Sonnets - Strange Stories From the Hebrew Bible
Noah’s Neighbor Has Questions
Dear neighbor, I can see you over there
While our position goes from worse to worst;
Where will we go? Who will our Great God spare
Once the storm explodes in torrential burst?
But you, my friend, seem to be in God’s grace;
Is there ample room in that cypress chest?
Or is your wicked plan to fill that space
With just your own? To Sheol with the rest?
When you spoke with God, did you think to ask
If he would deign to change his holy mind?
Or did you just blindly undertake the task?
(Your silence, dear neighbor, seems so unkind.)
I have complaints for God, more than a few,
And I think I’ll meet Him before you do.
Esau Ponders His Legacy
Back then, my father Isaac hid away,
Far from the impulsive, nameless “I AM”
Who, with capricious and murderous sway,
Won blind obedience from Abraham.
Isaac was stand-in for the paschal lamb:
Strange devotion, with intent to destroy.
But God stayed the knife to slip in a ram
On the day that ruined parent and boy.
My name is Esau and I now employ
The bitter bequest of a father’s grief;
For this is clear: I descend from that boy,
Inherit his woe, and find no relief.
If true – in the main – that God will provide,
I mainly fear that there’s no place to hide.
Boaz’s Field Hand Reflects on Love and Law
As the day’s sun sets on our field of grain,
She – strange and radiant – lingers to glean.
Is it perhaps her intent to remain?
Who is this foreign maid ... accursed, unclean?
But what harm would ensue if I submit
To her distant smile and alien eyes?
What is it inclines me now to admit
Such tenderness, when I ought to despise?
But here now, my master comes close to warn
Against this drift toward forbidden desire;
But he does not mean that all are foresworn,
As fair Ruth steals into my master’s byre.
So, is ancient Law now to be revised
To encompass love for one once despised?
Story Heard by a Well (Deborah and Jael)
Resting by a well, I heard the strange tale
Of strife in Deborah’s invaded land;
Stubborn resistance seemed destined to fail
‘Til the death blow propelled by Jael’s hand.
To a friend’s tent fearful Sisera crept
And like a mother, Jael knew to lull
With warm milk and blankets, then as he slept,
She pounded a tent stake straight through his skull.
Was it pure, this gruesome murder-by-ruse?
With friendship betrayed, true justice was done.
“As for Jael, who would dare to accuse?”
Deborah sings to the new rising sun.
Thus did Israel disturb Canaan’s reign
With holy lies and a peg in the brain.
Postscript:
As bees will lure with their sweet attraction,
Then turn instead to inflict poison stings,
Our brave Jael found sweet satisfaction,
And now finds her rest while Deborah sings.
Hosea: A Mother’s Lament
“Whore” is such a caustic assignation,
And pinned to a daughter, it breaks my heart;
Hosea claims to speak for our nation
As he maligns his belov’d counterpart.
Is this object lesson true prophecy?
Is this rude offense Yahweh’s own true word
Or an act of inspired hypocrisy?
Oftentimes this distinction can be blurred.
Has God gone too far just to force a theme?
Or does Hosea distort an offense
To deflect and so protect his esteem
With this suspicious and spineless defense?
Prophecy can serve as means to reveal
Or as a vile tool designed to conceal.
The Earth Laments in the Day of the Lord (Book of Joel)
Locusts descend on us – great clouds of doom –
Rumble like chariots, enter like thieves;
Our proud terrain grows pale with helpless gloom,
And we mourn the death of our sister sheaves.
Our brothers of the vine, forlorn and bleak,
Gave warnings that languished midst human pride;
This Day of the Lord of which they speak
Dawns in drought, swarming bugs, and ecocide.
Mistaken about divine providence,
The corrupt ones mount a silent assault;
Our sacred earth-home suffers the offense
And bears the results of rank human fault.
We can only pray that you be made whole
To redeem this earth and thus save your soul.