u/FlatwormThin3129

Saul

Unraveling

 

My madness overtakes me.

I’ve thrown my spear at Jonathan

My son, oh son!  Like the priests of Nob

 

my wrath would kill you as them.

Don't you know the King’s robe

is yours but for sly David?

 

That Samuel would speak

in the Lord’s name made me livid!

Stripping me at my kingdom’s peak

 

for some Amalekite sheep

meant for blessing the Lord,

a pleasing fragrance, delicate, sweet

 

to sate the Mighty one; Agag not gored   

to serve as witness to his god’s

steep fall; my soldiers poured

 

their hearts in this endeavor. I dodge

as best I can the prophet’s plaint

but Jonathan hurls his disrespect

 

and I hurled my spear, stained

with battle’s blood but I suspect

Samuel had his hand in this.

 

I fear the repetitious din

the ricocheting words he hissed

His mouth near mine, taut and grim.

 

Rejected, rejected you has the Lord.

Someone better than you is anointed.

The kingdom’s his, not yours.

 

My bold command-unchain my sin!

Open God’s forgiving doors

before I fall by Satan’s whim.

 

What makes the morning’s moaning?

My foes rise as they hear it.

My Reason asleep, unknowing.

 

What was Saul thinking?

 

Poor Saul, since God rebuked him through the prophet Samuel concerning his failure to destroy the Amalekites, including their cattle and their king, his mind gradually deteriorated.   Although Samuel told him the kingship would go to someone better than he, Samuel did not mention when or who.  So Saul was King in limbo, and this generated much fury and no resignation.   His antipathy poured out to David, who he saw as a threat to the kingship passing to his son Jonathan as the people loved David after he killed Goliath.  His son, Jonathan, loved David as a brother and did not understand his father’s wrath.  Jonathan admitted he would even accept David as King if the Lord so decided, which infuriated Saul, who set out to kill David by any means possible.  When the priests of Nob provided sanctuary to David, not knowing there was anything problematic about the famous David, Saul sent his troops to kill every man, woman and child in the town.   This obsessive and unrequited hatred (David respected Saul even in the most dire moments) ultimately doomed Saul and his son Jonathan, preventing what could have been a smooth transfer of leadership to God’s anointed, David.   

Saul

Unraveling

 

My madness overtakes me.

I’ve thrown my spear at Jonathan

My son, oh son!  Like the priests of Nob

 

my wrath would kill you as them.

Don't you know the King’s robe

is yours but for sly David?

 

That Samuel would speak

in the Lord’s name made me livid!

Stripping me at my kingdom’s peak

 

for some Amalekite sheep

meant for blessing the Lord,

a pleasing fragrance, delicate, sweet

 

to sate the Mighty one; Agag not gored   

to serve as witness to his god’s

steep fall; my soldiers poured

 

their hearts in this endeavor. I dodge

as best I can the prophet’s plaint

but Jonathan hurls his disrespect

 

and I hurled my spear, stained

with battle’s blood but I suspect

Samuel had his hand in this.

 

I fear the repetitious din

the ricocheting words he hissed

His mouth near mine, taut and grim.

 

Rejected, rejected you has the Lord.

Someone better than you is anointed.

The kingdom’s his, not yours.

 

My bold command-unchain my sin!

Open God’s forgiving doors

before I fall by Satan’s whim.

 

What makes the morning’s moaning?

My foes rise as they hear it.

My Reason asleep, unknowing.

 

What was Saul thinking?

 

Poor Saul, since God rebuked him through the prophet Samuel concerning his failure to destroy the Amalekites, including their cattle and their king, his mind gradually deteriorated.   Although Samuel told him the kingship would go to someone better than he, Samuel did not mention when or who.  So Saul was King in limbo, and this generated much fury and no resignation.   His antipathy poured out to David, who he saw as a threat to the kingship passing to his son Jonathan as the people loved David after he killed Goliath.  His son, Jonathan, loved David as a brother and did not understand his father’s wrath.  Jonathan admitted he would even accept David as King if the Lord so decided, which infuriated Saul, who set out to kill David by any means possible.  When the priests of Nob provided sanctuary to David, not knowing there was anything problematic about the famous David, Saul sent his troops to kill every man, woman and child in the town.   This obsessive and unrequited hatred (David respected Saul even in the most dire moments) ultimately doomed Saul and his son Jonathan, preventing what could have been a smooth transfer of leadership to God’s anointed, David.   

Saul

Unraveling

 

My madness overtakes me.

I’ve thrown my spear at Jonathan

My son, oh son!  Like the priests of Nob

 

my wrath would kill you as them.

Don't you know the King’s robe

is yours but for sly David?

 

That Samuel would speak

in the Lord’s name made me livid!

Stripping me at my kingdom’s peak

 

for some Amalekite sheep

meant for blessing the Lord,

a pleasing fragrance, delicate, sweet

 

to sate the Mighty one; Agag not gored   

to serve as witness to his god’s

steep fall; my soldiers poured

 

their hearts in this endeavor. I dodge

as best I can the prophet’s plaint

but Jonathan hurls his disrespect

 

and I hurled my spear, stained

with battle’s blood but I suspect

Samuel had his hand in this.

