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April 26, 2007
Flashes of Freedom
Flashes of Freedom
by Loren Fisher
Not much has changed in five millenniums.
Technology has, a bit with humans.
Once we came ashore and climbed to the hills,
Our ascent became flat, not many thrills.
There were hints of social justice around;
They were not widespread, and faint was the sound.
Ubiquitous injustice was alive,
And noise of practitioners was rife.
If we can manage the old languages,
If we can hurdle the many ages,
To bridge rivers of misunderstanding,
There is an adventure for the taking.
Flashes of freedom spring from insights,
Which arise when the time is also right.
There has to be discontent and true critique.
It takes hope and time, no place for the meek.
Such episodes are thrilling to retell.
In Egypt, The Eloquent Peasant’s well.
He was unjustly imprisoned for crime,
And the crime was against him and his kind.
The peasant had to appeal nine times in court.
His poor family was without report.
His speeches were elegant, the best;
They kept him in order to hear the rest.
He was set free with property and more.
Against the nobles the peasant did score.
Classes were equal. The poor had a place,
And Egypt had a new vision to embrace.
Did social justice help the pharaoh’s plan?
A loyal follower was his demand.
The New Empire’s love was for expansion,
And human rights were not in its mission.
Later, a creative advance was due.
In the Amarna Age, Egypt came through.
Or Akh-en-Aton, the rebel, came through.
There were flashes of freedom for a few.
Women were a part of the public life.
Pharaoh’s love was shown for daughters and wife.
How did this change for women come about?
The harem wives from Mitanni spoke out.
The Mitanni Kingdom was far away.
Men and women were equal so they say.
These Hurrians are best known from Nuzi.
Modern Kirkuk is near ancient Nuzi.
Nuzi texts are clearly windows of sorts.
We see Kizaya, who won in the courts
Her right to wed her lover, Arteya.
She was free from the match with Mannuya.
But this too was covered up by power.
These precious moments fade like a flower.
Yet for some ideas, this was not their fate.
They lived on in Kurdish tales very late.
Egyptian and Kurdish tales speak of soul.
The soul assumes protection as her role.
The soul says, “Suicide no! Love me here.”
The soul confronts the state: “humans are dear.”
Job’s friends wanted humans to fear their God.
“Fear! Be obedient, and note God’s rod.”
Job said, “False and your God does not exist.
Try loving others; the poor are at risk.”
Job got it right, but altar and state won.
They buried his book; he was on the run,
In the larger Book of Job, they hid it;
On his flash of freedom his friends did spit.
The adventurous gave us these insights.
They looked beyond safe limits and their plight.
Their learning was essential for nurture,
But imagination brought adventure.
It restores vigor to know these strong folks,
People with ideas, who didn’t bow to yokes.
They kept a vibrant hope for the future.
Our civilization needs their culture.
Their flashes of freedom are to be treasured.
Lightning is fertile, not to be measured.
Ours to remember: “In any Kingdom,
Altar, Greed, and Empire kill flashes of freedom.”
This is a somewhat revised version of a poem Loren read at the close of the Convocation on Job. I have reproduced it here with his permission.
Update: April 27, 2007
The two stanzas on Job were inadvertently omitted from the original post and have now been added.
Posted by Duane Smith at April 26, 2007 7:58 AM | Read more on Hebrew Bible |
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