Greetings from the lowest place on Earth - one of the most contested and complicated lands in history - and in contemporary politics. This week in Below the Bible Belt we transitioned from the Torah into the Prophets. We Started the second section of the Hebrew Bible, crossing the Jordan river from the wilderness into the Promised Land, and into concrete complications of occupation, colonization, historical facts mixed with propaganda, fictions and frictions.
During my brief visit to Israel this past week I was struck by the echo of the verses from the chapters of Joshua that we are now reading and the actual locations that are named on the modern map, some in Israel, or in Jordan, or in the Palestinian territory. Depends who you ask.
I am hardly the first to notice the high stakes and importance of this mythical, powerful and politically charged landscape.
Back in 1958, a decade into Israel’s existence, it’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, decided that the Book of Joshua would be a central textbook for the fledgling nation. Joshua’s crushing conquest of Canaan, defined as a holy war, debated by historians and scholars for its accuracy or even existence, became the blueprint for the existence of Israel, its Zionist ideals and continued occupation of the land and its native people. 70+ years later, both the biblical blueprint and its modern application are questioned by many: What’s at stake if what we want is not just valor but valued life, and dignity - for all?
Welcome to Joshua. Let’s find out.
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