Ancient temples were houses for the gods, represented by images. That is what Isaiah is talking about when he describes idolaters carrying their gold images, setting them in place, standing them up, and bowing to them (46:5-7).
Yahweh too brings something to His House. Isaiah 46:13 pictures Yahweh as a worshiper ascending to Zion with a gift for the house. What He sets up on Zion is His own righteousness, salvation, and His glory. Those are His contributions to the service of His house, the “image” to which Israel prostrates himself.
Letters
Joshua T. Katz’s (“Pure Episcopalianism,” May 2025) reason for a theologically conservative person joining a theologically liberal…
The Revival of Patristics
On May 25, 1990, the renowned patristics scholar Charles Kannengiesser, S.J., delivered a lecture at the annual…
The Enduring Legacy of the Spanish Mystics
Last autumn, I spent a few days at my family’s coastal country house in northwestern Spain. The…