4:1 VA YEHI KA ASHER TAMU CHOL HA GOY LA'AVOR ET HA YARDEN VA YOMER YHVH EL YEHOSHU'A LEMOR
וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר
תַּמּוּ כָל הַגֹּוי לַעֲבֹור אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל יְהֹושֻׁעַ
לֵאמֹר
BN (BibleNet translation): And it came to pass, when the people had completed the crossing of the Yarden, that YHVH spoke to Yehoshu'a, saying:
HA GOY: Very rare to see this word used for the Beney Yisra-El.
Between HA YARDEN and VA YOMER the text marks a Pey break - why? why especially in mid-sentence? I wonder if this was put there to mark the historic moment.
4:2 KECHU LACHEM MIN HA AM SHENEYM-ASAR ANASHIM ISH ECHAD ISH ECHAD MI SHAVET
קְחוּ
לָכֶם מִן הָעָם שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אֲנָשִׁים אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד מִשָּׁבֶט
BN: Take twelve men from among the people, one man from every tribe.
Did Yehoshu'a pre-empt YHVH in 3:12? At the time the instruction seemed out of place, partly because he wasn't instructed to do it, partly because it led to nothing. But see verse 4.
4:3 VE TSAVU OTAM LEMOR SE'U LACHEM MI ZEH MITOCH HA YARDEN MI MATSAV RAGLEY HA KOHANIM HACHIN SHETEYM-ESREH AVANIM VE HA'AVARTEM OTAM IMACHEM VE HINACHTEM OTAM BA MALON ASHER TALIYNU VO HA LAILAH
וְצַוּוּ אוֹתָם לֵאמֹר שְׂאוּ לָכֶם מִזֶּה מִתּוֹךְ הַיַּרְדֵּן מִמַּצַּב רַגְלֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים הָכִין שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה אֲבָנִים וְהַעֲבַרְתֶּם אוֹתָם עִמָּכֶם וְהִנַּחְתֶּם אוֹתָם בַּמָּלוֹן אֲשֶׁר תָּלִינוּ בוֹ הַלָּיְלָה
KJ: And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.
BN: And instruct them, saying: Take twelve stones from this place, from the midst of the Yarden, from the place where the feet of the Kohanim stood firm, and carry them over with you, and leave them in the caravanserai where we are going to spend tonight.
Not just any stones, but specifically the ones, the now holy because miraculous rocks of the whitewater eddy, on which they stood while holding the Ark, while the Beney Yisra-El crossed - forty thousand of them, according to verse 13; but surely the entire people was crossing over at this time, not just the Kohanim or the tribe of Levi (which may or may not have been the same thing, as discussed in the last chapter)?
To build a Gil-Gal, a "Hebrew" Stonehenge. No Jewish god this, to require such a temple! This is a planetary deity, establishing the amphictyony of Yisra-El in symbolic form, twelve tribes, one for each zodiacal constellation, the map of Yisra-El in the tribal map about to be detailed reflecting the map of the heavens, King Ar Thur's "Round Table": Adonai Tseva'ot, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, a sun-god, a very different YHVH from several we have encountered previously.
samech break
4:4 VA YIKR'A YEHOSHU'A EL SHENEYM HE ASAR ISH ASHER HECHIN MI BENEY YISRA-EL ISH ECHAD ISH ECHAD MI SHAVET
וַיִּקְרָא יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶלשְׁנֵים הֶעָשָׂר אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הֵכִין מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד מִשָּׁבֶט
KJ: Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:
BN: Then Yehoshu'a called the twelve men from among the Beney Yisra-El whom he had prepared, one man from every tribe.
He did indeed pre-empt YHVH! But was permitted to get away with it. Very dangerous situation this, having a Jewish leader who thinks ahead, thinks for himself, makes his own decisions, doesn't wait for the divine to instruct him. Mosheh lost his right to enter the Promised Land for doing this.
Note that it was SHETEYM-ESREH for the twelve stones, but SHENEYM-ASAR for the twelve men: the former feminine, the latter masculine. Since when were rocks and stones feminine?
