Annotated Interlude 3 Page 8
The psalms were the pop songs of their era. And they did feature a ton of dust-based metaphors (see Psalm 90, Psalm 110), as callbacks to the creation myth in Genesis 2:7.
This line was also famously used by Bill and Ted, mid-Excellent Adventure, as a moment of cross-cultural philosophical bonding with Socrates.
I assume the Beings in the splash image had specific outfit references, but did not write down where they were from. East Asian Tiger, Russian Mouse, South Asian Lizard, and Middle Eastern Rabbit? Anybody recognize a more-specific historical reference, here?
Josh: It isn’t as big a deal as you think! Beings that can take human shapes are found all over the continent. Once I made the decision to seek them out, I managed to track down almost two dozen.
I’ve met some historians who think they were common here by the Mediterranean once, but had a big migration east some time in the past thousand years. Wherever they’re found, they are not human, and you can’t take them for human. It’s as if . . . remember how the scriptures say humans were formed?
María: Of course. The Lord made our bodies out of dust, and then breathed souls into us.
Josh: Exactly.
These Beings have bodies. That’s the easy part. Anyone can make a sculpture.
And I did. But I’m not the Lord, so I can’t make a soul.
To quote the psalms: all he is, is dust in the wind.
This migration to the East … why? Is it related to something specific or it’s just because the path was open?
Given what we now know of the plot, It’s probably got to do with the Jewish diaspora in 8th century BCE.