MOUNTAIN OF MEETING

An expression appearing at Isaiah 14:13, where the king of Babylon is depicted as saying in his heart: “Above the stars of God I shall lift up my throne, and I shall sit down upon the mountain of meeting, in the remotest parts of the north.”

Some scholars hold that this “mountain of meeting” was some distant northerly eminence that the Babylonians regarded as the dwelling place of their gods. However, instead of being prophetic of an actual statement that the king of Babylon would make, the words of Isaiah 14:13 reflect what his ambition and attitude would be. (Compare Isa 47:10.) They are part of a proverbial utterance to be lifted up against the king of Babylon by restored Israelites. (Isa 14:1-4) It therefore logically follows that “the mountain of meeting” must be identified in the light of Scripture and not on the basis of what may have been the pagan religious conception held by Babylon’s king. Certainly the king of Babylon would have no desire to lift up his throne above the stars of a god whom he worshiped. Also, Isaiah 14:14 clearly shows that the reference is, not to one of the Babylonian gods, but to the Most High. Hence “the mountain of meeting” must be associated with the Most High God.

In Isaiah’s time there was only one mountain, Mount Zion (which name came to include the temple site on Mount Moriah), where God representatively met with his people. (Compare Isa 8:18; 18:7; 24:23; Joe 3:17.) It could appropriately be termed “the mountain of meeting” because at the sanctuary there all mature Israelite males were to appear before the face of Jehovah three times each year. (Ex 23:17) Psalm 48:1, 2 further confirms this identification by giving Mount Zion a northerly location, harmonizing with the placement of “the mountain of meeting” in “the remotest parts of the north.”