The Bible In Paintings: SHEPHERDS, FIRST TO SEE THE SAVIOR, Part 2

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible In Paintings 2
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S WORD

SHEPHERDS,
FIRST TO SEE
THE SAVIOR

L U K E
CHAPTER 2

She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men
on whom his favor rests.

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, GLORIFYING AND PRAISING GOD for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

1
CARLO SARACENI
"Adoration of the Shepherds"
Typical title

2
STEFANO MARIA LEGNANI
Source

3
SEBASTIANO CONCA
Source

4
EL GRECO
Source

5
EL GRECO
Source

6
GIORGIO GIORGIONE
Source

7
CARLO DOLCI
Source

8
FEDERICO ZUCCARO
Source

9
JAN COSSIERS
Source

10
REMBRANDT
Source

11
CHARLE VAN LOO
Source

12
ANTONIO DEL CASTILLO Y SAAVEDRA
Source

13
Source

14
CHARLES LEBRUN
Source

15
JUAN CORREA DE VIVAR
Source

16
BENJAMIN GERRITSZ CUYP
Source

17
GASPAR DE CRAYER
Source

18
GIOVANNI GEROLAMO SAVOLDO
Source

19
JACOB VAN OOST the Elder
Source

20
JACOB JORDAENS
Source

21
JACOB JORDAENS
Source

22
JACOB JORDAENS
Source

23
ANTHONIE BLOCKLANDT VAN MONTFOORT
Source

24
ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
Source

25
DOMENICHINO
Source

26
GIOVANNI BALDUCCI
Source

27
MARTIN SCHONGAUER
Source

28
CARAVAGGIO
Source

29
HUGO VAN DER GOES
Source

30
HUGO VAN DER GOES
Source

31
PAOLO DI MATTEIS
Source

32
WILLIAM BELL SCOTT
Source

33
JAN STEEN
Source

34
JAMES TISSOT
Source

35
FRANCISCO DE ZURBARAN
Source

36
FRANCISCO DE ZURBARAN
Source

37
CHRISTIAN WILHELM ERNST DIETRICH
Source

38
MARCELLUS COFFERMANS
Source

39
HANS VON AACHEN
Source

40
CORRADO GIAQUINTO
Source

41
GIOVANNI DOMENICO TIEPOLO
Source

42
GASPAR MIGUEL DE BERRIO
Source

43
PEDRO ORRENTE
Source

44
JUAN RIBALTA
Source

45
GUIDO RENI
Source

46
GERARD VAN HONTHORST
Source

47
ANGELO BRONZINO
Source

→ a n d... f i n a l l y ←

48
EDWARD BURNE-JONES
Source

To be continued…

New International Version ©1984, EMPHASES Added
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[Hebrews 11:6]

Very thoughtful of them to present to you so many issues for which they need prayer. Almost as though Someone decided to bring them across your path for that very purpose.

[spankalib]

Surely, some of those shepherds sang and played instruments. You can jam with them in heaven!

Sure. (But leave it to a Scotsman to have bagpipes on the scene. LOL!) - #32.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Nice catch, John. Although in The Longest Day, didn't Sean Connery belittle Scottish pipers in comparison to Ireland's?

[Ezekiel]

“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

I love the famous wording:

in the inn

Genesis 1.1 In the beginning...

And so it begins!

"Oh little star of Bethlehem..." *

David was the little one keeping the sheep.

♪ The ox and lamb kept time pa rum pum pum pum. ♫

Be funny if this all goes down in the house of bread. You know, ginger:

Filled with love, made with TLC!

* Pun star -- people might say that like it's a bad thing. 😉

[Hebrews 11:6]

Genesis 1.1 In the beginning...

No no no: three strikes and yer out. Clearly "in the biginning" is a baseball story.

"Oh little star of Bethlehem..." *
David was the little one keeping the sheep.

Wonderful! A grand slam!

[Ezekiel]

Clearly "in the biginning" is a baseball story.

Excellent catch, LOL.

The big inning is at the end, in the bottom of the 9th.

That ghost hand overhead must have pitched a real screwball.

Thanks for the baseball inspiration regarding the disembodied hand on the wall. The link to the pitches even has the hand position diagrams.

Spirited was filmed there in Sept 2021.

Spirited is an upcoming American Christmas-themed musical comedy film directed by Sean Anders and written by Anders and John Morris. Starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer, the film is a modern retelling of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol.

Spirited is scheduled be released in select cinemas on November 11, 2022, before its streaming release on November 18, 2022, by Apple TV+.[1][2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_(film)

(I do not know what they did to the plot, I'm just noting the relationship of the theme to the location.)

[Hebrews 11:6]

George C. Scott was born to play Ebeneezer Scrooge, and I dote on his version. "Mr. CRATCHIT!"

[Hebrews 11:6]

Interesting. November 18th is the very day of the debut of Season 3 of The Chosen.

