Tag Archives: Moses

Milton on the Ten Commandments

In Milton’s view of Moses, the law he receives is a temporary measure, ultimately to be superseded by divine grace.

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The Bloody Flesh Our Only Food

I share a Good Friday poem by T. S. Eliot and a Passover poem by Norman Finkelstein.

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A Positive Spin on the Golden Calf

Rabbi Jacob Staub’s account of the golden calf is much different, and a lot more fun, than the Exodus version.

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A Cradle Yet Shall Save the Earth

Mark Twain has fun in “Huckleberry Finn” with today’s New Testament reading, which is about Moses being discovered in “the bushrushers.” Victor Hugo also has a charming poem about the incident.

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The Joads & Steinbeck’s Lenten Message

“The Grapes of Wrath” has a Lenten message with the Joad family lost in the wilderness, led by the Moses/Jesus figure Jim Casy. After Casy is killed, Tom Joad becomes the apostle who takes his vision of a transcendent humankind to the wider world.

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What in Me Is Dark Illumine

An epiphany is the moment when something divine enters the human realm. During the Epiphany season, Christians celebrate such moments. In the famous opening of “Paradise Lost,” Milton notes that the Holy Spirit is his muse and connects his own inspiration with a number of famous visitations of the Holy Spirit throughout Biblical history.

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Celebrating the Golden Calf

In Rabbi Jacob Staub’s vision, the early Israelites’ worship of the Golden Calf was liberating.

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The Bush of Faith Resists the Flames

Yakov Azriel’s poem on Moses and the burning bush contrasts scorching fire with nourishing faith.

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Religion and Self Love

In “Gospel Song,” Scott Bates sees self-interest entering into the motivations of even the holiest of men—King David, Daniel, Jesus and Moses.

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