The Gathering of the Manna

Among Christians, this subject is an Old Testament precedent for Holy Communion. Here food is an instrument of Divine Providence, sent to save the lives and souls of the faithful.

The Gathering of the Manna

The Israelites journeying under the leadership of Moses had left Egypt and now found themselves in the Wilderness of Sin, with­out food or any chance of obtaining it. So they rose up against Moses and Aaron, the high priest, demanding to know why the Lord had not caused them to die in Egypt, where they could still eat their fill, whereas here they would certainly die of starva­tion. The lord heard their complaints and, speaking to Moses, promised that every day he would cause enough bread to rain down from heaven to satisfy every member of the congregation of Israel. So Moses gathered his people together and reported what God had told him. He announced that from now on there-would be meat at twilight and bread in the morning for every­one. That evening, a flock of quails alighted at the camp, and in the morning, when the ground was covered with dew, the Israelites found the Lord's "bread," "a fine flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground." As God had bade them, every day each person gathered enough for his or her daily needs. God arranged that on the sixth day the people should gather twice as much, so that on the day of rest none need be gathered. The bread looked like corian­der seed but tasted like wafers made with honey and was called manna. The Israelites lived on this substance for forty years, until they reached the land of Canaan.

Source

Exodus 16:1

Iconography

Among Old Testament stories rendered in art, the gathering of the manna is not a very common iconographical subject and appears to be confined to certain geographical areas. It is found principally in 15th- to 18th-century painting

Master of the Gathering of the Manna, The Gathering of the Manna. 1470. Douai, Musee de la Chartreuse

The Feast of Absalom

During a feast, wine deprives Amnon of any ability to resist. His weakness allows Absalom to carry out his scheme of revenge.

The Feast of Absalom

King David's son Absalom had an attractive sister, Tamar, as well as a half-brother named Amnon, the eldest of David's sons. Amnon fell in love with Tamar and one day enticed her into his bedroom, where he took advantage of her and then cast her off. Others learned of this outrage. David was grieved and angry but did nothing to punish his own son. Absalom felt that the rape should be kept secret, but he developed a simmering rancor toward Amnon because of his unworthy behavior. Two years went by and Absalom devised a scheme for revenge. One day during sheepshearing, Absalom arranged a feast, to which Amnon was invited. Absalom ordered his servants to watch his brother closely and to report when he was sufficiently drunk to be incapable of resisting assault. When the time came, the servants were ordered to kill Amnon, as revenge for the loss of Tamar's honor. Absalom fled the scene, and David, overwhelmed with grief at the death of his son, spent three years in mourning.

Sources

2 Samuel I 3

Iconography

This is a rare iconographical subject but seems to appear more frequently in the 17th century, when the pictorial language of the time was congenial to theatrical banquet scenes and there was a taste for crude violence and dramatic events

Mattia Preti, The Feast of Absalom, са. T657. Naples, Museo di Capodimonte

The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus

A convivial feast gives Esther a chance to defend her people. It provides a period of relaxed intimacy that allows her to gain the favor and the ear of King Ahasuerus.

The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus

In the 5th century B.C., King Ahasuerus ruled over 127 provinces, from India to Ethiopia. After repudiating his wife, Vashti, the king chose Esther, a beautiful Jewish woman whom her guardian, Mordecai, had offered in marriage to the king. Mordecai ordered Esther not to reveal that they were both Jewish. In time, Esther gained the favor and love of the king. One day, an anti-Semite called Haman was promoted to a high position among the princes and immediately took a strong dislike to Mordecai, who was not under his authority. Out of spite toward Mordecai, Haman told Ahasuerus that among his subjects was a scattered people who threatened the unity of his rule because they avoided common observances. Ahasuerus gave Haman full authority to act, and he began to persecute the Jews. In desperation, Mordecai and Esther appealed to God to spare their people, and after days of prayer, Esther decided to beg the king for mercy. To her surprise, she was warmly received, and, summoning her courage, she invited her future husband and Haman himself to two successive splendid banquets. At the second, Esther revealed that she was Jewish, and that she, Mordecai, and the Jewish people were the objects of fierce persecution on the part of Haman. Ahasuerus listened and was both surprised and indignant at what was taking place in his kingdom. He moved immediately against Haman, saving Esther's people.

Sources

Esther 5:4-8

Iconography

Esther's banquet is depicted less often than her meeting with Ahasuerus. As with the other feasts in the Old Testament and the Gospels, it was especially favored by court painters and the prestigious personalities who placed commissions with them, because it provided a pretext for representing scenes of luxury

Giorgio Vasari, The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus, ca. 1548. Arezzo, Museo Statale di Arte Medievale е Moderna.

Belshazzar s Feast

This feast is an explicitly pagan celebration. When it is inter-rupted by a terrifying manifestation of Cod, its sacrilegious nature is laid bare.

Belshazzar s Feast

In the 6th century B.C., Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, was king of Babylon. One day he invited his lords to a formal ban­quet. As the wine flowed, he ordered that gold and silver drink­ing vessels that his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem be brought in for his guests, wives, and concubines. As they were imbibing wine from these precious vessels and praising the pagan gods, a disembodied hand appeared and wrote words in a myste­rious language on the wall of the banquet hall. The terrified king sought someone who could decipher the mysterious writing. The queen recalled the name of Daniel, a wise man who had lived in the kingdom since the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was offered great power and riches if he could decipher the message on the wall. The prophet rejected the bribe but nevertheless deci­phered the disquieting message. He reminded the king that his severe, arrogant father, Nebuchadnezzar, had been ignominiously deposed, and he rebuked Belshazzar for sacrilegiously drinking from the vessels from the house of God and worshipping pagan gods instead of God Almighty. Consequently, said Daniel, God was using this written message to announce the end of the king's reign, that he had been judged and found wanting, and that his kingdom would be divided between the Medes and Persians. That same night Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Persian took over his kingdom.

Sources
Daniel 5:1-30

Iconography

This subject is treated only rarely in art, though it had a vogue in Italian and Flemish painting of the 1 6th and 17th centuries. It offered artists the chance to deploy the theatrical style of contemporary painting to create the uncanny atmosphere of a historical miracle

Tintoretto, Belshazzar's Feast, ca. 1541-42. Verona, Castelvecchio