TELL
Tell ignorance
to keep watch at the gate of our destinies
for there shall trucks of fortune’s dreams zoom in
as vehicles of biased mind go out
while we shall keep singing songs of freedom.
Tell death
that we shall await the day
when it shall be thrown into the deep for a great damnation
after taking away great pathfinders.
Tell tears
to keep rolling down gently
as they fill our minds with waves of disturbance
for we shall cry it out today
as tomorrow will be better.
Tell it to the sun and the moon
that we speak as Joshua
to stand still
till we finish this battle with destiny changers
who disvirgined our lands
with the manhood of their guns.
John Martin: "Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon"
Moses was succeeded by his chief lieutenant, Joshua, who led the Israelite conquest of Canaan. The waters of the Jordan River parted for his army to cross, and he destroyed Jericho. Achan looted some gold and silver, which were supposed to belong to the "treasury of the Lord." Not knowing of Achan's crime, Joshua moved against Ai but was defeated. Lots were cast to fix the blame, and Achan was stoned to death with his children and livestock, and their remains were burned and piled over by rocks. Then Joshua took Ai and moved against Gibeon, which was on the southern edge of the contemporary Palestinian village of Al Jib. Knowing the Israelites were under divine injunction to slay all the Canaanites, the Hivites who inhabited the city submitted. and Joshua merely enslaved them as woodcutters and water-carriers. In retaliation for the Hivite betrayal, the neighboring Amorites besieged the city. Joshua marched to its rescue and routed the besiegers, who then suffered additional losses when "the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them."
ReplyDelete"Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
“O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.} [Joshua 10: 12-13]
This prolongation of daylight lasted nearly a day and gave Joshua the time he needed to completely defeat his foes. However, Saul, a later leader of the Israeltes, took it upon himself to massacre the Gibeonites, even though Saul himself was descended from Jeiel, "the father of Gibeon." To make amends, Saul's successor David turned over to the survivors two of Saul's sons and five of his grandsons, who were hanged by in retribution. The Natinim, the descendants of the Gibeonites, became a caste of Temple assistants and were not allowed to marry anyone who was a Jew by birth,