Thursday, January 06, 2011

Lazarus and Dives, before they went mainstream

Lazarus and Dives
Met in the road one day
Lazarus, he bowed low,
And heard the rich man say:

“Judea loves me most of all
Though you and I are strangers still
I’m the toast of Rome and Susa
While Hebrews do my will.

But still I live a righteous life
And all my tithes are paid
My children worship Adonai
In every place we’ve stayed.”

Lazarus answered soft and humbly,
“My cow is dry and my land unarable
My money's soft, my grain is crumbly
My donkey’s back has grown unbearable
But a gloried life awaits me numbly
If I can get into a parable.”

20 comments:

Jim said...

This made my day here, Doug. I was not very familiar with Dives by name before.
In that his children still paid their tithes reminded me of a California politician who made it big time. He several times mentioned his religious connections through his mother's Quaker heritage.

Your are right, Doug. Being included in the parables back in those days is the equivelant of making it big time in Holiwood today.
..

k. riggs gardner said...

"What is the principle populist message that echoes the complaints of the plutocrats?"

Doug The Una said...

You mean Dick Nixon, Jim, you sly old feller. Channeling some Bible study, Dives,is not actually a proper name, but the Latin for "wealthy." The parable is of Lazarus and the rich man which is interesting to me because Jesus knows the beggar by name. But since most of us learned it as Lazarus and Dives, who am I to argue with tradition?

Exactly, Karen. What?

Minka said...

I wikepedia-ed and still am lost. I dove, as it were, into the abyss of your wealth of wording things in a complicated manner as to puzzle me exceedingly!

Anonymous said...

he who keeps a
steady rudder in
rough waters
will always run
with the dogs......
Peace

pia said...

Minka I am so happy you're lost. I feel uneducated and kind of dense though I did get the last two lines! Before Jim's sorta explanation
Doug maybe you can make a primer for the simple-minded :) But I love the way it reads
And I do get the third paragraph. Actually on fourth then fifth reading I get more and more. Can't believe I'm admitting all this

Cooper said...

You are still keeping up with things aren't you Doug.

That was perfect.

k. riggs gardner said...

Cooper,

I agree with ben -- both genders are full of hypocrites. I also agree with Doug -- No that isn't necessary. It's creepy.

The Estoteric Wombat also raises a good point -- I don’t get it. Do they have a tar­get audience in mind? Maybe I don’t want to know the ans­wer to that question.

k. riggs gardner said...

Furthermore Smart Alic -- May I quote you in a five-year-old "Queen of the Meemoks" sound bite?

"Hot in hot pink. Showing the strength of women in her conquering of the space aliens. Maybe it wasn't charm, maybe it was those boobs. EVER THINK OF THAT."

Doug The Una said...

Minka, you know perfectly well I don't know what I mean in verse either. Sincerity and coherence are for prose.

Woof, bear. Woof.

Pia, you have a good excuse. The background is from the New Testament.

Thanks, Coop.

Karen, as is often the case your research is impressive and your point opaque, but I trust it was good natured and thank you for sharing.

Actonbell, a poor beggar usually does well in parables.

k. riggs gardner said...

You're welcome, Doug. Of course I was being good natured. I thought Cooper would understand the references to her blog post.

I need to correct an error, though, before Mrs. Weirsdo finds it.

Emrald is the "Queen of the Meekmoks" NOT meemoks.

tsduff said...

I read this the day you posted it... and then left without a comment because I couldn't figure anything out. I love parables -as well as fables and would love to be in one, as Mothers quote them to their children in bedtime stories - in other words, numbly immortalizing them.

So, when are you next at the capitol?

Ariel the Thief said...

LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's a great new background to the parable. You too have some bad feelings about the story in the Bible?

Ariel the Thief said...

While I don't get any of the hints to today's events, one way to tell which of us is from where. :)

Doug The Una said...

Correction noted and appreciated, Karen.

Terry, I didn't mean to make this so obtuse. It's really just a gag that poor people do much better in parables and moral fables than in real life. I think the scriptural basis must have made people think I was being deep or something.

Ariel, Jesus and I would say this is not about current events but eternal ones. Last week there was an article in The Atlantic about how different and alien the modern super-rich are as compared to the super-rich of previous generations. I find I don't care so much and for aliens, the author seems to know them pretty well.

Ariel the Thief said...

I have tried but that is one real long article... But I too find that rich people kinda create their own world instead of participating this one, but then, don't not rich people do the same when spend their sparetime in front of the television? Hm, I'm wondering how do those that have no money nor television go to hell?

Russell CJ Duffy said...

I enjoyed all the old english words like tithe but more than that like the way 'crumbly' and 'numbly' are forced to bed with each other in such a sly way.

Anonymous said...

good morning doug
may the fine blending
of fat and butter
be the mantra
of the day

peace

Doug The Una said...

Ariel, it's a low-sulfur lifestyle, I'm sure.

Thanks, C.J. That was a gentle way of pointing out that the two words don't rhyme.

Howdy, Bear.

weirsdo said...

The NG4J's may never make it into a parable,
But to make it into this comment stream
Should surely raise their self-esteem,
And if Pansi can find nothing wearable,
At least she'll never be too old to be unbare-able.