The Bible In Paintings, #35: MT. SINAI #3 – 10 COMMANDMENTS!

Bing Images ^ | c. 2000 BC -- c. 90 AD | Father, Son & Holy Spirit

[Hebrews 11:6]

GOD GIVES THE LAW

E X O D U S . . 2 0
New International Version, emphases added
Abridged – the complete text is in your Bible

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God...

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

. . . .

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

EXODUS 24
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

EXODUS 31
18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

. . . .

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. . . .

AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE, artists have been eager to portray God giving His Ten Commandments to Moses. With more than 100 images to show you, which is far too many for one installment of this series, here is the first of FOUR posts focusing on the Decalogue.

There are several distinct varieties of images, so for viewing coherence they're grouped into like kinds. Today we begin with

T H R E E – D I M E N S I O N A L. . . . A R T

. . . .

S C U L P T U R A L

. . . .

Copenhagen, Denmark

Rome, Italy

Oakwood-Flowery Branch, Georgia

by DOMENICO FONTANA
Moses Fountain, Rome, Italy

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Vilnius Cathedral, Vilnius, Lithuania

by VERONESE

by MONTORSOLI
Cappella della Compagnia di S. Luca, Florence, Italy

by MICHELANGELO BUONAROTTI
Rome, Italy

. . . .

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. . . .

A R C H I T E C T U R A L

. . . .

Pediment, United States Supreme Court, Washington, D.C.

Pediment, United States Supreme Court, Washington, D.C.

Door, United States Supreme Court, Washington, D.C.

New York Supreme Court, New York

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. . . .

Again, here is the Bing page "MOSES SCULPTURES”,
showing various sculptors’ conceptions.
Several shown here are serious works worthy of interest,
by unknown artists except as noted.

Also, here are links to compendia of three masters
who painted Biblical scenes prolifically:

REMBRANDT van RIJN

GUSTAV DORÉ
(241 wood engravings for
La Grande Bible de Tours)

JAMES TISSOT

Finally, here are links to the
PREVIOUS 34 POSTS IN THIS SERIES

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SPECIAL THANKS
to FReeper left that other site,
who allowed God to make her His conduit
for incomparable enthusiasm, encouragement,
education, advice and technical assistance!

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SNEAK PEEK: Next time,

10 COMMANDMENTS, AGAIN

[Hebrews 11:6]

At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I am surveying "Bible art" to give God glory, as many of these artists have done, and for my own amusement and learning; and I thought others might enjoy it and be blessed by it, too. My plan is to proceed methodically from left-to right, Genesis to Revelation, as the Lord wills. Back soon with another.

The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.); these artists have done so, and their works can assist us and enrich our own thoughts about biblical characters, incidents and concepts, and increase our faith in He who is behind it all. As you encounter and consider these images and the related Scriptures and the Spirit enlightens your understanding, please share it with us!

But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is coming soon. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year’s viewing Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters (especially including Jesus!) into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it! Here is the Official Trailer.

Here is a link for free viewing of The Chosen: “Works with your phone, tablet, and you can cast to your Roku or Chromecast.” Last fall I paid $34.98 for DVDs and ongoing internet access—best 35 bucks I’ve ever spent (I don’t recall how much our marriage license cost, but then it was 42 years ago).

[Hebrews 11:6]

Ping List for the series
"THE BIBLE IN PAINTINGS"

To receive an alert for each new posting
in this series, either reply here or FRmail me.

[NEWwoman]

Thanks for the daily posts...

[ArtDodger]

Cue Mel Brooks as Moses, holding three tablets while speaking to the Jews, ‘I have these fifteen commandments for you!’
Drops a tablet, which shatters.
‘Ten! I have these ten commandments for you!’

[Hebrews 11:6]

PRAYER REQUEST

Hello! As members of the Ping List, I turn to you now for prayer support. When I attempted to post this thread last night, it refused, with an Error message. That has never happened before. After a couple hours of prayer and diagnosing and finagling, including removing its intended second half, it finally went through just now. Perhaps it was just overly long.

But perhaps it was demonic interference. Perhaps there is someone whom a demon doesn't want to see today's thread--maybe his or her salvation conversion depends upon it. Please join me in praying for Mr. or Ms. X!

[Hebrews 11:6]

It was VERY tempting....

[Hebrews 11:6]

Love doing it and glad you enjoy them. They're not quite published daily, although I work on them every day.

[jjotto]

Interestingly, there is no source for the tablets having rounded tops.

Jews traditionally understood them to be square, to fit in the Ark.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Appears to be an “artsy” convention most artists have adopted: monkey see—monkey do.

[left that other site]

Amen!

People have testified to me privately that, by googling something completely different, they ended up on my Jerusalem Thread. This prompted them to join FR, because they wanted to comment. And then...as years went by, they became part of President trump’s Army of “Keyboard Warriors” here on FR.

Prayers up for Mr. or Ms. X!

[Maudeen]

It may be the verse you underlined speaking to America

the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I am certain we will be astounded in heaven when we finally learn of all the vast multitude of interrelationships God uses in saving and nurturing all His beloved. Our job now is simply to pray, listen, and obey.

[Repeal The 17th]

I have enjoyed all of your postings on “Biblical Art”, and I thank you for that.
-
“...4 “You shall not make for yourself an image
in the form of anything in heaven above
or on the earth beneath
or in the waters below...”
-
It occurs to me, that if these artists had obeyed that commandment,
you would have no source material for these threads!

[left that other site]

Amen.

[Hebrews 11:6]

As you know, there is currently very little fear of God in America and an abundance of sin. But He is still firmly on His throne. In yesterday’s sermon, my pastor predicted a rapid and sharp increase is coming soon in the persecution of believers and the church, just as Jesus predicted. As Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

[Hebrews 11:6]

Actually, that is one of the places I abridged the biblical text. The full text is

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...."

So, in context, we see plainly that God's prohibition against image-making depends on the makers' purpose: God is specifically forbidding making them only for worshiping them. So far, I have not encountered an artist who has disobeyed this important command, and if I do I will resolutely avoid including it in this series.

Glad you enjoy them!