Tag: joshua

It’s Not a Fairy Tale

Posted on by Jessica R. Patch
 
I can find Divine Romance in every fairy tale. I don’t think it’s hard to find in anything. Women love romance, but it was created by a Male.  The greatest romance ever written was breathed by God–it’s His love affair for us, penned by some of His chosen authors.
 

I love the idea of choice. I chose my husband. No one forced me to marry him. When I read about arranged marriages or women handed over as prizes, something inside me stirs like cold lumpy soup that didn’t turn out right. (not borscht, but that’s gross too)

Today, let’s take a look into a passage you may have read a million times. I know I have. I’ve skimmed it and moved on to things I understand. Do you do that? Skip over what seems confusing, dry, or uninteresting to move on to what you do understand and have read dozens of times. It makes you feel connected because you “get it.” But it doesn’t grow you. Not at all.

Find a passage that’s hard. Dry. Uninteresting. Then ask questions. Especially you writers! Ask why? How? Then do the research and find out! God loves a treasure hunter. He’ll help the words come to life on the page. Let’s bring life to a seemingly lifeless and unimportant passage. By the way, nothing is in the Bible by chance.  Just like in your own novels, make every word count. Set the background. Use the words to pace the story along. Make the words lyrical. The reader should hum along to the tune you’ve written. Take a lesson from the Bible!

Our story picks up in Joshua 15: 16-19 & Judges 1:12-15. It doesn’t take a huge portion of words to bring out a story. Less is more.

Backstory: The children of Israel are still fighting for their land. Much of it has been conquered, but not all of it. Joshua has died. There is no direct leader at this point. (See how I didn’t vomit a ton of backstory at the beginning.)

Caleb (you remember Caleb…he took his mountain in another blog post) says, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as his wife.”

Now let’s stop there. The lumpy soup is back. Geez, Caleb, couldn’t you offer up a few ounces of silver? Your daughter? Really? Really, Caleb?

Get out your spoon and get ready to stir the cold lumpy mess because it’s about to warm up into something delicious!

Looks are deceiving. Was Caleb really offering up his daughter as a thoughtless prize or was he looking for a noble man who could honor and protect her after he was gone? The father says, “Who will go up? Who will fight for this woman? Death is a possibility. Exhaustion a certainty.”

 

Achsah in Hebrew means “anklet, or ankle bracelet.” Names are a big deal in the Bible. When I think of an anklet, I see a dainty jewel. Precious.  Who will fight for his dainty precious jewel? He won’t be around forever. Remember, Caleb was a man of God. One of two spies willing to fight. One of two that entered into the Promised Land.

In verse 13, Othniel- the son of Kenaz (Caleb’s younger brother and we’re not going there, but those were the times, my friend…those were the times) took it. Othniel, also of the tribe of Judah. His name meaning…lion of God.

 

Let’s think about him a minute. He obviously has been around long enough that he knows Achsah. Maybe he’s seen her sitting among the young women. He’s been waiting for the right opportunity to make her his bride.

 Her delicateness interests him–enough he’s willing to take Kirjath Sepher, which means city of letters. We’re talking about a royal Canaanite city. Educated. A place located in the mountains. (now mountains of Judah west of Hebron)

When he comes back, victorious, Achsah comes to him and in verse 14 she moves him to request something of her father. The word in NKJV is “urge” but in KJV it’s “moved” and in Hebrew that word is “cuwth” and it means “incite, allure, instigate or entice.”
 
 
 Her father has raised her to love the Promised Land. Her inheritance. Imagine as she surveys the southern half–her half, how dry it is. She moves her husband– allures him with her beauty, her knowledge, and maybe even her heart for their inheritance– to ask her father for springs of water to quench the parched land.
 
Her father not only grants the upper springs, but the lower. He’s generous…abundant…lavish. Now she and her husband, who has fought honorably for her hand, can live…happily ever after.
 
It gets better. Better than happily ever after? Well, yeah, don’t you want your happily ever after? Did you not see the subtle foreshadowing? Every great book has it.
 
It begins with a dry parched land–a land barren from sin–and a Father who wants to make sure His dainty jewel, His ankle bracelet, is taken care of. A Father who is generous…abundant…lavish.
 
“Who will go up the mountain and fight for her?”
 
Someone had their eye on the lovely jewel.  “I will go.” Heaven hushed, only the swoosh of the seraphim wings continued to sound as they cried, “holy, holy, holy…”
 
An angel came and collected the royal robes and crown. And then in the still of the night, a baby’s cries could be heard echoing.
 

 

 
A face like flint

 

He grew in favor and wisdom, this Man and God…this Lion of Judah. 
 
