Comments on: Horny Jew: What’s the deal with Michelangelo’s Moses?

By: GinDubonnet

GinDubonnet — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:18:15 +0000

Here’s the explanation I heard, and it was one I heard as a little boy from my father (of Italian, although not exclusively Italian, heritage).

For Italians, the worst insult in the world is to be “cornuto”, that is, “horned”, cuckolded.

What Michelangelo is getting at in this depiction of Moses is that for all of his apparent physical strength (and the physical strength symbolizes his psychological strength, his drive, his “will to power”) the prophet is one who is cuckolded by his people.

Because what does Moses find when he gets back from the hilltop? The people are worshipping the Golden Calf. And this is a pattern that keeps repeating itself throughout the story of Exodus. The Jews keep turning on him — that is, cuckolding Moses for other gods.

Michelangelo, an Italian, would have been familiar with this insult, and wouldn’t have shied from applying it here. Michelangelo’s snarkiness is legendary — his stamping of his name on the Pieta, for instance, or his depiction in “The Last Judgment” of a cardinal in hell with his genitals in the mouth of a snake (a cardinal who apparently made some negative critique of the work as it was in progress). Here, though, I think the “joke” is a pretty profound reflection on Moses’s predicament.

By: M-F SINGER

M-F SINGER — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:00:29 +0000

F.Y.I
In the French Bible : La Sainte Bible ”
traduite des textes originaux hebreu et grec
par Louis SECOND,docteur en theologie.
= Translated from original texts in hebrew and greek,by Louis SECOND, doctor in theology.

This verse : Exodus 34-29 reads : ….and he did not know that the skin of his face was shining because he spoke to the Everlasting one.
Fr.: ..,et il ne savait pas que la peau de son visage ” rayonnais ” (bright like sun rays ).
This term is repeated three times in this particular passage.
Also in French -KRN- sounds like “couronne”
No mentioning of horn here at all.
Yet since there are no voyelles this might explain the confusion ????
I came to read this blog since some of my Japanese friends asked me for some explanations
regarding Michelangelo’s sculptur.
Thanks to all of you I have a better understanding.I am not a scholar either so forgive me if my comments do not fit.

By: Marky

Marky — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:34:06 +0000

From what you write, JC did some of the best duping. A master duper….

By: glenn bogue

glenn bogue — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:19:07 +0000

This discussion does not bring into consideration the very words of Jesus in John 8 “you Jews cannot hear me because your father is the devil.” What is JC up to?

According to Tracy Twyman, horns are symbolic of the fish lips atop the head of the Fish God Oannes, the Babylonian version of the Sumerian God El. Once we realize that El actually duped Moses
(as He had duped Abraham)with promises of land and heritage, we can “see” that Jesus is warning the Jews about the god of Moses. Jesus himself appeared to Abraham as the priest king Melchizedek and gave him the bread and wine covenant. This act Jesus repeats with the disciples, asking them “Do you remember me now?”

Moreover it seems that JC has been appearing all over the world,
to the Maya, Inca, ancient Chinese, Babylonians where he taught at water’s edge. His message was obviously repelled in Jerusalem although he appeared there as Melchizedek and Harsiese, who married the daughter of David and became Solomon. See Rev 22:16 – “I was the father and son of David (Djuat).

By: My Week Out East | Irenic Road

My Week Out East | Irenic Road — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:48:30 +0000

[...] (Jerome) surely knew. Even though it seems like a mistake, it was apparently intentional. Details here if you’re interested. We also visited the grave of Jonathan Edwards in the Princeton Cemetery. I’m happy to say his [...]

By: Simon Holloway

Simon Holloway — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:24:34 +0000

No straw men, I assure you. The three examples that you produced were all puns on words spelt exactly the same. If you start producing puns on words spelt differently, just because the letters sound similar to you, then you’re on shakier ground. Besides, Moses either grew horns or he shone light. How could the author have been punning on both? In order to imply ambiguity between the two? I don’t think so. Just because there is humour in the Bible, doesn’t mean you can spot it everywhere. This is not a passage that appeals to a humorous interpretation.

(By the way, the interpretation that you offered for ‘Azazel is one of the most widespread theories on the word’s etymology. I wouldn’t call it a pun, but only because puns operate on a duality of meaning. So too with נחש הנחשת, which is alliterative but not humorous. The shrewd serpent, however, is an excellent example and there are dozens of others as well – including many that are no doubt invisible to our eyes, so unfamiliar with the Ancient Near East.)

By: David

David — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:18:34 +0000

Simon – Don’t make a straw man out of the light/skin thing. I know there’s no connection between the words. That’s why I called it a pun. I do think you’re overstating how far away the ayin and the aleph were. It’s all speculative, I know, but I doubt they were too far away as to make the puns impossible.
But maybe there are lots of puns in the Bible. There’s that whole bit about the copper snake (hanachash hanechoshet) which sounds like she sells seashells. There’s the clever snake and the naked lady in the Garden of Eden, both of whom are “arum” or “erom” or something like that. The words are way too close together to not be deliberate.
How about that scary place where the goat went, called Azazel. Has it ever occurred to anyone that if you change the vocalization but leave the letters as is, you get “Ez Azal,” meaning that they sent the damned goat to a place called Goatwent? Okay, so a little Aramaic crept in, so what?
Anyway, these are not exactly the case of the ayin/aleph pun, but I think it’s much more fun reading the text under the assumption that the authors had a sense of humor.

By: Henry Herzog

Henry Herzog — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:03:24 +0000

I always thought that the “horns” were supposed to be beams of light.

By: Michael Grijak

Michael Grijak — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:10:30 +0000

Title is misleading. Moses was NOT a Jew! He was a Hebrew and an Israelite, not a Jew. Big difference!

By: Simon Holloway

Simon Holloway — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:49:32 +0000

David, You make an excellent point. The only other instance in which this word appears as a verb, it appears (predictably!) in the Hiph'il. In that instance, it means "to grow horns", but its usage in the Qal; is odd - and is part of the reason why this clause is so difficult to understand! Also, you are quite correct when you suggest that there would have been easier ways of saying the same thing, and I think I made that point as well. Truth is, whatever they were trying to say, there would have been an easier way of saying it, so it's not surprising that so many people suggest that the text is corrupt. I must disagree, however, with your final point. There is no lexical relationship between the words for "flesh" and for "light" and, even though subsequent generations of exegetes drew midrashically on their seeming relationship, I think it would be presumptious to assume that this relationship was noted by those who still preserved markedly different pronounciations for the two. In other words, there is no greater connection between the aleph; and the ayin; than there is between either of them and the gimmel; or the quf.