The one-on-one battle between baby-faced shepherd boy David and giant super soldier (and possible steroid user) Goliath is one of the most epic scenes in the Tanach. Allegorical depictions of this story have been used throughout history to conveniently frame political and personal narratives. Just ask Michelangelo and the Medici family, or any exhausted modern sports columnist struggling to come up with a headline on a deadline.
Let’s, ahem, dive into the story of Jonah and the Whale for some hilariously apt quarantine symbolism.
The story of Noah and the flood has been an incredibly popular subject for artists throughout history. As antediluvian society descends into a state of anarchy and corruption and nobody is giving Him the respect He wants, God gets real pissed off and decides to pull a Thanos and hit restart on this whole “Earth” thing.
After observing that Adam was, frankly, a bit of a non-starter as one single human entity, God knocks Adam out and splits His creation into two beings: Adam and Eve.
In many of the artistic depictions of these events, you’ll notice Moses is often shown with “horns” of light bursting out of his forehead, not unlike that Xenomorph who ripped through John Hurt’s stomach in “Alien.” In the Jewish tradition, we learn that light shone out of Moses’ face after his lengthy spiritual retreat with God. Sadly, many artists throughout history have represented the light as horns, thus bolstering the anti-Semitic idea that Jews have horns. We don’t. I keep checking!