A Plan for Living Side-by-Side
Joshua 8:1, 10:8, 10:25, and 11:6 (verses 25-28 of 145)
Joshua 10:8 - The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”
Dear Friends, if you have read the welcome message to this blog, you know that I set myself the task of studying the Bible’s “Do not be afraid” verses during a time when fear was a constant presence in my life. I’ve written meditations now on about one-fifth of the 145 Biblical verses that urge “Don’t be afraid” in one form or another.
I have tried hard to avoid mentioning politics in these posts, and I will continue in that vein—that’s not my purpose in writing them. But increasingly politics are the air we breathe, and I never want to seem glib or turn a blind eye to the suffering happening right now in the world. That would be giving in to another of fear’s manifestations—denial. Sometimes my task feels like a tight-rope walk, and I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t always manage it.
In the Book of Joshua, there are four additional “do not be afraid” verses following God’s initial exhortation at the beginning, urging Joshua toward strength, courage, not to be timid, not to get discouraged.
I struggled with these four verses, because they are all in the context of “the holy curse” being carried out on the kingdoms and peoples living in the land that the Israelites are going to inhabit. It’s a lot of blood. It’s a lot of “no survivors” language. It’s a lot of horrific fear.
Two things stood out.
On more than one occasion, the local kings, hearing how Israel is destroying every city around them, decide to combine forces. They are convinced that their earthly power—sheer force—is the answer. Every one of these kingdoms fall.
There is one city, a kingdom named Gibeon, that sees the writing on the wall and tricks Israel into making a peace treaty with them. Israel’s leaders, who swore to the agreement before God, decide to honor it, even when the ruse is discovered. Israel even comes to Gibeon’s aid when the other kingdoms attack it.
Here’s what’s coming up in my heart this morning as I write: Fear is everywhere right now. We are encouraged to be fearful by our leaders—the opposite of what these many verses in the Bible tell us. But even in a book like Joshua that has so much annihilation, a plan for human connection, for peace and living side-by-side, bears fruit—while kingdoms that put their trust in earthly strength and brute force fall again and again.
I’m certain there’s a message in that.
I wonder if part of the message is to let the fruit ripen a bit
I have a lot of trouble with the Gibeon lesson-Israel supported them when they were attacked even though Gibeon lied to them? Maybe I missed something, but how could you trust someone not to lie to you again, and again? And our new administration is not encouraging fear, they are just trying to intimidate us into being fearful by disregarding the Constitution and rule of law in an attempt to show how much power they have both within the US and with the rest of world. So I don’t see it as a plan for living side by side unless you want to capitulate to the whims of a dictator.