Bible Story: Susannah and the Elders

The Bible Story for this week is one of my favorites: Susannah and the Elders.

The story is one that is very popular in European painting (not least because it gave Renaissance artists an excuse to paint a woman in the nude, or nearly nude), but it is not a very well-known Bible story any more, since it has been consigned to the "apocrypha" in the Protestant Bible. Susannah's story is, however, included in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, where you will find it in the Book of Daniel. You can read more about the canonical and deuterocanonical portions of the Bible in this wikipedia article.

Susannah's story is a simple one, and provides a profound parallel to the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. Recall that Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of trying to commit adultery with her because he refused to sleep with her. Well, in Susannah's story, there are two elderly judges who have become infatuated with her, and who threaten to accuse her of adultery if she refuses to sleep with them. Like Joseph, Susannsh insists absolutely on preserving her chastity. The judges then accuse her of adultery, and based on their testimony she is about to be put to death... when a young prophet Daniel shows up on the scene to save the day! I will not give away the ending of the story, but it is very sly - worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie.

So, please read the story for yourself to find out what happens. Since I include this story in one of the units for my Mythology-Folklore class, you can read the story online, with accompanying images (just click on the small images to see a larger version).

In addition to being a parallel to the story of Joseph, you can also see the story of Susannah paired with the story of Mary in the painting of the Annunciation by Andrea del Sarto, discussed in a previous blog post.

For anyone out there who does Latin, I also included the story of Susannah in Latin at my AudioLatin blog! :-)

There are so many paintings of Susannah's story that I could include here as an illustration, making it hard to choose. In honor of the great female artist Artemisia Gentileschi, I finally decided to include her rendition of the scene, painted in 1610:

Bible Story: The Writing on the Wall

The Bible story this week is the "writing on the wall." In one of my online courses, I teach a unit on the Biblical Book of Daniel, and every semester students explain in their "starting assumptions" for that unit that they have definitely heard the phrase "writing on the wall," but in general they have no idea where the saying comes from. After they read this unit on the Book of Daniel, they know!

The story comes from Daniel, Chapter 5. In the midst of a drunken feast, the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, orders that the sacred vessels looted from the Temple in Jerusalem be brought in so that the king and his court could drink from them, using the holy things of the Jewish god in order to toast their own idols:

So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

An eerie, disembodied hand then appears and writes four words in Aramaic on the wall of the banquet room: MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN. The four words are Aramaic standards of currency: mena, "numbered," which is 30 shekels (compare Greek mina, equivalent to 100 drachmas), tekel (compare the related word, shekel), which also means "weighed," and peres, "divided," which is half a mena.

To see how the name of a coin can also have a meaning of its own, think about the English "quarter," which refers both to a coin worth 25 cents, but which also refers to the "quartering" of anything, so you can have quarters in your pocket, but you can also be assigned to living quarters, where you spend a quarter of your day, etc. Likewise, the word "dime" actually means "tenth" (from Latin decimum).

King Belshazzar is baffled and terrified by this message, and none of his wise men are able to interpret the meaning for him. Finally, Belshazzar summons Daniel who is able to interpret the message:

You did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written: Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsi. This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

In Daniel's interpretation, parsin is not only a unit of currency known as the "division," but it is also a pun on the Persians.

It does not take long for events to confirm Daniel's interpretaton. That same night, King Belshazzar is assassinated and Darius the Medes becomes king. Accordingly, the "writing on the wall" has become a proverbial phrase in English, referring to some kind of impending disaster or doom.

The image I chose for this story is a painting by Rembrandt's Belshazzar's Feast (1635). The Hebrew letters appear in columns, reading top to bottom and then right to left, instead of simply right to left, line by line, as would be normal with Hebrew. Rembrandt apparently transcribed the Hebrew letters from a book by Menasseh ben Israel, a Jewish rabbi and printer with whom Rembrandt was friends. Ben Israel founded the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam in 1626 and was an altogether fascinating character! You can read more about Menasseh ben Israel at wikipedia.

Bible Story: The Fiery Furnace, bis

I got a note from someone asking about the text on that banner above the three boys in the furnace as seen in the illustration I included with my previous post about the fiery furnace:



Well, I had tried to puzzle this out when I did the first post, but I was stumped! I tried again today, looking at the largest scan available for this image from the City of God manuscript but I was not able to puzzle out the Latin banner above the boys in the furnace. Maybe someone with more discerning eyes will be able to figure that out! Here is the largest view available - can anybody read what it says on the banner?

