What does mean when we speak of God's glory?
Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB - slightly cut down - for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia I. In the Old Testament ‘Glory’ generally represents Heb. kāḇôḏ , with the root idea of ‘heaviness’ and so of ‘weight’ or ‘worthiness’. It is used of men to describe their wealth, splendour or reputation (though in the last sense kāḇôḏ is often rendered ‘honour’). The glory of Israel was not her armies but Yahweh (Je. 2:11). The word could also mean the self or soul (Gn. 49:6). The most important concept is that of the glory of Yahweh. This denotes the revelation of God’s being, nature and presence to mankind, sometimes with physical phenomena. In the Pentateuch the glory of Yahweh went with his people out of Egypt and was shown in the cloud which led them through the wilderness (Ex. 16:7, 10). The cloud rested on Mt Sinai , where Moses saw his glory (Ex. 24:15–18). No man could see God’s f...