 

I fear the repetitious din

the ricocheting words he hissed

His mouth near mine, taut and grim.

 

Rejected, rejected you has the Lord.

Someone better than you is anointed.

The kingdom’s his, not yours.

 

My bold command-unchain my sin!

Open God’s forgiving doors

before I fall by Satan’s whim.

 

What makes the morning’s moaning?

My foes rise as they hear it.

My Reason asleep, unknowing.

 

What was Saul thinking?

 

Poor Saul, since God rebuked him through the prophet Samuel concerning his failure to destroy the Amalekites, including their cattle and their king, his mind gradually deteriorated.   Although Samuel told him the kingship would go to someone better than he, Samuel did not mention when or who.  So Saul was King in limbo, and this generated much fury and no resignation.   His antipathy poured out to David, who he saw as a threat to the kingship passing to his son Jonathan as the people loved David after he killed Goliath.  His son, Jonathan, loved David as a brother and did not understand his father’s wrath.  Jonathan admitted he would even accept David as King if the Lord so decided, which infuriated Saul, who set out to kill David by any means possible.  When the priests of Nob provided sanctuary to David, not knowing there was anything problematic about the famous David, Saul sent his troops to kill every man, woman and child in the town.   This obsessive and unrequited hatred (David respected Saul even in the most dire moments) ultimately doomed Saul and his son Jonathan, preventing what could have been a smooth transfer of leadership to God’s anointed, David.   

Saul

Unraveling

 

My madness overtakes me.

I’ve thrown my spear at Jonathan

My son, oh son!  Like the priests of Nob

 

my wrath would kill you as them.

Don't you know the King’s robe

is yours but for sly David?

 

That Samuel would speak

in the Lord’s name made me livid!

Stripping me at my kingdom’s peak

 

for some Amalekite sheep

meant for blessing the Lord,

a pleasing fragrance, delicate, sweet

 

to sate the Mighty one; Agag not gored   

to serve as witness to his god’s

steep fall; my soldiers poured

 

their hearts in this endeavor. I dodge

as best I can the prophet’s plaint

but Jonathan hurls his disrespect

 

and I hurled my spear, stained

with battle’s blood but I suspect

Samuel had his hand in this.

 

I fear the repetitious din

the ricocheting words he hissed

His mouth near mine, taut and grim.

 

Rejected, rejected you has the Lord.

Someone better than you is anointed.

The kingdom’s his, not yours.

 

My bold command-unchain my sin!

Open God’s forgiving doors

before I fall by Satan’s whim.

 

What makes the morning’s moaning?

My foes rise as they hear it.

My Reason asleep, unknowing.

 

What was Saul thinking?

 

Poor Saul, since God rebuked him through the prophet Samuel concerning his failure to destroy the Amalekites, including their cattle and their king, his mind gradually deteriorated.   Although Samuel told him the kingship would go to someone better than he, Samuel did not mention when or who.  So Saul was King in limbo, and this generated much fury and no resignation.   His antipathy poured out to David, who he saw as a threat to the kingship passing to his son Jonathan as the people loved David after he killed Goliath.  His son, Jonathan, loved David as a brother and did not understand his father’s wrath.  Jonathan admitted he would even accept David as King if the Lord so decided, which infuriated Saul, who set out to kill David by any means possible.  When the priests of Nob provided sanctuary to David, not knowing there was anything problematic about the famous David, Saul sent his troops to kill every man, woman and child in the town.   This obsessive and unrequited hatred (David respected Saul even in the most dire moments) ultimately doomed Saul and his son Jonathan, preventing what could have been a smooth transfer of leadership to God’s anointed, David.   

I had a dream in the blink of an eye.

I thought happily, well, why not, I sighed.

If only I could end suffering, I would try.

I begged the Lord, Let me heal, praying.

I felt heat in my hands, red flaring.

With the healing gift I went seeking the sick, caring.

When I found one I touched him with feeling.

He would stare at me silent, tearing.

Soon I found others and did the same.

Then they found me, in my holy domain.

The word got out, more like a shout;

first one, then dozens came for relief;

then thousands were pounding my door to my grief.

Exhausted, sleepless, I had more than my fill.

Lord! Cease the red flaring making me ill.

I prayed to the Lord finding myself shocked

as the banging on my door neither lessened nor stopped.

A Voice sorrowful said, What did you think?

You could be like God with a blink and a wink?

 

What was Elisha thinking?