Meanwhile, in order to scrounge up the largest view I could find of that image, I visited the other images at the Dutch National Library that show the boys in the furnace. Here they are!

Here is an illustration from a beautiful Bible historiale, circa 1372.



In a much more simple style, here is an illustration from a Speculum humanae salvationis manuscript dated to the 15th century:



And here is a very dramatic illustration from another Speculum humanae salvationis, circa 1450:

Bible Story: The Fiery Furnace

The story slated as this week's "Bible Story of the Week" is a story from the Book of Daniel about three Jewish boys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who refused to worship the gods of Babylon. Because of their refusal, King Nebuchadnezzar had them tossed into a furnace of fire but they were protected by an angel and survived the ordeal.

Here is the story as told in the Book of Daniel:

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way."

In addition to the account in the canonical Book of Daniel, there are some additional materials, The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children, found in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles which provide more information about this story.

The story of the three men in the fiery furnace provides the inspiration for this Johnny Cash song, The Fourth Man In The Fire:

They wouldn't bend
They held on to the will of God so we are told
They wouldn't bow
They would not bow their knees to Idols made of gold
They wouldn't burn
They were protected by the Fourth Man in the fire
They wouldn't bend
They wouldn't bow, they wouldn't burn.

Now the prophet Daniel tells about
Three men who walked with God
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
Before the wicked king they stood
And the king commanded them bound and thrown
Into the fiery furnace that day
But the fire was so hot that the men were slain
That forced them on their way.

Now when the three were cast in and the king rose up
To witness this awful fate
He began to tremble at what he saw
In astonished tones he spake
Did we not cast three men bound
Into the midst of the fire
Well, Lo, I see four men unhurt
Unbound and walkin' down there;

There's Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
And the fiery coals they trod
But the form of the Fourth Man that I see
Is like the Son of God.

Now, let's slide back in time from Johnny Cash to the Middle Ages! Here is an illustration showing the story of the boys in the fiery furnace taken from a late fifteenth-century manuscript of Augustine's City of God.

Bible Story: Chariot of Fire

The Bible story for this week is the story of the prophet Elijah's departure from this world, riding a chariot of fire.

I was prompted to include this Bible story in the Bible Story widget because of the wonderful film Chariots of Fire. It's a good example of a Biblical allusion which people will miss unless they are familiar with this Bible story. In particular, the image of the "chariot of fire" was given a special life outside the Bible by its inclusion in the beautiful hymn "Jerusalem," based on the poem by William Blake:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of Desire;
Bring me my Spear; O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of Fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant Land.

Here, then, is the Bible story which inspired the image of the chariot of fire. The prophet Elijah, whom we met last week in the story of Jezebel and Elijah, is walking along with his disciple, Elisha. As we read in 2 Kings, chapter 2, along their way, Elijah uses his mantle to allow them to cross across the waters of Jordan as over dry ground:

And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

The moment of Elijah's departure then arrives:

And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.

Elisha's request is granted, and he takes up the mantle of Elijah, both literally and metaphorically:

He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.

For an illustration of the celestial chariot of fire, I chose this image from the Nuremberg Chronicle (you can read more about this amazing book at wikipedia). The image shows both Elisha ascending in the chariot, and Elisha receiving his mantle:

Bible Story: Ahab and Jezebel

While working on the list of Bible stories to include in the Bible Story of the Week widget, I had a very hard time deciding on just what stories to include, since there are easily a couple of hundred Bible stories I would have gladly included. The earth would have to radically change its orbit to have enough weeks in the year to include all the stories that are my favorites from the Bible.

One of my motivations in choosing a particular story was whether or not the story had lived on in popular culture, and this week's story - Ahab and Jezebel - is a good example of that. Both of these names have gone on to become a part of our culture, even though most people would probably be hard-pressed (I would guess) to tell you the Bible story that goes with these names. Ahab, of course, has become most famous as the sea-captain in Melville's Moby Dick, while Jezebel has become a catchphrase for a no-good woman. In fact, with a lower-case j, "jezebel," she has even become a word in the dictionary, defined variously as "a woman who is regarded as evil and scheming," "an impudent woman," " a shameless impudent scheming woman," and so on.