He saw the prize and it was His joy to endure the battle for her hand in marriage.
 
He climbed a steep hill one that may have felt like a mountain…wounded, bleeding, flesh ripped, eyes swollen, exhaustion beating Him down…but He fought.
 
And He won.
 
 
 
It’s not a fairytale.
 We can live happily ever after…full of refreshing waters that quench a dry and parched soul. Our Father wants to give it to us. Water that will never run dry.
 
  “The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace;
         Her clothing is woven with gold.
  She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors;
         The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.
  With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
         They shall enter the King’s palace.”
Psalm 45: 13-15
 
What passage do you find uninteresting or confusing but would love to pull out treasure?

I’m a Gold Digger: Treasures From the Book of Joshua

Posted on by Jessica R. Patch
 

Yep, you read the title correctly. I’m a gold digger. I’m proud of it. I need the T-Shirt.

But I almost wasn’t.

I’m still writing my study in the book of Joshua. I’m at the point where it records his conquests. I wrote out the lesson, then had about a paragraph left before starting a new chapter. I skipped the last paragraph and started reading the new chapter when the Lord said, “You missed a few lines. Go back.” So I did.

Go back with me if you will, to Joshua 11:16-23. I want to focus on verse 21. I need to take you on a journey, that goes back to Numbers 13:16-33. It’s a journey of a young man, named Joshua. Son of Nun. (That is not a play on words or a typo. Nun does not = None.)

 

Joshua and eleven other men are commanded by Moses to go spy out their Promised Land. Eagerly, they take off on their mission, but when they come back only two of them (Joshua and Caleb–who was forty at the time) wanted to go in and possess the land. They trusted God. They believed. Faith was a road sign on their journey to their promise.

But the ten other spies were afraid and they put fear into the hearts of the people with their response, “We are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we…There were giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:31-33.

Because of their lack of faith, God sentenced them to forty years in the wilderness. All the men able to go to war would die and because God is faithful, even when we are not, He would allow the second generation of children to enter the land plus Joshua and Caleb. Numbers 14:26-35.

Fast forward to Joshua 11:21-22. “And at that time, Joshua came and cut off the Anakim, from the mountains…None of the Anakim wer left in the land of the children of Israel…” Joshua, wasn’t playing around. He was finally getting to do what he wanted forty-five years earlier. (Forty years in the wilderness and five years of war to slay all the kings who had come against him. Joshua 11:18 and Joshua 14:10.)

 

Those are the facts.
What was the story?
 I wonder what it was like for Joshua and Caleb all those years in the wilderness. Late at night, did Joshua weep alone in his tent for the promise he knew was his and yet couldn’t touch. Did those years creep by, one heat filled day at a time?

Young Joshua begged–pleaded for the people to have faith and go in to take the land. So much, they wanted to stone him and Caleb. “But it’s ours! We can do this! God has given us this great promise!”

And then the sentencing. The righteous were sandwiched in between the wicked. They had to wait. A blessing was coming. But not for forty more dry, dusty filled years later. “God, this wasn’t my fault! I wanted to go. It’s just not fair that I should wait too.”

Joshua learned under Moses’ tutelage. He became skilled at leading, military strategy…and how to honor and obey God. Even if his nights may have been spent fighting bitterness towards those who had been disobedient and wicked.

Then forty years were up. It was time for Joshua to do what he’d wanted to do so many years ago, with Caleb–now eighty-five but strong. Picture them, sweaty and exhausted from war–yet never falling back. Pressing on. The last giant falls with a thud and only the dust rises. The men of the second generation shout in victory, but Joshua falls to his face in the sand and weeps. Caleb takes his place on the ground next to him.

“Why are you weeping? We should be dancing! Singing! Celebrating!” The army yelled and then stood dumbfounded.

They were dancing–in their hearts. They were singing–in their spirits They were celebrating–through tears. Tears that came from a long, arduous journey. At last. Joshua proved, those giants couldn’t stop the work of the Almighty God.

Caleb clasps his hand, pulls Joshua to his feet and says, “I am now eighty-five. I’ve waited forty five years for this. Yet I am not weak. God has made me as strong now as I was then. Now. Give. Me. My. Mountain.”

And Joshua blessed him and gave him Hebron formerly known as Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim). Was.

How long have you been waiting for a promise? What are you doing while you wait? Life isn’t fair. Sometimes we feel stuck. Wandering. But your mountain is your mountain. God isn’t taking it away from you.

Tell your giants, “I’m. Coming. For. You. Give. Me. My. Mountain.”

 

What are you studying? Share a few golden nuggets!