on the mountains aroimd Jerusalem." (2.) Neither from the character of Jehovah, as the God of Israel, can the improbability be maintained, as if it were of the essence oi pob/theism only to localize Deity on mountain heights. "The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy," in the procla- mation which he is pleased to make of his own stj'le, does not limit his abode to celestial sublimities; in one of the finest passages of even Isaiah's poetrj-, God claims as one of the stat ions of his glorj' the shrine of " a con- trite and humble spirit" (Isa. Ivii, 15). His loftiest at- tributes, therefore, are not compromised, nor is the am- plitude of his omnipresence compressed by an earthly residence. Accordingly, the same Jehovah who " walk- eth on the hif/h places, Vn'C'Z, of the earth" (Amos iv, 13) ; who " trcadeth on the fastnesses, n'lTCS, of the sea" (Job ix,8); and "who ascendeth above the heights, n":r2,of the clouds," was [)leascd to consecrate Zion as hisdvvell- ing-place (I'sa. Ixxxvii, 2), and his rest (Psa. cxxxii, 13, 14). Hence we find the same word, Dllr), which is of- ten descriptive of the sul)limest heaven,\ised of Zion, which Kzekiel calls " the mountain of the height of l?,- rael,"b^'npn ■z'r\^ -in (xvii,23; xx,40; xxxiv, 14). 3- ?i>5?, 'JiiluaV. This word, which literally mean- ing a wheel, admirably expresses rotatory movement, is actually rendered "heaven" in the A.V. of Psa. Ixxvii, 18: "The voice of thy thiuider was in the heaven," ''P?? [Sept. iv Tip rpoxv; Yulg. in rota]. Luther's version agrees with the A.A'ers. in Jlimmel; and Dathe renders 7)f;- orbem, which is ambiguous, being as expres- sive, to say the least, of the globe of the earth as of the circle of heaven. The Targum (in ^^'alt<)n, vol. iii) on the passage gives X^jbsa {in rota), which is as inde- terminate a.s the original, as the Syriac also seems to be. De AN'ctte (and after him Justus Olshausen, Lie I's. er-
Udrt, 1. c.) renders the phrase "in the whirlwind." JMaurer, who disapproves of this rendering, explains the plorase " rotated." But, amidst the uncertamty of the versions, we are disposed to think that it was not with- out good reason that our translators, in departing from the previous version (see Psalter, ad loc, which has, " the voice of thy thmider was heard round about"), de- liberately rendered the passage in the heaven, as if the bjbj were the correlative of ?5^) ^oth being poetic words, and both together equalled the heaven and the earth. In Jas. iii, G, the remarkable phrase, rov rpo- Xov T)JQ jivianoQ, the course, circuit, or icheel of nature, is akin to our ?3?5. (The SjTiac renders the rpoxov by the same word, which occurs in the psalm as the equivalent of ^SPS, Schaaf 's Lex. Syr. ; and of the same indefiniteness of signification.) That the general sense "heaven" best expresses the force of Psa. bcxvii, 18, is rendered probable, moreover, by the description which Josephus gives (A7it. ii, IG, 3) of the destruction of Pha- raoh's host in the Red Sea, the subject of that part of the psalm, " Showers of rain descended y)-o?» heaven, air' ovQavoi), with dreadful thunders and lightning, and flashes of fire; thunderbolts Avere darted upon them, nor were there any indications of God's wrath upon men wanting on that dark and dismal night."