Gadfly's Muse

"The Crown" and Other Pleasurable Absurdities

Image: Royal Replicas, 2019, "Costumes from 'The Crown' Exhibit", Winterthur Museum, 2019

If you are "into" that kind of thing, the traveling exhibit of the costumes used in the PBS series is very interesting.  Great attention was paid to creating as exact a replica for the various items of clothing worn by the Queen and other members of the Royal Entourage as possible.  Some freedom had to be taken to account for different body sizes.  For example, who knew that Princess Margaret was only 5' tall?  The woman who played her in the series was about 5' 7" or so.  The bottom line is the historical interest that this display arouses.

Queen Elizabeth has been around a long time.  It is kind of nice to be reminded that there was a time when a certain elegance was not only demanded but displayed by people in the public eye.  The Queen was very aware that when Jacqueline Kennedy was coming with her husband for a royal visit that she had to match the competition.  She did.  

It was also nice to see how the other folks dressed.  I think we all yearn for a taste of the kind of life that would allow us to "dress for dinner" or get on our riding habit and go for a gallop around the estate.  Rich folks just don't live like the rest of us.

Now I am not, in the least, jealous of these folks.  They are born sinners just like the rest of us and as even a casual reading of history will demonstrate, their acquaintance with elegance did not necessarily translate into being the kind of person we would even like much less want to imitate.  Still, there is the appeal of the whole ethos.

Americans are very susceptible, I think, to this kind of yearning.  American capitalism has produced the most affluent society the world has ever known, but a certain price has been paid.  All too often our affluence has not brought about the kind of sophisticated leisure that translates into cultural progress.  We Americans are intolerant of introspective and informed conversation.  We think we always have to be "doing something."  We have, in large part, even abandoned the traditional family dinner in the sense that we just eat up what's before us without any notice really of the opportunity that a meal provides.  If we had cultural institutions like "dressing for dinner" and the polite expectation that everyone was to contribute to the atmosphere and conversation at the event, then a certain depth would obtain in our lives.

I think, at some level, Americans yearn for some of this.  What else would explain the cult like devotion to the 'Downton Abbey' series?  Why is it that we Americans seemingly care more for the foibles and eccentricities of the Royal Family than do the average Brits themselves?  Just bring up Prince Charles in some circles and there will be a rolling of eyes and a shaking of the head that tells you all you need to know of the person's opinion.

Oh well... the funnest things in life are those things which are the most absurd.  The maintenance of the Royalty certainly falls into that category.  I enjoyed watching "The Crown" and I thought it did a pretty good job of showing us just how trapped is the Queen in her position.  She is the titular head over all the English government and royal possessions, yet she cannot do anything in government that might, in any way, convey an opinion about a current political issue.  She is told this explicitly and forcefully by the Queen Mother when she became Queen.  She is not a Royal Person... She is a Royal Institution..  This to me is absurd.  What is pleasurable is that somehow or another she matters.  

Queen Elizabeth is a great lady.  I don't know what will happen to the Royal Institution when she goes... whatever does happen we know this: that it will be great entertainment for us on this side of the pond.

Joshua 22: Zeal For The Lord

Image: Prospering Before Him, 2019, Winterthur Museum Gardens, De

Joshua 22:4–6 (NKJV) ⁴ And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ⁵ But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

I associate crocus flowers with Spring so it was somewhat of a surprise to round a curve in the path and see an entire hill slope with them abounding with gay profusion.  My companion "detail" person informed that there are Fall crocuses (croci?) also.  Who knew?  But I am glad because I really like those little plants.  They spring up, seemingly out of nowhere; they throw their faces to the sun and brighten up the world for the short period of their blossoming season.  They are altogether nice.

I don't suppose there are any real good analogies here with the specific chapter of Joshua 22 but I don't know of an image that would, so I just went with the pretty flowers.

It was clear to Joshua and to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manesseh that once they crossed the river Jordan they for all practical purposes would be somewhat cut-off from the rest of Israel.  We might think: "It's only a river, what's the big deal" but natural boundaries and as I will give example, even artificial boundaries can isolate a community in its cultural progress.  Whereas the other tribes would have relatively easy access to each other for trade, gossip, cultural interchange, etc. the tribes on the Eastern shore would be pretty much dependent just on each other.

It is quite often the case that a major thoroughfare in a big city will do this.  On one side of the road there may be a very cohesive community that over the years will become known as, for example, "the Jewish quarter", while on the other side the cultural ethos would be quite different, e.g. "the Irish section."  It just happens.  The same thing was clearly possible for the banks of the Jordan.