[spankalib]

Found it (in print, anyway):

[Millen plays the bagpipes as British troops march toward the Germans] Pvt. Clough : There it is, he's at it again! Have you ever heard such a racket in all your life? Private Flanagan : Yeah, it takes an Irishman to play the pipes.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I’m descended from both, so....

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for digging that up, John.

[etabeta]

Great that William Bell Scott included a zampognaro (piper) in his painting. I loved walking around the streets of Rome in my youth, at Christmas time, listening to the sound of the zampogne (bagpipes) and eating roasted chestnuts bought from street vendors. It was truly the smell and sound of Christmas.

https://www.italymagazine.com/dual-language/zampognari-keep-alive-tradition-festive-bagpipe-playing

[Hebrews 11:6]

♫ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
♫ Alba playing us her pipes
♫ Many FReepers with their hands o'er their ears
♫ Will find it hard to sleep tonight

[etabeta]

Ahahahah! You said it...my playing would give all of you nightmares...

[Ezekiel]

Hmmm. Very interesting. Thanks.

In 1836, when Isaac er the USA was 60, the stone pair "twins" were reunited as one and placed at the head of the corner. At a much later time (after ~1920, but before the top two out of five soul er floor levels were removed), the disembodied ghost hand appeared overhead.

The Point in this case is that it looks like the hand is dropping the ball, or dropping a yarmulke down on the head [of the corner].

Of course that has long reminded me of a song that goes like this:

There must have been some magic
In that yarmulke they found,
For when they placed it on his head
He began to dance around.

Spirited!

Now that the Christmas movie has been filmed there (in the Fall, with the fake snow)... the scene is complete. Well almost:

The sketchy lore (like the traditions about David's genealogy) is that the stone marked the zero point of Boston (aka New Jerusalem, "The Hub") to measure distances out from the city's center.

If miles were years, the Western calendar does just that. And like with the exact date of the start of the calendar, there's the debate over the 'real story' -- that the stone was not ever the zero point.

Seems to me that The Point is moot as well as missed.

The origin point of a Revolution *is* the axis (tzir, "cheer"). Or as on the earlier diagram of space, coordinates x, y, z at (0, 0, 0).

Heh, which is how to draw a snowman.

Frosty the Golem
Is a fairytale they say
He was made of snow,
But the children know
How he came to life one day.

0-0-0 what kind of secret combination code is that?!

It's a weird little world out there. Living parables.

1 x 7 x 3 x 7 = 147, the address of The Point.

🙃

And for those who can stand just a wee bit more...

Boston [בוסטון] = 133 and...

Psalm 133

1. A Song of Maalot of David; Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity:
2. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that runs down upon the beard, Aaron's beard, that runs down to the hem of his garments:
3. Like the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life for evermore:

Hip Hip, Hooray!

Looped in with the midrash about Esau's head rolling into the cave (I'm just relaying what's out there) is the teaching that Esau was supposed to be a Patriarch, but he failed in his mission. Then in the weirdest way he ended up buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs (his head, anyway).

Four Patriarchs, not just the three.

Here's where I looked at these odd puzzle pieces and said you know what, if there were more than three Patriarchs, that would definitely break the Rule, so that can't work. Can't break the rules.

Then again, it's a paradox because everyone could benefit from a second opinion: rules were meant to be broken. How to solve, to break but not to break?

Here's where I compared the cave story of Jacob buried with Esau's head, with the stone itself and noticed that the eponymous "Boston Stone" at the head of the corner is two stones, yet singular. Not stones, plural, but one, named the same as the city that adds up to 133:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.*

Problem solved. Not two, but one. Ergo, it still adds up to the Three Patriarchs.

That might be yet another reason why Joseph was named "He will add."

Who wants to hear:

Forget what you knew
We'll start life anew
Down on the corner of love. ♫

Tough sell. That's why in order to make it happen it had to have already happened. Then who could argue? Who could get out of the deal? Haha. Time is putty.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

*Put Your Head On My Shoulder ~ Paul Anka

Obviously a surname written as pronounced with a non-rhotic, Boston accent. ⚓

It's like the valley of Achor for a door of hope.

[Hebrews 11:6]

That’s easy for you to say.

[Ezekiel]

I’m in-between literal painting projects.

[Hebrews 11:6]

If you produce a relevant painting, I can post it on one of these threads.

[Ezekiel]

If you produce a relevant painting, I can post it on one of these threads.

I post many word paintings as it is, ha. My literal paintings aren't paintings on literal canvas though. Just various designs applied to whatever needs to be livened up.

For example, nothing like a little county charm for my girls' place. The hen house is adorned with cheerful flowers and other garden-y designs, so even on dreary, cold winter days they've got a bright, happy home in which to play and snuggle up.

It's the little things. 🐔 Besides, it's a regular memory trigger for the verse about the chickens, because with all the love bouncing off the walls, their house is not desolate.

Bonus is the pun blessing stashed inside a bad scene:

Matthew 23

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me hensforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Say, does that count as a relevant painting? 😊

[Hebrews 11:6]

Say, does that count as a relevant painting? 😊

When I arrive at Matthew 23, we'll see.