Actually, Elisha the Prophet was God loved and biblically a profoundly moving presence in the Bible.  Elisha Redux has him speaking a modern vernacular and is a much more lightweight character befitting a modern man trying ineffectually to mimic one of Elisha’s most characteristic capabilities, that of healing.  See my The Shunammite Woman for a glimpse of his stature.   This poem is a chiasm where the poem achieves a sort of closure when the end of the narrative refers back to the beginning.  The center line of the poem represents the turning point of the narrative.  So the first line in the poem mirrors the last line in messaging, the second line mirrors the next to last line and so on.  (See my commentary on another chiasm I wrote for substack, Esau’s Blessing.)  Elisha Redux has good intentions but he discovers ruefully that he does not understand the purpose of suffering, its relationship to sin, and the God infused messaging that suffering targets about which the original Elisha surely had more clarity.  The painting below shows the original Elisha with humility about to help the Shunammite woman whose child he had promised God would provide her and who now lay dying.   

Prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman on Mt. Carmel

Gerbrand Van Den Eeckhout

 

https://preview.redd.it/cwviya8x681h1.jpg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86ad8ec19c0c4a430c60cd9edf4593fcb3ef818d

I had a dream in the blink of an eye.

I thought happily, well, why not, I sighed.

If only I could end suffering, I would try.

I begged the Lord, Let me heal, praying.

I felt heat in my hands, red flaring.

With the healing gift I went seeking the sick, caring.

When I found one I touched him with feeling.

He would stare at me silent, tearing.

Soon I found others and did the same.

Then they found me, in my holy domain.

The word got out, more like a shout;

first one, then dozens came for relief;

then thousands were pounding my door to my grief.

Exhausted, sleepless, I had more than my fill.

Lord! Cease the red flaring making me ill.

I prayed to the Lord finding myself shocked

as the banging on my door neither lessened nor stopped.

A Voice sorrowful said, What did you think?

You could be like God with a blink and a wink?

 

What was Elisha thinking?

Actually, Elisha the Prophet was God loved and biblically a profoundly moving presence in the Bible.  Elisha Redux has him speaking a modern vernacular and is a much more lightweight character befitting a modern man trying ineffectually to mimic one of Elisha’s most characteristic capabilities, that of healing.  See my The Shunammite Woman for a glimpse of his stature.   This poem is a chiasm where the poem achieves a sort of closure when the end of the narrative refers back to the beginning.  The center line of the poem represents the turning point of the narrative.  So the first line in the poem mirrors the last line in messaging, the second line mirrors the next to last line and so on.  (See my commentary on another chiasm I wrote for substack, Esau’s Blessing.)  Elisha Redux has good intentions but he discovers ruefully that he does not understand the purpose of suffering, its relationship to sin, and the God infused messaging that suffering targets about which the original Elisha surely had more clarity.  The painting below shows the original Elisha with humility about to help the Shunammite woman whose child he had promised God would provide her and who now lay dying.   

Prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman on Mt. Carmel

Gerbrand Van Den Eeckhout

 

https://preview.redd.it/yc7t5hxs681h1.jpg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8c310c1e9b24a1d76109d1de0f2bfffe2f7a37b

I had a dream in the blink of an eye.

I thought happily, well, why not, I sighed.

If only I could end suffering, I would try.

I begged the Lord, Let me heal, praying.

I felt heat in my hands, red flaring.

With the healing gift I went seeking the sick, caring.

When I found one I touched him with feeling.

He would stare at me silent, tearing.

Soon I found others and did the same.

Then they found me, in my holy domain.

The word got out, more like a shout;

first one, then dozens came for relief;

then thousands were pounding my door to my grief.

Exhausted, sleepless, I had more than my fill.

Lord! Cease the red flaring making me ill.

I prayed to the Lord finding myself shocked

as the banging on my door neither lessened nor stopped.

A Voice sorrowful said, What did you think?

You could be like God with a blink and a wink?

 

What was Elisha thinking?

Actually, Elisha the Prophet was God loved and biblically a profoundly moving presence in the Bible.  Elisha Redux has him speaking a modern vernacular and is a much more lightweight character befitting a modern man trying ineffectually to mimic one of Elisha’s most characteristic capabilities, that of healing.  See my The Shunammite Woman for a glimpse of his stature.   This poem is a chiasm where the poem achieves a sort of closure when the end of the narrative refers back to the beginning.  The center line of the poem represents the turning point of the narrative.  So the first line in the poem mirrors the last line in messaging, the second line mirrors the next to last line and so on.  (See my commentary on another chiasm I wrote for substack, Esau’s Blessing.)  Elisha Redux has good intentions but he discovers ruefully that he does not understand the purpose of suffering, its relationship to sin, and the God infused messaging that suffering targets about which the original Elisha surely had more clarity.  The painting below shows the original Elisha with humility about to help the Shunammite woman whose child he had promised God would provide her and who now lay dying.   

Prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman on Mt. Carmel

Gerbrand Van Den Eeckhout

 

https://preview.redd.it/fm2rr9g4681h1.jpg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e762b86753e91d074b2b076b3b4906decb280c45

Shulamis

Daughter of Divri

 

Why was I born?

All around me is scorn

for my son, drawn

 

from my arms forever.

