![\"Yet](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2024\/02\/Sheshonq_II_mask2004.jpg\")
<\/a>(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
At one point, in an exhibit on pharaonic Egypt that my wife and I visited a year or two ago in Sydney, Australia, the exhibit signage spoke about the ancient Egyptian belief that the \u201cskin\u201d of the gods was gold, because of its brilliance and because it doesn\u2019t tarnish.\u00a0 At another point, referring to Pharaoh Sheshonq II or Shoshenq II, the signage described the gold toe and finger coverings and other gold items with which he was buried.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, I found myself wondering about all the gold associated with pharaonic burials.\u00a0 I was specifically thinking of the gold face masks of the royal mummies.\u00a0 These are most famously but not solely illustrated by Tutankhamen\u2019s famous mask, which was still housed in the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in Cairo when we were last there in January 2023 but which may possibly have been transferred to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza since then.\u00a0 Sheshonq II himself had such a funerary mask.\u00a0 (See the image above.)<\/p>\n Were the ancient Egyptian artists trying to represent the radiance that they thought characterized immortal divine beings such as the gods (and the deified pharaohs who were now numbered<\/em> among the gods)?\u00a0 And where would they have gotten this idea of divine radiance?<\/p>\n Those who have encountered such divine beings often refer to the light that accompanied them.\u00a0 One of the children who saw seemingly angelic figures during the famous 1986 \u201cCokeville Miracle\u201d in western Wyoming described them as having \u201clight bulbs inside them.\u201d\u00a0 (Analogous comments are not uncommon in accounts of near-death experiences.)\u00a0 Moses, who lacked any experience with electric lighting, met the Lord at Mt. Sinai amid what he understood as flame:<\/p>\n And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. \u00a0(Exodus 3:2)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Book of Mormon records the prophetic call of Lehi in part as follows:<\/p>\n And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly.\u00a0 (1 Nephi 1:6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In one of Joseph Smith\u2019s accounts of his 1820 First Vision, he indicates that when he saw the column of light descending in which, shortly, he would see the Father and the Son, he was momentarily afraid that, when it touched the trees, they would burst into flame.\u00a0 (He, too, lived in \u201ca world lit only by fire.\u201d). Consider, too, this passage from the canonical account of that vision:<\/p>\n I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.<\/p>\n It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.\u00a0 (Joseph Smith \u2013 History 1:16c-17a)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And this passage, recounting the first visit to Joseph Smith of the Angel Moroni:<\/p>\n I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage\u00a0appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.<\/p>\n He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. . . .<\/p>\n Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear\u00a0soon left me.\u00a0 (Joseph Smith \u2013 History 1:30-32)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Were the ancient Egyptians, perhaps guided by accounts of actual visitations and\/or memories of near-death experiences, attempting with their gold to capture something of the radiant glory of celestial beings?\u00a0 (The much later Byzantines seem, to me anyway, to have been trying something along the same lines with their golden mosaics.)<\/p>\n I have been very impressed by my recent reading of Brant Pitre, Jesus and Divine Christology<\/em> (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024). \u00a0Here\u2019s a passage from one of Dr. Pitre\u2019s subordinate arguments that reminded me of my reflections on Egyptian and Byzantine gold art and, more broadly, on the divine light, above:<\/p>\n [A]fter reaching the top of the mountain [of Transfiguration], Peter, James, and John experience a kind of heavenly vision in which the appearance of Jesus is altered so that his clothing becomes luminously \u201cwhite\u201d (Matt 17:2; Mark 9:3; Luke 9:3). \u00a0The luminosity of Jesus\u2019s garments is extremely significant: in both Jewish Scripture and early Jewish apocalypses, luminously white garments are often worn by heavenly beings.<\/p>\n For example, in the book of Psalms, \u201cthe Lord\u201d is described as being \u201cwrapped in light as with a garment\u201d (Ps 104:2) \u2014 something that is \u201cpart of the imagery of appearances of ancient Near East divinities.\u201d \u00a0Even more striking, both the book of Daniel and the early Jewish apocalypse of Enoch describe God in heaven as wearing dazzlingly white garments:<\/p>\n As I [Daniel] watched,<\/span> And I [Enoch] was looking, In both passages, Daniel and Enoch are described as seeing the luminous garments of God in the context of an apocalyptic theophany in which they (somehow) \u201csee\u201d God (cf. Dan 7:1-18; 1 Enoch 14:1-17). \u00a0This strongly suggests that Peter, James, and John\u2019s vision of the transfiguration of Jesus\u2019s clothing is likewise both apocalyptic and theophanic. \u00a0Just as Daniel and Enoch experience an apocalyptic vision in which the God of Israel appears in heaven dressed in supernaturally white clothing, so now Peter, James, and John have an apocalyptic vision in which Jesus appears on the mountaintop dressed in luminously white garments.<\/p>\n If this assessment is correct, then the Synoptic accounts of the transfiguration suggest that Jesus is not merely a human being; he is also a heavenly being<\/em> \u2014 one who temporarily lifts the visible appearance of his humanity to give his disciples a glimpse of his invisible heavenly glory. \u00a0In this regard, it is significant that other human figures in early Jewish literature only become luminous after death, once they have been raised from the dead (Dan 12:6-7) or are exalted into heaven (Testament of Abraham 11:4-9). \u00a0By contrast, Jesus appears dressed in luminous garments during his earthly life. \u00a0In other words, Jesus is being depicted as a human who is already a heavenly being<\/em>, but whose heavenly identity is currently hidden under his ordinary human appearance. \u00a0(90-91, italics in the original)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n On a dramatically different note: \u00a0Here\u2019s a short but helpful article on the OUPblog<\/em> that is maintained by Oxford University Press \u00a0 It\u2019s by Barbara Jones Brown, who, with Richard E. Turley Jr., recently published Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath<\/em> through, well, Oxford University Press: The article is entitled \u201cFact and fiction behind American Primeval.<\/em>\u201c<\/a><\/p>\n And here\u2019s another critical piece about American Primeval<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cThe Harm of Egregiously Misleading Historical Fiction\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Tut's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/05\/TUT-Ausstellung_FFM_2012_47_7117819557.jpg\")
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Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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![\"O](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/04\/647px-Johnchrysostom.jpg\")
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\nthrones were set in place,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and an Ancient of Days\u00a0took his throne;<\/span><\/span>
\nhis clothing was white as snow<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and the hair of his head like pure wool;<\/span><\/span>
\nhis throne was fiery flames,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and its wheels were burning fire. \u00a0(Daniel 7:9, slightly modified)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nAnd I saw a lofty throne . . .
\nAnd the Great Glory sat upon it;
\nhis raiment was like the appearance of the sun
\nand whiter than much snow,
\nAnd no angel could enter into this house and behold his face
\nbecause of the splendor and glory;
\nand no flesh could behold him. \u00a0(1 Enoch 14:18, 20-21, trans. George W. E. Nickelsburg)<\/p>\n![\"MMM](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/11\/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre.jpg\")
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