Reading for October

by Allen Watson

REVISION: I goofed! The capture of Jericho takes place in Chapter 6 of Joshua! To include that, we need to read the first six chapters. I don't think we have any chance of covering six chapters in 1.5 hours next Sunday, but we can pick one or two of the chapters to concentrate on, with the rest as background.

POSTED EARLIER

The reason I have posted a version of five chapters of Joshua (see the entry below), instead of just the two chapters originally assigned for our October meeting, is that on reading over those two chapters, I feel they don't cover some of the most interesting parts of the story, like the actual crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and the conquest of Jericho, whose "walls came tumbling down," as the song goes. So, I am recommending that everyone read over all five of the first chapters.

Contemporary language version of Joshua 1 to 5

Here is the text of Joshua, Chapters 1 to 5, from THE MESSAGE, a modern-language translation of the Bible.

After the death of Moses the servant of GOD, GOD spoke to Joshua, Moses' assistant: (Joshua 1:1)

Outline of Balaam's story

• V. Israel in the Plains of Moab (22:1–36:13)
• A. Balak, Balaam, and Israel (22:1–24:25)
• 1. Balak summons Balaam (22:1–6)
  
2. Balaam turns down Balak’s first invitation (22:7–14)
• 3. Balaam accepts Balak’s second invitation (22:15–21)
  
4. The donkey and the angel (22:22–35)
• 5. Balak greets Balaam (22:36–40)
  
• 6. Balaam blesses Israel three times (22:41–24:14)
• a. The first blessing (22:41–23:12)
  
• b. The second blessing (23:13–30)
  
• c. The third blessing (24:1–14)
• 7. Balaam’s final oracle (24:15–19)
  
• 8. Three cryptic predictions (24:20–25)
• B. Apostasy at Peor (25:1–18)
  

Balaam's donkey

Since all the Bible is the story of the evolution of our consciousness, and everything and everyone in the Bible can be interpreted as some aspect of our consciousness or state of mind—what might the donkey in Balaam's story represent?

Here is a summary of the story concerning the donkey from a couple of Bible dictionaries: