Moses and Joshua

The system of cross-references provided by the 'I' initialelaborate and detailed, yet flexible enough to serve as an instrument for meditation and preaching--has made us aware of the deep concern of the circles responsible for the embellishment of the Stavelot Bible with typological themes. Bearing the results of this investigation in mind, it is appropriate to examine other initials of the manuscript. Once their general character is established it will be possible to enquire whether the typological approach can be extended further. The most logical starting point for such an investigation is the series of miniatures immediately following the 'I'--specifically the set of four dealing with the life of Moses that head the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, together with the initial for the Book of Joshua. While the association of this last may find some Justification in Biblical scholars' enlargement of the Pentateuch to form a Hexateuch, it will be seen that there are also traditional theological grounds for this extension. ¹ Moreover, the formal elements of the two scenes of the Joshua initial echo those found in the last three 153initials of the Moses cycle, those for Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Nonetheless, the four Moses initials constitute a sequence that is an integrated whole. It will he convenient to examine them as a series, considering the Joshua miniature separately as a kind of epilogue. The principles of selection employed by the artist--or rather by his adviser, since it seems likely that these miniatures were not executed by the man who planned the illustration of the book-- may be understood by comparing them with their counterparts in the Lobbes Bible, which provided the model for much of the Old Testament material illustrated in the Stavelot Bible. For the specific links with and divergences from the comparable set of four found in the Lobbes Bible now in Tournai provide useful clues for an understanding of the purposes of the Stavelot illuminator.