Finishing The King in Yellow: In the Court of the Dragon
This short story is one of the stranger ones in the series. Our narrator is enjoying a service at a church when he notices the organ player looking at him with a withering glare. The narrator leaves only to have the player follow him into the court of the dragon which seems to be a street corner. Suddenly the man wakes up back in church with no one the wiser and the organ player no longer having such a hideous look. Suddenly reality is ripped apart as the King in Yellow draws through and quotes Hebrews 10:31 as he holds the narrator in his grasp. "What a terrible thing it is to be in the hands of the living God."
At least, thats the way i like to read it. The real act of the King breaking i to reality is more tame. I've researched this phrase from the Bible and it can mean to "be in awe" instead of "be afraid." Also, "living God," can be interpreted as the "immense power and awesomeness of God." I've noticed that the Bible has a history of comparing their god to other gods. While other gods had effigies and idols of stone and clay, Yahweh was considered a god that came to people in person. It's as if the writer of Hebrews is mocking other gods, in a form. "Our god is the real god. There may be many gods but ours is the true god." Exodus 20:3 declares that the Isrealites shall have no other gods, as in, won't worship other gods. I've ways seen this as a way of Yahweh saying that although there are other gods, only worship me. I believe that's called henotheism, a belief that there are multiple gods but only worship one true god. And it works because the Isrealites were, as comedian Lewis Black says, "three hairs away from an ape." He's saying the Jews were stupid, in a joking manner, being Jewish himself. But for my part, I won't knock on ancient mankind. I believe people are intelligent, but I doubt the freshly freed Isrealites had more to worry about than the physics behind the sun. Simply put, there is a sun god they don't worship because there is a greater god.
This got wildly off course but I wanted to emphasize the different areas of research I went into to write this page. Although the research was less than an hour long, I have to criticize myself for not taking a deeper dive into the meaning behind Hebrews. Maybe later I'll look for more. As for the author, Robert Chambers, his religious beliefs remain a mystery to me.
Before I end this I want to circle back to the phrase spoken in the story. Why does the King say this and what has the narrator done to deserve such a fate? No answers are given for either.
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