Absalom and Achitophel begins in the world of Old Testament history. The vague biblical past of the opening lines lets the narrative to be set from 2 Samuel in a wide historical frame that hopes to legitimize the king's promiscuity by associating the king as father of the land: In pious times, e'r priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin; When one man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confined; When nature prompted and no law denied Promiscuous use of concubine and bride; Then Israel's monarch after Heaven's own heart, His vigorous warmth did variously impart To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command, Scattered his Maker's image through the land. (l. 1-10) The association between God and David is made through the clever comparison of divine and human fertility. There is some irony in seeing God's abundant creation reflected in the king's sexual extravagances, but the irony doesn't reduce the status of the king. It serves, at the beginning of the poem, to separate the person of the king from the office of the king. The opening scenes emphasize David as an indulgent father, not as head of the country. David's pleasure in Absalom parallels God's attitude toward Adam in the Garden. All of Absalom's motions are accompanied with grace, And paradise was opened in his face. With secret joy indulgent David viewed His youthful image in his son renewed: To all his wishes nothing he denied; And made the charming Annabel his bride. (l. 29-34)The easy going nature of Absalom, put together with the specific reference to paradise, help establish him as the figure from Eden that will be seen again in the temptation. The characterization of David emphasizes a combination of divine and human paternity. Like God, David takes great joy in his creation; like God, he supplies Absalom with a worthwhile bride. This serious presentation of David in his fatherly joy and indulgence, as compared to the divine model, cannot be taken as criticism of the king. It strengthens the casual relationship between God and David established at the opening of the poem. When attention is called to indulgence or weakness in David's character, it is in a context that shows David's indulgence to be a reflection of his paternal, rather than kingly, capacity: What faults he had (for whom from faults if free?) His father could not, or he would not see. (l. 35-36) The emphasis is on David's paternal indulgence. The initial presentation of David and Absalom closes with a declaration of the calm of David's reign: Thus praised and lived the noble youth remained, While David, undisturbed, in Sion reigned. (l. 41-42) In the temptation, Achitophel uses biblical language to persuade Absalom of the kingship to which he is destined: Auspicious prince, at whose nativity Some royal planet ruled the southern sky; Thy longing country's darling and desire Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire: Their second Moses, whose extended wand Divides the seas, and shows the promised land; Whose dawning day in every distant age Has exercised the sacred prophet's rage: The people's prayer, the glad diviners' theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream! Thee, savior, thee, the nation's vow's confess, And, never satisfied with seeing, bless. (l. 230-241) The use of typology in the biblical context of the poem suggests a fine distinction between Absalom's response to the temptation, and to Achitophel's well-spoken words. By using types to persuade Absalom of his role as savior, Achitophel becomes an ironic Gospel prophet, and Absalom a false messiah. Achitophel is not slow to offer specific examples of his predictions. He first claims that Absalom's nativity was marked by some royal planet that ruled the southern sky - a favorable omen. The astronomical sign, which is one of the messianic allusions of the temptation scene, is not the correct nativity sign! The star of the real Messiah rises in the east, not the south (Matt. 2:2, 9-11). Next, Achitophel calls Absalom the country's cloudy pillar, guardian fire, and second Moses (ll. 233-35). All three are familiar biblical signs; and the pillar and fire are promised in Isaiah as signs of god's renewed presence among the Israelites (Isaiah 4:5). The typical signs that Achitophel mentions have general biblical meaning and would have been persuasive for Absalom, the biblical prince. In convincing Absalom of his messianic role, Achitophel portrays David as an old man with declining powers and as a fallen Lucifer: Had thus old David, from whose loins you spring, Not dared, when Fortune called him, to be king, At Gath an exile he might still remain, And heaven's anointing oil had been in vain. Let his successful youth your hopes engage; But shun the example of declining age; Behold him setting in western skies, The shadows lengthening as the vapors rise. He is not now, as when on Jordan's sand The joyful people thronged to see him land, Covering the beach, and blackening all the strand; But, like the Prince of Angels, from his height, Comes tumbling downward with diminished light. (ll. 262-274) There is a great deal of irony in this, warning of Achitophel's deceptive persuasion. Hoping to convince Absalom of the practicality of a "pleasing rape upon the crown" (l 474), Achitophel associates David's old age with his supposed political impotence. Achitophel attempts to remove the kingship and the question of secession from the authority of Heaven and the law of God by falsifying the account of David's return from exile. According to Achitophel, David was called from Gath by fortune; according to the Bible, he was called from exile by god and anointed by Heaven. Achitophel's argument makes the sanctity of heaven dependent on the arbitrary role of fortune's wheel, whose prizes must be grabbed. In the context of biblical history, that ethic obviously contradicts the moral code and world order implied by God's written law. The end of Achitophel's description is the simile "like the Prince of Angels," used to epitomize David's decline. Achitophel chooses this image to contrast the descending, faltering light of David's kingship with the rising