{"id":53696,"date":"2019-04-14T21:47:35","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T18:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53696"},"modified":"2022-11-06T16:24:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T14:24:22","slug":"joshua-and-honi-coercing-god-and-the-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joshua-and-honi-coercing-god-and-the-elements\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshua And Honi: Coercing God And The Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[476,384,806,471,627,434],"acf":{"old_id":"53696","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":53376,"related_cahpter":"197","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Do we want God to feel empathy for our deepest feelings, or be above our often petty emotions?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joshua 10 finds our hero called upon by the Gibeonites to help defend them against the five Amorite kings. Unsurprisingly and with the mighty aid of God, Joshua\u2019s armies defeat the Amorites, setting the Israelites on a pattern of military victories throughout the next few chapters. One by one, each nation falls at the hands of the Israelites, who are backed by a very active, very violent God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God Godself is a participant in the battle, and even sends hailstones after the kings and their armies have already begun their retreat (v. 11)! In the next verse, Joshua addresses God, saying: \u201cStand still, O sun, at Gibeon, O moon, in the Valley of Ayalon!\u201d And, just like that, the celestial bodies halt, hovering above a triumphant Israel. Neither before nor since, the text declares, has there been such an occasion when God has heeded the words of a man.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This image of Joshua standing defiantly before God and commanding the elements of nature brings to mind the Talmud\u2019s Honi Hama\u2019agel, the circle drawer. Honi succeeds in bringing down rain by refusing to move from the circle he has drawn until God fulfills his request. Though Honi is admonished by Shimon Ben Shetah, who compares Honi to a child throwing a tantrum, in moments of anguish, anger, or desperation it is somewhat empowering to imagine that God might yield to raw human emotion just as a friend or parent might. God weeps, God is angry, God is joyful. God\u2019s emotional spectrum is reflected in us, and when we are desperate for drink, we hope that God feels our thirst.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But in Joshua 10, we are warned of the potential dangers in this theology. In today\u2019s world, rampant with fear and violence, I need to believe in a God who transcends human emotional and intellectual capabilities, in a God who will keep us from throwing stones after we have already won the battle; or even in a God who will guide us away from the battlefield to begin with. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":53697,"id":53697,"title":"jo10-honi","filename":"jo10-honi.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joshua-and-honi-coercing-god-and-the-elements\/jo10-honi\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo10-honi","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53696,"date":"2019-04-14 18:47:20","modified":"2021-06-23 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