An Old Man with Faith

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

I've often wondered - if I were to suggest a title to give to the whole of the TaNaKh, what might it be? What are those recurring themes that come up again and again, even across texts that were written at different times and in different places?

Does anything come readily to mind for you?

I've had many ideas over the years - for now I'll just share with you one: Promises.

There are promises abounding throughout the works in the TaNaKh!

Many of them are YHWH making promises to Israel, or to specific Israelites of significance. Of course, there are also people making promises to YHWH.

And then there are moments where someone is reminding someone else of a promise made, a promise broken. A promise being fulfilled.

It's hard to say exactly when the first promise occurs. Perhaps as early as, well, the very first creation narrative!

What do you think, does this count?

If YHWH says to the first people that he is giving them plants for food, can it be said that YHWH is promising this to them? Or, is it just a state of fact, describing what YHWH happens to be doing at that moment?

And if it is merely a state of fact, then how about this one, in the next creation story?

So how about this one?

It can no longer be said that YHWH is describing something happening now, for the first man had not yet eaten from the tree! So if what YHWH had said in the first chapter was not a promise but a mere statement of fact, can this be said to be the first promise in the works in the TaNaKh?

We're not going to keep going through, because in nearly every chapter, you can find a moment where someone could be understood to be making a promise of sorts.

But I do want to jump ahead to Genesis chapter 6, because there something important does happen:

This is the first time in the works in the TaNaKh where we encounter one of its most important and recurring ideas - covenant. Or in Hebrew, brit.

A brit is a pact, or an agreement between two parties, where usually each one pledges to do something for the other.

This occurrence, however, is quite interesting, in that it is one-way. YHWH pledges something to Noah, without asking for anything in return.

This covenant then gets elaborated on three chapters later, once the flood has ceased and the waters subsided:

In the works in the TaNaKh, the authors and redactors had no way to make anything bold for emphasis, nor to place anything in italics, or highlight. If they wanted to get the point across that there was a word or concept that the readers or listeners were meant to pay particular attention to, they just repeated it a whole bunch of times!

And so by the time you get to the end of the above paragraph, your takeaway is most definitely that covenant matters.

As we said above when we first encountered brit in Genesis 6 above, this seems to be a one-way covenant, in which YHWH promises that he will never wreak havoc on the world as he did during this catastrophic flood.

But now we see something new; An oat, or a sign, in this case manifesting itself as a bow. Whenever a bow appears in the heavens, YHWH shall look at it and remember what he had promised to Noah all those years ago, and will therefore pull back on the rain.

Signs and covenants oftentimes go hand-in-hand.

I'll give you the two other examples that come readily to mind for me:

The brit milah, or quite literally, the covenant of the circumcision, is a pretty big deal.

It might not be readily clear why this is the case, but is certainly true that it is the case. So much so that during the 2nd century BCE, when Antiochus IV outlawed it, Judean mothers chose martyrdom rather than neglect to have their sons wear this eternal badge of Israelite Peoplehood - a moment of both horror and courage that would forever memorialized in the chronicles of the Wars of the Hasmoneans:

Circumcision might be one of the most curious of customs we know of from the Israelites. Personally, it seems kind of... random, doesn't it?

For many years, whenever someone would have asked me why YHWH demanded such a thing, I would usually shrug and chalk it up to YHWH sometimes being a Divine Mystery, and this was just one of those secrets of the universe.

But I recently came across this really beautiful thought by Michael S. Heiser, PhD in Bible Studies and Semitic Languages.

Here is how he puts it:

What an incredible idea!!! The existence of the offspring of Abraham, i.e., the People of Israel, is always one of the greatest of miracles, because it never should have happened to begin with.

Sarah had been barren for years. The two of them were already into, or past their 90s. YHWH is now basically asking of Abraham to mutilate the most important part of his body required for begetting children!

If the world went according only to natural law, there is no way that this couple would end up having children together!

And yet they did.

And as Dr. Heiser states, this sign would ever serve as a reminder that but for the grace and intervention of YHWH, "Israel" would only have ever been an idea.

What I love most of all about this is that, if Israel was important enough for YHWH to step in and get started by miraculous means, then anytime Israel should find herself in danger, she can depend on YHWH to step in and involve himself yet again; He wouldn't have gone through all of that trouble just to let Israel succumb to some worldly power, be it the Assyrians, Babylonians, or anything else.

So maybe the circumcision is not just a sign for us, as Dr. Heiser states, but like the bow in the heavens, is also a sign for YHWH, reminding him of how much work it took, on his behalf, to get us up-and-running.

And so when Israel calls for help, as did the mothers of the children described in the book of Maccabees above, as long as Israel still bears the sign of circumcision, YHWH will be there yet again.

Okay, I mentioned there were two signs I wanted to share with you. Here is the other one:

Here we see that the Sabbath is a sign that YHWH made the earth and the heavens and rested on the seventh day.

When you do something you are proud of, it's natural to want to share it - and particularly, to want to share it with those you love. How natural, therefore, for YHWH to single out his precious people Israel with whom to celebrate his first, and probably one of his greatest ever of accomplishments!!!