royal planet of Absalom's aspirations; but the use of this simile reveals more than the wordy resemblance. By identifying Godlike David with Satan, Achitophel joins forces with the devil himself as a defamer of God. As the picture of David comes to a close, Achitophel characterizes David's impotance more subtly. Asserting that David is powerless to resist Absalom's claim to the throne, Achitophel asks, "What strength can he to your designs oppose, / Naked of friends, and round beset with foes?" (l. 279-80). The second line of the couplet alludes to Samson and suggests the description, from Milton, of Samson being blind among his enemies: Betray'd, Captiv'd, and both my eyes put out, Made of my enemies the scorn and gaze; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age! (Samson Agonisties ll. 33-34, 68-69) There are two ways of reading this allusion back into Achitophel's portrait of David. The most obvious is that Achitophel unknowingly predicts the final triumph of David as a Samson figure who wreaks havoc on his enemies and asserts the force of God's law. But, in describing David, Achitophel is also appealing to David's relationship to Christ, especially Christ among enemies and false friends. That relationship also suggests the final victory of God over Satan and all antichrists. Moreover, David as paralleled with Samson, given the typical relationship that both Old Testament figures bear to Christ, plays off nicely against David's own reference to Absalom as a false Samson, a pretend Messiah: If my young Samson will pretend a call To shake the column, let him share the fall. (l 955-56) The couplet works in two ways, characterizing Absalom's revolt and messianic claim as a 'fall' and ironically opposing it to the true messianic 'call' and 'fall' to sacrifice and death which Samson, as type of Christ, exemplifies. The words of Achitophel and the drama of his temptation of Absalom characterize the two figures and confirm the original relationship that has been established between David and God. Throughout the poem that relationship is reconfirmed by association, by direct assertion, and by the fallen characters' version of what is asserted to be the true order of things. Those reconfirmations of David's relationship with God - especially the increasing emphasis on David's kingly role - work to transform David from private father to public king. Once more the godlike David was restored, And willing nations knew their lawful lord. (l. 1030-31) Free essays
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
He tries to explain that in order to be happy, one must put himself in other people's shoes, to know that there is another world that you must enter that revolves around another individual. A person must learn that he must look at both sides of the road before crossing the road of judgment. Meaning that a person must think twice before judging someone due to the fact that you are incapable off reading other people's minds thus you cannot make a judgment about how tough their lives are and the daily hardships that they have to put up with. Before you start complaining about how long the line at the store is, realise that you are not the only person waiting in line and that there are other people waiting in line too just like you are. David uses plenty of metaphors and examples in order to further explain to the audience his statement. One example he uses in the beginning of the story is the fish example, where two young fish meet an older fish who asks them "how is the water", the two young fish then go on to reply by saying "what the hell is water?". After reading through the story, one realises that what the author means by 'water' is that in this scene, water is the representation of life. Thus you can think of it as the older fish asking the
David’s life has been both shaped by the people who surround him and the places that are around him. However his life is most importantly shaped by the events he encounters along the way. David has seen the death of a good friend, Johannes; “Johannes who at last had fallen to the ground and remained lying there, dead.”. The man had helped shaped David’s life the most for if he did help David to escape he would not have his freedom. Then there were people like Angelo the driver of the lorry that helped David to travel to another town faster than feet. All these has helped David along his journey through life and it is important to take things as they come for when we don’t we will miss something truly important.
In Psalm 3, some scholars believe that it was derived from the events of 2 Samuel 15-16 (ESV). According to Longman, the psalm’s content and attitude are perfectly appropriate for the time (2014, p. 65). Verses 1 and 2 informs the readers that David had many enemies, which clearly reflects people rising against David during Absalom’s revolt. Absalom had gathered many people from the various tribes of Israel against his father (2 Samuel 15:1-6). 2 Samuel 15: 12-13 describe that many were conspiring against David. Both Psalm 3 and 2 Samuel describes David’s cry to God at Mount of Olives, which was described as a holy hill in Psalm 3. God answered and provided for him through Ziba. The statement by Longman, along with the examples provided, support the belief that Psalm 3 must have been written accordingly in the event of Absalom’s conspiracy against his father,
From the very first verse “The Lord is my shepherd,” David is setting the image of God as the shepherd. He then shows how God guides his people in verses 2 and 3, how God protects in verse 4, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me” and in verse 5 when David shows how God will even “prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Finally David shows how God provides by stating, “I lack nothing” in verse 1 and “my cup overflows” in verse 5.
On the other hand, David’s painting represents political reform as the main subject as it shows a setting that involves an individual being condemned to death as his followers watch. Moreover, this picture may be applicable for the general public to look at and it passes the message on the ills of political oppression.
