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Showing posts from September, 2021

The Lot (Leviticus 16:5-22)

  Photo Roy Mos on unsplash   The crimson thread between his horns, He stands at the gate and waits, his brother’s blood Staining the air sweet. He wonders how a small goat like him Can bear the congregate sins of twelve tribes, when it takes a large strong bullock to atone for the priest. And why it is he who is doomed to walk into the desert, his head as heavy As his heart, and what it is he must do To procure forgiveness for that people. And how he will find and turn Azazel So they might both come back into the fold And be treasured and loved again. How much wilderness must he endure, How much cold and how much darkness, Erring among bramble and stone. And how much being alone.

Eyzele (Numbers 22:2 - 31:39)

  Photo Gary Moreton-Jones (on unsplash) I may have gone a bit overboard, what with striking poses and brandishing my tool before the poor frightened ass, making her speak truth to the bigger ass that is her master and who sees nothing, but I could not resist; I am a dramaturge at heart. He is a sneaky one, that Balaam. (You did catch the problem in his behaviour, did you not?) It is my job to let him know that we are not fooled, and to make him confront his deceitfulness. To that end I wave the sword in his face, but the ass protects him by swerving out of the way. What a loyal soul, and righteous, too, loudly protesting the beating she gets as a reward from her still-unseeing master.  I open Balaam's eyes and explain matters, and I truly believe he finally gets the point when, having twice reluctantly blessed the Israelites, as God commands, he seems enraptured by the vision of their encampment: “How goodly your tents, O Jacob, / your dwellings, O Israel! / Like palm groves they