The gods fight back chaos and form a universe, and set up an image to mark the boundary of their ordered realm. A god instructs a king to build a temple, who places an image of the God in the inner sanctuary. The zones of ancient cosmology – heaven, sky, earth, sea, underworld – are populated by gods. Gods, and divinized heroes, sit enthroned in the sky palace.
God creates a world and places a living breathing image in His garden. There is no image in His house, except Aaron in robes of glory, a human cloud of fiery gold and jewels. Yahweh gives the “earth” – everything under heaven – to human beings are our realm. Heaven belongs to Yahweh, but then He even shares heaven with Jesus and then with us.
At every point, the Bible humanizes creation. At the last, it also humanizes heaven.
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