After the title
Understanding the text
The text we read today does not seem to be very important at first glance. Because it is not a plausible saga or a statement of miraculous events, but a brief description of the daily life of the Israeli community. Perhaps the author of the book of Joshua wrote this little noteworthy content just to connect the preceding and following passages of this text.
The previous passage 5:2-9 tells the story of the Israelites being circumcised. Originally, all males at the time of the Exodus were circumcised, but all died in the wilderness, and those who were born in the wilderness for 40 years were not yet circumcised. In the wilderness, we always had to prepare for war, and we could not perform circumcision because we were not hygienically suitable. Now that I had finished my boring life in the wilderness, I crossed the Jordan River and came into Canaan, which is relatively stable, so I first performed circumcision.
From chapter 6, the latter part of the text, the battle with the Canaanite tribes begins in earnest. As you well know, Jericho and Ai had to be conquered. Ahead of this battle, Joshua meets with the commander of Jehovah's army. That story follows today's text in verses 13-15. Verse 15 is really interesting. The commander of the army of the LORD says to Joshua: “Take off your shoes from your feet. The place where you stand is holy.” These words are similar to the words Moses heard when he experienced God on Mount Horeb, who had to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. If the event that Moses liberated Israel from Pharaoh of Egypt was the first Exodus, then taking possession of the land through the battle with Canaan can be seen as the second Exodus. So, Jehovah God made known to Moses that the land was holy, and now Joshua had a new awareness of the holiness of the land.
As such, today's text is sandwiched like a 'sandwich' between these crucial events in Israel's history. It is a statement we can easily overlook, but this text conveys to us a fact that is more important than anything else. Today we are going to pay attention to that.
Although today's text is only three verses, a rather complicated process of transmission is involved. The name ‘Gilgal’ mentioned in verse 10 does not appear in the Septuagint, the translation of the Old Testament for the Diaspora Jews. Shortly thereafter, the word ‘the plain of Jericho’ appears, but it seems to have been omitted from the Septuagint because there was no need to mention the place name repeatedly. On the second day of the Passover, they ate the produce of the land, which is said to be unleavened bread and roasted grain. It means that the specialty of Gilgal is roasted grain, and since unleavened bread means the Passover festival, different traditions seem to be mixed in this sentence. It is said that the manna stopped the day after they ate the produce of the land, and they ate the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Looking at these sentences, it is confirmed that someone did not accurately summarize and express it. Perhaps the Passover tradition, the incident of eating the Canaanite grain, and the series of incidents that the manna was over came into today's text a little rough. Although chaotically stated, in today's text we can capture three facts with certainty. They are the Passover, the Canaanite crop, and the manna.
Passover
The Israelites, who had kept these historical events in mind, prepared their best every time the Passover was celebrated. I had a Passover dinner with my family. They slaughtered sheep and ate unleavened bread. I gave thanks to Yahweh God who deflected the angel of death and took care of me in the wilderness. They have endured hard times in a way that God confirmed that they could survive.
Although Gilgal, where they have now settled, was not able to stay for a long time, it was important to them that it was in Canaan, not in the wilderness. They had to lead a nomadic life in the wilderness, but now they can farm in Canaan. Being able to wander around without your own land and then settle down and start farming means that a completely different life has begun. They now celebrated their first Passover in Canaan. It was a festival full of new hope. From the wilderness, where one moment at a time was a crisis of survival, we have now ascended to a somewhat stable life. They offered a prayer of thanks to God for giving them a foundation for survival.
Canaan food
Today's text records that the Israelites ate Canaanite crops during the Passover festival. It seems that this event was quite important, considering that it is mentioned twice in verses 11 and 12, respectively. Of course it would. In the eyes of the Israelites who were nomads in the wilderness, Canaan was a place flowing with milk and honey. It does not mean that Canaan was actually a fertile land, but that it was compared to the barren land nearby. In any case, the fact that the Israelites were able to eat the crops of Canaan was so great that it cannot be overstated. It can be compared to the present when we got out of the difficult situation after the Korean War and lived to the point where we did not feel a crisis of survival.
