Still More Hardpan [Joshua ch.7]

“All the people then stoned Achan to death; they also stoned and burned his family and all his possessions.”

Man, that’s got to harsh your mellow... (I resort to flippancy because I don’t know how to process the crushing/torching of Achan, his family, livestock, and possessions. It is too tragic, too gruesome.)

One thought: We should look carefully at anything we’ve held onto that we feel compelled to hide. Whatever it is that that we conceal to the detriment of our relationships is worth bringing into the light. Otherwise we won’t overcome the stuff that blocks our full engagement with what we were created to be and do.

More Hardpan [Joshua ch.6]

Vintage Sunday School -- one of the all-time classics. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho... The sixth chapter is where the story is recorded, trumpets and all.

Here’s the thing: Isn’t it hard to read this drama as anything other than either a) a flannel-graph classic, or b) an R-rated screenplay filled with psyche-blistering violence? Ugh... talk about hardpan! I’m afraid I can’t dig very deeply into this one.

But a question has haunted me for a couple of weeks now since the last time I read it. In verse 2 the Lord is reported to have said,
“I am putting into your hands Jericho, with its king and all its brave soldiers.”

My question is this: If Jericho was in Israel’s hands, could Israel have interceded on their behalf? Instead of obliterating them, could they have negotiated their redemption?

Choices, part 5 [Joshua ch.5]

No more manna, no more free bread from heaven
The time comes to live off the fruit of the promise
The time comes to grow up and take responsibility
For finding sustenance within God’s call
Within God’s challenge, within his dare...

[Note: Chapter 5 also contains indisputable proof that the men of Israel trusted Joshua at a visceral level. There can be no doubt in the minds of men who choose to follow a leader who says, "Okay guys, today is the day when we all get circumcised." That takes real conviction! Wow...]

Choices, part 4 [Joshua ch.4]

The burden of blessing... I wonder if that is part of the point of the twelve stones taken from the riverbed. There seems to be a certain weight of responsibility that comes with divine favor.

Of course, the stones also provided material evidence of what God had done. When the people woke up the next morning, no doubt feeling disoriented by grace, the stones might have helped ground them in their new reality.

Choices, part 3 [Joshua ch.3]

The third chapter of Joshua is about the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River (while it was at flood stage, no less!). There are quite a few fun subtleties woven into the story that are easy to miss because they tend to be hidden in the shadow of the gargantuan centerpiece-miracle.

Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will perform miracles among you.” (Chapter 3, verse 5)

I think of purifying myself as tuning a guitar. Like, if I were told that B.B. King was on his way over to my house to jam, I would make sure my guitars were in tune. God is at work: get ready.

Here’s a weird thing: Joshua refers to miracles, plural. How many happened? Or was the crossing of the river so mammoth that it was in fact a composite of a plethora of miracles? Maybe a new miracle was needed each time another Israelite stepped off the bank onto the riverbed.

There might be another miracle imbedded in the story: the nation became ready to place their trust in Joshua. They had been holding it in escrow, as it were, since they’d lost Moses. Now they would be faced with the choice of whether or not they would invest that level of honor in their new leader.

Being willing to follow a flesh-and-blood person who says, “C’mon! Let’s go this way -- God is doing something great over there” requires a lot of faith. And it’s worth pointing out that it also requires a long history of seeing that person’s character revealed in a variety of situations.

Choices, part 2 [Joshua ch.2]

The inaugural post of this blog included the word “Choices” in the title, and yet I never actually referred to choices directly. The idea is there, peeping through from between the lines, but perhaps it’s only fair to make the notion slightly more visible.

A life of faith presupposes choices. A person is asked to choose to believe God enough to be willing to make an unfolding sequence of secondary choices; for instance, choosing courage over fear, choosing to prepare for divine interruptions that seem highly unlikely, and choosing to step into a flow of events that will require God’s miraculous touch to turn out right.

“The Lord your God is God in heaven above and here on earth.” Joshua 2:11b

The God of the Bible is forever dissolving our distinctions between the eternal and the temporal, between spirit and dirt. The choice to believe God’s nearness constellates all other choices.

Choices, part 1 [Joshua ch.1]

There is a lot of hardpan in the book of Joshua. Hardpan is what my yard is made out of; it is basically glacial excrement, from what I understand -- clay and gravel compressed together into something that will not be penetrated without determination, sweat, patience and blisters -- and more sweat.

But there are also plenty of beautifully simple ideas about faith-life. “Be strong and courageous...” “Don’t be afraid...” “The Lord your God is with you...” And one of my personal favorites: “Get ready for a miracle, but pack a lunch because it could take a while.”

Okay, that’s just my paraphrase. In the name of full disclosure, let me include a more legit translation:
“Get some food ready, because in three days you are going to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Joshua 1:11b

It makes me smile when the transcendent and the mundane hold hands like that. And by “mundane” I don’t mean boring, but rather “everyday”, “earthy”, perhaps even “pragmatic”. It underscores the fact that we are crafted of skin and spirit, and that God is happy about that.