Brothers and Tribes

The psalmist sings that it is good and pleasant when families can live together in harmony (Psalm 133). But another text reminds us that as good and pleasant as it might have been, Jacob's children could not manage to live together in harmony (Genesis 45:1-15). Yet a third text reminds us that for generations, Jacob's descendants were well aware of the son who was their ancestor (Romans 11:1-2a,29-32). Those twelve brothers who couldn't get along remain(ed) a touchstone for their descendants. Paul knew that he was of the tribe of Benjamin.

Nowhere is the significance of the twelves brothers/tribes apparent than in the windows designed by Marc Chagall for the Abbell Synagogue at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. In the synagogue the twelve windows, each with a round-arched top, are arranged in a square, three windows per side. Primarily in shades of blue, yellow, and red glass, Chagall has explored the symbols of stories of each of the twelve brothers.

Chagall's windows employ imagery from the blessings Jacob gave to his sons (Genesis 49) and the blessings of the tribes by Moses (Deuteronomy 33). The Benjamin window (below) includes the ravenous wolf as a symbol (Genesis 49:27) at the bottom. Other symbols are evident, along with Hebrew letters spelling the name of the tribe. 

                         

(Left) Marc Chagall. Benjamin. 1962. Abbell Synagogue, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem. Israel. 

(Right) Chagall. Lithograph of Benjamin window.

Each window is approximately 11' tall by 8' wide and filled with animals, fish, flowers, and other symbols associated with these twelve brothers and their father Jacob (renamed Israel). The shared color palette and design elements make a united statement from twelve different works. As the light shines through the windows, their arrangement in a square and their placement in a sort of clerestory has led them to be imagined as the crown for Queen Esther (whose Hebrew birthname is Hadassah). 

Jewels in a crown. Even if the brothers couldn't, the windows clearly live together in harmony. 

For information and photos of the Chagall windows at the Hadassah Medical Center, click here.

Isaiah and Matthew: Zebulun and Naphtali

Zebulun was the sixth and final son of Jacob and Leah. Naphtali was Jacob's sixth son, the second with Bilhah. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali had received land that made them a target for invading enemies. Those lands had been annexed by various Assyrian kings. Living as a possession of the Assyrians had brought times of despair and anguish. Isaiah 9:1 promises that the time of gloom will one day end for the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali. God will break into their lives, bringing light and life.

Matthew 4:15 has Jesus moving to Capernaum, a fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee in order to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy. For the gospel's audience, "Assyria" would be heard as "Rome," another empire that had taken control of Zebulun and Naphtali (and all the other tribes' lands, too).

Marc Chagall created a series of twelve stained glass windows for the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. Each window represents one of the twelve tribes. The windows are arranged in groups of three on four walls that create a square. Zebulun and Naphtali are pictured here, both the stained glass windows themselves and lithographs that Chagall created with the same designs.

Marc Chagall. Zebulun. (left, stained glass) Hadassah Medical Center. Jerusalem. (right, lithograph) from The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem

The Zebulun window is dominated by the color red and elements of life in, on, and around the sea. In the bottom left is a boat, symbol of a tribe who became noted for navigation, as the tribe's blessing from Jacob indicated:

13 ‘Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea; he shall be a haven for ships,

and his border shall be at Sidon. Genesis 49:13.

Fish jump toward one another above a horizon line that (in the lithograph anyway) features a lavender sun. The letters spelling out Naphtali's name arc across the top of the design.

Marc Chagall. Naphtali. (left, stained glass) Hadassah Medical Center. Jerusalem. (right, lithograph) from The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem

The Naphtali window, with a yellow background, also features elements of Jacob's blessing:

‘Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears lovely fawns. (Genesis 49:21)

The doe lies on the ground somewhat under a treeflies an eagle, symbol of freedom. At the right of the composition is a tree, while a bird of some kind (variously identified as an eagle or a rooster or the generic "bird"), which are often symbols of freedom. The small(er) letters spelling Zebulun are right against the top of the arch.

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned. It's good news whether it's in Isaiah or Matthew.

See very different versions of Zebulun and Naphtali on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook.

For additional thoughts on Isaiah and Matthew, click here.

Luke 4. 21-30: Words of Our Mouths

The lectionary readings for Epiphany explore how the world came to know Jesus: visitors from the East, voices and doves at his baptism, turning water into wine at a wedding, reading and interpreting scripture. These have been the gospel readings for the past weeks. The gospel reading for Epiphany 4C (Luke 4:21-30) continues the reading from 3C (Luke 4:14-21) where Jesus reads from the Isaiah scroll and announces that the scripture has been fulfilled in him. Verse 21 is the bridge verse, and in the 4C reading we see what happens when people do not accept words as God's truth. Jesus is marched out of town in preparation for being killed.

Such a response might not have surprised Jeremiah, whose call is the focus of the Epiphany 4C reading from Hebrew scripture. In this reading Jeremiah is called to deliver the word of God to God's people. God's hand touches Jeremiah's mouth as a sign that God will provide the words Jeremiah is to say.

Marc Chagall. Jeremiah Receiving the Gift of Prophecy (aka Calling of Jeremiah). 1957. Hand-colored etching. Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University. http://museum.marquette.edu/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultDetailView/result.inline.list.t1.collection_list.$TspTitleLink.link&sp=13&sp=Sartist&sp=SelementList&sp=0&sp=0&sp=999&sp=SdetailView&sp=0&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=T&sp=0&sp=SdetailList&sp=0&sp=F&sp=Scollection&sp=l722

Marc Chagall shows the moment when the words are symbolically transferred from the divine realm 

to the human one, though Chagall has made one significant change. In the print, the hand that comes from heaven to inspire Jeremiah's words belongs to an angel rather than to God as the text says. Perhaps this is Chagall's acknowledgement of the Second Commandment that prohibits images of God. A bright circular disk or shield covers the angel's chest and emits rays, presumably of light. Angel or God, the being in the top half of the page is the focus of Jeremiah's gaze. The background is indistinct, and the angel is barefoot. And even as the angel's right hand touches Jeremiah's mouth, Jeremiah's right hand is over his heart in a gesture of loyalty or allegiance, perhaps.

Centuries earlier, Michelangelo painted Jeremiah in an entirely different pose. The Renaissance Jeremiah appears more aged. No longer the young prophet at the beginning of his career, he sits rather than stands, looks down rather than up, and with his right hand covers his own mouth in a gesture that is not the potential sign of loyalty or allegiance from Chagall's work. 

Michelangelo Buonarotti. Prophet Jeremiah. Fresco. Sistine Chapel, Vatican. 1508-1512.

For the Sistine Chapel, see: http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Volta_SibProf.html

How would you describe the gesture that Michelangelo gave to Jeremiah? Is he simply resting? Is he propping his head with his right hand? Is he despairing? Has he seen too much in his career? Is he trying to block the words God has put in his mouth from being spoken? 

In your own life, are you the young Jeremiah with God providing the words of your mouth? Or does the earlier portrait of the older prophet - who covers his own mouth - ring true to you? 

For additional thoughts on Luke 4:21-30, click here.