Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Religion and Doctrine

The Great Sanhedrin of the French Israelites, 4th February 1807 by Edouard Moyse
The Great Sanhedrin

He stood before the Sanhedrin;
The scowling rabbis gazed at him.
He recked not of their praise or blame;
There was no fear, there was no shame,
For one upon whose dazzled eyes
The whole world poured its vast surprise,
The oped heaven was far too near,
His first day's light too sweet and clear,
To let him waste his new-gained ken
On the hate-clouded face of men.

But still they questioned, Who are thou?
What hast thou been? What art thou now?
Thou art not he who yesterday
Sat here and begged beside the way;
For he was blind.
Diogenes Asking for Alms, 1767 by Jean Bernard Restout
--And I am he; For I was blind, but now I see.

He told the story o'er and O'er;
it was his full heart's only lore:
A prophet on the Sabbath-day
Had touched his sightless eyes with clay,
And made him see who had been blind.
Their words passed by him like the wind,
Which raves and howls, but cannot shock
The hundred-fathom-rooted rock.

Their threats and fury all went wide;
They could not touch his Hebrew pride.
Their sneers at Jesus and His band,
Nameless and homeless in the land,
Their boasts of Moses and his Lord,
All could not change him by one word.

I know not what this man may be,
Sinner or saint; but as for me,
One thing I know,--that I am he
Who once was blind, and now I see.

They were all doctors of renown,
The great men of a famous town,
With deep brows, wrinkled, broad, and wise,
Beneath their wide phylacteries;
The wisdom of the East was theirs,
And honor crowned their silver hairs.
The man they jeered and laughed to scorn
Was unlearned, poor, and humbly born;
But he knew better far than they
What came to him that Sabbath-day;
and what the Christ had done for him
He knew, and not the Sanhedrin.
John Hay (1890)

Sanhedrin were members of the highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jewish nation. That council was composed of from seventy to seventy-two members.

5 comments:

Brit. (lille meg) said...

Beautiful verses!
Thank you for sharing!
Have a nice weekend!:)

Tracy said...

I loved this poem. Very beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with all of us. I also enjoyed the pics that went with it. It brought the poem more to life.

I hope you hare having a blessed weekend.

Melissa said...

There are definitely different ways of knowing -

Cathy said...

I enjoyed your poem and pictures, Mimi. You always keep your eyes on Jesus. Thanks for visiting me and for your sweet comment.

Sharon Goemaere said...

It has been too long since I have stopped by for a visit!Hope all is well with you.Blessings~Sharon