The Bible and Blake

He wasn't socialized; he didn't go to school, never birched, he was no donkey! Instead he poured over Milton, the Bible, Shakespeare. By 1800 he had been exposed to Paracelsus and Behmen (Boehme). You might say his socialization came through those wise men. They were also the agencies that educated him.

Letters, To Mr [John] Flaxman, (E 707)

"To My Dearest Friend John Flaxman these lines I bless thee O Father of Heaven & Earth that ever I saw Flaxmans face Angels stand round my Spirit in Heaven. the blessed of Heaven are my friends

upon Earth When Flaxman was taken to Italy. Fuseli was giv'n to me for a season And now Flaxman hath given me Hayley his friend to be mine such my lot upon Earth Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood & shewd me his face Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years gave me his hand Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me. terrors appeard in the Heavens above And in Hell beneath & a mighty & awful change threatend the Earth The American War began All its dark horrors passed before my face Across the Atlantic to France. Then the French Revolution commencd in thick clouds And My Angels have told me. that seeing such visions I could not ubsist on the Earth But by my conjunction with Flaxman who knows to forgive Nervous Fear I remain for Ever Yours WILLIAM BLAKE"
When you've been studying Blake for a while, if you also have some acquaintance with the Bible, it may suddenly dawn on you that almost every word of his poetry has a close relationship with something in the Bible.

Look at Plate 2 of The Marriage....:

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 2, (E 33)

"Rintrah roars & shakes his fires in the burdend air;
Hungry clouds swag on the deep

Once meek, and in a perilous path,
The just man kept his course along 
The vale of death.
Roses are planted where thorns grow.
And on the barren heath
Sing the honey bees.

Then the perilous path was planted:
And a river, and a spring
On every cliff and tomb;
And on the bleached bones
Red clay brought forth.

Till the villain left the paths of ease,
To walk in perilous paths, and drive
The just man into barren climes.

Now the sneaking serpent walks
In mild humility.
And the just man rages in the wilds
Where lions roam."
The perilous path (at the beginning of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell) was a 
mystery until it suddenly became clear: why he was talking about the 
'straight and narrow', the Way that the Lord advised.  Then the entire passage 
became clear:
Matthew 7

[13] Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
[14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The just man is on the straight and narrow-- not very glamorous, just good (or as Blake would say, right). The meek and just man planted roses and kept bees, etc.  Maybe he bought or built a nice house.  The whole place prospered.

Until the villain saw what had happened and drove him (the meek and just man) out into the wilderness. You can read about that in your newspaper any day.

Well such is MHH. Stay with it, and you'll learn more about the Bible.