Glory of the Lord

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"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food" (Gen 2:9) It is worth noting that the aesthetic dimension (pleasant to the sight) is mentioned here before the material usefulness (good for food) of the trees of paradise. This is the first verse to attest the aesthetic character of the Bible, alongside the reiterated phrase "God saw that it was good". God creates beauty and is pleased by it. This is the very first thing to know about the Creator. There are many words for the beautiful in the Old Testament Hebrew: tiph'ara "beauty", hadar "majesty", 'oz "brightness" etc. However, the most prominent word for the aesthetic in the Bible is "glory" (Hebrew kabod, Greek doxa) that is discussed below. Suffice it to say here that arguably the greatest account on theological aesthetics in the 20th century is Hans Urs von Balthasar's encyclopedic Herrlichkeit (Engl. Glory of the Lord).

Kābōd



Kābōd (ד ובכּ) comes from the root kbd that refers to the physical weight or spiritual importance.  It resembles kabed, "liver", that is often described as the seat of the deepest emotions.  Kabod has a variety of meanings. It may signify the abundance of offspring (Hos 9:11), the physical strength (Job 29:20), or, occasionally, prosperity (Gen 31:1). Most often the word is translated as "glory" or "splendor", notably in kabod Yahweh, "the glory of the Lord."

When Moses asks the Lord "Show me thy glory" (Ex 33:18), kabod has a strong aesthetic emphasis. In this occasion, it could be better translated as "splendor", if not "sweetness". Kabod represents, to apply Rudolf Otto's classical definition. the mysterium fascinosum et tremendum of God. "And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house." (2 Chr 7:2)

Doxa


In the ancient Greek usage doxa means "opinion." Therefore, it is quite astonishing that the same word denotes "Glory" in the Septuagint and the New Testament.  Gerhard Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament states it: "When translator of the OT first  thought of using doxa for kabod, he initiated a linguistic change of far-reaching significance, giving to the Greek term a distinctiveness of sense which could hardly be surpassed. Taking a word for opinion, which implies all the subjectivity and  therefore the vacillation of human views and conjectures, he made it express something absolutely objective, i.e. the reality of God."

Doxa appears in the life of Jesus: in the Christmas story (Lk 2,9) and the transfiguration (Lk 9,31-). The word occurs particularly often in the  Gospel of John, which maintains that "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."(1,14) The turning point, the entry into doxa, is the cross of Christ, where the Father "glorifies" (doxasthenai) the Son (Jn.12,23,28)

The believer may participate in the glory of the Lord. An important passage to attest this is 2 Cor 3,7-19 that compares the fading radiance of the glory of Moses' ministry with that of the New Covenant. "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 

Glory of the Lord appears to be a trinitarian concept. As for the Creator "the whole universe is full of his glory" (Isa 6,3). The glory of God manifests itself in the Son of God and dwells among us. Finally, it is the Spirit of the Lord that glorifies us into his likeness. 


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