I call to them, look! he endeavors

to take it back, back; never

 

except in anger would he

blaspheme the Lord; see

his regret, his remorse; my plea

 

falling on deaf ears, the clothes

he wears torn, torn, like Joseph’s

by his bothers; my anguish grows

 

while Moses entreats the Lord.

My Egyptian husband the sword

to cut my son from Dan’s windy ward.

 

The blame is mine; he has nothing.

Alone among Jews, their loathing

a stone they will throw at the closing

 

of this day.  I feel it!  I fear it!

Dare I breathe or heave near it!

Grieve, I grieve, I can’t bear it.

 

 

 

What was Shulamis thinking?

 

This is a sad story of a young man, though Jewish, wandering among

Jews where he is only partially excepted.  Though Jewish from his mother, whose father was Divri of the tribe of Dan, he had an Egyptian father.  Since tribal land was passed on from father to son, Shulamis’ son was denied a physical part of the “windy ward” that was Dan’s tribal lands.  This had to frustrate him, and his anger erupted when he argued with an Israelite, according to Midrash (Jewish commentary), about his rightful place among the tribe of Dan.  During the argument a fight started during which he cursed the name of God.   As the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people was the whole purpose of the land of Canaan being given to the Israelites in the first place, his public blaspheming threatened the entire foundation of that relationship.  No respect for God, if disseminated through the tribes, meant no covenant and no reason to have a promised land.   But the current justice system had no rules for dealing with this extreme violation, so the son was brought to Moses, who inquired of God about what to do.  God laid out the death penalty for this violation.  Thus the law was set for all time that one who publicly blasphemes (after being warned by someone in earshot) against the Lord shall “bear his guilt”.  Shulamis was a helpless witness to this storm of public and heavenly fury, and the poem speaks of her anticipation of the deadly verdict.  The entire episode is described beautifully in an article in the Jewish Press by Raemia A. Luchins, a convert to Judaism herself, who discusses the emotional pain of belonging to a people who only partially accept you, or are uncomfortable with the complexity of a situation like the son of Shulamis presented to his brethren.  Shout out to James Sale for the poem being written in tercets (3 line stanzas), who in his introduction to his amazing epic, Volume 1 of his English Cantos called Hell Ward, he complained how relatively few English poets wrote in 3 line stanzas.  Thought I would give it a try.

 

Shulamis

Daughter of Divri

 

Why was I born?

All around me is scorn

for my son, drawn

 

from my arms forever.

I call to them, look! he endeavors

to take it back, back; never

 

except in anger would he

blaspheme the Lord; see

his regret, his remorse; my plea

 

falling on deaf ears, the clothes

he wears torn, torn, like Joseph’s

by his brothers; my anguish grows

 

while Moses entreats the Lord.

My Egyptian husband the sword

to cut my son from Dan’s windy ward.

 

The blame is mine; he has nothing.

Alone among Jews, their loathing

a stone they will throw at the closing

 

of this day.  I feel it!  I fear it!

Dare I breathe or heave near it!

Grieve, I grieve, I can’t bear it.

 

 

 

What was Shulamis thinking?

 

This is a sad story of a young man, though Jewish, wandering among Jews where he is only partially accepted.  Though Jewish from his mother, whose father was Divri of the tribe of Dan, he had an Egyptian father.  Since tribal land was passed on from father to son, Shulamis’ son was denied a physical part of the “windy ward” that was Dan’s tribal lands.  This had to frustrate him, and his anger erupted when he argued with an Israelite, according to Midrash (Jewish commentary), about his rightful place among the tribe of Dan.  During the argument a fight started during which he cursed the name of God.   As the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people was the whole purpose of the land of Canaan being given to the Israelites in the first place, his public blaspheming threatened the entire foundation of that relationship.  No respect for God, if disseminated through the tribes, meant no covenant and no reason to have a promised land.   But the current justice system had no rules for dealing with this extreme violation, so the son was brought to Moses, who inquired of God about what to do.  God laid out the death penalty for this violation.  Thus the law was set for all time that one who publicly blasphemes (after being warned by someone in earshot) against the Lord shall “bear his guilt”.  Shulamis was a helpless witness to this storm of public and heavenly fury, and the poem speaks of her anticipation of the deadly verdict.  The entire episode is described beautifully in an article in the Jewish Press by Raemia A. Luchins, a convert to Judaism herself, who discusses the emotional pain of belonging to a people who only partially accept you, or are uncomfortable with the complexity of a situation like the son of Shulamis presented to his brethren.  Shout out to James Sale for the poem being written in tercets (3 line stanzas), who in his introduction to his amazing epic, Volume 1 of his English Cantos called Hell Ward, he complained how relatively few English poets wrote in 3 line stanzas.  Thought I would give it a try.

 

https://preview.redd.it/2gv1vwm4ytzg1.png?width=624&format=png&auto=webp&s=afcc0ccc1407cec6f993eed69ab19e4eb8cf739a

AI painting of Shulamis watching her son dragged to Moses

Shulamis

Daughter of Divri

 

Why was I born?

All around me is scorn

for my son, drawn

 

from my arms forever.

