Look at the image for a moment before you read.
The lamb is us.
The lamb has always been us.
Long before any other religion existed, HaShem spoke about who we are.
In His own voice.
In His own words.
In Shemot, before the Torah was given, before Sinai, before the world had a name for us, He said:
ืื ื ืืืจื ืืฉืจืื
"Israel is My son, My firstborn." (Shemot 4:22)
Not a man.
A people.
And in Yeshayahu, again and again, in case anyone missed it:
ืืืชื ืืฉืจืื ืขืืื ืืขืงื ืืฉืจ ืืืจืชืื
"But you, Israel, My servant, Yaakov whom I have chosen." (41:8)
ืืขืชื ืฉืืข ืืขืงื ืขืืื ืืืฉืจืื ืืืจืชื ืื
"Now hear, Yaakov My servant, Israel whom I have chosen." (44:1)
ืืืืืจ ืื ืขืืื ืืชื ืืฉืจืื ืืฉืจ ืื ืืชืคืืจ
"You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." (49:3)
The son is named.
The servant is named.
The chosen one is named.
It is us.
It has always been us.
And then the wolves came.
They read our prophets.
They read our verses.
They saw a people described as a son.
A people described as a suffering servant.
A people described as the one in whom HaShem would be glorified.
And they did something unforgivable.
They took the words written about a nation and forced them onto a single man.
They took our identity as the firstborn son and gave it to someone else.
They took our suffering as the servant and put it on a cross that has nothing to do with us.
And then โ once they had stolen the description โ they came for the people it actually belonged to.
For two thousand years they wept for a man they imagined suffering on a beam of wood, while their own hands and their own laws and their own priests were causing the actual suffering of the actual servant written about in the actual text.
They worried about going to hell.
They never stopped to consider
that they might be hell on earth.
For us. For the firstborn. For the servant. For the lamb in this painting.
Look at the image again.
Every wolf you see believed at some point that he was righteous.
That he was defending something holy.
That he was saving the lamb from itself.
And every wolf left teeth marks on a body that had been promised to HaShem before any of them were born.
But look at the lamb.
Eyes closed.
Halo intact.
Untorn.
Because the lamb knows what no wolf has ever understood:
The son cannot be replaced.
The servant cannot be transferred.
The chosen cannot be undone by anyone except the One who chose them.
And HaShem has never unchosen us.
Pharaoh tried.
Babylon tried.
Rome tried.
The Church tried.
The Caliphs tried.
The Reich tried.
They are all in museums now.
The firstborn is still here.
The servant is still here.
The lamb is still here.
Thank you,
@OpahOpah816, for the image and the knowledge you have shared today. Without it, this post wouldn't have found its voice.
Your voice.
ืขื ืืฉืจืื ืื. โก๏ธ