4:5 VA YOMER LAHEM YEHOSHU'A IVRU LIPHNEY ARON YHVH ELOHEYCHEM EL TOCH HA YARDEN VE HARIYMU LACHEM ISH EVEN ACHAT AL SHICHMO LE MISPAR SHIVTEY VENEY YISRA-EL
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם יְהוֹשֻׁעַ עִבְרוּ לִפְנֵי אֲרוֹן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֶל תּוֹךְ הַיַּרְדֵּן וְהָרִימוּ לָכֶם אִישׁ אֶבֶן אַחַת עַל שִׁכְמוֹ לְמִסְפַּר שִׁבְטֵי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:
BN: And Yehoshu'a said to them: Cross over in front of the Ark of YHVH your god, into the midst of the Yarden, and let every one of you gather up a stone on his shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the Beney Yisra-El.
One man per stone, and comfortable on the shoulder, means they can't exactly have been massive. But this is not what YHVH instructed him anyway: this allows them to pick up practically any stone, whereas the instruction was specific that it must be the very stones that the Kohanim used as their bridge-stones when they crossed with the Ark.
Was Yehoshu'a erecting the original Gil-Gal, in which case this story is aetiological and precedes both Av-Raham and Ya'akov? Or had the shrine fallen into ruin and he was repairing it - in which case, how did he know? Or is it a different Gil-Gal and the name applies to any 12-stone circular shrine? Apparently there are multiple, because this one will be in the river - or is this going to turn out to be an aetiological explanation of the rocks that make up this weir?
Was Yehoshu'a erecting the original Gil-Gal, in which case this story is aetiological and precedes both Av-Raham and Ya'akov? Or had the shrine fallen into ruin and he was repairing it - in which case, how did he know? Or is it a different Gil-Gal and the name applies to any 12-stone circular shrine? Apparently there are multiple, because this one will be in the river - or is this going to turn out to be an aetiological explanation of the rocks that make up this weir?
IVRU: Note the repeated use of this verb throughout this passage.
4:6 LEMA'AN TIHEYEH ZOT OT BE KIRBECHEM KI YISH'ALUN BENEYCHEM MACHAR LEMOR MAH HA AVANIM HA ELEH LACHEM
KJ: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
BN: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying: What is the meaning of these stones?
4:6 LEMA'AN TIHEYEH ZOT OT BE KIRBECHEM KI YISH'ALUN BENEYCHEM MACHAR LEMOR MAH HA AVANIM HA ELEH LACHEM
לְמַעַן תִּהְיֶה זֹאת אוֹת בְּקִרְבְּכֶם כִּי יִשְׁאָלוּן בְּנֵיכֶם מָחָר לֵאמֹר מָה הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלֶּה לָכֶם
BN: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying: What is the meaning of these stones?
A shrine in the form of a memorial, and specifically - see my note to the Peh break at verse 1 - at the very spot where the historic moment occurred, right there, where they entered the Promised Land. But if they use the very rocks that the Kohanim walked on, and build the memorial exactly where those rocks were, then... aetiological is a technical term "serving to explain something by giving a cause or reason for it, often in historical or mythical terms".
4:7 VA AMARTEM LAHEM ASHER NICHRETU MEYMEY HA YARDEN MI PENEY ARON BERIT YHVH BE AVRO BE YARDEN NICHRETU MEY HA YARDEN VE HAYU HA AVANIM HA ELEH LE ZIKARON LIVNEY YISRA-EL AD OLAM
וַאֲמַרְתֶּם לָהֶם אֲשֶׁר נִכְרְתוּ מֵימֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן מִפְּנֵי אֲרוֹן בְּרִית יְהוָה בְּעָבְרוֹ בַּיַּרְדֵּן נִכְרְתוּ מֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן וְהָיוּ הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלֶּה לְזִכָּרוֹן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד עוֹלָם
BN: Then you shall answer them, that the waters of the Yarden were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH; when it crossed over the Yarden, the waters of the Yarden were cut off: and these stones shall serve as a memorial for the Beney Yisra-El for ever.
AD OLAM: The trouble with "ad olam" is that it never is never; even stones can dilapidate, or be moved.