The Sabbath, therefore, is at one-and-the-same-time both a sign AND a covenant. The sign points backwards to YHWH's role in creation, while the Covenant is perhaps that both parties, YHWH and Israel, are promising to keep the Sabbath together, celebrating weekly YHWH's six days of labor and accomplishment.

Okay, so far, all I really wanted to do was to demonstrate that promises, i.e., covenants are big deals throughout the TaNaKh right from the opening pages, and never ceases to be of importance.

Let's now jump WAY ahead, all the way to the second half of the book of the Conquests of Joshua, when the division of the land is under way.

Caleb, one of the Israelite VIPs approaches Joshua the Conqueror, successor to Moses the Liberator, with an IOU of sorts in hand:

Caleb here begins by reminding Joshua of something that occurred at a place called Kadesh-Barnea, where Moses had sent forth Israelite spies to scope out the land of Canaan, one of whom was himself.

Caleb's claim is that he, uniquely, brought back a "forthright" report, while the other spies spoke in a way that "took the heart" of the people, or demoralized.

And for doing so, Caleb was promised an eternal inheritance. And in his estimation, the time had arrived to collect.

Let's travel back in time to the very moment of which Caleb is recalling:

It can take a lot to speak your mind when everyone around you is determined to drown out your point of view. Even when you know, in your very bones that truth is on your side, the fear of ridicule, or ostracization, can be powerful indeed.

But Caleb teaches that when you do speak up, even if the world is bent on suppressing what you have to say, the few can silence the many!

And Caleb hushed the people!

It's in the next chapter where we see Caleb's forthcoming reward promised:

It's quite interesting to compare Caleb's memory with how the narrator of Numbers describes the events. On one hand, in keeping with the theme that we've been focusing on, there is certainly a promise made that Caleb is trying to cash in on.

But what exactly is the promise in Numbers, and what is Caleb remembering the promise was in his own words in Joshua?

Let's compare them:

What do you think - do they match? Maybe not exactly, but perhaps the sentiment is close enough.

But one thing I do notice though is that in Numbers, we are seeing YHWH make the promise to Moses about Caleb. While in the book detailing Joshua's conquests, we are getting a recollection from Caleb of Moses's promise to him, on behalf of YHWH.

So while the wording is different, it can certainly be the case that when Moses brought the news from YHWH to Caleb of his reward, that he did indeed use the same language with which Caleb is now remembering. But in the narrative in Numbers, we're just not getting every little moment of the story.

But there's still something else to look at; For there is another moment where this original episode is reflected on - and that's in Moses's last speech to Israel on the far side of the Jordan:

Isn't this interesting?

There are so many moments throughout the works in the TaNaKh where a story is told in-real-time, and then we get further glimpses of it, either from those who actually saw it, or from later generations, for whom it has become an oral tradition.

It's also important to mention that even when we see these moments occurring "in-real-time", like Numbers 13-14, well it is never the case that someone was standing by, writing it all down as it is actually happening. These are works which were written centuries, maybe even a millenium (!) after-the-fact.

In the case of the spies, for example, it is part of the section in the Pentateuch which scholars refer to as "J". And most of J was probably written at some point during the era of two kingdoms, Northern Israel and Southern Judah, which would place it in the ball-park of between 922 and 722 BCE.

And even if we date it to 922, this is still upwards of around 500 years after the initial conquest-campaign of Canaan!!!

(You can read more about the dating of texts in the Pentateuch in Richard Elliot Friedman's Who Wrote the Bible. And for a neat site that calculates the dates of the various events in the works in the TaNaKh, I found this Sacred Calendar website: https://www.thesacredcalendar.com/book-of-joshua-conquest-of-canaan/ )

below: Could this be the great author of "J", chronicling the story of the spies?

So with all that, while I started out by saying that Promises would make a good name for the TaNaKh overall, I think Memories is yet another one. Memories are everywhere, as are memories of memories.

So here, in Deuteronomy, we see Moses, at the very end of the desert-wandering, reflecting on something that happened around 40-years previously. But go back up and take a look, and compare what Moses says in his memory, with what we saw described in Numbers and then how Caleb then replays it all to Joshua.

What do you notice?

What Moses says is nearly exactly as Caleb describes it!

So what do you think - In the book of Joshua's conquests, is Caleb recollecting a conversation between he and Moses that we, the reader, never saw? OR, is he recollecting this particular moment of Moses's speech?

I want to now turn back to Joshua's book and read a little further on.

We are still seeing Caleb's appeal to Joshua for territory:

This is great - there are a few things worth thinking about here.

First of all, it's amazing how long Caleb has been treasuring this promise; nearly half a century! He was promised something by Moses, who was speaking on behalf of YHWH, and Caleb took it seriously and trusted. It might not come to pass in a day, or even a month - and here we are forty-five years later, and Caleb still has it at the forefront of his mind!

I also want to marvel for a moment at his claim that at eighty-five years old, he is still just as strong as he was during his days of espionage, as on that fateful day when he was pitted against the masses and stood his ground. (It must be the case that he was on a strictly vegan plant-based diet; I can think of no other explanation for such long-lasting vigor!)

below: Caleb jogging through a park. Given the style of his clothes, seem like for him, 85 years was nothing!!! 3 millenia later and he's still going strong!

