Shakespeare or Tyndale?

[peter]

Mmm........yeah - that would be it.

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--A

[deer of the dawn]

One of my favorite Bible jokes, or more like wry sayings:

The leech has two daughters: Give, and Give.

From Proverbs, of course.

National Geographic had an issue a few years ago about the KJV, with a graphical representation of phrases that are part of everyday English taken straight from the KJV; such as "a man after my own heart". Its influence on Western culture cannot be overstated.

I was not aware that the KJV "committee" relied so heavily on Tyndale, whom the the king of England had executed a few generations before. No good deed goes unpunished.

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ONo good deed goes unpunished.

Amen.

--A

[Linna Heartbooger]

peter- I wanted to tell about something I did where I benefited from BOTH Shakespeare AND Tyndale* a year or two ago!
(wanted to tell you at the time. forgot)


The thing from the Bible's structure / literary artistry is:
So many kings' lives (1 and 2 Kings, probably 1 and 2 Chronicles) followed a similar pattern in rapid succession:
1. Born.
2. Reigns as king & does stuff.
i.e. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
3. Dies.

The thing from Shakespeare is his famous "All the world's a stage" speech.
It was clawing at the back of my mind one time when I was thinking about all those Israelite kings.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

They just really complemented each-other, and gave me exciting ideas for my own contemplation and also a Sunday School class.


* And also a computer game that my children are not yet permitted to play.

[peter]

I love that passage Linna! Yes indeed, there were many Kings doing much Kingly stuff in those Books; you are the second person in two days who has prompted me to think of my dusty and as yet uncompleted Bible read; I'm the lion's share through the OT, and thinking that it's time I got on and finished the job.