This is inspired by the very existence of @evan.
🤔 The cynical philosophy of Ecclesiastes — I love this whole book from beginning to end, for all is vanity.
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. … All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
⛅️ The poetic beauty throughout, for example all of Genesis 1-3.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good…”
🌊 The action-adventure of Moses
“And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.”
👉🏻 The disembodied hand that writes on Belshazzar’s wall when he drinks from the vessels stolen from the temple. (MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPSHARSIN.)
“Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God…and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. [Then] came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote … upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.”
💀 This reminder in Ecclesiastes that we are all in this together.
“And how dieth the wise man? As the fool.”
🍇 When the Israelite spies report on Canaan with this famous imagery and “the fruit” of the land is, literally, fruit: grapes in the King James translation.
“We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.”
💪🏿 The unsurpassed beauty of the psalmist’s motivational speeches.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me…thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
👁 The weird and wild imagery in dream and vision like this part of Ezekiel’s vision of the workmanship of God’s chariot.
“The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.”
💎 These dual admonitions to be mindful of the privilege inherent in humanity.
“Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” And “Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
🐴 Talking animals!
“And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, ‘What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?’ And Balaam said unto the ass, ‘Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.’ And the ass said unto Balaam, ‘Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?’ And he said, ‘Nay’.”
👯 The powerful conversion and loyalty of Ruth.
“And Ruth said, ‘Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.’”