I call to them, look! he endeavors

to take it back, back; never

 

except in anger would he

blaspheme the Lord; see

his regret, his remorse; my plea

 

falling on deaf ears, the clothes

he wears torn, torn, like Joseph’s

by his brothers; my anguish grows

 

while Moses entreats the Lord.

My Egyptian husband the sword

to cut my son from Dan’s windy ward.

 

The blame is mine; he has nothing.

Alone among Jews, their loathing

a stone they will throw at the closing

 

of this day.  I feel it!  I fear it!

Dare I breathe or heave near it!

Grieve, I grieve, I can’t bear it.

 

 

 

What was Shulamis thinking?

 

This is a sad story of a young man, though Jewish, wandering among Jews where he is only partially accepted.  Though Jewish from his mother, whose father was Divri of the tribe of Dan, he had an Egyptian father.  Since tribal land was passed on from father to son, Shulamis’ son was denied a physical part of the “windy ward” that was Dan’s tribal lands.  This had to frustrate him, and his anger erupted when he argued with an Israelite, according to Midrash (Jewish commentary), about his rightful place among the tribe of Dan.  During the argument a fight started during which he cursed the name of God.   As the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people was the whole purpose of the land of Canaan being given to the Israelites in the first place, his public blaspheming threatened the entire foundation of that relationship.  No respect for God, if disseminated through the tribes, meant no covenant and no reason to have a promised land.   But the current justice system had no rules for dealing with this extreme violation, so the son was brought to Moses, who inquired of God about what to do.  God laid out the death penalty for this violation.  Thus the law was set for all time that one who publicly blasphemes (after being warned by someone in earshot) against the Lord shall “bear his guilt”.  Shulamis was a helpless witness to this storm of public and heavenly fury, and the poem speaks of her anticipation of the deadly verdict.  The entire episode is described beautifully in an article in the Jewish Press by Raemia A. Luchins, a convert to Judaism herself, who discusses the emotional pain of belonging to a people who only partially accept you, or are uncomfortable with the complexity of a situation like the son of Shulamis presented to his brethren.  Shout out to James Sale for the poem being written in tercets (3 line stanzas), who in his introduction to his amazing epic, Volume 1 of his English Cantos called Hell Ward, he complained how relatively few English poets wrote in 3 line stanzas.  Thought I would give it a try.

 

https://preview.redd.it/mgxeoehvxtzg1.png?width=624&format=png&auto=webp&s=ced4e07eee96feb9cd57efdeac5bf74f6c44e44c

AI painting of Shulamis watching her son dragged to Moses

Shulamis

Daughter of Divri

 

Why was I born?

All around me is scorn

for my son, drawn

 

from my arms forever.

I call to them, look! he endeavors

to take it back, back; never

 

except in anger would he

blaspheme the Lord; see

his regret, his remorse; my plea

 

falling on deaf ears, the clothes

he wears torn, torn, like Joseph’s

by his bothers; my anguish grows

 

while Moses entreats the Lord.

My Egyptian husband the sword

to cut my son from Dan’s windy ward.

 

The blame is mine; he has nothing.

Alone among Jews, their loathing

a stone they will throw at the closing

 

of this day.  I feel it!  I fear it!

Dare I breathe or heave near it!

Grieve, I grieve, I can’t bear it.

 

 

 

What was Shulamis thinking?

 

This is a sad story of a young man, though Jewish, wandering among

Jews where he is only partially excepted.  Though Jewish from his mother, whose father was Divri of the tribe of Dan, he had an Egyptian father.  Since tribal land was passed on from father to son, Shulamis’ son was denied a physical part of the “windy ward” that was Dan’s tribal lands.  This had to frustrate him, and his anger erupted when he argued with an Israelite, according to Midrash (Jewish commentary), about his rightful place among the tribe of Dan.  During the argument a fight started during which he cursed the name of God.   As the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people was the whole purpose of the land of Canaan being given to the Israelites in the first place, his public blaspheming threatened the entire foundation of that relationship.  No respect for God, if disseminated through the tribes, meant no covenant and no reason to have a promised land.   But the current justice system had no rules for dealing with this extreme violation, so the son was brought to Moses, who inquired of God about what to do.  God laid out the death penalty for this violation.  Thus the law was set for all time that one who publicly blasphemes (after being warned by someone in earshot) against the Lord shall “bear his guilt”.  Shulamis was a helpless witness to this storm of public and heavenly fury, and the poem speaks of her anticipation of the deadly verdict.  The entire episode is described beautifully in an article in the Jewish Press by Raemia A. Luchins, a convert to Judaism herself, who discusses the emotional pain of belonging to a people who only partially accept you, or are uncomfortable with the complexity of a situation like the son of Shulamis presented to his brethren.  Shout out to James Sale for the poem being written in tercets (3 line stanzas), who in his introduction to his amazing epic, Volume 1 of his English Cantos called Hell Ward, he complained how relatively few English poets wrote in 3 line stanzas.  Thought I would give it a try.

