A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Mortal world and the greedy man
This is a very famous painting by Hieronymus Bosch "Death and the Miser"
This is a 15th century oil painting and shows a complete story about life, death, sin and salvation.
What is happening in the picture:
Bosch wants to show that when death is in front of us, man has 2 options:
Angel says: Look to God, repent
Satan says: Save money, do not give up the greed of the world
The miser is ignoring the angel and looking at the wealth. So in the end he will give up everything he has.
This painting is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
My story
His name was Rafiq. He was 70 years old.
His house was big, but dark. There were gold coins in the chest, land papers, diamonds. But there was no bread to eat.
One night he had a severe fever. He was lying alone on his big bed. He was gasping for breath.
Suddenly, the room lit up.
An angel in a white robe stood at his head. The angel whispered:
"Rafiq... the time has come. Leave everything. Ask God for forgiveness."
Rafiq opened his eyes. But before he could say anything, the door creaked open.
There stood a corpse wrapped in a white shroud. Arrows in his hand. Empty pits instead of eyes.
It was death. He didn't say anything. He just grabbed the door and went in.
Rafiq was scared. The angel said again: "Look at me"
But at that moment, a small, ugly devil came out from behind the bed curtain. He had a bag of money in his hand.
The devil laughed and said: Sir, how can you leave so much money behind?
Rafiq gestured with trembling hands.
His old wooden box kept in the corner of the room opened automatically. Inside was a gleam of gold. And inside the box, another little devil was sitting and counting coins.
Devils came out from under the floor, from above the bed, from everywhere. Everyone was saying Don't leave him." *
Rafiq ignored the angel. He got up with the help of a stick and staggered to the chest. He took a handful of coins in his hand.
Death slowly approached. The arrow rose.
The angel said for the last time: "There is still time..."
Rafiq held the coins to his chest and shook his head: "No"
That's it. The arrow went.
The next morning, the villagers broke down the door. Rafiq was lying on the floor. A handful of dirt in his hand. The chest was empty.
That night, Rafiq bought the cheapest thing in exchange for the most valuable thing.
At the time of death, neither wealth nor greed is useful. The only decision is whose voice you will listen to. The angel's or the devil's.
