THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN - Tyndale House

THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN 81
images can be found in its pages. In order to discover the
meaning of the image, we must find what it signified to those
who worshipped images and thus held beliefs about the nature
of images.
1. In the Ancient Near East, as K. H. Bernhardt has shown
in his monograph Gott und Bild, the primary function of the
image was to be the dwelling-place of spirit or fluid which
derived from the being whose image it was. 130 This fluid was
not immaterial, but was usually conceived of as a fine, rarified,
intangible substance which could penetrate ordinary coarse
matter, so it is often spoken of as 'breath' or 'fire'. Images of the
dead were dwellings for the souls or spirits of the dead, for
whom, especially in Egypt, the provision of a permanent
body was an indispensable prerequisite for peace in the after-
life. Images of the gods were of two kinds: the plastic form and
the living person, usually the king. 'The decisive thing in the
image of the god is not the material nor the form, but the
divine fluid, which inspires the image in that it takes up its
abode in the image.' 131 Thus in the Egyptian text known as the
Memphite Theology, we read that after Ptah had formed the
gods and had made cities 'the gods entered into their bodies
of every (kind of) wood, of every (kind of) stone, of every
(kind of) clay, or anything which might grow upon him [Ptah,
as the ‘rising land’], in which they had taken form'. 132 Osiris
is depicted as coming as spirit in order to descend upon his
image in his shrine and thus unite himself with his form. 132a It
is precisely this belief that images possess the divine fluid or
spirit or breath, which Old Testament polemic denies by its
claim that there is no 'spirit' in idols (Hab. 2:19; Je. 10:14;
51:17). A human being could also be the dwelling-place of a
deity. Religious men, such as priests and prophets, could be
temporarily possessed by a deity, and even a sick man could
be indwelt by a deity in place of a malevolent demon. 133 But of
importance is the figure of the king, who was regarded
at certain times in certain places as the life-long incarnation
of the god. Of the Egyptian king F. Preisigke wrote that he 'is
130
K. H. Bernhardt, Gott und Bild 17-68, especially 17f. Cf. J. Hehn, Festschrift
Sachau 36f.; S. Morenz, Ägyptische Religion, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart (1960)
158-164.
131
K. H. Bernhardt, op. cit. 28.
132
ANET 5b.
132a
H. Junker, Die Stundenwachen in den Osiris-mysterien, Hölder, Wien (1910) 6.
133
K. H. Bernhardt, op. cit. 22.