[Music] Good morning friends. Today we read some news. Let's do something a little strange, a little different.
We read news relating to current events, extremely current events. But we read it not in newspapers, not in newspapers, not in magazines, but in a text written two thousand five hundred years ago and we read it from this brand new edition of the Bible edited by Einaudi. And where do we start?
Let's start from the "Abraham Covenants" which you have certainly heard about in the news and in the media. . .
On that day the Lord - that is Yahweh - made an alliance with Abràm: "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of 'Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates, or the Qenites, the Qenizzites, the Qadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites. . .
I have assigned to you every place that it will cross the soles of your feet, as I told Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert and from this Lebanon to the Great River, the Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and to the Mediterranean Sea, in the west. No one will be able to oppose it .
. . Be strong and courageous, Joshua, for you will make this people inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them".
. . In the steppes of Moab, along the Jordan, near Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses: 'Speak to the children of Israel and tell them: when you have crossed the Jordan and are in the land of Canaan, expropriate all the inhabitants of the land before you, destroy all their images; destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places.
Take possession of the land and settle there, for I have given you the land to possess. Divide the land by lot among your clans: increase the inheritance portion for the larger ones, reduce it for the smaller ones. Wherever the lot falls for everyone, it belongs to him.
Perform the division based on the paternal tribes. But if you do not expropriate the inhabitants of the land before you, let those to whom you have allowed to remain be thorns in your eyes and stings in your sides and torment you in the land where you live; so, as I intended to treat them, I will treat you". .
. The Lord spoke to Moses: "Command the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, that is the land that will be your possession hereditary: the land of Canaan bounded by its frontiers. Your southern region will extend from the wilderness of Tzin, bordering Edom; thus your southern border will start from the extremity of the Dead Sea in the east; this border will then turn south of the Aqrabbím climb and pass through Tzin; its outlets will be south of Qadèsh-barnea, reaching Chatzàr-addàr and passing through Atzmòn.
From Atzmòn the border will turn towards the wadi of Egypt and end at the sea. Your western border will be the Mediterranean Sea - this will be your western border". .
. When Joshua and the children of Israel had finished striking those people, causing an enormous massacre until they were exterminated - only a few survivors managed to escape and reach the cities fortified, all the people returned to Joshua's camp in peace near Maqqedah. No one sharpened their tongue against the children of Israel anymore.
. . That same day Joshua took possession of Maqqedah and put the city and its king to the sword, voting them down.
to extermination with every living being there, leaving no survivor. He treated the king of Maqqedah as he had treated the king of Jericho. He moved with all Israel from Maqqedah to Livna and attacked Livna, and Yahweh also put it and its king in the power of Israel who put it to the sword with every living being there, leaving no survivor.
And treated its king as it had treated king of Jericho and moved with all Israel from Livna to Lachish which it besieged and attacked. Yahweh placed Lachish in the power of Israel who conquered it on the second day; he put it to the sword with every living being there, just as he had done to Livna. Horàm, king of Gezer, had come to help Lachish, but Joshua struck him and his people until there was no survivor left.
Joshua moved with all Israel from Lachìsh to Eglòn; they girded it of siege and attacked it. That same day they conquered it and put it to the sword; he vowed to exterminate every living being there that day, as he had done with Lachish. Joshua and all Israel went up from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it.
They conquered it and put it to the sword, with its king, its cities and every living being there. He left no survivors, as he had done to Eglòn: he devoted it to extermination along with every living being there. so Joshua destroyed all the land: the hill country, the Negheev, the Shephelah, the slopes, and all their kings.
He left no survivors and devoted every living being to extermination as Yahweh, God of Israel, had ordered [Music] . Joshua routed them from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza and throughout the territory of Goshen as far as Givon. Joshua conquered all these kings and their territory in one expedition because Yahweh, God of Israel fought for Israel.
Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp of Gilgal. . .
At that time there was no King in Israel and at that time the tribe of Dan was looking for a territory in which to settle, because until then they had not received any inheritance among the tribes of Israel. The sons of Dan sent five well-trained men from their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy on the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go and explore the land.
” They came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. The five men set out and came to Laish. They saw that in it the people dwelt in safety according to the way of life of those of Sidon; peaceful and safe, without those in power in the region acting in an offensive way.
They wandered far from those of Sidon and had no relations with anyone. They returned to their brothers in Tzorah and Eshtaol who asked them: "What news do you bring? " They replied: "Come, let us go against them because we have seen that the Earth is very good.
You delay, but do not hesitate to set out to take possession of the land! When you arrive there you will find a population that feels secure; the land is spacious and the 'Elohim has given it into your hands; it is a land in which nothing is lacking that is on earth. " Then six hundred men of the clan of the Danites left from Tzorah and Eshtaol equipped for war.
. . They arrived at Laish, they took a peaceful and safe population; they put it to the sword and set the city on fire.
No one came to her aid, because she was far from Sidon and had no relations with anyone. It was located in the valley that extends towards Beth-rekhov. They rebuilt the city and inhabited it, calling it Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan.
. . Joshua was old, in advanced age, and Yahweh said to him: "You are now old, in advanced age, but there is still much land left to take possession of Here is the land that remains: all the districts of the Philistines and the Geshurites, from Shichor facing Egypt to the border of Eqron in the north which is considered Canaanite; the five princes of the Philistines - those of Gaza, Ashdòd, Ashkelon, Gath and Eqron - and the Vitti to the south.
All the territory of the Canaanites, from Arà, belonging to the Sidonians, up to Aphèq, to the frontier of the Amorites. The territory of Geval and all eastern Lebanon, from Baal-Gad to the foot of Mount Hermon up to Lebo-chamat. I will dispossess before the children of Israel all the inhabitants of the hill country, from Lebanon to Misrephòth-maim, all the Sidonians; but you assign the inheritance to Israel, as I have commanded you.
So divide this land as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh". . .
. Yahweh spoke to Moses: "Avenge the children of Israel against the Midianites; then you will be reunited with your people. " Moses spoke to the people: "Let men mobilize among you for a military campaign and fall on Midiàn to carry out Yahweh's revenge against Midiàn.
Send for the military campaign a thousand men for each of the tribes of Israel": Thus, among the thousands of Israel, a thousand men for each tribe were recruited: twelve thousand equipped for the campaign. . .
They moved, therefore, against Midiàn as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. Among the other victims they also killed the kings of Midián: Evì, Reqem, Tzur, Chur and Revà - the five kings of Midiàn. (That is, they killed the leaders).
They also killed Bilam, son of Beor, with the sword. Instead, the children of Israel took the women of Midián captive with their children, while they plundered all their livestock, all their flocks and all their possessions. Then they burned all the cities in which they lived and their quarters.
They took all the prey and all the booty, people and livestock. Then they brought the prisoners, the booty and what they had plundered to Moses. .
. Moses, Elazàr, the priest, and the clan leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp. Moses was angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and those of hundreds, who had returned from that war campaign.
Moses said to them: "You have spared all the females! . .
. Now kill every male among the young men and do the same with every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a male. All the girls (Here it says "girls" but in in Hebrew there is "little girls") who have not had sexual intercourse with a male, leave them alive for you".
This last part of the reading concerns the Midianites, direct descendants of Abraham, therefore undoubtedly Semites. No further comments are necessary. Bye, thank you and see you next time.
