POSTER: SkyDancer
THREAD: #1, God creating Adam
COMMENT: Why is it in some paintings where you can see both God and Adam, they both have navels?
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POSTER: TonyM
THREAD: #1, God creating Adam
COMMENT: I understand that these artists meant well but I believe their images of God, Jesus, Angels, the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and even Noah and the Ark are so far from what was reality that it gives people the wrong idea about who they are. God is not an old white haired bearded man, the serpent in the garden was not really a snake, angels don’t have wings, and the ark did not resemble a child’s bathtub toy.
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POSTER: know.your.why
THREAD: #2, God creating Eve
COMMENT: Everyone knows the true story of Eve... Adam, in a complex fit of depression, loneliness, and exasperation finally works up enough courage to to have a talk with the Creator. Adam said “Hey! This is a crap deal! I’m all alone here while every animal has another one to be with and have fun with and I got nada! What gives???” God said.. “Well Adam, I’ve been watching you and it is not good for man to be alone. I’ve got wonderful news! I’ve come up with something that will be more beautiful to you than anything you can imagine. It will complete you and complement you in every way. You will love it!” Adam says “Hot dog! Let me have it!” Then God says BUT....its going to cost you an arm and a leg. “An arm and a leg???” -Adam says....”That’s pretty steep don’t you think? What can I get for...say...A RIB??” -the rest is history. (flame suit on).
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POSTER: DoodleBob
THREAD: #3, The Temptation of Adam & Eve
COMMENT: WONDERFUL...Great art, be it ancient or modern, makes you THINK.
In these instances, once can see his/her insignificance...and potential. A simple just man like St Joseph can be hand-picked by God to be the foster-father of Our Lord, and he took action vs worried and moved them across the sands to safety. Of what good am I?
But it is BECAUSE God picks "simple" people to do epic things whereby we can ALL think big thoughts.
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POSTER: left that other site
THREAD: #4, ADAM & EVE HIDING FROM GOD
COMMENT: Tissot’s best stuff is (in my humble opinion) during the period covered in 1 & 2 Samuel. David and Goliath, David on the run from Saul, David Dancing Before the Ark, David’s Mighty Men, etc. He had a way of illustrating armor, royal and priestly robes, and really cool, rugged faces that seem to be more of a reflection of ancient life than some of the smooth, delicate faces of some Bible art.
Sunday School would have been a lot more exciting if the curricula had included Tissot’s illustrations! LOL!
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POSTER: Tucker39
THREAD: #5: GOD BANISHES ADAM & EVE
COMMENT: Only 3 of those pieces portray it scripturally. The ones with Adam and Eve clad in animal skins; usually assumed to be sheepskins. But all of them show the enormous tragedy of the couple receiving the recompense of their disobedience, and being driven out of their once-idyllic home.
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POSTER: Cottonpatch
THREAD: #5: GOD BANISHES ADAM & EVE
COMMENT: My view is the angels were there to guard tree of life, not to keep them out of garden. God probably didn’t keep the garden as such any more. They ate of the only fruit forbidden, the tree of knowledge., and brought death into the world. Therefore the tree of life was guarded, for we learn in Genesis 3:16, the way of eternal life was thru Jesus Christ, no longer a tree to eat to stay alive.
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POSTER: Forgiven_Sinner
THREAD: #5: GOD BANISHES ADAM & EVE
COMMENT: I’m glad to see some of Blake’s work. His rendition is my favorite, for it shows God’s sorrow at casting them out. I also like God pictured as the mighty Father of Adam and Eve and allowing them to cling to Him.
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POSTER: left that other site
THREAD: #6: CAIN AND ABEL
COMMENT: Cain is shown as a rather gruff adult male, and Abel as an innocent shepherd boy. Cain’s “sacrifice” was probably done as a grudging religious obligation, while Abel sacrificed the first born of his little flock, which was a real hardship in those rugged times. The facial expressions indicate Abel’s purity of heart vs. Cain’s cynicism.
