Theory of sacrifice

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.