For a long time I’ve been thinking and writing about ideas of God and how they intersect with LOST. I am not sure why it never struck me before that Jacob, living in a statue of a deity, does what deities were often thought to do, namely inhabit their image.
Not to be outdone, of course, the “smoke monster” resembles a “pillar of cloud” or a “column of smoke.” That is one of the forms that the God of Israel is said to have taken when leading the people of Israel out of Egypt.
It is intriguing, in view of this, that “Smokey” wants to lead the people off the island to “freedom,” liberating them from a place which, if not Egypt, is full of Egyptian symbolism.
From the perspective of ancient Israel’s Scriptures, the gods depicted as images were false gods.
But of course, the answers to LOST’s mysteries will not be found as simply as this, merely by identifying Biblical echoes. After all, there is a Jacob in the Bible – in fact, more than one, to be precise. But the first Jacob mentioned has his name changed to Israel, and is thought of as the forefather of the children of Israel – i.e. those who would be led by the pillar of smoke from slavery in Egypt.
I hope to have a further reflection on God and the Devil on LOST appear soon.
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