 

Shulamis

Daughter of Divri

 

Why was I born?

All around me is scorn

for my son, drawn

 

from my arms forever.

I call to them, look! he endeavors

to take it back, back; never

 

except in anger would he

blaspheme the Lord; see

his regret, his remorse; my plea

 

falling on deaf ears, the clothes

he wears torn, torn, like Joseph’s

by his brothers; my anguish grows

 

while Moses entreats the Lord.

My Egyptian husband the sword

to cut my son from Dan’s windy ward.

 

The blame is mine; he has nothing.

Alone among Jews, their loathing

a stone they will throw at the closing

 

of this day.  I feel it!  I fear it!

Dare I breathe or heave near it!

Grieve, I grieve, I can’t bear it.

 

 

 

What was Shulamis thinking?

 

This is a sad story of a young man, though Jewish, wandering among Jews where he is only partially accepted.  Though Jewish from his mother, whose father was Divri of the tribe of Dan, he had an Egyptian father.  Since tribal land was passed on from father to son, Shulamis’ son was denied a physical part of the “windy ward” that was Dan’s tribal lands.  This had to frustrate him, and his anger erupted when he argued with an Israelite, according to Midrash (Jewish commentary), about his rightful place among the tribe of Dan.  During the argument a fight started during which he cursed the name of God.   As the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people was the whole purpose of the land of Canaan being given to the Israelites in the first place, his public blaspheming threatened the entire foundation of that relationship.  No respect for God, if disseminated through the tribes, meant no covenant and no reason to have a promised land.   But the current justice system had no rules for dealing with this extreme violation, so the son was brought to Moses, who inquired of God about what to do.  God laid out the death penalty for this violation.  Thus the law was set for all time that one who publicly blasphemes (after being warned by someone in earshot) against the Lord shall “bear his guilt”.  Shulamis was a helpless witness to this storm of public and heavenly fury, and the poem speaks of her anticipation of the deadly verdict.  The entire episode is described beautifully in an article in the Jewish Press by Raemia A. Luchins, a convert to Judaism herself, who discusses the emotional pain of belonging to a people who only partially accept you, or are uncomfortable with the complexity of a situation like the son of Shulamis presented to his brethren.  Shout out to James Sale for the poem being written in tercets (3 line stanzas), who in his introduction to his amazing epic, Volume 1 of his English Cantos called Hell Ward, he complained how relatively few English poets wrote in 3 line stanzas.  Thought I would give it a try.

 

https://preview.redd.it/8436kolbxtzg1.png?width=624&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b17e331794070883ff09d30cf5234abc890f95b

AI painting of Shulamis watching her son dragged to Moses

Joseph, so vainly you strutted with your father’s gift.

Your fancy coat slapped our faces, your brothers stiffed!

How should we punish you?

We wanted you dead, but why that crime

when lesser would do.

Buried in slavery enough for you.

So we lied to Jacob.

Interred in Egypt far from your father,

what more could we ask?

But the crime that we birthed

punished us with taunting mirth;

your flaunted coat launched such trouble

that humbled, we stumbled, deep in the rubble. 

 

 

What was Judah thinking?

 

Judah was beginning to realize the consequences of decisions he had made earlier in life, along with his brothers.  A long generational sequence of events occurred downhill of the decision to sell Joseph into slavery.  It led to the misery of his father Jacob, the enslavement of Joseph for 12 years until his miraculous assignation as Viceroy of Egypt, Judah’s move to another region away from his father and brothers from guilt and self -recrimination, the marriage to a local woman that produced three sons, two dying young, Judah’s sordid encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Then famine, Joseph testing his brothers in Egypt, the displacement of Jacob and his entire family to Egypt, the population growth of the tribes enlarging to the point where Pharoah feared them, leading to a centuries long enslavement and ultimately the Exodus under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  Whew!  Who knew what a bad decision could lead to.  It is incumbent for us to learn Judah’s lesson that a choice made in the moment, if bad, can have devastating long-term consequences.  The obverse- good decisions can also rebound for generations.  Keep that in mind when you choose to say something hurtful.  Be kind instead- your actions, your choices are the stones of a highway to heaven or hell.  Beware! (Painting shows the bloody coat offered as “proof” to father Jacob that his favored son Joseph was taken by a wild animal.)

The poem was written in chiastic style with the first line mirroring the last line, the second line mirroring the next to last line, etc. 

Summary of the chiasm:

1)the origin of the moral crime

2. the stinging central sin (in bold face)

3. the consequences and guilt

 

Note the symmetry:  the first line Joseph struts, the last line Judah and his brothers stumble, the second line, “…your fancy coat…  the next to last line- “your flaunted coat…”, the third line from the top- ‘How should we punish you” vs the 3^(rd) line from the bottom-“punished us with taunting mirth” all pouring from the fountain of the poem, the middle line in boldface.

Let me know how it works for you.

https://preview.redd.it/xrqzppxh8gyg1.jpg?width=532&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38ecf12c2addf61605531725feab08efec6bdd5f

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s Interpretation (c. 1600s)
Another poignant visual of the moment Jacob receives the coat and mourns.

