Joshua 5:13 – 6:21 |
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The most powerful enemy city is destroyed |
When
Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his
eyes and saw a man standing there before him, grasping a naked sword. Joshua
walked towards him and said to him, ‘Are you with us or with our enemies?’ He
answered, ‘No, I am captain of the army of the Lord, and now I come…’.
Joshua fell on his face to the ground and worshipped him and said, ‘What are my
Lord’s commands to his servant?’ The captain of the army of the Lord answered
Joshua, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place you are standing on is
holy.’ And Joshua obeyed. (obedience)
Now
Jericho had been carefully barricaded against the Israelites; no one came out,
no one went in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Now I am delivering Jericho and
its king into your hands. All you fighters, valiant warriors, will march round
the town and make the circuit once, and for six days you will do the same
thing. But seven priests will carry seven trumpets in front of the ark. On the seventh day you will go
seven times round the town and the priests will blow their trumpets. When the ram’s horn rings out (The
shofar, made of rams horn is blown in
synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the very end of Yom Kippur, and is
also blown every weekday morning in the month of Elul running up to Rosh
Hashanah), when you hear the sound of the trumpet, the
whole people must utter a mighty war cry and the town wall will collapse then
and there; then the people can storm the town, each man going straight ahead.’
Joshua
son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the
covenant, and seven priests are to carry seven trumpets of ram’s horn in front
of the ark of the Lord (carried the ten Commandments in it). He said to the people, ‘Forward! March round
the town and let the vanguard march before the ark of the Lord.’ All was done
as Joshua ordered the people. Seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of
ram’s horn in front of the Lord moved onwards and blew their trumpets; the ark
of the covenant of the Lord came behind them, the vanguard marched in front of
the priests with their trumpets, the rearguard followed behind the ark; the men
marched, the trumpets sounded.
Joshua
had given the people the following order: ‘Do not shout, do not utter even a
word; let nothing be heard from you till the day when I say: Raise the war cry.
Then you are to shout.’
At
Joshua’s command, the ark of the Lord went round the town and made the circuit
once; then they returned to the camp and spent the night there. Joshua rose
early and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. Bearing the seven ram’s horn
trumpets, the seven priests walked before the ark of the Lord sounding their
trumpets as they went, while the vanguard marched before them and the rearguard
behind the ark of the Lord, and the march went on to the sound of the trumpet.
They
marched once round the town on the second day and returned to the camp, and so
on for six days. On the seventh day they rose at dawn and marched seven times
round the town in the same manner. Only on that day did they march round seven
times. At the seventh time the priests
blew their trumpets (the number seven denotes completeness or
perfection) and
Joshua said to the people, ‘Raise the war cry, because the Lord has given the
town into your hands.'
‘The
town and everything inside it must be set apart for the Lord under a ban; only
the life of Rahab the harlot is to be spared, with all who are in her house,
since she hid the messengers we sent. But beware of the ban yourselves; do not
be covetous and take anything that is under the ban; that would lay the whole
camp of Israel open to the same ban and bring disaster on it. All the silver and all the gold, all the
things of bronze and things of iron are consecrated to the Lord and must be put
into his treasury.’
The
people shouted, the trumpets sounded. When
they heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised a mighty war cry and the
wall collapsed then and there. At once the people stormed the town, every
man going straight ahead; and they captured the town. They enforced the ban on
everything in the town: men and women, young and old, even the oxen and sheep
and donkeys, massacring them all.
Luisa: “I could see
my littleness, the nonentity of my being, and I was stunned at how daring I had
been, wondering from where had I taken that courage to offend a God so good,
who, in the very act in which I was offending Him, assisted me, preserved me,
nourished me. And if He had any rancor with me, it was for the sin I committed,
which He greatly hated, while He loved me immensely, He excused me before
divine justice, and was all occupied
with removing that wall of division between the soul and God, which sin had
produced. Oh! if all could see who God is, and who the soul is in the act
of sinning, they would all die of sorrow, and I believe that sin would be
exiled from the earth.” Vol. 1
“the ark”
“…the fugitives drew around Me, surrounding Me like a crown; and
with tears and sighs, they asked for my forgiveness for they had so cravenly
abandoned their Master, and had run away from Him. I welcomed them maternally
in the ark of refuge and salvation of my
Heart; I assured all of them of the forgiveness of my Son, and I encouraged
them not to fear. I said to them that
their destiny was in my hands, because He had given them all to Me as my
children, and I recognized them as such.
(The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will)
“the sound of the trumpet” -
“See now, how necessary it is that my Will be known in all
relations - in the prodigies, in the effects, in the value - what I did in this
Will for the creatures, and what they must do. And this will be a powerful
magnet in order to draw creatures, to make them receive the inheritance of my
Will, and make the generation of the children of light come out into the field.
Be attentive, my daughter; you will be
my spokesperson - the trumpet, to call
them and to gather this generation, so beloved and longed for by Me.” Book of Heaven, Oct. 27, 1922
“This is
why many times I have recommended to you that you omit to write nothing of what
regards my Will – because knowledge is
the way, and its light serves as trumpet to call those who are listening,
to make itself heard; and the more the
trumpet sounds – and it sounds more for as many more knowledges as it has, to
be manifested – the more people will rush up. Knowledge takes the attitude
now of pulpit, now of teacher, now of compassionate father and excessive lover;
in sum, it has all the ways in its power in order to enter the hearts, to
conquer them and to triumph in everything. And the more knowledges it contains,
the more ways it has in its power.” Book of
Heaven, January 23,
1924
“All the silver and all
the gold, all the things of bronze and things of iron” –
“Now, you must know that my
Will is most pure gold; and so that the thread of your will may become most
pure gold - in such a way that, as the thread of your will is braided with
Mine, one would not be able to distinguish which one is yours and which one is
Mine - it takes only sacrifice and pains. Consuming the thread of your human
will, they substitute it with the golden divine thread which, identifying
itself with mine, forms one single thread, and braiding the whole great wheel
of Eternity, extends everywhere and finds itself in every place. But if my Will is gold and yours is iron,
you will remain behind, and Mine will not lower Itself to be braided with
yours. If you take two objects of gold, though each one may have its own
different shape, by melting them, you will be able to form one single object,
and would no longer be able to distinguish the gold of one from that of the
other. But if one object is of gold and the other of iron, one will not stick
to the other, and it will be impossible to form one single object of gold. So, only sacrifice changes the nature of the
human will.” Book of Heaven, Aug.
12, 1922
“..saw a man standing there before him, grasping a naked sword. Joshua walked towards him and said to him, ‘Are you with us or with our enemies?’ He answered, ‘No, I am captain of the army of the Lord, and now I come…’”
“My beloved, the most pleasing and most consoling words for my Mother
are: ‘Dominus Tecum’ [‘The Lord is with Thee’]. In fact, as soon as they were
pronounced by the Archangel, She felt the whole of the Divine Being being
communicated to Her, and therefore She felt invested with divine Power, in such
a way that, in the face of the divine Power, Her own dissolved; and so my
Mother remained with the divine Power in Her hands.” Jan. 10, 1903
Luisa’s prayer: Archangel Saint Michael, defend me from the infernal
enemy, who puts so many obstacles in my mind to make me fail this obedience. Archangel
Saint Rafael, and you, my guardian Angel, come to assist me and to accompany
me, to direct my hand, that I may write the truth alone.
L. Bauer, JMJ - June 14, 2018
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