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<p>[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 2669990, member: 75937"]The statue of the lion and the lamb is very interesting because the notion of a lion lying with a lamb -- contrary to popular belief -- does not appear in the Bible. This statue apparently predates any reference to a lion lying down with a lamb by several centuries.</p><p><br /></p><p>The closest Biblical passage is Isaiah 11:6, which reads:</p><p><br /></p><p>"And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them." (NASB)</p><p><br /></p><p>There is another Old Testament passage that is similar, Isaiah 65:25:</p><p><br /></p><p>"'The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,' says the LORD." (NASB)</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+5" rel="nofollow">Revelation 5</a> mentions a lion and a lamb, but nothing at all about them lying together. Indeed, they both almost certainly refer allegorically to Jesus, the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God.</p><p><br /></p><p>The juxtaposition of lion and lamb goes a very long way back in Christian tradition, back to the Church Fathers in fact. Here, for example, is Chrysostom on Isaiah 11:6:</p><p><br /></p><p>"I have heard many saying, 'The threats of a king are like the wrath of a lion,' (Proverbs 19:12) being full of dejection and lamentation. What then should we say to such? That He who said, 'The wolves and the lambs shall feed together; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,' (Isaiah 11:6-7) will be able to convert the lion into a mild lamb." (<a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/190103.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/190103.htm" rel="nofollow">Homily 3 on the Statues</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>There's also a long tradition of portraying Christ as combining the attributes of the lion and the lamb. Thus Augustine:</p><p><br /></p><p>"Who is this, both lamb and lion? He endured death as a lamb, he devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lamb and lion? Gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged, roaring when he comes to judge. Or perhaps in his passion both lamb and lion, and also in his resurrection lamb and lion." (<a href="http://www.augustinus.it/latino/discorsi/discorso_541_testo.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.augustinus.it/latino/discorsi/discorso_541_testo.htm" rel="nofollow">Sermon 375A on the Sacraments</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>But not one of these ancient references speaks specifically of a lion lying down with a lamb!</p><p><br /></p><p>We have to get pretty far into the modern period before this notion is clearly documented. The earliest reference I could find after a pretty thorough search online comes from <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FIBJAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22lion%20and%20lamb%22&pg=PA299#v=onepage&q=%22lion%20and%20lamb%22&f=false" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FIBJAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22lion%20and%20lamb%22&pg=PA299#v=onepage&q=%22lion%20and%20lamb%22&f=false" rel="nofollow">this book</a>, which states the "Lion and Lamb" was a popular symbol on English signboards in the 17th century.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the 19th century, the notion of the lion lying with lambs was firmly in place and is quoted or alluded to by a number of major English poets, usually in the context of a utopian or millenarian imagination. Shelley's <i>Queen Mab</i> (<a href="http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/PShelley/mab8.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/PShelley/mab8.html" rel="nofollow">VIII 124-28</a>) reads:</p><p><br /></p><p>"The lion now forgets to thirst for blood;</p><p>There might you see him sporting in the sun</p><p>Beside the dreadless kid; his claws are sheathed,</p><p>His teeth are harmless, custom's force has made</p><p>His nature as the nature of a lamb."</p><p><br /></p><p>And Blake's "Night" reads (<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/101/491.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.bartleby.com/101/491.html" rel="nofollow">33-42</a>):</p><p><br /></p><p>"And there the lion's ruddy eyes</p><p>Shall flow with tears of gold:</p><p>And pitying the tender cries,</p><p>And walking round the fold:</p><p>Saying, 'Wrath, by His meekness,</p><p>And, by His health, sickness,</p><p>Are driven away</p><p>From our immortal day.</p><p><br /></p><p>'And now beside thee, bleating lamb,</p><p>I can lie down and sleep ...'"</p><p><br /></p><p>Henry James, in <i><a href="https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/henry/death_of_the_lion/chapter6.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/henry/death_of_the_lion/chapter6.html" rel="nofollow">The Death of the Lion</a></i>, depicts the soirees of socially predatory Mrs. Weeks Wimbush, "proprietress of the universal menagerie," as times in which "the animals rub shoulders freely with the spectators and the lions sit down for whole evenings with the lambs."