4.2 Biblical Intertexts
4.2.2 War in Heaven and the Defeat of the Dragon
The first three stanzas of the poem relate the story of the war that took place in heaven between the Archangel Michael and his angels fighting the dragon and his
153 | P a g e angels. Lines 8 and 18 make reference to Michael, his angels “…Mikaele … ba Leholimo” and the devil “mautla,” (Khaketla, 1985:7) respectively. The stanzas echo the incident as narrated in Revelation 12:7. Not only does this biblical allusion manifest the Christian belief on the existence of both good and evil angels and heaven, but also the MSP’s continuous reference to Christian or religious texts. This reference and use of religious texts further reflect the poeticness of MSP in terms of its audible shape.
Stanzas 3–5 relate the defeat of the devil and his angels which is a biblical reference to Revelation 12:7 where it says “…but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.” The poem introduces the subsequent narration of the defeat which comes through the call from the devil who appears to be the commander of his forces calling his angels to retreat.
17. “Sealo, maqhaoe! e ka masitise!” (Khaketla, 1985: 7).
‘Retreat, the brave ones! the situation is difficult!’
According to Revelation 12:9 the angels heed the call and the defeat culminates in the devil and his angels being thrown out of heaven. The poem makes reference to this biblical verse in the following lines:
65. Mokana sa nku li tlola lengope, 66. Li bona phokojoe li phasaphasitse, ………..
69. Makhotla a mautla a tšaba litlhase, ………..
71. Kaofel’a tlolela kahar’a Kehema –
72. Kehema sekoti, mahloka-pheletso. (Khaketla, 1985:8-9).
____________________________
65. Like sheep jumping over a donga, 66. Running helter-skelter seeing a jackal, ………..
69. The devil’s forces were scared of sparks,
………
71. They fell over into hell – 72. Hell, the bottomless pit.
The poem, through lines 49, 71 and 72, reflects the Christian belief of the existence of not only heaven as the place where the righteous spent their eternal life but also hell as a bottomless pit of eternal fire where those who lived a sinful life serve their punishment after death. The belief is also reflected in Khiba’s (1986:65) Tsela li peli
154 | P a g e
‘There are two routes’, hell or heaven bound. The aspect of war in the poem can further be interpreted as a human struggle against the forces of evil here on earth.
4.2.2.1 The Devil and the Tree of Knowledge or Death
In Job 1:7, the Lord asked the devil what he had been doing and in response the devil explained that he had been roaming the earth. Lines 241–248 describe and recount the devil’s visit upon earth though in a different setting with different beings, Adam and Eve. It was during this visit that the devil came upon Adam and Eve talking about the dos and don’ts in the Garden of Eden. This introduces us to other biblical intertexts manifested in the poem.
The origin and the fall of man are biblically traced back to the eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge by Adam and Eve. The idea of the tree of knowledge and the dos and don’ts that go with it appear in Genesis 2:9, 16 – 17. The following lines from the poem, where Adam addresses Eve, echo the verses referred to:
270. “Sefate se teng kahar’a serapa:
271. Tholoana tsa sona e hl’e be leshokhoa –
272. Ho latsuoa ha tsona ke lefu la rona” (Khaketla, 1985:14).
_______________________________________
270. In the middle of the garden stands the tree:
271. May its fruits be bitter hout – 272. Tasting them means our death
The above lines evoke Genesis 2: 9, 19 respectively. In the pre-text, it is the Lord telling Adam about the tree of knowledge while in the quotation text it is Adam telling Eve about it. At the figural or typological level, the Tree of Knowledge or Death described as the tree that bore the fruit occasioning Adam’s original sin is prefigured as the cross which bore as its fruit Christ, the Redeemer of that sin.
4.2.2.2 Human Disobedience
The poem also makes biblical allusion to human disobedience in lines 374–379, 399–400, 414–416, echoing Genesis 3:1-13. In the first incidence, lines 374 – 379, indirectly refer to verse 5 where the serpent convinces Eve that eating the fruits from the tree of knowledge will not only make them powerful and intelligent but also omnipotent.