The story of King Ahab and his wife, Queen Jezebel, is found in the book of Kings. Ahab (wikipedia) was the king of Israel. He married Jezebel (wikipedia), the princess of Phoenicia, a marriage which brought him great wealth. Jezebel, however, did not worship the God of Israel. Instead, she worshipped Baal, and incited Ahab to do the same.

When Ahab was killed in battle, Jezebel continued to exert royal power through his sons. Finally, Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, had Jezebel killed by being thrown out of a window (yes, you can use the word defenstration here), and her body was eaten by dogs. The catchphrase "painted Jezebel" alludes to the moment before she is tossed out of the window, when she puts on her makeup:

Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master? He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot. Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.' "

Throughout Jezebel's reign in Israel, it is the prophet Elijah who is her constant nemesis, denouncing her for her worship of Baal and challenging her again and again.

My favorite story about Elijah's denuncitation of Ahab and Jezebel and the worship of Baal is the story of how Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. As the story begins, Elijah has summoned King Ahab to come see him:

Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

Elijah, on his own, is going to challenge the 450 priests of Baal!

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets."

Elijah's challenge to the priests of Baal is simple: they will all together prepare one bull for sacrifice, and Elijah will prepare a bull also. The god who answers their prayers by kindling the sacrificial fire will be revealed as the true god:

"Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good." Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Oh, the poor priests of Baal. They call upon their god, but nothing happens, and Elijah taunts them:

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then it was Elijah's turn:

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood." "Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

The fire is kindled, and the bull is consumed by the flames:

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord -he is God! The Lord -he is God!" Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

Elijah's triumph does not make Jezebel happy. In response, she issues a death threat against Elijah and he has to flee:

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

So, even though Elijah had defeated the priests of Baal, Jezebel remained the Queen of Israel and she still had some more wicked deeds to do before she finally being defenestrated.

For the image today, I wanted to include this picture of Elijah and the priests of Baal from the synagogue paintings at Dura Europos. It was one of the great pleasures of my life to visit Dura Europos in Syria two years ago, and to see the synagogue paintings which are now housed in the national museum in Damascus.



Meanwhile, here is a "painted Jezebel" as imagined by the British artist John Byam Liston Shaw in 1896:

Google Gadget: Bible Story of the Week

Now that I have figured out the mysteries of Google Gadgets, here is the "Bible Story of the Week" widget transformed into a Google Gadget:

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Bible Story: David and Goliath

This week's Bible story is "David and Goliath." The story of David and Goliath has become proverbial for a struggle between two mismatched opponents. Even though David was small and the odds seemed to be entirely against him, he was able to able to defeat the mighty giant, Goliath. Here is the story as recounted in the Book of Samuel.

Goliath was a giant warrior fighting for the Philistines against the army led by King Saul:

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.

Goliath challenged King Saul's army to send someone to fight him in single combat:

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Although none of the soldiers would fight Goliath, David, a shepherd boy, accepted the challenge. King Saul was dubious, seeing that David was no warrior. David, however, insisted that he could fight the giant:

David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you."

Saul tried to dress David in a suit of armor to prepare him for battle, but David put aside the armor and instead armed himself with stones to use in his slingshot:

Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

Goliath taunted David when he came out onto the battlefied, because he saw that David was a mere boy. David, however, was undeterred.

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

Events unfolded just as David said they would:

As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron.

That is the end of Goliath, but it is not the last we will see of Goliath's weapons. Later, when David is fleeing from Saul, he will go to the priest Ahimelech for supplies, and Ahimelech will give to him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

There are many wonderful images of David's defeat of Goliath, and the one I chose here is an early 12th-century mural from Catalonia.

Widgets: Bible Stories

I've created another widget - this time it is a collection of Bible stories which can be displayed either as a "Bible Story of the Week" or a "Random Bible Story."

Each item contains a brief summary of the story along with a link to the Wikipedia article where you can learn more about the story. There is also an image, with a link to a larger view of the image and additional information.

I'm hoping this would be useful in helping people become familiar with the stories of the Bible. It sure was hard choosing just one story for each week! I tried to focus on stories that would be included as components of Bible "narrative literacy." (For more about religious literacy, see my notes about Prothero's book.)

You can find this widget and related widgets at the SchoolhouseWidgets.com website. I hope that for anyone with a course website devoted to Bible-based courses could find the information and links useful in covering the basic Bible stories.

You can see the widget in action in the right-hand column of this blog! And here is the random version of the script:

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