Anthropomorphisms and their Meaning

by Ludwig Khler
from Old Testament Theology (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1957), pp. 22-25.

[In the Old Testament] the language which ascribes to God the attributes of
man is neither restrained nor incidental; indeed, anthropomorphism is to be
found on every page of the Old Testament in a wealth of detail, unashamed and
even drastic. God speaks,Gen. 1:3; converses, Lev. 4:1; calls, Lev. 1:1; he hears, Ex.
16:12; sees, Gen. 1:4; smells, 1 Sam 26:19; laughs, Ps. 2:4; and hisses, Isa. 7:18. He
has eyes, Amos 9:4, which he sets on sinners; hands, with which he grasps
them, Amos 9:2; a hand, that is against the prophets that see vanity, Ezek. 13:9;
fingers, with which he writes the tables of the Law, Deut. 9:10; an arm, which he
stretches out with might, Jer. 27:5, and which he lays bare before all nations to
seperate them, Isa. 52:10; ears, Num. 11:18, 14:28, Ezek. 8:18, 2 Kings 19:28; feet,
under which he whirls the clouds like dust, Nah. 1:3, and for which there is even
a footstool, Isa. 66:1; a mouth, with which he instructs the peoples, Jer. 9:12; lips
that are full of indignation and a tongue that is a devouring fire, Isa. 30:27; a
head, that has a defense, Ps. 60:7; a face which he maketh to shine upon his
saints, Num. 6:25, and which he hides to the terror of the creature, Ps. 104:29;
and a back which Moses was permitted to see, Ex. 33:23. His heart turns within
him and his emotions are kindled, Hos. 11:8 [read [

] .
Not only is God represented as possessing parts of the human body; he also
has feelings and passions like those of a man. Alongside anthropomorphisms in
the strict sense there are anthropopathisms. He feels delight, Jer. 9:24; shows
favor, Isa. 60:10; he rejoices with joy and exultation, Zeph. 3:17. But he also
rebukes, Isa. 17:13; he hates, Deut. 12:31; he rejects, Jer. 14:19; he abhors, Ps.
106:40; he feels disgust, Lev. 20:23. He is provoked to anger, Jer. 7:18, and can be
jealous; indeed this is an outstanding trait of his character. While the gods of a
Pantheon need to be tolerant and permit their worshippers to invoke other gods,
the God of the Old Testament never ceases to insist upon his exclusiveness. "I am
a jealous God," Ex. 20:5, Deut. 5:9. The position of this text is noteworthyit is in
the Decaloguea significant place and one that was always immediately
relevant to everyone under the Old Covenant. While his outward jealousy is
unchanged (see pp. 52, 66) his inward reactions are variable. He can repent of
what he has undertaken; Gen. 6:6, Jonah 3:10. He can be moved to intense anger:
it is kindled against Israel's insubordination, 2 Sam. 24:1, and his anger and his

jealousy smoke against the impenitent, Deut. 29:20. Things can be a trouble to
him, so that he is weary to bear them; Isa. 1:14.
Likewise God's works and ways are described in bold anthropomorphisms. He
treads down the peoples as in a winepress, so that his garments are sprinkled
with their lifeblood, Isa. 63:1-6. He rideth upon the heaven, Deut. 33:26. He goes
forth out of Seir and marches out of the field of Edom, Judg. 5:4. He bursts forth
from his temple and treads upon the high places of the earth, Mic. 1:3. He comes
down to see the Tower of Babel, Gen. 11:5. He walks in his garden in the cool of
the day, Gen. 3:8. Like a Homeric hero he scoffs at his enemies,Ps. 2:4, 59:8. He
bends Judah as a bow and places Ephraim thereon as the arrow, Zech. 9:13. For
he is a man of war, Ex. 15:3, and mighty in battle, Ps. 24:8. When Hosea
compares him to a moth and rottenness, 5:12, to a lion and a young lion, 5:14, to
a lion that roars, 11:10, to a panther that watches by the way, to the dew that
brings growth, 14:5, he is probably making his own spontaneous similes; but
that is not true of the great majority of anthropomorphisms, to which we have
made only scant reference. They are not creations of the moment, but of long
usage and therefore of real significance.
A history of the anthropomorphism of the Old Testament has not yet been
written. It would be of no great value even theologically. For we find very little
variation in the anthropomorphisms from one part of the Old Testament to
another or from one period of time to another. There are certainly a great
number of anthropomorphisms in the Psalter, which as a whole and in its final
form is late, and in the later Prophets: this may be due in part to the fact that the
later writers simply make full use of the forms of expression they have taken
over from their predecessors; it shows also however that they had no objection to
these forms. Anthropomorphisms remain relevant in the Old Testament; they
suffer no "spiritualization."
It is also to be noted that they show no evidence of classification. The Old
Testament does not know a wise God in one place and a warlike or inventive or
ill-humoured or friendly or formidable God in another place. The character of
God varies according to what is appropriate at any one moment. God is not
presented as belonging to a strict or carefully distinguished type; he is presented
as changeable and therefore very much alive, but always the same God. The
result is a great richness in the conception of God. [On the change in
the Septuagint see Charles T. Fritsch, The Anti-Anthropomorphisms of the Greek
Pentateuch, Princeton Univ. Press, 1943.]
One realizes at this point the function of the anthropomorphisms. Their
intention is not in the least to reduce God to a rank similar to that of man. To

describe God in terms of human characteristics is not to humanize him. That has
never happened except in unreasonable polemic. Rather the purpose of
anthropomorphisms is to make God accessible to man. They hold open the door
for encounter and controversy between God's will and man's will. They
represent God as person. They avoid the error of presenting God as a careless
and soulless abstract Idea or a fixed Principle standing over against man like a
strong silent battlement. God is personal. He has a will, he exists in controversy
ready to communicate himself, offended at men's sins yet with a ready ear for
their supplication and compassion for their confessions of guilt: in a word, God
is a living God. Through the anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament God
stands before man as the personal and living God, who meets him with will and
with works, who directs his will and his words towards men and draws near to
men. God is the living God (Jer. 10:10).