wordsout by godfrey rust
The sailing of the ark  < 24 of 45 > 

---

24

That he should choose obscurity
comes as no surprise—the Jewish books

are testaments of the implausible,
their heroes a cast of rejects: Abraham

and his ancient, sterile wife;
the upstart Jacob; Moses, doubly an outcast;

Rahab the scheming prostitute; Gideon the feeble;
David the overlooked son; Ruth, widow, foreigner,

woman; and all the ragged conscripts of the prophets;
the divine script is the story of the blessed underdog—

even the chosen people themselves, nation
of such global unimportance that successive conquerors

allowed them to continue in the worship
of their quaint, invisible and plainly harmless God.

---

Sonnets 24-27 review God’s relationship with humanity in the Old Testament and inter-Testamental periods.

Abraham cf Genesis 18:11.

Jacob cf Genesis 25:23.

Moses cf Exodus 2: 3,15.

Rahab cf Joshua 6:25.

Gideon cf Judges 6:15.

David cf 1 Samuel 16:11.

Ruth cf Ruth 1:4-5.