155 | P a g e 374. Sefate se teng rapeng sa lona –
………
376. Tholoana tsa sona ke sona setlhare ………
378. Li ruta maele le matla e tote;
379. Ho moji oa tsona li pepesa tsohle. (Khaketla, 1985:17) ________________________________
374. There is a tree in the middle of your garden – ………..
376. Its fruits are the cure
………..
378. They instil intelligence and enhance power,
379. To the one who eats them, they reveal everything.
Eve’s counter answer in lines 401 – 402 to these deceitful promises by the serpent, which is parallel to verse 3 is that eating the fruit would not only be an act of disobedience on their part but would also make them die. The devil’s response that evokes verse 5 is expressed here.
414. Bonnete ba taba ke hoba Molimo 415. O tšaba ha le ka la khola sefate –
416. Le tla ba e meng melimo le lona, (Khaketla, 1985: 18).
______________________________________
414. The fact of the matter is that because God 415. Is afraid that if you pick the fruit –
416. You too will be gods,
In lines 430 – 434, the devil further elaborates on the issue of power he raised in line 378 above and convinces Eve that the fruit will give her power and authority over Adam. Instead of Adam giving her instructions, she will be the one giving him instructions while Adam carries them out.
The act of disobedience is first depicted through Eve who in Genesis 3: 6 takes the fruit, eats it and gives it to Adam thereafter who also eats it and completes the cycle of disobedience. The completion of this cycle is intertextually shown in the poem, first through Eve in lines 439 – 441 where it is said that Eve opened the door of knowledge and by so doing invited ill-luck and death and subsequently brought all the suffering. This act of disobedience culminates, as reflected in Genesis 3:7, in the assertion that immediately after eating the fruit they were made to understand and realise that they were naked. On the other hand, the quotation text has the following as the biblical prototype:
156 | P a g e 462. Kapele bolepo ba sekho ba tloha,
463. Bobeli ba qala ho bona ba posho. (Khaketla, 1985: 20).
____________________________
462. And soon the spider’s web cleared, 463. They both realised they were naked,
4.2.2.3 God’s Visit to Eden and the Punishment
God’s visit to Eden and His inquiry on Adam’s whereabouts and what happened are other biblical references manifested in this poem. In the Bible this incident that culminates in the pronouncement of the punishment of man is related in Genesis 3:8-13. These verses are resounded in lines 468 – 481. The crux of the matter in this visit is the two questions that God asks Adam which sought to establish where he was and what (verse 9) and who told him that he was naked (verse 11) as well as Adam’s answers in verses 10 and 12 respectively. These questions and answers are echoed in the following lines:
474. “Atama, u kae?” ho botsa Morena
………..
476. “Ke tlas’a sefate, ke pata bofeela.”
477. “U tsebile joang hobane u feela?
478. Hleka u jele sefate sa lefu,
………
480. “U ‘neile mosali, ka ekoa ke eena –
481. Eena, Morena o itlhatsoa ka noha.” (Khaketla, 1985: 20).
______________________________
474. Adam, where are you? Asks the Lord ………
476. Hiding my nakedness under a tree.
477. How did you know that you are naked?
478. So you ate the tree of death
……….
480. You gave me the woman and he betrayed me – 481. And she blames it on the serpent.
The biblical reference to the punishment handed down to both Adam and Eve as well as the serpent is in lines 482–483 in which God pronounces death to Adam and Eve through the image of the door of death which He says Adam has now opened. This means that now Adam has made them susceptible to death. The implication thereof is that they will experience death and not live eternally. Eve is condemned to giving birth and the serpent to crawling on its belly. In both cases the lines have relied on verses 14 – 19 as pre-texts with some of the points omitted from the quotation text.
157 | P a g e Almost all the biblical allusions that have been identified and discussed above, according to Bazerman’s (2005: 4) levels of intertextuality, are implicit recognizable biblical verses manifested through the use of phrases and terminology associated with the biblical texts from Genesis 2 and 3 as well as Revelation 12 plus their indicated verses respectively. The above intertexts are what Heinrich (1991:9) labels
“segmental characters” because the pre-text has not been reproduced in its entirety but part of it is rephrased in each case.