Christianity QA » Christian Church » Bear image is where in the Bible?
Question:
Can’t find it today. Somewhere God is a bear in the Bible. Don’t mean to start a quiz, but maybe now I do as I complete this sentence. Images of God in the Bible. Please list them and where they are from. If you can start with the bear, please! (It’s driving me bonkers today or if its not in there, then I already am)
It’s a bit late. But, God is a bear everywhere in the Bible. Like "he’s the One to bear our sins." Etc. etc.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): Isn’t it nice to know that God defends bald people? Charles Hohenstein I think the point was their mockery of a prophetic elder. The object of the disrespect was rather artibrary. Interestingly, for some reason, St. Paul is almost always thus portrayed: http://www.cybercom.net/~htm/images/a-352.jpg I don’t know where the iconic convention of "bald Paul" began — does he refer at some point in the Epistles to his shining pate? — but it’s the "normal default" for images of him. No such convention of a "bald Jesus" has ever arisen, in Eastern or Western iconography, to the best of my knowledge. Go figure. Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald. Priscilla It’s genetic with a strong ethnic component. My dad died at 72 with a full head of mostly dark hair, despite having had cancer for two years. Good Spanish hair genes. Middle Easterners tend to keep their hair too. Of course, the Middle Easterners of today are not the same as those 2,000 years ago. It is interesting where we get these persistent representations of Biblical personages, considering the Bible is mighty sparse with physical descriptions. Of course, these notions started in antiquity and over time developed a life of their own, but it makes you wonder where it started, and if it was ever accurate. Jesus does tend to get blonder and his eyes bluer as the images move north, but the basic image of a tall gaunt, bearded man with a long face and thin, long hair is pretty consistent. Did it start from eyewitnesses? I suspect the images of Paul probably were accurate, since he was a prominent person in the Christian church which was just then coming to fore as a major movement. Somewhere along the line someone painted or sculpted him from life, for sure. The prototypes are long gone, but the tradition persists. We know that scripture has been remarkably faithful throughout the centuries, why not portraiture as well?
Retirement has given me time to read and watch TV… Somewhere I read that statues of Alexander the Great were used by painters and sculptures as a model for representations of Jesus. Probably speculation, but interesting. Alexander being thought of as especially good looking. My understanding of human genetics is that European-descended people have a mixture of European, Mid-East, Asian and African genes. And we are related to each other through multiple lines at about the 6th or 7th cousin level. So if Jesus was a blondie or brunette, blue or brown or green eyed, he’s still a close relative to us all.
Response:
See also Lamentations 3: (1) I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath: (10) Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, (11) he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. (NIV) Check your concordances. The Bible is really down on bears. You might say it is "bearish" on them. Dogs don’t do much better.
Snakes even worse!
Response:
Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald.
Teens. My brother and his son have suffered that fate, and a teenage friend of my son is headed down that road. If Jesus had been like my nephew, he’d have been shiny-headed by age 21. — From all sedicion and pryvie conspiracie, from the tyrannye of the Bysshop of Rome, and al hys detestable enormities, from al false doctryne and heresy, from hardnes of hearte, and contempte of thy worde and commaundement. Good lord, deliver us. from the Litany, 1549 BCP
Response:
Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald. Teens. My brother and his son have suffered that fate, and a teenage friend of my son is headed down that road. If Jesus had been like my nephew, he’d have been shiny-headed by age 21.
My hairline started to recede during my high school years, and the process accelerated during my twenties. Jesus had plenty of time to go bald. Charles Hohenstein
Response:
Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald. Teens. My brother and his son have suffered that fate, and a teenage friend of my son is headed down that road. If Jesus had been like my nephew, he’d have been shiny-headed by age 21. My hairline started to recede during my high school years, and the process accelerated during my twenties. Jesus had plenty of time to go bald. Charles Hohenstein
True enough. Anyone who went to college with men is well aware that there would always be a few seniors (age 21-ish) who were "quite visibly balding" (perhaps "half-gone") by the time of graduation. At age 50-mumble, I still have the thickness of hair of a 30-something, but it’s purely a genetic fluke. Which still doesn’t answer the question of where the convention began of iconizing St. Paul as a bald dude. It was already in place by the Renaissance, if not before. Anybody got any clues?
