God's Geography

Corsica and Sardinia



Map of Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia
[Map from the Perry Castenada Library,
Courtesy The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin]

Corsica and Sardinia are 2 islands in the Mediterranean Sea off the coasts of Italy and France. Corsica belongs to France, and Sardinia to Italy. Here is a close up of both islands. Any guesses as to what they look like?


Corsica and Sardinia
[Image courtesy NASA's Earthobservatory]


The French name for Corsica is Corse, and it is shaped like...


Corsica
[Image courtesy NASA's Earthobservatory]

...a horse, of course!

By the way, the word corso is "an Italian term for a carriage-way, formerly applied to races of riderless horses" (Encyclopedia International, 1970); and here we have a riderless horse.

Of course we should be thinking of the horses of the Bible such as the one that took Elijah up into heaven in 2nd Kings 2:

1 And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ...

I believe these horses are also called whirlwinds because they are round.

11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.

These horses are also called whirlwinds in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 1:

4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

I believe these four faces were pictures or emblems on the 4 'sides' (or quadrants) of the vehicle, just like pilots paint on their airplanes such as on this American Tomahawk bomber from World War II:


Airplane


Not that the ones Ezekiel saw had sides, because the ones he saw were round. What these faces looked like is explained for us presently.

7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. 8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

I believe three of these four faces are represented for us on the island of Sardinia. Sardinia is part of a disc, about two-fifths, and on its sides are the shapes of a lion, an ox, and an eagle:


Corsica and Sardinia


The faces are somewhat difficult to see. The easiest of the three is the eagle. Here's a close up after we 'spin' the disk 90 degrees or so:


Corsican eagle
[Image courtesy NASA's Earthobservatory]

The head feathers on this eagle bare the name of Cape Falcone, or falcon.

Now let's take a look at the face of the lion:



Here is the face of the ox:


The ox of Sardinia
[Image courtesy NASA's Earthobservatory]

Why our Father made the eagle so obvious and the other two not so obvious is a mystery, however it reminded me that the vehicle it represents is also very difficult to see. In fact, it can not be seen unless our Father wants it to be seen. There's an example of this in 2nd Kings 6 involving Elisha and his servant with the Syrian army surrounding them:

15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, "Alas, my master! how shall we do?" 16 And he answered, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, "Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness." And He smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

But why is the face of the man missing? I don't know why exactly, but perhaps it represents the face of the pilot.

There are a couple other interesting 'coincidences' we should mention. Firstly, between Corsica and Sardinia is the Strait of Bonifacio, and Bonifacio means 'handsome face' which I thought was interesting because faces are very important to this study. Also, The flag of Sardinia has on it four faces. You can see them at the Flagspot.

I hope this study has shown you that we really do have friends in high places, and that the horses of the Bible are a lot more interesting than they once were.


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