Bible stories I - Burning bush, Tables of the Law
Moses, grazing the sheep of Jethro... reached the mountain of God : Horeb.
The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the form of a flame of fire shooting up from the middle of a bush.
Moses looked: the bush was ablaze but not consumed" (Ex. III, 1f.).
The Bush is the Tree of Life.
The Burning Bush II (64.5 x 40 cm) 1980.
Moses, who was tending Jethro's sheep and had led them across the desert, came to the mountain of God, Horeb.
The Angel of Yahweh appeared to him in the form of a flame of fire bursting from the middle of a bush.
Moses looked: the bush was ablaze but was not consumed... God then said to Moses: ''I am who I am... Yahweh the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob... This is the name I will bear forever''. (Ex. III, 1,2-14, 15).
To know someone's name is to be able to invoke them effectively.
But God does not put himself at the mercy of men by giving his name which would express his essence; which underlines the transcendence of this God that man cannot truly name.
The Bush is the Tree of Life indicated by the phoenix and the presence of the left-right structure: moon and sun.
The name that cannot be pronounced is YHVH.
The winged cherubim covered with eyes (Jn, Rev. IV, 6,7,8) announce the presence of God and the lightning sword guards the path to the Tree of Life (Gen. III, 24). Moses returned in fear that his gaze would be fixed on God.
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).
The Burning Bush I (53 x 25.3) 1980.
This is the literal image of the biblical story: “Moses, who was tending Jethro’s sheep, ... and had led them across the desert, came to the mountain of God: Horeb.
The Angel of Yahweh appeared to him in the form of a flame of fire bursting from the middle of a bush.
Moses looked: the bush was ablaze but was not consumed” (Ex. III, 1s.).
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).
The 2 trees and the two tables
Moses was furious.
He threw down the tables that were in his hands and smashed them to pieces" Ex XXXII, 15, 19.
This is the first Law, the Messianic Law.
Moses then enacted a "second law", a moral law of good and evil.
The first is the Tree of Life, the second the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Life and death.
Right and left.
The 2 trees and the two tables (27.5 x 31.5) 1977.
“Iahweh gave Moses the 2 Tables of the Testimony, stone tables written with the finger of God”.
(Ex. XXXI, 18) “Moses took the way back with the 2 Tables of the Testimony in his hands... When he was near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing choirs.
Moses then became inflamed with anger.
He threw down the tables he was holding in his hands and tore them to pieces” Ex. XXXII, 15, 19).
This is the first Law, the Messianic Law.
Moses then enacts a “second Law”, the moral law of Good and Evil.
These two Laws are the counterpart of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
Life and death.
Right and left.
The Tree of Good and Evil is on Moses’ left, along with the second Law; the Tree of Life and the Messianic Law, destroyed, are on his right.
The 2 Trees are in the middle of the Garden of Eden, surrounded by the primordial waters; Moses and the “second Law” are outside the Garden.
The wrath of God (lightning) strikes the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Covenant (the dove and the rays) overhangs the Tree of Life.
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).
Combat of the bull of light against the golden calf
The palm tree, whose robustness and beauty have made it the symbol of the righteous, emerges from the cloud of Sinai : Tree of Life.
Fight of the bull of light against the golden calf (43.5 x 25) 1977.
The bull is the sign of Moses.
The Bible says: “When he was near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing choirs.
Moses was then inflamed with anger.
He threw down the tablets he was holding in his hand and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
He seized the calf they had made, burned it, ground it into a fine powder which he sprinkled on the surface of the water that he made the children of Israel drink” (Ex. XXXII, 19, 20).
The palm tree, whose robustness and beauty have made it the symbol of the righteous, comes out of the cloud of Sinai: Tree of Life.
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).
