The Mist of Arthur's Seat

this is a picture of Arthur's Seat from my bathroom window

One of the wonderful things about living in Edinburgh is that even though you are in the midst of a city, you are never very far from some wilderness to calm and pacify the soul. Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park are just behind the Palace and a focalpoint of the city, not least because the view is incredible.

I love Arthur's Seat best when it is shrouded in mist like this and wish I could climb it right now. Once F and I climbed the Crags in full-mist, some bits even free-handed, and the solitude in the mist was entirely profound. I felt like great things could happen there.

The mist shrouding Arthur's Seat reminds me of shrouded Mount Zion representing the presence of the Lord. When Moses ascended to receive the 10 Commandments, the description of it reads: 'Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.' Ex. 19.18.

Tremendous things happen in the mist: 'Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was' and 'on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud'. In that cloud, Moses asked of the Lord 'Please show me your glory' and the Lord covered Moses's face with his hand until he passed by; and then he took his hand away, and Moses saw his back. From this thick darkness Moses descended with 'two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God,' tablets bearing instructions that guided this people for thousands of year, and continues to guide them today.

In this mist, God proclaimed beautiful promises: 'I will show steadfast love to thousands of those who love me'; 'And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.' 'I will dwell among the people of Israel and I will be their God.' 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.' The closing lines of the book still sing of this: 'For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and the fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.'

My favorite description of Moses on Mount Sinai is when 'the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.' I find this so intimate, no less because of Moses's reaction: He descended bearing the 10 commandments, but he 'did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.' The people of Israel couldn't look at him directly for 40 days because of this. Such beauty or perhaps such holiness results in a visible physical reaction.

These are the things I think of when I see Arthur's seat shrouded in mist. Not least because of the promise that accompanies it:

7 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all the peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all the peoples,

the shroud that is spread over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take

away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 25. 7-8