"What was the message He gave you?" Eli asked.
"Do not hide it from me.
May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you."
So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him.
"He is the Lord," replied Eli.
"Let Him do what is good in His eyes."
Psalm 83:1-8
For Israel.
O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
"Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel's name is remembered no more."
With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you --
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
Even Assyria has joined them
to reinforce Lot's descendants.
For Israel.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For Israel.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel (2017)
Two original oil paintings by Anastasiia Valiulina
1 Samuel 2:7-8
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
Photographer: Niki Feijen
Judges 19:30
Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt.
The Levite of Ephraim, 1837
Alexandre-François Caminade (1789–1862)
(Le Lévite d’Ephraïm méditant de venger sa femme morte victime de la brutalité des Benjamites), oil on canvas, 60 x 81 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, France.
Judges 18:27
Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.
Micah confronts the Danites (Judges 18, 22 - 26). Wood engraving, published in 1886. My own colourisation.
Judges 16:12-13
"All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."
Solomon Joseph Solomon - Samson, c. 1887.
Oil on canvas.
Judges 11:35
Jephthah's Foolish Vow.
Anton Robert Leinweber - Jephthah's daughter comes out to meet her father, from Hulbert's Story of the Bible published by The John Winston Company, 1932
Judges 9:53-54
"Draw your sword and kill me! Don't let it be said that a woman killed Abimelech!" So the young man ran him through with his sword, and he died.
The Death of Abimelek
Kevissimo, 2012
https://twitter.com/kevissimo
https://www.kevissimo.com/pr-judges/the-death-of-abimelech
I don't often post work by living artists, out of respect for their copyright and terms of use. But @kevissimo's work shows that Biblical art is live and well, and powerful as ever.
Judges 4:22
Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. "Come," she said, "I will show you the man you're looking for." So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple — dead.
Gustav Doré - Jael and Sisera, 1866, my own colourisation.
Joshua 24:23
"Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel."
Joshua 23:14
Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed.
Every promise has been fulfilled;
not one has failed.
Joshua 22:5
Keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
'God the Father', oil on canvas.
Painting by a follower of Giovanni Lanfranco (Italian, 1582–1647)
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Gods law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Galatians 5:16, Proverbs 4:23.
It can be done.
Joshua 13:32-33
These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.
But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them.
Frederic Edwin Church, 1826-1900, American painter
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, 1846
25.4 x 31.8 cms | 10 x 12 1/2 ins
Oil on academy board
Joshua 12:1
Joshua takes possession of the land beyond the Jordan.
Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still.
Doré Bible Illustration. 19th century. Coloured.
Joshua 10:12-13
The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.
There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.
John Martin - Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, 1816, oil on canvas, 150x231 cm (59 1/16 x 90 15/16 in.) National Gallery of Art.
Joshua 9:22-23
Joshua called together the Gibeonites and said, "Why did you lie to us? Why did you say that you live in a distant land when you live right here among us? May you be cursed! From now on you will always be servants who cut wood and carry water for the house of my God."
Léon-Adolphe Belly (1827-1877)
Fellaheen Women by the Nile, 1856
Oil on canvas, H. 0.98 m; W. 1.3 m
Joshua 6:2-3
And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days."
Joshua 3:17
Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
Israelites In Canaan. After 40 Years Of Wandering, The Israelites Cross The Jordan River Into Canaan Under The Leadership Of Joshua.
Wood Engraving, 19th Century, after Gustave Doré
