Smell
“Both Old and New Testaments speak of God as one who shares sensory perception with us. As the King James has it, He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?”
The God of the Bible smells in both senses of the word. He has an odor and he inhales aromas. The smell of sacrifices is pleasing to God (mentioned multiple times in the OT).
Smell is related to emotion in out brains. Prayers of the saints are described as incense carried in golden bowls.
Smells are hard to describe, as is God.
“And walk in love, as also the Christ did love us, and did give himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell,” or, as the King James has it, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.” When Jesus was on the cross, He smelled to his father like all that incense: a sweet-smelling savour.”
We use odor to define moral classes of people. Poor people stink. But we should remember that Jesus was often homeless and sure he didn’t always smell good. “The possibility of my being a sweet-scented offering may turn precisely on my remembering that Jesus, the Fragrance of Life, was a sometimes homeless man whose body was not always perfumed by women bearing nard. He surely sometimes stank.”
Excerpt From: Lauren F. Winner. “Wearing God.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/9tAcR.l
Excerpt From: Lauren F. Winner. “Wearing God.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/9tAcR.l
Excerpt From: Lauren F. Winner. “Wearing God.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/9tAcR.l
Excerpt From: Lauren F. Winner. “Wearing God.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/9tAcR.l