Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

ON THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS IN CHURCHES OF SHAKESPEARE’S TIME, JANUARY 5, here are the scriptures congregations would have heard: In Psalm 5, David again assumes that God is vengeful and will come to his aid [1]. In Romans 4 we hear of works vs. faith, and again, of circumcision of the heart, a topic repeated in church every day since the Feast of the Circumcision [2]. (How does a character in a play outwardly manifest inner change?) Genesis 7 and 8 continue the Noah tale, referenced in at least two Shakespeare plays [3]. In Gen 7, the flood comes, 40 days and nights of rain. In Gen 8, rains stop, floods subside; all on the ark are saved. From December 30 (Paul’s shipwreck, with echoes of Pericles ) [4], to January 4-5, we get perils on water, a theme in many Shakespeare plays in which the sea features prominently [5]. Shakespeare had many sources for his plays, but the scriptures stories read in church that involved water – Noah, Moses parting the Red Sea, Jonah, Jesus walking on w...

THE 8th DAY of CHRISTMAS, January 1 in Shakespeare’s England as now, was the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus,* a ritual for Jewish boys eight days after birth (hence the eight day), but also required of converts to Judaism. [* What a way to start the new year!] All but one of the day’s readings mention circumcision [1], first asked of Abraham as a sign of his covenant with God [2], later not required of Gentile converts to Christianity due to St. Paul’s intervention [3]. The day’s scriptures also speak of figurative “circumcision of the heart” [4][5][6], repenting of sinful attachments to earthly things that inhibit charity, or “caritas,” God-like love. Abraham was also to circumcise male servants and household members, including Ishmael, his son by his wife Sarah’s servant Hagar, and by this all in Shakespeare’s time understood that not only Jews, but also Muslims (“Turks” and “Moors”) were also circumcised. “Jew” or “Jewry” is mentioned about 80 times in Shakespeare, in 11 p...