SPIRITUAL BOOTCAMP LESSON 1: BE THE 17 PERCENT. ATTEN-HUT!!!!
+------------------/The Fortieth Night: Caleb’s Narration of His and Joshua’s Last Night in Canaan to The Congregation of Israel.
Scale the wall, clutch dagger with no fear
scale the wall and clutch your dagger…
fearlessly
we nervously reassure ourselves with mantra
prior to reconnaissance, huddled together
around destiny’s flame,
the crackle of the bonfire translating our prayers
to heaven as white smoke,
those ineffable words softly spoken
(of hope, fear and faith)
from our hearts to hallowed wood-
chopped in desperation,
with axes we held to our chest as
the angel of death killed Pharaoh’s firstborn.
We run then, almost blindly,
in the night, Captain Moon directing
our steps with a steely (somewhat
beguiling) gaze, overseeing stars in noxious
martial formation, flanking right and left
illumining our eyes to both danger and
opportunity, predator and prey, yet deviously
withholding from us the identities of each role.
We climb. We crouch. We lurk.
A humongous cluster of grapes carried
upon a staff, nature’s interrogation of the soul,
unveil different milieus between
the ten other spies and us two:
those born insects and those men.
Grapes too large for ten servile mouths quivering
that the Anakim and Amalekites
“heard branches snapping, make haste!”
will never overcome their cowardice,
men-cum-grasshoppers hopping
and chirping back to Moses shamefacedly.
But the two of us, feet submerged in
the brook of Eschol, cavalierly, close our eyes
and exhale restfully in Hebron:
“The bigger the grape, pomegranate and fig,
the more food apportioned to our
wives and children, cursed be the men,
of gargantuan stature or not, who oppose us.”
“This land is ours to possess.”
Stealthily departing,
as we cast a glance back at Canaan one final time,
predator to prey,
a moonbeam portentously unveils a set of
yellow eyes in the distance, glowing, it seems,
ten feet from the ground. The sharp tip of a spear
held high, spark from a nebulous mystery
astral realm, refracts
staggering light back into our eyes,
temporarily blinding us.
[GUYS, ARE YOU GOING TO BE ONE OF THE TEN, WHO DOUBT THAT GOD CAN HELP YOU OVERCOME GREAT ADVERSITY? THE 83% OF THOSE IN THE WORLD WHO DOUBT AND COMPLAIN? OR ARE YOU GOING TO BE LIKE JOSHUA AND CALEB? THE 17% OF THOSE SPECIAL, ELITE FOLK WHO HAVE FAITH IN WHAT THEY CANT QUITE SEE YET, BELIEVING THAT WITH GOD THEY CAN POSSESS ANY DREAM THEY HAVE SET IN THEIR HEARTS? THAT ADVERSITY AND OPPOSITION IS OPPORTUNITY??!! WHAT DO YOU FEAR MOST? GIVE YOUR FEARS TO GOD AND BE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO LIVE YOUR LIFE FULLY IN SPITE OF THEM!!! HUUUAAAHHHH!!!! DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY SOLDIERS!!! BREAK IT ON DOWN....BREAK IT ON DOWWNNN....LEFT RIIIIGGGHHTT LEFT!!!]
-----------Numbers 13-14:10
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.
Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
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