Walls…

Since we last spent time talking about the Israelites journey, much has changed. From one side of the Jordan, Moses spent his last days trying to ensure the people would remember what God had commanded them, by repeatedly going back over everything they’d learned so far. Once that was completed, God sent him up the mountain, in order to show Moses the land that they were about to inherit.

Remember, Moses knew that he was not to cross the Jordan, due to his earlier disobedience to God. Moses also knew, before he ever headed up the hill, he’d be dying up on that mountain. I was left pondering what it must have been like when God spoke to Moses about the climb. He was to view the land he would not set foot in, and then be called home to his people (God told Moses of his own death). After reading of all the journey thus far, I am left thinking that Moses was probably relieved. He was quite old by this time, so my belief is that he was very tired, and looking quite forward to God taking him home.

As you may or may not already know, this is the place where Joshua, son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim, became the leader of the Israelites. Joshua, remember, was one of the 12 spies that had scouted out the land earlier on. He and Caleb were the only two that brought back favorable news to the people, about the land they were about to inherit. This is what I found on my search engine, from Newworldencyclopedia.org, when looking for Caleb’s lineage:

Caleb, the son of Hezron (I Chron. 2:18-20), is identified with Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (Num. 13:6), the epithet “Jephunneh” having been given to him because he “turned away” from the sinful intention of the other spies who advised the people against going into the Holy Land.

While you may or may not be interested in that bit, I find reading about lineage fascinating sometimes. In this case, it’s more about what is in ones heart, than what’s in ones blood!

Anyways, back to the journey of our village, who were now planning to cross the Jordan into the promise land. I’ve only read as far as the beginning of chapter 6 in the book of Joshua, and I’ve already had to stop and chew on some things… three, in fact!

The first thing that I found myself wondering about, was the sheer number of those crossing. Even with three tribes of woman and children staying behind in the place they’d chosen as their portion, their fighting men were still required to cross over the Jordan along with all the rest of the Israelites! To put a realistic picture in your heads, of the actual size of this village… just the fighting men from the three tribes remaining on the other side of the river, numbered approximately 40,000. This should give us an idea, about the amount of people that crossed the Jordan at this point. Obviously, the woman and children of the other tribes wouldn’t be battling it out with the warriors, but they still had to cross and camp somewhere along the path, so you can imagine the sheer number of the people crossing that river.

Just as in the parting of the Red Sea, once again, God parted the Jordan for another safe crossing. The bible says that the cities were very fearful of this mobile city, and with good reason! Can you imagine watching the procession from your kitchen window, of probably, over a million people in one large group, as they moved along. You might as well invite your in-laws over, because you were going to be watching for a good long while.

Here comes the second thing I pondered, while following the story of this village. The bible says that the people celebrated the Passover, once they’d reached the other side of the river, on the 14th day of that month. When it said that the very next day was the first day they’d begun eating food from this new land, I was a bit surprised. I’d completely forgotten about the fact that they’d been eating manna for this entire trip… 40 years of basically eating oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, aside from the holy celebrations.

Not only that, but all of the circumcised fighting men that left Egypt had died along the way to the river… as they’d disobeyed God and forfeited the right to enter the promised land; hence, the 40 years of wandering in the desert! Now that the people had crossed into the promised land, it was quite a change for them, as they experienced both the return of normal food and the return of an act of obedience and cleanliness… circumcision! I’m trying to wrap my mind around the logistics of how many actual Israelites of fighting age, lay recovering for a week from this procedure… not babies, but full grown men down for the count!

The third thought, which I’m still chewing on, arose from reading about the city of Jericho! This city was surrounded by massive walls that kept enemies out and the citizens within its walls safe. While this seems to be the perfect place to feel safe, we know that those dwelling in the city were scared witless! I don’t think it would be fun having to watch an enormous army march around my city for a week, blowing trumpets in my direction.

Though there is much discussion as to how many warriors were in that army, I guarantee you would be able to feel the ground vibrate with their repeated pass by’s! Even if I can logically assume this vibration aided in the collapse of those walls, riddle me this… how did that one tiny wall piece, with Rahab and her family tucked inside, manage to remain fully intact? One teensie weensie red scarf, that’s how!

Belief, obedience, and just a little tiny grain of faith, was all that Rahab held onto. Yep, folks, a prostitute! I’m left with such gratitude that God always seems to work with the broken, discarded and unworthy. The beauty of the truth is, God knows we aren’t perfect, nor are we capable of serving and/or obeying Him by our own merit!

The truth is the same, from all the way back then, to the here and now… believe in Him, obey His direction, and hold onto our faith in Him, no matter how little our faith might be… down to the tiniest grain! Even when we feel as if we’ve lost our faith in Him, God will faithfully continue a good work in us! Just sayin…