Comics and the Bible | The Seraph in "The Seraph's Day of Atonement!" | Super Friends #38


The Super Friends Saturday morning cartoon was presented in a variety of formats.  The first season included hour-long episodes.  The second season fit four separate stories into the hour-long program.  Likewise, the Super Friends comic book varied in format.   While most issues contained a single story, some issues were part of a multi-issue story arc.  Still other issues included a longer story featuring all of the Super Friends followed by an eight-page back-up story featuring a solo character.  

These back-up stories rotated among:

  • The Wonder Twins, often in their secret identities which never used on the cartoon
  • Plastic Man, who had his own Saturday morning cartoon
  • Irish hero Jack O' Lantern, who had appeared with other international heroes in the comic book
  • The Seraph, the Man Who Could Work Miracles

While each of these features has its own merits, the back up stories with Jack O' Lantern and the Seraph are trailblazing, because these heroes are usually associated with a group or team.  It is nice to see them shine as heroes in their own homelands.  

The Seraph in "The Seraph's Day of Atonement!" from Super Friends #38

Settlement founder Rivkah Sharett welcomes teacher Chaim Lavon to his new home.  As construction of the school is not yet complete, Chaim meets his future students, from young children to old settlers.  However, a group of men on motorcycles have plans to run the settlers off.  Dressed as Arabs, the men try to destroy the scholars and the school.  

Chaim carries an injured Rivkah to safety before changing from his street clothes into his Seraph garb.  While Rivkah is surprised to learn Chaim is a super hero, he remarks: "It is not a secret I have tried to conceal!  However, few people seem to notice or be aware of my double identity!  They simply don't recognize a super-hero out of costume!"

The Seraph deals with the fake Arabs, lifting motorcycle and cyclist overhead ("Like Hercules?  No--like Samson!")  When the entire gang charges toward the Seraph, he plants his staff in the ground Moses-style, causing an earthquake.  The quake reveals an underground treasure house built by King Solomon, and the reason for the fake Arabs' desire to rid the area of the settlers is revealed. 

After the leader of the gang surrenders and begs for mercy, Seraph continues to punch him, getting even for the damage inflected upon Rivah and the school.  

Then Seraph hears a heavenly Voice say, "YOU MIGHT HAVE KILLED THAT MAN--AFTER HE HAD SURRENDERED--IF I HAD NOT TAKEN YOUR POWERS!  YOU WERE GIVEN GREAT GIFTS ON THE UNDERSTANDING YOU WOULD USE THEM JUSTLY!  NOW THOSE GIFTS ARE FORFEIT--UNLESS YOU EARN THEM BACK BY REPENTANCE!"

For several weeks, Chaim sets aside the Mantle of Elijah that is part of his costume and puts on sackcloth, a symbol of repentance mentioned in the Bible.  He acknowledges his sin and refers to the story of Moses, in which Moses struck a rock instead of speaking to it, a transgression which excluded him from entering the Promised Land.  On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the Voice answers the prayers of the penitent: "YOUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN HEARD, CHAIM LAVON.  BUT NEVER LET YOUR PASSIONS OVERCOME YOUR JUDGMENT AGAIN!"

To test the return of his powers, Chaim lifts Rivkah above his head in celebration, and here our eight-page story ends.  

Certainly, this story was published in a different era, but the theme of repentance is a powerful one.  It is also unusual to see a mainstream comic book with chapter and verse scripture reference.  For the convenience of readers who are interested in the source material, here is the text of Numbers 10:7-13 in the New Revised Standard Version:     

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.  So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him.  Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”  Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.  But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”  These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and by which he showed his holiness.


  

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