Aug 22 2008
Even in the Supernatural Realm, Size Matters
Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. (Psalms 150:1)
Power and wealth often go together. A person, state or religion may advertise their power with their property, building projects and possessions. The message: I am great. An intimidating environment can influence how people feel. Imagine dining in a mansion with servers dressed in tuxedos one evening after eating in a shack with the cook and lone waitress clad in coveralls. Yes, modern minds from affluent countries are getting better at seeing past the adornments that “mere” money can buy. But that wasn’t always the case.
Why are palaces and churches frequently so grand? Well, what kind of ruler are you if you fail to impress? As the late Isaac Asimov noted, “The name ‘Pharaoh,’ uniformly used as a title of respect for the Egyptian ruler, comes from the Egyptian pero, meaning ‘great house’; that is, the ruler’s palace.” (14) Similarly, during his visit to the “Forbidden City” in Beijing, world-renown primatologist Frans de Waal wrote, “It wasn’t hard to imagine Chinese emperors ruling from elaborate thrones designed to overlook enormous squatting masses, intimidating them with their splendor.” (15)
Splendor. In past times it took power — and not just entrepreneurial ingenuity, as it can today – to attain it. Power . . . in the form of manpower as laborers and manpower as armies to acquire and secure resources.
In Bible-based religions, at least in their original form, humility was for the followers. The rulers, the great kings, and the greatest ruler of all, the Lord of Lords, were said to reside in a suitably great place.
The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth. (Psalms 102:19)
When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed. (2 Chronicles 9:3-4)
A god, like a king, is often said to have a throne, real or metaphorical. Why? It accentuates his position of power. In Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions, Walter Burkert wrote, “The goddess or god, like the king, has an elevated throne with a footstool: Isaiah saw ‘the Lord sitting on a high, sublime throne.” (16)
In the Gospel of Matthew we find echoes of this sentiment:
Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool. (5:34-35)
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (25: 31-32)
What is/was Jesus but a spiritual ruler, determining who is saved and who is not? And what is glory but a sort of emotional splendor?
Of course, a god never actually sits on a throne built for him, or actually visits a house built for him, but people nonetheless build and visit their hallowed halls so they can imagine he has come and/or is there “in spirit.”
How many man-years does it take to build a temple or church? Yet in specific times and places it was necessary. To convince others of the greatness of your god, a towering house or worship was one way to make a point. And if you could get away with it, you might also tear down the houses of those who dare to not bow down to your invisible alpha.
Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places. (Deuteronomy 33:29)
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(14) Asimov, I., Asimov’s Guide to the Bible: The Old and New Testaments, Wing Books, New York, 1969, p. 64
(15) de Waal, F. Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are, New York, Riverhead Books, 2005, p. 58
(16) Burkert, W., Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, p. 91