This is why Joshua goes to such great lengths to remind these tribes of their obligations to God and the "law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you."  There was a barrier between them and the Tabernacle and it would require greater effort for them to come and sacrifice during the prescribed seasons.  They had to pay even greater attention to the reality of "loving the LORD your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul."  Fellowship with other believers, other members of the covenant, is vital for growing in spiritual zeal as Joshua and the LORD were commanding them this day.  The more time progressed the more likely it was that zeal for fellowship with the other tribes would diminish and the sense of common heritage, blessed union and special privilege would dampen and perhaps even die.

These tribes face a special challenge and it was one that both sides recognized.

The 2 1/2 tribes certainly thought about it in reverse.  As the Jordan served to isolate them so it also served to distance them in the other tribes' point of view.  They were "over there."  There is an old saying "Out of sight, out of mind" and separation from other believers can foster that.  The 2 1/2 tribes built an altar on the West side of the Jordan.  It may not have been the wisest course of action because it certainly was open to false interpretation.  The purpose of an altar is to offer sacrifices, right?  Well, God had commanded that sacrifices only be offered on the altar He had commissioned under the service of the priesthood He had ordained.  This altar was easily perceived as a declaration that these tribes were going to have their own, heretical form of religion.  They had to hurriedly inform their brothers of their true intention or else fratricide was about to transpire.  They did so inform them and all was well.

But their true intention was to remind their brothers in the West that they were indeed brothers because they were united in covenant with the One True God.  We can understand their intentions even if we are a bit taken aback by their short-sightedness.

I suppose that we can ponder a few things that this chapter brings to mind.

First we can ponder how passing "time" itself can constitute a river of separation that serves to hinder our sense of community with other believers.  Think about how different the modern church is from the apostolic churches.  Or, what about the Reformation?  Reformation Sunday is coming at the end of October.  Think back to the character of those apostolic churches and those of the Reformation.  Those congregations, often, were "fired up" for Jesus.  They faced uncertain futures with the very real prospect of persecution, hardship, treachery and struggle, yet they rose to the challenge.  Certainly the apostolic letters prove that it was not a uniform zeal in all the churches and it was the same in the Reformation, but think how communion with those congregations might serve to strengthen our zeal also.

Second we ought to ponder how our own families and individuals can allow perceived borders to separate us unto our own little worlds.  We might even conclude that much of the spiritual complacency existing in the Evangelical community today stems from a lack of real, intimate communion with other believers.  

If we, today, are going to heed Joshua's commands to these tribes and grow in our own love and obedience then we must take care not to let such perceived or real borders isolate us from that essential communion with other believers that furnishes the fertile ground for zeal to bloom.

Joshua 20 & 21: Cities of Hope

Image:  City of Hope, 2019, Baltimore Harbor, Baltimore, Md

Joshua 21:43–45 (NKJV) ⁴³ So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. ⁴⁴ The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵ Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

Chapters 20 & 21 bring to a close the first phase of Israel's occupation of the promised land.  Fittingly we see them, under Joshua's leadership and example, being careful to obey all the commands given them through Moses.  The cities of refuge are identified so that any unintentional man-slayer could escape the avenger of blood from the tribe of the slain man.  The Levites are given their cities since they are not assigned a portion of the land under the Lord's provision.  The Lord was to be their portion.  All in all we could say that it was a time of great hope.  The land before them was full of promise and though much hard work and fighting remained, yet the clearest possible proof that the Lord had kept His promises from the time of Abraham down through Moses was before their eyes.

21:43-45 points this out clearly.  "Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel.  All came to pass."  Are those words not exciting?  Is there any heart so dead that the mere concept would fail to thrill it?  Imagine the importance of them.  There is a God, high and exalted above all things, who governs time and space and is not bound by them, who sets the stars in their heavenly courses and arranges for all His creatures to be fed and governed in due season.  This infinite, incomprehensible Being is One who stoops to make Himself known to mankind, the creature He has privileged above all others.  He not only makes Himself known to them, since they cannot know Him apart from His first taking initiative to do so, but He also stoops down to them and gives them insights into Himself and to His eternal plans and purposes.  In so doing He makes promises to them.  This is what should shake us to our core.

Our God makes promises to us.  Our God binds Himself by these promises.  He swears "by Himself" since there is none greater than He by which/whom to swear.  He places His own continued existence as the guarantee for these promises stating that He Himself would have to cease living for these promises to fail.  This puts the certainty of God's promises beyond all question because if God, theoretically, were to cease living then all His creation would simply cease to exist also.  Clearly then, as long as we have life, both in this world and in the world to come, God's promises simply cannot fail.

The Israelites had to have been extraordinarily impressed by what had transpired.  Not a single enemy, as terrifying as they had seemed at first, had stood against them.  God had literally delivered them all into Israel's hand.  They now possessed lands, cities, farms, vineyards, flocks, herds, gold, trading goods... etc.  They had been a mob coming out of Egypt.  They had crossed the Jordan river as a strong army.  Now they were a Nation in the fullest sense of the word.  This was all brought about by the Power of God in accordance with the Purpose of God to fulfill the Promises of God.

