As we continue our journey through the Bible with Japanese printmaker Sadao Watanabe, I've added five new stencil prints to the image gallery of his Sacred Artist profile page, telling the story of the Prophet Moses and the Exodus of the Hebrew People from Egypt to the Promised Land. Watanabe depicts the baby Moses among the bulrushes of the Nile River (Exodus 2: 1-10) in the first scene in my series. A flying duck disturbs a beautifully composed frieze of reeds by the water's edge, where the infant floats in a basket under the watchful eye of his sister. In a second small format washi print, we see Moses striking a rock in the wilderness with his staff to bring forth water for the thirsting Israelites (Numbers 20:1-13) The miniature sheep in the right foreground--not to be mistaken for an armadillo!--indicates the water is drinkable. In the third and fourth images in this group, Watanabe depicts the Hebrew spies, returning from an exploratory visit to Canaan, laden with grapes (Numbers 13: 17-20, 23) and the moment when Moses is taken up to Mount Nebo before this death to view the Promised Land he will never enter (Deuteronomy 34:1-6). The fifth and final print shows Joshua at the Battle of Jericho (Joshua 6:1-20). The tightly clustered figures under the curving wall of the beseiged city recall stylized compositions in carved stone on the capitals of pillars in the Romanesque churches of France, a source of inspiration for the Japanese artist. (John Kohan)