Beauty

 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. (Exodus 28:2)

Anh and I recently read the book of Exodus, and one thing that struck me was God's emphasis on beauty. Yes, the various elements of priest's garments and the temple's structure and furnishings were symbolic, and yes, each element was functional, and yes, everything was meant to point to God's holiness ... but there is this focus on beauty as well. The precious jewels, the gold, the colors of the garments ... it's all to be beautiful as well as holy and symbolic and functional.

As someone who has always been strongly drawn to beauty, particularly in music, language, and nature, I love that beauty is mentioned in this passage in Exodus. As I searched for other instances of beauty in the trusty old KJV Bible, I found the phrase "beauty of holiness" repeated several times:

And when [Jehoshaphat] had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. (2 Chronicles 20:21)

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. (Psalm 29:2)

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. (Psalm 96:9)

Other translations use the word "splendor" rather than beauty, but even "splendor" implies a beautiful, glorious appearance.

The beauty of holiness. This phrase tells us that the holy is beautiful, that beauty is an intrinsic quality of holiness. I don't think it goes the other way around; you can certainly have beauty (or what appears to be beauty) that is not holy.

But beauty? I think anything that is beautiful does reflect its Creator in some way. Perhaps that's why we humans are so drawn to it. It saddens me today that so much of "art" these days is not concerned with beauty at all. Or perhaps the definition of beauty has changed so much that this oldster no longer understands it.

A bit of a tangent: I'm not much of a visual artist, but I did take a pretty intense art class when I was younger. I came away from that class feeling like my eyes had been opened, that I could see the beauty in everything--the ugliest bug, the most deformed tree, oldest and most wrinkled human face. For me, everything natural became beautiful. Everything seemed to reflect the Creator's holiness. I was mystified that I'd never before realized how beautiful everything was. I'm thankful that I've never quite lost that sense of wonder.

I recently watched a one-hour video from the late Roger Scruton, "Why Beauty Matters." It's about art, primarily visual art, sculpture, and architecture, and it's about how the concept of beauty in art has been increasingly rejected for the past 100 years. If you have a free hour, it's definitely worth your time.

I find the beauty a little overwhelming here -- the different rocks, the lichen,
and the Eastern hemlock's bright new growth, what I call "fingertips of green fire."