We Christians today have this day yet in front of us.  We are not exactly at the same spot as the Israelites in their historical trajectory.  We are still in the warfare stage in which strong enemies yet contend with us for domination of our lives.  But, like the Israelites, we have the promises of God in our possession.  We also will see the great City of Hope one day wherein our rest will take place.  We also will see, with our very own eyes, the Redeemer/Savior/King Who has brought us to that point.  God has spoken and His Word is sure. 

The essence of the Christian faith is belief in the promises of God.  These promises all focus on the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.  He is our Joshua... He is our Moses... He is our Everything.  And faith in the promises is faith in Him.  It is the ever increasing conviction that He will do what He has said and that we, who trust in Him, will inherit those promises with Him.

Baltimore is not a great metaphor for the heavenly city but the image seeks to convey that there is a city, not built with hands, which is there, before us... and one day it will be ours to inherit.

Joshua 16 - 19: Justice - To Each According To The Lord's Direction

Image:  Just A Cabin, 2019, Enchanted Gardens, Winterthur Museum, De

Joshua 19:51 (NKJV) ⁵¹ These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel divided as an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the country.

Matthew 26:11 (NKJV) ¹¹ For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.

Deuteronomy 15:11 (NKJV) ¹¹ For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

Even a superficial reading of this section (beginning with ch. 13), especially if you are cross checking it with a Bible Atlas, will show how "unequal" the land allocation / inheritance plots were among the tribes of Israel.  Sheer size of parcel does not necessarily equate to more value though it does give "room to grow".  Some of the smaller allotments had more cities than the larger ones and thus, according to that measure, would be more valuable (once they were conquered).  But some of the larger ones were well populated with cities also.  There was also the distribution of cities/peoples yet to be conquered.  As we see in 15:63, 16:10 and 17:12-13, there were some stubborn peoples that never were completely defeated.  The Ephraimites did make the remaining Canaanites to become essentially slaves but they did not destroy them.

So there are apparent "inequities" in the land distribution.  God did allow instances such as with Simeon (19:9) where he assigned some land to be shared.  In this instance Simeon got a share of Judah's allocation because Judah's "share" was too much for them.  However the fact remains that there appears to be some inequities in the distribution (cf. 17:14ff) and there was some grumbling.

What can we say about this?

Well, first, we affirm that though there may have been inequities in the portion assignments there was no injustice in it.

The Israelites and Joshua allocated land based on the interpretation of "lots" as being the Lord's divine guidance.  There was some room for negotiation with Joshua as we see in 17:14ff but the bottom line was: "Your portion is that which the Lord has given you!"  

Now there is no injustice with God and therefore we must embrace the truth that these portions were just.  No tribe deserved anything under any kind of merit distinction.  Each allocation was purely a result of God's grace.  Certainly there might have been difficulties in one portion that would not be present in the others but there is absolutely no question that each assigned location had its own challenges and difficulties.  

Secondly, we affirm that the allocations reflect, if you will, God's calling on each tribe to serve Him in the circumstances in which they were found.

This reflects God's sovereign direction for the individual lives of each tribe and by extension, each individual or family within that tribe. That means that some people are providentially placed in callings that result in prosperity and even affluence.  It also means, as with the Deuteronomy & Matthew passages above, that God providentially places other people in callings that may include poverty.  

God is never pictured, throughout Biblical history, as a Socialist manager of the human condition.  It is foreign to Biblical teaching to think that God's plan is to develop income or resource equality in the world.  God's sovereign wisdom is such that there is a place for wealth and a place (or purpose) for poverty.  What God expects is that the general rule "to whom much is given much is required" is to be observed in both the accumulation of wealth and spiritual gifts.  

What God wanted from the Israelites was a sense of mutual dependency and identification.  Though one tribe or one brother within a tribe was impoverished to some degree did not reflect, by that condition alone, that this tribe or brother was somehow less worthy.  Rather God desires that "Covenant Love" be manifested in the manner in which those who have the means are to feel an obligation to help others.  

A corollary of this is that often the individual who is relatively impoverished may have other skills (e.g. the Benjamites were superb slingers) for which they are to be valued.  To offset the poverty of a brother enables that brother to contribute to the well being of a community in his own way.  

Thus God's plan for the Israelites, and for the Church today, is to see the Covenant Community as an organism, with each component having its own value and gifting but also with an unequal distribution of specific gifts.  James has some pretty blunt words for his readers regarding this teaching.  He said that it is a great sin to give preference to an individual just because they are rich.  The poor must be regarded as heirs of God's promises and in that sense they are "rich" also (James 2:5).  

