The Mountain, a natural symbol

The mountain in the Old Testament The Bible introduces mountains in its literature as visiting places of God, already in Genesis in the time of Abraham. God had ordered him to sacrifice his son Isaac in the land of Moriah. On reaching there, Isaac had asked his father, "We have brought here the firewood needed but where is the goat to be sacrificed". Then Abraham had replied, "God will see to it". Just when he was about to slay his son in sacrifice, an angel halted him and pointed out a ram caught in a bush close to a mountain nearby. Abraham after taking the goat and sacrificing it in the place of his son, named the mountain, "Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, 'On the mountain the LORD will see'" (Gen. 22:14). Mountains continued to play a role in the lives of the Semitic people ever since Abraham had his special experience of God's providence, as we have reported above. Next we see Jacob and Laban having an oath near a mountain and after that Jacob and his kinsmen slept in the mountain, "He then offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to share in the meal. When they had eaten, they passed the night on the mountain" (Gen. 31"54). Moses' most intense experience of God takes place at two important mountains, Horeb and Sinai, Horeb is called the mountain of God, in Exudos, "Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God"(Ex.3:1) It was there that Moses hears the voice of God from the burning bush (Ex.3:4-15). Later during the journey through the desert,God commands Moses from Horeb to strike a rock to get a water, "I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink'. This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel" (Ex. 17:6). Sinai is the most spectacular of all the mountains where Moses and the people of God and also received the Ten Commandments: "Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the Lord came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently"(Ex,19:18). "The glory of the Lord settled upon Mount Sinai. the cloud covered it for six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud"(Ex.24:16). "When the Lord had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai,he gave him the two tablets of the commandments, the stone tablets inscribed by God's own finger"(Ex.31:18). There were a series of spiritual events that took place on sacred mountains according to the bible. Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to assemble in Mount Carmel and bring down rain by the Power of the gods each one believed in:He told King Ahab, "Now summon all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, as well as the four hundred and fifty prophets of Asherah who eat st Jesebel's table" (Kings 18:19). After the contest and the slaying of the false prophets, Elijah went on his way and after receiving food from heaven on the way, he went to Mount Horeb, "He got up, and ate and drunk;then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the Mountain of God, Horeb" (1Kings 19:8). It was there he got a vision of God that gave him strength and a new commission, There are many more stories of prophets and kings who find God on mountains. This is in contrast to the Gentile nations seeking strength from their gods and goddesses on mountains and high places through idolatry and immoral practices. These practices are condemned by the prophets quite often. We have a classical one from Ezekiel who condemns Israel and its mountains for evil practices, "Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: See, I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places" (Ezek.6:3).

God' Holy Mountain, a prophetic theme

* Zion, though it is only a small hill finally becomes the perfection of all mountains because on it was the dwelling place of God. This thought is a recurring theme that is quite frequent in the psalms and prophecies in the Bible. Every prophet makes a reference to God's Holy Mountain (Jerusalem, Zion) and calls people to find hope on God's holy mountain. The following are few of the examples that could be cited: * Ps. 48:1- "Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain". * Is. 11:9- "They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of knowledge of Yahweh". * Is. 27:13- "It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain in Jerusalem". * Is. 65:25- "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,"says Yahweh". * Ez. 20:40- "For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel,says the Lord Yahweh, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve me in the land: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings,and the first fruits of your offerings, with all your holy things". * Ez. 28:14- "You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire". * Ez. 43:12- "This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house". * Zech.8:3-"Thus says Yahweh: 'I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called 'The City of Truth;' and the mountain of Yahweh of Armies, 'The Holy Mountain." *Rev. 21:10-11- "He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having glory of God".

Mountain in the Gospels

Departing from the past tradition when Jerusalem was the mount where God could be worshipped, Jesus did not attach importance either to Jerusalem or any other mountain as a place of prayer or Divine experience. In fact, while talking to the Samaritan woman he said that neither the temple of the Jews nor the sacred Mountain of the Samaritans mattered for prayer but emphasized the importance of praying in spirit and truth CJn. 4:23-24). In the Gospel according to Matthew quite symbolically he is seen teaching the disciples from a mountain. But he tells them that they should pray in secret to the Father from the privacy of the room with the doors closed,"But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you" )Mt.6:6) However mountains do have prominence in the Gospels and great events are related to mountains. Beginning with the Sermon on the Mount, there are a number of instances when the mountain is chosen as an important location for significant events in the Gospels.Jesus was transfigured on a mountain that traditionally is believed to be Mount Tabor.Next we hear of the Mount of Olives as the place where Jesus prayed after the Last Supper," Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives" (Mt.26:30). He had often spent nights on that mountain,"During the day,Jesus was teaching in the temple area, but at night he would leave and stay at the place called the Mount of Olives"(Lk. 21:37). His death took place on Calvary a little mount covered with skulls, made holy by the blood of the Redeemer.The ascension too is believed to have taken place from a mountain in Galilee, according to Matthew, though he does not describe the scene,"The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them" (Mt.28:16). According to Luke the ascension takes from a mountain called Olivet that was near Jerusalem,"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away" (Acts: 1:12). Later in the early Christian Church the meaning of Mount Zion changes into a heavenly site, "No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering" (Heb.12:22). John's visions are focused quite vividly on the heavenly Jerusalem, "Then I looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads" (Rev.14:1). He sees it coming down from heaven to earth which means the formation of a holy mountain on the earth,that is the center where the Christians are to experience God, "He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God"(Rev:21:10). Conclusion: We human beings search for God through signs and symbols that are quite common. God fulfills these aspirations through his marvelous interventions through Christ.In Christ he has made everything new. This too was prophesied many centuries ago, especially through Isaiah."Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind"(Is.65:17). At the center of this new creation, there had to be God's dwelling place on the holy mountain.And too Isaiah had prophesied long ago,"On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy,rich food and pure, choice wines" (Is. 25:6). We are all the beneficiaries of the new heavens and the new earth where the mountain of the Lord is our Church, where God dwells. It is really marvelous that every natural symbolism searching for God has been fulfilled in Christ.

