Readings from Ezra through Psalms
Our artistic journey through the Old Testament continues! Here you'll find our selected artworks and commentary to accompany this month's Come, Follow Me readings. Remember, you can also subscribe to get email reminders when new artworks are ready or follow along weekly on Instagram or Facebook. We hope that art-lovers everywhere will be inspired by these artworks as they complement their gospel study, family discussions, and church classes with fine art from around the world.
July 27 - August 2
After nearly 70 years of captivity in Babylon, the children of Isarel returned to Jerusalem to reclaim their home and rebuild their temple. Despite facing continued opposition and distress, the Israelites worked tirelessly to create sacred spaces, rely upon the Lord, and keep their covenants.
In this charcoal drawing by Latter-day Saint artist Minerva Teichert, an angel soars above a twinkling city holding scrolls of scripture, declaring “the everlasting gospel .... to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). Just as the Lord “[performed] the good word toward” the children of Israel in “causing them to return to this place” (Jeremiah 29:10) in ancient times, the invitation to return to a heavenly home still echoes today.
August 3-9
Minerva Teichert’s beloved painting of Esther depicts the future queen set apart in the foreground from a group of finely dressed women. Draped in a white dress and veil with modest detail, the artist captures the moment when Esther is chosen queen (as the title on the bottom of the hand-painted border states). This is one of two versions of the same painting. The first was painted as a wedding gift for the artist’s friend, Betty Curtis Stokes who modeled for this and many of Teichert’s other paintings.
As a marriage portrait, Teichert depicts Esther at the beginning of her new life as queen. Although she may not yet know what she will be asked to do on behalf of the Jewish people, Esther stands resolute, calm, and humble—attributes that may have given her cousin Mordecai reason to later say, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).”
How can you find courage in the Lord as Esther did?
August 10-16
With heads bowed, solemn mourners gather around Job’s suffering body. The Old Testament patriarch embodies a life fully lived with his sinuous tendons, prostrate pose, and pleading expression. Amidst tremendous difficulty, Job found comfort in his Redeemer and looked forward to a resurrected state: “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:26).
Jewish artist Jehudo Epstein paints Job on the precipice of this critical moment: lying humbly on the ground, he expends his remaining strength to reach heavenward, moments away from a divine reunion.
August 17-23
Francois Pieter Meulen’s pastoral scene of 'Shepherd and Sheep in the Snow' depicts a shepherd opening the door for a flock of sheep. In the early morning light, he waits for each one to move forward on a path they seem to have walked before. The settling calm of the snow and the new day rising, suggests the shepherd has guided the flock to safety during a nightly storm, and he will continue to watch over them on their journey ahead.
In Psalm 23 the writer relates the Lord to a shepherd, and all believers to sheep in his flock, who leads, comforts, anoints, restores, and prepares a place for all who willingly follow. “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me (23:4),” the psalmist records, demonstrating their own complete trust in the Lord. Psalms were commonly composed as a way to praise God, often sharing through music and words deep concerns and gratitude for blessings, sung by the faithful. Today, we can relate to these heartfelt thoughts, as the ancient believers likely did.
How has The Lord become your shepherd? How can you show you trust in him?
August 24-30
'If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem,' a gouache and watercolor painting by American muralist, Thomas Hart Benton was created as a reminder of the brutal reality of concentration camps during World War II. The elderly man he depicts, dressed in a suit and backed against a wall of barbed wire, hangs his frail head low, with knobby hands wrung together in a gesture of prayer. Though his situation is dire, the man’s face is illuminated in warm light, perhaps suggesting God’s awareness of the cold circumstances he finds himself in.
It is difficult to imagine the presence of Divinity in such dark moments in human history. Though the Lord promises not to forget, we may still experience feelings of being forgotten. Yet, in retrospect, those moments can lead to profound testimony, and we too can declare, like the psalmist, all that “he hath done for [our souls]” (Psalm 66:16).
Similarly, the title, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem” (Psalm 137:5), is a declaration of devotion and love to a home that once was, and a God they know. Solemnly promising a remembrance of what has been lost, and where to find light in times of despair.
How can you have hope in God during time of trial?