Built into the very fabric of the Israelite covenant community was God's desire that they be interlocked with each other... that there be cooperation rather than prideful competition... that the sense of common brotherhood in the Covenant People of God was to over-ride all other considerations.  Let the poor not be resentful nor filled with false pride such that they refuse help.  But let the relatively rich remember that he has nothing that hasn't been given to him and that everything he has is to be used according to God's purposes and design.

There is no injustice in inequity of resources.  There is great injustice in abusing those of lesser resources simply because they are thereby less powerful.  

God's justice in His providential ordering of the affairs of men must be understood in terms of His purposes.  This goes a long way toward helping us understand what God wants us to do in the circumstances and conditions in which we are found.

Joshua 13-15: "A Pleasant Land, A Beautiful Heritage of the Hosts of Nations"

Image: A Pleasant Land, 2019, View from Winterthur Gardens, De

Joshua 14:13–15 (NKJV) ¹³ And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. ¹⁴ Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵ .... Then the land had rest from war.

Jeremiah 3:18–19 (NKJV)  ¹⁸ “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.  ¹⁹ “But I said:  ‘How can I put you among the children  And give you a pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” And not turn away from Me.’

To get the most out of these chapters one needs to have a Bible Atlas open in front of him/her.  You will find one HERE that will at least give you an idea of where these lands and the cities in them were.

The image above reminds me of an English countryside landscape by Constable.  I took the base image while leaned over and supporting my camera on a small arched bridge railing over the Granary Garden at Winterthur.  I was momentarily alone and the solitude coupled with the scenic view evoked the strongest sense of peace.  I enjoyed just gazing at the sight.  A "pleasant land" will do that.  That is why, I suppose, that I take so many landscape images.

If we step back for a moment, after reading these chapters and having looked closely at the map, I think we can kind of go back in time in our mind.  We can put ourselves on the high ground in Judah's inheritance and we can look out across the points of the compass.  We can start to the North and trace the Jordan river valley all the way up to the Sea of Galilee.  We can soak in the lushness of the fertile land that borders the river and we can feel the anticipation of the day when the Great Shepherd would walk among the flocks that prospered in those lands.

Immediately in front of us, in the land given to Benjamin, is the town that will become Bethlehem.  Moving clockwise we see the Eastern side of the Jordan where the 2 1/2 tribes settled.  They specifically requested those properties because they were "cattle people" and the high grass lands that slope up to the mountains made them very prosperous.  Continuing South and then swinging West we can see all the way out to the Mediterranean sea.  As the land flattens out at the base of the mountains and stretches to the sea it becomes fertile farmland for all kinds of olive groves, vineyards and grain fields.  It is also "chariot" lands.  This is where the great powers would fight battles that determined the life or death of nations.  Here, to the north west, is Megiddo - the mountain of which comes down to us as "Armageddon".  

Everywhere we look we see a pleasant land, a land that is intended to call us to peace... a land meant to be loved and protected and harvested.  This is a land ideally suited for every man to "sit under his vine and under his fig tree" (Micah 4:4, Zechariah 3:10) and experience the profound reality of "shalom", the sense of contented well-being that is God's design purpose and intention for His people.

Whenever I encounter a scene like the one above and have that passing taste of "shalom" it serves to remind me that this is what God intended for His Covenant people from day 1.  From the Garden given to Adam to the land promised to Abraham right down to the whole beautiful world that is promised to Christians, God knows that the secret places in man's heart can be touched by the mysterious bond we have with the earth... with creation.  

It all goes back to Genesis 1:28ff of course and I won't undermine the mood by giving a detailed summary, but it certainly is the case that this world was created for man to enjoy.  That deep pleasure in creation is only possible when we see it in terms of God's gift to us... and the price that our Lord paid so that we can have it.  The knowledge of the Divine Will behind all of it is what makes it so sweet.  God is glorified in our delight in His gift... it is not selfish of us to rejoice in this... it is a form of worship.  We would be depriving ourselves of an essential element of our own humanity if we do not pause and soak it in when its there before us.

Shalom!  Peace be with you!  May the Peace of God rule your heart this day.

Joshua 11-12: Rest When The Job is Done

Image: A Resting Place, 2019, Winterthur Mansion Gardens, DE

Joshua 11:23 (NKJV) ²³ So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.

This verse can be a bit misleading in that it implies that all the fighting was done.  As we shall see in the next few chapters that was far from the truth.  As with the period of the Judges the Scriptures talk of the land "resting" during interludes prior to the next big event.  In this case, after Joshua had essentially destroyed all Israel's enemies in the central "heart" of the promised land, there came a time of resting.  I imagine that there were some skirmishes here and there and that some governing system had to be implemented to control the remaining population but the next big step was to divide up the inheritance.

