Golden Calf

"The Golden Calf . . . . And Aaron said to them, 'Break off your golden earnings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. . . ." - Exodus 32

The Golden Calf refers to the story of Moses.  Moses had gone up mount Sinai when receiving the ten commandments.  However, meanwhile, the Israelis had been impatient and decided to make their own god.  They took gold from everyone and formed it into a calf which they later worshiped.  When Moses had returned, he was angry and ended up breaking the tablets.

A song:
Oh God! Well look at You now!
Oh! You lost it, but You don't know how
In the light of the Golden Calf
Oh God! I had to Laugh.

This song it refers to the golden calf as a sign of rebellion.

A Poem:

An idol-monarch which their hands had made:

Thought they might ruin him they could create;

Or melt him to that golden calf, a state.

This Poem is about The exodus of Moses and the Israelis, referring to the Golden Calf.  A term one wouldn't understand without  background knowledge.

Articles:

"You recall the story of the Ten Commandments:  . . . .—sees the people worshiping a little golden cow, and smashes the tablets . . . "

The entry to the article is assuming that the reader understands the story, it then refers to the golden calf. This is an example of a biblical allusion because it assumes the reader knows the background.

A Commercial

This is a commercial for the Golden Calf however here it advertises the richness of a product.

In the picture there is all the Israelis dancing around worshiping the golden calf and then there is Moses who prays on the mountain and returns to see that his people have turned which then makes him break the tablets.

Prodigal Son

"Jesus continued 'there was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father " Father, give me a share of your estate . . . . .'" - Luke 15:11-32 

           The prodigal son is a story of a boy that runs away from his family with all his money. When leaving, he loses all his money, and returns in shame.  His father, however, welcomed him with open arms and was euphoric with delight.  Many people use this to explain forgiveness, and other morals of the story.

One example is that of a song, poem, article, or picture:

There is the song "Jump Around" by House of Pain where there is the line: 

I've got more rhymes than the Bible's got Psalms, and just like the Prodigal Son I have returned.

 The line where it says like the prodigal son I have returned, it is referring to the prodigal son and how he returned to his father. Without knowing the story you wouldn't understand the phrase.

Poem:

Sonny's Purple Heart by Adrian C. Louis                                                                                                        

I had a Snow White vision of the prodigal                                     

son returning to America                                                      

  this again refers to the way the prodigal son

 left then returned again in a way only

people who know the story would understand

And Books:

The Homecoming 

A prodigal son returns in 

Marilynn Robinson's thirdNovel:

Referring to a return like the

Image representing the son returning to his father 

prodigal son.

This is My Body

“This is My Body” this is my body is a famous line in many churches all around the world. The priest or the director of the church service says it during communions. The allusion is from the quote of Luke “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” An advertisement of this allusion is a picture of god standing with open hands with a quote in the picture saying “take eat this is my body literally figuratively”. This represents that god is saying the bread is part of him and that the wine is his blood. Serenity is a song that is played on the piano for when people in church eat the body of Christ. The song is a very relaxing and calm song that is for when the people eat the body Christ. An image of this Allusion represents it by showing a wine glass constructed of clay with wine in it next to a loaf of bread. This picture is showing that the bread is the body of Christ and the wine is his blood.

Doubting Thomas

“Doubting Thomas” doubting Thomas is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience it is a reference to the apostle Thomas, who refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the eleven apostles, until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the cross. In art the episode “formally called the Incredulity of Thomas” has been frequently depicted since at least the 5th century, with its representation reflecting a range of religious interpretations. The image of doubting Thomas shows the disciples healing Jesus of his wounds. The song Nickel Creek is a song that refers too doubting Thomas in biblical references. They refer to Thomas on a prayer for good sins to come from god in the future. The sculpture of doubting Thomas shows Jesus and Thomas. In the sculpture you see Jesus blessing Thomas almost like a baptism. Doubting Thomas is a cinema classics collection by Will Rogers. The collection is about; a husband makes fun of his wife's dramatically aspirations when she agrees to appear in a local production. When she begins to neglect him, he decides to react by also going on stage.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

               The phrase “be fruitful and multiply appears in the bible in Genesis 1:28 after God creates creatures and again when God creates Humans. He uses this phrase to tell them to increase in number and live good lives. This allusion is sometimes used to explain why the earth is here, as used in this song by Chali 2na, David Bryne, Gift of Gab, and Z-Trip. It explains that the earth is here for us to populate it. A similar meaning comes from the phrase. She speaks to it meaning that we should develop a stable social structure and a good society. The T.V. show Moral Orel uses it in a different way. It shows Orel convincing an atheist to go to church and how she is now living the life god wants her to live. Helen Keller uses the allusion to draw in listeners when she says “Once it was necessary that the people should multiply and be fruitful if the race was to survive. But now to preserve the race it is necessary that people hold back the power of propagation.” Stating that we should be careful of over population. This allusion is generally used in a happier light than the previous allusion.

The Way of All Flesh

“The way of all flesh,” or another translation “the way of all earth” appears in 1 Kings 2:2 and in Joshua 23:14. To go the way of all flesh is used in the bible to mean to die, but in other areas it is used slightly differently. The book The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler is a story of a father and son from the father’s perspective. It follows the son’s path through life and how his father’s influence on the son waxes and wanes. In the 1927 movie The Way of All Flesh and the 1940 remake, the main character gets stolen from and is thought to have died an ensuing train accident and thus escapes the punishment of the law. He cannot go back to his family because the police would come for him and he lives out his life picking up trash in a park. Ted Conover uses it much more literally. His article The Way of All Flesh is about being undercover in an industrial slaughterhouse and how he witnesses 5,000 cattle die a day and how it affects his morals and how it affects how he eats. The allusion is used in a heavier way than some other allusions and is seldom associated with a happy story.

Water into Wine

            In John 2:1-11 the story unfolds of how Jesus turns water into wine to allow a wedding party to continue.  The phrase “turning water into wine” is most frequently used to display the altering of something plain or of lesser quality into something glorious.  Chris August, in the song “water into wine,” displays how his life had been in shambles and how his love life had been poor, this being the water, and how the woman in his life had taken this and made it al better, his life now being like the wine. Royston Allen wrote the poem “love turns mere water into wine.  The poem speaks of a bitter world made sweet by love.  A short film 2004 titled water into wine used the allusion in a similar way.  It showed a great snowboarder being put into jail, and upon being released, reforms his ways and becomes a better person.  The allusion is also sometimes used simply because of wine’s properties. An advertisement by the French detergent company Ariel showed wine writing out the words “and the wine transformed into water” (a rough translation) out on a bedspread. Using the allusion while showing how the detergent can get wine out of whit material. The allusion is used in a happier way than some of the more grim bible references and is commonly used in association love.