4:8 VA YA'ASU CHEN BENEY YISRA-EL KA ASHER TSIVAH YEHOSHU'A VA YIS'U SHETEY-ESREH AVANIM MI TOCH HA YARDEN KA ASHER DIBER YHVH EL YEHOSHU'A LE MISPAR SHIVTEY VENEY YISRA'EL VA YA'AVIRUM IMAM EL HA MALON VA YANICHUM SHAM
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַיִּשְׂאוּ שְׁתֵּי עֶשְׂרֵה אֲבָנִים מִתּוֹךְ הַיַּרְדֵּן כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֶל יְהוֹשֻׁעַ לְמִסְפַּר שִׁבְטֵי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּעֲבִרוּם עִמָּם אֶל הַמָּלוֹן וַיַּנִּחוּם שָׁם
BN: So the Beney Yisra-El did as Yehoshu'a instructed, as YHVH had told Yehoshu'a, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Yarden, one for each of the tribes of the Beney Yisra-El, and carried them over with them to the place where they were camped, and laid them down there.
Of course one stone each, and carried even a short distance, does not make a megalithic alignment - this is a very small Gil-Gal.
4:9 U SHETEYM-ESREH AVANIM HEKIM YEHOSHU'A BETOCH HA YARDEN TACHAT MATSAV RAGLEY HA KOHANIM NOS'EY ARON HA BERIT VA YIHEYU SHAM AD HA YOM HA ZEH
וּשְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה אֲבָנִים הֵקִים יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַיַּרְדֵּן תַּחַת מַצַּב רַגְלֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים נֹשְׂאֵי אֲרוֹן הַבְּרִית וַיִּהְיוּ שָׁם עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה
BN: And Yehoshu'a set up twelve stones in the middle of the Yarden, in the place where the feet of the Kohanim who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood; and they are still there to this day.
AD HA YOM HA ZEH: which goes with the AD OLAM previously. And no doubt they were still there when the book was written, however many years, decades, centuries later that that might have been. But they are not there to this day.
Did Yehoshu'a set them up personally, or did he again call for one from each tribe? Presumably the latter. And a memorial of this kind, in the middle of the river, at the point where the Kohanim had stood, using the stones on which they had stood, would not be visible unless the river remained dry. And why, anyway, would you take all the rocks out, in order to put them all back again? There must be something missing from the text: an oblation carried out on the rocks when they were on dry land: a blessing, with the rocks anointed with olive oil: some kind of ceremony, rite, ritual. Why are we not told the detail of it?
But it seems that we can now confirm that there was a point of the river where it waterfalled or weired for a moment, then thinned out, or even ran virtually dry, or went underground and then emerged a few yards further on; and like hundreds of other places in the world which are attributed to the Devil dropping a bag of stones because some saint tricked him, or some giant tripped and kicked the pieces of a mountain there, this entire tale of Yehoshu'a is simply an aetiological explanation of this geographical oddity.
Did Yehoshu'a set them up personally, or did he again call for one from each tribe? Presumably the latter. And a memorial of this kind, in the middle of the river, at the point where the Kohanim had stood, using the stones on which they had stood, would not be visible unless the river remained dry. And why, anyway, would you take all the rocks out, in order to put them all back again? There must be something missing from the text: an oblation carried out on the rocks when they were on dry land: a blessing, with the rocks anointed with olive oil: some kind of ceremony, rite, ritual. Why are we not told the detail of it?
But it seems that we can now confirm that there was a point of the river where it waterfalled or weired for a moment, then thinned out, or even ran virtually dry, or went underground and then emerged a few yards further on; and like hundreds of other places in the world which are attributed to the Devil dropping a bag of stones because some saint tricked him, or some giant tripped and kicked the pieces of a mountain there, this entire tale of Yehoshu'a is simply an aetiological explanation of this geographical oddity.
Which poses once again the Drummond question: is this entire book going to turn out to be mythological, rather than historical, as Genesis did, as we shall see with Judges, and as much of the Mosheh transpires to be as well? Maps of the heavens paralelled on Earth, explanations of aspects of life, the natural world, sickness and death, converted into pseudo-history, just as Geoffrey of Monmouth did to the Celtic myths when he wrote his pseudo-history of England. The process is now known (I invented the term) as "cultural conquest".