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POSTER: Jim W N
THREAD: #10: ABRAM RESCUES LOT & TITHES TO MELCHIZIDEK
COMMENT: Well, Jesus said the children of the world are wiser than the children of light.
Nevertheless, I believe when we “set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth” truly looking to Jesus, we are inspired to do a lot of very practical things.
You know, God had the heathen build cities in the promised land so God’s children didn’t have to. Maybe here, at some point God’s people can begin taking over that which the people of the world constructed like Google and Facebook.
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POSTER: left that other site
THREAD: #13: THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM & GOMORRAH
COMMENT: The first time I read Genesis all the way through, I was quite scandalized by the behavior of Lot’s daughters. But one of the children born of that situation became the Nation of Moab, from whom came Ruth, King David’s Great-Grandmother.
And thus, by extension, the Messiah, Son of David.
And remember, Lot was willing to sacrifice his daughters to the mob until the angels intervened.
God really DOES use the foolishness of this world to confound the “wise”.
He sees the End from the Beginning and the Beginning from the End.
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POSTER: Maudeen
THREAD: #14: GOD TESTS ABRAHAM
COMMENT: This was a reassuring Scripture this morning. Galatians 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
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POSTER: Ezekiel
THREAD: #16: JACOB & ESAU, Part 1
COMMENT: In the depictions I've seen, ladders are ladders and angels are angels. Yet,
A ladder (the Hebrew word "sulam") is a musical scale, and angels (malakim) are messengers, and messengers carry messages (e.g. notes). Furthermore, angels are famous for playing harps; it's just how long-standing interpretations make for the common associations and portrayals.
Then there is the anomaly noted in some commentaries why these angels first ascend, and then descend. In any case, they are usually shown running back and forth into the heavens, the stars. Notes (messages) carried up and down the ladder (musical scale), one rung at a time, every other rung….
Music and singing are often described in spiritual terms, as sounds and voices being lifted up into the heavens, to God. These voices go up but also down, because they are heard on earth as well as on high.
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POSTER: Ezekiel
THREAD: #16: JACOB & ESAU, Part 1
COMMENT: There’s a lot to be said in the totality and variety of the artistic visions that the Biblical narratives inspire.
These are interpretations, but not in any theological sense. It’s not really artistic license, which tends to mean an intentional change of the original story.
Here the original stories don’t have a whole lot of detail, so it’s left up to the artist to think on them, and consider the options.
How much of that was the plan all along?
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POSTER: chuckles
THREAD: #32: MOSES #8 – WATER FROM THE ROCK!
COMMENT: I was struck by the ones that just showed a trickle of water. We must take into consideration there were at least 2 million, and maybe 3 million people with livestock that needed water. The created "river" of water would have to produce millions of gallons of water a day. Also several tons of manna had to be produced to feed the bunch of them for 40 years. It had to resemble more like the waterfall pictures to produce the water needed.
Another thing to ponder is in 1 Corinthians(I think), it says the "rock" followed them through the desert. A "rock" or "stone" is always used to represent Christ in Scripture. In Heaven there will be living water coming from His Throne, enough for all that want to drink from it.
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POSTER: 21twelve
THREAD: #33: Mt. Sinai #1 – GOD SHOWS OFF
COMMENT: As a lay person I did a sermon years ago using a similar image (the same image?) as a prop. (Before the screen presentations and had it printed on a large poster).
The sermon was about the love, grace and power of God. And this image shows not only how vast all of creation is - but how vast all of the attributes of God are.
I commented something like “You know how as a parent we tell our child ‘I love you THIS much’ and spread out our arms as wide as they can go? I wonder if God created this immense universe as if spreading His arms wide and saying ‘I love you THIS much!’”
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POSTER: Ezekiel
THREAD: #36: MT. SINAI #4 – 10 COMMANDMENTS!