Essentially we see in the first clause there is a quiet summary:  Joshua took the "whole" land.  Israel was established as the top dog in the region.  Those cities and sections that were yet to be conquered were not a threat and their eventual conquest is a foregone conclusion.  After their incredible victory over the coalition armies of the North (11:1-9) Joshua's confidence was well founded.  The Northern Armies were said to number "as many people as the sand that is on the seashore."  Their total defeat meant that the relative threat posed by the remaining cities was inconsequential.  Israel would discover that it was not going to be that easy because they would depart from Joshua's firm commitment to honor God in all things.  Still there was time for rest.

In the second clause we see Joshua dividing up the land as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel.  True enough, having given title to the land there was the remaining requirement to go take it in some respects but Israel's claim was firmly established.  It was now the legal right of every tribe to dispossess the current residents and claim their cities, herds, vineyards and all other good things as the tribe's own.  There is more to "rest" than just relaxing... there is the renewing of vision, the firming up of plans and the clarification of roles and strategy.

Israel rested from war but was not idle.

I think there is something for us to glean from all this.

We Christians need to do this relatively often.  The purpose of God's Sabbath was that it was "meant for man" not vice-versa.  That doesn't mean that the Sabbath is just a day to lounge around although exhausted bodies and minds do need that if they are present.  But resting on the Sabbath is a great time to reflect on where we are in God's plan for our lives.  It is ideally suited to taking stock of our resources and inquiring of God how He wants us to use those resources.  The Sabbath provides us opportunity to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ and be refreshed by both them and our experiences but being able to sit on a bench and talk with each other and look to the future is important also.

God has given us an inheritance also.  This world will one day be ours and, indeed, in one sense, it already is.  The final victory is assured but much remains to be done.  As Israel rested before God at Gilgal so the people of God need to have periods of rest so that the remaining work to be done may be pursued with efficiency and vigor.

Our rest must not only be as individuals but as a corporate body, united by bonds of love and the seal of faith.  Let us together rest on occasion so that we may, together, serve the Lord in certainty of success.

Joshua 10: Masterfully Done

Image: Rest For The Weary, 2009, Vicinity of Acadia National Park, ME

Joshua 10:40–43 (NKJV) ⁴⁰ So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. ⁴¹ And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. ⁴² All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. ⁴³ Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

There are scholars who openly denounce the OT narratives regarding the Israelite conquest of Canaan.  These folk say that the Israelites basically came as illegal immigrants, filtering in over time, settling down and gradually became a separate people and took over the cities.  I don't see how anyone, with the slightest military background, can read these chapters, especially chapter 10, and hold that view.  Some of the cities mentioned in these chapters were not positively located until many centuries later.  But as the archaeological evidence became more certain the Southern campaign (chapter 10) shows itself to be exactly what a wise military leader would have done to subdue the region.  

Joshua's campaign is essentially somewhat of an elliptical loop around the mountains.  Starting at Gilgal (think 1 o'clock position on a dial) he marched counter clockwise along the trading routes (roads) that circled the mountainous high ground.  He fights battles, defeats kings and captures cities along the route until he gets to Debir (think of 5:30 o'clock) and then he turns back north and returns to his original and comfortable camp at Gilgal (outside Jericho on the plains of the Jordan).  He keeps his supply lines open and makes certain that no significant forces are left in his rear after his victories.  He "utterly destroyed all the people" who were in the cities he took. (cf. 10:39)  This was a military necessity as well as obedience to the Lord's commands.

This military campaign was "masterfully done".  It was also "Masterfully done" because as Joshua is careful to note, these battles were won because the "LORD fought for Israel."  In one battle we are told that God prolonged the day light in order for the slaughter to be complete and rained down hailstones on the fleeing enemy such that more died from the hailstorm than were killed by the Israelites (10:11).  This was the LORD's work and though difficult for modern sensibilities to appreciate, it reveals Him in solemn glory.  He is a God Who should not be taken lightly.

Now I do not believe that there were no casualties at all in these battles.  I am sure that when Israel returned to Gilgal at the completion of this command that their were some missing from their ranks.  I imagine that there were tears in some of the tents and that some husbands and sons were sorely missed.  But the overall picture is that when Israel returned to its rest that there was great rejoicing.  The honored dead were not forgotten but it was assumed that their reward was well worth the sacrifice.  Israel had taken on coalitions of armies and signally defeated them all.  What an amazing thing.

What should we glean from this terse chapter?  It's pretty much self-evident.  

"If God is for us, who can stand against us?" (Rom 8:31- my translation) Paul asked rhetorically.  The self-evident answer is "No one!" and that is certainly true.  God's people, empowered by God's Holy Spirit and furnished with wisdom from above, following their leader - the Lord Christ Himself - cannot fail in its eternal mission.  God will have His victory and everything in the Scriptures, Genesis to Revelation, proclaims this central truth.

