In the Presence of God
The Difference between God’s “Name (שם)” and “Presence (כבוד)”
Reference Link
"The Two Declarations in Two Places:
Before God’s Name and being Before God
This Deuteronomic perspective helps clarify the problem of where the worshipper stands when offering each declaration. The first declaration is recited at the location where the Name dwells, and that is the functional equivalent of declaring it “before YHWH your God.”
But the second declaration says (Deut 26:15):
הַשְׁקִיפָה֩ מִמְּע֨וֹן קָדְשְׁךָ֜ מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבָרֵ֤ךְ אֶֽת־עַמְּךָ֙ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל…
Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel…
This line is reminiscent of Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8:27—God is in heaven, not on earth. What is on earth is God’s name, something that represents God without actually being God. And thus this second declaration, as noted by Tigay, is heard by God no matter where it is recited."
Immanence and Transcendence
"Half a century ago, Nikita Khrushchev—then the ruler of the Soviet Union—loudly proclaimed that the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, had flown into outer space and not seen any God. Did the Deuteronomist really think that God was somewhere “up there”?
We might never know the answer to this question for certain. But from our 21st-century perspective, it is quite easy to understand the difference between Deuteronomy’s shem (“name”) perspective and the kavod (“Presence”) perspective of the Priestly writings. From the Priestly perspective, God is immanent—immediately present amid our own world of ordinary matter, and housed in the Tabernacle/Temple. From the Deuteronomic perspective, God is transcendent—a being that connects with our world, and with us, from a realm beyond time and space.
Deuteronomy calls this realm שמים (shamayim, “sky/heaven”), because that realm was unreachable for us human beings. No doubt it seemed then that it would always be so. By contrast, ארץ (eretz, “earth”) was our realm of dust and mud, a world in which it must have seemed that God could not be at home. For the Deuteronomist, God was not part of our material world, but was aware of it—and controlled it—from some realm beyond it."
The Difference between God’s “Name (שם)” and “Presence (כבוד)”
Reference Link
"The Two Declarations in Two Places:
Before God’s Name and being Before God
This Deuteronomic perspective helps clarify the problem of where the worshipper stands when offering each declaration. The first declaration is recited at the location where the Name dwells, and that is the functional equivalent of declaring it “before YHWH your God.”
But the second declaration says (Deut 26:15):
הַשְׁקִיפָה֩ מִמְּע֨וֹן קָדְשְׁךָ֜ מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבָרֵ֤ךְ אֶֽת־עַמְּךָ֙ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל…
Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel…
This line is reminiscent of Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8:27—God is in heaven, not on earth. What is on earth is God’s name, something that represents God without actually being God. And thus this second declaration, as noted by Tigay, is heard by God no matter where it is recited."
Immanence and Transcendence
"Half a century ago, Nikita Khrushchev—then the ruler of the Soviet Union—loudly proclaimed that the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, had flown into outer space and not seen any God. Did the Deuteronomist really think that God was somewhere “up there”?
We might never know the answer to this question for certain. But from our 21st-century perspective, it is quite easy to understand the difference between Deuteronomy’s shem (“name”) perspective and the kavod (“Presence”) perspective of the Priestly writings. From the Priestly perspective, God is immanent—immediately present amid our own world of ordinary matter, and housed in the Tabernacle/Temple. From the Deuteronomic perspective, God is transcendent—a being that connects with our world, and with us, from a realm beyond time and space.
Deuteronomy calls this realm שמים (shamayim, “sky/heaven”), because that realm was unreachable for us human beings. No doubt it seemed then that it would always be so. By contrast, ארץ (eretz, “earth”) was our realm of dust and mud, a world in which it must have seemed that God could not be at home. For the Deuteronomist, God was not part of our material world, but was aware of it—and controlled it—from some realm beyond it."
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