“Clancy of the Overflow”
January 30, 2011 § 1 Comment
“As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and they will come out with great possessions…And in the fourth generation your descendants will come back here.'” Genesis 15:11
He had written them a letter which he had upon his better knowledge
Chiseled with his finger on some very heavy stone.
They were loyal when he knew them so perhaps he sent it to them with an
Introduction saying: “To a people all my own”.
“Now you know that I have saved you from a nation that enslaved you:
You were living down in Egypt and were getting very low.
So I put some simple posers through my humble servant Moses to the
King along the lines of ‘would you let my people go?'”
“But the King was quite resistant so I had to be persistent with some
Methods only those of us divine have ever used.
It was wonder and disaster til your very stubborn master came at
Last to say (exasperated) ‘People you’re excused!'”
“Then I parted up the ocean with a stiff and breezy motion to en-
able you to leave the place for good, and with a cheer.
And I led you in a fire (til the sun was getting higher) and I
Led you in a cloud until you came at last to here.”
“And a place for some reviving, not to mention happy thriving,
Lies a little further on and we can go there in a trice.
But this high and rocky mountain with its running water fountain
Seems an excellent location for a bit of stern advice.”
“Now you know that I am holy and I’m also meek and lowly,
Well I’ve chosen to reside among you – right within your view.
But you’ll only be my treasures if you follow all the measures I have
Fashioned for the purpose that you all be holy too.”
“So I’ve written ten instructions with some obvious constructions, and I’ve
Put them on some tablets so you have them ever near.
And my very strong advising is you all be memorizing them un-
Til they’re well cemented in the spot from ear to ear.”
All of this the Lord unending may have added to his sending of his
Letter with its regulations, rules, and caveats.
Prob’ly different in expression but a similar impression to the
Record in the Bible of his mountaineering chats.
And the laws he legislated for the nation he created could be
Summarized as follows “Love the Lord with all your heart,
And you need to love the fellas in your neighbourhood as well as all the
Women and the children: every human counterpart.”
Now the things he was commanding you would think were quite demanding, after
All the Lord is perfect and he wished them be the same.
But he knew that they were wayward and without assistance they would do what-
ever came a-naturally and put themselves to shame.
So he made them special offers from the never-ending coffers of his
Mercy – he would give them second natures to obey.
With a broken-hearted pleading they would find what they were needing & would
Suddenly be wanting to be sticking to the way.
And he had another blessing for the willingly confessing – he would
Pardon them a temporary punishment of sin.
With a solemn sacrificing of some animals sufficing, they could
Stay a little longer at the Lord Almighty’s inn.
Now the matters more eternal would remain inside his journal but the
Promised land was waiting so he told them to proceed.
With the “letter” in their keeping and the little kiddies leaping they be-
gan the winding journey to wherever he would lead.
The Banjo Bible 
This poem is an attempt to summarize the book of Exodus, and also includes some details from the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The basic points of the story can be found in Exodus 3:15-20, 12:21-31, 13:17-22, 14:21-30, 17:1-6, 19:1-6, and 20:1-17. God’s chiselling the stone tablets with his own finger is mentioned in Exodus 31:18. The line “with a solemn sacrificing of some animals sufficing” is really a summary of the whole book of Leviticus (one type of animal sacrifice is described in Leviticus 1:1-4). The reference to God’s offer of a second nature is based on Leviticus 26:40-45 and Deuteronomy 30:6-8, though the latter verses record a statement made through Moses at a later time. The Lord’s final instruction to the people to depart from the mountain can be found in Numbers 10:11-13.