Appendix E, Page 98: Symbolical Designation Of Kingdoms As Mountains
THE first passage, probably, in which a kingdom is presented under the symbol of a physical elevation, or a mountain, is the historical notice in 2Sa_5:12, where it is said of David’s interest as king, “And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom:” it had now sensibly become a conspicuous thing, a height in the earth. Writing in Psalms 30, and at a later period, of the vicissitudes which he experienced on the throne, he says, “Lord, by thy favour thou didst make my mountain to stand strong; thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” In Psa_68:16, the hill of Zion, which had already been chosen as the seat of the kingdom, is taken for an emblem of it, and the other and loftier, but more remote hills, stand for images of the rival kingdoms of the heathen: “Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever.” In Psa_46:2, the mountains are spoken of as “shaking in the midst of the sea,” and the figure is explained by the introduction of the reality at Psa_46:6, where it is said, “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved,” or rather shook. The hill of Zion with its fortress is identified with the kingdom of God, and addressed as symbolically one with it in Mic_4:8, “And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold (hill) of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom also shall come to the daughter of Zion;” as it is also in Isa_11:9, where the temple-mount, the ideal dwelling-place of God with his people is viewed as comprehensive of the whole divine kingdom, and this again as co-extensive with the entire habitable globe. Comp. also Dan_9:16; Dan_9:20; also Dan_2:35, where the stone which represents the Lord’s kingdom appears growing into a huge mountain, and filling the whole earth. In Psalms 76, the greater heathen kingdoms are denoted, not only mountains, but “prey-mountains,” as being apparently raised to the gigantic height they attained for the purpose only of laying waste and destroying others. Babylon, in particular, is called by Jeremiah, Jer_51:25, “a destroying mountain, that destroyed all the earth”—not as Bishop Newton interprets, vol. i., chap. 10, “on account of the great height of its walls and towers, its palaces and temples,” but from its lofty and domineering altitude among the political eminences of the world. And hence, quite naturally, in the Apocalypse, which gathers up and applies the symbolical imagery of the earlier prophets, mountains are used in a whole series of passages as the familiar designation of kingdoms, Rev_6:14, Rev_8:8, Rev_16:20, etc.