Our biggest enemy, now as then, is not the terrifying power of our enemies.  Their power is ephemeral at best and effectively irrelevant to the question before us.  Our biggest enemy is unbelief.  We simply do not take God at His word.  We trust what we see with our eyes more than what we read in His Scriptures.  We are cowed before the social forces that pummel us with propaganda and war against us with pressure.  We try to console ourselves with stupid platitudes: "What can I do?.. I am just one person!" or we extend that line of thinking to our immediate congregation: We can't really change things... let's just hope the government fixes it... we don't want people thinking we are a bunch of kooky fundamentalists (or other such derogatory labels).

What is this?  It is unbelief... plain and simple.... and as long as it controls us as individuals and as congregations we will never see victories stacking up on top of other victories as was the case with Israel.  We can make a difference!  We can be instruments through which the LORD will work and bring about wonderful fruit.  It requires courage in due proportion to our faith but what we can trust is that as we dedicate ourselves to the tasks before us we will see our faith grow in proportion to the courage we displayed.  

God can still rain hail down on His enemies.  The Revelation of John specifically says He will.  Let's bend ourselves to the yoke and discover just how "easy" it is.  And after each campaign, we also can return to our Gilgal and rejoice together with our fellow soldiers in what He has done.

 

Joshua 8 & 9: A Force To Be Reckoned With...

Image: Harvested Fruit, 2009, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Outlet, Vt

Joshua 8:30–31 (NKJV)  ³⁰ Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, ³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

God spoke some very comforting words to Joshua in chapter 8:1.  After the fiasco with the people of Ai that had just taken place, I imagine Joshua was a mite apprehensive about whether God was appeased or not.  He knew from bitter experience that God had brought plagues on Israel and with-held His strength from them after they had shamed themselves before Him.  The "heap of stones" in the Valley of Achor (7:26-27) was there... they had done what God said... now Joshua needed to hear it from God Himself that the assault on the promised land needed to keep going.  God said: "Do not be afraid.. nor be dismayed.... I have given (Ai) into you hand..."  I image Joshua breathed a huge sigh of relief and gathered himself together and went out to do the Lord's bidding.

The fall of Ai (8:9-29) is a highly interesting account of an ancient battle.  There is no reason to doubt its accuracy.  It reads like a first hand account and for those of us who have more than a passing interest in military battles, it provides a feel of "being there."  The tactics God gave Joshua to use have been used in countless other battles by armies over the ages: feigned retreat followed by cutting off the line of retreat and then encirclement and slaughter.  The Israelites demonstrate all the characteristics of a professional army.  Their discipline and ferocity in executing Joshua's plan of battle makes this an example for the text books.  But that is not the primary teaching God wants us to derive from it.

What God is demonstrating here is that when His Person and Laws are held in worshipful esteem (the OT meaning of "the fear of God") then the people of God can "move mountains" in pursuit of His purposes.  The Israelites, here, are not a sniveling bunch of complainers.  That will come later but here, with the memory of Moses still fresh in their minds, the lingering smoke over the ruins of Jericho in their nostrils, the Israelites are a compact people of God, welded together by their single minded allegiance to their God and His appointed representative.  Imagine what the modern church could do... what influence it could achieve... if such a unity was indeed their character.

With Ai decisively taken and without any detracting sins to tarnish it, Joshua goes to Mt. Ebal and, in obedience to the command he had been given my Moses in Dt. 27, he builds an altar to the "LORD God of Israel", wrote out His law on the stones as a memorial and then read all that "Moses had commanded", in other words, the entirety of Deuteronomy, to the people.  This is a highly significant event because it is essentially a "covenant renewal" ceremony.  The people are humbled before their God and are therefore kept from becoming over confident or arrogant after their signal victory at Ai.  It was a great day.  

Like another day (Nehemiah 9-11) when a similar event would occur, the people of God are assembled and have the law read to them.  Thus they are "reconstituted" into their role as the visible church of God.  God did this to remind them that it was not by their strength that they were there, but rather it was because of the direct work of their Covenant God.  The people needed to have that lesson hammered home.  The Church of Jesus Christ benefits from having it hammered home to us on occasion also.

Next we read the somewhat perplexing history of the Gibeonites.  They send a delegation to Joshua and outright lie about their origin and their people.  Joshua and the leaders of Israel "did not ask counsel of the LORD" (9:14) and went ahead and made a covenant with them.  I suppose this let them off the hook with God later when it was revealed that these Gibeonites came from cities that were directly in the Israelites path of advance.  God had given the Israelites command that they were not to make covenant with the pagan inhabitants of the land and so, technically, the Israelites were proved to have transgressed.  But since they did not know the true circumstances it appears that God does not reprimand them.  The Israelites, to their credit, kept their covenant with the Gibeonites and did not destroy them as they did with Ai and Jericho, but they essentially brought them into a state of bonded service.  The people of those cities became vassals to the Israelites and in the terse words of 9:27 - they remained so "even to this day."

