|
InteGRATion into
GRATeFULLness
Singing&Sounding keeps me Sound
|
2007_10_29  |
lyrics: The land where milk and honey flows is mentioned 20 times in 16 biblical chapters. Studying the contexts and continuity - one is confronted with a history of Israel.... Ex 3:17 ; 13:5 ; 33:1-3;--- Lv 20:23-24 -- Nu 13:27 ; 14:8 ; 16:13-14 Deuteronomy 6:3 ; 11:9 ; 26:9 ; 26:15 ; 31:20 --- Josua 5:6 Jeremia 11:1-5 ; 32:22 ---- Ezechiel 20 |
tune: Immanuel Amiran |
|
"A Land where Milk and Honey flow"
Inserted on February 18, 2009:
Continuation
of a sequence of images taken after the first real rain in my desert in winter
2008-2009.
The rain came to bless us after the closing of the ballot-boxes on Election-Day
2009_02_10, 10 P.M.
On my climb up from the "Wadi of Compassion,
of Mercy, of Loving Kindness " to my neighborhoud "Shaqed"
(almond) -
I rested at this pretty, lichen-covered boulder, looking down again into the
wadi, where I had savored so many little rivulets.
The
book Exodus, the second - and together with Numeri
- the oldest among the "Five Books of Moses"
mentions the land where milk and honey flows three times
and consistently together with the five to six nations that lived in that
land.
The third time "God" mentions the 6 nations only to say, that he
expelled them from the milk and honey flowing land.
 3:17 ~~~ 13:8 ~~~ 33:1-3 ~~~ |
 |
It was here, among these rocks , that in my
first year of having "settled" (2004-5) ,
I tried to find a place to cuddle in the desert, at least for some minutes
every day - 7 minutes from my home.
But soon enough I felt, that I wasn't yet ready to settle and cuddle...
One last complex experience of "realizing my vision in the exterior world"
had to be gone through:
the Cave
of the Womb and Samira's Family...
The
book Leviticus, the third and youngest among the "Five Books of Moses",
which is almost solely dedicated to lists of laws,
lets talk God once - about having sworn to give them the land where milk and
honey flows.
The book no longer mentions the 6 nations in that land,
but only one general people which had to be expelled from the land,
because "I was disgusted with them".
"Do not walk in the laws of that people!"
for
"I have differentiated you out from the nations!"
Leviticus 20: 23-24
My "zulla" or cuddling place was under
the big rock to the right. From there the road [to
the left] to the
Zealots' Valley and to Massada
can be seen faintly
The
Book Numeri, the fourth book of "Moses", reports two stories,
which are connected:
The first is about the people who were sent out to "spy" the land.
Most of them came back with terror in their eyes about what they saw.
But then some courageous people stood up and said - twice -
that they indeed did see milk and honey flowing in that land,
and as a symbol they brought a huge grapevine with them.
The first kind of frightened people developed into a group of rebels, the
Korach tribe.
There horrid blaming included the "land flowing with milk and honey"
twice,
Egypt was the milk and honey flowing land - and you, Moses, dragged us away
from there!
Nor did you ever bring us to a milk and honey flowing land!
 13:27 ~~~ 14:8 ~~~~ 16:13-14 ~~~ |
 |
The western edge of the cliff - with another neighborhood
across the Wadi of Compassion which I had climbed down 80 minutes before
- and - to the left - the roof of a European kind of house which I'll reach
in a moment
The
Deuteronomist (author of the fifth book of "Moses") mentions
the milk and honey land 5 times,
the last time with the sad hint, that it will be taken away from Israel, since
they turned away from "God".
 31:20 |
26:15 |
 11:9 and 26,9 |
|
The
book Joshua mentions the land which flows with milk and honey
only in the context of the report about all those people-of-war,
who did not listen to the God
and therefore even after 40 years did not reach the milk-and honey flowing
land
Joshua 5:6
That house on top of the rock does not only look
German, I detect, that the people there have visitors with a caravan and a
car from Germany...
First a threat than a fact:
Jeremia tells Israel,
that the gift of the land flowing with milk and honey was given and taken,
since they did not stay by the laws, which would make life possible
 Jeremia 32: 22 |
 Jeremia 11: 1-5 |
 A few minutes further up the hill - already in my neighborhood Shaqed - I reach this passage through a little park. Beyond a street with a busstation (which I never use, since the bus comes only once an hour ), I pass through another passage between houses, which leads to my street. |
|
Ezekiel
20 - a terrible, sad speech against Israel,
since did not follow the commands which would have helped them to live.
It is three times the same account of the liberation from slavery,
but with three different endings,
the first time: I wanted to bring you to a country flowing with milk and honey
the second time: I did not want to bring you to a country flowing with milk
and honey
the third time: the country flowing with milk and honey is no longer mentioned.
Instead:
I'll disperse you among the nations and I'll give you commands by which you
will die
At the end of my still wet street - another passage
between houses - and beyond it the street with the water-towers of my town
Arad
The house of my landlords at the corner of Khaelmonit
Street 15 !
What a quiet location for my castle...
 |
 |
 |
Around the corner - the rain water is still lingering
in my street - I'll enter the gate, enter my castle a little beneath the ground
floor -
and I'll go on healing and loving and living in a way, that will once again
justify the metaphor of a country where milk and honey flow...
 |
Later on that day, February 11, 2009, Even by taking the sculpture |
 |
The real consolation, though, was not in that metal
sculpture,
but in this poster with three children from three contrasting ethnical backgrounds.
This indeed IS a sign of Heaven-on-Earth - of a world in which milk and honey
flow.....
.
.