THE LAMB OF GOD AND SATAN: INTERCONSTITUTION


repressed, as was the direct object of Rahab's smiting (113:33). Now in
this decisive account in the narrative proper, both Luvah's name and the
object ofRahab's cutting are present. The Lamb is clothed in a woven form
(the mantle) unlike the Robes that exist independent of weaving; but this
mantle is "of Luvah" -belonging to, composed of, or woven out of Lu-
vah. As in the Sons' song, as soon as the cutting occurs the Lamb as such
disappears but his disappearance is much more decisive than in the Sons'
song where an ambiguous "He" survived:

 But when Rahab had cut off the Mantle of Luvah from
 The Lamb of God it rolld apart, revealing to all in heaven
 And all on Earth the Temple & the Synagogue of Satan & Mystery
 Even Rahab
 (113:38-41)

The Lamb should be revealed when Luvah's Mantle is cut and rolls apart;
but instead only the forces that are associated with the act of cutting-that
is, the condemning to death and nailing-are revealed. In the welter of
perceptual and judgmental confusion, the reader should experience a
simultaneous feeling of triumph and horror. On the one hand this action
reveals negative forces, especially Rahab, "in all her turpitude." On the
other hand, the Lamb should have been revealed (in "his glory" as a deleted
passage had it) ,7 but when Luvah's Mantle is cut offnothing is there but the
negative forces themselves-the Lamb has disappeared. The despair that
accompanies the hollowness of this revelation is intensified by the sur-
rounding context: upon seeing the "Body," Jerusalem and Los despair of
Eternal Life (106:14-16); they do not seem to grasp the event as a positive
revelation at all. Indeed, the Lamb's death seems to engender a form of
Eternal Death from which revival or resurrection is impossible. Prior
to this point, revival and resurrection from death have been common
occurrences.
 The revelation of Rahab's act of cutting the Mantle from the Lamb
 becomes explicit in the narrative proper immediately before Los delivers
 his long speech to Rahab recounting, among other things, that "Satan...
 Was soon condemned" (115:36-37). Structurally, Los's speech (which
 elaborates a doctrine of "States") functions as a complex perspective trans-
 formation of the narrative proper by inverting causal and ontological
 priorities. The condemnation of Satan parallels the condemnation of the
 Lamb;Jerusalem weaves "mantles" for "Satan & his companions"; "Jesus"
 dies "willing beneath Tirzah & Rahab" "for Satan" but his death is fol-
 lowed by no resurrection and is insufficient to "set Jerusalem free"
 (115:36-116:2). Since the term "Jesus" semantically overlaps the structure
 of the Council, the One Man, and the Lamb, the action in Los's speech is a
 very complicated rearrangement of the events occurring in the narrative
 proper. It purports to clarify by making distinctions but in fact further
 complicates things by twisting and inverting narrative facts, demonstrat-
 ing the inadequacy of the emergent doctrine of "States" to resolve the


Blake deleted a passage
which would have filled
in the gap between the
interpolated and narra-
tive accounts of the
weaving and the robes:
"ofLuvahs robes / She
made herself a Mantle"
(E760, 842).


When "christ" rends the
veil, Rahab is supposed
to be revealed (105:26);
see below, p. 325. But
when Rahab smites the
garments (in the Song of
the Sons of Eden), the
redeemer and awakener
is supposed to appear
(113:32-36); see above,
p. 273. In 113:38-41,
however, Rahab's cut-
ting produces the same
effect as "christ's" rend-
ing: Rahab, not the
redeemer, is revealed.

The transformation of
the Lamb into the dead
Body has the effect of
producing despair of
resurrection.




The doctrine of states is
an unsatisfactory narra-
tive resolution but con-
veys power to Rahab.