Now let's step back and look at what has transpired.  Here, by the power of God, we see Israel established as a major player in the land of Canaan.  There is a new kid on the block and he is a "force to be reckoned with."  We will see in the next chapter that this awareness was taken very seriously by some very important people.  God has proven Himself faithful to His promises.  Even in the face of serious sin in their midst, the people of God had seen Him working in all things to honor His Word.  When they sinned, repented of that sin and were diligent in showing the fruits of repentance, God had given them tremendous victories.

Israel, under Joshua, at the beginning of the conquest of the promised land, is a far different people than the rabble that slunk out of Egypt with the terror of Pharaoh's army scaring them to death.  Now Israel was already the leader of a band of allied vassals.  The important cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kirjath Jearim were now buffer states lying between them and their powerful enemies further south.  These cities and their inhabitants would be their source of supplies and labor as well as military auxiliaries.  Israel not only had a foot hold in the land, it had the staging ground from which the further conquest could be pursued without danger from the land behind them.

God had done an amazing thing.  He was and is worthy to be praised.  The fruits of His harvest were already in place.

 

Joshua 6 & 7: A "Troubler" of Israel

Image: Tumbling Down Stream, 2009, Vicinity of Smuggler's Gap, Vt.

Joshua 7:13 (NKJV) ¹³ Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”

Joshua 7:25–26 (NKJV) ²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.  ²⁶ Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Sometimes the plot is so transparent that you know what is going to happen next well before it actually transpires.   As we read Joshua 6 & 7 the same sense of deja vu comes over us if we have been paying attention to the previous narratives in the Pentateuch.  We can almost envision our God shaking His head in disgust.  "There they go again.  When will they ever learn?"  The sordid truth is: "We never do."  Not in this life anyway.  If there is anything on which we can rely it is that our sinful desires will overtake us at various points in our journey and we will all not only stumble and fall, but we will, on occasion wallow in the mud where we have fallen.

Only a God of infinite grace would put up with us.  Thank God that He is just that.

Things start out pretty well in Joshua 6.  Joshua is given explicit instructions about what to do.  I cannot help but think that Moses' example when he let his passions get the better of him in bringing water from the rock, was clearly present in Joshua's mind.   To a hardened military commander it didn't sound like much of a strategy.  Jericho's walls were strong... the people were heavily armed... there was no element of surprise... common sense would say that the only way to take the city was by a direct assault on the walls and you might as well stand by for heavy casualties. But Joshua learned from Moses' example and listened carefully.

God said to march around the city of seven days, have the people shout on the seventh lap of the seventh day and those walls would "come tumbling down."  The story is well known and countless generations of children have delighted in it during their Sunday School or VBS classes.  The wall "fell down flat" (6:20) and the Israelites charged into the city.  "Every man straight before him" it says.  

I image a significant number of defenders were killed when those walls collapsed.  Any man of war that survived that fall probably was incapacitated by terror.  What we know is that "every man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey" was killed.  As with Sodom and Gomorrah when God's judgment finally falls on the evil of the world then it is fierce indeed.

Rahab was saved as I wrote about in the last meditation.  I found it interesting that in 6:25 it says that "she dwells in Israel to this day."  That would imply that this book was written during her lifetime though it is possible that her continued "life" means her "house".  

But it's what happens next that saddens and humbles us.  The Israelites send out a token force to take the weak city of Ai and they came scurrying back to the camp with their tails between their legs.  The fickleness of the people of God is apparent in 7:5 - "the hearts of the people melted and became like water."  These Israelites lost all their nerve.  One little battle... only thirty-six men dead... and even in the shadow of the ruins of Jericho, the Israelites were about to give it all up.

The sad truth is that if God is not fighting with us in our battles then we might as well be in terror because our chances of winning are nil.  This truth is pressed home by the Lord when He spoke to Joshua.  "Israel has sinned" He said.  We notice right away that the sin of one man and his family defiled the entire assembly.  The Church of God is so tightly bound together, like any strong family, that we are to feel each others pain and... share in each other's shame.  When one person falls into egregious sin it is generally the case that prior to his sin he was not experiencing the grace of fellowship.  We need to walk with each other and help each other guard against sin.  If we don't do that then the blunt truth is that we also share in his sin.

God tells Joshua to identify the man and his family through an elaborate exercise that involved the Lord "taking" first the tribe and then the family and then finally the man who sinned.  We don't know exactly how that worked, it probably involved the mysterious use of the Urim and Thummin, but it produced results.  Achen was identified, confessed, produced the goods that he had stolen from Jericho and was duly executed along with his household and wealth.  Again, we have to accept, that each of his family shared in his guilt even as they intended to share in his ill-gotten goods.

