Pardon Bard- Romeo and Juliet

Out of the blue these lines came into my mind “What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?

Turn thee, Benvolio. Look upon thy death. (Ac.1sc.1)”

Writing a whole play is not worth my while. You cannot improve upon a rose any more than a play of the bard.

So I shall do a sketch; what if Benvolio had put up a fight?

B:

Shears of hell thy blade be-

But what fear hold I,

you wretched Tybalt?

(Drawing a stiletto from the folds of cloak),

This short but nasty

steel knows no fear;

nor my wrist hurt of insults

hurled at me.

(Lungest at Tybalt and wounds him)

Caught you in midst of

sins unconfessed

Didn’t I?

And begone!

Hounds of hell yelp at the gate.

At the gate already!

You shall sup with  worms tonight “

Benny

Afterall the BBC 2 program ‘Pointless’ has a point. This evening I watched the contestants having to fill the blanks of the lines from the Bard. It set me thinking.

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Giraffe-pen and brush

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Okapi-brush and ink

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Law of the flesh and Freedom of the Spirit- a study of the Book of Isaiah

With Moses came the law to which the Jews agree wholeheartedly. “For the law was given by Moses…. (John1:17a)” St John’s gospel does not contradict the claim.  We all know how God visited Moses by the burning bush while he was tending the flock of his father-in-law by the Mount Horeb.(Ex.4:1). God had seen the misery of the Israelites and was concerned.

God has always shown his concern for people at their wits’ end.  Hagar the bondswoman of Sarai endured harsh treatment and she could not take any more. She fled from her face not knowing where to.  But God knew and found her by a fountain on the way to Shur. He was concerned with her advanced pregnancy and He promised to bless Abraham’s seed in her womb. So Ishmael is a sign of God’s sovereignty. His Sovereign Grace or Mercy runs consistently throughout His domain. Ishmael is a heir to God’s promise as Isaac is.”He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” So in the eyes of God the nation of Israel having law merely speaks of circumstance, but it does not mean the law has made the nation exclude others. God has a way to deal with the Jews from what has been revealed to them. Let us grant Power and Wisdom to Him.

So the eternal God has infinite ways to execute justice and preserve His creation. He is just and impartial so heaven and earth reflect his Goodness as intended.The God is a Spirit so the Christians have as much claim for God’s Mercy as the Jews Ishmaelite, or any other. Let us not intrude upon the office of the Lord God.

Here we shall consider only the Jews and the Christians in order to differentiate what law does and what means by ‘being led by the Spirit’.  When Jesus came to Nazareth on the Sabbath day as his custom was he went into the synagogue.The book of the prophet Esaias was delivered to him. We shall compare this with how God sent Moses. He said,”Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say,,,(Ex.4:12). God is a Spirit. Moses was yet unwilling to take such a burden considering merely his physical shortcomings. “I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue (Ex.4:10). In short he had no ‘gift of the gab’ and consequently Aaron was pressed into service and with it eventually Levitical priesthood also would come into the original Association of God and Moses.  Here we shall consider Moses as representative of law.

Moses as forerunner of Jesus Christ was determined by God the Spirit. But his overtly sense of inadequacy brought his brother Aaron along. Holy Spirit while organizing the Father Son relationship indicates thereby two Orders one of Levitical Priesthood and the other after the order of Melchizedek,(He.7.11).  One is of the flesh and the law while the latter is the Spirit. So when Jesus read the passage given to him to read ‘ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;’ was no coincidence but the fulfillment of the divine Law. Just as God chose Moses to deliver the Israelites from under the bondage in Egypt we find the Son of man presenting his credentials to the world. He ushered in the Acceptable year of the Lord. One year is according to Time determined by God the Spirit and not by flesh. Compare this with “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years…(2 Pe.3:8)”

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

We have been fighting for our beliefs and  it is illustrative of our flesh. We want to prove our religion than establish God’s Nature. Holy is his Name but do we appreciate Him to see Him as He is from the Word? John’s Gospel also writes in the same verse quoted above, ” ….But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John1:17b)”

Law of the flesh is to be bound by fulfilling all its provisions. The history of the nation of Israel has hitherto shown its failure. Destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 is a proof, Loss of identity associated with tribalism of old. Without relying entirely on what His Nature has revealed religion itself become less than what was clear and God-given. God is a Spirit and Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Having a common ground to know where our blessings come from. It s what the Word becoming flesh would mean. God sent his only begotten Son and freedom of the Spirit does not imply freedom to do whatsoever you may. Instead to live in the example showed by Jesus Christ. Moses represents the flesh and Jesus the Spirt. So when he quoted the passage from Isaiah he presented the arrival of the Savior of the World and not any particular nation.

Benny

 

 

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Giraffe- brush and ink

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From my sketchbook-ostrich running

New sketchbook and new brushes (hogs hair)- with typex for highlights

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Parable: art and life-2

Bachmann the art dealer died and after due  process of a renaissance (to which the soul of Bachmann took to with no particular enthusiasm) he was entered in the rolls. At the end of a regimen to which seraphim and cherubim broke ranks to administer their ministrations they escorted him further into the hallowed grounds.

 It was thus he found blazing fire on one side and incense bellowing about; and in the belvedere he could not see anything but the exhalations of angels which are the very breath of the Lord Almighty.  Despite of himself his spirit was salved by water of life they by turns administered, and he dozed.

Once when he opened his eyes he had been transported to yet another strange terrain. He spoke but no words came. But in the inverted bowl  the malaikim call Paradise, he heard distinctly and it was as distant as thunder given vocal chords and its disembodied timbre was disconcerting. He said, “I nodded off, I guess.” Then came answer, “Time we don’t count here.”

He laid back once again as he were back in the neo-classic bower.

His wealth his pomp and circumstances were marked by the architectural statements he had favoured and chosen for his vast collection of paintings. No Inigo Jones, no Van der Rohe and yet the grounds were extensive and had a curious charm that is more the personality of the Establishment than of human art. He would have longed for grass and reeds by the brook. Nothing what he drank from and nothing of sand crunching under his feet connected with what he left for good.  He longed for a formal garden but as a night owl he had used garden as gilt edge to his affluence. Oh he was crushed. He had wasted his life. He wondered what it would have been had the regions known as Limbo in the hands of a Capability Brown. Ha-Ha. Or a Japanese garden with a curved bridge he would have given the angels at least grace marks for trying. No, nature there was as bereft as he of his physical body.

Meanwhile,-

His ministering angels at all hours hung about keeping spiritual body as lithe and sculpted as a work of Phidias and talked among themselves. After an eternity of time he could understand. So he asked ” Don’t you have some irises by Van Gogh? I had dealt with it and made quite a tidy profit.” The angels stopped with their their mouths agape, and said, “we have been wondering it ourselves. Your inventory of collections was art of your kind, We probed every inch of your soul for a little of it- alas it is as spotless as the vestments we sport for working clothes.”

The angels were pretty crushed, “If your soul did not transport the genius of a Gaugin or Monet you shall certainly not like it here. You disappoint us greatly.”

Benny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Garden of Delights- a visit to Hockney/Van Gogh Exhibition 23 May,2019

Hockney was a big let down but Van Gogh made it all a bit of paradise to my wife and me- Benny

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Hiroshige-print

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R. I. P

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