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): Isn’t it nice to know that God defends bald people? Charles Hohenstein I think the point was their mockery of a prophetic elder. The object of the disrespect was rather artibrary. Interestingly, for some reason, St. Paul is almost always thus portrayed: http://www.cybercom.net/~htm/images/a-352.jpg I don’t know where the iconic convention of "bald Paul" began — does he refer at some point in the Epistles to his shining pate? — but it’s the "normal default" for images of him. No such convention of a "bald Jesus" has ever arisen, in Eastern or Western iconography, to the best of my knowledge. Go figure. Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald. Priscilla It’s genetic with a strong ethnic component. My dad died at 72 with a full head of mostly dark hair, despite having had cancer for two years. Good Spanish hair genes. Middle Easterners tend to keep their hair too. Of course, the Middle Easterners of today are not the same as those 2,000 years ago. It is interesting where we get these persistent representations of Biblical personages, considering the Bible is mighty sparse with physical descriptions. Of course, these notions started in antiquity and over time developed a life of their own, but it makes you wonder where it started, and if it was ever accurate. Jesus does tend to get blonder and his eyes bluer as the images move north, but the basic image of a tall gaunt, bearded man with a long face and thin, long hair is pretty consistent. Did it start from eyewitnesses? I suspect the images of Paul probably were accurate, since he was a prominent person in the Christian church which was just then coming to fore as a major movement. Somewhere along the line someone painted or sculpted him from life, for sure. The prototypes are long gone, but the tradition persists. We know that scripture has been remarkably faithful throughout the centuries, why not portraiture as well?
Discovery Channel had a very interesting program about Jesus, and from a University in Israel they took a skull from the first century and use one of those artists who is trained through forensics to show what the person might look like. What they found was a dark skinned person (due to exposer to the sun) who might have looked older than their years who had a stout stocky face mainly because of diet, very hard work, and genetics. It was really eye opening. Was it the face of Jesus, no, not at all, but it gave a very good visual representation of what a man of the C.E. looked like. ALSO on PBS recently was a 2 hour program all about religious art, truly wonderful, if it’s on again (found it through flipping) so I can’t say the name. From what I saw, they thought of all the works studied, the one’s who represented the most honest approach were the Icons from Byzantium, which has always been my personal favorite. As for myself, my last vocation being in the Arts, I have directed, composed, choreographed, but the visual arts I’ve NO TALENT which I liken to one who is tone deaf, but inside my mind I see my own visual art. If I were to do a pieta, I would do it in bronze, an extreme close up of two hands, the one hand wrenched, beaten, abused and that of human trauma with a nail hole in the wrist. The other hand would be that of a middle aged woman touching it in such a way of sadness, but also the comforting hand of a mother soothing a child. Running down the physically traumatized hand would be almost translucent drops of tears.
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): Isn’t it nice to know that God defends bald people? Charles Hohenstein I think the point was their mockery of a prophetic elder. The object of the disrespect was rather artibrary. Interestingly, for some reason, St. Paul is almost always thus portrayed: http://www.cybercom.net/~htm/images/a-352.jpg I don’t know where the iconic convention of "bald Paul" began — does he refer at some point in the Epistles to his shining pate? — but it’s the "normal default" for images of him. No such convention of a "bald Jesus" has ever arisen, in Eastern or Western iconography, to the best of my knowledge. Go figure. Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald. Priscilla
It’s genetic with a strong ethnic component. My dad died at 72 with a full head of mostly dark hair, despite having had cancer for two years. Good Spanish hair genes. Middle Easterners tend to keep their hair too. Of course, the Middle Easterners of today are not the same as those 2,000 years ago. It is interesting where we get these persistent representations of Biblical personages, considering the Bible is mighty sparse with physical descriptions. Of course, these notions started in antiquity and over time developed a life of their own, but it makes you wonder where it started, and if it was ever accurate. Jesus does tend to get blonder and his eyes bluer as the images move north, but the basic image of a tall gaunt, bearded man with a long face and thin, long hair is pretty consistent. Did it start from eyewitnesses? I suspect the images of Paul probably were accurate, since he was a prominent person in the Christian church which was just then coming to fore as a major movement. Somewhere along the line someone painted or sculpted him from life, for sure. The prototypes are long gone, but the tradition persists. We know that scripture has been remarkably faithful throughout the centuries, why not portraiture as well?
Response:
Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): Isn’t it nice to know that God defends bald people? Charles Hohenstein
I think the point was their mockery of a prophetic elder. The object of the disrespect was rather artibrary. Interestingly, for some reason, St. Paul is almost always thus portrayed: http://www.cybercom.net/~htm/images/a-352.jpg I don’t know where the iconic convention of "bald Paul" began — does he refer at some point in the Epistles to his shining pate? — but it’s the "normal default" for images of him. No such convention of a "bald Jesus" has ever arisen, in Eastern or Western iconography, to the best of my knowledge. Go figure.