4:10 VE HA KOHANIM NOS'EY HA ARON OMDIM BETOCH HA YARDEN AD TOM KOL HA DAVAR ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ET YEHOSHU'A LEDABER EL HA AM KE CHOL ASHER TSIVAH MOSHEH ET YEHOSHU'A VA YEMAHARU HA AM VA YA'AVORU
4:10 VE HA KOHANIM NOS'EY HA ARON OMDIM BETOCH HA YARDEN AD TOM KOL HA DAVAR ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ET YEHOSHU'A LEDABER EL HA AM KE CHOL ASHER TSIVAH MOSHEH ET YEHOSHU'A VA YEMAHARU HA AM VA YA'AVORU
וְהַכֹּהֲנִים נֹשְׂאֵי הָאָרוֹן עֹמְדִים בְּתוֹךְ הַיַּרְדֵּן עַד תֹּם כָּל הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ לְדַבֵּר אֶל הָעָם כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַיְמַהֲרוּ הָעָם וַיַּעֲבֹרוּ
BN: For the Kohanim who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the Yarden, until everything was finished that YHVH had instructed Yehoshu'a to tell the people, according to all that Mosheh had instructed Yehoshu'a: and the people hastened and crossed over.
OMDIM: Again the use of the present tense. For which I think my next paragaph must provide the only viable explanation.
YEMAHARU: why the hurry? (why such a very badly written verse, both gramatically and syntactically?). This seems to infer that the Kohanim remained in the water (sorry, on the miraculously dry land) while the twelve men took away the rocks, presumably had them blessed, and then brought them back, presumably reinserting them under the priestly feet to do so. I can imagine the Monty Python movie version of this, but the Charlton Heston version is simply not going to work.
4:11 VA YEHI KA ASHER TAM KOL HA AM LA'AVOR VA YA'AVOR ARON YHVH VE HA KOHANIM LIPHNEY HA AM
וַיְהִי
כַּאֲשֶׁר תַּם כָּל הָעָם לַעֲבֹור וַיַּעֲבֹר אֲרֹון יְהוָה וְהַכֹּהֲנִים
לִפְנֵי הָעָם
BN: And so it was that, when all the people had crossed over, then the Ark of YHVH crossed over, and the Kohanim, in the presence of the people.
Or was the whole purpose simply to take out the awkward rocks, and then put them back in a smoother form, to make the traversal of the Ark more secure? Effectively bridge-building.
And if the Kohanim really did stand there, holding the Ark while all the people crossed the river... over a million people remember, from the two censuses in the Book of Numbers...
4:12 VA YA'AVRU BENEY RE'U-VEN U VENEY GAD VA CHATSI SHEVET HA MENASHEH CHAMUSHIM LIPHNEY BENEY YISRA-EL KA ASHER DIBER ALEYHEM MOSHEH
KJ: And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them:
BN: Then the Beney Re'u-Ven, and the Beney Gad, and half of the tribe of Menasheh, crossed over armed before the Beney Yisra-El, as per their agreement with Mosheh.
cf Numbers 32:1.
4:13 KE ARBA'IM ELEPH CHALUTSEY HA TSAVA AVRU LIPHNEY YHVH LA MILCHAMAH EL ARVOT YERICHO
KJ: About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.
BN: About forty thousand men, prepared for war, crossed over before YHVH to battle, to the plains of Yericho.
From these three tribes only the soldiers needed to cross; the remainder remaining east of the Yarden as per that agreement, because this was the land in which they were going to settle. For the other tribes, everyone needed to cross.
But mentioning the soldiers also tells us that the religious preparations are done (if that is what they were), and it seems that they were done exactly as Shemu-El would do them later at Mitspeh (1 Samuel 7); now we are ready to go into battle. Why this group first? Wait a verse or two.
samech break
4:12 VA YA'AVRU BENEY RE'U-VEN U VENEY GAD VA CHATSI SHEVET HA MENASHEH CHAMUSHIM LIPHNEY BENEY YISRA-EL KA ASHER DIBER ALEYHEM MOSHEH
וַיַּעַבְרוּ בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן וּבְנֵי גָד וַחֲצִי שֵׁבֶט הַמְנַשֶּׁה חֲמֻשִׁים לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶם, מֹשֶׁה
BN: Then the Beney Re'u-Ven, and the Beney Gad, and half of the tribe of Menasheh, crossed over armed before the Beney Yisra-El, as per their agreement with Mosheh.
cf Numbers 32:1.