COMMENT: Sincere, honest, whole-hearted people -- each with their unique talents and artistic impressions and placement in this world -- can get a whole lot accomplished just by taking their own one-of-a-kind "temple" blueprint, and running with it. It's not any work at all if it is love.
Everyone arrives in life with a special mission designed especially for him (or her). The miracle is that somehow all these "oddball" pieces (assignments) are designed to fit together effortlessly. The Messiah is the chief "oddball" as the maverick solution to business.
That's pretty funny - the pattern is actually quite flexible -- that what's good is golden so it'll work. Get 'R Done. On your mark, get set, paint!
The God of Abraham is the God of the living. :)
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POSTER: left that other site
THREAD: #50: KORAH’S SINKING FEELING
COMMENT: Wow! How ironic that Sandro Botticelli put The Arch of Titus in the background!
My first reaction was “Ha Ha! What an anachronism! The Arch of Titus wasn’t built till 70AD!”
But then, I thought:
Why was the Arch of Titus built in the first place?
It was built to “celebrate” the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
Why was Jerusalem destroyed?
Well, the simple answer is that the Romans got sick and tired of the Jews rebelling against their “overlords”.
But the more complicated answer rests in God’s people rebelling against God. The prophets told the people again and again that idolatry would lead to destruction, dispersion, and exile. It happened more than once in the Scriptures, and here it was happening again. Jesus even predicted that in the Apostles’ lifetime, there would be “not one stone left standing upon another”.
But why put the Arch of Titus in THIS painting? Was Sandro telling us that, just like Dathan and the Sons of Korah, our own edifice can come tumbling down and swallowed up by the ground, if it is not rooted and grounded in Christ? After all, by this time the Arch was a ruin as was the rest of the Roman Empire.
Or was he just using convenient scenery he found around Rome?
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POSTER: Scarlett156
THREAD: #52: THE BRONZE SNAKE, & THE CROSS
COMMENT: Haha, one thing about the story I find amusing is that it illustrates that often people would rather live in comfortable, well-fed slavery than risky freedom.
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POSTER: Forgiven_Sinner
THREAD: #54: “GREATEST HITS” – MY FAVORITES, SO FAR
COMMENT: The cherubim pictured by Tissot and the others are FAR less terrifying than the ones described in Ezekiel 1. 
They hardly need swords.
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POSTER: Forgiven_Sinner
THREAD: #55: BALAAM AND HIS TALKING DONKEY
COMMENT: Although this episode has life and death consequences for millions of people over thousands of years, including Balaam’s own life, I still think it’s one of the funniest scenes in the Bible.
Just making a donkey speak is humorous enough, but Balaam talks back to the donkey and answers his question! If anyone has the gift of prophesy, just remember Balaam’s donkey also had it and don’t become proud.
Further, several pictures had Balaam worshipping the Angel of the Lord, indicating he was a Theophany of Jesus. Righteous angels do not accept worship.
Finally, Balaam’s prophecies are awe-inspiring and still fulfilled to this day.
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POSTER: bk1000
THREAD: #60: GOD FLATTENS JERICHO
COMMENT: I wasn’t expecting so many images, but back in those days that was about all you could paint without being accused of blasphemy of some sort.
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POSTER: sasportas
THREAD: #61: PAINTED BIBLES!!! – 1st ILLUMINATED INTERLUDE, THE BOOK OF KELLS
COMMENT: What I meant about the four living creatures around the throne was they are symbolic. Not actually Matthew, Mark, luke, and John, but symbolic of the revelation of Jesus Christ by what is written in the four gospels.
Doesn’t Rev. 5 picture the slain Lamb in the “center” of the throne? Christ the savior of the world by the sacrifice of himself central to Christianity, in other words. Or it should be.
A heavenly scene definitely intended to be interpreted symbolically, as Christ isn’t literally a slain four legged creature, nor does he have literally have seven eyes or seven horns as Revelation pictures him.
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"SECRET" SIN
that you read ahead, we'll be in Joshua 7.
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