Giants

The faithful one, Caleb, said let's go off to war, we can conquer the land. The others - the 11 - pretty much see it as suicide to go after such strong people. Given that I'm not one for violence, it seems maybe the faithful were the ones who didn't want to fight. But that would just be me reading my own preferences into the text. In reality, the narrative is God promising the people a special land, flowing with milk and honey, and they couldn't expect to just arrive at this wonderful place and plop down without having to deal with the people who were already living there. Too bad they couldn't live side by side. Sad that it seems to be the same today - there seems to be little imagination for living side by side - particularly in the middle east. It seems that for one people to live in a place, they have to push out another people. And that means war.
As I look at this text and integrate it into my life, I can see the goodness of Caleb's trust in God's promises. I, too, can trust in God's promises, but I can't imagine claiming those promises through violence towards others. It just doesn't fit with the Good News Christ proclaimed.
-Melanie