An email correspondent of mine brought it to my attention some weeks ago that the first of the daily Mass readings for December 14, 2020 (the day the electoral college votes in the U.S.) is from Numbers 24, the story of Balaam being called upon to curse the Israelites but blessing them instead -- the implication being that, if the synchroncity fairies have anything to do with it, the electoral college might similarly "disappoint."
Following the link from the Mass readings website, I read the chapter in the Douay-Rheims version, a translation with which I am not at all familiar. (Mormons are King James readers.) The reading is only vv. 2-7, 15-17a, but I quote some of the context as well.
[1] And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel. he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert,
[2] And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him,
[3] He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye ire stopped up:
[4] The hearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened:
[5] How beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel!
[6] As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waterside.
[7] Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken awry.
[8] God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows.
[9] Lying down he hath slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom none shall dare to rouse. He that blesseth thee, shall also himself be blessed: he that curseth thee shall be reckoned accursed.
[10] And Balac being angry against Balaam, clapped his hands together and said: I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou on the contrary hast blessed them three times.
[11] Return to thy place. I had determined indeed greatly to honour thee, but the Lord hath deprived thee of the honour designed for thee.
Why have I highlighted the bit about the rhinoceros? It caught my eye partly because of its unfamiliarity -- the King James has unicorn, and I believe the animal intended by the author was the aurochs -- but also because rhinoceroses had been on my mind recently for other reasons.
My recent Robin Hood post begins with a simplification of my actual train of thought. I said the story of Samson and the fiery foxes made me think of the brower Firefox, which in turn made me think of a fox firing an arrow. In fact, I got as far as Firefox and then got stuck. The sync fairies had to bring the Disney Robin Hood movie to my mind by other means.
I was thinking about songs that presage 2020 -- for example, the Beach Boys song "Time To Get Alone," from the 1968 album 20/20, featuring the refrain "Away from the people / And safe from the people." One of the songs I thought of was the 2005 They Might Be Giants song "I Never Go To Work" ("On Monday, I never go to work / On Tuesday, I stay at home . . ."). Besides the obvious 2020 theme of staying home and not going to work, it's also about practicing the trumpet every day and thus connects to Trump. The music video shows the main character staying home and practicing the trumpet in defiance of his boss, who is a rhinoceros.
This made me think of the "rhino guards" in the Disney Robin Hood film, and it was only then that I made the connection between Firefox and a fox firing an arrow.
I haven't seen that movie since I was tiny, but those rhino guards have stuck with me -- so much so that, the first time I saw a red turtle dove, its strange combination of gray and pink made me think of them.
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RINO is a widely understood acronym for Republican in Name Only -- used by members of that party as a pejorative for fellow party members with whom they disagree. It predates the Trump era, and has even been applied by the GOP establishment to Trump himself, but it is currently used most often by Trump and his supporters with reference to the anti-Trump wing of the party.
The acronym is an apt one because the rhinoceros, though superficially resembling an elephant, in fact belongs to the same order of mammals (Perissodactyla) as the donkey.
Rhinoceros means "nose-horn" in Greek -- so the abbreviated form rhino is literally just "nose." (The omission of the holy letter H is also significant!) This suggests an additional meaning for the line "Fox sews hose on Slow Joe Crow's nose."
Remember what the Grinch did when he needed a reindeer? He used some thread to attach a big horn to the top of his dog's head.
Well, by the same logic, how would you "make" an elephant? By sewing a hose to some other animal's nose, of course. As discussed before, Fox is the news media and Slow Joe is Slow Joe. "Slow Joe Crow's nose" means nominal Republicans (RINO = rhino = nose) who are in fact on Slow Joe's side rather than Trump's. (A trump is a horn. Rhino is rhinoceros with the part meaning "horn" removed.) The media sews a hose to their nose (yes, the word nose is doing double duty here), presenting them as "real" Republicans.
Having just recently connected Fox in Socks with Men in Tights, I realize that the word hose can also mean "hosiery" -- tights, socks, and such.
9 comments:
The electors appear not to have pulled a Balaam after all. (Or have they? The main thing Balaam is famous for is listening to a talking donkey.)
My adult students' reading assignment today, following a schedule not chosen by me, was an article about Albrecht Dürer which mentioned, and included a reproduction of, his woodcut Rhinoceros.
I am suddenly reminded of a passage from the P. G. Woedhouse novel Jeeves in the Offing.
'And, anyway, Reggie's gone for a walk and isn't available. I do wish you wouldn't always be so difficult, Bertie. Your aunt tells me it was just the same when you were a child. She'd want you to eat your cereal, and you would stick your ears back and be stubborn and non-co– operative, like Jonah's ass in the Bible.'
I could not let this go uncorrected. It's pretty generally known that when at school I won a prize for Scripture Knowledge.
'Balaam's ass. Jonah was the chap who had the whale. Jeeves!'
'Sir?'
'To settle a bet, wasn't it Balaam's ass that entered the nolle prosequi?'
'Yes, sir.'
I have recently been reading Scott Alexander's novel Unsong. One of the running gags is "biblical pun correction." One of the characters mentions Joan of Arc and is "corrected" by another: "Jonah whale; Noah ark." Later in the conversation, someone says "to no avail" and received the converse correction: "Noah ark; Jonah whale."
Ernie's "Guess What I'm Thinking of" Game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqPNOP7pP3c
Bert and Ernie. Betram Wooster. Bertram is literally the seemingly oxymoronic "bright raven" -- cf. Red crows of the sun.
Bert = Betram = bright raven = red solar crow = the Red Sun
Ernie = Ernest = serious = Sirius = the Blue Sun
Well, I don't know if this will qualify as part of 'your' synchronicity 'string', but as I am a regular reader, I'll share it just in case ;^)
My grandfather's middle name was Bertram, and for some reason (lack of imagination, I suppose) the two younger of his four sons were given that middle name as well -
- oddly enough, both died prematurely and both deaths somewhat oddities:
The youngest son 'would not have died' at 26, when he rear ended a car while riding his motorcycle -
- except that the 'jolt' knocked him off the cycle at precisely the right spot and angle for his head to crash into a telephone pole...
The elder of the two 'would not have' died at 48 years old, if it hadn't been for the accidental radiation over-dose he received while being treated for (what should have been nonfatal) throat cancer...
Oddly enough, the two eldest sons (my uncle and father) both lost their only sons to premature death - one at 18 to Leukemia, the other at 48 to kidney disease - though none of those 'carried' the name Bertram...
....Still, I suppose part of the 'ill luck' of my grandfather's "Bertram" would be the lack of a line of male descendants to carry on the family name...
So, there you have it - bright ravens lead to bad luck (for boys in my family anyway)
Sorry, I meant to 'sign' my name...
Carol
Joan of Arc -- Maid of Orleans -- Battle of New Orleans
Carol, when I was a Mormon missionary, my trainer was always quoting "the poet James Morrison." (Being a bit slow on the uptake, I didn't figure out until years later that this was none other than Jim Morrison of the Doors.)
There were two passages in particular that he quoted a lot. The first was, "Death makes angels of us all / And gives us wings where we had shoulders / Smooth as ravens' claws." The other, "Indian, Indian, what did you die for? / Indian says nothing at all."
And often, for reasons best known to himself (perhaps to antagonize an associate of ours who was named Rafn), he would sort of mix the two together and say, "Raven, raven, what did you die for? / Raven says nothing at all."
"I never go to work."
raven = nevar
crow = worc
Two backwards corvids in one line!
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