Isaiah 57:7 contains a neat and tiny theory of sacrifice. It’s set up in a parallel structure:
A. On a mountain high and lifted up
B. You set your bed
A’. Even there
B’. you ascended to sacrifice.
Or a little chiasm:
A. On a mountain high and lifted up
B. You set your bet
B’. Even there
A’. You ascended to sacrifice.
Either way, we have these elements of a theory of sacrifice: Sacrifice takes place on high; it involves an ascent. One ascends a mountain to offer sacrifice, and then the sacrificial victim ascends still further.
Setting up a bed on a mountain is parallel to sacrificing on a mountain. As James Jordan has argued, sacrifice is communion, and the place of sacrifice, the altar is a “communion site,” uniting God and man, as well as humans with one another. Isaiah imagines this communion as sharing a bed, and there is even a pun to reinforce the connection: “Altar” is mizbeach , “your bed” is mishbavek . (This is in the background of the deathbed scenes in the Bible, life being poured out as a drink offering on the altar-bed.) A sanctuary is a trysting place for gods and worshipers, the leafy trees a bower for lovers, the altar a flaming bed where gods and worshipers meet and share life and love.
Verse 8 adds to the “theory”: Again, the sexual imagery of “going up” and “uncovering” is linked to sacrifice, but here the bed is a bed of covenant-making: “you have enlarged your bed, you have made a covenant with them.” On the bed the gods’ “hand” is exposed for the worshiper to see, and Yahweh charges that Israel loves the gods uncovered on the altar-bed of idolatry.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