But my favorite part about Caleb's appeal is that he is declaring his willingness to walk the walk, as well.

Remember what the whole dispute was about forty-five years ago; It was about fear of the Anakites. The other spies, as well as the Israelite camp at-large, were terrified of the Anakites.

Who were these people?

Well first of all, it's worth looking into the etymology of the term Anak. Which actually means something associated with the neck; A neck-chain, or a necklace. Or maybe even just a long neck- i.e., men of high stature.

Let's now look at a telling comment, said by the spies later on in their exchange with Caleb:

We learn two interesting details here:

• They are associated with the Nephilim;
• The Israelites are akin to grasshoppers next to them.

The identity of the Nephilim is actually quite mysterious. Here is where we first get to meet them:

Very strange. For the term Nephilim actually literally means "the fallen ones." Were these mythical beings who fell down onto the earth from a supernal Realm of Gods? And could they then have continued to exist all that time throughout the years, settling in different parts of Canaan?

If so, it would be understandable as to why the Israelites would shudder at the very thought of going to battle with these semi-divine beings.

In fact, the Anakites - a subset of these Nephilim, according to the Israelites in Numbers 13 - were so terrifying that there even existed a well-known proverb about them throughout the ancient near east, a proverb recited by Moses:

And therefore, if you wanted to get the point across that someone was tall and fearsome, well, the natural thing to do would be to compare them to the Anakites - as Moses does, himself:

Standing up to them is futile, and everybody knew it!

Well, almost everyone. Caleb seemed to have missed the memo. An old man in his eighties, who for the last forty-five years, has been laughing at the prospect of anything in the world being able to triumph over Israel if YHWH is on her side.

As he said in Numbers when everyone else was quaking:

Let's go up and take possession of it, we are SURELY capable!!!

And when the long-awaited moment arrived, sure enough, he says to Joshua:

Though you too heard on that day that Anakites are there and great fortified cities, if only YHWH is with me, I will dispossess them, as YHWH promised.

Caleb recognized that, even if it is madness to take on these Anakite-giants, there is something which is even crazier; Doubting YHWH, when he says to not be afraid.

And Caleb's confidence is that much more inspiring once we truly understand how fearsome these Anakites really were.

Consider this line from Joshua 11:

Do you remember anything about any giants from any of these places?

Take a look at this:

So, let's put the pieces together:

• The Israelites were like grasshoppers next to the Anakites;
• Some of the Anakites remained in Gath;
• Goliath of Gath was a giant

So Goliath was an Anakite! And so if you really want to picture in your mind exatly what Israel was up against, think about this; During the time of the reign of Saul, Goliath of Gath, one giant amongst the Philistines, and he was more than enough to send every single Israelite warrior cowering.

While now, during the era of Joshua, we are speaking about whole civilizations of Goliaths!!!

But as Caleb recognized, when YHWH says something like the following:

.....It is as good as done.

It is unfortunate that we have to look back and laud Caleb for having such trust and standing up to his peers, when all of Israel was given every reason to see things just as he did; By the time the spies were sent to scout the land, Israel had already seen YHWH take on the Egyptian pantheon of gods on her behalf; And from the very beginning, it was never even a fair fight!

Why might you think, despite everything that they had seen, heard, and experienced together, that a figure like Caleb was the exception, rather than the norm???

I'm also wondering - if David is held in such high esteem for defeating Goliath of Gath, what does that say about Caleb? For here is what we are told one chapter later, after Caleb declares his willingness and ability to take on the Anakites:

Caleb triumphed over THREE of these figures!!!!

Such is the power of well-placed trust, which is a theme we have had the privilege of speaking about many times.

The Anakites represented a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Such that despite all that Israel had seen, Israelites would take one look at the Anakites and their hearts melted. They saw themselves as tiny; Bugs to be stepped on.

But Caleb remembered that strength comes not by the might of men, nor by the counting of horses and chariots - but from YHWH alone. YHWH, who wants to be on Israel's side, wants to be a friend and a reliable ally.

But it seems from this that YHWH, in order to play his part and be that support, needs us to be able to rely on him.

I find that as I read through some of the prayer-poems left to us by our Israelite ancestors, we see that many of them were truly able to channel that same faith of Caleb.

I'll leave you with one lovely example:

What might our history have looked like if we had been a Nation of Calebs? (Or alternatively, what if we didn't even have one Caleb to reassure, to push back on the fear and panic?)

This faith, this trust, is available to each and every one of us. Where in our lives can we do a better job of tapping into it, just as Caleb did, drawing on its positive energy so as to enable us to be forces for good in the world, when otherwise the sentiment around us might be overwhelmed with negativity?

May YHWH touch our hearts as he did Caleb's, inspiring us to be able to place uncompromising trust in both him, as well as in ourselves; And may we recognize that just like Caleb, WE can choose to be YHWH's loyal agents in this world, each of us playing the most vital of roles in furthering his will and his vision.