How Did the Biblical ‘Glory’ Change from a Dangerous Substance to Praise for the Lord?
In my book Talking with God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony, I explore several key biblical terms associated with the ark that have either been mistranslated or not clearly understood over time. One such puzzling word found in several verses of the Old Testament is “glory” (Hebrew kawbode).
The word glory is used 148 times in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers and from Deuteronomy to Malachi. In the Old Testament, glory has two entirely unrelated meanings and, thus, describes two completely different ideas.
Traditionally glory is understood to mean “praise for the Lord.” Some examples are:
- Josh. 7:19: “…give glory to the Lord, God of Israel….”
- I Chr. 16:28–29: “give to the Lord glory and strength…give to the Lord the glory of His name.”
- Ps. 62:7: “In God is my salvation and my glory.”
- Jer. 13:16: “Give glory to the Lord your God.”
Some examples of glory as an adjective include:
- Neh. 9:5: “…blessed is your glorious name….”
- Isa. 4:2: “In that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious.”
While glory can indeed indicate praise, a close study of its use in the Old Testament reveals an altogether different meaning there, one that conveys the original understanding of its form and function.
A Substance
The second meaning of glory is stunningly different from praise for the Lord. As the following examples from Exodus and Leviticus seem to indicate, glory was a substance that was found in the cloud that settled on Mount Sinai and eventually on the tabernacle and the Ark of the Testimony during the Israelites’ sojourn in the Wilderness.
- Exod. 16:7, Moses to the Israelites in the Wilderness: “And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord.”
- Exod. 16: 10, Moses, when announcing the appearance of manna: “…behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.”
- Exod. 24: 15–17, on Mount Sinai: “And the appearance of the glory of the Lord [was] like consuming fire on top of the mountain before the eyes of the Israelites.”
- Ex: 33:18, Moses to the Lord on Mount Sinai: “Let me see your glory.” But he was not allowed to. “…as my glory is passing …I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and My palm will cover you during My passing.”
- Exod. 40:34–35, when the construction of the tabernacle was finished: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to come into the tent of meeting because the cloud dwelt on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
- Lev. 9:4, 6, in connection with the need to first offer certain sacrifices to avoid the danger of the glory in the cloud: “For today the Lord will appear to you…. This thing you will do [sacrifice], then the glory of the Lord will appear to you.”
- Lev. 9:23, when Moses and Aaron first went into the newly constructed tent of meeting: “Then they came out and they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.”
Clearly the radical shift of glory’s original meaning (a substance) to the way it was defined as praise for the Lord raises several important questions. Why did the meaning shift? What was the purpose of this substance? Why did it seem to be dangerous?
There are clear answers to these questions, and the pieces to this puzzle have been put together in Talking with God: The Radioactive Ark Of The Testimony. Available at Amazon. Join the ongoing investigation of the Old Testament’s puzzling questions at TalkingWithGod.net.
Hi, Reading this extract about glory and its meanings and shift of use I was wondering if passover has anything to do with glory? Is glory the good but dangerous aspect of god’s presence whilst what occured at passover was its good but dangerous aspect used against the captors of the Jews?
When god says he shall place moses in a crack in a rock and place his palm over him to prevent him from seeing his Glory, what is the meaning of the word palm? Thankyou.
I read the Bible and try to understand, often I wonder what it really means and if we can truly ever understand all of it, yet we re-interpret its contents as our perceptions and understanding of the world change, amazingly the bible still speaks to us and has the ability to guide our lives so many many years after it was written down. Not to mention the unfathomable time that parts of it were passed down by word of mouth before being written down.