QUEEN ESTHER ...a model of prayer

Who was Esther? Her earlier name was Hadas'sah (the feminine form of hadas, myrtle). She was the daughter of Abihail, of a Benjaminite family that did not return to Palistine after the exiles were given freedom. After she had lost her parents she was under the care of Mordechai her uncle (Esther @:7). The name Esther itself, a variant of the name of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, was given to her after having been chosen queen by King Ahasuerus and joining the Harem. The name could be also a Syro-Arabian modification of the Persian word Satarah, which means star. Those Jews who had not returned to Palestine after exile still had to fear much. While they were in the Persian Empire centuries after the others had come back to Palestine, there was a plot hatched by Haman a minister under king Ahasuerus, to exterminite all the Jews from the empire. Haman's conspiracy arose from his anger because an important official named Mordeccai (Esther's uncle)who was in service under the same king did not pay the required daily homeage of a profound bow to him. So this minister convinced the King to pass a decree of extermination of all Jews so that Mordeccai also would be got rid of. As the story goes, Mordeccai asked Queen Esther to plead with the King to spare the Jews, something that was humanly speaking impossible, Finally, the miracle happens, through the intervention of this queen, who humbled herself, fasted, prayed and begged the king to spare them.

The Uniqueness of her Prayer

The section on prayer in the book of Esther is given in the Addition 14 in the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version). The reason is that certain parts of this book are not in the Hebrew but only in the Septuagint version. We Catholics who accept also these parts; so these parts are numbered in a different way. The thematic verse almost at the beginning that sets the tone of the text is, "Queen Esther, seized with deadly anxiety, likewise fled up to the Lord" (C:14:1) In all the forms of emergency prayer found in the Jewish manner of prayer, particularly,in the praying pattern of the woman that sense of flight to the Lord is evident. The take refuge in the Lord with great urgency and speed like a bird flying to the mountain.So David writes," In the LORD I take refuge; how can you see to me, "Flee like a bird to the Mountains!'" (Ps. 11:1). Again another psalm speaks of the escape like that of a bird fleeing from a trap, "We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare was broken and we escaped" Ps.124:7).Similarly Esther flees from the worldly status in the palace at the moment of danger and takes refuge in the Lord. The text of the prayer of Esther is quite long. But the parts of a typical prayer are there: a) Self -abasement in humility and penitence by taking off the royal garments and putting on a penitential garb with even dirt smeared on herself; b) Address to God as the only God of Israel, saying: 'My Lord, our king, you alone are God'; c) Presentation of the gravity of the danger: "for I am taking my life in my hand" (C15); d)Acknowledgement of sin recalling past history and admitting the present state of sin: "But now we have sinned in your sight, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies" (C17) e) The fear of being deprived of the possibility of giving praise to God and restore the glory of God, the temple and the altar: to close the mouths of those who praise you, and to extinguish the glory of your temple and your altar; and f) The final request with her whole heart: " O God, more powerful than all, hear the voice of those in despair. Save us from the power of the wicked, and deliver me from my fear" (C:30). We know that the prayer worked wonderfully because God changed the anger of the king into kindness: "But God changed the king's anger to goodness" (D: 8). The rest of the story is already known to us: the Jews were spread of that threatened extermination and so they rejoiced by celebrating the feast of Purim. Purim (Hebrew 'lots', related to Akkadian puru) is a festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people living throughout the ancient Persian Empire from a plot by Haman the Agagite to annihilate them. According to the story, Haman cast lots to determine the day upon which to exterminate the Jews (Cf. Wikipedia).

Esther a model of intercessory prayer

   Intercession is a form of prayer extremely pleasing to God and has a long tradition from the early stages of the Bible history. The Hebrew word for intercede originally meant "to strike upon", and thus comes to mean 'to assail anyone with petitions. ' When such assailing was done on behalf of others this was called intercession (Cf.Wycliffe Bible Dictonary)

  We know from the Bible the names of a number of intercessors like, Abraham who interceded for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses who prayed for his people on Mount Sinai, Elijah who implored the Lord to turn the peoples' hearts back to worship Him alone (Kg 18: 36-37).
 
   In the New Testament we see the early Church interceding  for the deliverance of Peter from the prison (Acts 12: 5). Paul always interceded for Christ's Church (2 Cor 13:7) saying, "but we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong (2Cor. 13:9). In several of his letters we read how much he was praying for the Christian communities and for the spread of the Gospel (Eph 2: 17;Col 4:3; 1Thess.3:10). He instructs Timothy about a mode of intercession saying, "First of all, then, I urge That supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions...." (Tim2 :1-4).

Esther as an example of a special type of intercessor

        Esther interceded for her people with all her heart and with all her being. She took all the risk in spite of knowing that she could be put to death by the king in violating the laws. As mentioned earlier, it a big leap she made into the Lion's den to save her people.From her royal status she stooped low to the level of dust in profound humility, to beg for mercy and clemency from the king for her people.

      Esther had that intercessory confidence like that of Mother Mary who intervened at the wedding of Cana.That too was  a risk; if Jesus had rejected it would have been a humiliation for her.

      Esther bore a little resemblance to Christ in her intercession. Jesus Christ also made his life as a sacrifice for the salvation of his people while interceding for the people. Just as Esther depended on her God for help, so too Jesus, depended on his Father to rescue him.

     We too like Esther can do a great deal by interceding for others. God loves a cheerful giver, who gives
time and makes sacrifices to intercede for others.