4:13 KE ARBA'IM ELEPH CHALUTSEY HA TSAVA AVRU LIPHNEY YHVH LA MILCHAMAH EL ARVOT YERICHO
כְּאַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף חֲלוּצֵי הַצָּבָא עָבְרוּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה לַמִּלְחָמָה אֶל עַרְבֹות יְרִיחֹו
BN: About forty thousand men, prepared for war, crossed over before YHVH to battle, to the plains of Yericho.
From these three tribes only the soldiers needed to cross; the remainder remaining east of the Yarden as per that agreement, because this was the land in which they were going to settle. For the other tribes, everyone needed to cross.
But mentioning the soldiers also tells us that the religious preparations are done (if that is what they were), and it seems that they were done exactly as Shemu-El would do them later at Mitspeh (1 Samuel 7); now we are ready to go into battle. Why this group first? Wait a verse or two.
samech break
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא גִּדַּל יְהוָה אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּעֵינֵי כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּרְאוּ אֹתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרְאוּ אֶת מֹשֶׁה כָּל יְמֵי חַיָּיו
BN: On that day YHVH made Yehoshu'a great in the eyes of all Yisra-El; and they feared him, as they had feared Mosheh, all the days of his life.
As per Joshua 3:7. As much as anything the "religious ceremony" (the miracle) was a means of confirming Yehoshu'a's status as leader. The word YIR'U is significant, and it takes us back to a seeming contradiction that ran through the whole Book of Deuteronomy, starting at 6:5, when Mosheh established the Shem'a: "and you shall love YHVH your god..." but in virtually every reference that followed it was "fear"not "love" that was then required. And now, apparently, the same is true for the way that YHVH wants his leaders to rule?
pey break (and odd that there should be one just a single verse after a samech break).
4:15 VA YOMER YHVH EL YEHOSHU'A LEMOR
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Yehoshu'a, saying:
4:16 TSAVEH ET HA KOHANIM NOS'EY ARON HA EDUT VE YA'ALU MIN HA YARDEN
KJ: Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.
BN: instruct the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Yarden.
ARON HA EDUT: It does seem from the language that there are two sets of Kohanim, each transporting a different holy object, one the ARON HA BERIT, the other the ARN HA EDUT; but in fact they are the same. This alternate name for the Ark can be found at Exodus 40:3, 5, 21; also 26:33 and 34, and many others.
4:17 VA YETSAV YEHOSHU'A ET HA KOHANIM LEMOR ALU MIN HA YARDEN
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל יְהֹושֻׁעַ לֵאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Yehoshu'a, saying:
4:16 TSAVEH ET HA KOHANIM NOS'EY ARON HA EDUT VE YA'ALU MIN HA YARDEN
צַוֵּה
אֶת הַכֹּהֲנִים נֹשְׂאֵי אֲרֹון הָעֵדוּת וְיַעֲלוּ מִן הַיַּרְדֵּן
BN: instruct the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Yarden.
ARON HA EDUT: It does seem from the language that there are two sets of Kohanim, each transporting a different holy object, one the ARON HA BERIT, the other the ARN HA EDUT; but in fact they are the same. This alternate name for the Ark can be found at Exodus 40:3, 5, 21; also 26:33 and 34, and many others.
4:17 VA YETSAV YEHOSHU'A ET HA KOHANIM LEMOR ALU MIN HA YARDEN
וַיְצַו יְהֹושֻׁעַ אֶת הַכֹּהֲנִים לֵאמֹר עֲלוּ מִן הַיַּרְדֵּן
KJ: Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.
BN: Yehoshu'a therefore instructed the priests, saying: Come up out of the Yarden.
They must have been exhausted! I wonder what time of year this was - the Yarden is at its emptiest in the mid-summer, obviously and the description above suggested it was at that stage, rather than in flood as the snows on Mount Chermon melted in the spring; but that is also the hottest time. It can get up to 100⁰ F - on a cool day! But see verse 19.
4:18 VA YEHI BA ALOT HA KOHANIM NOS'EY ARON BERIT YHVH MI TOCH HA YARDEN NITKU KAPOT RAGLEY HA KOHANIM EL HE CHARAVAH VA YASHUVU MEY HA YARDEN LIMKOMAM VA YELCHU CHITMOL SHILSHOM AL KOL GEDOTAV
וַיְהִי בעלות (כַּעֲלוֹת) הַכֹּהֲנִים נֹשְׂאֵי אֲרוֹן בְּרִית יְהוָה מִתּוֹךְ הַיַּרְדֵּן נִתְּקוּ כַּפּוֹת רַגְלֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים אֶל הֶחָרָבָה וַיָּשֻׁבוּ מֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן לִמְקוֹמָם וַיֵּלְכוּ כִתְמוֹל שִׁלְשׁוֹם עַל כָּל גְּדוֹתָיו
BN: And it came to pass, when the Kohanim who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH had come up out of the midst of the Yarden, and the soles of the feet of the Kohanim were planted on dry land, that the waters of the Yarden returned to their place, and flowed over all its banks, as they had done before.