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): Isn’t it nice to know that God defends bald people? Charles Hohenstein I think the point was their mockery of a prophetic elder. The object of the disrespect was rather artibrary. Interestingly, for some reason, St. Paul is almost always thus portrayed: http://www.cybercom.net/~htm/images/a-352.jpg I don’t know where the iconic convention of "bald Paul" began — does he refer at some point in the Epistles to his shining pate? — but it’s the "normal default" for images of him. No such convention of a "bald Jesus" has ever arisen, in Eastern or Western iconography, to the best of my knowledge. Go figure.
Doesn’t conventional baldness usually start showing in the late 30s-40s? Jesus didn’t live long enough to go bald. Priscilla
Response:
Can’t find it today. Somewhere God is a bear in the Bible. Don’t mean to start a quiz, but maybe now I do as I complete this sentence. Images of God in the Bible. Please list them and where they are from. If you can start with the bear, please! (It’s driving me bonkers today or if its not in there, then I already am)
Response:
Can’t find it today. Somewhere God is a bear in the Bible. Don’t mean to start a quiz, but maybe now I do as I complete this sentence. Images of God in the Bible. Please list them and where they are from. If you can start with the bear, please! (It’s driving me bonkers today or if its not in there, then I already am)
Just learn to use Google! Try this link: http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/nave/nave0637.htm There are several instances of a bear appearing to be an indirect agent of divine wrath or divine judgment, but no direct Image of God as such — (comparable, for example, to the Burning Bush or the Pillar of Fire) — in the form of a bear. Nonetheless, a few of the citations seem very close to what you’re seeking. Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/images/2kings2-23.jpg Does this help at all?
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Just learn to use Google! Try this link: http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/nave/nave0637.htm There are several instances of a bear appearing to be an indirect agent of divine wrath or divine judgment, but no direct Image of God as such — (comparable, for example, to the Burning Bush or the Pillar of Fire) — in the form of a bear. Nonetheless, a few of the citations seem very close to what you’re seeking. Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/images/2kings2-23.jpg Does this help at all?
Or go here: http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/ and do a word search. Let us know what you find. I’m interested but lazy myself. — From all sedicion and pryvie conspiracie, from the tyrannye of the Bysshop of Rome, and al hys detestable enormities, from al false doctryne and heresy, from hardnes of hearte, and contempte of thy worde and commaundement. Good lord, deliver us. from the Litany, 1549 BCP
Response:
Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha):
Isn’t it nice to know that God defends bald people? Charles Hohenstein
Response:
Just learn to use Google! Try this link:
Google was confusing to use, because bear is an animal and something you do with burdens. I did not know how to narrow down the search. http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/nave/nave0637.htm There are several instances of a bear appearing to be an indirect agent of divine wrath or divine judgment, but no direct Image of God as such — (comparable, for example, to the Burning Bush or the Pillar of Fire) — in the form of a bear. Nonetheless, a few of the citations seem very close to what you’re seeking. Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/images/2kings2-23.jpg Does this help at all?
This one helped. This is a good site for locating verses. This is what I was looking for: (Thanks very much) Hosea 13:4-9 Yet I [am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for [there is] no saviour beside me. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe [them]: I will meet the as a bear [that is] bereaved [of her whelps], and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me [is] thine help. JH – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Or go here: http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/ and do a word search. Let us know what you find. I’m interested but lazy myself.
Response:
See also Lamentations 3: (1) I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath: (10) Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, (11) he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. (NIV) Check your concordances. The Bible is really down on bears. You might say it is "bearish" on them. Dogs don’t do much better.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Just learn to use Google! Try this link: Google was confusing to use, because bear is an animal and something you do with burdens. I did not know how to narrow down the search. http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/nave/nave0637.htm There are several instances of a bear appearing to be an indirect agent of divine wrath or divine judgment, but no direct Image of God as such — (comparable, for example, to the Burning Bush or the Pillar of Fire) — in the form of a bear. Nonetheless, a few of the citations seem very close to what you’re seeking. Check out this illustration from 2Ki:24 (two bears destroy the young men of Beth-el who mocked Elisha): http://www.christianwebsite.com/bible/kjv/images/2kings2-23.jpg Does this help at all? This one helped. This is a good site for locating verses. This is what I was looking for: (Thanks very much) Hosea 13:4-9 Yet I [am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for [there is] no saviour beside me. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe [them]: I will meet the as a bear [that is] bereaved [of her whelps], and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me [is] thine help. JH Or go here: http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/ and do a word search. Let us know what you find. I’m interested but lazy myself.
no comment untill now