The Master’s Mountain
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORDâ€
(Isaiah 2:3)
The artist, Pablo Picasso was a great admirer of the ground-breaking work of Paul Cezanne. He referred to Cezanne as, “my one and only master.†Picasso was so enthralled with Cezanne’s mountain, Mont Sainte-Victoire, that he contacted his art dealer one day to announce that he had bought it. Since Cezanne had done so many paintings of this mountain, he asked Picasso which one he had purchased. Picasso answered, “Not a painting—the mountain—Mont Sainte Victoire!†Indeed, he had actually acquired Chateau de Vauvenargues, on the side of the mountain (Architectural Digest, May, 2006, 117).
The prophet Isaiah spoke of a time in his distant future when Jerusalem would be elevated by God, and for God’s purpose. Isaiah 2:1-3 makes three statements encouraging all nations to recognize that–
1. This mountain would be the unrivaled mountain of mountains [“the highest of the mountains†and “lifted up above the hillsâ€].
2. This mountain would be the place of origin from whence teaching from God’s law (torah) would begin [“out of Zion†and “from Jerusalem†(see John 4:22; Luke 24:47)].
3. This mountain would launch the law and the word (dabar) of the LORD [“shall go the law …and the word of the LORDâ€].
Beneath a cedar tree on the side of Cezanne’s mountain Picasso is buried. Yes, upon whose mountain one lives, there shall he also be buried. Who is your one and only master? Have you been to the mountain?
-Robert M. Housby