LOOK: Relief sculpture of the magi, Amiens Cathedral
In this sculpture, the Old Testament prophet Balaam pronounces his oracle that “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Num. 24:17). The anonymous artist shows the magi, who studied celestial events, noticing the prophesied star centuries later and preparing to follow it.
To view a wider shot that includes all the adjacent bas-reliefs, see here.
(Related post: https://artandtheology.org/2023/12/15/advent-day-13-a-star-shall-rise-out-of-jacob/)
LISTEN: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” | Words by Jane Taylor, 1806 | Anonymous French pastoral tune, 1761 | Arranged and performed by God’s Children, 2023
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
This is the opening stanza of the poem “The Star” by Jane Taylor, first published in her collection Rhymes for the Nursery, coauthored with her sister Ann Taylor, in London in 1806. Thirty-two years later, the poem appeared in The Singing Master: First Class Tune Book with an old French tune, “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman,” launching its widespread popularity. Its remaining four stanzas are as follows:
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.Then the trav’ller in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
How could he see where to go,
If you did not twinkle so?In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro’ my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.’Tis your bright and tiny spark
Lights the trav’ller in the dark;
Tho’ I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