This last dreamscape comments on the political expulsion of some material from the Bible either being tampered with or edited by church officials to make a certain persons character not be tarnished by the horrible or embarrassing things they have done. Repeatedly David, played by the son Bart, messes up or does something horrible to reply with the same thought every time, “I hope they don’t put that in the Bible.” This idea is interesting because it brings into David’s major character flaws that are present in the Bible but are overshadowed by the fact that he was an efficient king. Even after David conquers the giant monster, which he fails the first time, the people say that he really wasn’t that bad of a king just a bad person which the people were originally fine with in the case of David. This alternate telling also makes fun of the biblical timeline having the final battle on the top of the tower of Babel and having David constantly forgetting that Goliath 2 isn’t Samson every time he cuts his hair to drain his strength commenting that, “These Biblical, timelines get confusing
The Old Testament is full of examples of God or Yahweh having personal relationships with his people. There are countless instances that he visibly or audibly provides proof that he is in control and works in the lives of those who follow after him. David, who was know as a man after God’s own heart, found himself being constantly pursued by King Saul but always rescued by God from certain death. In Psalm 18, David praises the Lord in what has now become canonized in the Bible and is known as a Psalm of Praise. The psalm opens with the powerful sentence: “I love you, O Lord, my strength,” which immediately demonstrates David‘s devotion to the Lord along with the recognition that he provides something that David does not have: strength (New International Version, Ps. 18.1). Throughout the psalm, a personal relationship between God and David is exemplified. David is a warrior, and he sees God as the ultimate warrior, teaching him how to fight. The extended metaphor of the preparation for war and the act of war is followed throughout Psalm 18. Although David recognizes that it was the Lord who ultimately defeated the enemy, David explains that his God taught him how to stand against the enemy. The heavy imagery along with other figures of speech allow the psalm to move fluidly from one idea to the next. Synthetic, antithetic, and synonymous parallelism, as seen in most biblical poetry, is used to emphasize important ideas. This repetition of phrasing and ideas adds to the movement of the poem while the extended use of personal pronouns makes the poem an intimate experience between David and the Lord.
The headings in Psalms 3, 18, and 63 relate to the historical event described in the books of Samuel. They have similar themes to the passages that portray the mood and feelings that David would have felt while encountering these events. According to Nogalski, the connections of the headings in each Psalms “suggests that the psalms clarify and sharpen the narrative or David’s character” (2001, p. 169). The title of a Psalm, however, does not create a perfect harmony with the psalm and its historical event (Slomovic, 1979, p. 351). Many scholars believe that the historical headings on Psalms were not initially part of them (Slomovic, 1979, p. 350). Although it is difficult to discern if these headings were specifically related to the Psalms, it is clear that readers are able to understand the psalm better with these headings and are able to relate to David’s situation with the situations they are
... and emotions made Pip understand and comprehend his own mistakes and faults. Rather than wasting the remainder of his life mourning about his past mistakes, Pip's affiliation with Magwitch and his acknowledgement of his cruel and hurtful actions enables Pip to work toward a prosperous future for himself. Receiving kindness and loyalty from a virtual stranger, Magwitch, and a person whom he carelessly abandoned, Joe, Pip learns that his ambition of becoming a member of the elite social class is not as amazing as he dreamed. From a young boy who cowers and terror at the slightest threat and danger, Pip's turbulent and insightful journey to adulthood helps him to become a worldly and independent adult who finally comprehends the true meaning of life.
that he will be loyal and do what is best for them, as he knew what
telling us how he ended up being called Pip. He then goes on to tell
There are varieties of passages in the Old Testament that discuss the metaphor of marriage for the relationship between God/Israel. In the Old Testament, God’s relation with Israel is portrayed as a relationship between husband and wife. The book of Genesis two discuss about the creation of man and woman. Genesis two, God created man and gave him everything in the Garden of Eden, except for the tree of knowledge. God put man in the garden to take care of it. Adam was alone so God made a woman by taking one of the ribs from Adam. This metaphor can be reflected as how God wants to have a relationship with Israel. In Genesis two, God created humans to be the object of His love and creation.
Pips’ relationships with others show he is a compassionate person. Magwitch, Pip’s funder, acts almost as a guardian angel to Pip. Pip, almost certain that Miss Havisham is the reason for his new and wonderful life, discovers that indeed Magwitch, the convict he helped so long ago, is the reason for his sudden and mysterious fortunes. Whenever Pip fell into debt, Magwitch had knowledge and bailed him out and put him back on his feet. Nobody had ever suspected that a convict would be the reason for Pips’ success in life, which makes it hard for Pip and Magwitch to begin a strong relationship because they have only known each other a few days. Magwitch’s reason for making Pips’ life so much easier might have been tha...
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. “