So Yehoshu'a has achieved at the Yarden exactly what Mosheh achieved at the Sea of Reeds, the parting of the waters of creation, enabling the people to cross without getting so much as their toes wet. And then, when they have successfully parturated, the waters break. I wonder why there is no mythological cutting of the umbilicus in either of these two versions?
4:19 VE HA AM ALU MIN HA YARDEN BE ASUR LA CHODESH HA RI'SHON VA YACHANU BA GILGAL BI KETSEH MIZRACH YERICHO
4:19 VE HA AM ALU MIN HA YARDEN BE ASUR LA CHODESH HA RI'SHON VA YACHANU BA GILGAL BI KETSEH MIZRACH YERICHO
וְהָעָם עָלוּ מִן הַיַּרְדֵּן בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן וַיַּחֲנוּ בַּגִּלְגָּל בִּקְצֵה מִזְרַח יְרִיחוֹ
KJ: And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
BN: And the people came up out of the Yarden on the tenth day of the first month, and made camp in Gil-Gal, on the eastern border of Yericho.
On the 10th day of the 1st month! By which calendar? If the one we have today was in use, then this was Yom Kippur. And if it was Yom Kippur, then we can deduce very easily what oblations took place over the rocks, and those with a theological bent can go in search of the word Tashlich, and see how it applies to this story (1 million people crossing the Yarden would take, what - ten days?); and good to know that they have emerged completely clean, and therefore, spiritually, completely innocent, like new-born babies indeed, as they enter the land of their birth-inheritance.
But alas it isn't the revised Babylonian calendar, but the earlier Kena'ani one - assuming Joshua 5:10 is correct.
BN: And the people came up out of the Yarden on the tenth day of the first month, and made camp in Gil-Gal, on the eastern border of Yericho.
On the 10th day of the 1st month! By which calendar? If the one we have today was in use, then this was Yom Kippur. And if it was Yom Kippur, then we can deduce very easily what oblations took place over the rocks, and those with a theological bent can go in search of the word Tashlich, and see how it applies to this story (1 million people crossing the Yarden would take, what - ten days?); and good to know that they have emerged completely clean, and therefore, spiritually, completely innocent, like new-born babies indeed, as they enter the land of their birth-inheritance.
But alas it isn't the revised Babylonian calendar, but the earlier Kena'ani one - assuming Joshua 5:10 is correct.
And yes, indeed - Gil-Gal. But the Genesis stories tell us plainly that Gil-Gal already existed, before Yehoshu'a and this tale. See the notes above.
4:20 VE ET SHETEYM-ESREH HA AVANIM HA ELEH ASHER LAKCHU MIN HA YARDEN HEKIM YEHOSHU'A BA GILGAL
וְאֵת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר לָקְחוּ מִן הַיַּרְדֵּן הֵקִים יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בַּגִּלְגָּל
BN: And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Yarden, Yehoshu'a erected in Gil-Gal.
Wait a moment. In verse 9 we were told that those stones are still there "to this day"; so how can they be, if Yehoshu'a has now removed them to Gil-Gal? Perhaps they took out the jagged rocks, hewed them to make a smooth bridge, and used the remainder for the shrine - the remainder should have been unhewn though, if the shrine was to be properly sacred. Or have two completely different aetiological myths got themselves mixed up, the Av-Rahamic, or the later Davidic shrine on dry ground, and this Yehoshu'aic memorial in the water?
4:21 VA YOMER EL BENEY YISRA-EL LEMOR ASHER YISH'ALUN BENEYCHEM MACHAR ET AVOTAM LEMOR MAH HA AVANIM HA ELEH?
וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁאָלוּן בְּנֵיכֶם מָחָר אֶת אֲבוֹתָם לֵאמֹר מָה הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלֶּה
KJ: And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
BN: And he spoke to the Beney Yisra-El, saying: When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying: What do these stones mean?
