DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2013 May 8
The Flaying of Sisamnes: or The Judgment of [by] Cambyses [II] (right panel) - (1498)
Gerard David (c. 1450/1460-1523)
Northern Renaissance Style; Early Netherlandish Art
Groeninge Museum, Bruges, Belgium
Image Source: Web Gallery of Art
Explanation: In Micah 3 the prophet denounces the sins of the princes, the prophets, and the priests. They are corrupt, cruel, and God has forsaken them. Figuratively, they flay the skin off the people and eat their flesh. The process of flaying is illustrated above by the flaying of Sisamnes. And, as judgment came upon the corrupt judge Sisamnes, so judgment would come upon Israel's corrupt officials, and Jerusalem and its Temple would be destroyed. This destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple is a central emphasis in the prophets. Concerning this fact, Adam Clarke makes the following observation: "As the Masoretes, in their division of the Bible, reckon the twelve minor prophets but as one book, they mark this verse (Micah 3:12) - [the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple] - the Middle verse of these prophets."
Micah 3
1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
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