Today’s
Scripture Reading (January 2, 2019): Joshua 6
In “A Game of Thrones” George R. R. Martin asks the
question that we have struggled with from the very beginning of time. “Why is
it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know
what's on the other side?” I admit that it is true. There is nothing that draws
me more than being told that I can’t go somewhere. I am not a follower of
Islam, and yet I would love to be able to stroll along the streets of Mecca and
experience the beauty and the religious fervor of the Arab City. I am not Catholic,
but what would it be like to spend a day (or a month) in the Vatican archives
exploring the treasures of the past. And exactly what is it that is hiding at
the Groom Lake facility in Nevada, an area better known to conspiracy theorists
as Area 51. If you build a wall, then I want to know what it is that lies
behind it, even if the answer is nothing.
In recent years, the story of the Battle of Jericho
has fallen on hard times. Part of the problem is that we don’t seem to be able
to confirm that the walls of Jericho ever fell. Archaeologists don’t see the
disturbances that we would expect from such a calamity. Of course, we are also
talking about an event that happened over 3000 years ago.
And yet, the biblical account is clear. And the
reality is that we have questioned other historical events of the Bible before,
only to have later the events confirmed
from a delayed discovery which leaves us
with a second question. If the walls fell, how and why?
Earlier when examining the Jericho event, I have argued that sometimes all God
needs is some very ordinary things, like parades and gravity. The idea is that
as Israel marched around the walls, the people gathered on top of the wall get
a good view of the spectacle. As the parade continued, seven times around the
wall on this day instead of just once, the people increased and the wall just could not bear the weight, and the wall,
at least in sections, fell.
I still believe that that is a distinct possibility.
Admittedly, no one knows for sure. But let me add a little more to the story.
It seems evident that the inhabitants of
Canaan and the surrounding area were
curious about this group of people who marched on the other side of the wall.
Part of the curiosity was the wall that separated them, and we always want to
know what exists on the other side. But another part of the curiosity was that
they had heard stories about the descendants of Israel. Part of what is key to
all that happens during the Exodus from Egypt and the taking of the Promised
Land is that the Israelites were known. And the question that we should be
asking is how is that possible? How is it that a group of people, which until
only four decades before this event, existed only a slave population in Egypt,
was this well known to the world around them?
The answer is partially
why I believe that there was a consistent trickle of an Exodus from Egypt that
had existed for generations before the mass Exodus of Moses. Some of the
readers of this blog have misunderstood me in the past. I do not doubt that the Exodus of Moses took
place. My argument is that there were already Israelites living in exile in
Canaan long before the Moses and the people of Israel entered into the land.
They had told the stories of Israel around campfires. They had spread the name
of the God of Israel among the people there. And because of the stories, the
people were genuinely curious – and afraid.
And when the trumpet blew, it was enough to stoke
the fear that probably already existed on the overcrowded walls, and the walls
fell. The curiosity of the people yielded to fear, and Israel took the city. It
wasn’t necessary for all of the walls to totally fall. All that was needed was
weak spots which would produce openings for this
strange people, known only from stories told around the campfires at
night, to enter.
And enter the city they did, as Israel took the
city.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Joshua 7
No comments:
Post a Comment