Most of the “woes” in the Bible were expressed vocally by Christ Jesus and directed critically towards the Scribes and Pharisees. An expressed woe usually means that someone has experienced long suffering from an affliction, or a grief, or experienced a misfortune brought on by someone else. There are seven distinct woes in the Bible that relate to the attitudes, mannerisms, and teachings of the majority of the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, that brought Him deep anguish.

A SYNOPSIS OF THE 7 DISTINCT WOES IN THE BIBLE AGAINST THE PHARISEES AND SCRIBES:

1. They taught about God, but did not love God – they did not enter the kingdom of God themselves, nor did they let others enter.
2. They mostly preached about God, but actually converted people to dead religion.
3. They taught that an oath sworn by the temple or altar was not binding, but that if sworn by any of the ornaments of the temple, it was binding.
4. They taught the law, but did not practice some of the most important parts of the law.
5. They presented an appearance of being ‘clean’ (self-restrained, not involved in carnal matters), but they were dirty inside.
6. They exhibited themselves as righteous on account of being scrupulous keepers of the law but were, in fact, not righteous.
7. They professed a high regard for the dead prophets of old and claimed that they would never have persecuted and murdered prophets when, in fact, they were cut from the same cloth.

IN TODAY’S WORLD PEOPLE EXPRESS THEIR WOES THROUGH WRITING AND SINGING THE BLUES:

Some years ago, I sincerely thought about the above subject matter…God’s attitude towards administering woes to his disobedient and hurtful children…when I was assigned homework in my writing class to compose a poem about ethnic musical heritage. The distinct class of music I chose to write about was entitled “Using Your Miseries To Write Blues Poems”. Blues poetry is the manner in which several minority groups and disadvantage people turn to using their miseries and woes as lyrics to compose songs of sorrow and disillusions. The genre is called The Blues. Following are a few stanzas of my rendition of how and why this was done. (By the way, I’m not implying that this is the way or method Jesus Christ used to chastise the Scribes and Pharisees. But they sure did give Jesus the blues.)

Bessie Smith – I Ain’t Got Nobody 1925 Empress of the Blues – YouTube – warhosoup100 – 3:12 min.

“USING YOUR MISERIES TO WRITE BLUES POEMS” A Poem Composed By S. Fowler, Blogger

Did you know that blues ain't just a song to be sung
Or bells to be rung
But blues could be a word to be written
As poetry on a page by you
A prolific and highly expressive sage.

Now the blues when sung in a poetic rhythm
Got its origin in the United States
Back some one hundred years ago
Squarely in the African-American race
Whose dialogue is rich in composing rhymes and playing 'the dozens'.

For the most part, blues is born out of our misery and what life is all about
Like the Negro field hand working in the cotton gins of the South
They often complained about their troubles through a call and response
Hiding their true feelings in the lines of a song
Fooling their 'masters' who were oblivious of what was going on.

Now when writing the blues as just poetry for fun
It can take on two forms none of which are sung
The classic or traditional style is well liked
Because a set formula causes each line to rhyme
And sets the tone for the subject to be defined.

The second style of blues poetry is called free verse
Which can be written any way the poet wishes to converse
As long as it depicts life's sufferings and complaints
Without rhyming or using a set meter to express one's fate
About being jobless, down and out, heart broken or got no date.

Most of the time the title of the blues poem sets the tone
Often witty or sarcastic of just forlorn
The poem seeks to offer a solution to our problems at hand
But many times it just repeats itself over and over again
And asks the reader to just accept what God has dealt a man.

There are a few literary blues 'greats' who have come and who have gone
Robert Johnson, the famous blues singer who picked his guitar
An exceptionally talented performer who sang his songs near and far
Some people said he sold his soul to the Devil
In exchange for his talent, loose women and fast cars.

Another famous blues entertainer was County Collin, the writer
He did not sing his miseries he just wrote them down for others
Many of his lyrics were written on a political note
On subjects that affected mostly only Black folks
One of his poems being, "Life For Me Ain't Been No Crystal Stair."

Repetition of lines is very important in the blues poem
 It re-emphasizes problems and lets you know how deep the trouble has gone
Sometimes when Nikki Giovani writes her poems she puts herself in them
Which makes the meaning of the poem all the more serious
And allows the reader to personally see him or herself in it.

          "When I woke up this morning, my taxes were overdue,
            My roof was leaking and my corns were hurting, too.
            Yes, when I woke up this morning, my taxes were overdue,
             I said my roof was leaking and my corns were hurting, too.
             But I'll tell you one thing, Baby, I'm sure 'nuf' through with you."

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how the blues got its name
It's all about singing or chanting what's in your heart that draws pain
When the days seem so dark and the sun refuses to shine
God gives you the words, so go ahead, why not pen a line
And see if you don't feel better real soon, after you have written for a time.

My Prayer For You…

Dear Heavenly Father, We all so much want to become imitators of You. We truly want to proclaim Your message and live in such a way that people will be able to see from our actions that we are serious about our faith and about performing and living it out by mimicking and walking in Your footsteps. But most of all, Dear Jesus, as we walk along the seashores on the beaches of life, when we look down at our feet, we want to see only one set of foot prints, knowing that You and You alone are the One Who is carrying us. Amen and Amen!

Scripture Lesson: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia — your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it”. (1 Thessalonians 1:6, 8)

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