Part I: Bob Dylan: Who Died On The Cross Anyway?
By Larry Fyffe
Taking ‘Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts’ as an allegory pertaining to the Holy Bible, Rosemary represents Samaria, and Lily, Judea. Big Jim represents King Solomon, ruler of the Promised Land; punished for his wayward ways by having his United Kingdom divided in half. Pick a card – Jack represents the One Almighty Jehovah, or both God and Jesus.
In the Old Testament, Aholah, akin to Rosemary, represents the northern part of Israel, and Aholibah, akin to Lily, the southern part. Displeased with their whoredom, Jehovah is not at all forgiving; there be no Jesus around in those days:
And the company shall stone them with stones And dispatch them with their swords They shall slay their sons, and their daughters And burn up their houses with fire (Ezekiel 23: 47)
In the New Testament, analogous to a divided kingdom, Jesus, Son of Jehovah, alias the Lamb, is born in a manger, but He’s said to be destined to re-unite everybody by sacrificing Himself; seems His Father is reluctant to sacrifice Himself:
And there shall be no more curse But the throne of God, and of the Lamb shall be in it And His servants shall serve Him (Revelation 22: 3)
The Christian allegory breaks apart in ‘Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts’ unless one takes the Gnostic view that the spirit of Jesus has no beginning, and and has no end, just like His Father. Both in love with the Jack of Hearts, Lily and Rosemary conspire with him to get rid of diamond-studded
Big Jim:
Backstage the girls were playing five-card stud by the stairs Lily had two queens, she was hoping for a third to match her pair .... She called another bet, and drew up the Jack Of Hearts (Bob Dylan: Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts)
Things happen pretty quick, and we are not sure Jack did it, but Jim ends up dead with a penknife stuck in his back. Jack’s a chip off the old block so to speak, a Jokerman; he has no intention of being sacrificed like a lamb, and like Jesus with Simon of Libya, Rosemary of Samaria takes the fall, double-crossed for the very last time:
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink The hanging judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink The only person on the scene missing was the Jack Of Hearts (Bob Dylan: Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts)
As goes the allegory, having seen to it that sinful Samaria has fallen, Jack/Jehovah/Jesus being concerned at the moment with the gilded Lily, with Judea, is determined to rebuild His Temple in its capital Jerusalem:
The cabaret was empty now, a sign said 'Closed For Repair' Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair She was thinking about her father, who she very rarely saw Thinking about Rosemary, and thinking about the law But most of all, she was thinking about the Jack Of Hearts (Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts)
Meanwhile elsewhere
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