CHAPTER 1
10. Then Y’hoshua gave orders to the officers of the people, saying,
YHWH had just given orders to Y’hoshua (1:9), and Y’hoshua did not ask for more time to get acclimated, or for more training, or for a worthy assistant. He went right to work and began to command the people to do what YHWH had commanded him. He did not make excuses. He had enough information to get started: he knew that YHWH was with us and that he should be speaking the Torah to himself. (1:8) He did not ask for more details. In fact, more often than not, if you give too much information to those who are working for you, they will apply their own ideas of what you said at first, even though along the way you realize that a different strategy is needed. He did not ask YHWH “how”, because he realized that one never really knows the answers until he starts doing what he is told. Enter in, put your hand to it, and most of your questions will be answered, because it will become obvious that it can only work this way, or that that method does not work. If it is only an academic exercise, and nothing more, you will never get the answers. The answers lie in getting up and walking. We learn as we go. In fact, there are many Hebrew words for “walk”, and the intention and context of that walking is found right in the words, whereas in English we usually only say “walk”. One word means just traveling from place to place, while another means to walk while carrying a burden, and another denotes just meandering with no particular purpose. The kind of walking we are after here is the kind where we pay attention to what we can learn, and look for something to pick up and take with us, so that we can apply it to all areas of life. Bringing Israel as a gathered people back into the Land has never been done before, but Y’hoshua does not let this keep him from starting. He does not ask if there is a grant available for a five-year study. “Start to walk” is enough information for him. Besides, if you know what the end result will be, why enter into the experiment to begin with? Sometimes we over-think the science and assume we need to have a hypothesis every time. If YHWH is in the equation, your predictions will usually be wrong anyway. Do as much as you can with what you have been told already, and more information will come. Y’hoshua’s first step is to command the officers (that is, the administrators who write detailed records of the proceedings so that it is clear who has what responsibility; they answer for those of whom they keep track, as contrasted with those who merely record history). This part he already knew, so he did not procrastinate. In the wilderness he learned from Moshe, who in turn had learned from Yithro, that one must delegate authority or very soon he will be overworked. So Y’hoshua trained others to put in charge.
11. “Pass through the inside of the camp and give orders to the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves because within another three days you are crossing over this Yarden to go in to seize the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you to take possession of.’”
He started by teaching the officers to do what he was doing—to give orders. YHWH had told him, “Let them inherit the Land”, and Y’hoshua begins by making them responsible. He does not gather all of the people. He probably gathers only 70 men—leaders of thousands or even the level above them—and they will give orders to the people under their authority, who in turn will give orders to those under them. What does he tell them to do? Prepare provisions. The word (tzedah) has the root meaning of something lain in wait for—that is, something hunted or trapped, so he is mainly talking about food for the journey, and not the kind that falls from the sky. Finding their own food is something these people have never had to do before. They have grown up being given manna, and their parents, who were slaves, were provided with food by the Egyptian taskmasters—the “fleshpots of Egypt” that they had longed for so irrationally. So while they are in this familiar situation, while the manna is still falling, Y’hoshua tells them to learn to feed themselves before it becomes absolutely necessary, so that when it stops, it will not be as difficult for them. One of the things it means to enter the Land of Israel is to be able to “pack your own lunch”—to get what we need out of YHWH’s Word, because eventually the manna will stop falling, and we are far past the point where we would go back to Egypt. There will be times when there is no one else to feed us—situations for which no one’s words except YHWH’s will be able to prepare us. We will need to interact with the Land itself, set our own attitudes, because Y’hoshua will certainly not be able to cook meals for us every day. You need to know how to respond to unfamiliar settings. The best way to prepare is to study as much Torah as you can, because you will never be full; the more you “eat” it, the fuller your plate will become. If you know the Torah in its context, and how it is practiced (because you practice it), you have a bag full of food. There is always something in it that applies to every part of life, not just the “spiritual” areas, because Torah is not about religion; it is a covenant that is for every day. We use what we learn from it in our work, our legal dealings, even our haggling over prices. Study how the wise people like Avraham and Shlomoh did things. Store it up, so that you will always have something to “eat”, and so that you can feed others with the same thing that you just “ate”. How miraculous! This is a new level of responsibility. Will we starve without the manna, because we expect someone else to feed us, or will we be able to hunt and capture what we will need down the road? Start with what you already know and can already apply right now. Take inventory of what you can do and what you have learned, and use that, and in the process you will increase your readiness even more.
Commentary on
Y'hoshua 1:10-11
Pack Your
Own Lunch