</p><p><br /></p><p>In the visual arts, this notion was explored by Edward Hicks (1780-1849) in dozens of "Peaceable Kingdom" paintings, such as this one in the Brooklyn Museum:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]594300[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>There's a 1937 song called "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_in_the_Valley" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_in_the_Valley" rel="nofollow">Peace in the Valley</a>" that was written for Mahalia Jackson and recorded by many many singers in the twentieth century, including Elvis, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, and Connie Francis. It has the line "And the lion shall lay down by the lamb."</p><p><br /></p><p>Very interesting archaeological find, indeed.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 2669990, member: 75937"]The statue of the lion and the lamb is very interesting because the notion of a lion lying with a lamb -- contrary to popular belief -- does not appear in the Bible. This statue apparently predates any reference to a lion lying down with a lamb by several centuries. The closest Biblical passage is Isaiah 11:6, which reads: "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them." (NASB) There is another Old Testament passage that is similar, Isaiah 65:25: "'The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,' says the LORD." (NASB) [URL='https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+5']Revelation 5[/URL] mentions a lion and a lamb, but nothing at all about them lying together. Indeed, they both almost certainly refer allegorically to Jesus, the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. The juxtaposition of lion and lamb goes a very long way back in Christian tradition, back to the Church Fathers in fact. Here, for example, is Chrysostom on Isaiah 11:6: "I have heard many saying, 'The threats of a king are like the wrath of a lion,' (Proverbs 19:12) being full of dejection and lamentation. What then should we say to such? That He who said, 'The wolves and the lambs shall feed together; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,' (Isaiah 11:6-7) will be able to convert the lion into a mild lamb." ([URL='http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/190103.htm']Homily 3 on the Statues[/URL]) There's also a long tradition of portraying Christ as combining the attributes of the lion and the lamb. Thus Augustine: "Who is this, both lamb and lion? He endured death as a lamb, he devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lamb and lion? Gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged, roaring when he comes to judge. Or perhaps in his passion both lamb and lion, and also in his resurrection lamb and lion." ([URL='http://www.augustinus.it/latino/discorsi/discorso_541_testo.htm']Sermon 375A on the Sacraments[/URL]) But not one of these ancient references speaks specifically of a lion lying down with a lamb! We have to get pretty far into the modern period before this notion is clearly documented. The earliest reference I could find after a pretty thorough search online comes from [URL='https://books.google.com/books?id=FIBJAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22lion%20and%20lamb%22&pg=PA299#v=onepage&q=%22lion%20and%20lamb%22&f=false']this book[/URL], which states the "Lion and Lamb" was a popular symbol on English signboards in the 17th century. By the 19th century, the notion of the lion lying with lambs was firmly in place and is quoted or alluded to by a number of major English poets, usually in the context of a utopian or millenarian imagination. Shelley's [I]Queen Mab[/I] ([URL='http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/PShelley/mab8.html']VIII 124-28[/URL]) reads: "The lion now forgets to thirst for blood; There might you see him sporting in the sun Beside the dreadless kid; his claws are sheathed, His teeth are harmless, custom's force has made His nature as the nature of a lamb." And Blake's "Night" reads ([URL='http://www.bartleby.com/101/491.html']33-42[/URL]): "And there the lion's ruddy eyes Shall flow with tears of gold: And pitying the tender cries, And walking round the fold: Saying, 'Wrath, by His meekness, And, by His health, sickness, Are driven away From our immortal day. 'And now beside thee, bleating lamb, I can lie down and sleep ...'" Henry James, in [I][URL='https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/henry/death_of_the_lion/chapter6.html']The Death of the Lion[/URL][/I], depicts the soirees of socially predatory Mrs. Weeks Wimbush, "proprietress of the universal menagerie," as times in which "the animals rub shoulders freely with the spectators and the lions sit down for whole evenings with the lambs." In the visual arts, this notion was explored by Edward Hicks (1780-1849) in dozens of "Peaceable Kingdom" paintings, such as this one in the Brooklyn Museum: [ATTACH=full]594300[/ATTACH] There's a 1937 song called "[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_in_the_Valley']Peace in the Valley[/URL]" that was written for Mahalia Jackson and recorded by many many singers in the twentieth century, including Elvis, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, and Connie Francis. It has the line "And the lion shall lay down by the lamb." Very interesting archaeological find, indeed.[/QUOTE]
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