After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying, “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Joshua 1:1-5 NRSVue
As I drove to our Trenton United Church study group session this morning I listened to the news about a deal struck by Hamas and the state of Israel to exchange prisoners. There will be a truce, of sorts, for a few days, and we can pray that it holds.
Even though Canadians live thousands of kilometres from this terrible conflict we are affected in many ways by a situation which defies easy answers. In communities across the country there have been rallies and marches, some in support of Palestinians, some in support of Israel. We've seen that Jews have attended events calling for a ceasefire. We've heard leaders of Muslim communities calling for an end to hatred directed toward Jews.
A controversial rallying cry at some gatherings is the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", interpreted as a provocative, anti-semitic slogan calling for the expulsion of Jewish people from Israel. Many Palestinians claim it is a reminder of their right to live freely in the region from which hundreds of thousands were relocated or expelled when Israel was formed. There are Jews who reject the notion that this phrase is not hate speech but a declaration of dignity and fundamental human rights.
Who has a right to be in this narrow strip of "promised land"? There are plenty of Jews and conservative Christians who point to the opening verses of the book of Joshua and other passages in the Hebrew scriptures to support a title to the land which the desert wanderers entered via the Jordan more than 3,000 years ago. The tourism ministry in Israel has long used the image of Joshua and Caleb returning from their exploratory trip in the land of the Canaanites as a visual slogan.
Yet we know that people were expelled by force and and conquered then, a problematic reality which is often glossed over. The strength of Judaism and Christianity is not ancient biblical real estate claims, but an abiding commitment to justice, mercy, and peace.
Can this ever be a Promised Land for all those who are living there now? Without this commitment the violence may never cease.
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