The story of Achen is fixed on the idea of a "troubler of Israel."  The name of the place in which he and his family was buried is called the "Valley of Achor" - literally - the "valley of trouble" and here we find an overarching teaching:  No matter how many victories we as the people of God win yet we can never be complacent.  Sin will come in and cause "trouble" and that trouble can so infect the entire congregation that its effectiveness as a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ can be completely lost.  We must seek our our Lord's grace but we must ensure that we use the means of grace, accountable fellowship, in our desire to "seek out the purity and peace" of our congregations.

Joshua 4 & 5: Marching Orders

Image: Down Stream, 2009, Bingham Falls, VT

Joshua 5:13–15 (NKJV)  ¹³ And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”  ¹⁴ So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”  ¹⁵ Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Chapters 4 & 5 bring to a close the first section of Joshua, the introduction if you will.  We could say, taking our cue from the New Testament, that what now commences is the "Acts of Joshua."  In Chapter 6 the fall of Jericho will commence the narrative of Israel's general conquest of the promised land, spotty as the record may be.

In chapter 4 we see God bringing the Israelites across the Jordan on dry ground.  The importance of the parting of the river is not lost on the Israelites.  They see Joshua as being vested with the authority of Moses and that he is a powerful instrument through whom the Lord is working.  The symbolism employed in the crossing is rich indeed.  The priests bring the ark of the covenant into the middle of the river and the army marches past it to the other side.  They are very aware that God is the One supervising their crossing.  There must have been a holy shiver going down their spines as they passed close by this Holy, Holy vessel.  

The imagery continues with representatives from each tribe picking up a stone from the middle of the river and building a "heap" to mark the spot of their crossing.  Note in verse 5 that Joshua's command to the men was that they would "take up a stone on (their) shoulder."  In other words these were not small rocks.  These were substantial stones suitable for building a permanent marker and thus the memorial would have a commanding appearance.  Subsequent generations could not fail to see them as they crossed over the Jordan in trade or in visitation to their brother tribes on either side.

God did all this to seal Joshua as His new personal representative to the Israelites.  Verse 14 says that God "exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel."  He was regarded with deep respect after that day.  Like it was with Moses however that respect would diminish over time.

Another very interesting symbolic, shall we say "sacramental", event came next.  It is important to note that God delayed the circumcision of Israel until after they crossed over the Jordan.  We remember that when the sons of Jacob deceived the Hivites in the matter of Dinah and attacked them when they recovering from circumcision (Gen. 34) that they had no problem killing them all.  God invested this circumcision then with a lot of meaning.  First:  It was an act of faith.  God told them to do it and even though they were on enemy soil, yet they had to trust that He would protect them.  Secondly: as God Himself says in 5:9 this circumcision sacramentally meant that "this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.."  This generation was starting fresh... they had been cleansed of the sins of their fathers... they were sanctified unto the purposes that God was using them for.  The place was called "Gilgal" from then on and is a significant place in subsequent Israelite history.

But it is in the closing event of chapter 5 that the greatest symbolism takes place.  Joshua is visited by the "Angel of the Lord".  I think Numbers 22:23 & 31 along with 1 Chronicles 21:16 establish that this is the Angel of the Lord because in each of those other passages He is so designated and He appears with a sword in His hand.  There is no question in this passage or those that this Being is to be worshiped.  I see no other alternative than to view Him as the pre-incarnate Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, and the One whom God had specifically tasked to lead the people of Israel back in Exodus 23:20-23.  

Now this passage doesn't directly tell us everything the Angel told Joshua.  Some folks think that Chapter 6 continues this dialog but the literary details make this problematic.  God speaking to Joshua in 6:2 is in His own Person not that of the Angel.  So I think the whole purpose of this passage is portray our Christ in His Militant Role.  He identifies Himself as the "Commander of the army of the LORD".  He is the One who commands legions of angels to do His bidding and to wage war with His people as they obediently and courageously go forth to fulfill God's commands.  Elisha told his servant "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." (2 Ki. 6:16)  When Elisha prayed for his servants "eyes to be opened" he saw that the mountain was "full of horses and chariots of fire" all around them.  This is the mighty host which our Lord commands and His appearance to Joshua, on that day, was to remind Him and to remind us, that our battles are not fought alone.

So much to ponder!  How comforting would it be to us, today, if we stepped out into our lives confidently certain that our Christ was there, with all His angelic hosts, with us in everything we do.  Could we not consider any enemies we encounter with ultimate pity because their futile resistance will be their shame?  Can we not trust that no obstacle will prove impassable nor invulnerable to our progress?

This is why He appeared to Joshua... it is why He confirms Himself in this regard in the Revelation of John.  He is our Commander and He brings legions of angels in His trail to fight with us in our battles.