Food is always essential for humans. Because humans, like other animals, will die if they don't eat. Occasionally, looking at some countries in Africa or Southeast Asia where the food necessary for survival is absolutely scarce, I think that it is our responsibility today to prevent this from happening to our children and our descendants. On the other hand, in countries that are too rich, we are scolded for dieting, and in countries that are too poor, we struggle to avoid starvation. We are clamoring for our current economic situation, but if we look back a little honestly, we are still living abundantly. The problem is that it doesn't meet our expectations, but anyone can make a good living if they work hard. Perhaps we have already entered Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, just like the Israelites in today's text. Here, it means that we no longer have to face the crisis of survival like the wilderness.
meet
Today's text describes a very interesting phenomenon. It is said that when they ate the crops of Canaan, the manna stopped. Conversely, the manna ceased to exist, so it may be that they began to eat the crops of Canaan. These two phenomena are intertwined. The wilderness and Canaan, and the food of manna and Canaan are opposite forms of life.
As we know it well, it was God's food that allowed the Israelites to endure the crisis in the wilderness. According to scholars, this manna is similar to the seed of a flower, and Moses, who had already lived in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years, may have been well aware of the location of this manna. It is also a blessing from God that we were able to find and eat manna thanks to a good leader, so it is not wrong to say that manna is God's food. This experience of manna proved to the Israelites that they were God's people. Manna According to tradition, manna was brought down before the camp of the Israelites every morning. They gathered it every morning and made it their food for the day. There was a principle in harvesting manna. It is said that they should only collect enough food for one day. They are greedy or worried about the next day, and if they bring two days' worth of manna, they say that all the manna was damaged the next day.
For the Israelites who settled in Gilgal, the age of manna is now over. Is this a good thing or not? Perhaps the manna was not very tasty. They only ate so that they wouldn't die, and they didn't expect much in terms of nutrients or taste. It must have been the same as the root bark that the poor among our ancestors ate to survive the barley hill. Compared to manna, the food of Canaan was completely different. The era of eating all kinds of grains and fruits was ushered in. Then, it seems that the fact that the era of manna is over is an event that should be really enjoyed.
after meet
Abundance is an opportunity to live satisfactorily, but it is also a crisis in which the essence of life can be lost. Since there is no evidence that the people of Israel have lived more religiously than they did in the wilderness after entering Canaan, it seems that the age after the manna is not so desirable. Rather, the Israelites often followed Baal, the Canaanite agricultural god. Despite Moses' warning before he died, the Israelites, who were villagers in the wilderness, were busy following the customs of the civilized Canaan.
In order to understand what the problem is here, we need to think about how the manna era is different from the manna era in the future. What the manna meant was that the people of Israel focused on their own survival. Without manna, we can only die of starvation right away, so of course we have to be serious and desperate at every moment. Like the Passover event, even manna signifies the boundary of survival. Attitudes of people on the verge of survival fall into two categories. One side is desperate for survival, and the other side experiences a holy life in the crisis of survival. Fortunately, the Israelites were able to experience God desperately in the midst of the crisis in the wilderness. Even though the crisis of survival frightened them, they were able to completely depend on God to that extent. It can also be interpreted in this sense that the Law of Moses was proclaimed in the wilderness. But now, the holy age of manna is over for them.
Are we living in the age of manna today? Or are you living after the manna? Our daily life is rarely since we met. They are not concerned with the boundaries of survival, but rather about securing wealth and welfare. See how everyone lives. I can't stand it if I don't live a little more abundantly than other people.
Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're always in need. Even if we have the financial ability to live abundantly, spiritually, we must not miss the boundary of survival. Because only at such boundaries can our relationship with God become stronger and deeper. Wealth and welfare that do not presuppose a relationship with God are the same as the Baal of Canaan, which the people of Israel sought in later times. Today we live after manna, but spiritually we must live before manna.