 

Joseph, so vainly you strutted with your father’s gift.

Your fancy coat slapped our faces, your brothers stiffed!

How should we punish you?

We wanted you dead, but why that crime

when lesser would do.

Buried in slavery enough for you.

So we lied to Jacob.

Interred in Egypt far from your father,

what more could we ask?

But the crime that we birthed

punished us with taunting mirth;

your flaunted coat launched such trouble

that humbled, we stumbled, deep in the rubble. 

 

 

What was Judah thinking?

 

Judah was beginning to realize the consequences of decisions he had made earlier in life, along with his brothers.  A long generational sequence of events occurred downhill of the decision to sell Joseph into slavery.  It led to the misery of his father Jacob, the enslavement of Joseph for 12 years until his miraculous assignation as Viceroy of Egypt, Judah’s move to another region away from his father and brothers from guilt and self -recrimination, the marriage to a local woman that produced three sons, two dying young, Judah’s sordid encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Then famine, Joseph testing his brothers in Egypt, the displacement of Jacob and his entire family to Egypt, the population growth of the tribes enlarging to the point where Pharoah feared them, leading to a centuries long enslavement and ultimately the Exodus under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  Whew!  Who knew what a bad decision could lead to.  It is incumbent for us to learn Judah’s lesson that a choice made in the moment, if bad, can have devastating long-term consequences.  The obverse- good decisions can also rebound for generations.  Keep that in mind when you choose to say something hurtful.  Be kind instead- your actions, your choices are the stones of a highway to heaven or hell.  Beware! (Painting shows the bloody coat offered as “proof” to father Jacob that his favored son Joseph was taken by a wild animal.)

The poem was written in chiastic style with the first line mirroring the last line, the second line mirroring the next to last line, etc. 

Summary of the chiasm:

1)the origin of the moral crime

2. the stinging central sin (in bold face)

3. the consequences and guilt

 

Note the symmetry:  the first line Joseph struts, the last line Judah and his brothers stumble, the second line, “…your fancy coat…  the next to last line- “your flaunted coat…”, the third line from the top- ‘How should we punish you” vs the 3^(rd) line from the bottom-“punished us with taunting mirth” all pouring from the fountain of the poem, the middle line in boldface.

Let me know how it works for you.

https://preview.redd.it/kp1dik1w3gyg1.jpg?width=532&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9cfeabbad09e9806ef64a3f18a55a5f1c6283883

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s Interpretation (c. 1600s)
Another poignant visual of the moment Jacob receives the coat and mourns.

 

Joseph, so vainly you strutted with your father’s gift.

Your fancy coat slapped our faces, your brothers stiffed!

How should we punish you?

We wanted you dead, but why that crime

when lesser would do.

Buried in slavery enough for you.

So we lied to Jacob.

Interred in Egypt far from your father,

what more could we ask?

But the crime that we birthed

punished us with taunting mirth;

your flaunted coat launched such trouble

that humbled, we stumbled, deep in the rubble. 

 

 

What was Judah thinking?

 

Judah was beginning to realize the consequences of decisions he had made earlier in life, along with his brothers.  A long generational sequence of events occurred downhill of the decision to sell Joseph into slavery.  It led to the misery of his father Jacob, the enslavement of Joseph for 12 years until his miraculous assignation as Viceroy of Egypt, Judah’s move to another region away from his father and brothers from guilt and self -recrimination, the marriage to a local woman that produced three sons, two dying young, Judah’s sordid encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Then famine, Joseph testing his brothers in Egypt, the displacement of Jacob and his entire family to Egypt, the population growth of the tribes enlarging to the point where Pharoah feared them, leading to a centuries long enslavement and ultimately the Exodus under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  Whew!  Who knew what a bad decision could lead to.  It is incumbent for us to learn Judah’s lesson that a choice made in the moment, if bad, can have devastating long-term consequences.  The obverse- good decisions can also rebound for generations.  Keep that in mind when you choose to say something hurtful.  Be kind instead- your actions, your choices are the stones of a highway to heaven or hell.  Beware! (Painting shows the bloody coat offered as “proof” to father Jacob that his favored son Joseph was taken by a wild animal.)

The poem was written in chiastic style with the first line mirroring the last line, the second line mirroring the next to last line, etc. 

Summary of the chiasm:

1)the origin of the moral crime

2. the stinging central sin (in bold face)

3. the consequences and guilt

 

Note the symmetry:  the first line Joseph struts, the last line Judah and his brothers stumble, the second line, “…your fancy coat…  the next to last line- “your flaunted coat…”, the third line from the top- ‘How should we punish you” vs the 3^(rd) line from the bottom-“punished us with taunting mirth” all pouring from the fountain of the poem, the middle line in boldface.

