"Rabbah a Stable from Camels" by Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn)

Rabbah a Stable from Camels by Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn) (1823-1909) Click on image to enlarge it. 1886. “Photographed from the originals and printed in planotype.” From Bible Beasts and Birds (Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the Getty Research Institute)

At the bottom of the picture the artist has inscribed the following biblical verse: “And I will make Rabbah a stable for Camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks; and yet shall know that I am the Lord.” The the complete text of Ezekiel xxxv 1-7 occupies a later page followed by a passage from Paradise Lost:

The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them; And

say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Loed God; Thus saith the Lord GOd; Because thou saidst, Aha, against My Sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the Land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the House of Judah, when they went into Captivity;

Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the East for a Possession, and they shall set their Palaces in thee, and make their Dwellings in thee they shall eat thy Fruit, and they shall drink thy Milk.

And I will make Kabbah a Stable for Camels, and the Ammonites a Couching place for Flocks : and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the Land of Israel;

Behold, therefore I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a Spoil to the Heathen; and I will cut thee off from the People, and I will cause thee to perish out of the Countries : I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel xxv 1-7

First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,
Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud
Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire
To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipt in Babha and her watry Plain,
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His Temple right against the Temple of God
On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove
The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell." Paradise Lost, Ed. 1667, bk. i. 11. 392-406.

Related Material

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust and the Getty Research Institute and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow.

Bibliography

Blackburn, Jemima. Bible Beasts and Birds: A New Edition of Illustrations of Scripture by an Animal Painter. London: Kegan Paul, 1886. Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the Getty Institute. Web. 11 January 2021.

Last modified 11 January 2021