The nation came of age. God observed the rites of passage and then with full force and full cry, they advanced against Jericho, a symbolic conquest that was the key to all their subsequent battles. It tilted the entire occupation campaign in their favor and gave momentum to their struggle.
The closest we can
come to a sound exegesis on circumcision and why it was practiced, is found in the
idea of Moses, later renewed by Paul, concerning “circumcision of the heart”.
That implication was
clearly about cutting off the past and consecrating the heart to God, so we may conclude that God was separating the seed of Israel, the righteous line,
from any past association. It cut them off and refined the lineage of Christ.
I again say that any
association with Jesus is sacred to God, so by cutting the flesh and shedding
blood, the seed that would culminate in Christ, was deemed sacred. In the same way, our old man is cut away, so that we can reproduce Christ in us.
Well, sadly, most of the
Jews in the 40 year wilderness era, failed to make the cut. Thus, Joshua was
instructed to put it right. For 7 days the men of Israel nursed their wounds
and waited to heal while God prepared their hearts.
The heaping of stones
and the cutting of their flesh, represented coming of age rites. However, while
initiation approved initiates, God did nothing to block anyone from crossing.
Rather, he witnessed
what he could no longer restrain. It was time for them to go. Thus having crossed at Gilgal, which meant closure, God also ensured closure on Israel's past.
That mirrors the sentiment
behind the bar-mitzvah ceremony, something introduced into contemporary Jewry,
by which youngsters are honored by the community at their
coming of age.
It was a rite, not a
right, of passage. No one could stop
children from reaching adulthood, any more than God wished to further restrain
Israel. It was just their time.
He just witnessed and
honored it, as he once witnessed Jacob’s stones at Galeed. It had a legal ring
to it as in binding and loosing: a Rabbinical term for using the law to curtail
or to enable.
Thus, God loosed in
heaven what Israel loosed below, namely nationhood and title to the land of
promise, but he also bound what they bound: the reproaches of their past.
Accordingly, in the
circumcision moment, God said, “Now I role away your reproaches” as in your
past, your regrets and mistakes and your former state of slavery.
It is as true that a
child coming of age, is released from the yoke of youth and the formative
strictures and disciplines of childhood, to take their place as legal majors
with all the implied rights of adulthood.
To further mark the
event, they did what they did when they left Egypt, suggesting that the former
was tacit, a legal effect yet to be made real as in our being adopted in our conversion but made sons over time.
They kept the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover on the 14th and 15th day, but as they ate of the fruits of the land, God cut the apron strings, released them and ended the manna.
They kept the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover on the 14th and 15th day, but as they ate of the fruits of the land, God cut the apron strings, released them and ended the manna.
I am reminded of Isiah
66:9, where God said, “Shall I bring to the birth and not deliver”.
Well, you too will
surely reach a stage where the yoke of learning and
instruction must fall away as you take up your rightful place in his realm, to
fulfill your calling and work the mandate that is marked out for you. God will
deliver you from all your reproaches.
Blow the battle horn (Chapter 5:13 to 6:27)
Joshua then saw the angel
of God, probably Michael, the angel of War, and asked “Are you for or against
us”. The angel replied, “neither, but I am come as the captain of the Lord’s
host”.
It reminds me so much
of the moment when the battle for Minas Tirith and Gondor was at the tipping
point and Gandalf appeared in the hills to turn the tide of battle.
Joshua paid homage to
the angel and prepared for the battle of Jericho.
The area is known for
its fault lines, so I wonder how much 60,000 tons of fighting men, rhythmically
swaying and jumping up and down, contributed to the fall of the walls. Just
imagine how the earth would shake if 20 fully loaded freight trains converged.
I accept my thinking is speculative, but soldiers have to break step on a bridge because rhythmic marching can set off destructive harmonics in the structure. This group of soldiers was a kilometer wide and 3 kilometers long, concentrated in a circular formation around the city.
Whatever, the strategy of God was to circle the walls once a day for 6 days and 7 times on the 7th day. It had the effect of slowly titling the psychological standoff.
Whatever, the strategy of God was to circle the walls once a day for 6 days and 7 times on the 7th day. It had the effect of slowly titling the psychological standoff.
On days 1 to about 3
or 4, the Jews may have heard the taunts of the people tightly locked up inside
the fortress. They may even have believed some of it and felt uncertain.
However, with time the
mien shifted and they could see the whites of the eyes and put a the face to every
past giant of their tough past. That titled to balance and gave them a rising
resolve. Come the 7th day, Jericho knew it was doomed.
Like a vagrant dog
shivering in the rain, Jericho wilted under the tide of confidence and courage
in a nation that had finally reached full height and full voice.
They were no longer
the children of Israel but the people of God.
The walls cracked,
crumbled and fell in a heap of ruins. Only Rahab was spared. Everyone else, and
every living thing was destroyed, with a small exception.
Achan relived the first
sin of Eden but violating their innocence with a single offence. It cost them
36 lives in their next battle, against Ai.
He had helped himself
against the express instruction of God, so he and his entire family were
stoned. Israel had had enough of playing games with God.
Joshua also swore a
curse over the ruins of Jericho that still stands, after a man lost his sons when he tried to rebuild the ruins.
The ruins have been
extensively excavated and evidence of fire, the double walls and many other
facts recorded in Joshua have been confirmed.
What a triumph.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