Let me know how it works for you.

https://preview.redd.it/1cnmtx2p3gyg1.jpg?width=532&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bfe274d92775fc6579ad61df7ea9373366ebf78

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s Interpretation (c. 1600s)
Another poignant visual of the moment Jacob receives the coat and mourns.

 

Joseph, so vainly you strutted with your father’s gift.

Your fancy coat slapped our faces, your brothers stiffed!

How should we punish you?

We wanted you dead, but why that crime

when lesser would do.

Buried in slavery enough for you.

So we lied to Jacob.

Interred in Egypt far from your father,

what more could we ask?

But the crime that we birthed

punished us with taunting mirth;

your flaunted coat launched such trouble

that humbled, we stumbled, deep in the rubble. 

 

 

What was Judah thinking?

 

Judah was beginning to realize the consequences of decisions he had made earlier in life, along with his brothers.  A long generational sequence of events occurred downhill of the decision to sell Joseph into slavery.  It led to the misery of his father Jacob, the enslavement of Joseph for 12 years until his miraculous assignation as Viceroy of Egypt, Judah’s move to another region away from his father and brothers from guilt and self -recrimination, the marriage to a local woman that produced three sons, two dying young, Judah’s sordid encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Then famine, Joseph testing his brothers in Egypt, the displacement of Jacob and his entire family to Egypt, the population growth of the tribes enlarging to the point where Pharoah feared them, leading to a centuries long enslavement and ultimately the Exodus under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  Whew!  Who knew what a bad decision could lead to.  It is incumbent for us to learn Judah’s lesson that a choice made in the moment, if bad, can have devastating long-term consequences.  The obverse- good decisions can also rebound for generations.  Keep that in mind when you choose to say something hurtful.  Be kind instead- your actions, your choices are the stones of a highway to heaven or hell.  Beware! (Painting shows the bloody coat offered as “proof” to father Jacob that his favored son Joseph was taken by a wild animal.)

The poem was written in chiastic style with the first line mirroring the last line, the second line mirroring the next to last line, etc. 

Summary of the chiasm:

1)the origin of the moral crime

2. the stinging central sin (in bold face)

3. the consequences and guilt

 

Note the symmetry:  the first line Joseph struts, the last line Judah and his brothers stumble, the second line, “…your fancy coat…  the next to last line- “your flaunted coat…”, the third line from the top- ‘How should we punish you” vs the 3^(rd) line from the bottom-“punished us with taunting mirth” all pouring from the fountain of the poem, the middle line in boldface.

Let me know how it works for you.

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s Interpretation (c. 1600s)
Another poignant visual of the moment Jacob receives the coat and mourns.

 

Joseph, so vainly you strutted with your father’s gift.

Your fancy coat slapped our faces, your brothers stiffed!

How should we punish you?

We wanted you dead, but why that crime

when lesser would do.

Buried in slavery enough for you.

So we lied to Jacob.

Interred in Egypt far from your father,

what more could we ask?

But the crime that we birthed

punished us with taunting mirth;

your flaunted coat launched such trouble

that humbled, we stumbled, deep in the rubble. 

 

 

What was Judah thinking?

 

Judah was beginning to realize the consequences of decisions he had made earlier in life, along with his brothers.  A long generational sequence of events occurred downhill of the decision to sell Joseph into slavery.  It led to the misery of his father Jacob, the enslavement of Joseph for 12 years until his miraculous assignation as Viceroy of Egypt, Judah’s move to another region away from his father and brothers from guilt and self -recrimination, the marriage to a local woman that produced three sons, two dying young, Judah’s sordid encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Then famine, Joseph testing his brothers in Egypt, the displacement of Jacob and his entire family to Egypt, the population growth of the tribes enlarging to the point where Pharoah feared them, leading to a centuries long enslavement and ultimately the Exodus under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  Whew!  Who knew what a bad decision could lead to.  It is incumbent for us to learn Judah’s lesson that a choice made in the moment, if bad, can have devastating long-term consequences.  The obverse- good decisions can also rebound for generations.  Keep that in mind when you choose to say something hurtful.  Be kind instead- your actions, your choices are the stones of a highway to heaven or hell.  Beware! (Painting shows the bloody coat offered as “proof” to father Jacob that his favored son Joseph was taken by a wild animal.)

The poem was written in chiastic style with the first line mirroring the last line, the second line mirroring the next to last line, etc. 

Summary of the chiasm:

1)the origin of the moral crime

2. the stinging central sin (in bold face)

3. the consequences and guilt

 

Note the symmetry:  the first line Joseph struts, the last line Judah and his brothers stumble, the second line, “…your fancy coat…  the next to last line- “your flaunted coat…”, the third line from the top- ‘How should we punish you” vs the 3^(rd) line from the bottom-“punished us with taunting mirth” all pouring from the fountain of the poem, the middle line in boldface.

Let me know how it works for you.

https://preview.redd.it/m0phibsa3gyg1.jpg?width=532&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=83000b1826bd9be9f641a988e089a97bb8229831

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s Interpretation (c. 1600s)
Another poignant visual of the moment Jacob receives the coat and mourns.