The Hebrew poets...

The Hebrew poets are most credible

perhaps in their conflictedness

especially about the violence their history contains.

Psalm 18 celebrated King David's victories.

But in 1 Chronicles 22:8,

Nathan the prophet tells David he won't build the temple.

“...because you have shed so much blood in [God's] sight on the earth,”

echoing words God spoke to Cain in Genesis:

“...your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.”

In Psalm 104, “...young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.”

But Isaiah uses similar images to hope for future peace:

“...and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them....”

One might say something of this longing

lives in “Bambi”

and “Tarzan.”