A panel from ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome. The panel shows the temptation and then expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The ceiling was created between 1508 and 1512 CE by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564 CE) and shows the story of Genesis from the Creation to the Great Flood.
When there was no king in the land of creation, I was sojourning in the remote parts of the garden. I took myself a lover from creation and she was very unfaithful to me, going away from me to her father’s house near the ocean. I arose and pursued her, to speak kindly with her and bring her back to me. With me I brought my slave and a few horses. My love brought me into her father’s abode with joyful cheering and exuberance. Her father made me stay, and I remained with them three days- drinking, eating, and spending the night. After six days of lodging and eating, I was offered to stay again by my lover’s father. I declined and urged my love that we must be heading out.
Levite (Hebrew: לֵוִ, Modern Hebrew: Levī, Tiberia Hebrew: Lēwī) is the third son born between Jacob and Leah. He also gave birth to Germany, Go Hot, and Murari. It is also the origin of Levi , an English -speaking life.
Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.[a]
I arose and departed from my lover’s father’s house, arriving at the Grand City. In this place I was met by worthless fellows who pursued me into the night. Luckily, I met an elderly farmer who took me into his house. Upon arriving to his abode safely, my lover, slave, horses, and I were harassed by the wicked men through the doors and windows of the farm. Angrily, I gave them my lover, to abuse and know through the night and into the morning. When she found her way back to me, she had known many men. In my wrath, I took a knife and divided her limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Creation. I believe I started a war…
Paolo Veronese, Mystical Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria, Accademia Galleries, 1567-68, Venice
If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.
Jacopo Tintoretto (c 1518-1594), Dream of Saint Mark (Pax Tibi Marce) (E&I 305) (c 1591), oil on canvas, dimensions not known, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy. Image by Didier Descouens, via Wikimedia Commons.
Frans Francken the Younger (1581–1642), Mankind’s Eternal Dilemma – The Choice Between Virtue and Vice (1633), oil on panel, 142 x 210.8 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA. Wikimedia Commons.
Featured image: Peter Paul Rubens – The Fall of Phaeton, c. 1604-1605. Oil on canvas, 98.4 x 131.2 cm (38.7 x 51.6 in). The National Gallery of Art. Image via Creative Commons
Jacopo Tintoretto (c 1518-1594), The Last Supper (E&I 310) (1592-94), media and dimensions not known, Duomo, Lucca, Italy. Image by Mongolo1984, via Wikimedia Commons.
2nd century BCE marble sculpture of the Ancient Greek god of war Ares (Roman name: Mars). Ludovisi Collection, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
Frans Francken the Younger (1581–1642), Mankind’s Eternal Dilemma – The Choice Between Virtue and Vice (1633), oil on panel, 142 x 210.8 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA. Wikimedia Commons.
Jacopo Tintoretto (c 1518-1594), The Last Supper (E&I 309) (1592-94), oil on canvas, 365 x 568 cm, Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy. Wikimedia Commons.
Hans Memling (c 1433–1494), The Last Judgment (panel from triptych) (1467-1471), oil on panel, 223 x 72 cm, Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku, Gdańsk. Wikimedia Commons.
Jacopo Tintoretto (c 1518-1594), The Archangel Michael in Combat with Lucifer (E&I 287) (1580s or early 1590s), oil on canvas, 318 x 220 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
Cursten Branden Lewis 
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