MACHAR: Funnily enough, he doesn't say "in time to come", but MACHAR, which means "tomorrow"; tomorrow in Spanish is mañana, the day of free meals, no taxes, and the arrival of the Messiah: so, yes, "in time to come".
As with the "J, E, D, P" problem, so we continue into Yehoshu'a with the same; too many texts, trying to be knitted together into a single and coherent One. But you cannot have several aetiological myths unless you also have several tribes, or even religious cults as is likely here, which need an explanation that works for them. The Tower of London was either built by William the Conqueror, or by the Vikings, or by the Romans, or by aliens from Beetlejuice, but not all four.
4:22 VE HODA'TEM ET BENEYCHEM LEMOR BA YABASHAH AVAR YISRA-EL ET HA YARDEN HAZEH
וְהֹודַעְתֶּם אֶת בְּנֵיכֶם לֵאמֹר בַּיַּבָּשָׁה עָבַר יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן הַזֶּה
KJ: Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
BN: Then you shall let your children know, saying: Yisra-El came over this Yarden on dry land.
I drew this inference a few verses back, but here, and especially in verse 23, it is quite explicit: this is a conscious variation of the crossing of the "Red Sea". And this is why we need to study beyond the Torah (most Jewish study-groups never do)! It almost allows us to reject the "Red Sea" crossing for the ludicrous myth that it obviously is, both geographically (it wasn't the "Red Sea", it was the Nile Delta, where Goshen is located, the locus of papyrus making because it is the number one place on Earth for farming bulrushes: the Reed Sea), as miracle (come off it! there were 1.5 million of these people, it would have taken three months to cross from Goshen to the Red Sea on foot, and Pharaoh didn't need that long to get out of Mitsrayim) but mostly because, if the Red Sea miracle, which is much vaster than this, were already memorialised (as it appears to be from our continuing to recite the Haggadah at Pesach) then there was no need for this miracle, or memorial, even as a way of making Yehoshu'a look good; the proof of faith had already been provided. So either we place Yehoshu'a earlier than Mosheh, reflecting a different invasion of Kena'an by a different people, or Yehoshu'a and Mosheh are the same person, but in a different tribal dialect (as Dio, Dieu and Dios are all the same deity as Gott and God), or we must regard it as belonging to a non-Yisra-Eli people who later assimilated, and whose myths became part of the tapestry. And if so, which people? From the direction they are arriving, east of the Yarden, Beney Mo-Av perhaps, or Beney Edom, or Beney Amon, most likely Beney Midyan, but least of all Mosaic Yisra-Elim out of Mitsrayim (Egypt).
And is the account of Jesus walking on the waters of Galilee in fact just one more variation of this myth?
4:23 ASHER HOVIYSH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM ET MEY HA YARDEN MI PENEYCHEM AD AVARCHEM KA ASHER ASAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LE YAM SUPH ASHER HOVIYSH MI PANEYCHEM AD AVREYNU
אֲשֶׁר הוֹבִישׁ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֶת מֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן מִפְּנֵיכֶם עַד עָבְרְכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לְיַם סוּף אֲשֶׁר הוֹבִישׁ מִפָּנֵינוּ עַד עָבְרֵנוּ
KJ: For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:
BN: For YHVH your god dried up the waters of the Yarden before you, until you had crossed over, as YHVH your god did to the Sea of Reeds, which he dried up before us, until we were gone over.
The fact that the text needs Yehoshu'a to add this, endorses the last remark. The event and the memorial were unnecessary, but no doubt the lobby group for the inclusion of their tribal version was very powerful, so it stayed in.
4:24 LEMA'AN DA'AT KOL AMEY HA ARETS ET YAD YHVH KI CHAZAKAH HI LEMA'AN YERATEM ET YHVH ELOHEYCHEM KOL HA YAMIM
לְמַעַן דַּעַת כָּל עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ אֶת יַד יְהוָה כִּי חֲזָקָה הִיא לְמַעַן יְרָאתֶם אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם כָּל הַיָּמִים
BN: That all the people of the Earth might know the hand of YHVH, that it is mighty; that you might fear YHVH your god for ever.
Fear again, this time of the god, not just the human leader.
samech break
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